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Aversion to cranberry coctails understandable. Grandma=Grand Marnier? Sounds like an awesome old-fashioned.

Well, not so much as a dessert; but, just sweet. Dessert at the lutefisk dinners was usually the disgusting Rommegrot (or RommeGROUT as I liked to call it) or sot suppe. Stick with sandbakkel, rosettes, or krumkake if you are ever at one of these things. In the area I grew up in (South Western Wisconsin) lefse was only eaten as follows. Spread sheet with butter or margarine. Sprinkle on brown sugar. Fold in half and roll into spiral. Consume. Maybe I'll have to get out my old church group cookbooks and give it a try. Be funny to bring some home made lefse to my parents (who now live in Arizona) for Christmas. -Erik

Susan, My grandfather emigrated from Norway, and my mom had home made lefse when she was growing up. Later she and my father moved to a small town in WI with lots of third and fourth generation Norwegians. The first time my mom went to a lutefisk and lefse dinner, she did as she had always done growing up at home. Wrap the cod in the lefse with a little melted butter and eat it like a burrito. Everyone else at the table stared in horror. They couldn't fathom that anyone would eat lefse as anything but a dessert. Anyhoo, I apparently loved lefse a little too much as a small child, one time eating it until I threw up. I haven't been able to stomach it since. -Erik

← No. The pathogen thought to cause mad cow disease in humans (New Variant Cruetzfeld Jacobs Disease) is not a micro-organism, it is a mis-folded protein (prion). Not only that, it is a very tough protein which is very difficult to denature. They are not affected by standard autoclave procedures. Anything that would destroy them would certainly leave you with a cut of meat or ground beef which could only be regarded as inedible. WHO infection control guidelines

There's a great honey supplier at our farmer's market that sells all sorts. Some of the more unusual are Toyon, Star Thistle, Sage, Eucalyptus, and my personal favorite name "Wooly Blue Curls". My favorite honey of theirs is the Raspberry, though. I have it in my oatmeal most of the time, sometimes on toast or in tea.

The only cast aluminum products I've had extensive experience with are very large pressure cookers. I can't imagine the thermo dynamic properties of cast aluminum and cast iron would be very similar. I think the main advantage to a cast aluminum casserole is it would be significantly lighter than one made from cast iron. It would also heat up and cool down a lot faster. But the second thing isn't really something you want in a casserole. You could probably melt cast aluminum by placing it directly on lump charcoal (especially mesquite!) That would be no fun at all.

I was recently looking at Thai cooking classes and trips in my area and ran across this web page concerning various fish sauce brands. No 3 Crabs! Been using Squid for the last year or so and am pleased at how much nicer it is than my previous brand.

What did you end up serving at thanksgiving? I froze my glass cocktail pitcher a la Pegu and made the apple-jack/cranberry liqueur/lemon cocktail as above, using the classic sidecar proportions (1.5, 3/4, 3/4), adding a dash or Pechaud's and garnished with a half a cranberry. Everyone really enjoyed it, from novice drinkers to cocktail enthusiasts. Isn't it great when guests get that, "I didn't know cocktails could be this good," look on their face!? Party guests took to calling it the "Crannestad"; but, I think something like the "Blushing Applecart" would be better.

I always use the pumpkin-pecan pie recipe from a martha stewart magazine a few years ago. Filling is a fairly rich pumpkin custard flavored with bourbon. This year I elected to roast my own squash and ended up with a very tasty kabocha squash relative (AmberCup, I think). In the past, I've also used sweet potatoes. Topping is melted butter, brown sugar, cream, and chopped pecans (I cook it a bit more than the recipe tells you to, to turn it into praline, basically). Just before serving, you put the pies under the broiler and carefully brown the topping. Very tasty.

For large scale canning and cooking of non-reactive items, the All American cast aluminum pressure cookers work well. They are available from various vendors in sizes ranging from 10-41 quarts.

The reason kosher salt gets mentioned in the US for brining (or pickling), is it is one of the few easily available salts which isn't iodized and doesn't have added anti-caking agents. I think any pure salt intended for human consumption would be fine.

Or the classic Brazilian daiquiri, where you macerate a pineapple, a split vanilla bean, and brown sugar (piloncillo) in a bottle of amber rum for a week or so. Fantastic hot weather drink!

Had the Mad River Brewing 2005 John Barleycorn barleywine style ale last night with dessert. Fairly heavily hopped for a Barleywine, it had lots of elements of citrus and spice. Quite a nice way to end the Thanksgiving meal.

Hey Marty, It's my understanding, when French liqueurs are named "crème de", it just means they are more heavily sweetened. I think, typically served after dinner, instead of before. -Erik

Digest: San Francisco Chronicle Wine Section for Tuesday, November 22, 2005 Healdsburg for the holidaze, Amanda Gold Wineries offer a break from feasting, family And if you get tired of wining, stop by Bear Republic in Healdsburg or if you're coming from the south, Russian River Brewing in Santa Rosa! Letters to Wine Wine Business Insider:Napans donate $1 million for children's health, Cyril Penn The Napa Valley Vintners has created a $1 million Fund for Children's Health using proceeds from the 2005 Auction Napa Valley event....small wineries have more valuable real estate and make more expensive wines...A recent survey commissioned by a maker of synthetic corks revealed that 31 percent of wine-drinking consumers perceive the change from natural cork to screw caps as negative. Pairings: Enjoy holidays the Oregon way, with pumpkin and Pinot, Lynne Char Bennett Recipe: Pumpkin Soup with Five Spices The Chronicle's Wine Selections: Oregon Pinot Noir The Cheese Course: Tomme Crayeuse challenges an old favorite and wins, Janet Fletcher Bargain Wines: Light makes right at the holiday table, W. Blake Gray Don't overlook Livermore for a holiday-themed wine weekend, Amanda Gold

Different varities (or possibly species) of Citrus, I know. I'm just wondering if the flavor of the juices of the fruits is similar enough for gov't work and, if I have a choice between bottled Yuzu juice and fresh Kalamansi (Calamondin), which is tastier. I generally avoid bottled citrus for my home cocktails. Possibly because of the relatively large Philipino population in the bay area, it is easy to find Kalamansi. I can buy plants at local farmers' market or nurseries and the ice cream maker down the street makes a pretty outstanding Kalamansi sorbet. I've only ever had Yuzu as a plate garnish at upscale restaurants and don't have a very strong memory of its taste. spelling

I always thought this way worked well. Some other folks I've worked with will pre-cook the rice in your standard covered pot way. That makes for sucky risotto. Some time in the afternoon send a trustworthy; but, not too important cook out to the line with a big pot of simmering stock, your two biggest saute pans, arborio rice, finely diced carrots, and finely diced onions. Follow Standard Risotto Operating Procedure, toasting your rice in oil, adding a bit of the diced veg, and then gradually adding stock until you get it close to somewhere between hadf and three quarters cooked. It shouldn't really be very wet, so it takes a little bit of skill to get the dryness and doneness to happen at the same time. Well, not so much skill as paying attention. Then cool it quickly on sheet pans and store it in containers in the cooler. It doesn't really store all that well, so try to keep it close to what you need for service. Saute the bulk of your main ingredients per order, add par cooked rice and stock, bring the rice all the way to al dente, and finish with herbs and cheese or whatever. You can't ignore it; but, it isn't much worse than pasta to order. I do more or less the same at home, starting the arborio rice and veg in seperate pans. I find it gives you better control over what state your vegetables are in, in the final dish. edited to be more explicit.

First 1/2 cup was dissolved in the cranberry vodka mixture. Second sweetening was done with a rich simple syrup made with 1 cup washed raw sugar and a half cup water (and a cinnamon stick and clove).

Seems to be undergoing something of a renaissance here in the Bay Area. Several of my friends have taken it up in the last year or so. Another friend tells me the biotech company he works for sponsored a company wide brew off and tasting picnic. Is that scary, or what? Though, there does seem to be a bit of crossover between biological scientists, chemists, and beer makers. -Erik edited for spelling.

More or less. The recipe called for 16 oz of roughly pureed cranberries, 1 1/2 cups of vodka, lime zest, and a cinnamon stick. I added 1/2 cup of sugar and no water and stored it for a month in a cool dark place, shaking it every day or so, until the sugar dissolved. When I strained it, I found I had around a liter of very alcoholic cranberry stuff, so perhaps I did not entirely follow the recipe. A problem I have. I think it seemed thick, so I added more vodka. I can't believe there is that much juice in cranberries. Unfortunately, I didn't write down my procedure that day. In any case, I have now added another cup of sugar (in 1/2 cup water), and it seems quite nice.

Still working on the cranberry liqueur cocktail. I think I am pretty close. The initial sparkling cocktail idea has been chucked. Cranberry liqueur just not as tasty as the homemade limoncello or strawberry liqueurs in a sparkling cocktail. I decided, I had created more of a cranberry infused vodka, not a liqueur, so I thought I would try it playing the role of the hard stuff in a cocktail. I tried berentzen's apple schnapps, lime, orange bitters, and cranberry liqueur. Ended up with a very alcoholic "CranApple cocktail". While pretty tasty, it was very sweet and reminded me a bit too much of the holiday cranberry punch my mom used to make over the when I was little. Definitely something to keep away from the kids. Added a little more sugar syrup to my liqueur to make it more liqueur-ey. Current formulation is similar to a pink apple jack sidecar or cranberry jack rose, depending on how you look at it. 1.5 oz. Apple Jack, 3/4 oz. cranberry liqueur, 1/2 oz. lemon, and a dash of Peychaud's bitters. It now tastes like something adults could enjoy.

Is Yuzu juice similar to Calamondin (Kalamansi)? Intensely sour and aromatic? I've only ever seen the bottled Yuzu juice here. I have seen fresh Calamondins and would love to get a tree. Sadly, I don't have any place left in my back yard which gets enough sun for a citrus tree. These folks in Oregon seem to sell yuzu plants and lots of other cool stuff. Sadly, they cannot ship yuzu to the citrus growing states (AZ, CA, LA, TX). Added URL.

I haven't been to any of these three. From this program, Antica was the only one that would go on my "must visit" list. In any case, whoever does the food photography does an amazing job. I think it's nice that they try to do a mixture of restaurants and diners. To me, however, this episode was the least interesting group of diners so far. It seemed like they were all trying a little too hard to be agreeable. If you live in San Francisco, you can get fine tasty Afghan food at Helmand restaurant on Broadway in North Beach. Weird trivia: The owner of Helmand is the brother of Afghan president, Hamid Karzi.

No real "cooking" involved. A coworker brought me a fresh dungeness crab he caught himself off point bonita. Surprising amount of meat on it! Last week the folks I buy mangos from at the farmers' market told me they were gone for the year. Figured I would introduce the mangos and crab while their seasons were briefly overlapping. Thai style salad with first of the season dungeness crab and last of the season mangos. Yum!

I was exagerrating of course. I did not mean to imply that any French Cognac had any semblance to inustrial alcohol or that the big Cognac houses were blending their brandies with grain alcohol. My only point was, that, the ubiquity of their product, to my mind, puts them on the level of seagram's gin and flavored bacardi rum. And, my only real question was, if you are putting several gallons of brandy, on the shelves of every corner liquor store in urban America, how much care can you really be taking with that product?