Suzanne F

We use it here in NYC, and sometimes while travelling. I used to check who was on their list, but now it's just lagniappe to get the refund from a place we wanted to eat at anyway. Anything over the fee makes it worth it. Most of their NYC restaurants are from somewhat above middle-of-the-road to way below (although for a brief, memorable period, Le Bernardin was in -- when they redecorated, I think). Idine sends out a national listing every few months -- just got one to cover February to April. Their system works all right -- we've never had to fight them over a refund we expected. And since they've gone to "registered credit cards" (up to three) instead of their own, it's very easy. But if we ever stopped getting more back over the course of a year than the fee we're charged, I'd drop it.

Taking it a bit further -- it's the COMPLEXITY of the flavors. Not just one or two notes, but a whole chord.

Very artistic and tasty, and very very expensive (by my standards).

I hope having the "answers" doesn't end the literary supplement! More, please.

Sure, you can do it on the stove top -- you just have to be more vigilant, checking it to make sure the liquid is all right, and that nothing is sticking. How big are the pieces of meat? Will they all fit in the pyrex with a good amount of vegs and liquid (not necessarily to cover, but to come pretty far up). If the pyrex is roomy enough so that the food won't boil over, and you can cover it tightly, it too would work. In that case, though, you might want to lower the oven temp. by 25ºF, because of the glass's heat conductivity. Hey, it's just a stew! And you know how adaptable stews are.

I want to thank you first for joining us. Second, for turning me on to the delights of banh mi and chicken skin po' boys. You practice serious food scholarship -- on "humble" dishes, in a non-academic way. Do you have any interest in "haute cuisine" and its attending debates (such as those on this site)? If you were to focus on one element or dish of haute cuisine, what might it be?

Do they automatically tell you which oysters, clams, shrimp, and crab they have, or do you have to ask? And do they have a rotating list of tartines? In any case, thank you for posting.

Now THAT is more than likely! Especially since you followed the directions (closely enough) as stated. What can happen in restaurant kitchens is that the "official" recipe gets lost and then recreated from (imperfect) memory; or someone makes a change that becomes part of common practice without becoming part of the official recipe. Or field conditions change -- maybe a particular brand of ingredient drops off the market, and the substitute just doesn't perform the same way. And the home cook might use an entirely different set of brands and equipment -- all of which perform differently from those at the source. These are only a few reasons why a "restaurant" recipe doesn't yield the same result at home that one gets at the source. What got my back up here was the almost immediate assumption that the recipe was "erroneous" -- and by extension that the source was somehow guilty of obfuscation or worse. Also that people were so willing to suggest making substantial changes, without knowing all the circumstances of the experience. Bad science. That's the way!

Finally made it to F&B today. Great Dane was great, except for ... the hot dog. Good snap, but not enough flavor to stand up to everything else -- maybe because it's so skinny? Veggie Good Dog was surprisingly good -- tasted and chewed like a decent supermarket-brand dog; I never would have thought "tofu." Excellent red pepper salad, but kind of skimpy on the feta, and they left off any other salad. Frite were crisp and greaseless (but are they brought in frozen? they had that texture). The biggest hits were the "haricots frites" with garlic herb butter (a LOT) and the lemonade.

Helena, I still wash out my plastic bags (and I've never been to Russia). BTW: may I expand this thread to other containers as well? The small plastic cups from dried mushrooms; plastic quarts from sherbet; the wonderful containers that Athenos feta comes in (terrible feta, but worth it just for the container) -- if it makes it through a dishwasher cycle, it's in use until it falls out of the freezer and smashes. Watch out, though, Maggie. I remember a TV show years ago in which the cash taken in a robbery was stashed with frozen spinach -- and someone then made cream-of-spinach soup. And don't forget the original "Ocean's 11" -- "The deceased is being cremated."

Thanks. And thanks for the link. (I missed it originally ) Excellent discussion, Really Nice!

It's impossible to improve on what Jinmyo suggests, but ... if you like it custardy, add a couple of well-beaten eggs to the liquid, and maybe a little cream. (I like puffy puddings.)

Just because it didn't come out the way you expected, that does not mean that the recipe is wrong (sorry, D the C, and everyone else who has been so quick to fault the recipe). It is always possible that the recipe doesn't specify the method to use -- but that is not a mortal sin. It just means you have to keep trying different methods of mixing batters until you find the one they used. Before you start futzing around with the proportions of the recipe, how about trying different a method from the one you used? Did you beat a lot of air into it (which it sounds like you did)? Then don't, this time. Did you use the creaming method last time? Then try the two-stage method, or flour-batter method. Forgive me, but you still haven't said HOW you made it. Think about that before you start screwing around with the recipe. Right now, the proportions of ingredients as you describe them should work. If you add more egg whites, you will have a denser, dryer cake, closer to a cellulose sponge. Adding more yolks will increase the emulsifiers, which you would have to do if you switch to oil. Once you start changing proportions, you change the chemistry and have a COMPLETELY different cake.

You're able to throw away edible food, just because it's not what you expected? (Wish I could, sometimes)

Does anyone else agree that mushrooms are one of the vegetable equivalents of bacon -- that is, adding them makes a good dish better? (Provided, of course, that you like mushrooms in the first place )

Ah, the infamous paprika pests! As far as I know, the only way to get rid of them is to not bring them into the house in the first place. Buy only from places that are likely to have vetted the stuff first, like Penzey's or one of the other big spice purveyors. Funny you should mention maggots -- I was just thinking about the myth of spontaneous generation this morning in the shower, don't know why. Anyway: maggots are fly larvae. They get into/onto meat (and whatever else they infest) when flies land on it and lay their eggs. (The flies also probably regurgitate onto the meat, but that's a different disgusting story.) I also pour gook down the toilet (e.g., moldy salsa), as long as there are no chunks big enough to clog the pipes. As Mikey said, eventually the organic matter gets separated out and treated -- and unless that program has been cut as well, the sludge is sold for fertilizer. (If there are chunks, they go into the garbage can after the liquid is strained down the drain.) NOTE to Mikey: only a few parts of NYC are allowed to have garbage disposals.

Faux pulled-pork on buttermilk biscuits (simmered country ribs in spiced chix stock until done, then shredded the meat and reduced the stock; sauced with a combination of bottled stuff and the stock) Turnip greens cooked in the remainder of the stock, with scallion and garlic Macaroni and cheese (frozen, from Seeds of Change: DON'T BOTHER trying it -- the mac had good texture, but very thin sauce with NO FLAVOR) Pickled onions (sliced white onions in white vinegar/salt/sugar brine with oregano and allspice berries) Salad with balsamic vinaigrette Beer

Robin Meredith, Beachfan, and David De Silva have it right: have fun. Keep an open mind, as well as an open palate and nose. Don't feel you have to talk "wine-speak" -- but DO comment about your reactions, in your own way -- you might be surprised how accurate you'll be. When you like something, think about WHY you like it; ditto when you don't -- all in your own terms. Assume that the other people there also want to learn, and probably also don't want to be thought idiots -- if you are willing to ask your questions, you'll allow EVERYONE to learn. This isn't about what they think about you, it's about what can you learn. Be brave. Have fun. And remember that this is one learning experience that MUST be repeated over and over and over again. Because you'll never learn it all, but it sure is fun trying!

Ah, Stroud's -- the ne plus ultra of fried chicken (don't hit me, I've never been to Charles's Southern Kitchen )

Favorites I have not been able to find in a while: Sontava Batten Island (some versions not all that hot, but very tasty) Trinidad (ditto) Lingham's Chilli Sauce (very very sweet, but with a nice burn) A brand I will never have to replenish, because I will never use up my one bottle: Jamaican Hellfire Doc's Special. Their 2 in 1 Hot sauce is pretty tasty, though.

Ah, Tommy -- you're a man after my own heart! I left the oven on all night, too. But in my case, it was loaded with a casserole of short ribs, another of veal stew, a third with lamb shanks. I can testify that if you soak it long enough, LeCreuset will clean up from just about ANYTHING burnt on.

The recipe in Betty Crocker's Cookbook (1969) is similar, but has different amounts of the ingredients (and neither coffee nor raisins, which I suspect are Claire's additions). The amounts are one-and-a-half times Claire's and my mother's by volume or count, which makes for different proportions by weight. I dare not say that's where my mother got it, since the only cookbooks she had at the time were a 1945 edition of The Settlement Cookbook, Leah Leonard's 1956 Jewish Cookery, and Mastering the Art of French Cooking. Although it is possible one of her sisters got it from an earlier edition of Betty -- since the recipe went around the family long before 1969.

This is almost identical to a "Sour Cream Coffee Cake" my mother used to make. Hers had no coffee, and only chopped nuts and cinnamon in the filling (and sprinkled on top). And it had 1 1/2 tsp of baking powder instead of 1, plus 1/2 tsp of salt. She mixed it by hand, and baked it in a loaf pan. The cake was very dense and moist. One of the best things she baked. She probably got the recipe sometime in the 1960s, I don't know where from though. Sounds like you beat your eggs a lot more than they do (or than she did); that would account for your fluffier texture and partly for the lighter color. You incorporated more air into the batter than they do. Maybe you need to go low-tech: don't use an electric mixer: just cream the butter and sugar, mix in the eggs, sift together the flour and leaveners and stir them in alternating with the sour cream, coffee, and vanilla. No beating. Another color factor is the coffee: is it possible that they used a darker brew than you did? And this is a wild guess, but maybe they used darker brown sugar than you did? I would not screw around with the current proportions. (Especially since I know from experience that the recipe CAN make a dense, moist cake.) Shirley Corriher had a piece in Fine Cooking about ratios for successful cake-making. Basically, she said there are three possibilities for successful high-ratio cakes (in which there is more sugar than flour, by weight): 1. Sugar should weigh the same as, or slightly more than, the flour. 2. The eggs should weigh the same as, or slightly more than, the fat. 3. Liquid (including the eggs) should weigh the same as, or more than, the sugar. This recipe conforms to those ratios. The article is here.

Total, by many miles. Then Brown Cow. Nothing with pectin or any other gunk (however "natural") for us. Well, in truth, I always get Axelrod Non-Fat; I just prefer the two listed above. But He Who Only Eats wants fat-free, and Axelrod's is the tangiest. (Kinda chalky, though ) I also used to make my own -- but the commercial stuff keeps better.

Between last night and tonight, I broke one of my cardinal rules: repeated a major component. In this case, (rehydrated) dried porcini and regular mushrooms plus their soaking liquids, and pasta. Last night: cheese tortellini (bought) with mushroom sauce and peas, salad, and Standing Stone Pinnacle red wine. Tonight: chicken cacciatore with cavatappi, salad, Schneider Chardonnay. He Who Only Eats (aka He Who LOVES Mushrooms) was gracious enough to forgive me. Hope you feel better, Kristin.