alamut

I'm inclined to agree with Kape. The good folks at CI are completely absurd caricatures of themselves, but that is part of their appeal. Mr. Kimball’s editorials (especially the latest one) are rambling, disjointed, monologues that don’t really serve to make the magazine seem “in touch” with the readers. The little pencil drawings that show us how use kitchen tongs to get a box of cereal off a high shelf are completely useless. The staff takes an incredibly pretentiousness to a new level when badmouthing the recipes/ingredients they rejected. When I 1st started reading CI I was scared to make a batch of cookies (I’m not even sure that it was cookies) because I could find the brand of chocolate chips they recommended and I was terrified of using any chips that they had maligned. Why keep buying the magazine? They test everything obsessively. All of the complaints leveled against CI are on target, but we must admit they are much more through in their analysis than other food magazines. Often Cooking Light (which I also enjoy) will publish recipes that need more than an little adjustment to get them right. If you have never prepared a certain culinary staple before, they will give you the step-by-step to get it right the first time. P.S. has anyone tried the chicken-pot-pie in the most recent issue?

So I am getting married this coming July 1. My fiancé have already had our 1st preliminary meeting with the chef at the place holding the reception and he seems like the kind of person you would trust to cook at your wedding. I am soliciting dinner menu suggestions, because we have some specific needs. The wedding will be in Louisville KY in mid summer so we should have great access to a bunch of fresh local farm goods (alas fiddlehead and ramps will no longer available). The bride has been a lifelong vegetarian who has only begun to eat and enjoy seafood in the last couple of years (and believe me that wasn’t easy), so all meats and poultry are out of the question. To make matters worse some guests/bridesmaids eat only veggies and seafood, while others only eat chicken (you know those girls, who get some grilled chicken salad each and every time they go out for lunch or dinner) and are freaked out by fish. Although I’m not in any way opposed to having a seafood entree, I cannot bear the notion of vegetarian wedding dinner. (I eat vegetarian meals often and the guys in the produce dept. know me well, but at my wedding I want some luxury) Then there is my family, some of who are unaccustomed to more creative preparations, but I’m willing to push them out of their comfort zone a little.. A final note to consider is that while I grew up in Louisville, the bride and her family are Alaskan. We would love to do a kind of Alaska/Kentucky theme to the menu (maybe bourbon-glazed salmon?) It’s a smaller wedding of about 125 people, so there should be less of an issue in preparing food for a large group. I welcome your dinner suggestions, and also advice and cautions (and probably horror stories) from your own experiences.

I had no idea that this would become such an emotional thread when I started it, but I suppose I should have known better. I have checked out the websites, and there is some fine looking steel. Couple questions here: (1) I had heard (as some of the posters indicated) that Japanese steel is in fact harder than its European/American counterpart. Why is that? Anyone who knows the answer should keep in mind that I have about much of a background in chemistry as does my Boston Terrier. (2) If I am able to get a hold of one of these knives do I need to use it/care for it any differently than I do my German chef’s knives? That’s all for right now. Thanks P.S. I’m not really comfortable posting other “naughty” pictures of Rachel Ray on this website, that one was just kind of a joke, sorry guys. They’re floating around the web, just google “Rachel Ray” and “FHM” and they should pop right up.

There is a Trappist monastery in Gethsemani Kentucky that makes the best fruitcake in the whole US of A. Its not just my impression of their fruit cake. The Wall Street Journal (what business they have reviewing foods is beyond me) has done an annual rating of fruitcakes each December and the monastery has come out #1 for the last 5 years running. In any case, their stuff is just superb; even people who hate fruitcake love these cakes (the monks use plenty of bourbon). They also sell bourbon fudge and some really excellently crafted cheeses. All of their stuff is available over the website monks.org, but they’re probably pretty busy this time of the year.

Too many boiler makers one evening led some friends and I to play the "can it be made into a burrito" game. My favorite was the peanut butter and jelly burrito, other popular choices included the leftover jambalaya burrito, the sauerkraut and salad dressing burrito, and the cheato burrito (it rhymes )

Was I perhaps too snarky about Ms. Ray? Yes I am aware that in Japan these knives have been in use for a very long time. However, there an number of different styles and types of knife that have been in use for centuries in Japan and all around the world that are not currently promoted by TV cooks in the manner Santoku has been. Ray-Ray has been losing chef cred in my eyes (how much was there originally?) ever since she did that "sexy" photo shoot in FHM (shudder). But my questions are not about her, and I do agree with you sanrensho, in you placing an emphasis on the quality of the steel. I have seen that in the last several years some (but not all) of the Wustofh and Henckel knives have begun to be manufactured in China not Deutschland. (Achtung!) Not that everything that comes out of China in necessarily subpar, but I am now putting less stock in name brands and reading the back of the box much more closely.

I don't know if anybody saw the most recent edition of CHOW magazine, but they had a good little article on fritter making. They were making polenta fritters (less Atkins friendly that brie fritters), but on their website someone was extrapolating their recipe to cheese related fritters. Although I enjoy brie very much, by favorite fried cheese creation have long been the Green Chili Wontons from the Bristol restaurant in Louisville KY.

My mother-in-law (a fine cook in her own right) has offered to buy me a new knife of my choosing for an upcoming birthday. While she hasn’t put any price restrictions on the blade, I don’t intend to tax her generosity unduly (so there’s to be none of that masterfully folded steel from Nagano) I have a few traditional German style chef’s knives, and we’ve had some great times together (chopping veggies, de-boning poultry, splitting squash, and sectioning off the world’s largest crawfish). However, the thought of adding a new member to our knife family is very exciting. Is the now very trendy Santoku (Japanese for “three great things”) a Rachel Ray driven, over hyped, waste of time and money, or is it a valuable addition to the collection? I have no intention of using it to quarter a chicken, or mince parsley (chef’s knife tasks), but I am intrigued by the downward facing tip, which seems nicely suited to more delicate vegetable work (lately it seems we are slicing up more leeks and cardoons that I would have ever thought possible). If there are any Santoku advocates what brand do you use/recommend? Any Santoku haters (too strong a word?) what better knife do you recommend?

I know that this is slightly off topic, but I need some advice of what may be a snail allergy. I've enjoyed eating them in the past (never had the moxie to prepare them myself), but now am afraid that I've developed an allergy (this would take my number of food allergies up to 2, the other being green papaya skins, go figure). If anybody has ever heard anything about snail allergies please let me know. My "problem" seems to manifest itself as severely constricted breathing and a very runny nose. But I eat snails rather infrequently, so I'm not sure if it is actually the snails causing this. I would like to eat them without fear (and with functioning lungs). What exactly do snail alergy reactions look like?

Buffalo Trace fans (of which I am one) would do well to check out "Elmer T. Lee" the small batch bourbon named for Buffalo Trace's master distiller and KY living legend. Elmer is one of only 3 living men (to my knowledge there has never been an American whiskey named for a woman, a situation that we will no doubt remedy soon) to have a bourbon carry his name. Booker Noe's "Bookers" (which is overpriced for my way of thinking, and also just too darn high octane) is the second, and anyone who can name the 3rd with a special prize. In the world of single barrel bourbons, Knob Creek has long been my standby favorite. We can debate about which is the best all year, but Know Creek is a “textbook’ bourbon long on flavor and not overly sweetened (Maker’s Mark) or smoked (Woodford Reserve) like some. However davidbdesilva's suggestion of Pappy Van Winlke meets with my hearty approval (if you can afford it). All the whiskys suggested are fine in their own right. As a last thought I wanted to mention Sam Houston as a really interesting choice and a very different whiskey. It is lightbodied without being rare or weak, and consequently has an almost lemony aroma. I suppose its more of a summertime whisky. In any respcet, its not the finest Bourbon, but an interesting choice for someone wanting somethings new.

Back in college I dated two Swedish girls (not at the same time ), who were very fond of making Glug for holiday parties, especially the feats of St. Lucy and St. Nicolas. Generally this is something made in an big pot, or kettle. Just make sure that you warm it over low heat (for God’s sake don’t let it boil) and that you “cook” it in something non-aluminum (enameled cookware is the best). 1 750 ml bottle port wine (don’t go for the super cheap stuff here) 1 750 ml bottle burgundy (or US pinot noir) 1 750 ml bottle of Swedish Vodka (some prefer light rum or brandy here, but it’s a Swedish drink) 1 cup light brown sugar 1/2 cup confectioners sugar 1 cup dark raisin 1 cup yellow (golden) raisin 8 cinnamon sticks 12 whole seeds 1 whole nutmeg 1 orange many whole cloves (I never really counted (10-15)?) Fist full of slivered almonds (optional) Mix all the booze in a Dutch oven or small stock pot and put it on the stove at low heat. While it warms put the cardamom seeds and the 1 nutmeg in a little “sock” made out of cheesecloth & butcher’s twine. You can put the cinnamon sticks in there if you like (I recommend breaking them in half first if they do go in the sock) but I like to just throw them into the pot. Once its warmed (about 125 F) slowly stir in the sugars. You may add more sugar to taste, but I prefer a less sweetened drink. Once the sugars are all dissolved toss in “sock” into the pot and let it steep like a big tea bag. Toss in the raisins and cinnamon sticks (unless they went in the sock) and the sliced almonds (unless your guests are allergic to nuts). Then take the orange, leaving it whole and unpeeled, and push the all of the cloves into the skin of the orange so that it resembles a punk-rock haircut. Float the clove-spiked orange in the glug and serve warm. Try to ladle a few raisin into each mug, so that they may be eaten, or given to overactive children.

When I was back home in Louisville over Thanksgiving my father showed me a whisky new to scene (and in Kentucky its quite a whisky scene) that a friend of my parents had brought over for a dinner party (to hell with the wine bottle, eh?) Anyhow, its called Bernheim Whiskey, named I believe for a local forest where we used to go for family picnics. Unlike the local bourbons, Bernheim is a 100% wheat whisky, made in a Bourbon style by the good people over at the Heaven Hill distillery (still family owned whisky making by the way). By Bourbon style, I mean it is aged in chard new oak barrels and warehoused in a similar manner. Weighing it at a respectable 90 proof, it has a appearance and nose similar to a light bodied bourbon (think Sam Houston). In bourbons corn adds significant sweetness and rye pepper. But because it has no rye or corn in the mix the taste is very easy drinking. This could be the California Merlot of Kentucky Whisky. I don't know if that is something we need, but as King Lear says "reason not the need." It got 83 points in the Malt Advocate but their reviews are not always my speed. I would love to hear from anyone who has tasted it, or anybody else who has tried a new Kentucky whisky.

Was it a Jack Fruit or a Durian Fruit?? Durian are sometimes kept in water because they are very stinky and the water helps mask the smell. Durian fruit? Jack Fruit In either case I have to say neither fruit has a whole lot to reccomend it (although I've only had jackfruit from a can). If it is Durianthe "aroma" will be noticed down the block after you've gut into. So tread lightly.