Jinmyo

Well, if they'd leave off the gravy and the curds, double fry the frites and give me some fresh mayonaisse to go with, I'd eat poutine too.

Free Verse? Piffle. Ottava rima (abababcc), now that would be impressive.

That all sounds wonderful, Jim. I just hope your taste for ham is not tarred by the sheer volume of ham meals.

Anna, another good option is to form relationships with ethnic restaurants, butchers, fish-mongers and so on. And then ask if you can watch and help out for a few hours or a day or so. It's like a mini stagierre. I've learned many things this way. As you can see from your experience on eGullet, much is learned just through acquaintance, through community. The wider the community and the more deeply one is committed to exploring it, the more that can be learned. Any line cook can show you things the best recipe book by the best chef cannot.

I had forgotten just how rich and sinfully delicious this thread was. It literally falls off the bone. It is plump yet homestyle, lightly fried and cooked to perfection. My hat's off to the chef. Garcon! Garcon! Cheque please. You. You. Ooeh la cheque silver play? I'm talking to you.

Surely, surely.

I have a huge Korean metal steamer contraption I use for vegetables or vegetables mixed with Sa ho noodles. I use stacks of bamboo steamers of assorted sizes for dumplings or dim sum. I use bamboo and banana or lotus leaves for steaming fish.

cabrales, I don't use it often but make it when I do: 4 parts shoyu, 2 parts crushed fermented black beans, 1 part mirin, 1 part honey, 2 parts Chinese black vinegar,1 part crushed garlic, 2 parts sesame oil, 2 parts chile oil, bit of white and black pepper. I'll use this sparingly on ribs, pork roast, even salmon. But more usually as a dipping sauce or to smear inside lettuce cups.

Free verse? Wanker.

That's great, Glenwood.

Unlikely. Extremes are not useful examples.

In the Buddhist Vinaya it says that Bhiksuni Thullananda led a group of female novices to harvest garlic in a field owned by a lay patron. The patron permitted them to remove five heads of garlic a day but the novices became greedy and pulled them all up. The patron complained to the Buddha who mollified him by forbidding nuns to eat garlic from that day on.

Lee Kum Kee sauces are generally quite good. If memory serves me, their hoisin contains sweet potatoes and sesame seeds.

Was given two huge free-range chickens. These guys looked like turkeys. Dismantled them, am making huge pot of stock. Will cook the breast meat seperately and add it to the strained (probably 8 times or so) stock along with red lentils, large pieces of celery and carrots. Roasted the drumsticks, thighs, wings, hearts, gizzards. Marinated in chipotle paste with garlic. Chopped up the hearts and gizzards and added them to a basic tomato sauce with hot Italian sausage meat and crisped panchetta. Served this with ziti and much fresh basil. Pureed chickpea and fennel soup with a few handfuls of whole chickpeas and garlic croutons. Roasted huge white and cremini mushrooms with red peppers au gratin (toasted breadcrumbs). Smashed Sicilian olives with some fairly nice "vine-ripened" hydroponic plum tomato spears with lemon.

Yes. Welcome to eGullet, Spencer.

Congratulations, Patrice. Please keep us posted.

Can you watch Tampopo and not get up and make some ramen?

vengroff, that's just lovely.

Ooooh. Any time spent with Gordo E can only be quality time, innit? Especially if you've a knife in yer hand.

Wind them about with spaghetti. Seriously, chipotle and cumin on one, lemon and garlic on the other, the last to have minced mint and vinegar with Evoo drizzled over while its resting.

Pomme Anna. Or Pomme Maxim. On a silpat or parchment paper on a baking tray, place thinly sliced potatoes lacquered with clarified butter. Crunchy salt and black pepper. Medium high oven, until golden brown. Or just gently simmer in cream, white wine, and butter, with salt and white pepper. Tarragon added at the end, some garlic crouton. Have with wilted greens and some kind of protein. Just be careful of potato cruft and starch building up on the mandoline blade, making it dangerous.

Gordon, I think we've had this conversation before, in the Canada forum. I simply don't think that Stadtlander is a particularly talented chef. And sticking a bunch of pine boughs into a roasted pig and having it carried on boughs into an area of Ontario scrubland where people are sitting on stumps listening to a string quartet doesn't strike me as interesting but rather as idiotic. The organic and locally grown yada stuff doesn't interest me either. One of his associates is into biodynamic farming. That's Rudolf Steiner's Anthroposophy fer Jebus' sake. Just not to my tastes.

Good job, Dave. Cooking with cast iron is like learning to cook: Each time you use it, it becomes more seasoned, more durable, and more nuanced. I have one skillet that must be forty years old. Black as black can be.

tommy saves the day again! Wow, lowcountryman1 (can I just call you low?), that seems it would do the trick.

lowcountryman1, welcome. What is a "gas burner (LP)"?