cakewalk

You're both "right," from your respective subjective points of view. But the chef will lose a customer and be disgruntled, and you will go hungry and be disgruntled. So what's the point in being "right"? Yes, the chef will have other customers who will eat things as he sees fit, and you can get a good meal elsewhere, cooked to your liking. And you will each always be "right," forever. Just like in this thread, where we are each "right." I mean, is anyone really expecting to change anyone else's opinion on this? (My own opinion, BTW: screw the chef, I'll eat as I please.) I think grillboy had it right back on page one. But it's been interesting!

I wonder why?

But can you flip in time to music? And if so, which music is best?

Maybe this is the heart of the matter for me. I can see no positive aspect of ignorance. If somebody has the right to be ignorant, then do I not have the right to educate them? But you're only supposing that ignorance is the issue. What if the customer knows that the meat is not meant to be eaten well done, but orders it that way anyway because *that's the way he likes it*? You're asking if personal preference should be allowed to override long-held standards. IOW -- should anarchy apply to food?

And this is precisely why the dish ran away with the spoon.

To equate him with trolls is VERY silly. As are a lot of other things. All along I've been thinking to myself, why am I reminded of the Salem Witch hunts? Especially the trials. You know, where they dunk the accused "witch" in water, and if she drowns it proves she's innocent? Undoubtedly this post will offer further "proof" of my troll status. I have decided to be amused, I can't take such nonsense seriously. Let me know when you start tryouts.

Sounds like fun. Is there going to be an actual beginning-middle-end type of story? Or will it be sort of a picaresque-type thing, where there's no real connection between the different parts of the tale? If it's web-based, will you have the possibility of continually adding new pages to it? Or do you see it as something more finite? Have you thought of adding blank pages, and asking the readers to use their imagination in inventing a dish of their own? I would add a science fiction element to it. (Bear with me.) Instead of traveling around the world, the dog and his master/critic can have occasional forays to different planets in the solar system, and you/they can invent recipes depending upon what you know about each particular planet and its imaginary inhabitants. I know it sounds crazy, but I'm trying to imagine a kid sitting through a book of straight info about food and different cuisines, and I'm having trouble with it. (Adults, on the other hand, would probably love it, particularly adults without much of a culinary background. Moi, for example.) But I think it's a great idea, and wonderful for brainstorming.

Not bad, but I need a lot more experimentation on which herbs to use with which fish. I had some tuna fillets and rainbow trout. With the tuna I used fresh basil, lots and lots of garlic, lemon, salt and pepper, and NO CAPERS (I just don't like them). With the trout I used tarragon and thyme and all the rest (but a bit less garlic). It was much better, but that might be because I like trout a lot better than tuna. The fish, BTW, was much better the next day when I ate it cold. I also made potato salad, because I couldn't wait to do stuff that I read on the potato salad thread (I would never have thought of pouring vinegar on while the potatoes were still warm). The potato salad came out great (and I'll be eating it for the rest of the week). Question to all about the olive oil stuff: will it still turn rancid even if the herb sprigs are removed after infusion, or only if the sprigs are left in?

Thanks to all for the suggestions. So tonight it's fish w/lemon and herbs a la tommy (thank you). There was a recipe for zucchini strands w/mint on the Traunfeld link (thanks Liza) that also looks nice (and I think even I can manage it). And the herb salads. And herbs in olive oil (I've seen that in shops all over the place, and I never thought about just DOING it.) Actually I can't wait to go home and start the massacre of my plants. There was a recipe for roasted parsnips w/thyme. I will try it (the only thing I've ever used parsnips in was chicken soup), but I have a general question, and it usually arises whenever I see recipes with fresh herbs in them. Many of the ingredients have very strong flavors. I simply don't see how the thyme can stand up to them. Look: 2 lbs parsnips 3 tbs unsalted butter 1 1/2 tbs packed dark brown sugar 1 tbs balsamic vinegar 1/2 tsp salt 1/2 tsp freshly ground bl. pepper 3 tbs coarsely chopped fresh thyme Now I'm no expert (understatement, natch), but I look at that recipe and think to myself: the thyme is going to get lost in there, it will never be able to compete with the brown sugar and vinegar. I can't even see it blending. (I can get really crazy and try the recipe both with and without the thyme, and report back to the commissioner.) When you cook with herbs, do you find that they tend to get overpowered by the other ingredients?

I guess this is an expansion of the thread on lemon verbena. I have several plants of fresh herbs on the windowsill. The mint and thyme are still going strong from last year (and I'd swear the thyme is much more fragrant now, or is that just my imagination?), and I also have chives, oregano, and tarragon (absolute heaven). I use them in salads, and I just plain enjoy them as plants, but I'd like to have more of an idea of how to really take advantage of them. Last year I had a plant of "mini-basil" -- small tiny basil leaves, since regular basil is just too big for the apartment. It grew like mad and was absolutely wonderful (made great tomato sauce), and I still have bunches of leaves in the freezer. But I haven't seen this plant at all this season. Can other herbs be frozen? And what sorts of things do you do with fresh herbs? I can't wait to read your ideas!

Ollie's, all over the place. Times Square Ollie's is on 44th and B'way. (Or possibly 43rd.) There's also one near Lincoln Center.

Now that is reasoning on an absolutely Talmudic level.

The very same thing happened to me today! I was on my way home from work and stopped in this store on 9th Avenue and saw these beautiful big green olives stuffed with a clove of garlic. So I filled a small container (because I knew that whatever size container I filled, it wasn't going to last beyond one sitting) and brought them home and started nibbling and -- hey! -- that's not garlic! You're right, taste-wise it didn't do all that much, but it provided a wonderful crunch to those very good olives. But they're all gone now.

This site never ceases to amaze me. I've been reading it for a short while, and I can't begin to tell you how much I've learned. About everything. This is serious voyeurism on my part (and I love it!). I grew up on Breakstone's Sweet Whipped Butter. I can just about feel everyone cringing as they read that sentence. I still love it, but I know that when I shut down this computer I'll get myself over to Fairway and probably buy at least three or four different types of butter and say a serious farewell to my diet. Thanks all! Anyway, about the quote above. It reminded me of a beautiful passage in Thomas Hardy's "Tess of the D'Urbevilles" that I hadn't thought of in ages. Bear with me. Tess is working on a dairy farm (where she meets her Angel Clare) and one of the things they do there is make butter, which is sold to rich folk in London. The owner of the farm receives a letter from one of his customers, complaining of a "twang" in the butter. The owner takes a taste and says, indeed, there is a twang. 'Tis garlic! There must be some garlic growing in the fields where the cows graze, thereby affecting the sweetness of the cream and, of course, the butter. And there is a lovely scene in which every person on the farm lines up in a row, and they walk slowly across the fields seeking out the offending weed (which they find, and pull). All for the rich gentleman in London! I remember how amazed I was at this passage the first time I read that book, not least because it had never occurred to me before (I'm a city girl) that such a thing could make a difference in how the butter would taste!

A while ago I bought the greatest garlic press in the world. It came with a little plastic thingy that has prongs that fit exactly into the holes of the garlic press. So cleaning the press is a cinch. I stick that plastic thing into the garlic press holes, and all the sludge is poked through and then I just rinse it off. Sounds obscene, but hey, it works!

Jinmyo -- it would have been perfect but YOU LEFT OUT THE POTATO CHIPS!!!

A bit of disagreement here. I can attest to the fact that potato chips in a sandwich will in no way effect the bread's squishiness quotient. Provided it's something like Wonder Bread, of course. Said bread will still squish and cleave to the roof of your mouth after one bite, potato chips in tow. The potato chips are extremely helpful when you try to unstick the bread from the roof of your mouth with your tongue. Traction, as it were. Enjoy.

Ummm.... are we dealing with Shakespeare here? Is this reverse version of a rose by any other name smells just as sweet (or whatever)? Is a poorly made cassoulet "better" than a tasty cholent simply because it's called a cassoulet? This does seem to be what you're saying, Steve, although I figure it's probably not what you mean. So, er, what do you mean?

Guava. Disgusting things. The smell alone is enough to make me gag, it's so overpowering.

Thanks Nina. Sheep's head is part of the Rosh Hashana meal for many Sephardi Jews. I remember a friend of mine (from Morocco) telling me that his mother made it every year. I did not ask for details! I found this little explanation on the web: "The sheep's head symbolizes our hope that we may become "like the head, and not the tail." Traditionally, the sheep's brains were removed and served as part of the meal (Claudia Roden writes in The Book of Jewish Food that brains and other types of offal were very popular in many Sephardic communities.)"

Nina: about that sheep's eyeball. I did read that correctly, didn't I? Can you elaborate? (But not too much.) I mean, did it look like an eyeball? Was it looking at you? Was it cooked? How? Was it whole? Chopped up? How was it served? What did it taste like? Is this a delicacy from a particular country or culture? Did you have to force yourself to try it (like fennel)? This is one of my fascinated/repulsed at the same time reactions.

I still don't get it. If you don't like the taste of something, why do you think you're missing out? You don't like it! You'd be missing out if you liked it and couldn't eat it for whatever reason (like chocolate when you're on a diet). I don't like rap music, but I see no reason to subject myself to Eminem. (Okay, maybe that's a bad analogy.) I used to hate olives. Bitter, ugly things they were. I ignored them. Gave them the cold shoulder, completely, with no guilt feelings whatsover. At some point I was out somewhere and there were a lot of olives hanging about (this sort of thing happens when one lives in the middle east) and I ate one because it was there. Zounds! I ate another. I have not stopped to this very day. But I never TRIED to like the things. I just don't see how it's possible. I guess I just don't get it. Perhaps as I delve further into this stuff (I just ordered "Gourmet Cooking for Dummies") I will get it. But I must admit I have my doubts. It's fun to read about all your varying tastes. I think it's wonderful that the same foods are perceived so differently by different people with unique tastebuds. The crunch in water chestnuts is precisely what I love about them. I like the taste, but the crunch is what does it for me, I can think of no other food like it. I had to laugh when I read others describe it as "weird."

Why? This is torture. I simply do not understand it. Seriously, is it considered "not okay" in the culinary world to dislike a particular food? I can understand trying things more than once, cooked differently, etc. Even trying the same food again after some time has elapsed, because tastebuds certainly change. But I don't understand this idea of "forcing" oneself to like something. I'd like to hear your perspectives on this. Thanks.

My goodness. Charlotte Rousse, Bungalow Bar and Good Humor all in the same breath. Even if you hadn't mentioned the Bronx in one of your recent posts, those are dead giveaways. (But really: do you mean to say you actually BOUGHT things from Bungalow-Bar-tastes-like-tar-the-more-you-eat-it-the-sicker-you-are?)

Liver (bleh). Wonderful thing for an anemic kid to hate. Used to drive my parents up a wall. Anything with caramel of any sort.