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Country

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Everything posted by Country

  1. Uh ooh FG. I think you've got some work ahead of you when you get home.
  2. Country

    Dinner! 2011

    Aw shucks, ma'am. I'd just hate to see Shelby catch her house on fire when she's doing all that good cooking. Though it's virtual, we are all a community here though. While I have a new "handle", I was here back in the days of Tommy, etc. when things were a little more rip-roaring...
  3. FG, I've never seen so many pics of such good food as in this thread. Not only the restaurants. The stuff in the markets is so much better, and more, than anything I've ever seen. (Of course, I'm just a country boy...) Thanks for sharing all this.
  4. Country

    Dinner! 2011

    http://forums.egullet.org/uploads/monthly_04_2011/post-54689-0-18982100-1302285566.jpg I don't know what's under the bagels but, by the charred wood above, it looks like it gets pretty hot. Plus an electrical outlet in the same area. Might be worth looking into. Edit: The pic didn't show, so have to click the link. Sorry to get off-topic but I work with fire and hot stuff a lot and it looks like it needs checking out.
  5. Lundberg short grain organic is what I generally use. Good clean rice.
  6. The only thing better than crispy chicken skin is crispy duck skin with that little layer of fat.
  7. Looking at Amazon tracking, TB's Les Halles Cookbook: Strategies, Recipes, and Techniques of Classic Bistro Cooking is supposed to show up tomorrow. I'm looking forward to checking it out.
  8. I'm with Moopheus. I think it has something to do with when I was in the Navy back in the early 60's. Chow lines. Especially when our aircraft squadron was out at sea on an (old) aircraft carrier. Wait in lines so long the tail end would sometimes be on the deck above. You get there for breakfast and find out it's fried baloney with something made out of "reconstituted" (dried) eggs. Then eat as fast as you can cuz you know there are more guys waiting in line on the deck above... Anyhow, ever since then, twenty minutes max, and it's got to be some pretty damned good food to make me wait that long.
  9. I only eat out a few times a year but, when I do, half the time it's probably at Moody's Diner. The food isn't all that special, but it's consistent. And... it's a Route 1 landmark in Maine. I'm sure Holly must have stopped there when he wasn't busy scoffing up Red's lobster rolls in Wiscasset.
  10. xxchef - I checked out your website. That's great place you have there. And off-grid no less... Why not tell these "ladies" you think they'd be happier going some other place and be done with it. No point in messing up your life this way.
  11. Why McDonald's Fries Taste So Good (2001) "The taste of McDonald's french fries played a crucial role in the chain's success -- fries are much more profitable than hamburgers -- and was long praised by customers, competitors, and even food critics. James Beard loved McDonald's fries. "... The taste of a french fry is largely determined by the cooking oil. For decades McDonald's cooked its french fries in a mixture of about seven percent cottonseed oil and 93 percent beef tallow." It was the beef tallow that upset the vegetarians (and Indians) when they found out about it. And, after MD's went to straight vegetable oil, the reason why they're no longer as good as they once were.
  12. Anyone who thinks MacDonald's fries are the "reference fry" must be kidding themselves. That may have been the case before they bowed to vegetarian pressure and changed their fry oil, but today their fries are no better than Burger King's.
  13. I looked at these a few years ago and thought they might be like an old Fiat or Alfa Romero. Nice to look at, fun to drive, but not too dependable. The main thing, though, were the grates over the burners, I use a lot of small pans and, the way the grates are constructed, they don't provide good support for small pots and pans. I have to add that many high-end ranges have this problem.
  14. Country

    Dinner! 2011

    It depends on the size of the porcupine and the size of the meatballs.
  15. The first McDonald's I encountered was in 1964 or '65 when I was working in Newport, RI and had a friend in Providence who I'd visit. Out in the middle of nowhere on the road between Newport and Providence was a McDonald's. I was hooked after the first time I stopped there. Their burgers were so good I'd buy three. Eat two on the way to Providence and eat the third, cold, on the way back to Newport late at night after they'd closed. You're right Holly. The McDonald's of today are nowhere as good as back then. Especially after they changed their fry oil years ago, I hardly ever go to one.
  16. Interesting question. Maybe we use oven thermometers because we never quite "trust" the stove to do what it should. I first began using oven thermometers forty years ago, when I began cooking with wood-fired ranges - and it was necessary - and maybe that's the reason I still use one. With my later gas ranges though, I've noticed that, say, I have the oven set to 400F; it shuts off when the thermometer in the oven registers much lower. Later, both the set temp and the thermometer agree. Never deviate. So, maybe the oven thermometer is lagging during warm-up, or the oven heat sensor is placed where things get hot first. Who knows. Maybe we should go back to the old way of placing a hand in the oven and thereby know when to put in whatever it is that one wants to cook? The mysteries of cooking...
  17. Yes. It makes it easier to pull off the skin around the neck and rim. But, it seems to vary with each clam. Some are easier than others.
  18. I had to find out what a Maine clam is, and found out at this link. So, a Maine clam is the same as an Ipswich clam. A softshell clam. After more than thirty years of eating, and sometimes digging, them you'd think I'd know that. But, I didn't.
  19. Oh mygod! Such decadence here in Maine! If you do this next year, I'll have to make a rare trip to Portland. PS. I know a little about plumbing.
  20. I don't know what Ipswich clams are, but for regular Maine clams this is what I do. Learned from a friend who worked at a local clam shucking operation. Wash clams. Put in a pot that holds them all. Then pour boiling water over them, so they're covered with hot water. Let sit for 30 seconds - half a minute. No more. Then drain hot water and fill pot (with clams) with cold water. Now, they're ready to shuck. They're not cooked. Just easy to open. If you're going to make a chowder, shuck them over a bowl to catch the juice to use in cooking the chowder. Maybe this isn't what you were looking for, but hope it helps.
  21. In my (small) home kitchen I have one drawer for all the plastic containers and their lids, as well as all the lids for All Clad, etc. pots and pans. After a few years of this seeming mess, it's become easy to deal with. It looks completely chaotic but, with time, is easy to navigate.
  22. Oven builders and users can also find info at the Masonry Heater Association website, both on the main page and more by clicking on the Brick Oven tab at the top. Anyone in, or near, Montreal should definitely give Frank Giammaria's Pizza shop a try. I met him at the 2005 MHA annual meeting and he's a really great guy and good cook. One of the happiest people I've ever met.
  23. From an article in the Financial Times. Interesting short article.
  24. I'm sorry to have learned today from an article in the NYT that Alan has recently died. Years ago we spent some time together when he was in Maine and kept in touch for some years after. He was a great guy, and a very interesting person to hang-out with.
  25. Country

    Gardens

    Vegetable gardening is making a real comeback and, according to an article I read, last year US vegetable seed sales exceeded flower seed sales for the first time. Here in Maine I heard, FEDCO, one of the largest seed suppliers in the state saw 2008 sales grow something like 30% over 2007. I've been growing vegetable gardens for about 35 years and last year tried raised beds for the first time and they came out great. I can't imagine going back to conventional gardening, plus no rototiller is needed - though a small tractor with a front-end loader to fill the beds with soil, peatmoss, and manure is handy if you're building a number of large beds, as I did. If anyone wants more info on this, let me know.
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