Suzanne F

You did just fine, Jordan :pat on the hand: (Since I pretty much agree with your selections and comment, of course I'll say that.) And Happy Birthday! Wow, what was it like studying with Diana Kennedy?

Oh, Wilfrid, just because I looked up the specifics... sorry, that's just the anal-retentive obsessive-compulsive kind of girl I am. But if it's okay with Yvonne, I'll pass the dram along to you -- especially since I can't go tonight. Besides, too many people have been too angry here lately, and I don't want anybody mad at me. Anyway, Toby's suggestion makes sense. Especially since batonnet means "little baton." So perhaps it would be cut something like 1/2" X 1/2" by 2 - 3" -- bigger cuts for those hearty American appetites. All the confusion could just have been because of a typo. Even if Chef Bourdain is a good writer, that doesn't mean he's any good as a typist, or speller. (Remember the bit in "2000-Year-Old Man?" -- "Shakespeare? Naw, he was a crummy writer; you couldn't read his handwriting ... A great playwright, yes, but a lousy writer.")

I can help you a little: "GPOD" is the trade name for Idaho russets. "70" refers to the size: these would have a count of 70 potatoes in a 50# case, so each one weighs approx. 11 to 13 oz (300 - 320 g). "Baron" I can't help you with; it was unknown to me. Sorry "Batonnet" is a classic cut: 1/4 " X 1/4 " X 2 to 3" -- typical "french fry" cut (BTW: the CIA says 2 to 2-1/2") Hope this helps you. Edit: Wilfrid, you type faster than I do!!!! But Yvonne is the final arbiter of who won.

American food, like many other aspects of American culture, has benefited greatly from conflict elsewhere in the world: people forced to leave their homes who then come here, and/or Americans discovering new foods while "over there." Should we feel guilty? Or just eat and enjoy?

Well, either I was told wrong, or since I heard that it's been reaccepted into the polite world, or ... Actually, I'm glad to hear that. My mother used talk about how good it was, but I never got to try it. Now I can! Thanks.

Oh. Thanks for the explanation. Edit: of Basildog's character and motives, that is, not his size. I'm still learning who's who here.

Just to let Wilfrid and others in NYC know: another source for "PIG UTERI FRESH" (as the label reads) and other such stuff is: Hong Kong Supermarket, at the corner of East Broadway and Allen Street. Great selection of oddments, fresh and dried, animal and vegetable (and ???). And although this probably should be posted in the thread on closed restaurants, How's Bayou, the first restaurant where The Harrison is now, used to do the most delicious fried chicken livers -- whole, dipped in fried-chicken batter, served with cream gravy. I miss them so much. I've also been told that lung cannot legally be sold. Or spleen (aka miltz, aka focaccia). However, I'm sure that for a price . . . something could be arranged somewhere. Just like ortolans.

Basildog -- I'm just enough of a Luddite to think it's not the best idea to have a webcam in your kitchen. A Luddite, and a line cook. But maybe you have good reasons. Why would you want to? To satisfy the Kitchen Confidential-reading voyeurs? To show off your spotless premises where everything is done according to Escoffierean standards? To make pop stars of the kitchen crew? To shame your kitchen crew into making and keeping the premises spotless, and into sticking to standards? Why?

Fat Guy, I've spent a hefty portion of my life in or near academia and academicians -- almost 40 years. In my observations, there is barely one single square inch of that arena that is NOT 100% politicized. So food studies departments are neither more nor less politicized than history, anthropology, physics, English, or any other departments. All academic environments can be hotbeds of navel-gazing and time-wasting, super-esoteric "research." So, for that matter, can the popular media and Internet bulletin boards. SO WHAT? What harm is being done? Who is being hurt? Sure, people who write theses about the significance of the anchovy in the preparation of garum in ancient Rome are not researching how to counteract generations of overuse of chemical pesticides. Would they ever? Would you? (I'm not saying that to be combative; I just prefer to let benign nonsense continue -- especially since I know I'm powerless to stop it.) I guess from what you've said that you have no idea about the content and importance of Marion Nestle's Food Politics. I heartily suggest you read it; it is as far from standardless, unhelpful time-wasting as one can imagine. Does Mark Kurlansky ever look in here? I'd be interested in hearing his reaction to this debate. After all, if one wanted to be ridiculous, one could refer to his books as "grandiose dissertations on the social history of the ..." codfish and the salt crystal. I would not, though.

New York University has, within its School of Education, a Department of Nutrition and Food Studies, chaired by Dr. Marion Nestle (whose book Food Politics came out recently). These folks are scientists and researchers, no less than Adam Balic. Don't worry, though, they don't want to take away all our fun.

I think it was called ... B. E. D. No, really. And since when does BLLLLEEEEEHHHHHHHHH need translation???

Oh -- you mean like the time I was fixing a big breakfast on Sunday and poured the grease from the pan of bacon into the coffee grounds in the French press pot? Or the time I knocked the used grounds from the press into the toilet, so hard that half the glass canister ended up in the bowl? Or the time I didn't wait long enough after I turned off the buffalo chopper for the blades to stop, before I reached in? (Still have my thumb, though; boy, was I lucky!)

I'm not saying this is a GOOD method, but it's easy when you've got a whole case to peel: Prep guys at work would smash up the heads to separate the cloves, then put all the cloves in a bucket with hot water. By the time the water was cold, the skins would just slip off.

You mean because they're serrated? There ARE gizmos available -- I've never tried them. (I was about to buy one from Chowhound when we had something of a falling-out, so I didn't.) Maybe others have, though.

Got hit on the top of the head a lot as a child by my mother while watching her cook. Too bad she wasn't a very good cook. Liked to eat, though, so when I first had to feed myself, bought a copy of Fanny Farmer. It was like a first taste of crack, I presume. Anyway, by the time I reached my (supposedly) last year of college, I had joined a Book-of-the-Month-Club type cook book club. Kept reading, kept eating, kept playing. Finally by 1995, decided I might as well try to make a living at it: went to restaurant school, learned all sorts of good stuff (and trucs), and started doing it professionally. Learned more trucs, but still have not made a "living" at it. BTW: by now, I have over 500 cookbooks, but it's still not enough. Edit after reading some previous posts: One more thing: everyone in my all-girls high school applied for the Betty Crocker Future ... stuff. No one from my class got one. However, we have many many PhDs, MDs, MBAs, JDs, CEOs, CFOs, and such.

What a great idea -- actually trying out knives! However, unless you have far more money than you will ever need, do not actually BUY at Sur la table. To me, they are like Tiffany: beautiful stuff, great to look at, but what I really need I can get at Michael C. Fina -- or in this case, Broadway Panhandler or online. Having spent far too long on garde manger, I can tell you what has worked for me to make croutons: not Wusthof. I too thought it would the THE knife, but it isn't. What has worked best for me is a Forschner. Held up over many years and many hundreds of baguettes. I also very much like slicers by Sanelli. (And for chef knives, my fave is Messermeister.) Since I don't know where you are, after you play at SLT, try:Knife Merchant or Broadway Panhandler to actually buy. Both have great products and very reasonable prices.

Robert Ruark, who was not known for children's books -- I think he wrote Uhuru and a bunch of adventures -- wrote a memoir of his childhood that I remember reading many, many years ago. It was called something like The Old Man and the Boy and had the most wonderful descriptions of holiday meals on a farm.

Howie -- yes, actually I clipped out the recipe and sent it to my friends, along with the couple of recommendations I've already gotten. researchgal: I'll let them know your places, thanks. Lest anyone who has read the "Pasta Salad" thread think I'm being a hypocrite -- this is all on behalf of my friends Larry and Andrea. I put "cold sesame noodles" in the same class with pasta salads, for the most part.

Mark -- roflmao!!! That's beautiful!!!!!! May I quote you? (this was about the pasta/antipasta; you snuck in another as I was typing it)

Hey, NYFPC -- maybe the kid was allergic to tomatoes? :confused:

This should probably go on the "What's the WORST..." thread -- but we like it: Drain 1 can of the cheapest tuna you can find (rinse if oil-packed). Dump in bowl. Add: lots of finely chopped celery, a grated carrot or 2 if small, a splash of lemon juice, some mango chutney (chop fruit if big), a big dose of curry powder, and enough mayonnaise to bind. Mix well. Eat as is or chilled, on Thomas's english muffin, well-done, open-face.

Rachel: economy of scale. As long as the chef or sous or other relatively high-level cook has to make up each dish and each plate, it's actually easier and less wasteful to do it for more people. Also, s/he can pace the table better if doing it for all than having to coordinate with the line cooks. That's more polite than bringing out food at different times, in the sense of "generally accepted service standards." It's pretty much assumed that even if the customer says, No problem, they still won't like it if their food isn't there when everyone else's is. BTW: if you and Cabrales go, may I tag along? I love Craft!

I love a good fool. Just stew your gooseberries with sugar and a little water, pass through a sieve to remove the seeds, and when it's cold fold into whipped cream. In a nice glass, with a pretty garnish, it will be very elegant. Some lovely tuiles alongside will help, too.

The Lobster Pool sounds right. Thanks for that an the other info. Now, can you please help me wipe the drool off my keyboard? That was some picture!

On the other hand, I never met a potato salad I didn't like.