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Steven Blaski

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  1. Talk about wussing out! Examining and discussing those reasons is the most interesting thing (maybe the only interesting thing) about this subject. ← Hey, I fessed up to being a wuss already -- what more do you want? I was just trying to introduce the topic and then step aside and see what people had to say. But OK, if you really want to know .... what I meant by "it's mainly a cultural thing" is that I wasn't raised to hunt and dress and bleed and skin my own dinner. Meat arrived in clean bloodless anonymous pieces under discreet plastic. But now I'm quite aware of where the meat I eat comes from and how it arrived, and I harbor no illusions about all that. I've since learned to do things like kill live lobsters and so forth, but as divalasvegas eloquently noted, there's a line of carnage one must draw in one's kitchen and I, so far, have chosen to draw it at bleeding an animal. OK, so I'm STILL a wuss!
  2. OK. I’m thumbing giddily through the new Completed Updated “The Cooking of Southwest France.” The original edition is one of my favorite cookbooks of all time. After a while of browsing I come upon one of the newly added recipes — Civet Of Hare — and find out from the headnote that this recipe will be based on Paula’s favorite-ever bistro dining experience. Cool! Can’t wait to try it! I scan the ingredients and immediately come across this: “See ‘To Cut Up a Hare or a Rabbit’ ... and Notes ... for handling the blood and liver” All right, I read the sidebar about cutting up the hare. I’ve never done this, but it sounds easy. (Meanwhile, at the foot of my bed, my youngest cat, a beautiful Abyssinian named Dinah, looks up at me sweetly. Her fur is ticked exactly like a hare’s. She’s no bigger than a hare; in fact, from this angle she even looks like a hare .... But of course she’s not a hare.) So I read, as instructed, the “Notes to Cook.” Note #1 describes how you must thicken the sauce by pureeing the hare’s blood and the hare’s liver with cream. After reading Note #2 I realize I will never cook this dish: “If you have a fresh hare with its blood available, put 1-1/2 tablespoons aged red vinegar and 2 tablespoons red wine in a deep glass or ceramic bowl. Place rack on top and set the hare on it. Let all the blood fall into the bowl below ....” OK. Stop. Right. There. In my kitchen: a bunny: bleeding into a bowl? (All right, a hare it not exactly a bunny, but let’s not split hairs.) Uh-uh, I don’t think so. I mean, I could eat the hare, preferably if someone else cut it up and cooked it. And if Paula dropped by with the blood-thickened sauce I could probably eat that too. But actually bleed the little thing myself in a bowl on my kitchen counter? No. Just .... no. I won’t even bother to explain the reasons (it's mainly a cultural thing) why I think I’d wuss out. My question is: Is this something you could do?
  3. Great post! I think Kaufman's comments, while indeed funny (I, too, am waiting for "pizza guy" Tyler to stop by and help me with my cookies), do offer a lot more than just entertaining "fluff" as he uses the FN to underscore the porning of popular culture. One of the FN taglines goes something like "We're way more than cooking." Yeah, and all that other stuff is why you suck.
  4. Thank you for the generous report, ludja. Reading it brought back memories of many magical meals I enjoyed at Zuni with a dearly departed soulmate ...
  5. I think you're right, Jennifer -- that the gist of what O'Neill is calling for is a balance. She seemed to feel that food writing had swung too far in the direction of fantasy. Here's what she says toward the end: "There is a place in newspaper food sections, and food magazines for cheery, revisionist, nostalgic waxings, for songs of dew-kissed baby lettuces, for Proustian glances back, and for personal opinion. It is impossible, after all, to write about food without writing about the self. But there is a line between soothing readers' anxieties and becoming the Victoria's Secret of the Fourth Estate." I don't think she's against the "personal" as you call it, or the subjective. Well, let me qualify that. I believe she approves of the *universal* -- which of course isn't necessarily the same thing as the personal, which can become so private that it's nothing but self-indulgent babbling. I don't think she's saying that every single article one writes needs a news peg. The individual POV is fine -- but it ought to be rooted in the universal and at least somewhat relevant to some of the larger issues. She seems to have come full circle to what Craig Claiborne advised her as she was taking over from him at the Times: "He told me that although I might want to write like Proust, my audience just wanted to eat dinner. He advised me never to run a column that lacked either a news element or an anecdote that touched a universal chord. 'When you remove the news you lose the vitality of a story, its ability to touch real lives, its slow and incremental way of reflecting the world,' he said. 'Before you know it, you have the god-awful pretension and solipsism that trivializes the entire subject and can only, in the end, compromise the reporter.'"
  6. Manhattan: VO, sweet vermouth, bitters, and a skosh of maraschino cherry juice. Mmmm....
  7. Steven, The recipe I tested included Jambon de Bayonne that was marinated in milk to even out the flavors. I am sure that the same method would help to take the edge off the saltiness of the country ham. In the substitution, I would probably be more worried about aligning the texture of the country ham with the rest of the dish than the flavor. But in the soup, I don't think that this is a big concern. I'd be happy to taste test for you if you're uncertain about results. ← Thanks, Joe, I'll proceed then. I wish everyone had access to these hams! Imagine going into any of your local supermarkets, even Walmart!, and being able to pick up a whole country ham any time, or, what I usually do, packaged thin slices, for just a few bucks. What I like to do best with the slices is throw them on the grill for a couple minutes per side then make a delicious HLT -- with the ham doing a tasty cameo for the bacon. Amazing!
  8. I love Chez Panisse, where I've dined enjoyably many times, and admire Alice Waters. That said, I thought the Rakoff riff on CP was funny. There IS a smug, holier-than-thou attitude that permeates all that sustainable organic anti-corporate blah blah blah that deserves to be skewered. AW's uncompromising purity of vision -- while admirable -- makes her an easy target. Maybe if she'd fess up to enjoying the occasional Costco hot dog or McNugget like the rest of us mortals it would make it harder for the satirists to nail her. But I suppose such human weakness isn't permissible: she's an icon for a movement; Organic Wonder Woman twirling in a patch of baby mache. Then again, she probably doesn't give a rat's ass that the Rakoff's make fun of her. She possesses The Truth.
  9. Just got my copy in the mail today -- it felt like Christmas! The original edition is one of my favorite books -- of any genre -- of all time. Congrats to all the eGulleteers who participated in the making of the new edition (and of course to Paula ) . I spent all evening trying to figure out what recipes had been dropped, which new ones were added. I was happy to see the éclade of flaming pine needles made the cut -- I've always thought that recipe was a hoot! I noticed that the country bread and brioche recipes are both absent -- anybody know why? Now that I'm living in Virginia, i.e. ham heaven, I'm wondering if I can substitute the fabulous local salt-cured country hams for the Bayonne? Paula doesn't recommend it, but it seems like it would work. I thought it would be great in the autumn squash soup mentioned upthread. Any opinions? Steven
  10. I just came across another interesting cake-mixing method variable. Pam Anderson (of CI fame) on her all-purpose chocolate cake in her book CookSmart (she also uses sour cream, btw): "When I stirred the melted butter into the cocoa-water mixture, then beat the wet into the dry ingredients, the cake was coarsely textured and slightly tough. But when I beat the melted butter into the flour mixture first, before adding the cocoa-water mixture, the difference was dramatic. The cake's texture was perfect ... By coating the flour mixture with butterfat, I had prevented gluten development." This might prevent the heavier, denser crumb problem some of those students encountered.
  11. I actually reduced the oil to compensate for adding the butter and maintain about the same fat content. Sour cream has less water than an equivelant volume of buttermilk, so that would have to taken into consideration, as well as possibly reducing the amount of fat elsewhere in the recipe. ← I was taking into consideration your lowering the oil to 1/2 c. in my suggestion. From my research all the various substitution charts say that 1 c. sour cream = 1 cup buttermilk + 3 oz. butter (the water isn't a factor). So it would appear that as I suggested, substituting <1.5 cups of sour cream> for <1.5 cups of buttermilk + 4 oz. butter> should give about the same results. I guess I'll give it a try.
  12. Chefpeon & Nightscotsman's tweak of adding a stick of butter to the fats already present in the original recipe -- oil and buttermilk -- made me wonder: couldn't the recipe be simplified by substituting an equivalent amount of sour cream for the buttermilk and nixing the butter? I mean, basically, buttermilk + butter = sour cream. I think you'd wind up with about the same fat ratio, plus it would be simpler -- not to mention the fact that most people tend to have sour cream on hand more commonly than buttermilk.
  13. I haven't ever had this problem Sugarella. I both refrigerate and freeze them. I have even made angel food cakes that work fine with them. Woods ← Me too. I always have a stash of egg whites in the freezer leftover from when I just needed the yolks. I just slip the extra whites into the container and keep a running tally on the lid with a Sharpie. When I get a dozen or so, I let them thaw in the fridge overnight and then make an angel food cake. Always bakes up great.
  14. Chocolate Cherry Oatmeal Cookies INGREDIENTS 2 sticks (8 oz.) unsalted butter, softened 1 c light brown sugar 1/2 c white sugar 1 tsp vanilla extract 2 large eggs, room temperature 1-1/2 c all-purpose unbleached flour (dip & sweep to measure) 1/2 tsp salt 1 tsp baking powder 1/4 tsp nutmeg 1/2 tsp cinammon 3 c rolled oats 1 c (6 oz.) dried cherries 1 c (6 oz.) semisweet or bittersweet chocolate chips/chunks 1 c pecans, toasted then coarsely chopped Preheat the oven to 350°. In the bowl of an electric mixer on medium-high speed, cream the butter, then add both sugars, and the vanilla extract. Beat until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. With the mixer on medium-low, add the eggs one at a time, beating 20 seconds after each addition. Scrape down bowl then beat for a few seconds more. Into a medium bowl, sift together the flour, salt, baking powder, nutmeg and cinammon. Add sifted ingredients to the butter-egg mixture. With a wooden spoon or rubber spatula, mix until blended. Stir in oats, cherries, chocolate, and nuts till evenly blended. Form dough into balls about 2 inches in diameter (an ice cream scoop is handy here) and place onto parchment-lined cookie sheets. Bake 14 to 17 minutes, until the bottom edges are just browned. Cool 1 minute on cookie sheet; remove to wire rack. Makes about two dozen large cookies Keywords: Cookie ( RG1426 )
  15. To me it's a lost word, corrupted by false and lazy marketing. I'm speaking of the way that the word is used and understood almost universally now by the general population. I can't even use the word without blushing. It's ... icky. As a noun it now signifies a fusty, prissy buffoon. As an adjective it's fake-amaretto-flavored-ground coffee reserved for "special moments." The only time I ever say the word is when referring to Steve Lawrence's wife and singing partner.
  16. Well, I went white trash today. My SO asked for a "gooey cookie" and I went So I'm figuring he wants some kind of bar thingy, but not a brownie and not a blondie (we had the former recently and he dislikes the latter). I remembered that in the back of my cupboard was a bag of Heath "Bits 'O Brickle" toffee bits ... so I turned my back on all my tasteful baking books and logged on to Hersheys website and looked for some way to use them. I found just the thing among the Top Ten Brownies & Bars: Rich Chocolate Chip Toffee Bars * Très gooey! It's my favorite new guilty pleasure. * I followed the recipe to the letter, except I added 1/4 tsp salt. Oh, and for the nuts I used some very tasty and expensive black walnuts, which added a nice bitter counterpoint. But for full-on white trash mode you could substitute peanuts.
  17. I guess it is a bit healthy-sounding, isn't it? -- and I don't usually like healthy-sounding desserts either. Honestly, I made it eons ago and I don't remember it well enough to describe, but I did jot down a note next to it that it was excellent.
  18. In Baking with Julia, Alice Medrich has a Vanilla-Hazelnut Cheescake that's very nontraditional and pretty easy -- with no crust to bake. It a pint of cottage cheese (processed till silky) with a 8 ounces of Neufchatel (I suppose you could sub cream cheese for that). You blend into the base mixture a paste you make from hazelnut brittle --- it gives a lovely marbled effect. After baking, she presses a couple of crushed hazlenut biscotti on the sides (or you can just use graham crackers). If you need the recipe let me know.
  19. Cooks Illustrated just updated its cocoa tastings (11/2005) and -- in the dutched category -- they declared Callebaut cocoa the top, with Droste second. Valhrona (three times the cost of Droste) finished dead last. In the natural cocoas, Merckens was the winner, regular Hershey's was second, and Scharffen Berger was dead last. I tend to take their tastings results with a big grain of salt. But at least in this case they stated their bias up front -- they prefer dutched cocoa to natural.
  20. FYI, Magi-Cake Baking Strips now come in a version with Velcro fasteners instead of the usual pins -- I'm going to invest in some of those as I seem intent on sticking myself everytime I use them. They really do work wonderfully. The standard size is for 8 & 9-inch cake pans but they also come in larger sizes, and also you can buy by the foot as well.
  21. Add me to the list of those with a fudgy-in-the-middle result with the AB recipe (if by fudgy you mean the center of the cookie was kind of raw). I had thought before reading of others' similar results that the reason why it happened to me was because I ran out of bread flour and had to substitute unbleached AP flour for half the amount (though it was King Arthur so it had a pretty high protein content nonetheless) and so maybe I should've added in a bit more flour or something. Maybe the fudginess is inherent?
  22. I've always had great success with Julia's clafoutis from Mastering the Art of French Cooking Volume One (I love any excuse to revisit that tome). Hers is extremely easy and simple (via the blender) and she provides variations for cherry, pear, plum, apple, blackberry, blueberry, and cherry or pear with almonds.
  23. I have a Zo 10-cup "fuzzy neurotic." To expand the machine's usefulness -- for recipes on cooking grits, polenta, oatmeal and lots of other good things in addition to tips on making dishes using many varieties of rice -- I highly recommend "The Ultimate Rice Cooker Cookbook" by Beth Hensperger.
  24. Thanks for the recipe, Ling! What's your favorite buttercream (or other frosting) for this cake?
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