[Asking for a taste in a restaurant]

[" Heck, I can think of a dozen times where I'd send a little something to the table for people who seemed interested in it. It paid itself back a hundred times and the customers were so happy (not to mention the waiters, who got some extra $$$ for their part in it)."

Excellent! Exactly my point!

I hostessed, waited tables, ran the front, worked the back, ran the back, sometimes ran the whole thing when the ower(s) were a little deep into the bottle.

I also, cannot tell you how many times I sent a little something to the table. Not to mention the times I placed a tidbit tray at the hostess station with some of the sauce from the special, or just brought a bit of something to the table with the silly water pitcher!

Those were the days! My body simply will not tolerate the loaded tray and buspan anymore. Sigh.

Not to overlook the very simple and straightforward exclamation I have heard all over NY, large or small place, fine dining or dive:

"YOU WANT ME TO LEAVE?"

[Asking for a taste in a restaurant]

MOO

My Opinion Only

Keeps me out of much trouble here and there. I have been known to be opinionated. Not that there is anything wrong with that, or anyone else's opinion for that matter! I try to include the acronym when I am being particulary opinionated on any one point. Keeps me humble, because my opinions, no matter how firmly stated, are my opinions only.

I spent a lot of time in the front of the house, some time in the back of the house. Back in the day, ya know. Through high school, college, military wife, single mother, back in college. Great job, flexible and pretty lucrative if you are good at it and service oriented.

The most valuable skill I learned in the front of the house, was dealing with people in the back of the house. After all, it is so hot back there, and this little girl comes in communicating a customer request or complaint! It is hard when you are up to your ass in alligators, in the weeds, behind, hot, tired, seen to many of those plates already, cut yourself twice today, burned yourself once, and the dishwasher called in sick so you have to do it, to be patient with this little slip of a girl, who makes more in tips than you do for a night's work. when she bounces up to the window and demands something, for her customer, who will tip her generously if she accomplishes the mission.

The server may not understand the concept of "polite, but FIRM" or more importantly the concept of a glass of wine or an ice cold cocktail at the end of the night. But more importantly, the management of the restaurant should be, ideally, familiar with the concept of customer service and all of it's ramifications.

MOO, of course.

Annie

[Asking for a taste in a restaurant]

Nothing at all wrong with your request. It is simply good customer service to provide a taste of this or that, especially if it is a garnish!

If it ever happens again, I would sniff even louder in your position. A third time, well, three strikes.

It is a service driven economy and lifestyle in the world these days. And garnish, you just do bunches and bunches of it up in prep, and end up throwing a significant percentage out anyway. Unless it is a particularly hot item for the evening, that is. Even then, scant the next six plates and give someone who is curious a taste.

MOO, of course.

[Cast iron: seasoning, care, and restoration]

I agree that one hour is simply not enough to season a raw piece of cast iron. The best seasoning is, of course, time and use. No substitute. And it is wonderful that you are the beneficiary of these lovely cooking utensils! One lovely thing about cast iron cookware is that a little rust will not ruin the utensil. It may not be something you want to cook on, but it can be reborn with some time and effort. I have purchased several flea market rusty things in the past, and a couple of them are used at least once or twice a week in my home after some initial work, and then a lot of cooking!

Personally, I would not scrub down to raw iron with the sticky situation. I would just clean in the manner that I would normally clean a piece of cast iron, described beautifully up thread, take the "sticky" stuff leaving the rest, then do another seasoning session with more time.

If it were me, I would then cook while the iron is hot, so to speak. Fry some chicken, then fry some more chicken. Then fry some pork chops. Dumpt the grease, then fry some more chicken. Then fry some fish and hush puppies. Then fry some french fries, because they kind of clean up the grease. Then fry some more fish and hush puppies. By then, a decent season should be on the iron. Fry some more chicken just in case.

Cast iron needs to be used and needs lots of love. Cast iron needs to be needed!

Lodge Logic is the bomb! Grandma would have popped the extra bucks if it were an option!

[Unusual Sweet Potato Recipes]

I'm going to fry my sp's this year, because the night before I am baking a ham with collards and sp's for the kids when they come home from school for break. I just peel and slice them the next day, coat them in egg wash then a little self rising flour, fry them up and sprinkle them with powdered sugar. Quick and easy.

[Southern Holiday Desserts]

Wow Mayhaw, you forgot the CHOCOLATE pound cake. Shame. And you say you are a cake man!

I knew when I went to school in the AM, and there was butter tempering in "the" bowl, that by the time I got back home there would be a chocolate pound cake that I could stuff myself on!

[Cranberry Salad?]

Thanks for the suggestions. Perhaps if I add some orange zest to the recipe, it will come closer to my exgrandma-in-laws?

Yep "to die for" was quite a mental slip on my part! Although it is a shame that the dearly departed did not get an opportunity to enjoy some of the funeral spreads I have seen!

[Southern Holiday Desserts]

7 layer cake, with fudge frosting made from cocoa, butter, sugar and vanilla. I personally love the coconut cake, yellow cake frosted with whipped cream and sweetened freshly grated coconut left in the fridge to mellow for 24, but I have two coconut haters in the family! There is also a pineapple cake along the same lines as the 7 layer cake, with a cooked pineapple icing.

I know that it is encroaching upon your "marshmallow fluff" territory, but true divinity is extremely provincal, but not the least bit trashy. Yes it does contain corn syrup, but the technique has been passed down mother to daughter for at least four generations in my family, and produces a nougat that is light, melts in your mouth, and carries the essense of pecan straight to your taste buds. We girls all covet my mother' divinity bowl, where she beat the candy to submission four or five times over the holiday season. There really is nothing like it, and I find it a very unique homemade candy.

[Boiled Peanuts]

They really do freeze very well. I usually try not to steep them as long after cooking if I plan to freeze, because they seem to get saltier with time and storage.

[Southern Preserves]

Fresh preserves out of the pot on toast, mmmm.

We used to make several pieces of toast, buttered generously, then layout the fig or pear preserves in a grid. Cut the toast into tiny squares with precisely one fig per sqare, and eat 'em with a fork.

Too good!

[Boiled Peanuts]

Boiled peanut pig here from way back! We used to use a syrup kettle to boil them for family reunions and such at Labor Day. I can get green peanuts down here at Publix, but they just aren't the same. Recently visited my Mom in Southwest Georgia, and brought back peanuts I boiled there for my son who could not go with us. He was so excited! "Mom, these are the real thing, you can taste the dirt!"

There is something about that south Georgia soil that does wonderful things for the vegetables grown in it. Tomatoes, peas, butter beans, greens, sweet potatoe - all pick up a distinctive flavor from the soil in which they were grown. Georgia peanuts also seem to have a high oil content.

I've made myself sick off boiled peanuts. Then come back for more punishment the next day!

[Cranberry Salad?]

The relish tray thread reminded me of a salad my ex husband's Grandmother made at Thanksgiving that I would like to include with Thanksgiving dinner. It was a congealed salad made from fresh cranberries (boiled in a simple syrup), oranges, celery and walnuts and knox gelatin. She put everything through a food mill, oranges with the peel and all. The only problem is that it made a terribly huge quantity, and there are only 6 of us for Thanksgiving dinner. She served it cut into squares in a side dish with a dollop of mayo as a substitute for cranberry sauce. I have lots of lovely old copper molds that would be suitable for a smaller quantity, and I would really like to use them sometime, though they look very lovely on the wall where they live. Anybody got any recipe ideas for a similar, smaller in quantity, substitute?

Also, when I was VERY young, a lovely older neighbor of ours would prepare a congealed salad for funerals and family gatherings and such that was to die for. All I remember was that it had cream cheese, was a lovely green color, and had sliced green olives stuffed with pimento over the top. Very pretty, and very tasty. If I can find a decent recipe, I might attempt something like it, and go with the canned cranberry sauce. We have both a jellied and a whole berry contingent in the family and it may be hard to wean everyone off Ocean Spray and onto the cranberry salad thing.

Thanks.

[Turkey Stuffing / Dressing]

I also favor the leftover cornbread/biscuit recipe. I just baggie the leftover cornbread and homemade biscuts for a couple of months and shove them in the freezer. Sometimes I have to cook a supplementary batch of cornbread and/or biscuits the day before in order to have enough to fulfill my families ability to eat mounds of stuffing.

In the turkey, absolutely! I find it flavors the meat, and helps keep the turkey moist. Also, I make my own turkey broth a day ahead with turkey wings, salt, onion, celery, carrot, fresh parsley, sage and rosemary to moisten the stuffing rather than chicken broth. I debone the turkey I used to make the broth, and include the meat in the dressing when I moisten it. Additional sauteed onion and celery, and dried poultry seasoning. Whatever doesn't fit in the turkey gets the rest of the turkey broth and meat and goes in a pan to finish while the turkey is resting.

The gravy is the thing! My mom made the most fantastic giblet gravy, with chopped boiled egg and lots of onion, thickened with flour. My giblet gravy always hits using Mom's techniques. Really simple, great old comfort food!

[Roasting Turkey]

Hmm, a brined smoked turkey that tastes like ham? What kind of wood are you using in the smoker?

Personally, I don't care for hickory or oak on my poultry. The hickory I have found to be particularly distinctive, and it leaves a legacy in the flavor of the meat. Great on pork, but gives me a bit of hickory flavored indigestion sometimes. I prefer pecan or citrus wood for turkey, maybe because I can get an ample supply of either. Mesquite I use only on beef, and only when I am in a particular mood. It is probably my least favorite smoking wood. Also, be sure to use Kosher salt in the brine. I have converted my entire household to Kosher salt, and I swear I can taste the metallic iodine flavor from regular table salt even in small quantities, and so does my DH.

I am a cheesecloth method convert. The skin is just amazing. I have found that the only tricky part is to make sure the cheesecloth remains moist with basting so that it does not remove all that lovely skin when you pull it off to finish the turkey the last 45 minutes or so. Have had great, moist results with cheesecloth. In fact, am planning on roasting a whole turkey and smoking a bone in breast this year, and am trying a cheesecloth method for the smoked breast this year. The recipe calls for a brandy soaked cheesecloth tied like a sack around the turkey breast, frequently basted of course, then cutting away with scissors to finish. As my smoked turkey breasts have been a bit dry in the past, I am hoping that this will help. Also, think I will substitute bourbon and butter for the brandy.

[Salsa for Canning]

Salsa for Canning

This is a salsa recipe given to me by my Houston born and bred sister-in-law specifically for canning and I've tweaked over the years for my tastes. It is a great chunky salsa that sticks to the chip. It halves, doubles and triples easily and is safe for canning in double and triple batches as long as all proportions are kept the same. It is fine to omit the vinegar if preparing for fresh and will be consumed within a day or two. If processing the jars under pressure, the vinegar may be reduced by half. The recipe is for pints, but I prefer to can in 8oz jelly jars for gift giving and sharing.

• 4 c tomatoes, peeled, seeded, chopped and drained
  
• 1-1/4 c chopped onion
  
• 3/4 c chopped green pepper
  
• 2 chopped jalapenos
  
• 3 cloves minced garlic
  
• 1 tsp cumin
  
• 1 tsp pepper
  
• 1/4 c canning salt
  
• ¼ cup chopped fresh cilantro*
  
• 3 T sugar
  
• 1/2 c vinegar
  
• 8 oz tomato sauce
  

Mix all ingredients, bring to a boil, boil 10 minutes. Pour into hot jars leaving quarter inch head space, process at 10 lbs of pressure for 30 minutes for pints. Or Hot Water Bath (boiling water covering jar lids by one inch) 15 minutes. This makes a medium heat salsa. For a milder salsa, reduce jalapeno and add more green or poblano pepper. For a great, complex hot salsa, omit green pepper and add seranno or habanaro in the same proportions. *Cilantro is optional, but is really not overpowering at this proportion. Can be safely doubled if you are a cilantro lover. Add 4oz of tomato paste for even thicker salsa, or 4oz of tomato juice for thinner salsa.

Makes 4 pints, or eight half pints

( RG1965 )