Peter the eater

Very impressive. I've not heard of vodka on fondant to achieve that effect, it's convincing. I don't imagine it leaves any taste, does it? I'm making a solid fondant train next week for a baby shower cake and wondered about texture tricks like that one. I'm sure the mom-to-be would allow a little surface vodka.

According to tests run by Alton Brown of Good Eats, the bit about soaking appears to be a culinary myth. Per his tests, 4 ounces of button mushrooms soaked in 1 liter of water for 10, 20, and 30 minutes gained 0.2, 0.25, and 0.15 ounces, respectively (about a teaspoon, max). This works out to 3.75% to 6.25% gain. The kicker? Another 4 ounces of button mushrooms, subjected to a brief blast of cold water, gained 0.2 oz - same as when soaked for 10 minutes. ← Interesting. The only mushrooms I soak have been previously dried. I used to balk at the price of dried mushroom varieties, until I weighed some that I had rehydrated. The better deal is often with the dried ones, and they have a longer shelf life.

The moose hunters I know tend to treat the meat much like deer (NS) or caribou (NL). This means basic barbecue, roasts and sausages. Have you had experience with the elk out west? Apparently there are some choice bits along the back and loins and head, but the pieces I have been given and cooked have been dark, lean and a bit tough. As much as I enjoy a rare steak, I would be careful with the meat of any wild animal - you never really know where they've been or what parasites they might have.

Wow. Serious deliciousness is everywhere. If that were a menu I could actually order from, I'd just embarrass myself by getting a dozen number sevens and call it a day. The next meal I'd go with is number three . . . and so on. #15 Samantha's Beard Papa Style Cream puff? I'm on tenterhooks with a Smurf profiterole in my head. I say this before every pot luck - if each person just brings enough food for themselves plus 10% no one goes hungry or overdoes it.

Nightcaps are for me maybe once a month. I like a rich port for the after dinner before bed slot, and a bit of stinky cheese along with it. If my father is in the house it has to be a snort of cognac, VSOP or better, warmed in the microwave. On Christmas morning we have a champagne OJ mimosa. What's a wake-up nightcap called? An eye-opener?

So that's why we're so good at peacekeeping missions! I, too, have enjoyed the pure reagent. Since it's 2.5 times stronger than the standard 80 proof, one needs to be careful measuring - I believe a tbsp is one standard drink. Danger!

I think Rodan would taste like chicken (the flying monster, not the French sculptor). And while we're at it, I recall Mothra laying eggs so she's more of a bug.

Where did you but it out east? I assume you mean somewhere between Toronto and St. John's, but the only place I have seen anything close to 194 proof is in a laboratory. The LCBO used to sell a house brand of alcool but I'm sure it was a lot less potent. Perhaps Quebec? The SAQ has a controversial monopoly on booze in that province.

The former would absurd and arrogant, so I'm hoping the latter was closer to the intent. To my mind it's really just a position paper, an expression of attitude and place within the big picture. Good for them.

I have returned my tray to the upright position and fastened my belt . . .

Now that's something I can agree with. Personally, I'm on a mission to find under-appreciated good food that's available and affordable and sustainable. Most of the time it's right under my nose, and it's usually just fallen from the mainstream for some reason. How people come to perceive certain foods as valuable is amazing to me. I have any elderly neighbor who tells me his parents used whole lobster to fertilize the garden and kelp to insulate the walls. I should ask what his place smelt like. It's easy (and tempting) to pick apart a treatise that describes a movement with some amount of authority, particularly if it's been translated. One could just roll their eyes and take the easy "uh . . . whatever" stance, but I'm glad somebody is taking the time to characterize what's going on in the kitchen laboratories of Europe and elsewhere.

Fascinating – I’m adding the 10 tenets of technoemotional cuisine to my collection of food manifestoes. That chart is quite something. I appreciate the brains, talent and energy that must go into a document of this kind, but seriously, if an arrow or two fell off would anyone really care? It is worth thinking: what would this thing look like in a hundred years? It's an academic endeavor and in that sense alone has some utility. Just seeing the constellations of contemporaries was worth it for me. Personally, I think it looks like a technical (objective) presentation of emotional (subjective) information. Now if someone could turn the contents of this chart into a gripping 300 page novel . . . that would be really something! As for THE 10 FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES OF TECHNOEMOTIONAL COOKING according to Pau Arenós . . . I've a few issues. Sure, I'm prepared to acknowledge his authority and give him Moses status - I just don't agree with all ten of the commandments. For example, number eight: All products have the same gastronomic value. I'm just not prepared to call the orange cheddar crap from my own province and the greatest French Roqueforts equals. Anyways, thanks for the topic docsconz. There's plenty of food for thought.

I just watched the Romanian show tonight. I agree, those pigs looked very good. The people preparing were into it - especially the 4th generation boy in colorful Romanian garb torching off the pig's hair. The version of the AB:NR Romania show I just saw had 43:45 (min:sec) of content without commercials. I wonder how that works . . . and I believe he said they get 120 million viewers. Anyhow, I was thoroughly entertained by the banter and awkward travelogue moments one expects. I like the tone of the show, and the teleplay/editing part especially. The Rocky Horror Food Show stuff was all fine for me. More please!

Sometimes I scrape, sometimes I do not. On the barbecue, I find an inverted portabello cap can hold the melting blue cheese better if you leave the gills on. I have heard say the gills are bitter but I've not detected that for myself. In a creamy sauce however, those gills can make everything an unpalatable gray color.

That is a lovely new view - a potent source of inspiration for you in your new kitchen. Does the canal freeze? I've always thought Dutch speed skaters win so many Olympic medals because of the frozen canals. What is that vertical panel to the left of the sink? Does it swing up to become a surface? Happy birthday hummingbirdkiss!

You're right! I get Liberty Group's Virgin Ice rolled fondant from the Bulk Barn, a Canadian bulk food retailer. A four pound tub is $15. Here is the list of ingredients: icing sugar, glucose, water, vegetable shortening, glycerin, gelatine, gum tragacanth, CMC and titanium dioxide. The shortening contains trans fat. Glycerin is a common food protein, tragacanth is a natural gum, CMC is a safe thickener/stabilizer and the titanium is for color. Gelatine is a spelling mistake - the second "e" belongs on the French side of the package.

The community that I live in is actually called Shad Bay, but the shad are mostly gone. Some of the village elders here say they ate shad roe when they were kids. I've seen the fish for sale but never the roe. Mmmmmmm. . . . unborn cephalopods! I've heard of cuttlefish roe served with the ink, as a Mediterranean dish. I've yet to taste it though.

What do you mean you're moving? Alright, I read it somewhere. You'll be giving up that view of the Openluchtschool for something even better I'm sure. We don't have a new house ritual but we do have a tradition of getting Chinese take-out and a big bottle of white wine for the last night in a place. You can get those two things pretty much anywhere in North America. And it has to be enjoyed on the floor of an empty room.

I haven't had the pleasure of tasting mentaiko but if it's considered a Japanese delicacy then count me in! When it comes to food they seem to do just about everything right - recognizing the ocean's bounty and treating it minimally and with respect. It's the perfect balance of a civilized predator. Wikipedia says: and: I didn't follow a recipe for the poached roe pictured above but I did get inspired by a remarkable book titled North Atlantic Seafood: A Comprehensive Guide With Recipes By Alan Davidson. Specifically, there's an Icelandic recipe on p.399 called "Sodin Ysa med Hrognum og Lifur" or "Poached Haddock with its Roe and Liver". I didn't have the lifur nor the actual Hrognum, just the ovaries. Apparently, the old school Icelandic approach would be to use mutton fat instead of butter. I can only imagine what that would taste like! My experiment yielded a rather granular spread, but it tasted very good. I suspect the ovaries were overcooked, I should have eaten a few raw eggs just to gauge the difference poaching makes. Tucking into that raw pink blob is not for the faint of heart. Deep frying them seems like overkill to me, no offense to the UK. I mixed all the cooked ingredients in a mortar and pestle and still it felt gritty. Next time I'll try to improve the texture somehow . . .

Fish eggs can be delicious, no question. I have been trying to get some local stuff for a while now and I finally got my hands on some haddock roe. It was delicious and cheap. Aquatic roe products typically include: Whole ovaries Caviar Caviar substitutes Processed roe products Artificial caviar “…the term ‘caviar’ unqualified should be applied only to the product prepared by salting sturgeon roe.” [FDA Service and Regulatory Announcement No. 3, March 19??] Russia is by far the biggest producer of caviar and other roe products, after that it's Scandinavia and China. North America barely registers, according to my research. Is it just me or am I on to something? This stuff is very tasty and at 99 cents per pound . . . ? Here's what I did with my pound of fresh haddock eggs: I poached them in salty water, mixed in 10% cream, a bit of smoked mackerel and smoked paprika. Served on toasted light rye:

Or Homer Simpson: "I've discovered a new meal between breakfast and brunch". Smallworld, thank you for sharing your week of food-related activities. I also appreciate the detailed biography - it sure helps tell the story. (BTW I went to Brampton Centennial Secondary School for five years - there were five grades of high school back then).

Good on you for doing the goat thing, it looks like a very rewarding process. I regard goat meat (along with rabbit) as a delicious and totally under-appreciated alternative, at least that's the way it is in my community. We have a few producers bringing goat to the market but the demand could be much higher. If I wanted to sell goat meat to the uninitiated I would offer samples - there are so many fantastic preparations from all over the world: Morocco, India, the Caribbean, the Middle East, SE Asia, etc. That right there says a lot about the way baby boomer and post-boomer North Americans eat. If I may paraphrase a Michael Pollan pearl of wisdom, we should probably eat only those things that our grandparents would recognize as food. There's so much on the grocery store shelves that simply didn't exist 50 years ago. BTW I am familiar with the Back Wood Magazine you linked to - it was very helpful when I did my first pig. Question: what is an international grocery?

Good idea for a thread, chromedome. I'll post some food related events and dates for Nova Scotia when the 2008 "Doers and Dreamers" provincial travel guide comes out. It should be available soon. There is an annual Mussel Festival in Englishtown, Cape Breton during the Canada Day weekend. There is a competitive cook-off as well and I don't mind saying that I came first in 2006 (and won a pot set) but sadly couldn't make it back in 2007 to defend my mussel crown. But I've hatched a plan to be back in '08 . . . with bivalves blazing!

I have never heard a pork pie called a growler - very interesting. In Newfoundland and Labrador, a growler is an unstable iceberg - one that has a low profile in the water and is particularly dangerous because is can fracture and roll at any time.

Mmmmmushrooms. . . I like morels that have been dried and then reconstituted (by me) in a fortified wine, such as a tawny port: