davedemi

Japango rocks, though.

Marge... I'd like to be alone with the sandwich.

Line cold cast iron with 1/4"(!) cold butter on the bottom. Place cut potatoes( I usually cut 1/2" slices), season, cover and start on really low heat. As the temp comes up, the butter slowly heats up to the point that you are poaching your potatoes (they're almost submerged). As the temp rises the potatoes will start to crisp. At this point they are very soft; loosen them carefully if they are sticking. Usually, if you start gently moving, swirling the pan when the butter starts to brown and they start forming a crust, they won't stick. After 45 min to 1 hr. they should be very soft on the top, and with a golden crust underneath. Turn over, and the other side should brown in 15-20 min. Drain while hot, enjoy. AKA pommes fondantes(MPW), Maine/down East skillet potatoes (according to John Thorne in Serious Pig)

Homer to fresh pie: "Okay.....(starts chomping on air and moving closer), I'm just gonna do this, and if you get eaten it's your own fault" That line used to work on my ex

The 'fresh spiced pork belly' in the Cafe Boulud cookbook is excellent. I just took one out of the oven, it was in for almost 24 hours, hmmm.....gotta go!

Pre-heat to 425. If you can do a light searing skin side side down on the stovetop, great; if not, preheat the pan in the oven, then put spatch'd bird skin side down until it starts to lightly brown add spuds and garlic (both tossed with some oil/butter and seasoning. I don't even turn the bird over. 45 min sounds good but check. PS using a heavy gauge pan (cast iron is great) will allow you to start this on the stovetop on higher heat, start the rendering of fat that results in crispy skin, and retain the temperature of the pan. the oven temp could then be a little more gentle (375-400) but with a lighter pan ( I'm assuming because you mentioned non-stick) I'd keep the oven temp. higher so the skin doesn't just steam but crisps

what kind of pan are you using?

When you're in T.O. next, there is a bakery on Danforth, between Donlands and Jones, on the south side, that sells only that bread...it's about $1 a loaf, too. I don't remember it's name, but it's the only bakery on that block.

why do you make that sound as if it's a bad thing? a friend of mine used to fill her fryer up with bacon fat when she offered breakfast and brunch menus on weekends...addictive home-fries

I lived and worked in your fair city from 95 to 99 and we used Gianni's arugula. He was an older retired man who used to grow it himself and deliver buckets of beautiful arugula (huge, frilly leaves) in pails of water to the restaurant. Is anyone there using it? Is it still around?

The restaurant is called Tony's I-75 Diner. Absurdly huge portions, staff are all ex-cons, nice highway diner ambience. Try it if you never have......quite trippy P.S. I mean really huge portions...e.g. the 'small' spaghetti is a mound about the size of a basketball The BLT you mentioned is indeed a pound of bacon....deep-fried...that's right, deep-fried, so it comes out a curly crispy twisted jumble...and served on a whole loaf of Italian bread. The sandwich is about 8" high and comes stabbed with a huge steak knife......Holy cholesterfest! I'll repeat...quite trippy..

this belongs to a friend of mine who works as a charcutier :

just spoke to Taro- he orders from Japan on Fridays- receives on the following Wednesday- if you request you could probably get it by next week...hmm...think I'll get some BTW if you've never used it, let it sit and oxidize for a couple of minutes before using; if you taste it fresh grated it's almost bland

sorry about that last one...... try Taro's Fish 905 944 1377 he's in Japantown complex at steeles and woodbine amazing selection of fish.. occasionally has fresh produce (herbs, etc. from japan) he's carried it before

I also know a number of Persians, and 'Persian' is their word of choice as opposed to 'Iranian'. ← I've noticed the Christians from that country refer to themselves as Persian and the Moslems call themselves Iranian.......they all love pomegranate, though