Suzanne F

It's a good thing I DON'T have a camera, because last night's creation turned into a cremation. It was supposed to be trout roasted on a mix of fennel and celery, but the veg got a bit, um, over-roasted. At least they managed to give up some of their flavor to the fish before they gave up their lives to the oven. It's a little hard to get over, though, because it would have been so good: in addition to the chopped fennel and celery, I bumped up the flavor with crushed fennel seeds and homemade celery salt (dried leaves crushed with sea salt), a thinly sliced shallot, and a splash of Paumanok Festival Chardonnay. Well, anyway, the trout stayed moist and delicious. And the side dish didn't come out quite as planned: roasted garlic-potato-Brussels sprout spaetzl. The batter was still a bit too soft, so they glommed together after boiling. Tasted great, though. (HWOE said he really like the "spaetzl pudding." As always, the meal was accompanied by the ubiquitous HWOE-made green salad (only leaves) with olive oil and herb vinegar. This time I asked him to use tarragon, to make up for the loss of the fennel.

I second what ludja said about going ahead and using the panko for your schnitzel. After all, panko IS (are?) unflavored bread crumbs, just a special fluffy kind.

The tonkatsu thread on the Japan board has a lot of information, but not recipes. Maybe some of the links in that thread give you tonkatsu recipes?

Having just pulled out my copy of Time-Life's The Cooking of Vienna's Empire for another thread, I looked up schnitzel. No crumbs at all! No egg coating! Nothing but a light coating of flour. Go with Gifted Gourmet and Rachel said. Use the crumbs (my 2 cents is unflavored). And don't trust everything you read. edit to add: Rachel, according to Shizuo Tsuji in Japanese Cooking, A Simple Art, And of course the accompaniments are different: shredded raw green cabbage (as opposed to red), and that thick, sweetish sauce. So you are on the right track.

Feature on Chile Queens this morning was excellent! Brought together food, culture, history -- all the elements that make me love food AND public radio!

Stone: If you mean freeze it to store, yes, but not for long. It's a very delicate flavor, so don't expect to keep it from one tomato season to the next. It's also very impressionable, so you would have to keep it super-well wrapped for it to not pick up any other flavors. Carlovksi: You probably could cook rice in tomato water, but again, you might lose the delicate flavor from the long heating. This is just a guess, though. I do know that to make the tomato-water gelee, we added the flavoring agents, heated it to boiling, and then removed it from the heat immediately. Gelatine was mixed into the strained water while the water was still warm. Ludja: As for gelatine in general, I don't really have much experience with it. I used sheet in the gelee because that's what my chef told me to use. But from my limited experience, sheet does give a more tender gel than powdered, and dissolves more completely without imparting any flavor (as powdered does). If you use gelatine a lot, it is IMO the way to go. And buy it by the box from a food- or cake-supply store, not from the local gourmet store; the price differential is huge. Fiftydollars: Yeah, the idea is a fine, closely woven cloth filter. Just no fabric softener.

rlibkind's directions are correct, as far as they go. But actually you have to strain it several times, and through many more layers of cheesecloth (or through cotton or linen napkins). I used to make it for Gary Robins (now at The Biltmore Room) for his amuse of tomato water-lemongrass gelee with creme fraiche and caviar. Take a bunch of ripe-to-overripe tomatoes -- including the trimmings from concasse, the seeds and juice and skin from peeled, seeded tomatoes, any leftover bits, as long as they are not moldy or bruised. Puree in the food processor with a little salt. Strain through cloth several times, including by leaving the mass to drip overnight in the refrigerator. As rlibkind says, do NOT squeeze, or you will get particles. and if you do use it to make a gelee, use sheet gelatin, not powdered; it will be absolutely clear, and requires less heating to dissolve after it's bloomed.

Does the ethylene gas have any other effect, similar to making carrots taste bitter?

Wow, and I thought I was well-organized! It's all I can do to keep my list of freezer-and-fridge contents, and my calendar with what we had for dinner, both up to date! What great ideas from all.

Ah. Sounds better than the street-corner candied nuts, for sure. (As an aside, don't you wonder if those vendors are coating the insides of their lungs with caramel??? )

Muffin pan!! Brilliant!!! I just bought a nonstick mini-muffin pan, and could probably rig something with it in a roasting pan on top of the stove to use as a steamer first. Then just rub each piece with a bit of oil and put it in a hot oven to crisp the outsides. And that way, make 24 pieces at a time instead of only 7. Thank you thank you thank you. Edited to add: http://food.sify.com/ does have several recipes for rawa idli and rawa paniyaram. And lots of other variations, too.

And this other dish you mention is . . . ???? Please explain.

Ah yes, looking back at your post, I see that you didn't. Well, they were unusual, and a treat: is what I said about them on the Devi thread. They are smaller than the pyramid of kulfi, and come six to an order, sitting on top of a mound of coconut chutney. Just lovely!

Thanks, Peppertrail. I looked up recipes for paniyaram on food.sify.com (formerly Bawarchi), and found one that calls for idli batter as a base, to be cooked in a tin with seven holes -- just like my Danish-style pan. So I just might be able to do it. BTW: I was really surprised by the idli at Devi -- crunchy on the outside, soft on the inside. That's unusual, isn't it, to treat them that way?

I have a question about idli-making: I recently bought a cast-iron Aebleskiver pan -- it's actually for making little round puffy Danish donut-type thingies. But I'm thinking that it might work for idli, although not necessarily for steaming them (cast-iron, and all that). I'm having a look at the idli recipes and wonder if they can be fried or baked -- is that possible, or anathema to good South Indian cooks? Is the essence of idli that they are steamed? (In which case I'm out of luck, I guess. ) On the other hand: can I use an American egg-poacher to steam them?

Cupcake lovers: be on the look-out for Hey There, Cupcake! by Clare Crespo, ISBN 0-9717935-6-5. It should be out soon, if it isn't already. I can't vouch for the quality of the recipes -- didn't have to test any -- but the decorating ideas are adorable.

deleted by SF; not about food

No, this is not a report on what to do while your shrink is on vacation, although now that I think of that, a meal here could go far in making you feel pretty mellow. Bond Girl and I had dinner there last night, and without exception, every dish was excellent. Service was very attentive and helpful, and probably not just because we busted the waiter's chops asking questions like "Is the skate today's?" The walls in the back room where we sat under a full-room-size skylight are exposed brick, and the front room is highlighted by an open wood-burning oven. Perfect as the weather gets cold. The only problem with the ambience --no, not music, nor any other extraneous loud noise (if you've ever spent time with Bond Girl, you know she can be rather quiet, but we never had to shout at each other) -- is that the tables are small and close together. Next to us, three people were crammed into a two-top, and we all could have eaten off each others' plates. Not that I would have minded tasting their food. Ours was excellent. We started off with the grilled octopus (one of my "gold standard" dishes) and the "Coco Catalana" -- the octopus tentacles very tender, just crisp at the ends, the right degree of smokiness, and well-complemented by chickpeas, pickled red onion rings and the slightest kick of red pepper flakes. The Coco turned out to be a six-inch-diameter flatbread topped with tomato confit, spinach, and quartered artichoke hearts, with a sprinkling of plumped currants and pine nuts. Just enough char on the bread and the vegs, and the flavors all worked very well together. Entrees: the aforementioned skate (yes, it had indeed come in that morning) and a roasted orata. The skate was done classically Grenobloise, with brown butter, lemon, and capers, and came with haricots verts. It was one of the best I've tasted -- a very plump piece, sauteed to a lovely gold (wonder if they do the milk-and-Wondra dip that Artisanal uses?), sweet against the tart/salty/nutty flavors. The orata, roasted whole, was perfectly cooked in the oven -- crisp skin, soft flesh. The whole olives that topped it were rather superfluous, though (and please do NOT serve them that way with the pits still in them). The fish itself was so good that I was almost done before I remembered the sauce that came with it in a tiny pitcher -- oil and dried Sicilian oregano -- unnecessary for moisture but a good flavor boost. (When we asked the waiter about it at first, he generously offered to fillet it for us, since Bond Girl was not thrilled with having to do so. He probably would have done a better job than I did, but it's the thought that counts.) One more thing: the seasoning was dead on, neither too much nor too little salt. Rare to find that these days. In his $25 and Under review, Asimov complained lightly about the waiters pushing the sides; ours had no chance, because we jumped to order some: grilled asparagus, and a dish of green and yellow beans topped with tomato and crumbs (also from the oven). The asparagus, like everything else grilled/roasted, had just the right amount of smoky flavor to contrast their sweetness (normally I would not order asparagus at this time of year, but these were sooooooo good.) The beans in the Diavola were cooked soft and sweet under the crunchy top, making for contrasts in both texture and flavor. Don't order this if you like crunchy green beans, but do if you like well-flavored food. In the interests of research , we each ordered a dessert. Profiteroles for Bond Girl, a plum galette for me. The profiteroles were filled with gelato tasting of just cream and vanilla (I assume from Il Laboratorio di Gelato, listed as a source); while we agreed that we prefer vanilla ice cream with eggs, this was good, and balanced with the chocolate sauce (and ?creme anglaise underneath?). The galette had a very buttery cookie crust sprinkled with crunchy sugar, and the plums were nicely tart, but the overall effect was that it was slightly underbaked, and so a bit pasty inside. Good flavor, though. Wine: we both prefer reds -- yes, even with fish -- and at first took the suggestion of a Mercurey over a Fleurie. But they were out of both, so we ended up with a 2001 Morgon Potel-Aviron, which worked just fine. Another example of the intelligent service. A few more random notes: August does not take reservations, but there is a tiny area inside opposite the bar with a good view of the oven and a couple of tables at which to have a glass of wine while waiting. We both though the prices very reasonable: all that food, plus a coffee and an espresso, came to $131 before tax and tip (oops, just noticed they forgot to charge us for our pre-dinner glasses of Dolcetto d'Alba and Beaumes-de-Venise ) The menu is not large -- and, hey, the two cooking areas put together are only about the size of my bathroom -- but it works. We both definitely want to go back. August, 359 Bleecker at Charles. Thank you to the host who put this in its rightful place; oddly enough, when I did a search for August, this thread did not show up, or if it did, it was way down on the list. Maybe I need to play with the search function more?

Yeah, Henry IS cute, but I'd rather just have his burgers and buns. Do you know if they do all their own breads in-house? I always thought they got them from some place like Orwashers. Their standard bread basket has some real NY classics, like salt sticks and onion pockets. I could live on that bread basket all by itself.

Congratulations, Ms. Purvis! At least you have a very good reason to explain your absence from these parts.

When there are no decent tomatoes to be had for homemade salsa, their Pico de gallo is decent. And I like their salsitas -- just bought their ancho version, which is rather different from what I'm used to seeing.

I have always had pretty good meals there (it's in my neighborhood). Whole grilled fish are always excellent, and steaks are good. Burgers, too, if you like really BIG burgers -- although I'm not sure they do them at dinner. I usually stick to simple stuff there, just because they do that well and I've never felt the need to go for more complicated dishes. I don't know where you will exit from the Holland Tunnel, but it's somewhat more than 5 blocks: it's on Duane Street between Church and West Broadway. And don't be surprised if there are people picketing outside, because the folks who live upstairs in the building are upset that Henry Meer is trying to force them out of their homes. (Let me know if you want more of the history of the space; I've been going to restaurants there for about 15 to 20 years, even before it was City Hall.)

Cakewalk and GG, thank you both for sharing your stories. And sources.

If it's used at all in Japanese food, you might try Sunrise Market. A branch opened recently on Broome Street in Soho, and they've got all kinds of wonderful stuff.

It's served with a TOPPING??? Thirty years ago, eating it in African-American diaspora places in Harlem (125th Street), I never saw it as anything but layers of pudding, banana slices, and vanilla wafers.