Jaymes

I want to second every one of these excellent suggestions. A legged Dutch oven with a flat top is a must. So versatile. You can even put that lid upside down onto the hot coals & use it as a griddle. And an old-fashioned percolator coffee pot is also great for heating up hot chocolate or tea for non-coffee-drinkers.

Just now getting a chance to respond. What a great report, Smithy. And what grand luck I had that you were in my neck o' the Central Texas woods. Meeting other eGullet folk has been one of the best delights of my recent geriatric life. Without exception, each one has been knowledgeable, friendly, personable and enjoyable. Not a dud in the bunch. And tops on that list is Smithy. Let me tell you, any of you that have an opportunity to meet her should grab it eagerly. She is a brilliant, fascinating, deeply-intelligent woman. It felt as though I were sitting down to dine with Marie Curie or Amelia Earheart or something. Oh, and the food was good, too!

And I do like seeing a few stalks on a plate of Buffalo wings. Or in a Bloody Mary. So...

Well, I do use it to flavor soups & stews.

We think Duke's is creamier. But hey, like you said, that's our mileage! I was really into homemade mayo a while back but not so much now that I'm a granny living alone in my bachelorette condo. And the flavors of pimento cheese are so strong that, honestly, don't really believe the mayo changes the final result all that much. Also, I primarily make it for the grandkids and not sure the palate of a six-year-old warrants going to extraordinary efforts. But thinking back to my childhood and those ubiquitous pimento cheese-stuffed celery sticks has reminded me of something amusing, at least to me. I, along with the other assorted kids at the table - siblings, cousins, friends, etc. - loved the pimento cheese, but not the celery, so we'd use our tongues to scoop the cheese out of the valley. We'd try to do this surreptitiously so as not to alert the grownups. This was much easier to do at the children's table, of course, but then we'd have the problem of what to do with all that celery. For days after big family get-togethers, our parents would find denuded celery sticks stashed all over the house.

Pimento cheese is a huge part of my Southern family's heritage, including its ubiquitous appearance stuffed into celery sticks on the relish tray at all holidays and other assorted fancy occasions. And, although we've tried it with every commercial mayo made, in our house, the consensus best is Duke's. Which (I just feel like adding) we all know means absolutely not one blessed thing to other families that also have tried all of the commercially-made mayos and chosen something else, bless their hearts. We just think Duke's is creamier. And ain't life grand?

I suppose that, like most things, it depends who you're trying to please. I agree with heidi. The first thing I thought when reading about the "problem" was that those puddles are the thing that I find the most appealing and irresistible when I look at a pan of curry. My suggestion to you is that, before you go to great lengths to solve the problem, be sure one exists. The obvious thing (in addition to reducing/removing some of the fat) seems to be to heat it up and give it a few more quick stirs before service. But I'd definitely recommend that you query your customers to be sure those lovely, tasty little pools are even an issue before taking any steps to eliminate them.

Funny, but boy is that the truth. Everyone has too much of it. Everyone is always trying to get rid of it. Do not even entertain the notion of going to a party and not doing your share of eating to help the cause. I really liked the home-canned smoked salmon versions the best and didn't mind hauling home cans of it as "party favors" when we left the party. But always on the hors d'oeuvres, snack, cocktail, buffet tables there were big platters of salmon. And halibut. I remember telling my husband that I felt like I was being entertained as though I were someone's large house cat. ☺

Well...having lived in Alaska...if you can include the contents of your freezer, which is most certainly full of moose, caribou, deer, salmon, halibut, grayling, etc., and, if it's summer, the contents of your garden, and the jars of preserves from your foraging, blueberries, blackberries, lowbush cranberries, etc, I'd say it's a snap.

I use RG for hot chocolate all the time. No psychedelic trances. I keep it in the freezer along with several boxes of Mayordomo. Don't know why, exactly, just do. I do let it soften in either hot water or hot milk (depending upon whether I want Mexican-style dark hot chocolate, or milk chocolate) before I whip it up. Also, I always add some to the pot when I make chili. Don't use up a lot of it that way, though - about a half-disc per two pounds of meat.

Speaking of mixing stuff with mayo for condiments, was anyone else watching Masterchef Jr the other night when Gordon et all stirred pesto into mayo to make a sauce that he then used as a hamburger spread and as a dip for fries? Looked pretty good. Definitely going to give that a try. I mean, pesto & mayo...how could you go wrong with that?

Hiya, Cakewalk.

Back in the 50s, during hot summers, my mother, who didn't really like to cook, often made a big chef's salad for dinner for the five of us. To the usual greens, she'd add sliced hard-boiled eggs, ham and cheese for protein, and throw in leftover veggies from previous dinners - green beans, peas, corn, carrots, etc., - along with a smattering of whatever else we had had the previous few nights. She'd put it into this huge salad bowl and toss it up with a big dollop of mayo & a few hearty smacks on the bottom of the ketchup bottle. We all loved it.

It's always so fun to know somebody tried one of your recipes & liked it. Thanks for letting me know! This is a great salad recipe to take to potlucks. Intetesting, tasty, and a never-fail conversation-starter. A real family favorite.

Yes. Often hubby had dug out all or most of the "good" meat. Still had sauce. End of month. 6:30pm. Everybody tired & hungry. Package of hot dogs in the fridge. Heat up the sauce with a pork chop or two. Add enough hot dogs for kids. Boil some noodles. Toss up a salad. And Roberto's your zio.

My New Mexico roots go pretty deep. I often reply "Christmas" to that most New Mexican of questions: "Red or green?" But I've never seen them mixed together in one bowl. It's not like that. Perhaps it's easier to understand if you think of it as: "Red sauce or green sauce on your enchiladas, huevos rancheros, chile relleno, mojarra...?" Or if you were asked whether you prefer the chocolate or the raspberry sauce on your dessert crepes. And you replied that you'd like a little of each. In the case of the chile sauces, that would be, "Christmas."

It's not psychological. Could be the food coloring thing. There's a very unpleasant flavor to the whole piece of candy that I just don't detect in that one small bit. I suppose it could be a matter of quantity vs quality, though - as in, too much of a bad thing. Next time I find myself in the immediate company of one of the odious kernels (as opposed to odious colonels, with which I've also had unpleasant experiences probably owing to too much of a bad thing), believe I'll do a little empirical investigating.

Canned chipotle freezes very well. I always put the leftover into a small plastic baggie, flatten it a bit and stick it into the freezer. When I need some, it's easy to break off however much I need and put the rest back into the freezer. Not only is this method more economical and less wasteful, it's really so nice and convenient to have some on hand.

I always have some Mexican chocolate for hot cocoa on hand and that's what goes into my chili. My average pot of chili gets a one-quarter wedge from the disc of chocolate. Most of this kind of Mexican chocolate has a little sugar and a dash of cinnamon. Perfect. For hot sauces, I love all of Marie's (first had them on a trip to Belize years ago), all of Rancho Gordo's, Valentina and, if we're talking truly hot, Yucateco.

Candy corn is my saving grace at Halloween. It's what I buy so that I'm not tempted in the least to eat it myself. I do like the taste of the little yellow bit at the end but to get that you have to nibble at them one by one. It's really way too much trouble to bother with. As to what I like - unfortunately, everything else.

My standard 'go-to' dessert for large dinner parties was always Bananas Foster. I had several dozen cocktail 'rocks' glasses & day before, I'd put a couple of scoops of ice cream in each one and then stack them on trays in the freezer. I had a very large and beautiful copper chafing dish and I'd pre-measure the butter, brown sugar and cinnamon and put that in. I liked having the bottles of Creme de Banana & Meyers Rum on the table so I'd also measure how much I needed of each and be sure there was only that amount in each bottle. At the appropriate time, I'd make the sauce and flame it to great effect. Then I'd enlist all those folks that had offered to help to retrieve the ice-cream glasses from the freezer and I'd ladle that sauce over each one. I routinely did this for dinner parties of 30-50 and the occasional dinner party of up to 80. This may sound tricky but I assure you it's blazingly easy. The planning ahead & enlisting help at serving time is the key.

Think I posted about this back in the olden days here on eG but, just in case, this is the jarred sauce I keep around for emergencies. Light and tasty, with whole cloves of garlic (particularly tasty little treats) and large pieces of basil. Pretty good, I think. Mom's Garlic & Basil Pasta Sauce

Like so many words used in the Philippines, Spanish is similar. Although there are several terms for "sweet potatoes" in Spanish, in Mexico and the US Southwest, the most-often heard is "camote."

Sorry to hear that. Saddens me. However, I just returned from a very lengthy road trip that took me across much of the western half of this country. Did stop at a Cracker Barrel. I have to say that their waitstaff, at least, was extremely diverse, including Hispanic, African-American, Native American, among others. I'm very aware of the publicity surrounding their previous policy, so I definitely noticed. And my server was openly gay. I was hopeful that was an indicator that Cracker Barrel has indeed put their past discrimination issues behind them.

I dunno. A lot can happen in 10 years. For starters, the guy that founded the company, and was the CEO, has died. And from stories I've heard about restaurant kitchens, I don't think an assortment of various types of harassment necessarily means that it's pervasive and condoned throughout the company, particularly one as large as Cracker Barrel. As I've said, Cracker Barrel isn't my first choice when I'm sitting here in my living room trying to think of someplace great to go for dinner - for several reasons. Even when I'm hundred miles from anywhere along some remote stretch of highway, I used to drive on by. But now, I give them the benefit of the doubt.