Jinmyo

Right.

Oh yeah? And to absorb water. From your guy: Drawing it out is cooking. Putting it in is anti-cooking. Brining them, as your guy suggests, is a good idea in that it would draw out excess moisture and infuse flavour. edit: I would point out your guy seems to be writing from Lithuania but that might be too trop so I won't.

A good point, Steve.

Oh yeah?

Never wash. Unless you're using vast quantities of button mushrooms to make a stock. A soft bristled brush or damp paper towel. Mushrooms contain vast amounts of water. One cooks this off to intensify the flavour, and perhaps to infuse them with other flavours (such as wine or dashi). To soak them in water defeats or at least hinders the whole process of cooking mushrooms. edit: mogsob=Mushrooms Of Great Size Or Bite

True, Gavin. Of course, these are obvious points but given the nature of this thread I thought perhaps not out of place.

As well, Indian culture is still very high-context, involving numerous interactions and implications for where and how one sits with whom, who eats what when and so on. The familial context of dining is much larger and weightier than is true for Westerners. Meals at a restaurant simply do not have much importance relative to meals in the home. Such a meal is displaced, is trivial. So high-end Indian restaurants do not make much sense in India as yet.

That's an atrocious markup. Your butcher is a very bad man.

The Fat Guy World Tour 2002 Encore Presentation is here Ellen Shapiro's photographs and her new essay complete the package. And don't miss Brad Hughes on FG in Winnepeg.

Steves frolicing in the early morning.

As I said on the pasta thread, So: No matter how delcious it might be, Indian food might never fulfill the particular criteria that Steve defines as high cuisine. Well, that's fine. Really. What does it matter?

Roast potatoes and other roasted root vegetable things. Fried eggs. Sauteed mushrooms.

better. but don't forget that filet sucks. What tommy said.

Gah. You win.

Kristin, you go girl. Ed, I just can't get past the "how do you make it taste good" sub-title. edit: Suzanne, frozen and thawed tofu is known as "Koya tofu."

me/relieved Recently: Korean short-grain sticky rice with chicken livers and raw slivers of ginger and shallots in iceberg lettuce cups. Roasted red and cubanelle peppers with citrus. Slivers of sashimi thin seared extremely rare rolled around a bead of wasabi, rolled basil leaves. Roasted baby cremini mushrooms with cubes of cotton tofu in a sesame chile sauce. Topped with dried shrimps and scallops sauce. Huagu (flower mushroom) and spinach soup. Sautéed baby bok choy with fermented tofu. Sautéed Napa cabbage with roasted peanuts and chive pancakes.

Clearly, as the numerous PMs from experts I have received through the fillings in my teeth tell me, you just don't get it. Wait. Wait. Incoming. What? Narjul zad dan? Yuhouj ke? Okay. Okay. Clearly you get it Stone. Please disregard.

Alternately: Unwrap bacon from filet. Dispose of filet now that it has marinated the bacon. Grill bacon.

Tabletop grill, set to medium low: Pork belly or slab bacon, boiled ten minutes, simmered in sake or beer for an hour, sliced. Place slices on grill. Cabbage (Napa, green, purple) blanched, squeezed, tossed lightly with garlic oil. Place quantities on grill along with scallions. Have ready rice (I use a mixture of gohan and short grain brown) with gomasio. Start with kimchee soup (old kimchee near bottom of the jar with dashi). Pick up pork slices, dip in soup, eat. Rice. Cabbage. More pork. Some mushrooms are nice too.

Sear top and bottom of filet. Holding with tongs, sear the bacon-wrapped sides. Lift. Drop into garbage can. Now sear a strip steak, all sides. There. Isn't that better?

What else would you do with it?

Adam, I like spices too! But I'm on the middle ground. It depends upon the context of the meal as a whole, the ingredients, and the skill with which they're used.

Shoyu and wasabi on the side for thinly sliced strip steak, black and blue. Or a pile of gomasio. Or a Dijon dipping sauce with mirin. Nothing atop. Unless... BUL-BO-GIIIIIIIII!

Hi Fergus, thanks so much for participating. I have the deepest admiration for the work you have done in bringing wonderful foods that have been disregarded not only to the plate but setting it before such a wide audience. One question: Why? How did this all start? Well, that's two questions. But really just two ways of asking the same thing.

A nice curry lamb pie...