Peter the eater
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Posts posted by Peter the eater
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OK. So who out there is going the tradional route and eating wings, chips, hoagies, etc.? And if not (assuming you are watching the game) what are you eating?
For big sport tv events I like to make "giant spicy wings" by using turkey instead of chicken. The bigger turkey wings are always way cheap and make you feel much smaller.
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I am reading "Oak" by William Bryant Logan, a Christmas present.
In it he claims that many early pre-history civilisations were balanocultures, using acorns as their original food source, rather than grains. He mentions native Californian American, and Korea among others as examples where the acorn is still eaten.
He cites a cook book "Acorns and eat 'em" by Sullean Ocean (now seems unobtainable).
Apparently you shell and grind the acorn, then wash out the bitter tannins to give a delicious and sustaining food, and from which porridge, breads and a delicate jelly can be made. A sweet manna can be made from the sap and exudates.
Could this be the next fashion food?
Anyone with knowledge or experience out there? Any recipes? I have lots of acorns.
That is very interesting! I would love to see a survey of hardwoods and their associated food possibilities - there are lots o' nuts out there. And is there more than just "maple" syrup?
BTW just how many acorns do you have?
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1. Ho Mangiato il Hairpiece di Stanley Tucci; Italy, 2001.
2. Caligula (Producer's Cut); USA, 1979.
3. Wie Wasser für Chai; Holland/Germany, 2004.
4. Eating Raoul; USA, 1982.
5. Das Große Komischary; Germany, 1943.
6. Claire's Knee, Eric Rohmner; France, 1971.
7. La Grande Pouffe; France, 1973.
8. Eating Out Abroad; England, 1989.
9. Более Быстрый Pussycat, Убийство, Убийство!; USSR, 1953.
10: PBS/Nova: The Making of Dixon's Cider; USA, 2001.
Honourable Mention: Mea Gulpa; National Film Board of Canada, 1989.
I think you mean Bouffe and not Pouffe! Yeah, I found that one exhausting.
As for Caligula, I regard it as one of the all-time worst movies ever made. I put it the same group as "Plan 9 From Outerspace" and more recently "From Justin to Kelly"
But I will hunt down "Mea Gulpa", thanks.
No, I meant pouffe. Or perhaps spoof: Numbers 1, 3, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10 and, before you go to too much trouble, the honourably mentioned "Mea Gulpa", are purely figs of my (inflamed) imagination.
And by the way, what kind of philistine doesn't enjoy Caligula? Answer: A Philistine.Well done - I will read your posts more carefully from now on, outloud if necessary. And I have just the oinment for your inflamed imagination. But I still don't get no. 5.
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1. Ho Mangiato il Hairpiece di Stanley Tucci; Italy, 2001.
2. Caligula (Producer's Cut); USA, 1979.
3. Wie Wasser für Chai; Holland/Germany, 2004.
4. Eating Raoul; USA, 1982.
5. Das Große Komischary; Germany, 1943.
6. Claire's Knee, Eric Rohmner; France, 1971.
7. La Grande Pouffe; France, 1973.
8. Eating Out Abroad; England, 1989.
9. Более Быстрый Pussycat, Убийство, Убийство!; USSR, 1953.
10: PBS/Nova: The Making of Dixon's Cider; USA, 2001.
Honourable Mention: Mea Gulpa; National Film Board of Canada, 1989.
I think you mean Bouffe and not Pouffe! Yeah, I found that one exhausting.
As for Caligula, I regard it as one of the all-time worst movies ever made. I put it the same group as "Plan 9 From Outerspace" and more recently "From Justin to Kelly".
But I will hunt down "Mea Gulpa", thanks.
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Campbell Scott told me in an interview that he co-directed Big Night along with Stanley Tucci (they were high school classmates). It was his first directing experience, after acting for years. He said making Big Night was great fun but he found himself getting very impatient with Isabella Rossellini for no good reason other than all of a sudden as a director he wanted to hurry things along in each scene. He was kinda mad at himself for being like that, especially since he vowed never to be like that when he was a director.
Anyway... Campbell directed another movie called Off the Map...which did not get much play at the box office but if you EVER get a chance to rent this on video or DVD do so! It is just terrific and it does involve food in meaningful ways. It stars Sam Elliott (like you've never seen him) and Joan Allen.
I saw "Off the Map" just before Christmas and have been telling everyone about it. Joan Allen is as good as it gets as far as I'm concerned. Sam Elliot and the young girl were also brilliant, but until you mentioned it, I did not connect this film with Big Night. Campbell Scott is 2 for 2 - what else has he done? Could I have read or seen your interview?
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What's the best food movie you've seen?
My top ten favourite food movies:
10. TAMPOPO (1985, Tsutomu Yamazaki, Nobuko Miyamoto, Koji Miyamoto and Ken Watanabe) The first Japanese noodle western! Very good and very funny.
9. BIG NIGHT (Tony Shalhoub, Ian Holm, Stanley Tucci and Isabella Rossellini) “In love and life, one big night can change everything.”
7. THE COOK, THE THIEF, HIS WIFE AND HER LOVER (1989, Richard Bohringer, Helen Mirren, Michael Gambon and Alan Howard) Peter Greenaway, lust...murder...dessert. Bon Appetit!
6. LIKE WATER FOR CHOCOLATE (1993, Ada Carrasco, Lumi Cavazos, M. Martinez, Regina Torne, Marco Leonardi) Fantastic food film from Mexico.
5. FELICIA'S JOURNEY (1999, Bob Hoskins, Gerald McSorley, Elaine Cassidy and Claire Benedict) This is Atom Egoyan - a Canadian national treasure - at his best!
4. SUPERSIZE ME (2004. Morgan Spurlock) Wow – this should be mandatory viewing for anyone who “uses” the fast food.
3. EAT DRINK MAN WOMAN (1995, Sihung Lung, Chien-lien Wu, Yu-Wen Wang and Kuei-Mai Yang) An Ang Lee masterpiece.
2. BABETTE'S FEAST (1987, Ghita Norby, Thomas Antoni, Asta Esper Andersen and Gert Bastian) An Academy Award winner!
1. CHOCOLAT (2000, Johnny Depp, Juliette Binoche, Judi Dench and Alfred Molina) Brilliant! My fave.
Honourable mention:
TORTILLA SOUP, MOSTLY MARTHA, WHAT’S COOKING?, BREAD AND TULIPS, LA GRANDE BOUFFE, WHO’S KILLING THE GREAT CHEFS OF EUROPE?
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Am I the only eGull with Italian copper pots?
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I am still a bit skeptical concerning the finding in muscle tissue. Trying to figure out how the little buggers that only live in brain or spinal fluid managed to survive in a muscle. Seems to defy science.
MOO
Prions are not really alive in any common sense of the word (they have no DNA or anything like that, and aren't really self-replicating). Prions are single proteins with an unusual structure which causes them to induce other proteins to fold incorrectly (which is how the disease spreads). It's certainly feasible that some particles would end up in other tissues.
That's a very helpful description - they are infectious macromolecules but are not fully understood.
As a lover of venison I would like to know which states and provinces have been flagged.
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So I've been thinking about building a sugar warming box but I can't settle on a design so I was hoping to find inspiration here...
Ideally I want something that fold flat or comes apart for easy storage as it won't be used too often. I was thinking about using hinged plexiglass for the 3 sides but I can't figure out how to make it fold flat.
Any tips?
Thanks in advance.
This may be a dumb question, but what the hell is a sugar warmer?
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We got to have fish, hairy fungus, dry oyster on the table. Mom likes to skip on tofu and wintermelon for New Year.
HAIRY FUNGUS?
Are you kidding me? That's the greatest ingredient name I have ever heard.
Do you have a picture?
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I'm surprised because everyone in this discussion so far seems to have electric stoves & ovens.
Ours is gas. Of course burning gas has its own problems, but it's also more effective, as you know, and heats quicker. It's also not something I worry about as we live in the city (Toronto) and have the advantage of being able to walk everwhere or just take a quick streetcar (don't own a car) for any grocery shopping. As I walk I sometimes fret about the gasoline being burnt by people driving to big supermarkets off in the suburbs; this is dirtier and far worse then burning a bit of natural gas to cook with. To lesson the 'ecological impact' of our purchasing, I also try to buy seasonal and local where possible.
My impression is that running air conditioners really uses up electricity, more than ovens, and so I would try to reduce consumption there. Also people can hang-dry clothes instead of using a drier.
(Can't help feeling guilty as I write this, however, because these gestures are only the tip of the iceberg.)
We don't have access yet to underground gas around here (Nova Scotia) although you can get a propane tank system. I am born and raised and Toronto, I miss the gas stoves and the street cars (among other things, like going to Leaf games). I did not get a car until I moved away.
I guess I am less concerned with the financial cost than I am the environmental cost. And I am not switching to an all-raw food diet anytime soon. In our free-enterprise democracy, every time we spend a dollar we are voting for something. So I'll take local organic GMO-free produce when I can.
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Based on this webpage, cooking, at least as far as electricity goes, amounts to a small percentage of your home electricity costs.
To wit, let's say you've got a stove that you use. Your average consumption per cooking period is, say 10,000 Watts (10 kW). If you are like me, you will cook for roughly 1/2 of active stove time. So, that's 15 hours in a month. Now you're up to 150 kWh per month.
If you use my electric utility's rate plan for summer, that's 150 kWh * $.0851 = $12.77 per month.
Granted, that's a reasonable amount, and worth tracking. But, it's less than a meal for 3 at McDonald's (unless you're being REALLY careful).
You'll also notice that refrigeration alone takes twice what cooking takes. I don't know whether that takes into account having a refigerator and a deep-freeze. But, you can understand how that would go, too.
Your efforts are admirable, for certain, but I think you're looking in the wrong area for higher efficiency for cost-savings.
Good point. Maybe the better idea is to look at the "embodied energy" of meals as they hit the dining room table. A raw tomato that you grew in your backyard would have a much lower "EE" than say roast of beef flown in from Kobe, Japan.
In my line of work (architecture) we have spent much effort evaluating building materials for their "environmental attributes" in an effort to do the right thing from a green point of view. Its a bit elusive and not always scientific, but in general it seems one ought to use local and renewable building materials wherever possible.
I would love to learn more about this as it relates to food.
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At home I refuse to turn on our giant (poorly insulated) electric oven to bake a single potato. If I fire up the barBQ I try to do the whole meal on the grill. One of the greatest features of a microwave in my opinion is the amount of cooking you get for a small amount of electricity.
I have yet to encounter a cookbook or cooking show that addresses this issue. When wilderness cooking, fuel conservation is a big deal - why not at home?
Am I alone here?
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Adam, my mouth is watering. The spring mackeral run is about to start in the northeast U.S. I might add, the Spanish mackeral (Scomberomorous maculatus) is also an excellent member of the family. But rather than the alphabet-like markings, this one is spotted.
Here in Nova Scotia we get a big run of mackerel in May/June and then again in Aug/Sept when they are much bigger. I believe thay are known as "blue mackerel" and they are often persued by bigger fish and whales, which sometimes venture into my bay after them. When they are small, people here call them "tinkers". Big or small they are easy to catch, a breeze to clean and fantastic to eat. And apparently a near-ideal fish from a nutrition point of view.
Yes these guys are the Atlantic Mackerel (Scomber scombrus) I showed above. The Western Atlantic population over-winters near Nova Scotia. Are there any traditional preparations from the area?
When the mackerel are running they show up in the grocery stores, at restaurants and at the side of the road. The roadside guys them fresh at these times but also have them available as smoked filets for most of the year.
I like to chop off each end, gut them, give them a quick rinse and place on the barBQ pretty much as is. Others here like to roll them around in a skillet with some lemon. I say roll because the tinkers are almost cylindrical and several can fit in a 10" pan.
I might add that to catch them is very exciting. I go down to the wharf and cast a line that has a mackerel jig at the end - 5 or 6 unbaited hooks spaced over 2 feet. When the school goes by you get a half dozen fish taking the hook at once. If they all swim in one direction it feels like one giant fish. When they are in the bay here I can usually fill a 10 litre bucket within the hour.
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I've often wondered about others' idiosyncrasies in their choice of consumptive hardware...
E.g. I always eat my soup with a teaspoon, so it lasts longer. But how many people always use an Asian soup-spoon, regardless of the style?
Stirfry always with chopsticks - short, wooden Japanese style, no other. I also toss dressed salads with chopsticks so that I don't lose as much dressing...
If I weren't a vegetarian, I suspect I would have a favourite knife for steaks; I remember my father, however, being of proper British stock, refusing to use a steakknife no matter how cheap the meat was.
I knew some people that spread peanut butter with a spoon, because it was easier to get out of the jar. Is this insane?
So elaborate on your own preferences and quirks in this regard!
When I go on a canoe trip I take an old stainless steel Runcible Spoon (a.k.a. Spork) which has one sharped side. I can spoon the soup, fork the fish, and cut the cheese (so to speak) If you could only have one utensil in your life, it may be this one.
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I had a professor from Singapore who ate everything with one wooden chopstick and one brass spoon. He told me this was common back in his homeland.
Can anyone substantiate his claim?
Can you clarify "one wooden chopstick?" Don't you mean one pair of chopsticks?
I do know people who prefer not to use the Chinese porcelain spoon and use a regular metal Western-style spoon instead, even when eating with chopsticks. Not brass though.
And I've lived here all my rather short life, and never met a person who was like that.
Thanks for the reply - I did mean a lone chopstick but I guess that would be pretty dumb, unless you stuck it in a pencil sharpener. I am sure of the brass spoon part though, and I have seen them set on tables in a restaurant, though I cannot recall where.
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Adam, my mouth is watering. The spring mackeral run is about to start in the northeast U.S. I might add, the Spanish mackeral (Scomberomorous maculatus) is also an excellent member of the family. But rather than the alphabet-like markings, this one is spotted.
Here in Nova Scotia we get a big run of mackerel in May/June and then again in Aug/Sept when they are much bigger. I believe thay are known as "blue mackerel" and they are often persued by bigger fish and whales, which sometimes venture into my bay after them. When they are small, people here call them "tinkers". Big or small they are easy to catch, a breeze to clean and fantastic to eat. And apparently a near-ideal fish from a nutrition point of view.
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I am looking for testimonials from copper cookware users. I recently got a set from Italy called "Ruffoni Opera" and I am liking them a lot. Has anyone else used this line of cookware? How about the copper products from France, Belgium, Germany, Switzerland and the USA?
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I had a professor from Singapore who ate everything with one wooden chopstick and one brass spoon. He told me this was common back in his homeland.
Can anyone substantiate his claim?
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One night when I thought I was alone in the kitchen, my wife caught me sipping from the Kikkoman Teriyaki bottle.
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Lamb rules! Has to be one of my all-time my faves. I especially enjoy getting big flavour value out of the shanks - they are always cheap. I suppose that's why they're on so many "serious" restaurant menus ie. for the value-added factor.
Braise a couple of lamb shanks "slow on low" and serve with couscous, basmati, or a risotto. Not baaaaaaad.
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Strictly speaking not a joke, but here are my top ten favourite food quotes from "The Simpsons":
10. Moe: “I just made a Cornish game hen with chestnut stuffing. . . Would you believe a pigeon stuffed with Spam? . . . Would you believe a rat filled with cough drops?”
9. Cletus: “Look Brandene, it's Wolfgang Puck! Mr. Puck, you make the only grub what satisfies my gut worm. I swear.”
8. Marge: “I'd like to see the Japanese take on the club sandwich. I bet it's smaller and more efficient.”
7. Comic Book Guy: “Oh, loneliness and cheeseburgers are a dangerous mix.”
6. Troy McClure: “Don't kid yourself, Jimmy. If a cow ever got the chance, he'd eat you and everyone you care about!”
5. Ralph: “When I grow up I'm going to Bovine University”
4. Lunch Lady Doris: “More testicles mean more iron.”
3. Apu: “These hotdogs are now nearly rectum-free”
2. Homer: “Olive oil? Asparagus? If your mother wasn't so fancy, we could shop at the gas station like normal people.”
And finally my personal favourite:
1. Homer: “I’m so hungry I could a steak the size of a toilet seat.”
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I must be a freak omnivore - I have yet to experience an ingredient that didn't have at least some identifiable merit. As far as I am concerned, dill and cilantro are gifts to be cherished.
Context is everything!
Food Movies: The Topic
in Food Media & Arts
Posted
I think jamiemaw is toying with us. "Eating Out Abroad" and "The Making of Dixon's Cider" in particular sound suspiciously ribald. see post#64.