goldie

Don't you think it would have to be a soup? Potage or a nice beef stew with root veggies? Let's assume we are cooking over fire but we have pots and pans and are an agrarian society, we would cook with what we have but it would need to be hearty. Soup, specifically a stew or potage.

This is interesting. I butter baste early (and frankly often) and then about 2/3 through I stop and allow it to finish. I always have a lovely crust. Sort of the opposite of what you are talking about. After I pull it out of the oven I will o a "light" (ie not saturating) baste and then allow the meat to rest.

Cook it low (325 degrees) and slow until you reach the desired internal temp. Prior to cooking, season as you would prefer, but I like for sandwiches cajun style (lift the skin and put underneath) or a nice bbq rub. I've only brined a few turkeys (and they were whole birds and came out wonderfully), but I would imagine it would help (unless you are watching sodium) should you be so inclined. Alternately, you could use the same technique as chicken under a brick which would improve the texture in the long run.

Here are a few more: Steam al dente, meanwhile crisp up some prosciutto and set aside, heat olive oil and garlic until fragrant, toss in patted dry broccoli, top with prosciutto. Mix panko and parmesan together and set aside. Drop broccoli in egg wash, dip in panko, pan fry in olive oil. Serve with a squeeze of lemon. Steam, top with dark sesame oil and black sesame seeds. Steam, dip lightly in soy sauce with grated fresh ginger and garlic (sometimes I add rice vinegar, too).

When dinosaurs roamed the earth and I was in college, I preferred less sweet drinks. Actually, I still really dislike sweet sticky drinks. I think you need one show-stopper sweet drink and one less sweet drink. On the sweet side, I think the Legends cocktail sounds fabulous. Another good one is a litchi martini (yes, I know it is not a real martini, but you have to have a name for it)- sexy and exotic. I personally would have been thrilled to meet someone who could make a mint julep. A good late night drink is an espresso martini. For the less sweet drinks, I recommend going to the classics- gimlet, old-fashioneds, Manhattans, and a true gin martini (my college drink of choice). You might not have many takers, but knowing how to make them well is a skill you can enjoy forever. Shiny cocktail shakers and real ice are sexy, as are appropriate glassware. And for the love of g-d, don't serve these cocktails in Solo cups!

What about making a wine reduction with some stock ahead of time and freezing it in ice cube trays? Then you could pop one or two in at the end of cooking for flavor, they would be nicely concentrated and not have much of an alcohol content. You would need to fiddle with it a bit, but I think it could work pretty well. My caveat would be to use homemade stock and dramatically reduce the salt so it doesn't screw up your seasonings while cooking. Actually, if it works, the possibilities would be pretty good- you could do a big batch of veal stock (ideally) and have white wine, red wine, and port. You could do it in one day when you are stuck in the house and be good for at least a few weeks.

I like it with pimento cheese. It is also pretty tasty with well-seasoned grilled lamb chops. Sometimes I put it on veggie burgers with spicy mustard, red onion, dill pickles, and arugula.

I made freezer blueberry jam this summer. I followed the directions on the pectin box, however instead of lemon juice I used cranberry and at the very end before it sets up I added more blueberries (I wanted to have big whole blueberries). Adding in the whole blueberries at the end decreased the sugary sweetness and amped up the overall blueberry-ness. I also added cardamom which was wonderful with the blueberries. I think nutmeg might be good, too. This summer I have also made raspberry jam with vanilla and lemon zest- very nice, plum jelly- amazing, spiced plum jelly- not a big hit. Maine has peaches in season now. I'm going to do peach and ginger jam and perhaps a peach almond if I can figure out a good way to do it.

After I posted this am, I went to the market and thought of your wines. I think you could do a lovely crisp pear. Also, I would play around with black and red currants and perhaps apricots.

I have soaked plums in prosecco. They are delicious. Since you are in the Finger Lakes region, they are probably almost out of season (I'm in Maine right now and we picked the end last week). A winery near us (Blacksmith's) does rhubarb and elderberry. I seem to remember them having cranberry near the holiday's as well. Good luck!

I think scrambled eggs are much better at home. Also, it is hard to find a perfectly cooked hard boiled egg. But that can be hard for some cooks to make... Corn on the cob is always better at home as long as you are using fresh corn. I think most pies are better at home, at least I have not had one in a restaurant better than mine or my mother's. I suppose there is a good reason for this: I'm only making one pie at a time generally so I can consider humidity, how sweet the berries or fruit is, basically I can tailor the recipe better to the ingredients. Plain old chocolate chip, or peanut butter, or oatmeal cookies are almost always better at home. Smaller batches and real butter are probably why though. Plus you eat them warm out of the oven... Actually, I think a big piece of this is volume- some things are ok, or even better, cooked in large quantities and other things suffer when cooked in large amounts.

My friend gave me a wonderful recipe for a wild rice salad. It is very forgiving. Essentially, you cook a box of wild rice according to the package directions (if you are using wild, wild rice then start with about a cup and a half of uncooked rice). While the rice is cooking, cook up about five pieces of bacon to crispy. Toast about a cup of chopped pecans. Chop up three or four scallions, or more if you like. Make a dressing of cider vinegar, dijon mustard, salt, pepper, and molasses. Pour dressing over slightly warm rice. Allow to cool further then add in the pecans, bacon, scallions, plus a cup of dried cranberries (dried cherries are also nice here). Toss well and add in corn oil to taste (you can also make a regular viniagrette but the recipe uses this technique; you will probably use about 1/2 cup of oil to 1/4 c vinegar). Toss well. Good at room temp or chilled. David, thanks for the interesting information and photos.

Thanks so much for posting. Gonna pack up the boys and head over.

How about a Pimm Cup? Refreshing but doesn't knock you flat.

I think it comes down to who are you cooking for and why. Sometimes, even when I am feeding more challenged palates, I am cooking for me. I want to try something new or different. perhaps a bit selfish, but maybe it will enlighten. And sometimes I cook for the masses- fajitas, anyone? Certainly, I want to please my guests but for me, sometimes, cooking is about unleashing the creative culinary beast and trying something different. I think this is ok as long as you are honest about it and are willing to accept that people may want to eat only the familiar (just make sure there is plenty of familiar, too!). Really, at the end of the day when you have worked hard sometimes you want it to be about everyone else's pleasure and sometimes it is about you. I think we all deserve a cadre of friends who understand and are occasionally willing to indulge that. Goldie

What about a twist on an old favorite? You could do a good old fashioned banana's foster or cherry jubilee in a saute pan over ice cream if you can have prepared ingredients like ice cream. Or maybe a mango foster or something kind of fun like that. I think controlled flames are certainly interesting for competition.

We are starting a mobile cafe and selling fresh roasted, prepared coffee to commuters from our AirStream located south of Boston. We are trying to think of the best food to sell from the cart. One thought is muffins, scones, or "real" bagels (not easy to get here). Obviously, relatively neat, premade, quick, and easy to hold in one hand and eat on the train is the objective. The branding is cool and hip so the food needs to match and be of high quality to match the coffee. Does anyone have any thoughts and ideas? Really, any ideas are welcome so let your imaginations fly. Thanks so much! Goldie

Zingerman's in Ann Arbor is amazing. Definitely worth a field trip. My parents used to live in Albion and I seem to remember a very fancy Felpausch but that may have been in Battle Creek. www.zingermans.com

I cannot cook at my mother's house. Mind you, these are the pans and knives I learned on. Now, whenever I so much as scramble an egg, I ruin it. Even my sons have noticed! Her electirc burners heat irregularly. At the beach, her gas doesn't seem to have enough btu's. She has one or two nice pans but that's all. Her really nice knives all need serious sharpening upon arrrival. Plus, I always get in trouble because she seems to buy a lot of regional food stuff which seems to cook up differently. Needless to say, we try to eat out!!

"hungry strangers" may be my new favorite phrase. On the shoe front, one of my friends got a few pairs of slippers in different sizes from the dollar store and puts them out for guests. I think some people don't like to wear socks and feel uncomfortable being barefoot in other people's homes. I really count on people giving me a firm yes or no for a smaller party. One of my dear friends was embarassed once and it made quite an impression. If they seem wishy washy, I have no qualms calling the day of to confirm. But, if I have to do that, I probably won't reinvite them any time soon. As for clean up, start the party off as clean as possible. I use my sons to load up round one of the dishes when possible, but I'm guessing that's not an option for you. I also am not inclined to say no to an offer of help from a close friend.

Well, Bell and Evans makes pretty good chicken fingers, albeit expensive ones (I find them at whole foods). But, I agree that making your own is better. When my guys were smaller I chunked up chicken breasts, either brined or marinated them, patted them dry, dredged them in flour, then egg wash, then into either bread crumbs or panko. To be honest, I usually fried them but I'm sure you could bake them successfully. Since Bell and Evan's fingers are uncooked (that's what is says on the box anyway), I think you could probably do all the prep work and then freeze them. As a disclaimer though- I've never tried that. Good luck!

Sandwiches. I lived on sandwiches. Of course this was before carbs were evil. I had a ton of condiments, lots of veggies, the best lunch meat I could afford, and at least two kinds of good bread. Sometimes I wish I had written down the different kinds because I could have written a book about them. I also ate a lot of salad. I used a lot of the sandwich ingredients come to think of it. The nice thing is that now my kids eat a lot of salad and sandwiches because they were always the grown up food. It makes pulling lunch together a whole lot easier.

Sweet potato with wasabi (not sure how but perhaps wasabi, rice vinegar, salt, and leave out the sugar since the sweet potatoes are already sweet). Or, sweet potato with maple syrup, cayenne, and salt. Maybe with a pumpkin butter dip. White potatoes with umeboshi plum vinegar and tamari with nori flakes sprinkled on right out of the fryer. Sounds like a fun dilemma. I like the idea of brining them. How do you cook them?

I think he looks like a dentist.

I made a delicious beef tenderloin (very simple with a mustard-herb crust) last night to celebrate Hannukah with friends and way overestimated their appetites. So, I have at least a pound and a half of leftover beef. Normally this would be a nonissue, except we have had beef stroganoff and roast beef (two days of it warmed up) in the last week. Needless to say, there is no interest in my home for those two items. Does anyone have a creative idea to use up the leftovers? Thanks!