Peter the eater
-
Posts
2,616 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Content Type
Profiles
Forums
Store
Help Articles
Posts posted by Peter the eater
-
-
My name is Peter, and I buy elbow noodles and cheese powder separately in bulk so I can make my own Kraft dinner in the quantity and concentration I choose. As I student years ago, I learned how to break free from the 225-grams-pasta-one-cheesy-pouch cycle of tyranny.
-
Arctic char is a beautiful fish. My grandmother in Labrador has a regular supply, and always brings us one, wild caught and frozen, whenever she comes to visit. I like it best grilled, stuffed with sliced onions, wrapped up in foil.
I think they're beyond beautiful. I shot the digital equivalent of a whole roll on this fish. They remind me of those colorful B.C. Rocky Mountain trouts like Cutthroat, Speckled and Rainbow.
-
Peter, you were probably just kidding about the French white truffle, but in case not: no white truffles from France. But top French truffle merchants have started, and chefs have followed suit, shaving their black truffles raw over dishes, in the Italian white truffle style. And black truffle dishes often have shavings on top as well as small pieces cooked in.
Thank you for politely teaching me that in the truffle world, white=Italy and black=France. Is there really no overlap? given they share a substantial border. Truffles are so far off my radar, they're definitely going on my Life List.
I've seen many TV chefs wielding the truffle plane wherever possible without me knowing what good it does, or what difference fungus color makes!
Sincerely, Helpless in Halifax.
-
I am a fan of adding just a touch of acidity. There is a topic about acid here.
Forgot about that topic, thanks. A few drops of vinegar or lime juice can really make a difference. It's funny, I've been watching the earlier seasons of Top Chef and just tonight one of the judges said something like "people odd excess salt when a splash of acid will do". That said, I often like a visible flake of salt on the top.
-
So the food is on the plate. It looks, smells and tastes outstanding. But which little sprinkle, what microplaned shaving, what dust or spritz can tweak it out of the park?
I wouldn't recognize a French white truffle if you gavaged me with it, only because I've never tasted one. I hear it's awesome. Usually, I just crack the black pepper or shave the nutmeg to add something special on top of dinner. Lately, I'm favoring a smear of pure maple butter on top of pretty much everything. If you've not tried it please do -- it's like real 100% maple syrup, without the water.
What else is good?
-
Arctic char is the cold water country cousin of salmon and trout. They're the Northernmost freshwater fish in the world although they spend some of the life cycle in the ocean. The wild ones are doing reasonably well in Northern Canada with healthy populations ranging from Labrador to the Yukon. My relatives in Yellowknife say it's common to catch ten-pounders on guided trips.
This 2.5 lb char below comes frozen from a farm in New Brunswick for $1.99/lb. I steamed it for 20 minutes in a traditional fish poacher using water, salt and onions. I find this fish closer to trout than salmon from a cooking and tasting point of view. It was served with mash potatoes, peas, and maple-fennel carrots.
-
Gak! Hibernophobic? Is it a really a slur - considering it's the smallest amount of liquor you can buy in a go?
"Mickey" may have nothing to do with Ireland, and I'm not sure Hibernophobic is a real word. If you "take the mickey out of someone" you're teasing them, again, maybe a totally different thing.
There are some good words to describe a large boozy sip, like swig, snort or belt.
-
I don't say "a fifth" too often, but you're right it does sound like a serious amount. I'd say "twenty-sixer" to indicate a 750ml bottle of liquor. As for "mickey", I figure it's Hibernophobic like paddywagon.
ETA I was at the Lower Deck last week, no Smirnoff though, just a pint of Keith's.
-
What a treat! I've neither the courage nor knowledge to forage for beauties like that, not yet anyways. Is that a beech tree?
-
Has anyone mentioned "stoup" or "stoop?"
Several of my medieval recipes specify a stoup or stoop of mead, so it is obviously a liquid measure.
I have no idea the true volume but in reading the recipe it would appear to be somewhere close to a half-gallon.
I also have one rather large recipe that calls for a hogshead of "small" ale.
Not sure how big or small ale is supposed to be but I do know the volume of a hogshead...
The mere mention of a hogshead got me singing the Beatles: "Over men and horses hoops and garters, Lastly through a hogshead of real fire! In this way Mr. K. will challenge the world!". I'm unclear if that's the same unit of volume.
A "stoop of mead" is uttered in the 2008 theatrical release of the Viking film Outlander. Oddly enough, I'm a background performer (aka extra) in that movie and wrote about the food in this eGullet topic.
I must ask, how many medieval recipes do you have?
-
That's a wonderful peck-splanation Andie, thank-you. I'd never seen a tobacco farm until the summer of 1988 when I bicycled through Bardstown, KY. It was a beautifully lush place with giant leaves draped all over the place. Oh great, now I'm having a cigar fantasy.
Your story reminded me of our own fall potato harvest in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. My kids dig them up like Easter eggs, filling all kinds of containers. I found a good picture from October 2007 showing the woody half-peck and the adaptable plastic milk crate.
-
I'd freeze more bones if I had more freezer space. I've thrown year-old frozen beef bones into boiling water for stock and got fine results -- and you can gear them crack. In fact, there's a great French expression that means a cook is very skilled and thorough if they crack the marrow out of the bones -- I'll see if I can find it, sounds much better in French.
-
Maybe there needs to be an eGullet glossary.
A "punnet" of blueberries still survives here in Nova Scotia, Canada. I like "une larme" = a teardrop, and "une souconne" = a suspicion. To me, a smidge is less than an eighth teaspoon, but a scosche? Two fingers I know well, but a whiffle?
-
Funny how after centuries of folk terms, colorful expressions and exuberant imprecision, people making pasta in Italy just "happened" on the precision that 100g of pasta is to be cooked in 1000ml of water with 10g of salt!
Yes, I've wondered about that. And how "one egg" means something different depending on where and when you are.
-
Steak sides at home? A green veg, something starchy like a bun or potato, and a mound of horseradish. And freshly cracked black pepper and some flaky salt.
-
Elizabeth David has dessertspoon, liqueur glass, wine glass, coffeecup, teacup, tumbler, breakfastcup, and gill. A gill is a quarter pint, but of course she's referring to a quarter of an imperial pint, which is a bit more than a quarter of a U.S. pint.
Elizabeth David has lovely quantities. She is discussed every time I have dinner cooked by my father-in-law from Bristol-Sandhurst-SAS. Usually it's about the olives atop the Beefeater Roast, or how to cook the perfect Yorkie (the pudding, not the dog).
-
Chris, why use a clove when you've got a bulb?
On New Year's Day I watched The Lord of the Rings films back to back to back, then looked up "a brace of conies". Two rabbits.
-
I've been trying to keep track of those strange quantity words -- the ones you find in recipes that send you muttering to the reference books and sites. Universally loved foods, like bacon in the example above, tend to have tons of colorfully specific nouns. There's another great bacon word that I encountered then forgot from here -- this site has come up before in the eGullet forums but it's worth re-mentioning since "for each answer you get right, we donate 10 grains of rice to the United Nations World Food Program."
Got any words to share?
-
I hear you mssurgeon81, Shamanjoe and Anna N. For me, throwing out food is right up there with filing tax returns and dental surgery -- unpleasant but sometimes required.
I hope to buy and consume smaller amounts of better ingredients. I've already picked up some rather small cups, bowls, glasses and plates which I hope will help with the portions. And for the first time in a long time, I will go grocery shopping with only cash.
-
Season six already, wow, where do the years go?
There is no food-related show that I enjoy more than this one. Panama, eh? AB must have one of the best jobs in the world.
-
Pasta shape is obviously important. Scooping boiled noodles directly into the sauce helps.
-
I've never worked with sea urchin, that's something I'd like to try. Maybe this is the year I make tripe. And I want to get better at using grains.
-
It's not just food cultures, surely ... it's almost everything.
That was my first reaction to this topic's title. As an example, a language dies almost every week according to National Geographic. It is unsettling when something significant ceases to be. There's some cold comfort in that recipes are more easily preserved than species.
-
I'm holding out for an invitation to Peter's house next NYE. Peter, if you need a commis/extra-mouth you know how to get in touch with me!
If you can find Shad Bay, Canada in the middle of winter, you're on. I think my favourite dish was the lobster tail -- I forget how easy and delicious gnocchi can be.
That Final Touch to Elevate a Dish
in Cooking
Posted
Those all sound like good ideas. What are some examples of finishing oils that do the job? I've tried flavoring olive oil with hot peppers, etc. -- not bad. Are there some fancy nut oils out there that put the proverbial cherry on top?