Suzanne F

Most-frequently-used knives ( 10" chef, paring, bread, plus steel) are out in a block, along with the cheap horrible unsafe serrated knives which He Who Only Eats likes to use when making salad. All others are stored in a drawer or in my toolbox, with blade encased in the original cardboard sleeve, or "Knife Guard" or "Edge Guard" EGs are a bit better than KG, as they hold together better on the open long end. For travel, the knives stay in their guards in the knife roll. I have seen guards by Messermeister (I think) that are blade-shaped, snap together securely, and completely enclose the blade. They will not work with Globals, though.

Push the two prongs in the stem end, along side the pit. Then twist -- either the cherry or the pin, doesn't matter. Remove pin, squeeze cherry lightly, and out pops pit. Doesn't work for olives, though.

That would be fabulous! Gus's was slightly closer to the City-County Building, where I worked. No other reason for the "preference." Lafayette was good, too. Jeniac -- Don't know if I can, but I'll look. Thanks!

Ever since 1977, I've been trying to duplicate the chili used at Gus's Coney Island in Detroit. Fairly mild, very finely ground meat, no beans (NEVER!), and a flavor almost hinting of curry powder. A cheap, bland, soft hot dog (but cooked well-done), squishy bun, yellow mustard, chili, and raw chopped onions. It was crap, but I loved it -- I even ate coney islands for breakfast I find that Hormel chili makes a decent base -- but of course I have to add more chili powder, and the aforementioned curry (Jamaican-style works a bit better than Indian). Cheese -- or rather, Cheez Wiz -- is acceptable, but optional. Now I prefer pickled onions to raw. Dijon or whole-grain mustard to yellow. Especially if I added Jamaican curry; that gives me my turmeric allowance for the day. And pickle relish is for people who want a vegetable.

Gee, I just use an old hairpin (the schoolmarmish-bun type) as a cherry pitter. Works great. BUT: I was in Century 21 today (a discount department store par excellence across from the WTC site), and they had a special on Pedrini gadgets. I bought: 1. pasta crimper to crimp and cut wavy edges 2. cheese plane (one of mine died recently, and this one is really sturdy) 3. a rolling cutter for lasagne (straight edge) 4. a rolling cutter for circles of dough 5. a "stampo pasta" to crimp and cut wavy-edged round ravioli 6. two small pastry brushes (can NEVER have too many); these are labelled in English, Italian, French, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Greek, and Russian! 7. yet another sieve (can NEVER have too many of these, either). Now I'm wondering, at what point does a "gadget" become a necessary tool (such as the microplane)????

The "Passover lukshen" I'm used to are very, very thin omelets (with maybe a touch of cake meal for body), cooked in oil or parve margarine and cut julienne. Quite literally egg noodles and very good.

Toby, thank you, that's it exactly. A master chef of [fill-in-the-blank] cuisine, when cooking in NYC, will no longer be making that culture's food exactly; it's simply not physically possible unless every single ingredient has come from the source. But neither is he or she necessarily trying to assimilate the food into the melting-pot, making a version meant to appeal to everyone. That's not pssible, either. Steve, I don't believe people come here IN ORDER TO assimilate; some never do. I for one am grateful that even those who do assimilate still miss the foods of the "old country" enough to make it profitable enough for someone to make as close an approximation as possible. And that is what makes for "New Yorkan" or "Chicagoan" or "Podunkan" cuisine.

Rachel -- and anyone else looking for recipe ideas: Take a look at Joyce Goldstein's books, especially Cucina Ebraica and Sephardic Flavors. The first is Italian; the second more generally Mediterranean. A couple of years ago I parceled out recipes from Cucina Ebraica to relatives of varying skill levels -- the results were excellent. At that same seder I was going to serve pan-fried duck (incredibly easy and wonderful; it steams itself and all the fat gets rendered out), but my supermarket tried to pawn off some rotten birds on me. So I ended up making a Persian fesanjon -- stewed duck and meatballs in a pomegranate-based sauce. In 1990 we went to a seder at the home of an Israeli family in Los Angeles. They served some rice dishes, which I was not at all used to. And roast leg of lamb, ditto. The lamb was probably not kosher, but that didn't bother me.

I think those are two different sandwiches. In With Bold Knife and Fork, she describes a Railroad Sandwich: a hollowed-out loaf of French bread spread generously with butter and (optionally) some dijon mustard, and filled with sliced boiled ham. The whole is wrapped loosely in plastic, or foil, or waxed paper, and then in a towel. But I believe there was also a sandwich of fried egg on white bread, wrapped in waxed paper and taken on hikes or to the beach when she was very young. That one I have not found yet.

Thanks for the discourse on how reviews are researched. Now, back to my original question: do you think it's fair to a restaurant to critique on the basis of only one service? And, by extension: is it fair to critique the basis of only one visit? How might a reviewer get around that limitation?

We went back to Thalassa last night. The food was still wonderful, although the service was a bit strange. This time for apps we had the scallops wrapped in kataifi, sauced with sheeps-milk butter, lemon, capers, and the grilled quail. The scallops were just barely cooked, and extremely sweet; sauce was tangy and made a great contrast. I wasn't thrilled with the kataifi part -- it seemed a little soggy and greasy to me -- but He Who Only Eats loved it. The quail, four tiny halves, were the ultimate in plainness -- just brushed with olive oil and grilled, served over finely shredded cabbage dressed very lightly with oil and lemon juice, with some roasted red peppers and roasted eggplant puree. They were wonderful: juicy, flavorful, and refreshingly simple. Part of the bizarre service: AFTER our apps, we were presented with an amuse of fried smelts -- really itty bitty fish, at most 2 inches long head to tail, floured and deep-fried. Yummy, if at a strange point in the meal. Oh, btw: the white peasant-style and dark olive-and-herb breads were both excellent. Mushy but tasty olives alongside. We shared a main of Nova Scotia lobster yuvetsi: small and large chunks of lobster in a creamy tomato sauce with tiny squares of pasta mixed in. The pasta reminded me of Jewish "farfel" noodles. The sauce tasted more of lobster than of tomato or anything else, but overall the balance was great. The lobster meat itself -- a large chunk of tail, one claw, and lots of smaller bits -- was some of the sweetest we've ever had, and cooked just right. The dish was garnished with a half-lobster shell minus the claw; the meat had been removed from the tail, so we only got to play with four huge swimmerettes and the half of the body that was still in the shell. Messy, messy -- and delicious. (We were given hot wet napkins, nicely presented, with which to clean up afterwards.) After that, we ordered 2 salads: one of "wild greens" (= mesclun mix) with a sheep's milk cheese, and arugula with a parmesan-type. The sheep cheese was soooooo sweet; unfortunately the dressing was too sharp, too peppery, and too much, overshadowing the cheese. The other salad was fine. Service note: when the runner brought the salads, he also brought . . . another dish of the fried smelts. I guess they're not used to tables ordering salad AFTER the mains. With all this, we had a bottle of Tsantalis (winery) Naousa (appelation) Epilegmenos ("reserve") 1995 from Halkidiki, made from the xynomavro grape. Very reminiscent of a light pinot noir -- lots of cherry, spice, and it really opened up as the meal went on. Yummy: our highest encomium for wine Later the wine director gave us a taste of another Tsantalis wine from the same grape, different area, different year (1999), that was nowhere near as good. Dessert: galactabouriko filled with a lemon custard and served with "pergamont" (= bergamot?) sorbet and garnished with a slice of Granny Smith apple and a couple of coulis. A little soggy for me, but the contrast of citrus flavors was excellent. No decaf Greek coffee for HWOE but he really enjoyed the decaf espresso. A good-size crowd mostly filled the main dining room; a few tables were seated downstairs. The chatter sometimes covered the music, but was never annoyingly loud.

On the Kinkead's thread (DC board), Steve Klc points out that restaurants are generally rated on the basis of dinner -- that's the service given more scrutiny -- sometimes the ONLY scrutiny, and often the only one mentioned in write-ups. If a restaurant serves other dayparts -- whether breakfast, lunch, late-night, or something in between -- do you think those other meals should be included in the consideration, and mentioned in reviews? To start off the discussion: I do, because they are definitely part of the restaurant's OVERALL performance and may be distinctly different (plus OR minus) from dinner.

Yup. Just as much as Katz's and DiFara's and Babbo and Prune and Gascogne and . . . (you get the idea) Eff the "melting pot." That way lies blandness. What I think of as "New Yorkan cuisine" is not authentic from-somewhere-else, nor homogenized a-little-from-here-and-a-little-from-there. It's just plain tasty food, all different kinds and distinct nationalities side by side (sort of) and adapting while maintaining their basic character. Is that what you mean, lissome?

Jinmyo, that sounds wonderful. But I adore steak tartare, so I've got to look for yuke! Raw beef, mmmmmmmmmm

Thank you. I think the proper word is "abomination."

Yvonne, I very much doubt you would. How can I say this? My mother-in-law's standard lunch is a sandwich of no-salt deli turkey breast and Alpine Lace, on supermarket challah. At least she uses Grey Poupon. Other wise, she has no taste whatsoever.

Tuesday: Cast-Iron-Pan-Grilled Rib steak rubbed with olive oil and herbs; couscous with feta; salad with balsamic vinaigrette. Wednesday: Roasted D'Artagnan Organic Chicken basted with butter, chipotle paste, lime juice, and Mexican oregano; Posole and corn kernels (both canned ) heated in chicken jus; salad of the usual suspects. Thursday, in honor of Torakris's birthday (although I didn't know until later): Pork Tonkatsu (Kikkoman sauce), steamed white rice, stir-fried shiitakes and bok choy with ginger, garlic, soy, and a touch of red pepper flakes, more g-d salad. At least I don't have to make the salad every night.

We tried the Great Dane and were similarly disappointed. However, the Veggie Good Dog (smoked tofu dog, red pepper relish, feta) was surprisingly tasty -- better than most supermarket meat dogs, which it resembles in texture. The haricots frites were good, since I never expected them to be crisp like real frites, anyway; a bit greasy though, especially with the tasty garlic herb butter.

Fine Cooking had a piece sometime ago on the relative merits of waxy versus starchy versus "all purpose" potatoes for mashing. (Unfortunately, the clipping is waiting with a zillion others for me to file ) What I can remember is that waxy give you a smoother puree and starchy give you a fluffier one. I forget what AP do. Whenever I had to make the mashed potatoes at a restaurant, it was: peeled baking potatoes (starchy), boiled, dried in the oven, and passed through a food mill/mouli, then mixed with butter, sour cream, etc. Packed into a bain marie, covered with buttered paper, kept warm for service, but heated to serving temperature a la minute. Sometimes, when the bain was kept on the shelf over the burners, the potatoes would rise in a column and push up over the top.

BigBear, you did it again! I completely concur on the horribleness of "fat-free" -- for foods that are supposed to have fat in them. The only foods I've ever thrown out that were not spoiled were "fat-free cream cheese" and Snackwell's fudge cookies All that extra sugar and gunk and goo. Gah. But I wouldn't go so far as to ban them. I just feel very, very sorry for the folks who waste their money on them. (Yes, this is definitely a snobby thread. )

Please, please discuss further.

WOW! This thread has given me an idea for whenever I finally re-do my kitchen: a fridge just for my condiments. Of course, it will probably be the size of most normal people's normal refrigerators. Then I'll just need a small one for the milk, juice, eggs, etc. (we don't eat much cheese ). Does anyone know if it might be any spices that would be bad to store in the fridge (even assuming they were well-sealed from the moisture)?

Oh, I LOVED my Pyrex double-boilers! The only d-b in which you can always see the water level. I've gone through at least 2. Once the top pot went when I cooked oatmeal in it directly over the flame, and then thought I could just put it over the boiling water in the bottom to keep warm. Wrong. All the other tops and bottoms broke from getting smacked too hard against things like the floor. fimbul -- you're very welcome. It's been a rough few days here, too.

That's only because in the early days they broke too many wine glasses, so as a species they've been banned. However, JG has been known to make an exception for ones with particularly dexterous flippers and lower-than-normal squeals.

What's your favorite spice/herb/salsa/sauce/dressing/oil/prepared bottled sauce/flavoring agent that you automatically reach for, if you're in a pinch? Fish Sauce, it adds that indefinable je ne sais quoi (not to mention salt) Is it homemade or jarred or bottled? Whaddyu, crazy? Fresh and natural or artificial and full of fake flavors (but good)? Artificial can't be good; not since Wishbone discontinued Green Goddess Mrs. Dash or Emeril's Essence? Sorry, we haven't been introduced Newman's Own or Wishbone dressing? Depends on which I have a coupon for; but only use it as a marinade Sesame, peanut, grapeseed or EVOO? There are no absolutes in cooking. (I figure Plotnicki won't read this thread.) Mirin or balsamic vinegar? See immediately above What are your spending habits when it comes to condiments? Do you make your own in preference to commercially made or store produced ones? I make my own salsa verde -- both Mexican and Italian; almost everything else I buy. I am not ashamed of that: what fun would life be without 20 bottles of hot sauce, 5 nationalities of chili paste, 3 mustards, 5 vinegars, and multiple olives, pickles, etc. ? Would you consider a giftbasket of sauces and oils for a Christmas gift to someone? I don't know anyone else that intimately -- not even He Who Only Eats