David Ross

David, do you know where this is from? Asia, or elsewhere? The box the guy pulled out said bacalao but I didn't look closely to see if the address was from Spain or elsewhere. Good question though.

September dinner in the Inland Northwest, Fried Quail, Fresh Huckleberry Compote, Cheddar Grits and Sausage, Green Beans-

I was expecting to buy salt cod at the fishmonger yesterday. He didn't have any in the freezer case, so I thought all hope was lost. He typically always has a supply--little wood boxes of salt cod that he keeps in the freezer. Comes from a supplier in Nova Scotia. Well, on a whim I stopped by this little dumpy Asian market I occasionally go to and surprise, surprise, these beauties. Next week--my first of the cold fall season batch of brandade-

No, just placed on top of the jar and turned about halfway to let some air escape.

Thanks for the link. This is the basic recipe that I settled on. I did four different varieties of pickles, all using small persian cukes I found at the Asian market. Unfortunately, the local stores in my area were out of local pickling cukes today and the next delivery isn't scheduled until tommorrow--I couldn't wait to get this going! For three of the jars I used Kosher salt in the brine and whole cucumbers. For the fourth jar I used canning and pickling salt and halved cucumbers. No science behind my madness other than I want to taste the difference between the two salts. I also added some Ball brand Fruit Fresh to the brine. I've had success with it in the past in setting the color and keeping vegetables crisp. All four jars included garlic, dill and black peppercorns. Left to right- Kosher salt/mustard seed, Kosher salt/chile flakes, Kosher salt/pickling spices, Pickling salt/pickling spices-

The reviews are just middle ground and the stone crab season doesn't start until the second week of October. I'm not sure, but if you go before then you might end up with frozen crab.

It's never too late to take part in any Cook-Off. Part of the fun is that a Cook-Off never ends. I especially like the Dong Po style Octopus. Give us some more details about the recipe.

Honestly, 17lbs. of wild chanterelles is like a pot of gold. I like them sauteed in a butter, a little olive oil, garlic and thyme. And creamed chanterelles on toast? Fantastic.

I can already tell those are going to be crunchy and delicious.

I checked with a local friend and he tells me that KJ Dim Sum is getting some amazing reviews although he hasn't been there himself. Sounds like a cavernous hall as it seats 350 people. That wouldn't fit within my style of taking my time to really enjoy the dishes. Dim sum is one of those meals where the choices can be huge and the selection change daily so without a sample menu online it's hard to tell what they offer. Ping Pang Pong is probably not close to 350 seats, maybe more like 100 at best. It fills up shortly after 11am for the dim sum, but it's worth it. Last time I was there they still do the it the old way with carts, not the off-the-menu format of some other dim sum places. Part of the fun and intrigue is watching those carts roll by your table and pointing at all the little nibbles you think look interesting. I personally favor their chicken feet and sticky rice wrapped in lotus leaf.

I can think of all sorts of dishes using kimchi consomme. Thanks for the inspiration!

I've been going through my vintage cookbooks and to my surprise, there are few recipes for summer squash in my 1917 and 1927 editions of the Fannie Farmer Cookbook. I suppose early twentieth century cooks just knew how to prepare the produce out of their home gardens. Most of the recipes are for fried, boiled or baked squash with little more than salt and pepper, sometimes a dash of white sugar. I did find an interesting recipe for "South American Zucchini" in the 1944 edition of The Good Housekeeping Cookbook- 2lbs. zucchini 2 slices bacon, diced 3 tbsp. minced onion 1/3 c. minced green pepper 1 8oz. can tomato sauce 1/2 tsp. "bottled thick meat sauce" 1 tsp. granulated sugar 1/2 tsp. salt 1/4 tsp. pepper Obviously the tastes back then didn't like much seasoning. That's a pretty small measure of salt and pepper for 2 lbs. of zucchini. I suppose the "bottled meat sauce" was something along the lines of A-1 Steak Sauce, but a 1/2 tsp. of the stuff would barely be noticeable. Maybe they called for meat sauce for the tangy element.

Thanks for the recipe links. I'll start my planning.

Does anyone have experience or a recipe for making pickles without vinegar? My favorite brand of pickles, Bubbles, uses a salted brine, spices and no vinegar. I've seen some recipes that call for using grape leaves. We're in the midst of pickling season up here in Eastern Washington, so I'm going to give this a try.

I'm not sure what you would use for shrimp toast (which might vary depending on what kind of shrimp toast, too, I think?) The fish paste I used is similar to the stuff one would use/prepare for making "fish balls" - of the sort you might see in Chinese/E-Asian/SE-Asian stores. Traditionally, one used a somewhat firm-fleshed white fish which one could "scrape" the meat off of then "chop" with the back of a Chinese cleaver + knead etc with cornstarch or something similar, and with or without spices and other additions. Yes, the traditional way took a lot of physical labor. Here's one pictorial & description (amongst others, of course) of one way of making the paste in a traditional way: http://food-4tots.com/2008/10/29/how-to-make-smooth-springy-fish-paste/ . The fish paste I used (before adding all the other stuff) straight out of the small tub it came in looks not unlike the fish paste shown in this article. Here's another description using a food processor :-) with extra bits added in as well: http://redcook.net/2009/02/01/making-fish-paste/ Well-made fish balls (springy, "song hou" in Cantonese; tasty, fine textured, etc) - needing well-made fish paste - was considered the mark of an expert, and folks would seek out and flock to places that put out food featuring excellent fish balls. Thanks for the info. I'm going to give it a go.

Is the fish paste similar to a shrimp paste I would make for shrimp toast?

Really quite delicious looking. Very nice!

We've got a lot of wonderful summer squash dishes for dinner over in our Summer Squash Cook-Off here, http://forums.egullet.org/topic/145452-cook-off-63-summer-squash/page-4#entry1927702. I was pretty happy with my take on a French Tarte Tatin using tomatoes and Zucchini-

My third attempt at a summer squash dish was the most experimental so far-a combination of two traditional French dishes and two really exotic flavors that are typically used in sweet dishes, not savory treatments of squash. My first thought was to do a take on a traditional Apple Tarte Tatin, (basically apples slow-cooked with sugar and butter that confit down into apple caramel, then topped with pastry, baked, and unmolded. The best upside down apple dish you'll ever taste). I thought I'd go a savory route and substitute tomatoes and zucchini for the apples. Then another idea came to mind, taking an element from the Alsatian "Flammekueche" Tarte Flambe--a puff pastry base with a thin layer of herbed cheese topped with caramelized onions and bacon. After the tomatoes and zucchini had cooked down, I'd add a layer of herb cheese and top it with my own favorite pastry dough. The first step was to peel, core and seed Roma tomatoes and slice zucchini. Then into a cast iron skillet went 6 tbsp. of butter and 3/4 cup of sugar. The surprise element? Half a fresh vanilla bean. I found a few recipes for a tomato tart that incorporated vanilla. Trust me, I was skeptical that the perfume and sweet flavor of the vanilla would compete, (in a bad way), with the flavor of the tomatoes. And zucchini and vanilla? Ugh, that won't work. Building the tarte tatin with tomatoes and zucchini in a base of melted butter, sugar and vanilla- The tarte baked in a 350 oven for 1 1/4 hours. Most recipes tell you at this stage to immediately go to the pastry stage, but my tradition tells me to always let the tarte cool then refrigerate it overnight to let the sugars and butter caramelize and chill, allowing the tarte to firm up. Then on day two we're ready to add the cheese layer, pastry and bake. The cheese mixture comes from Chef Andre Soltner and an old recipe he used at Lutece--a mixture of cottage cheese, ricotta or creme fraiche, flour, salt, pepper and fresh herbs. I used a mixture of chives and lavendar flowers. The idea of using lavendar just popped into my head at the last minute. I had been toying with the idea of using herbes de Provence as a traditional flavoring for summer vegetables. Knowing I had a small bag of lavendar and it's one of the main elements in the herbes mixture, I gave it a go. But would lavendar work?- Then the pastry is blanketed on top of the vegetables and cheese. My standard pastry includes flour, cake flour, sugar, salt, both butter and Crisco and a decent slug of ice water. The pastry has a flaky, buttery, very tender crumb- Baked in a 375 oven for about 30 minutes just until the pastry starts to turn golden. Once you bring a tarte tatin out of the oven, the really delicate part of the procedure happens. I typically let the tarte sit for about 5 minutes, then place a cookie rack, (or in this case an aerated pizza pan), on top of the tart, then flip, invert and place it on another rack. I find it's important to use a cookie rack, (or again, an aerated pizza pan), so air can breather under the crust to keep the bottom from becoming soggy. Now the real trick with this melange was to see how the vanilla worked with the vegetables, if the cheese added any flavor or melted away and if the crust held up. For garnish, I added some Kalamata olives to add a salty, acidic flavor and a few more sprinkles of lavendar flowers- Now for service, I needed something more. I hadn't tasted the tarte at this point, but I sensed we needed another salty flavor to accent all that butter and sugary sweetness. I made a simple black olive vinaigrette and added some chopped capers- The verdict? I'd cut down on the sugar from 3/4 cup to probably 1/3 cup. The tomatoes and zucchini were too sweet for my tastes. The vanilla? Quite intriguing I must say. It's not a flavor I'm familiar with, but my tastebuds have been opened-up to a new possibility-vanilla with summer vegetables. The cheese? It did in fact melt away, but it also added that gooey, sticky flavor to the pastry dough. It wasn't a shot in the mouth slice of melted cheddar, just a subtle hint of cheese. The black olive vinaigrette was perfect and the tarte would have been sticky sweet without it. I'm thinking this tarte would be quite good served cold. In general, a work in progress but quite good on the first attempt. Tomato and Zucchini "Tarte Tatin" with Vanilla, Lavendar and Black Olive Vinaigrette-

I think this season of Top Chef Master's is woefully bad compared to previous seasons. I don't want to see Top Chef's compete against or with their Sous Chefs. I want to see Top Chef's create magnificent dishes. This season's derivation is about the best example of how ridiculous food challenges create bad tv.

I agree. I can't tell you how thrilled I was a few weeks back when I turned on BBC America one morning and saw MasterChef Professional. I've been waiting a few years to see it back on American tv and voila, there it was. If anyone is serious about what is happening with young Chefs in Michelin-level kitchens, this is the show for you.

Thanks Shelby, I love that charred pizza with squash blossoms.

Today I made the Summer Vegetable Casserole from Turkey out of the "Bake Until Bubbly" cookbook by Clifford Wright. (http://www.amazon.com/Bake-Until-Bubbly-Ultimate-Casserole/dp/0471754471). I'm still not sure what makes this dish a staple of Turkish home kitchens, but I'm going to guess it's due to the vegetables that flourish in that region during the summer and the addition of lots of fresh dill. After reading the recipe, I was a bit apprehensive about not only the final flavors but the presentation. I wasn't looking for something pretty on the plate, but this sounded like basic stewed vegetables which don't typically translate into an attractive looking dish. The ingredients include eggplant, lots of olive oil, red onion, garlic, parsley and dill, zucchini, yellow squash, tomato, green bell pepper and sweet paprika- The casserole starts with sliced eggplant that is salted to release water, then cubed and sauteed in olive oil- The layering begins- The casserole bakes in a 350 oven for 1 1/2 hours. When it came out of the oven, it had a loose texture and I knew I wouldn't be able to cut it into squares- Really tasted quite good and as Linda mentioned about her fried zucchini, the addition of dill really adds a unique flavor dimension to the cooked-down vegetables. In the cookbook, Mr. Wright recommends serving the leftover casserole cold as a Turkish Mezze. Sounds delicious.

Looks delicious. Ironically, tommorrow I'm going to do a Turkish zucchini casserole. I'm not sure how the dill will work with cooked squash, but we'll see.

I haven't heard much about Chada, but Le Thai downtown has gotten some notice from local Food Writers and it's late-night hangout for some of the Chefs who work on the Strip. Downtown isn't the easiest in terms of parking, and there's a certain dive bar atmosphere, but I hear the food is good. I'm not sure about Vietnamese/Pho shops, but I bet you would find something in one of the Asian malls along Spring Mountain Road.