Jim Charles

To be honest, I'd toss it.

Years ago my first wife and the kids would go down to the Glassboro area and pick cherries. They would come home with buckets full and then pit all of them and freeze them up. The only thing we ever used as a "pitter" was a knife. There was nothing like thawing some out in the middle of winter and putting them on some ice cream or making a pie.

Two big slices of fresh Jewish rye, slathered with Russian dressing. The cb sliced paper thin and stacked at least 3” high. Top with cabbage slaw with a little more dressing. God I’m starving!

This isn’t barbequed, but it’s the best recipe for brisket that I have. It’s so easy that even I can make it and everyone loves it. Ingredients: 3 pounds Brisket 1 cup Stewed tomatoes 1 envelope Onion soup mix 2 cups Water 6 Ginger snap cookies. Salt & pepper; to taste This can be cooked either in slow cooker or the oven. Either way, put in the brisket, mix the onion soup with 2 cups of water and pour it over the meat. Pour the can of stewed tomatoes over the brisket. Place the cookies in the liquid, not on the meat. You can break them up to fit. Seal the pan securely with aluminum foil. (If in a slow cooker just put on the lid.) Bake at 325 for three hours without peeking !! Take out the meat, and slice it thinly against the grain and return it to the pan with the gravy. Reseal and bake at 225 for about one hour. Make sure all the meat slices are covered by the liquid so the meat does not dry out. This is tender and delicious. The gravy is great over rice or wide noodles.

Ahhh, have you been, or do you know someone whose been there? It used to be a hot spot for the youth of Camden and other's that you may not want preying on your family. I lived there many years ago and it's had a reputation for many years.

We have one in Marlton, about 6-8 miles from Medford and I've been in there 3 times. I find nothing appealing there and too much vacume packed "stuff" for me. I have yet to buy anything and won't go back.

You can't turn around in South Jersey without bumping into a diner, but after many years of going in them, this is my favorite: http://www.mastoris.com/

The fan club site is a riot and at first I was reading it thinking it was connected in some way to the factory site. I was thinking, are these people nuts that looks like the devil. I don’t think I would consider it, myself.

B&J, Jason. They have gotten too political and I would prefer they stuck to ice cream.

If their ice cream was the absolute best in the world and cost a nickel a gallon I wouldn’t buy it.

This has been our somewhat small. but very efficient galley kitchen for the past 30 years. We are in the process of designing our new kitchen for our retirement home and it will be very different. I don't want an island (I do the cooking) and will be quite large with large windows and be separated from the great room by a bar. Since everyone crams into the kitchen I want it to be a social area as much as a work area. I have no idea why I can post a picture on every other board I'm on except this one.

What was your family food culture when you were growing up? Mid-western farm, fresh everything Was meal time important? Extremely, a command performance. Was cooking important? Very much so. What were the penalties for putting elbows on the table? A reprimand by whoever saw you first, mother or father. Manners were very important. Who cooked in the family? My mother and she was a fantastic cook by any standards. Were restaurant meals common, or for special occasions? Somewhat common since we traveled a lot. Did children have a "kiddy table" when guests were over? Only if there were a large number of guests. When did you get that first sip of wine? I don’t remember, but very young. Was there a pre-meal prayer? Always. Was there a rotating menu (e.g., meatloaf every Thursday)? Never, and even less so when my father, who couldn’t make a cup of instant coffee, discovered Gourmet Magazine. How much of your family culture is being replicated in your present-day family life? It played a major part in my immediate family and now with my children grown I see them following almost exactly the same with their children.

About 40 years ago I started out with a hibachi and I don’t even know if they make them anymore. Anyway, I quickly moved to a Weber charcoal kettle grill and I couldn’t kill it. I left it outside for about 30 years and the porcelain finish looked as good as the first day (bright red). I became too lazy to use it and it just sat on the patio until a young contractor was doing some work and commented on how cool it was. He left with it and I kept $50 in my pocket, about ½ what I paid for it many years before. Then I bought a Webber gas unit and I’ve loved it. I have controlled heat and with my digital, remote temperature probe I can roam around and everything comes out perfect. I’ve had good luck with that brand.

To briefly address your above comments... Since you are obviously NOT a member of that group how can you say what is, or is not, demeaning to them? I’m not particularly fond of being called an idiot, but I would think you would also fall in that category being an asthmatic and frequenting bars where smoking took place. If you suffer from acute asthma conduct your life accordingly, but don't force your problems on people that have nothing to do with it. Anyway, you won so be happy. In the infinite wisdom of our wonderful politicians the law passed in the dead of night, except for the casinos. That is so blatantly corrupt I don’t even want to comment.

In a restaurant it made no difference if they had smoking or not. We always sat in the no smoking. As far as going out side a bar to smoke I think that’s ridiculous and anyone that would do so is also a slave to the bar. Standing around outside smoking is demeaning and makes you look like an idiot. Even though I’ve smoked for 50 years I’ve never smoked around non-smokers and only smoke in my vehicle (when the wife isn’t with me) or here in my office in the house. As far as these bans in some NJ towns where it’s even illegal to smoke outside in a park or where you aren’t within 100’s of feet of someone I think is ludicrous. Once, not long ago my wife and I were on a road trip here in Jersey and I stopped at one of the scenic lookouts to have a smoke. I was about 35 yards from a young family and the mother went to the trouble of walking all the way over to me and saying that I was setting a bad example by letting her children see me smoke. I wanted to throw her over the cliff and wish I had.

I do miss having a garden. When I built my house thirty years ago I had a clearing in the rear of my property (I live in the woods) and built a garden of about 25’ x 30’. I brought in pick-up loads of horse manure from nearby horse farms and dug it in. The sandy soil was ideal and I grew just about everything that would grow, including some great potatoes. In those days we had deer, but they must have been scattered throughout the forest and didn’t do too much damage. Today it’s impossible to have even patio tomatoes because the deer eat everything, including the very expensive landscaping. You can spray the landscaping, but you can’t the vegy’s. They allow the hunters to take at least 5 deer a year here and that hasn’t made a dent in them. About 1 deer a week is hit by cars within a ½ mile circle from my house and one hit me a couple months ago and cause $2,800 damage. They are a real problem. I now buy all my vegetables from nearby farms that have more aggressive ways of dealing with them than I.

I have many knives, but the most used in my kitchen are these. I made all with the exception of the bottom that my son gave me a long time ago. The bottom is the only stainless, the others are high carbon tool steel and razor sharp at all times.

For 40 years I traveled and entertained for business throughout the states. It must have taken me 5 years to learn all the nuances and tipping habits of different areas of the country. Some areas were very low to no tippers and some just didn’t know any better. Of course who and how much I would grease in NYC was a whole lot different then in the south or northwest. I didn’t arbitrarily throw money around. It was used to provide their absolute best, no less. In the major cities, in a top restaurant you take care of all the key people so you have excellent seating, impeccable service and perfection in food. I always considered the entire experience as an aid in solidifying business relationships or closing the deal. It’s a small price to pay for many thousands of dollars down the road. Oh how I miss my expense account!

Back around the early 70’s there was a big to do for horsemeat. They had made it legal to sell for maybe a year or two. I was living in my first little house and my next-door neighbor introduced me to it over the back fence. He had a bunch of kids and to make ends meet he was buying horsemeat from the one and only purveyor in south jersey. He would barbecue it on the grill 3 or 4 times a week and he ranted up and down how good it was. A couple of times (after a few drinks) I tried it. The flavor and consistency immediately popped into my mind of some of the “beef” I had in France. I didn’t like it then and didn’t care for it in the states and it wasn’t anything to do with eating a horse.

I live over in Medford and have been to the Columbus mart quite a few times. Knowing the average person that goes there I wouldn’t think any kind of quality, out of the norm food would go over. I know personally I would be very leery of buying any kind of seafood there and I would think most would think it out of place. My suggestion would be the standard for the location, pepper and sausage, cheese steaks and something you would sell a million of, corn dogs.

I guess that just goes to prove I'm not most men .

One thing to remember is that a steel does not sharpen it straightens the edge and aligns it. I made my first knife in 1958 and have made a few since (more than I can count) and all are carbon steel and require upkeep, but are far superior in performance to the gourmet store variety no matter how much you pay. I touch up the edge on any knife prior to use for about 5 seconds on a piece of hard cardboard and sharpen them maybe once every two months. They remain scary sharp at all times.

I’m going to have to differ with you. I cook everyday and many dishes are very complex and many don’t come from cookbooks, but my favorite is an early brunch on a day when my wife is traveling for business. She doesn’t appreciate the finer things in life. My accountant and family lawyer, who I’ve been a friend with for 100 years, actually beg to come over when I make this. Three fluffy buttermilk pancakes with an over easy fried egg between two and two large homemade sausage patties. A mound of hash browns with gravy made from sausage, real milk and butter over the potatoes and pancakes. Top it off with coffee and a large orange juice and it’s naptime. Sometimes, maybe an after brunch shot of Jameson just for the hell of it.

Please take note, I mentioned Red Bank, and Lambertville above. Cape May, though, that's REALLY the end of the world... ← Red Bank and Lambertville? That's not South Jersey. We are talking about the Republic of South Jersey and not the urban conclaves of West NYC. Two distinctly different states with totally different values and lifestyles.

At the tail end of my tour in Europe and about to turn 21 I put in for and received a leave of 30 days. I had saved from my meager Army pay of $200 a month the unheard of sum of $1,000 and I intended on living like a king before returning to the states. The year was 1964. Even though this was during the Franco regime and you had to relinquish all your rights as a US citizen before entering Spain I felt this was my best bang for the buck. None of my friends were allowed leave so I boarded a train alone on my quest for adventure into the unknown. On my arrival in Barcelona 2 days later I was immediately hustled by a taxi driver at the train station and promptly delivered to the very end of the Ramblas at the foot of the docks where all military personnel eventually ended up anyway. With my luggage on my back I wondered into the first restaurant I saw and not a person spoke English (surprise, surprise). As I attempted to order something I heard a laugh from an adjoining table and a beautiful young woman, several years older than myself, volunteered to help me order before I made a fool of myself. To cut a long story short she introduced me to not only the cuisine of the region but to life itself. As a result of fate I was given the opportunity to experience, for the greatest 30 days of my life, magic.