cakewalk

Lior, what do you do with those black dried lemons? I bought some last time I was in Israel (because they looked so strange), but they're still sitting in a jar! Someone said to put them in a soup or a stew while cooking for a lemony flavor, and then remove them. Do you do this?

This blog is like a trip down memory lane! (Especially leaving to go watch the news, that is SO Israeli!!) I lived in Jerusalem for many years, so I can identify with a lot of your photos. (I always bought the black bread. But in Jerusalem we had Angel's bakery, so I don't know if it was the same.) And those bagella! All those wonderful sesame seeds. I still miss them, and I always get one (or more) when I go back to visit. I'm looking forward to the rest of your blog very much. About the burekas: did you make that? (It's beautiful!)

My mother didn't go back to work until we were teenagers, and she always cooked dinner. But the truth is (sorry, Mom), she was not a good cook. She didn't enjoy cooking, but in that generation she was expected to have dinner on the table when my father got home from work, we always sat down to dinner together, but really hardly anything was ever actually "good." But I love to cook, and love to try new things and learn about food. I don't know where it comes from or why. My younger sister cooks pretty much like my mother did (it astounds me), my older sister is better but not at all inventive, my brother is hopeless. So I don't know where the emphasis can be placed, whether it's generational or gender-based. (I'm 53. And female.) I live in a building with a large amount of young (late twenties, thirties) people, and the traffic of food delivery is astounding! I know people who have never used their kitchens for anything other than boiling water for coffee or tea. A friend doesn't understand why, when she comes to say hi, my kitchen floor usually has splotches all over it. "It's because I was COOKING," I tell her. "Oh." It really never would have dawned on her otherwise. So I don't know what the answer is. I was never taught to cook, but for whatever reason, I love it, and so I teach myself. I know men who fall into the same boat, but not many. I do think men who cook are sexy! But then, I also love to watch men fix things, use their hands and tools with precision, whether it be baking equipment or building equipment. But when I cook for men, I think they appreciate the attention they're receiving more than they appreciate the "craft" or "talent" involved in the cooking. Not that there's anything wrong with that. Maybe what it comes down to is that we'll never escape certain preconceived sexist notions!

Wow, most of you have room for luxuries like a table and chairs in your kitchens. Now that's really something! And some of you even have windows!! I'll post a photo later, you'll get to see what New Yorkers call a "kitchen." (Actually, this one is much better than others I've lived with.)

I was reading this thread and thinking to myself, bagels. Leave the friggin' blueberries OUT, please. And while your at it, get those pineapple slices off my pizza!

I had been thinking this same thing! I was very worried about them rising, and when they did, well, I was certainly relieved, but my immediate next thought was: I wonder if they'll be any good? Now, they actually were pretty good, if I may say so myself, but if push came to shove I think a good omelet might have been a bit more satisflying. (I was hungry.) Thanks very much, and thanks especially for your suggestion of baking the souffles for various different times to get an idea of the different textures. That sounds good. And on that note, I'm off to buy some more eggs ...

I also never made a souffle. And come to think of it, I've never eaten one, either. But reading this thread made me realize that I am dying to try. So I did. I read Julia's explanation (concise, to the point, and all-inclusive), and then I read the eGullet tutorial (which, IMO, is as good as Julia's, and has photos to boot), and I thought, okay, now or never. I had some left over salmon in the fridge from last night's dinner, and so I started to mess about in the kitchen. Hands-on learning is a wonderful thing, isn't it? I have to say, everything went along quite well except for two glitches: I used a microplane for the cheese I wanted to use to coat the sides of the dish, somehow figuring if the cheese was grated more finely it would be easier to "sprinkle." This turned out to be not such a good idea, because the cheese was too fine and tended to clump together. So I added some bread crumbs to it, which pretty much took care of the problem. The second glitch was a bit more serious: I don't have a souffle dish, or even small souffle dishes. I mean, I really never figured I'd make this stuff. I thought of filling a muffin tray, but decided they were (a) too shallow, and (b) the sides were too slanted. In the end I settled on these ceramic mugs. The sides are a bit higher than I would have liked, but at least they're straight and I thought, well, they'll have to do. (Or not.) I was very pleased with the result. I preheated the oven to 400F and turned it down to 375F when I put the tray in, a la Julia. They baked for 24 minutes. (I think next time I'll preheat to 375, then reduce to 350, because Julia's recipe calls for one large souffle dish.) They rose nicely and browned well on top, and the inside was sort of creamy but not wet. (I've eaten three of the five ) It's hard for me to judge since, as I mentioned, I've never eaten a souffle before, so I don't have anything to compare it to. Also, and I don't think this is supposed to happen, the inside had a few large gaps, sort of like a popover. Next I'm going to try the chocolate souffles from the eGullet course. Hey, I need dessert! Anyway, now comes the biggest challenge: trying to post the photos. (Edited to get the photos on right.)

I use Earth Balance sometimes if I'm making meat or chicken for dinner. I can avoid it by making a fruit dessert, but somehow coffee always needs cake, and cake needs butter, so I use Earth Balance sometimes if I'm making meat or chicken for dinner .... Earth Balance is actually pretty good. I once made Dorrie Greenspan's Linzer Sables using that stuff, and they were still very very good. I've also made cakes with it (pistachio cardamom cake comes to mind), and it was also excellent. I think partially this is because those two items (which really stand out in my mind) have such strong flavors (cloves for the cookies, cardamom for the cake.) I don't think I'd use it for something like a buttercream though. I'd just make something else. And I don't usually serve bread with dinner, so that takes care of needing something like butter on the table. The situation is very different if you're running a kosher business where people want baked goods that are pareve. Then there's not much choice, it's either margarine or use a recipe that doesn't call for butter in the first place, there are quite a few nice cakes like that. But if I'm making a dairy meal, I don't even consider using margarine. But it might be "stigma" more than anything else.

I like that one. A lot of good ideas here, and very timely, too, since a friend is coming over for dinner tonight and the chicken is still just sitting in the fridge.

Okay, that explains a lot. Thanks to all of you for your responses.

Thanks. I have to try this. Another question (I can't help it): could you get any sort of soup out of this?

I don't mean to hijack this thread, however I can't help but note: I'm reading this entire thread with a bit of incredulity for one reason: boiled chicken. My mother (and just about every Jewish mother in the world) used to serve boiled chicken on Friday nights. (It's how we got the chicken soup.) But the chicken -- even though it was boiled with S&P (or at least just salt) and celery, carrots, parsnips, parsley, etc. -- was still tasteless, rubbery, and in general not very appetizing, mostly because it was boiled. (But the soup was good.) And now I'm reading about boiled chicken, and it gets adjectives like "silky, tender, and juicy" or "perfect, moist, and juicy" (that's two individual "juicies!") So tell me please, what's happening here? The spices are different, but the method (boiling) is pretty much the same. The only major differences I can think of are (1) you're boiling the chicken whole, whereas my mother would cut the chicken into pieces; and (2) you seem to be letting the chicken sit in boiled water for quite a while, rather than letting the water continue to boil. Could this make such a difference? Can someone explain why? Thanks.

Sometimes the cost of an item is not measured in money, but in time. Time is rather a precious comodity for many people, and the hunting-and-gathering method of shopping requires a lot of it, often making an item much too expensive for this type of purchase. Working part-time would definitely mean having more time for shopping, but it is not an option for most of us. So we pay more money for things, because often the money is more at our disposal than the time needed to find a cheaper and acceptable alternative. I used to have windowboxes of herbs; tarragon (my favorite), mint, dill, oregano, a few others. I loved growing them, and they were certainly beautiful. But I don't get enough sun, and the herbs simply didn't have much flavor. My windows face north, and although I have huge enormous windows that let in a lot of light, I do not get the direct sunlight these herbs needed. (I used up all of my tarragon for a single dish!) So, much as I hate it, I spend a fortune on herbs during the winter. There is one store around my neighborhood -- Hell's Kitchen -- that does sell herbs at reasonable prices, and I take advantage of this a lot. But they don't always have what I want, and I don't have the time to go shopping around to find another possibility, so I just end up paying more or changing my menu. Sorry for the long-winded post, but the point is that "cost" is not always a matter of money.

I gladly pay higher prices for items when I know (or think) they're better than similar items that are cheaper and not as good. Buying the cheaper item is usually the waste of money, IMO. But what really pisses me off, and I find it happening a lot more often (in such places as Whole Foods and even the Union Square green market), is when I buy the higher-priced, presumably better item and it is simply NOT GOOD. Raising the price does not make something taste better!

Apparently they're one and the same. Thank goodness for Google, which led me to About.com, which has a recipe to make your own. Here's the link: http://homecooking.about.com/od/dessertrec...ystalginger.htm Edited for copyright reasons.

What's the difference (if there is one) between candied ginger and crystalized ginger? Thanks.

The redundancies all depend on familiarity with language terms, I guess. I wince at "pita bread" and "challah bread." But I think the Chicken Coq au Vin with Wine" is priceless.

Thanks for that review. I live in the building but haven't yet been to Crave, mostly because the restaurant that was there before it was so bad, as in actively bad, not just humdrum or mediocre. I thought the owners must have been having a contest (I have no idea with whom) of who could create the worst possible restuaurant, and they were definitely in the forefront. I guess the bad rep of that restaurant has carried over to the new one (same owners) -- people in the buidling don't even go to it! The owners don't seem to be doing much of anything by way of publicity. I had been reading about that mac 'n' cheese recipe a while ago, time to give it a real go now that the opportunity is so close at hand.

I love chocolate, but I haven't had "regular" chocolate in a long time. By "regular" I mean supermarket brands, like Hershey's or Nestle's, etc. (I guess since joining eGullet I've become too snooty for it. ) Anyway, this past Halloween I bought a bag of Hershey's Kisses for the trick or treaters. Of course I had to eat some. I haven't had them in ages, and I was stunned by how bad I thought they were. (Didn't stop me from eating more, of course. But still.) I really wasn't expecting it, I was looking forward to eating them. But they had an awful feel on the tongue, and a terrible, harsh taste. Is that how they've always been? I thought maybe I had bought a "defective" bag, but the kids loved them. So this chocolate stuff, well, like everything else, it takes time to learn. But there is definitely a difference.

I had fun making Christmas cookies for the first time (not to mention eating them), and I loved boxing them and giving them to people. From top to bottom: coffee snaps, cream cheese icebox cookies (these 2 are from the Joy of Cooking), checkerboards, pistachio/cranberry, World Peace cookies (still the best.) The coffee snaps were very good -- strongly coffee flavored. I later dipped them into chocolate so they were half covered, but I don't think I have a photo of that. More of the same, except on the left are Dorrie Greenspans Linzer sables. In back of the Linzer sables are gingerbread people. I used the CI recipe, it was excellent. In the plastic bags to the right of the checkerboard cookies are lime snowdrops. I loved those, they made my tastebuds smile. Strips of dough just waiting to become checkerboard cookies. I decided to make the almond flavored 7-layer cookies. I've been dying to make them for ages, so this was a good time for it. It was quite a learning experience -- and they came out pretty good. Above is the dough divided into thirds with food coloring added. The 3 sheets already baked. The recipe called for a 9x13 pan, but I wanted the layers to be very thin so I used a 10x15 jellyroll pan. I had to practically paint the batter onto the parchment paper, but they came out okay. The most difficult part was getting one layer on top of another without having the layer break into bits. The green and yellow layers cooperated, but the red layer broke in several places. I just put it back together like a jigsaw puzzle and then turned the whole thing over so I would ice the green layer (smooth and without cracks) rather than the mended red layer. (The recipe called for chocolate on both ends, but I had no intention of doing that.) There is also apricot jam in between the layers.

Yes! I'm making Christmas cookies for the first time; as was mentioned in an article in yesterday's NY Times, they chose me! So far I've made different icebox cookies (coffee, chocolate, cream cheese, pistachio/cranberry) so that I can bake them just shortly before giving them out. Over the weekend I plan to make the others, not exactly sure which ones yet but, my goodness, there are SO MANY recipes! How do you choose? I have printed out well over 100 recipes, and I want to make all of them! The other problem: how do you not eat the cookies as quickly as you take them out of the oven? Really, I'm a little worried about this. I can be like the proverbial kid in the candy shop. But anyway, yes, this really is cathartic. I can't wait to give them out.

So what is your actual question here? Should they have made an exception for you? Or should they change their policy because you don't see any reason for it? (And if the steakhouse analogy didn't hold up, we won't even begin on the oil change analogy. )

Actually, that's the owner's position, and the position of everybody who says the "his place, his rules" truism ends the discussion. My point is that Chris was treated inhospitably, that there was no justification for doing so -- as in a good reason, not the "his place, his rules" power play -- and that it is simultaneously grandiose and petty to care if one person in a half-empty bar is using a laptop computer quietly in the corner. ← The "half-empty bar" is irrelevant. At what point does the balance tip? Two people with laptops? Five? Eight? Many restaurant owners also decide on dress codes (for example.) Are they being "simultaneously grandiose and petty" to kick me out if I'm wearing jeans and a T-shirt? I don't think Chris was treated inhospitably. I do think the owner should have told him straight out, instead of beating around the bush, that was obnoxious. I also think a "no laptops" policy should be prominently displayed so that people know. But the owner of a restaurant calls the shots, not each individual customer. What you're saying is sort of like going to a steakhouse, ordering pizza, and then being pissed off because they don't have any. You want pizza? Go somewhere else, that's not what we do. You want to use your laptop? Go somewhere else, that's not what we do. There are tons of bars on 9th Avenue with wall-to-wall TV screens, always with some sort of sports game on. How about if I went in there and said, "can you please turn off the televisions, they're giving me a headache and I'd just like to sit here quietly and sip my beer." That would be fun.

So are you saying that because Chris (or any other customer) wants to write in a particular type of environment, then any place he decides he likes because it actually has[i/] that type of environment should automatically allow him in? That's what he wants, so the heck with what others might want? All I'm getting from your comments is the attitude, "this is what I want, therefore that's the way it should be done." Is that really what you're saying?

I don't mind no credit cards, but I get pissed if there is not a prominent sign stating that fact. (This happened to me once, and I was not amused.) I think the customer does deserve at least that much. We're so used to paying for everything with a CC that it's kind of a "shock to the system" to be told "we don't accept credit cards." And I do wonder -- are the restaurants' savings reflected in their prices? I'm sure that most restaurants take the CC costs into account, like the rent and everything else, and the price of dinner or whatever covers it. If I'm in a place that won't accept credit cards, I'd want them to be a bit cheaper than other places of the same type. (What's a snowball stand?)