Pam R

First attempt went well. I made a thick white sauce. In fact, it was so thick I was concerned I overdid it. In a separate pan, I cooked some chopped onion and sliced mushrooms, then added the sauce to it. Cooled briefly then stirred in some diced aged cheddar. It was pretty solid after chilling. They all looked like this: I tried to show the inside shot, but it was a little gooey: They tasted SO good. Very rich though. (I used a tiny pot to fry them - too small, really. But I was only making a few and didn't want to waste the oil. The breading suffered from that, but they were still good.)

These were a huge hit. They kept munching on them after dinner. I sliced everything and each vegetable went into a plastic bag with cold water (beets were just wrapped in paper towel). Drained well on towels the next day.

That's my worry. And yet I will forge ahead. 'Cuz I wanna roast one. First of all, I'm curious. Second, I'm wondering if they can be substituted in the classic rack with bread crumb and herb crust. I'm not going to try that this time -- but shanks are half the cost of the racks, so I want to give it a shot. Could you share some of the details? My shanks average 500 g (just over 1 lb.), so they have some meat on them.

Thanks for the link. I wasn't thinking rare, I was thinking well-done. Like braising, just without the moisture. Nigella's recipe calls for cooking at 400 for 1 to 1 1/2 hours. Temperature seems high, but the shanks look good. I might have to try her recipe.

Does anybody roast lamb shanks? I've always braised them, but wonder if a long, slow roast would be good. I'm cooking a few this weekend, and will braise 3 of them . . but I'd like some thoughts on roasting the 4th.

Janet - sounds great. Really great. Need to get some panko . .

Oil is processed - any processed product and any oil, whether it's truffle or olive (or any other) has to be produced under kosher supervision for my purposes. Unless it has a kosher symbol on the packaging, I can't use it. We even have an issue of certain places not allowing us to use certain fresh vegetables. The one source in the US hasn't returned my email or phone calls. The people I'm working with might have to bring a couple of bottles from Israel.

Or cook it on the bbq/grill. Just sprinkle a little brown sugar on first. Assuming of course, that you have a bbq or grill . .

I'd like to try some using the white sauce method. I can't use meat -- any good ideas for a vegetable version?

There are trans-fat free margarines and shortenings. Anybody with allergies or dietary restrictions often uses them because there are no other options. The fact is butter is not always an option. I do a lot of baking with non-hydrogenated margarine in place of butter. It works well. I'm not saying they work in every application, but it does work in many.

There is a topic about that. But in this case, truffles won't work. Cost, logistics, etc. I will probably have to tell him that it's not something I can get, and that will be fine. It's for one passed hors d'oeuvre in a multi-course meal.

Thanks. I sent them an email. I've never seen it here or on any lists. Hopefully they'll get back to me.

Has anybody come across kosher truffle oil? I'm working on a menu with a chef and he has requested it, but I can't find any. I've searched, and come across only one company that claims to sell it, but when I click through to purchase, they don't. The hechsher has to be a strong one (one of the big guys - OU, COR, etc.).

Of course, Sysco sells more than one type of fry, and not all of them are available to every customer. For restaurants (at least here), the price of raw potatoes fluctuates. The cases of frozen product from Sysco (or wherever) stay relatively stable. For home, if I'm going to the trouble of frying them, I'm going to use fresh potatoes and double-fry them. PS: I have a few bags of sysco fries in my freezer at home. They're well aged, but I should try a side-by-side taste test.

I'm so happy they liked them. It doesn't matter what holiday they are meant for, they'd make a great addition to a Christmas cookie plate.

Ellen, thanks for sharing this with us. Some of your memories are so familiar - from the pupicks (pipicks here) to the Yiddish spiked language. My father is also the chief chicken soup cook and I've spent lots of time learning. I was taught 'shiterine a bissel saltz' and that everything is really done by taste. I hope that the aromas and ta'am of your own pots of chicken soup will keep this memory vivid for you, and be as strong a connection between you and your son as they are between you and your father.

Will she be going through Minneapolis? A quick look at their website shows that MN would be the last chance before hitting Montana.

How did you make the coffee syrup? Just coffee and sugar?

I'd say commercial frozen fries can come close, but not equal fries made from whole potatoes. I've used both in restaurants in the past - but then, I don't know which fry Keller uses. Locally, Sysco has a frozen fry that's not available to all it's customers, but is made or brought in for certain customer/s. Perhaps they're a different animal than the ones available for the masses.

Dinner tonight - everything is prepped and awaiting the guests. We're having fried chicken, hamburgers (er, why not?), homemade root vegetable chips, salad, and potato latkes that my uncle is bringing. Dessert is raspberry sufganiot from a local Jewish bakery. Gotta go light the candles. Chag Sameach!

I've made baklava with a mix of nuts - hazelnut, pecan, walnut, cashew - they all worked.

Well, I've done the non-overnight-method many times. Hathor - I forgot parsnips, but love them chipped and I'll plan to use 'em. And the last few times I've done them, I used a good vegetable peeler - but the combination of a new mandolin and a party to celebrate oil just screamed out for chips. I won't soak the beets. Just peel, slice and maybe keep in a plastic bag wrapped in paper towel overnight. The trick is to fry the beets last so everything doesn't come out of the pot pink . .

We're having a family get-together on Sunday and I'd like to make a big batch of fresh root vegetable chips (potato, sweet potato, beet, carrot, maybe something else). I've made them before, but always sliced, soaked in ice water briefly, then dried and fried. Does anybody know if they can be sliced the day before and kept in water in the fridge overnight?

I've never tried the refrigerated stuff. I do have some frozen dough though. I'll toss it in a bag and see what happens. Your pizza looks darn good.

Do you think the store-bought dough is fresh every day? Maybe it's already been sitting in the fridge for a couple of days . . . eta: I just read it again and Steven uses frozen dough. But you can probably get refrigerated dough that's been sitting around for a few days and will give you a head start. No?