DTBarton

Some classics- Champagne/sparkling wine with: smoked fish, caviar, puff pastry with a sprinkle of parmesan Burgundy/Pinot Noir with: wild mushroom tart Alsace Reisling/Pinot Gris with: sausage, braised cabbage, onion tart Zinfandel with: smoky grilled meat, grilled portabello mushroom Muscadet with: steamed mussels Sauterne with: Foie gras on toast points, grapes and brie Rhone red with: Beef or lamb stew

"Awesome. Thank you. I actually have a bottle of Kim Crawford Sauvignon Blanc from NZ. I'll use that." Can't go wrong with Kim Crawford from my experience. However, given that you already know Kim Crawford, I'm guessing that you have more wine knowhow than you're letting on! I second the Pinot Noir reccmmendation for the salmon. I went back and forth in my head between Alsace and PN. edit: Cooked cabbage always makes me think Alsace!

Hello Philadelphians- I will be attending the NCAA tourney in a couple of weeks. Four games Friday with a two hour or so break between from about 5 - 7 PM. We don't want to take our car out of the stadium lot, so were thinking of taking the broad street subway line towards downtown to get a bite to eat. I guess due to time we wouldn't go any further than City Hall on the subway. Does anyone have a recommendation for good sit down eats close to one of the subway stations between the stadium and City Hall? Not looking for fancy, but we like good stuff. Price not important, within reason. I guess the other notion is that Friday is St Patrick's day so the pubs may be crowded! Thanks in advance.

Concur that a post in the wine forum might bring more results. Also, when a wine recommendation is solicited, everyone wants to know your budget for the wine selections. but I'll give it a stab: Tomato & Mozzarella Salad with Balsamic Vinaigrette & Fresh Basil: I'd try a Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand. Good ones can be found for about $12 - $15. Asparagus Soup with Caramelized Onion, Almonds & Goat Cheese: White Burgundy (France) for me here. I like the ones from J. M. Boillot, good stuff in the $20 - $25 range. Salmon with Braised Red Cabbage, Mushrooms, and Oven-Roasted Tomatoes: Good dish for Alsace white (France), either a Reisling or Pinot Gris. Also good ones to be found in the $15 - $25 range. Ask your local wine merchant for recommendations of specific wines. Good luck!

My $.02, for what it's worth For the dough... Does double zero flour really make a difference? Does a stiff dough work better than a looser dough? Is there a "go to" dough recipe that's typically known as the best? I use AP flour with about 25% cake flour mixed in. Gives a nice texture. The sauce... What goes into the perfect pizza sauce? Do we assume San Marzanno's are the best or is there a better tomato lurking outhere somewhere? Is smooth better than chunky? Should the sauce be raw or cooked? I like San Marzanos. For pizza sauce, I like a very garlicky, smooth, not sweet marinara. Usually hit it with an immersion blender to smooth it. Cheese... Is fresh mozzerella better than pre-packaged? How about Mozzerella di bufla? Should the additon of another, more flavorful cheese, make an appearance? If so, what's is your favorite? Absolutely fresh mozzarella is better. Any decent fresh is good, don't have to spend a ton for the pizza application. Commercial mozz is pretty lame usually. I usually add a good sprinkle of a mixture of grated Reggiano parmesan and grated Locatelli romano. Marrying the ingredients... How thin is thin enough? Which should go on first the sauce or the cheese? Does fresh basil get baked with the pie or is it tossed on top after it is removed from the oven? Should we bake it on a cookie sheet? Inside a cast iron skillet? On a pizza stone? If so, how long do you pre-heat it for? I do sauce first, sparingly. Too much sauce is a common problem. I do all toppings pretty sparingly, actually. Get good ingredients and use then judiciously. Basil absolutely tossed on top right when it's taken out of the oven (pepperoni same way, sliced real thin). I use a porous stone in an oven that I set at 500 F about 45 minutes prior to cooking the pie. As others have said, I like to build the pie on parchment paper and set it on the stone on the paper. Easy way to get it in the oven and the brown paper just peels off at the end leaving no trace or flavor. Also, use a cooling rack to maintain crust texture. These are just a few questions to spur thought. What I am really looking for are those little tips, those small details, that turn an ordinary home-made pizzas into pies that jump off the tray. ←

I have to admit that I never went to Key West pre cruise ship, but we really like that town. Been back 4 years straight and looking forward to returning for longer stays. We have enjoyed Islamorada, but it's kind of a limited location activity and foodwise unless you're sportfishing. Key West is kind of like a smaller and more laid back New Orleans. Lots of good eating choices. If you want to kick out the jams, do Duval st at night. It's a bit much for me, so I do Duval in the daytime and head over to the marina area in the evening. More relaxing, plus B.O.'s fish wagon is there. But B.O.'s is not open late, so go early. Also really enjoyed the butterfly conservatory this last trip. Big open glass area filled with millions (or so it seemed) of loose live butterflies, birds, and tropical plants. Way cool, at the far end of Duval st (other end from Mallory square). As for the cruise ships, they let their people off mid morning and they have to be back on the ship by mid/late afternoon so the ships can depart before sunset since they block the view from Mallory square. A few hours of touristas won't kill you!

Home made hot sauce. It's a fall thing when the chili peppers from the garden come in.

One of the girls uses her cell phone to call Joe who breaks off from his duck hunting trip, races over in his souped-up 572 cubic inch 650 HP tricked-out Chevy Silverado Crew Cab 3500 Big Dooley with his big friendly dog Hunding, starts the fire, digs rain diversion trenches around the tent sites, quickly erects the tent poles and puts up the first tent, warms the cassoulet brought for the hunting trip, and, with the girls, all in the small tent, enjoys the cassoulet and dessert of chocolate cake with chocolate icing and soft chocolate ice cream. The girls are really impressed and whisper to each other "Isn't he awesome!" That's quite an erection, Joe! For the target demographic, the formula is simple. Food Network pay per view, available in HDTV for TIVO and/or as a video podcast. Title: Topless girls gone wild cooking with beer! Brought to you by Bud Light!

Count me among the SZ bashers from personal experience. Both my in-laws (separate houses) have SZ fridges and the things are never very cold and they make about 7 ice cubes a day. My neighbors have had nothing but trouble with their SZ, expensive maintenance, repeated problems. Definitely not worth the premium price, from what I've seen.

I can add from personal experience that there is good Cuban food to be found at Little Havana on Biscayne Blvd around 127th street. Big place, big menu, lots of Cuban families, we've enjoyed it. The 3 guys link in a previous post has more info.

Bought a bottle of Tapatio on your recommendation, it's got some kick! We're not alone. I got it in the hispanic section of my local Food Lion. They had several hot sauces in a row, all fully stocked. Only one Tapatio left.

I just got back from our 5th year in a row trip to the Keys and my last post in this thread talks about what we found, with links (if available): http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=80940 My favorites for Holly style eats are the Fish House in Key Largo (get some smoked fish to go), the Hungry Tarpon in Islamorada (mile marker 77.5 adjacent to Robbie's marina, breakfast and lunch only, we like lunch better), No Name Pub on Big Pine Key (I want to try the pizza next time), and B.O.'s fish wagon in Key West (five grease stains in my humble opinion). Have fun!

A greek restaurant in Norfolk VA, the Orapax Inn, used to make delicious stuffed squid. Their stuffing was simple, mostly diced onion and celery with some herbs and lemon and parsley. Haven't been there in years. The pizza used to be good there too.

I've been following this for a long time. It first really came to my attention several years ago in an article by a cardiologist where he stated that half his cardiac disease/heart attack patients had the common risk factors, mainly high cholesterol levels and some high blood pressure. He went on to say, though, that over many years, half of his patients DID NOT! So he couldn't vouch for any real correlation between the risk factors and actual problems. Evidence is starting to mount in this direction. I've believed for some time that genetics accounts for the vast majority of your susceptibility to cardiac disease (and cancer, for that matter). You can fiddle around the edges by doing common sense smart stuff. Use moderation in portions, don't allow yourself to get morbidly obese, don't smoke or drink too heavily, don't be sedentary, etc. But to believe that simply following a low fat diet and monitoring body numbers is going to give you a huge edge seems like a stretch. I know some people who obsess so much over their cholesterol levels and blood pressure that I'd swear the stress they're inducing in themselves over it is more harmful than anything they're eating. Plus, for us food nuts, obviously a life without good food is not really worth living anyway! Following is a column (http://www.washtimes.com/commentary/20060218-100154-2237r.htm) with more details about this notion and comments on the fact that the medical establishment still insists that low fat diets are gospel despite significant clinical evidence that they're not. I think this is due to several factors. First, no one wants to admit they've been wrng for so long. Second, there's gold in them there blood pressure and cholesterol drugs for the pharmaceutical compnaies (I don't blame the companies, they're filling the demand created by doctors). Third, and most important, I think, is the current state of medical liability. Doctors tend to prescribe medication at any sign of the alleged risk factors to shield them from liability in the event a patient has a heart attack and the doctor didn't try to give them the prescriptions. This leaves the doc open to lawsuits from the family. Any thoughts? Are you believers in the low fat gospel or think it's trumped up somewhat? As a matter of fat By John Luik February 19, 2006 Those new studies showing low-fat diets don't reduce cancer and heart disease aren't the real story. The real story is that the health establishment has known for decades how ineffective such "lifestyle changes" are, and that they don't intend to change their advice to Americans regardless of what the science shows. There's always been strong evidence the central tenet in the religion of preventive medicine -- low-fat diets will reduce or prevent cancer and heart disease -- is false. The advice dished out by the health establishment about lifestyles is mostly based on "indirect evidence." In the language of science, that means we really have no evidence at all

Just another thought on Joe's Stone Crab: http://www.joesstonecrab.com/ We ate there for the first time a couple weeks ago, it was very good. Enjoy things that are better than you expect them to be. Stone crabs, of course, but don't miss the potatoes Lyonnaise. On the waiting issue, we had heard about that. Drinks are pricy in the bar, don't want to wait too long unless on expense account. We went at dinner opening time (5:00 PM) on a Monday and walked right in. It's a big place and still wasn't full when we left about 6:30, so if you go early on a weekday, the wait shouldn't be TOO bad! We have also enjoyed meals at Grillfish: http://www.grillfish.com/miami.lasso Good fresh fish simply grilled. Nice and simple, not too pricy.

And just as a general tip, if you've got any amish markets around where you are, they often have a pretzel bakery. We have a large amish market here in the Annapolis area open Thursday - Saturday and they make really good yeasty warm pretzels painted with melted butter. They're addictive.

I like the sauces from Half Moon Bay trading company. My favorite is the Golden Habanero (nice balance of heat and flavor), but they make others (and hotter). Web site has guide to where to buy: http://www.halfmoonbaytrading.com/

Here's a list of pretzel vendors in Philly, some chains, some independent. I've been told that Federal Pretzel makes good stuff, haven't had the opportunity to try it yet. http://philadelphia.zami.com/Bakery/Pretzels

Hot stuff. Wifey doesn't like anything too hot (but she's getting better). So, when cooking for me, I make things that are layered with lots of hot flavors and long cooked to get the heat all in there. Much better that way than dumping hot condiments on at the end.

Lots of good ideas already. I like plenty of pork flavor (some smoked and maybe some good sausage crumbled up), a good shot of mustard to cut the sweetness of molasses and brown sugar. To me, one of the most important things is cooking your own dry beans. I like to use 2 or 3 kinds, usually small red beans, navy beans, and pinto beans. I pretty much cook the beans by themselves until they're almost done and then start the doctoring. This way you can control the salt content (canned beans are really salty, rinse them if you use them) and do away with any "can" taste.

I love wahoo any way, the trick is to not overcook it, which is easy to do. The thicker the piece, the lower the heat on the grill as wahoo is very susceptible to getting dry on the outside while still raw on the inside. I like thinnish pieces marinated in olive oil, a little soy sauce, lime juice, salt and pepper and grilled until just done.

I also think of pancetta more as a cooking ingredient that something on the antipasto tray. Pancetta and chicken is a classic combination. One favorite is cacciatore flavored with pancetta, marsala and rosemary. Another great use is in a sauce for Gnocchi. Saute diced pancetta in a mixture of olive oil and butter. Add chopped fresh sage and cook briefly. Serve over Gnocchi with ground black pepper and grated Reggiano parmesan.

Black roses (with thorns, of course)

Yes, just your average, everyday foie gras party for 100 or so.

I assume you mean low, medium, and high as referenced in recipes and sort of replicated on the knobs on most stoves. As for the stoves, I've found that they vary wildly and the only thing you can do is practice with the stove you have to get a feel for what setting delivers what heat. To me, the most common problem is burners that won't go low enough. As for the recipes, I usually think this way. Low heat will just barely keep a pot at a simmer. Medium will keep it boiling more briskly, and high is what you use to boil water or heat a pan for frying or searing. The stove setting has to be adjusted (except for high uses) based on the size of the pot, i.e. a larger pot takes more heat to maintain a simmer or boil. How that relates to actual temperatures, I'm not sure. All settings will burn your fingers if you touch them!