cakewalk

I'll have to try these things. But $2 and up for a donut is pretty outrageous, I don't really care what's in it. It's a *donut* for chrissakes! And BTW, my take on part of this (completely and totally unscientific, not to mention utterly biased): just because a person happens to live in NY does not make him a New Yorker. I stay calm by telling myself that these people who regularly buy those blueberry bagels and $2.00 donuts are really from the mid-west. They just happen to live here.

Certain things are "authentic" and can be verified as such. The verification part is important when talking about authenticity. A Renoir, for example, can be verified as an authentic Renoir. (And even there, there's margin for error, but you get my point.) But food? I think the use of the word "authentic" when the subject is food, or, to a lesser extent, recipes, is misleading, and often deliberately so. Sort of like the use of the word "artisinal." Yes, the word does have a "real" meaning. But the point seems to be that, aside from the actual meaning, the word and its connotations raise certain expectations, and those expectations are cashed in on, both literally and figuratively. So it seems that the Humpty Dumpty rule of word meanings applies -- but deliberate manipulation rules here.

So even though the gravy is used separately -- as a sauce (as it were) -- it wouldn't be called a sauce because of the way in which it was made? I mean, well, you know what I mean.

Now that takes the cake!

Reminds me of old friends (a married couple). Felicetti called it gravy; Di Gregorio called it sauce. (Or was it the other way around?) They used to argue over it. Felicetti grew up in the Bronx, Di Gregorio in Queens. I don't know where in Italy their families were from.

Are you talking about people not cooking "fancy"? Or people not using "real" ingredients? (Forgive the quotations, please, I'm pressed for time and I'm not even cooking anything. ) Because "dumbing down" doesn't really seem to be the issue. A generation or two ago, people ate pretty basic foodstuffs. I mean, how much fine dining was there? The ingredients might have been fresher, with less additives, but I think it was still mostly meat and potatoes. And there are so many reasons for that -- economic, sociological, availability, etc. I was talking to someone I work with the other day, and she said she had never baked a cake from scratch, she always used a mix. (She's my age, 50.) I was surprised, because it's so easy to make a simple cake. But in truth, there's at least one huge difference between us, and it is significant: I lived in Israel from the late 70's to the late 90's. There simply weren't any cake mixes or convenience foods there for most of that time. I don't remember starting to see that stuff introduced until the late eighties or thereabouts. My cooking is very basic, but I really hate packaged stuff of any sort. But I think if I had lived in the States from my twenties through my forties, I might be cooking very differently. And there's one simple reason for the American fondness for ketchup: it's GOOD!!

I think there is a lot of benefit in doing things by hand at least once. I mean in terms of learning what it takes for foods to "change form." For example, whipping egg whites by hand can take a while, but it does give a certain appreciation of what is happening that doesn't necessarily come when whipping egg whites with "electronic help." HOWEVER, once is enough! I mean, once you get it, then you get it. Thereafter, I'm all for the electronic help.

My niece used to go to sleepaway camp with Adam Sandler's niece. She said he always sent tons of candy for the whole bunk. "Good candy, too," according to her. So of course he's interested in food!

Well, count me as one middle-class person who would not save her money to spend $300 on a meal, however excellent it might be. (And I do recognize that some "eating experiences" are better than others.) Yes, I can save that $300, and it wouldn't take all that long, either. But this is the dilemma: if I spend that money on such a meal, how will I get the winter coat and boots I happen to need? It's a trade-off, always, and the meal simply cannot take precedence for me. (Do I get kicked off the board for such heresy? ) I'm unwilling to buy second-hand clothes so that I'll have more money to spend on restaurants. I suppose there are people who would make a different choice. However, if money weren't an issue (as well as kashrut ), I know I'd be in those restaurants for at least two reasons: (1) the food; (2) the learning. In fact, #2 would really be #1.

Ice cream! Allow me to explain: my father was a butcher. To him, if anything was in the freezer other than meat, it was taking up valuable freezer space and did NOT deserve to be there. "What is this junk?" he would ask, if he saw anything other than his own familiar butcher-paper wrapping. So ice cream was indeed a treat for us to have in the house. If it was on sale in the supermarket, my mother would buy a half-gallon and somehow get it into the freezer. But we had to eat it all THAT NIGHT! (Which was never a problem, of course. Even my father helped out.)

jackal10 -- those latkes look delicious. I'm glad you reminded us of your "tractate" on potatoes, because I remember reading it "back then," and at the part about latkes and eggs, etc. I thought I'd like to try it that way next Hannukah. And here it is, next Hannukah already! (But I am still going to try the beet latkes and carrot latkes from Bon Apetit. I don't remember if they have eggs in them, but they probably do.) Mmmmm. Fried potatoes. What could be bad?

Jason, I'm sure it tasted good, but that looks absolutely revolting! I love the name White Horse Sandwich. No one else seems to call it that, but everyone knows what you're talking about. I think at some point an imaginative person took a look at the white bread, white turkey, white mayonnaise, etc. and invented a name. Great stuff.

Holiday or not, if I have people at my house, I want them to EAT!! I cook very differently for my friends than I do for my sisters/brother and families. (And I'm not even all that ambitious a cook, it's just that my family is very meat-and-potatoes.) So I think the ultimate question in terms of deciding what to cook is: what will they eat? You can go all out for guests/friends you know will be appreciative of your effort, because they'll feel that you did it for them. Your family will probably feel that you did it for yourself, and that in itself will make them feel slighted. Not unjustifiably, IMO.

My father was from Poland. My mother was American, but her family also hailed from Poland. We never had pie, we always had some sort of cake from the bakery on Jerome Avenue. But one year, I guess I was about 15 or 16, I decided to make an apple pie. Crust, filling, the works. Actually I made two. It was from a recipe I found in the Daily News around Thanksgiving time, and I decided I wanted to try to make it. And the truth is, those were the best pies I ever made. They came out great -- they were beautiful and they were delicious. Too bad I didn't save the recipe. I guess it was beginner's luck. (I didn't know they would drip all over the place while they baked, and I made a complete mess of my mother's oven, but she was okay about it.) These days I always go to my good friends in Philadelphia for Thanksgiving. No pie. But plenty of good desserts. They're of Eastern European stock.

Still chuckling at that one. Sounds familiar, too. I love cereal, but don't like the overly sweet ones any more. Barbara's Oat Squares are my very favorites, and I can easily have a bowl of that (with a banana chopped in) for dinner. In fact, that's been dinner more than once, and will likely be again. In fact, I have no qualms about pouring myself a second bowl ...

Ah, Carrot Top ... I see the eGullet honeymoon is over. (Insert wistful-smile emoticon here.) At a certain point I guess it hits most of us that eGulleteers are really ... um ... normal human beings after all. I'm sorry folks. I even include myself in that pedestrian description. But despite that fact (or because of it, of course), I learn an incredible amount of stuff on this site. Just like I learn an incredible amount of stuff from other normal human beings. Will wonders never cease? (I certainly hope not.)

Good questions, but bear in mind several things: The issue was NYC water, so we can leave the rest of the world out of it for now. (Whew!) Others will be able to correct me here if I'm wrong, but I think in issues such as this, a rabbi's (or even several rabbis) decision is not empirical. It matters for the people who follow that rabbi's decisions. Different communities do things differently, and Jewish law does allow for that.

Turkey is okay, although I like chicken much better. But as to those bygone Thanksgivings -- it's true that my mother roasted the bird seemingly forever, and in our family vegetables came out of a can (and we celebrated Thanksgiving on Friday, no less). But the truth is -- I do not remember a "bad" Thanksgiving. We always enjoyed it, I guess because it was something different. I look back at it now and it can make me shudder, but I don't recall doing any shuddering when I was a kid.

People who sneer are inherintly suspect. There are few things better than hot crinkle cut French fries topped with ketchup and copious quantities of salt --preferably served after midnight -- at a drive in, diner or the snack bar of a bowling alley. However, if you must sniff at this great American gift to the culinary world -- and in calling French fries "frites" in public -- I suggest serving them on the side of any dish calling for a Sauce Bernaise or a mango buerre blanc and dipping them in those sauce. Ask for extra. ← My hero!

I save everything, too. And then when it's been in the fridge long enough and starts to get moldy, I throw it out.

Is the taste of key limes different than that of "regular" limes? I haven't seen them yet around here. I only first tasted limes about a year ago (yes, it's true, as part of a salad I was making), and I was bowled over at how great the taste is.

Yes. Oh yes.

Truly, I've never understood why people would want to ruin perfectly good dark chocolate by stuffing it with all sorts of ridiculous things. Just leave the chocolate alone!

I made this cake a while ago after reading the rave reviews on eGullet. I'm no expert by any means, but I remember I thought the 20-minute baking time had to be a mistake. In any case, I made it in a smallish loaf-pan and put the extra batter in a couple of muffin tins. The muffins were ready in 20 minutes and were done, had a great texture and wonderful taste. The cake, at 20 minutes, was heavy and simply looked and felt like it needed more baking time, which I gave it. But it simply did not come out good. I don't remember now exactly what was wrong with it, but it wasn't right. And the muffins, which were made from the exact same batter, were wonderful. So I dunno ... Now I want to try this again, and I think I will reduce the amount of cardamom as suggested here. The pistachio flavor really wasn't discernable, but the cardamom was so good that at the time I didn't care! And next time I will reduce the powder, and bake it in a regular sized loaf pan, no muffins, so I can see what happens here.

I ate nutella for the first time about a month ago. I was on this bike ride, and at the halfway mark there was food and stuff, and they had these little individual thingies of nutella. That stuff is so good! I'm sure if I bought a jar of it I'd eat it in one sitting. (So I think I'll refrain.)