Kent Wang

That's what I call a rara avis.

The line drawings on the back cover of Cook's Illustrated are always great. I'd love to have a whole series of those around the dining room. Allposters has some excellent photo prints of food and there are tons to choose from .. all sizes, all foods, all culinary themed! Just type in the words foods or culinary to locate the prints to look over ... ← I like this one: Cat Food Is Served but I'm a sucker for cats. Who could forget the ultimate food art, Andy Warhol's Campbell Soup can. I really hate it when that happens. What period would you say these posters are from anyway, 1920-30s? Pre-War, I'm pretty sure.

Uni shooter with sake, maybe with a raw quail egg too.

Good tip. Sometimes the filling will be a little moist for various reasons: napa released too much water or starch slurry was not thick enough. The solution is to just dump the filling onto a colander right after it finishes cooking.

Megan, I like that one a lot. Carolyn, the Becker still life is quite impressive. I like the Absolut vodka ones on that website. I'm not fond of the Contratto Champagne and Cafe Martin ones as I think I've seen them at Bed Bath & Beyond. That entire style has been ruined in my eyes by mass production. Taittinger and Campari fall in the same category. A shame, though, as I do find the Taittinger attractive in a vacuum. Ha, thank you very much, I'm a total amateur when it comes to photography. All those were taken with a 6 megapixel point-and-shoot. All the photos on my Flickr are Creative Commons licensed so you can feel free to print or modify them. This Mondrian homage is pretty funny. I may try to copy it myself.

I took these myself and have them hanging in the kitchen. Do any of you have photos or paintings of food hanging on your walls?

I'm chewing on some dried shitakes right now. They pack a lot of umami, or xian as we call it in Chinese.

This must be hottest thread on all of eG right now! Mizducky: I've never heard of turkey tails. Is it more like the rump on a chicken? I wonder how popular turkey has become in China. I don't recall seeing it anywhere -- on menus or at supermarkets -- when I visited earlier this year.

Ah, yes, you're right. http://www.luccadeli.com/grocery/ has both. I'll have to ask my charcuterier if he can get it. Oh, I didn't mean that I cooked all the chorizo. I just pan-fried some up to make some scrambled eggs with it. Divine! Scrambled eggs and risotto are my two favorite uses for cooking charcuterie; both serve as blank canvasses to absorb all the flavors of the meats. Schaller & Weber lachschinken: Moist, moderate salt, significant smokiness but with slight unpleasant lingering chemical aftertaste. Karl Ehmer headcheese: Great deal of pickle flavor, gives a nice snap. Meat bits are chopped too small for my tastes. I prefer other headcheeses that focus more on the meat.

Are we in the midst of a tiki revival?

This is a very interesting subculture indeed. You lot definitely know how to party. Just how big of an event is this? Who's funding it? Are there sponsors, entry fees? Is there a cash purse for the winner or just the trophy and bragging rights? All these entrants that come from far away, do they pay for their own travel expenses?

Louie Mueller's definitely has the best ambiance and vibe of all the top barbecue joints. Stopped in at Kreuz while on the way to the Valley. Pork chops were nice and smokey, though a little too salty around the edges. Brisket was very dry, just like last time. Sausage was good, nice snap, not as juicy and fatty as Elgin sausages though. Went to City Market in Luling on the way back. Sweet, well-carmelized crust on both pork ribs and brisket. Brisket was on the dry side. Pork ribs were some of the best I've had. Unfortunately, they were out of sausage. My updated rankings (number in brackets indicates number of visits): 1. Cooper's (Mason) [1] 2. Louie Mueller's (Taylor) [5] 3. Black's (Lockhart) [2] 4. John Mueller's (Austin, temporarily closed) [20] 5. City Market (Luling) [1] 6. Smitty's (Lockhart) [1] 7. Southside Market (Elgin) [2] 8. Kreuz Market (Lockhart) [2] 9. Crosstown BBQ (Elgin) [1] 10. Sam's BBQ (Austin) [5] I believe this is the last major Central Texas barbecue joint that I'm crossing off my list. The question now is where to next? Maybe Cooper's in Llano, House Park in Austin (right under my nose) and of course lots of return trips to "gather more datapoints".

Russ: I looked over the ingredients list for the Columbus cacciatore and I couldn't find truffles on there at all. I even checked the other Columbus products. The Fermin Iberico products just arrived on American shores a few months ago. I reviewed them a month ago but I've been delaying posting here because I couldn't really figure out the labels. The labels printed out by Central Market are confusing and conflict with online catalogs. All three of these blew my mind. I have never had charcuterie this good. The flavor profile is so much deeper, more complex, more pungent and lingers longer than anything else. The difference is so apparent that I am sure that even a charcuterie novice will notice. All three have amazing aroma. Opening up the package fills the room with its smell. I pan-fried the chorizo for a few minutes -- is it sacrilege to cook it? -- and the smell really came alive. Left to right: Chorizo: The softest of these three, less fat, mild spice, very easy to eat, with no lingering fatty mouthfeel as with the other two. Salchichon: Mild in flavor but very rich texture. The fat slowly melts on your tongue, filling your mouth with a mild numbing sensation. Because of this, it can be fatiguing to eat many slices very quickly. Definitely take your time to savor it. I had difficulty identifying the mild spice used until I looked at the label and saw that it was nutmeg. Bellota Chorizo: Similar to the regular chorizo in flavor and seasoning but more like the salchichon in texture, richness and moisture.

Sheetz: Very nice flaky crust on those tarts. Beautiful! Do you have a recipe?

I have heard of people decorating a brussel sprout stalk instead of a tree for Christmas.

Fantastic shots of the oyster farm. I'd love to tour one of those.

I admit to eating the shrimp, too. Also, furikake, I pour it straight into my mouth, as if drinking it like a liquid.

It is inherently difficult to translate foreign words into Chinese. A common strategy is to phoneticize the term into similar-sounding Chinese tones and then select a positive or related character that matches that tone. For example, England is translated as ying guo which sounds similar to the first syllable 'En'. The character that's chosen for ying is the character for heroic, so England is translated as heroic country, and France as fa guo (lawful country) -- not necessarily that we attribute those characteristics to those countries but that is a matter of coincidence in the phoneticization process. My mother told me about some interesting translations, of which I can only remember one at the moment. Once a recent immigrant from Guangdong asked her where to purchase she guo (she can be sweet or snake). Having no idea, she asked the woman to describe it. The woman explained that it is a contraction of the full name di li she guo, which after some thought my mother recognized as a phoneticization of 'delicious', as in red delicious apple! This is particularly confusing as apples are common in China and we simply call them ping guo. To give a cultivar a name like she guo suggests that it is another species of fruit entirely! My mother also commented that the translations devised by the Cantonese are particularly outrageous, much less practical or logical as the Mandarin ones.

A few slices of cured ham are a good addition. You can use prosciutto ends. Do Chinese chefs traditionally discard the meat used to make stocks? My experience with Chinese culture is that waste is frowned upon -- discarding the meat runs counter to those values.

Edit.

Oops, forgot to mention that. Yes, at the very end. There's no need to cook it -- in fact, you run the risk of burning the starch if you keep cooking it for too long.

I have a bet with a friend about which cuisine involves more deep fried items, Cantonese or the American South? Or more accurately, which cuisine consumes more deep fried items, as opposed to just the sheer variety of fried dishes?

November 2, 2006 Austin Chronicle Ana Brasil. By Claudia Alarcon. "A cute and well-appointed boutique in a newer shopping center near Northcross Mall, Ana Brasil feels like a small Brazilian outpost in North Austin."

I am adding enhooch to my vocabulary.

Wow, they even have French onion soup and escargot on the menu. I realize that France is on the Mediterranean but I doubt most people would consider it to be Mediterranean. So, really this restaurant is pan-European plus Middle Eastern cuisine. I can't think of any other restaurant in Austin that lacks as much focus as Fino. I went back again on Monday with another group -- not my idea, of course. FINO Chicken Liver Mousse Pate Dijon Mustard, Cornichons, Red Onion Jam & Crostini ($8). Awful lot of pate for the money. Red onion jam was nice, too. This is my favorite dish of theirs, the best value as well. Escargot in Filo Purses, Parsley-Beurre Blanc ($8.50). Filo was great, escargot reasonably tender. Parsley beurre blanc was very sweet, tasty on its own but did not complement escargot. Wild Mushroom Bourekia ($7.50). Very fluffy and flaky filo. Also ordered a handful of other dishes but they are not on the online menu and were not memorable. The three small plates that I mentioned above were much better than anything I ordered last time, but my opinion of the restaurant remains quite low.