Jinmyo

So sorry, cabrales. By lots of butter, I mean lots of butter. (Oops. That was on another thread.) Anyway, lots of butter. Add more if you need to. Lots. Mushrooms are sponges. One needs to first release the water in the mushrooms and then give them flavourful liquid to absorb. A bit of chicken or mushroom stock on hand is good. Or wine. Or more and more butter. Timing is all. And it can't be legislated. The mushrooms will tell you by colour, fragrance, and texture when the right moment is. Anything unpleasant about a wine will become exponetially more unpleasant as it reduces. Not sure about the burnt bits. How burnt? Was it fond (good) or charcoaly crud (bad)? Non-stick pans are great for eggs, useless for so many other things. Good to slip the eggs into a pre-heated oven to set a bit.

Sandra, that reminds me. Have you ever crumbled a nice blue (like, oh, say a cabrales) over sauteed mushrooms? Heh heh heh heh...

cabrales, I'd go with Sandra's advice. A whisk is easier than a fork but a fork would do. Maggi on duck eggs? I've never thought about that. Are you having any starch with meal?

Wild and jasmine rice with green peas and crushed toasted almonds; squash and lime soup garnished with minced pickled mango and plum tomatoes; shredded chicken thighs (left over from brined and roasted with chipotle mixed with smoked thighs) sauteed with oyster mushrooms, scallions, garlic; salad of fava and white beans with tomatillos, black olives, celery greens and parsley.

cabrales, now that sounds like what I had in mind. Perhaps last year it was like this. Other people have spoken well of the crudo. Can it have been...[wait for it]...a fluke?

cabrales, that might just be the funniest post I have ever read on eGullet.

Another relevant and on topic comment. Thanks for sharing. Nina, I believe I understand your point. But this is not a database. It is a discussion board. There is a great deal of information here. But there is also a great deal of references not only to what might be personal to the posters but also references to other threads and posts. Certainly this might be opaque to a new reader or simply someone who has not been active on that very day about who said what where and when. For example, your own post emerges from a background from another thread. This is what makes eGullet worthwhile. Information, opinions, humour, the drama of waiting to see if someone will follow through on not posting again on a thread they say they are absolutely done with. (I was in stitches over something like this a while ago on the British Food Is Utter Shite thread. The enjoyment that I got from this was not as subtle as from a great meal...but it was bloody good fun.) I've spent a great deal of time on an online database as a mod. Editing for relevance, language, spelling, deleting and deleting and deleting. Anyway, Nina. I have been considering your points on the other thread about cliques and relevance. And it wound up bringing me to post something utterly irrelevant to this particular thread. But hopefully part of our conversation as a whole. Excuse me now. It's my turn to swing about the forums seeing if people are using coasters for their drinks or scarring Andy's coffeeetables.* * Very obscure reference. Sorry.

Liza, I think sage and parmigiano are both full-flavoured and support each other well. Basil is too watery to hold up to frying. And it turns a nasty black, loses all of its floral profiles.

cabrales, I recommend butter. Lots of butter. And a touch of paprika works wonders with mushrooms.

All right, cabrales. Now who else can I ask to go to Esca for me? I'm in Ottawa and won't be back in NYC (last there over a decade ago) for...Well, probably five years.

So sorry, cabrales. I feel as if I'd put you up to this with my msg about Esca. /me seppuku

And oooh, nice mushroom, Maria.

Oh my. I have been so curious about the crudo. I had imagined a delicate lash of excellent oil and a balanced use of salt on utterly fresh, thinly sliced raw fish. But soaked in oil? And salty baccala? Et tu, Mario?

canrales, so sorry but I'm glad you will (most judiciously) ponder before assessing. Thanks for the menu.

Thanks, Steve.

Excellent review, cabrales. Regarding tuna in top French establishments. I am under the impression that the Japanese influence of preferring tuna raw that has given rise to the ubiqitous seared/rare tuna is just not something the French really understand or have a taste for. So they just tend to steer away from tuna.

Suvir, what do you think of the use of American chiles such as chilhuacle negro, chipotle in Indian dishes? They have a depth of flavours (especially smoked chiles) that Asian chiles (which of course all derived from American chiles) just don't have. I have to admit I sometimes use tomatillos in curries and such as well. Am I a bad person?

With a Benriner you just simply can do things you can't do with a knife. Or at least I can't: For example, slice daikon into paper thin long sheets and use it to wrap yuba with ginger and mushrooms, tied up with blanched scallion. Make 20 lbs worth of scalloped potatoes in about 20 minutes. And so on. The Benriner vegetable turner ("the Green Machine") lets me make "noodles" out of potatoes and celery root for deep-frying. And, jaybee, they're cheap.

Liza, I like pie!

Suvir, mushrooms work tremendously well in tempura batter. Pakora is a much thicker and enfolding batter. So I just use somewhat larger mushrooms than I would for tempura.

Excellent review, Robert. Thank you. I enjoyed it.

...is still a pie.

Actually, Suvir, I think it was you who gave me the idea of using chicken a few months ago.

Suvir, yes I make them. Sorry, I don't use recipes and do things differently most times. In general, I make a thickish batter with gram and all-purpose flours with cumin, salt, chiles in it. Leftover chicken and chunks of cremini, rolled in spices, moulded by hand, then dipped. Or whole cremini or largish oyster mushroom pieces. A dip sometimes involving lime, minced concasse of tomato, coriander, scallions, a bit of beer. Sometimes just kefir and chiles.

Chicken and mushroom. Mushroom. Potato, onion, and mushroom. Rapini.