Suzanne F

I loved the one she wrote today. Not because it slammed what sounds like a pretentious place, but because of the writing. Almost as colorful as the plates she described. I wish she could have the job.

Baby octopus on the right; anchovies (YUMMMMM) on the left. Scroll up for the full writeup (moved in from another thread; thanks, Pan)

Sing a song of sixpence, a pocketful of rye, and St. Kevin.

The application I'm familiar with is not for the initial cooking, but for reheating. Artisanal vacuum-packs portions of braised dishes, and then the line cook just drops it in a pot of boiling water to reheat. Perfect portion control, no overcoked sauce, no burnt sauce. But I imagine that anything you cook en papillote you could cook sous vide.

HWOE got home late Friday night from a trip to Hartford feeling awful and having lost his voice. Saturday he mostly stayed in bed (still no voice), sleeping, so dinner was: Lentil, wild rice, and confit duck soup (from the freezer); Salad (I think) Yesterday (Sunday) he was only a little better, so another soup dinner: Pozole with chicken, pork, and plantains (mildly spicy); Corn Tortillas, guacamole (from the freezer), white cheese, homemade salsa verde, cilantro Much better by tonight, but I had already planned yet another soup, even spicier: Fish Tom Yam (fish stock made this morning; lots of chiles and chili sauces, lime juice, fresh swordfish) with lots of veg (shiitakes, spinach, zucchini, red pepper) and cellophane noodles.

Gee, Lady T, I thought the patron saint of lost articles was St. Elsewhere. And my own personal guardian angel, St. Paul. Edit to add: check out this heavenly site for, um, inspiration.

May I have your burnt ends?

Haven't gone back and read all this thread again, but I have a question for the Stonyfield partisans: I bought some fat-free plain recently, and was dismayed to find that it has GUNK (pectin) in it. And a rather gluey feel, especially when you pour off the whey that collects (as it does on all yogurts I've had). Surprisingly enough, HWOE didn't seem to mind. And at least it wasn't as chalky as other fat-free brands. Still . . . How do you guys get around the glueyness? Or is it not a big deal to you?

How do you feel about rodizios -- kind of a hybrid, where you help yourself to the salad bar, but they come around with a variety of cooked meats? (I've never been to one, myself, but kind of like the idea.) But then, I kind of like buffets (even though I do worry some about sanitation). There's almost always something to eat, like sausages sausages sausages (and possibly bacon) on breakfast/brunch buffets. And if one can scout out the entire line before taking up a plate, so much the better. That said, I would probably never actively seek out a buffet for its own sake. But if that's all there is, as at, say, a jazz club with a performer I love (brunch at Iridium, Bob Dorough), then I'll find what I can to eat. And if I know the regular food is good (a couple of Indian restaurants in my neighborhood come to mind), then I figure the buffet will be all right, too.

Your are, of course, absolutely correct when you say (emphasis added)You are discussing the need for oxygen throughout the body. Yup, can't dispute that. But are you saying that the blood itself oozes out into our tissue under the best circumstances (not, for example, in the case of an aneurysm, which is as likely as a stroke to cause severe brain damage) in an open system, well, how about this from the Encyclopaedia Britannica: Last time I looked, humans were vertebrates. The EB goes on to talk about how inefficient an open system is for delivering oxygen rapidly. Now, why don't you go learn to cook?

I don't know; I wasn't around when those rules were made. Perhaps they refer to any residual blood that might be left in the blood vessels that cannot be removed and remain in muscles (such as microscopic capillaries). As I quoted from Robert Wolke's book, What Einstein Told His Cook, to you (Robyn) privately, the red in muscles is not blood but myoglobin. I believe Wolke more than I believe any religious rules promulgated long before there was much accurate scientific knowledge. (edited to correct misspelling)

The only thing I really miss that I no longer have at Passover is my late mother's take on spaghetti and meatballs: meatballs and matzo balls in tomato sauce. I kid you not. She ONLY made it for Passover; served it as one of the many appetizer courses. You definitely have your priorities straight.

Definitely doable if you have the equipment -- Food Saver plastic bags would work, I think. (Somebody who has one, please confirm or deny.) Advantages of sous vide are the same as for cooking en papillote, that is you keep the juices and flavors contained, but neater to work with. Also great for portion control, and if done with pre-cooked foods like braises and stews, you won't have to worry about burning or over-reducing the sauce. Those are two of the reasons Artisanal (restaurant here in NYC) does it.

And surprise them with it? Is that wise, considering the rest of the items are fairly tradition-bound? Or do you not regularly to catering and therefore don't care about repeat customers?

Bux, can you really say that statements like do not invite, nay BEG for, an equally vehement response? If that's not throwing down the gauntlet, what is?I don't believe any of us who have not tasted it "dismiss[ed] his cooking outright" -- I certainly feel I did not. Many did react with skepticism at items like "Cough Medicine Sorbet." Don't tell me that you did not at least flinch a bit at the thought. What I did dismiss was his snottily superior statements about the relative merits of cuts of beef, and his outright misinformation about the makeup of the cut he so loves. (Just to remind you, there is NOT, nor should there be, intramuscular blood. Nor does any cut of beef need to have its nutrients "put back.") And I still believe that anyone who presents his or her food on paper in a manner seemingly designed to shock the diner (spaghetti puree? isn't that the same as Chef Boyardee?), rather than in a manner that educates the diner to his or her aims, deserves any negative reactions generated. I was a bit too young for Abstract Expressionism, but I gave Op and Pop a full chance, as I have many other movements since. The same with performance art -- dance, drama, and music. But the moment an artist, performer, or musician shows open hostility to my sensibilities without learning what they might be, I find myself more likely to skeptical of his/her value. Thus it is with this chef. He hit first.

I hate to say it, but you cannot lose with the classic Lipton Onion dip (aka California Dip). And there's a great recipe on one of the Knorr mixes for a spinach dip. Would I serve this stuff? Maybe to a bunch of biddies, sure, why not? To eGulleteers? Only if they were expecting irony. Would I eat them myself? Erm . . . yeah. Because they taste good.

Binghamton, NY: spiedies. A marinated skewer of meat. Corona, Queens, New York: Italian Ice (Benfarimo the Lemon Ice King) And my first thought for Washington DC was oysters. Or maybe cheese (for the giant cheese at somebody's inauguration in the 1800s, plus a lot of other cheesy stuff )

Otherwise called Carciofi alla Giudia (Jewish-style artichoke), a product of Rome's ancient Jewish community. No, no, no! Carciofi alla Romana are as described. Carciofi alla Giudia are fried whole (usually baby) artichokes. Trim them, flatten them, then fry twice rather like french fries (except pan- not deep-fry). Also a Roman specialty, but not at all the same as Carciofi alla Romana.

Diamond Jim Brady and Lillian Russell Colette Calvin Trillin (not sure about him, though; he looks as though he doesn't eat as much as you'd imagine from his writing.) In this company, I could just sit back and watch people enjoy eating.

May we back up to the very beginning again, please? Will someone please explain to us Yanks what a British ribeye steak actually is? I have a suspicion that once again we are divided by a common language (and by using the same name for possibly different cuts of meat). Our ribeyes are anything but chewy and horrible; they are, after all, what you get when you slice up a standing rib roast. (Entrecote, as it were) So we are taking affront to the serious dissing of what we consider to be a wonderful cut of meat. What is it exactly that Kitching talking about, please? PS: Jinmyo, I just about 3 feet off my chair when your kitties finally materialized.

Like so many other foods (jam comes to mind), it's not the miso that goes bad; it's the other stuff that has gotten into the container. My 2 cents.

Yes , and it was a joy. After another copyeditor had attempted to translate the ingredients and measurements into American, I was asked to check it over and clean it up. NOT, I can assure you, to change Fergus's voice -- that would be sacrilege! But to figure out what the first copyeditor had not been able to, such as that "green bacon" was unsmoked, not moldy; that silverside = bottom round; strong flour = bread flour; and in spite of what Recipes Into Type might say, golden syrup is ONLY golden syrup and one cannot substitute light corn syrup without disastrous results. Needless to say, I am eternally grateful to various British eGulleteers who answered my plaintive cries for help. And so, I think, will anyone here be who gets the book, since now we should be able to make some of those yummy creations. And btw: I was working from a copy of the original as published, and found a few errors in it; with luck, those may be cleaned up in the re-release.

FWIW, I just noticed that the "cover pig" is the same as the one on the paperback of John Thorne's Serious Pig.

Thom, you make some excellent points. I think what we have here is a Brits-vs-Yanks thing; Brit ethos is to embrace your eccentrics even when they come across sounding like twits, while Yank ethos is to dismiss dreamers (until after they've made lots of money) and look for the "practical" side of everything. I've never eaten at any of the places where the chef's creativity with all manner of questionable comestibles is given free rein. The closest I've come is Jean-Georges Vongerichten's food, and his raisin-and-caper emulsion, while the height of oddness here, pales by comparison to what all those guys are doing. And to be honest, if I ever did get to eat at Juniper or Fat Duck or el Bulli, I think I'd prefer to just eat without the fanfare of being told beforehand how bizarre it was. What would put me off, as the piece that started this thread did, is the obnoxious writeup (article or menu) that fairly screams, "See what a clever fellow I am, to tease such lovely food out of such unexpected combinations!" (So much for British reticence. ) I'm sure the food is wonderful; it's the need to shock me before I even try it that repels me.

I actually like my kitchen pretty much the way it is. Assuming I had better appliances and more cabinets, all I really want is ventilation. Do not think that two huge windows are any help. If the air currents are working in one direction, all they do is blow the kitchen fumes through the whole apartment; if the other direction, we have to freeze (in winter) or submit to a veritable tornado, in order to clear the air.