LindaK

No offense, I hope. My point was not to compare governments--obviously different in the extreme--but to comment on the inefficacy of censorship to squelch a desire for information. Interesting that food can be the focus of government efforts at controlling/defining culture.

It will probably work as well as it did when some local governments in Italy banned "foreign" restaurants from their cities: Sunday Times article

Tomorrow is Superbowl Sunday! Even if you don't watch the football (me), you're likely to be cooking something for hungry football fans. I'm lucky to have a friend who hosts a great party every year, and he always provides roast pig, dumplings, and stir-fried greens for the half-time meal. I'm thinking about bringing some spiced nuts for nibbling and some cookies for dessert (along with beer) for my contribution. What will you be cooking or eating?

I've been reading a collection of essays called "South Wind Through the Kitchen: the best of Elizabeth David." Some of them I have in her other books, most are new to me. Her beautifully written tales of eating and cooking through France, Italy, and elsewhere in the mediterranean during the 1940s-50s especially have been great escapist anecdotes to the snow and sleet outdoors.

I'd nominate applesauce cake with icing flavored with a bit of lemon. Or a Boston creme pie, really a cake.

rolling and cutting/filling fresh pasta. preferably accompanied by an opera or cello concerto.

Unless I've done some frying, ditto.

I have never seen these before but now I MUST have one! Andie, your press with the shell imprint looks like the mold for the French classic croque monsieur. Is that correct? I've always wondered how they were made. I see from the pictures that some contemporary presses are non-stick/teflon, while the older presses are either aluminum or other metal--cast iron, maybe? Can anyone comment on the difference between the quality of the finished sandwich with these different materials?

There are some unusual recipes for hot chocolate over in this topic. Some of them would work as make-ahead mixes.

Another observation: if Bittman is going to be writing the recipe column in the NYT magazine most Sundays, it sounds as if the Times is planning changes there too. Right now the Sunday magazine food column rotates among several writers. Who's out?

When I first read his farewell article today, I had much the same reaction and appreciations as you. Then I did a double-take: he'll be writing Op Ed pieces, a blog, a weekly recipe column in the Sunday magazine (instead of the Wednesday food section). It sounds like more Bittman, not less. It will be interesting to see what he chooses as topics and recipes now that he's not constrained by being the "minimalist."

Last night I made salt cod and shrimp fritters to serve with drinks. No photos, sorry, I’d forgotten to recharge the camera battery. The recipe came from David Leite’s The New Portuguese Table and varies from the standard salt cod fritter recipe in a couple of interesting ways: Adding chopped shrimp. It adds sweetness to the fritter and the salt cod becomes an earthy backnote. Leite says that this recipe is “ideal for those still acquiring a taste for salt cod” and he’s right. Separating the egg used for binding, and whipping the egg white before folding it in at the very end. Between the cod and potato, fritters can sometimes be heavy. As you’d expect, this resulted in a fritter that was lighter than usual. I noticed this same technique in some of the salt cod recipes in the Norwegian site that hansjoakin posted earlier, too, so I imagine it would be easy to import this technique into any fritter recipe if this appeals to you. I liked the results a lot and will use it again. I need to read up on the Caribbean use of salt cod. The Pawlcyn recipe introduced me to the salt cod and chili combination, and it's delicious and addictive.

There's an older topic that addresses teaching chidren about food, but doesn't focus on cooking skills: teaching children about food There is indeed an eGCI course on Cooking with Kids that has some interesting ideas and suggestions.

Just a quick update with last night's experiment. I am looking forward to reading some of these recent recommendations. So--ChrisTaylor wanted a sexy salt cod dish, and I’ve found one: “Salt Cod Cakes with Aioli” from Big Small Plates by Cindy Pawlcyn, Pablo Jacinto and Ernesto Jacinto. This recipe takes the classic cod cake and definitely makes it modern. The cod is poached in water/milk made aromatic with spices, fresh ginger and jalapeno. Once cooked and flaked, it’s bound by a flavorful mashed potato mixture that includes fresh herbs (I used parsley and cilantro), scallions, jalapeno, onion, celery, and aioli. The finished cod cakes are breaded in panko and deep dried, then served on a salad and topped with a bit of aioli and a tomatillo-avocado salsa. I don’t have access to tomatillas this time of year so I improvised with some jazzed up guacamole. These were fantastic. The flavors were vibrant and balanced, the crispy exterior a perfect foil for the chunky, creamy filling. The aioli and avocado toppings were gilding the lily, really, but a great match. And despite all that was happening, you could still taste the rich flavor of the salt cod. The cakes were good sized, so with the salad would be an excellent starter or light meal. I’m still looking forward to trying other salt cod classics, but must admit that I’m already searching for an excuse to make these again. A bit time consuming but certainly special enough for company--even a salt cod novice!

I remember reading this a while ago in their catalogue and also found it odd. Not so long ago they had begun offering several specialty salts. My guess is that they were pulled because they weren't selling very well. It's worth noting that since that little sidebar first appeared, Penzeys has returned grey sea salt to their catalogue line-up, saying it's "back by popular demand."

I've had spinach ravioli with no ricotta, they were good but a bit one-dimensional. I like Paul's idea for using pancetta for extra flavor. Another option: I'll bet the spinach-mint ricotta mixture that's used in Dorie Greenspan's Corsican spinach and mint gnocci would make a tasty ravioli filling.

Earlier today I made a batch of chocolate chunker cookies for a football watching potluck dinner. One of my friends remarked, after her second cookie, that these helped ease the pain of defeat. I tinkered with the basic recipe to use what I had on hand. So instead of adding raisins and peanuts to the basic chocolate dough w/ chocolate chunks, I used dried cherries and chopped walnuts. Really good, and I don't like chocolate.

You might find some good ideas in the Nibbles 'n Notes around Toronto topic.

Chris, those sound like good flavors for salt cod, I hope one of these days you'll give it a try.

Poaching salt cod with milk makes the flavor milder and the texture more tender, which is why I usually don't do it. It was a good trick to know, though, when I baked the fillet above--it tasted much more like fresh cod that way. From your description of your finished dish as bland, it sounds to me as if it needed salt. Really. Once the cod is well soaked and poached, you can't count on it to add salt to the other ingredients, especially anything quick-cooked. And potatoes always seem to need salt. So would not assume that your fish was of poor quality. To the contrary, I find that poor quality salt cod is always overly fishy flavored and salty, no matter how much you soak it. I've been looking over my surprisingly large roster of salt cod recipes for something untraditional that would meet your criteria for something a little more "sexed up" and think I have hit on one. But since the cod's only been soaking since this morning and I'll be eating out tomorrow night, it will have to wait until Monday.

Miso. I always enjoy finished dishes that include miso but am woefully ignorant of how to cook with it. Time to learn.

ChrisTaylor, your fritters look wonderful so I'm sorry you didn't care for them. Salt cod can be an acquired taste, even among those of use who grew up with it. My sisters would never eat it as kids unless they could smother the cod cakes in ketchup (which is oddly good, btw). If you decide to try again, maybe given them an extra day soak, some cod really needs it. I'd also suggest poaching it in a water/milk mixture--the milk really does mellow the flavor, which is why some people suggest soaking it in milk too. I've never seen a recipe in which it's poached in stock, I'm not sure what that would do to the flavor. As for the finished dish, you might be happier with a simple brandade or one of the gratins (either cream or tomato based sauces) where the cod is only a small part of the finished dish. Maybe someone else has ideas for best "first salt cod experiences" ?? As for the question of freezing it, it's not something I've ever done before. I did it this time because I had 4 lbs of salt cod sitting on my kitchen counter and as we all know, it has a certain odor. I wrapped it well, but even in the fridge it was still noticeable and I was afraid of other foods absorbing it. I tried the freezer to see if it would neutralize the odor, which it did. Ordinarily I only buy it as needed, so this was unusual. I don't know why stores would do it.

Nick, not to detract from your fine cooking, but some of us are still reeling from your fish market tour. The assortment and freshness are staggering. Most of them were labeled as from Australia and New Zealand, it appeared. How healthy is the fishing industry in your part of the world? Are AU and NZ facing the same challenges that we are here in the north Atlantic re: overfishing?

Chris, those fritters look fantastic. The addition of smoked paprika is inspired. I will give you full credit when I shamelessly plagarize the idea. hansjoakim, thank you for the history and for the web site, I see some good ideas there. As for the counsel against freezing, I hope that turns out not to be true, since I froze 2 lbs on the advice of the shop that sold it to me. I'm actually defrosting 1 lb now, and I'm treating it like other frozen fish by defrosting it slowly in the fridge. I'll report back on what the texture is like. But I love that you can freeze pre-soaked cod--imagine craving salt cod in the morning and cooking it the same night!

I've decided to join the deep frying club too, so this is all helpful information. But I still have a few questions about reusing oil. It sounds like filtering is imperative. what do you use--cheesecloth? coffee filters? what type of container do you use, or does it not matter? can i recycle a milk jug, for example? do you store your oil at room temp, in the fridge, or in the freezer?