Jaymes

Is anyone familiar with the original? Is it in Spanish or Catalan? We speak Spanish pretty well in our house, but I'm not that familiar with Catalan, and don't know if it's easy to read/understand for a Spanish speaker. I'm thinking about buying the book in its original form, but if the average Spanish-speaker couldn't really understand it, it would probably be a waste. Anyone know?

Me, too. This is a really basic cookbook. I think it would be the perfect choice for a beginning cook that has expressed an interest in someday becoming a great cook, rather than a neophyte that only wants to learn enough in the kitchen to just get by. I'll admit I was a bit disappointed when it first arrived. At first glance, there didn't seem to be much new; much that I haven't done before. But I've already gotten several tips as to how to make dishes that I've been preparing all my life a little bit better. So I'm a fan.

Does very traditional mean no anchovy though? I heard the original version didn't have anchovies, but good salt-cured anchovies are crucial to the dish. I want one now just thinking about it! I don't know about the "original" version, as Caesare Cardini supposedly invented it back in the early 1920's, which was definitely before my time. But we lived in Southern California for a while in the early 1970's, and went often to Tijuana, eating at the restaurant in the Hotel Caesar, where it didn't matter what you ordered, Caesar Salad came with. It was made tableside, and it had anchovies. I've been back several times since (although not in the last ten years or so), and it always had anchovies, for whatever that's worth. As far as perfect salads go - I'd put gazpacho on my top ten list.

Should you find yourself in receipt of an opportunity to visit the US, please don't let this stop you. Rest assured that there are a great many Americans that, when they "receive poor service," absolutely do not "still feel obligated to tip."

Wow. I haven't had this since I was a kid growing up in Boston. We had it with franks and beans. I thought it was a really New England thing. Canned bread! It is a New England thing, but I lived for a time in the Northeast, and grew to love it. We also did a stint in Florida and, every winter when the snowbirds flew in, it would appear on the grocery shelves. It can be pretty hard to find elsewhere, but when I'm determined, I manage. And I've even gone so far as to order it by the case, if there is just no store in the vicinity of where I happen to be living that carries it. I'm in Houston now, and we have a big grocery chain that specializes in carrying, well, everything. Central Market. That's where I've found it here. When I was a child, my family lived in Germany, and we all grew fond of that "German tang" (I guess you could call it): sweet & sour red cabbage, hot bacon & potato salad, meats, etc. That brown bread, sliced, toasted and smeared with cream cheese, goes particularly well with my German menu. I also prefer it over really sweet pastries with my fruit and coffee in the mornings. And as I said above, my dad really loves it. So I try to always keep it on hand.

B & M Brown Bread in cans We love this stuff. The traditional way to eat it is to heat up your baked beans, and then lay the bread on top, and steam it until it turns into almost a pudding. But we like to slice it and toast it and smear it with cream cheese and eat it with our German-style dinners - red cabbage, sauer meat, hot potato salad, knuddels, spaetzle, meat salad, etc.

For several years, I lived alone, and frequently dined out alone. When we went in groups, we'd usually get an appetizer to share, a main course, and then a dessert to share. When I first began dining alone, I'd just get the main, but often even that would be too much to finish at one sitting, so I'd take half home. But I missed the "complete meal" experience. It occurred to me that I could just order whatever I damn well pleased, and take home whatever I didn't eat. So, I began ordering an appetizer, or even two, or a soup, or salad, or other starter, then the main, then the dessert, or basically whatever I wanted. But I always asked the server to bring the to-go boxes first, with the meal. Then I'd portion out whatever I didn't think I could (or should) eat at the restaurant into the boxes. They hadn't been eaten on yet, so they were still pristine and beautiful. I'd do this for all the courses. Most often, I'd eat for at least two or three days at home out of those to-go boxes - complete with starters, main, and dessert. I think it's an absolutely perfect way to order and eat whatever you'd like to try without spending way too much money and consuming way too many calories for only one meal. And, since you haven't eaten out of the food yet, it's still sanitary and fine to share with anyone else at home that might be interested in trying it. And a "doggie bag" story... Several years back, we were living in Tucson. My sister had a young au pair, Esther, from the Netherlands. The first time we all went out to dinner, taking Esther, we went for Mexican. It was wonderful, and Esther loved it. Of course, our portions were large so, at the end of the meal, we all asked for doggie bags. Esther had never heard of such a thing. So, although the translation was at times hilarious, we managed to explain to her the concept, and the source of the name "doggie bag." She was utterly horrified. She said nobody in Europe could even imagine hauling home leftover food from a restaurant meal, let alone actually do it. She said it made us look poor and desperate. She said she certainly was not going to do it. She said that, in fact, she was embarrassed and humiliated to even leave the restaurant with us carrying our doggie bags and boxes and, as we departed, we noticed she hung back from the group. So the next day at lunchtime, I sliced up a couple of avocados and put some of my homemade salsa on the kitchen table and we all retrieved our boxes from the fridge. Esther said she'd just have a ham sandwich, so I made her one, and we all sat down. She ate her sandwich while the rest of us laughed and chatted over our leftover enchiladas, chile rellenos, carne guisada, etc. Esther watched us eat, without comment. But the next night, when we all went out for steaks, as we were finishing up our meals, Esther called the waiter over. "Sir," she said, in her heavily accented English, "I would like the bag of the dog, please." It had taken the previously "horrified" Esther exactly one outing to change her mind.

Well then, hey... Who the hell knows.

And by this, may I assume that you are referring to those residents of the East/West coasts that disdainfully call the rest of the US "Flyover Country," full of unsophisticated, provincial, not-terribly-bright, red-meat-and-potato-eating rubes who are, in fact, less than marginal, and frankly matter not at all?

From a kid perspective, fish sticks were a huge step up from the sort of fish we had routinely at our house - and that was some sort of fish that my dad and uncles had caught and my dad had pan-fried - trout, perch, bass, catfish, etc. I could see how it might be considered tasty when I first put it into my mouth but, after getting a bone or two stuck in my throat, I had to chew it until any appealing flavor or texture was long gone. Not to mention the feeling of being in mortal danger, should I swallow too soon - hardly conducive to an enjoyable meal. So, like I said, fish sticks were a huge step up from that. No bones. The crunchy bits were tasty and not sharp and didn't get stuck in your throat. You dipped them into catsup. You had hush puppies and/or french fries alongside. What's not to like? When it came time to feed my own kids, I stepped up a notch from "fish sticks" to breaded fish filets made with some sort of discernible fish, like cod or flounder. My kids all love fish now, just like the rest of the family. I will say that I agree that one's fondness for fish is fairly directly relatable to the region in which one was reared. As somebody pointed out, all of England could fit easily into the US deep-south Gulf-states, where eating fish is hugely popular, and there are many, many seafood eateries. The same is true for the rest of our coastline states. And if you don't think the average American likes seafood, go spend some time in Alaska. I lived there for several years and I can assure you that the place is full of Americans and they all have freezers full of salmon, halibut, crab, cod, grayling, etc. Their love of fish is legendary. I'd put it up against anyone's.

Well, I wasn't so much referring to your original question, as to a few other thoughts expressed throughout the thread. As I said, it seems to me that that rather dismissive, condescending, and derogatory opinion of the middle-American palate surfaces around here with considerable regularity. And although of course it's often true to some extent, in my opinion, anyway, more often it's a lazy, facile, cliched, simplistic, easily-repeated stereotype that is just not valid. Thank you for this, Jaymes. I grow weary of hearing and reading all of the time about how provincial we Americans, especially we Southerners are. It's like some people who are newly come to religion and can't pass up an opportunity to tell you how you are doing it wrong. I'll tell you what I find "provincial." And that is the notion that Americans are somehow always different (i.e. worse) than everybody else on the planet. When people start saying that, I immediately think that they just haven't traveled much. I have. Not only have I been (literally) around the world, I've lived in several other countries (Hong Kong, The Philippines, Panama, Germany), and can tell you that Americans are certainly not the only ones that often prefer to see something familiar when they sit down at the dinner table. In every nation where I've visited/lived, you find folks that are adventuresome eaters. And folks that aren't so much. Sometimes I really wonder why so many of us Americans seem to feel the need to bash ourselves. Whether the criticism is valid. Or not.

In my experience growing up in an area where men mined, logged or ranched for a living (ie were 'traditionally' masculine) fishing was and is seen as a very masculine pursuit, as it is here in regional Australia. In fact, I would say it's masculinized to the point of mythology (see 'A river runs through it' or 'The deadliest catch' for example). Even the most meat-potatoes-and-gravy cowboys I knew still enjoyed fish and looked forward to holidays where they had access to fresh seafood. Boy, that's the truth. You start talking with the guys about going fly fishing or wrassling with deep-sea swordfish or casting for salmon up north and just see how happy they'd be to have a lowly woman join their party. Unless all you want to do is squat by the campfire and cook.

Well, I wasn't so much referring to your original question, as to a few other thoughts expressed throughout the thread. As I said, it seems to me that that rather dismissive, condescending, and derogatory opinion of the middle-American palate surfaces around here with considerable regularity. And although of course it's often true to some extent, in my opinion, anyway, more often it's a lazy, facile, cliched, simplistic, easily-repeated stereotype that is just not valid.

There seems to be a running theme in this thread that most Americans don't like fish/seafood, and it's not popular or widely available. It seems to me that this is a version of a common theme that runs through many threads here; that is, that in general, Americans have plebeian and unadventuresome palates, aren't interested in eating anything much beyond the meat and potatoes with which they are familiar, have no intellectual curiosity when it comes to food, and basically are fearful, middle-brow culinary duds and are happy to keep it that way. This is a big country, and I'm sure that generalization applies to some. But as to the fish and seafood thing, I don't see what you all see. I see a lot of fish available, so somebody must be eating it. To answer the original question: "When was the last time an American sandwich shop had anything besides tuna?" - I'd suggest you pull into any McDonald's. Or Burger King. Or Wendy's. And order a Filet-O-Fish, or whatever. Or you could just go to Long John Silver's, a fast-food chain that specializes in seafood. Want something fancier? Ever heard of Red Lobster? I don't offer it up as any shining example of gourmet fish fare of course. I mention it to point out that if seafood is so unpopular in "middle America," how is it that the Red Lobster parking lots are always full? Not to mention that there seem to be sushi joints on every corner, and you can't get any "fishier" than that. In addition to the sushi, many Japanese restaurants also have habachis, where scallops are one of the most popular items they sell. The standard "starter" for middle-Americans going out to eat still seems to be a shrimp cocktail, and cold shrimp is a mainstay on even the fanciest cocktail buffet tables. Every fine-dining restaurant I've been in in the US has a seafood section offering many kinds of fish, including "fresh catch of the day" (in fact, I read somewhere that the American appetite for orange roughy was a contributing factor to its rapid depletion in the waters off of Australia), and often a selection of fish soups: clam chowder, oyster stew, lobster bisque, a bouillabaisse knock-off, and the list goes on and on. It's not just fine dining, either. Speaking of plebeian middle-Americans, they're eating at Golden Corral, Ryan's, Home Town Buffet, Luby's and the like. And every one of them offers several kinds of seafood, including plain baked or broiled fish filets, and some type of cold seafood salad (the sort that the ladies used to be so fond of at lunchtime). I've never seen a Chinese buffet without a variety of seafood. Italian restaurants feature seafood and fish pastas. The northeast has lobster rolls, crabcakes and clambakes. The northwest has salmon and halibut and all sorts of fish stews and chowders and fish markets so popular that they're famous and a de rigueur stop for any visiting celebrity or politician. The southwest has fish tacos and caldos and ceviche and shrimp de ajo and mojarra (tilapia) and (my personal favorite) red snapper Veracruz-style. The deep south has catfish parlors and po'boys and muffalettas stuffed with shrimp and oysters and mudbugs. And jambalaya and crawfish pie and file gumbo. Every single grocery store with which I am familiar has a seafood section, and you can peruse the frozen food aisles at Sam's and Costco's and find big bags of various frozen fish fillets. I suppose if you don't have a family member that loves fish, you're not in the habit of seeking it out. In my case, fish/seafood is my father's number-one favorite thing to eat by far, and my mother loved it as well, so we didn't go anywhere that didn't offer it. That was a very short list. "People who blanket-veto seafood" obviously exist, and the reason why seems to me to be an interesting and valid discussion. But in my opinion, anyway, extrapolating that dislike from some individuals into a generalization about the American public is just not correct.

I'd suggest that you make a concerted effort to find the book, if you think you already have it, and then sit down with a cup of tea or coffee and leaf through it. I know what you mean by having motivation issues. Adding to the difficulty of gathering the energy "to do all that shopping and cooking for yourself" is the fact that you undoubtedly pass numerous convenient eateries when you head out toward the market. So tempting to just grab something to eat out and be done with it. I now live with my daughter and her husband and their three kids so have a whole family to cook for. But when I was living alone, I found this book truly inspiring and all the motivation I needed.

Yep, and it works doubly well since you can wipe stuff off of that dry erase board with just your finger. Easy peasy. So, yesterday, after I got out the frozen chicken breasts, I just ran my finger across the 'chicken breasts' and snap. Just like that, it was gone.

Yes, but if it's a Tupperware (or similar) container, you don't want to write on it repeatedly, do you? Each new time you use it to freeze something? Masking tape works great, and I've never had an issue with it coming off.

Great ideas and almost sainthood also. We are NOT all really good. That's where my elaborate, a tad foolproof, system came from. I've found that much of the secret is just to be sure it's easy to do. The dry-erase marker is right there attached to the board. When you're busy, you don't want to have to hunt for the marker. Also, since I do most of the cooking, I'm the main maintainer of the list. To get everyone else in the habit of using that list, when I first put it up, I would stand there around dinnertime and ask folks what sounded good, and then read from the list. That got people accustomed to checking it regularly.

I have a Sharpie-type marker always handy, so it's easy to write on stuff. If you don't have the Sharpie handy, it's too tempting to just stick things right into the freezer and figure you'll take care of labeling later, or you'll remember, or whatever. Many things go into the sort of freezer bag that has a space for writing labels. And I also have a roll of masking tape in the same handy kitchen drawer as the Sharpies. If it's something wrapped in foil, I write on the masking tape, and then wrap that tape around. I haven't had any trouble at all with the masking tape coming off. I, too, write what it is, and the month and year. The trick is to write on whatever labeling method you're using before you fill it or chill it or whatever, when it can be impossible. Even a regular ball-point pin writes just fine on those plastic freezer bags in that label spot. In fact, I prefer it to a Sharpie on those bags. As we've discussed before, soups, chilies, stews, gravies, stock - anything liquid - go into large, heavy-duty freezer bags (upon which I've already written the pertinent information, usually with a ball-point pen), and lie flat until they freeze. Then they're stacked up like files or old long-play record albums. And, also like others, I do try to store like-items together - meats, veggies, cheese & butter & other dairy, etc. Also, we have a small dry-erase board that is on magnets so it attaches to the fridge/freezer. We're all really good about keeping a running total of what's in the freezer. When it's dinnertime, it's much easier to stand there and peruse that list than it is to dig around in the nether regions of the frozen north.

My heritage is also southern. And my grandmother owned and ran a "home cooking" restaurant back in the 20's & 30's. As my grandmother and dad explained, the main reason why southern cornbread traditionally does not have sugar is because it was often served with other dishes, like greens, black-eyed peas, ham-hocks, etc., and was used for "sopping up" pot likker. It was also frequently jammed into a tall glass into which ice cold buttermilk was then poured and eaten with a spoon. Many a morning, southern folks would crumble some left-over cornbread into a bowl, top with something sweet (sugar, honey, blackstrap, whatever you like), and then milk was poured over to make "cornbread cereal" (my dad loved adding some crumbled bacon atop his). And there's also cornbread salad, a favorite of potlucks and church suppers. Northern sweet "cake style" cornbread, although certainly delicious on its own, doesn't lend itself particularly well to any of those applications, neither in taste nor texture.

So, let me get this straight... Are you saying Beef Stroganoff is NOT hamburger meat, cream of mushroom soup, Worsty and sour cream?

OMG. We loved it! Let's see what I changed. Well, it's in my nature. I used ancho powder instead of 'chili' and more cumin because I adore cumin, 2 full cans of beans @ 19 oz each, and turkey broth because it was the easiest to reach in the chaos of the frozen broth compartment. Oh, and dried cilantro because I couldn't face trying to find the frozen fresh. Anyway, it's still the same basic soup and we just loved it. It now joins the regular soup repertoire to be made from scratch when so inclined...or from cans. Thanks so much, EmilyR. Want to add that you can do the same thing with basically any kind of canned beans - red beans, great northern, pintos, etc.

I never wash any of the fruits and veggies with a dish soap like Dawn. Oh, I have done it a time or two, but really felt like Dawn, etc., wasn't strong enough to kill any of the serious pathogens, like listeria (although I don't know that to be true; anyone know?). So I didn't think washing them with Dawn was accomplishing much. Except, that is, coating the veggies with the off-putting perfumes that are regularly put into soaps. I remember I tried it once with a cucumber, and the cucumber just smelled like Dawn. When I'm in doubt, I soak the veggies in a solution of water and a capful of bleach or hydrogen peroxide. Would be interested to know if a dish-washing soap like Dawn is capable of killing a serious pathogen.

You know, I wondered about that, too, and have done a bit of googling, but found no answer. Not sure if the listeria is in the flesh, or just on the skin. I've traveled in a great many third-world countries, and even lived in some, where human-waste fertilizer is relatively common. We were always told to soak all of the produce in our kitchen sinks, in a solution of water and bleach. That would make it safe to handle and eat even things like lettuce. And that for fruits and vegetables that you peel (such as papaya, mangoes, pineapple, melons, etc.), the danger would come from handling the unwashed peels. The flesh, we were told, was always safe. But now I'm curious as to whether or not that was true. Anyone know?

I feel pretty sure it changes the consistency. Just not enough for me, personally, to love one and dislike the other.