azureus

I recommend home-made venison chili. You can make it nice and spicy, and it won't seem too similar to Saturday's roast venison. April

Have you ever had Arkansas Black apples? I first had them when I visited my MIL in Asheville, NC several years ago. They have striking red-black skin and firm, white flesh. The flavor was complex, not too sweet or tart. I loved them, and I wish that they were available here in the midwest. I find Fujis and another variety called Pink Lady to be too cloyingly sweet. I like Galas best, or the Haralsons off my own tree. Here's a link to information provided by Purdue University:grapefruit It appears that all pink-fleshed varieties are sports (mutations that were then grafted onto rootstock, as opposed to being produced from seed) of pale-fleshed grapefruits. Somewhere I read that most grapefruit juice is made from pale varieties, with enough red juice added to color it, because straight red grapefruit juice supposedly turns brown fairly quickly. I can't remember where I read that, however. I remember that Texas growers had a huge campaign in the 80's for "Ruby Red" grapefruit that was very succesful. I think that consumers now prefer red-fleshed grapefruit for the same that orange carrots are preferred. It's all basaed on perceptions that one color is better than another. April

OK that is so damn cool. Now our rainbow molds seem so...so...pedestrian! ← Nah! After all, she was only using one color per mold. The rainbow molds were much more work, plus they got devoured. Doesn't that make it performance art? April

Ooh! Has anyone mentioned The Freshman yet? I love the whole scam of the mobster serving fake endangered species at high prices to all of those people, and then opening a zoo at the end of the movie. April

As this thread is all about amazing Jello, I thought that a link to this artist Liz Hickok's site would be appreciated: San Francisco in Jello Here's a statement from her site: I definitely need to start playing with jello myself. April

The stradette had of 2/3c white flour and 1/3c cornmeal. I used Hodgeson Mill cornmeal, which is fairly fine, but has coarser bits mixed into it. The lighter sections on the pasta sheet in the first photo are larger chunks of corn. I don't know how traditonal the flour ratio is for this recipe. I want to try using more cornmeal next time, to see how it comes out. April

My final meal from Piemonte: I prepared just three simple dishes, again from Matt Kramer's book. I was too tired to take photos last night, so the photos are actually of my leftovers for lunch today, re-heated and tarted up for the camera. The only antipasto was just some homemade bread with a bit of olive oil and garlic. For the primi, I was enticed by Pontormo into preparing the Stradette (cornmeal pasta) with Sugo di Porri (Leek Sauce). I had thought that the pasta would be difficult to handle because of the conrmeal, but in fact it held together well and had less tendency to stick to itself than other pastas that I've made. I couldn't get the dough any thinner than #5 on my pasta machine because of the coarseness of the cornmeal. Here's the uncut pasta sheet: Here are the noodles with the creamy leek sauce: The noodles had a rustic texture and a nice "bite" to them. The leek sauce was wonderfully subtle and creamy. The main course and two sides consisted of Faraona in Cartoccio (guinea in an envelope) with its stuffing and Risotto with sweet red peppers and prosciutto. The guinea is stuffed with a ground mixture of its own liver, heart and gizzard, along with pancetta, one garlic clove and a little dried hot pepper. Then the whole bird is placed in a packet of foil (traditionally parchement was used) and roasted at fairly high heat for one and a half hours. The bird turned out to be perfectly cooked. It was very juicy, even though about a cup of liquid had collected in the foil packet. The flavor of the garlic from the stuffing permeated the flesh. If I were to serve this to guests, I would take the added step of unwrapping the bird and roasting it in the oven for a few minutes to crisp the skin and give it some color. I really liked the contrast of the soft, sweet peppers with the prosciutto in the risotto. It's now my new "favorite" recipe for risotto. April

Nathan, that is one amazing dinner, especially what you did with the truffle in the pork loin. The plain version from Marcella Hazan has always been a hit whenever I serve it, but I feel called to try new versions now. I like the "filling within the filling" in the agnolotti as well. Congratulations on a fine ending to Piemontese cuisine. Sorry about your hangover. April

Thank you for the link to the old thread, and your thoughts on the other books. This should get me started. It's good to hear that you had some success translating recipes. I'm going to give it a try. April

Chufi, that dessert looks wonderful. Did you bake the cookies as well? April

Thanks, Foodman. I forgot to give you your proper due yesterday--your meal featuring tongue was fresh in my mind when I went shopping last weekend. The leftovers have made great sandwiches. April

I was thinking the same thing, and in the Italian Ragu thread, marons was asking about recommendations for cookbooks written in Italian. When I was looking for used cookbooks on abebooks.com yesterday, I stumbled across several regional books written or edited by Alessandro Molinari Pradelli. This led me to an on on-line bookseller in Italy, Bol.it which listed several more by him, including books on Friuli, Lombardy, and the Piedmont. There's even one devoted to the cooking of Milan. (2007: "My nerdy year of Milanese cooking" ) There are also "Guida Gourmet" books on several different regions. I don't know Italian myself, but I'm intrigued by these books, and I feel that with the help of a dictionary, I could handle the recipes. But, it would be nice to know in advance which books, in English or Italian, would be worth the effort of aquiring. Perhaps we could start a thread on Italian cookbook reviews, since the Bibliography hasn't yet taken off. April

If this isn't what the eGullet Society for Culinary Arts and Letters is for, I don't know what is. I see the germ of an idea here that is obviously the first of many. The pooled intellect and expertise of this membership is staggering, and the possibility of publications growing out of discussion here is infinite. Future's so Bright... ← This idea definitely deserves its own thread! Here's a site devoted to improving office coffee: Cubicle Coffee The cook book needs a beverages section, after all. April

My brother and I never had to resort to sneakiness to get raw meat as kids. Our mom loved it herself, and she always shared some with us when she was preparing dinner. I still love it. No more raw pre-package hamburger, though. April

The tongue isn't bad at all, once the outer layer is peeled away. It has a taste and texture like mild roast beef. That said, one of my neighbors witnessed me slipping the package into my grocery cart over the weekend. She requested that I not invite her to my "experimental" dinners. I'm definitely planning on making the pasta. I have leeks in my fridge at this very moment! I just need to finish off last night's leftovers first. April

Have you tried to get these books on Interlibrary loan? Somewhere there's bound to be a library that has them. Plotkin's book on Friuli is also available used through Amazon and Abebooks.com. April

I went all-out for the dinner I cooked last night, in an attempt to fit in several recipes from Matt Kramer's book before we move on to our next region at the end of the month. I have to say that the style of Italian meals is what is the most difficult for me to get used to. I generally just prepare and serve a main course with one or two sides and some bread. The three antipasti, left to right: Insalata di Carotte e Lingue Tornavento, Peperoni Ripieni con Tonno, and Funghi Trifolati. The tongue salad with carrots was fun and tasty. The recipe called for soft goat cheese, but the best that I could do was brie. I had a hard time not adding extra ingredients to the tuna and olive oil filling in the red peppers. My subconcsious kept demanding American-style tuna salad. I should have followed the version given by Pontormo over the weekend. The mushrooms were fabulous (yes, they were button mushrooms). What's not to love about mushrooms with garlic, bacon and parsley? The soup was Palline di Carne con le Mele in Brodo (Meatballs with Apples in Broth). The meatballs have grated apple and Parmesan cheese in them, and they are also simmered in white wine before before adding them to the broth. I used the broth from poaching the tongue mixed with poultry stock for the soup. The combined flavors were unique and refreshing. The main course was Petto di Tacchino Ripieno alle Nocciole (Turkey breast with hazelnut stuffing). The stuffing was a delicous-sounding mixture of ground pork, ground turkey, cream, eggs, chopped hazelnuts, pancetta and white raisins. I was disappointed that the flavor of the hazelnuts didn't come through. The filling mostly tasted of the sweet raisins. Next time, I will reduce or eliminate the raisins and add more hazelnuts. April

I vote for the buffet, so that you can continue the Disney-esque theme begun with your trip to Ikea! Either way, I can't wait to vicariously enjoy dinner with you. April

Congratulations, Chufi! We can't wait! April

So far, molds haven't fit into my style of cooking and baking. The few that I have were purchased more for their aethetics. But I find myself seduced by the Rainbow Jello Mold and by Mary Whiting's Fruit Terrine. I have a couple reproduction springerle cookies molds. I have always intended to make springerle with them, but the cookies take so much time to mold. I know that these reproduction molds are often now used for paper casting for craft projects. I also have a cast iron "muffin" pan, (I'm not sure of its intended use), where the individual molds are in the shape of lambs' and lions' heads. It's not very old, maybe twenty or thirty years. The mold that I've used the most is a vintage pewter ice cream mold in the form of a tom turkey. It's very detailed, and holds about 4oz of ice cream. If you pack the ice cream correctly and get it to release, you get a three-dimensional bird that will stand on your plate. I've made these for dessert for friends on occasion. I've also made clay castings from this mold. An antique store that I was in one time had the ultimate ice cream mold: It was the sea god, Neptune, rising from the waves surrounded by sea creatures. It held a quart of ice cream, at least. The cost was $$$$! Definitely, this mold represented another time and place from where I live today. April

I like this suggestion. The order as given is fine. We can always change the order of the regions later on if the need arises. I appreciate the the opportunity to do more advanced research. Perhaps this would be the time to start working on the Italian Food Bibliography, to use it as a resource for this thread. April

Klary, As penance for insulting your Erwtensoep, I present to you some Dutch-American pastries that I purchased yesterday at a local shop: The De Hoek Gift Shop opened late last year in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. I didn't visit it right away, as I hadn't realized that they had a tiny bakery in the back. The whole De Hoek family runs the shop and bakes all of their own pastries. The family moved to South Dakota from Pella, Iowa. Pella was settled by Dutch immigrants in the mid-1800s, and the townsfolk are very proud of their heritage. They have a huge tulip festival there every year. But back to the pastries: On the left is a puff pastry filled with almond paste, it was labeled "Almond Pillow"; the cookies I think are speculaas, made at the bakery; second from the right is an apricot scone; and on the far right is a slice of what they were calling an almond tart. I think that it's made from two layers of dough similar to your Gevulde koeken, with a thick layer of almond paste in the middle. It's very addictive, and quite rich. I've been in a few times now, and the family is alway very friendly and happy to answer all of my questions. They are interested to know if scones are popular in the Netherlands. They said that according to tradition, the Dutch invented scones, but that they were called something like "skonbrot" (sorry about my spelling). The joke is that the English couldn't pronounce it properly, so they changed the name to scones. True or not, they had great fun relating the story. Now, I'm going to go sample my pastries. It was difficult to leave them alone long enough to photograph them! April

Non-photogenic food is totaly welcome here! You could put a picture of a rock next to those cookies and we would still all be drooling. I officialy vote Trentino /Alto Adige next. My local wine shop just announce a tasting of wines from the region mid-month which is good enough reason for me. My second place vote goes to Lombardia. ← Thanks, Nathan. Would you be willing to share your notes on the wine-tasting with us even if we don't do Trentino-Alto Adige next? April

Thanks. I really need to read Julie/Julia, but I can barely keep up with my other reading. I hadn't gotten to that recipe in Matt Kramer's book yet, but I how can I pass it up? April

I didn't mean to stuff the ballot box! I just wanted to make sure that those four regions didn't get left out this year.April