LindaK

Happy fall everyone. It probably isn’t fair that salt cod feels out of place in the midst of summer vegetables. But now that cool weather is here I’ve been wondering where to start again. Then I had a fabulous bowl of clam chowder recently and all became clear. Chowder, that’s what I wanted. Not so simple. I found few recipes or writings about salt cod in soups or chowders. Everyone seemed in agreement that the flavor was too dominant or not worthy compared to fresh fish or bivalves. Even New England chef Jasper White, in his meticulously researched book, 50 Chowders, says that he can’t “get excited about a chowder made only with salt cod.” Then I stumbled across Garlic Soup with Bacalao. Thank you, Daniel Boulud. Despite the list of ingredients—potatoes, onions, stock, cream—that looks like most other chowder recipes, this is a sophisticated dish. Fresh fennel, sauteed along with the onions, leeks, and garlic, adds an herbal note. Boulud has you infuse freshly crushed coriander seed in the mixture while it simmers, which is an inspired addition—its light citrus spice and aroma are a knockout with the salt cod. The soup is pureed so it’s smooth, not chunky. I topped my bowl with a few croutons spread with a simple parsley-garlic pesto. It’s best prepared a day ahead of time. I made it Sunday night and thought, good. I had it for dinner on Monday and thought, wow. It’s hard to make a picture of white soup in a white bowl look interesting, but trust me, the flavor was swoon-worthy. Exotic brandade transformed into soup. Next time I’m going try a chunky version to see how that works. I have a chowder lined up for the weekend. Stay tuned.

My variation of this is: preheat the oven once, bake at least two things. It's not taking advantage of residual heat but, as much as possible, avoiding the cost/energy use of preheating the oven.

Jane, that's terrific. I hadn't bothered to add the ISBN for MC to my EYB bookshelf. But on it goes! And thanks for the inside scoop on the effort it took to index it, so interesting. Someone on your staff has learned a lot in the process, I imagine.

Over the weekend, I was reading a cookbook by a local pastry chef, Flour by Joanne Chang, and came across some advice for keeping the layers aligned when rolling out croissant dough: between each turn, use your rolling pin to strike the dough up and down the entire length, creating a series of ridges. Then use the pin to smooth out the ridges and roll out the dough as usual. According to Chang, this compression technique keeps the layers aligned. If you give it a try, let us know if it works. I'm assuming that would somewhat replicate the effect of a Tutove rolling pin on the dough? It would appear so! I've never even heard of a Tutove pin before, so you've made my day.

Over the weekend, I was reading a cookbook by a local pastry chef, Flour by Joanne Chang, and came across some advice for keeping the layers aligned when rolling out croissant dough: between each turn, use your rolling pin to strike the dough up and down the entire length, creating a series of ridges. Then use the pin to smooth out the ridges and roll out the dough as usual. According to Chang, this compression technique keeps the layers aligned. If you give it a try, let us know if it works.

I'll catch it now, but I like fish sticks. I'll join you, I like them too. With tartar sauce. Not my first choice now, but I credit them as being the first step on the slippery slope of learning to love fish as a kid.

That sounds fabulous. Earlier I was admiring the lamb shanks with curry that &roid was showing off over in Cooking with Modernist Cusine. Must be the season.

In similar situations, I've had success by adding a little curry powder to a squash soup. Best to add it when you're sauteeing whatever onions, leeks, or shallot you may be using--the brief time in the hot fat removes any "raw" spice taste so that it blends in nicely with the squash. Looking at your recipe, that seems like a lot of red peppers. They'll add some sweetness, but if your squash is bland I wonder if they'll dominate the soup. Let us know how it turns out.

Hi Randi, count me among those who are really looking forward to your blog. Yet another culinary taunt from Southern California, with all your great produce and markets that most of us can only dream about. So that coconut crack cake really weighs 6 lbs?? Very impressive. I remember it from its appearance in the infamous Cake or Pie? topic. I guess we know which side of that argument you're on!

Interesting that Phaidon's the publisher. I only have a couple of their cookbooks, but they're beautiful. At least as a published recipe, Dorie Greenspan beat him to it. Around My French Table, Potato Chip Tortilla, p. 141. This is the bottom line for me. Do you want to cook/eat these recipes? I'd be very interested in hearing more about the kinds of recipes included in the book. Currently discounted on Amazon (US) for $16.50: here

FrogPrincesse, thanks for starting this topic, your recommendation says a lot. I have dozens of French cookbooks but none by Anne Willans. I'm not sure why. Her reputation is impeccable but her previous cookbooks have never tempted me. I'll take a look at this one for sure. In the meantime, I'll look forward to your posts.

Here's the link: Almost Instant Black Bean Soup.

Interesting, not what I would have expected. Did these turn into long-term stages or jobs?

Have you considered WWOOFing (World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms)? Volunteer labor in return for accommodations and food. Main site: Wwoof You’d need to join each country’s organization in order to get the contact info for host farms, but you can scan the lists of opportunities in each country on their web sites to get a sense of what they offer. Each has a minimum time commitment (generally 1 week – 1 month). WWOOF France (in French) WWOOF Italy WWOOF Spain It won’t help you with restaurants or scallop diving, but if you choose carefully you could get some interesting farm experiences.

Those are beautiful but they are expensive. Mine is the same heavy grade of stainless steel, 3 disks, and it cost 1/3 that price (years ago, I admit). I wouldn't like to have the loops so far up. That would put the mill itself deep into your bowl. The ingredient would hit the bottom of the mill sooner rather than later. Maybe it wouldn't be a problem but at the very least it seems like it would be messier. Perhaps it's more stable that way? Mine are near the bottom and it works well.

Earlier this summer, a member who was working on the web site asked us for our opinion: Gilt Taste I appreciate Reichl's honesty about doing away with the line between journalism and commerce in food publications. But it doesn't inspire me to check it out. When someone links to it because of a really good piece of writing, then I'll look at the site.

Back to the mushrooms...I've never heard of lobster mushrooms. Does the name reflect their flavor? They are beautiful. The prices on your specialty mushrooms are stoking envy here. Those lovely lobster mushrooms and chanterelles for under $10 a lb? Your mushroom soup looked delicious. Any other favorite uses for them? I'd cook with mushrooms more often if I could buy them at those prices.

I'm so jealous, I love fresh whole trout. I've said it before and I'll say it again. Per trout: 1 clove finely minced garlic. 1-2 leaves fresh sage leaves, cut into chiffonade. Lightly salt and pepper the interior of each fish. Rub with a bit of olive oil. Sprinkle garlic and sage inside, press closed. Rub exterior with some olive oil, pan fry or grill until the skin is crispy. The interior heat and moisture will make both the garlic and sage soft and will perfume the flesh beautifully. Perfection by itself. For a variation, crisp some pancetta (no need to use salt, then), add thin strips with the garlic and sage.

I'm not sure that I buy Bittman's argument that fast food is as much about cost as convenience. But I don't buy your comparison to Alice Waters. For example, he explicitly notes that in his cost calculations: I can't imagine Alice Waters making that assumption.

The congealed cheese is one of the great attractions of cold pizza. As an alternative, what about a calzone? Because the cheese and other "toppings" are contained within a crust, they're easily transportable without a mess. I've brought them on picnics and they're great at room temp. And because the cheese mixture is based on ricotta, it remains creamy even when cold.

ScottyBoy, wow, great food as usual (LOVE the soup) and of course California's food and produce options seem like another planet to most of us in the States. I'm really interested in how you do your food shopping and procurement by bike. When I gave up my car almost 2 years ago, my food shopping habits barely changed, I still do my shopping at farmers market and grocery stores that I get to on foot, by my usual subway line, or by bike. But for a big dinner party, or when I need to stock up on heavy staples (flour, canned tomatoes, etc.) there's no substitute for a car. How do you manage all these dinners?

Homemade pesto in the freezer has saved me on many occasions, as has a bag of frozen shrimp. Both defrost very quickly and can be ready while water boils for pasta. Note: best to add fresh grated parmesan cheese to pesto after it's defrosted, but that's a staple in my kitchen so no big deal. Stir cheese into pesto or do a quick saute of shrimp w/ garlic and herbs, and serve with pasta. Or if I especially love my guests, they get both: sauteed shrimp over pasta with pesto.

EatNopales, that's a really interesting and varied list. I'll do some research but in the meantime I hope you'll try some of them for us. The only salt cod recipe from Mexico I'd run across was the traditional Christmas recipe you mentioned in your blog, chiles rellenos de bacalao. I posted on them uptopic here, really delicious. One thing I noticed in that and other recipes was how beautifully salt cod paired with chilis. Truly a magical combination. I should take Jenni's advice and learn more about Caribbean use of salt cod, which I imagine makes good use of habaneros.

Broken English, thanks for the poaching suggestion, I can imagine how that would mellow the flavor quite a bit. Though the fish probably breaks up somewhat while cooking, yes? Of course that's no problem if you plan on flaking it afterwards anyway. That tart recipe is an inspired combination of flavors. I'd love to see a picture (hint).

Hans, that looks beautiful. The combination of fish and lentils is one of my favorites. How did you cook the cod? My efforts to cook whole pieces of salt cod weren't always successful. Thanks for bumping up this topic. Now that cool weather has arrived, I've been thinking about salt cod again, wondering where to start.