Jinmyo

Peas. Corn. Varities of dumplings made by a local Chinese restaurant. Sometimes some stupid calzone things that I actually like. Occasionally a Mowbray pie or two. I actually have 5 freezers (one is a huge bin kind of thing, one is the size of a regular fridge, the others are just the upper parts of 3 fridges). These are filled with various stocks, demiglace, rare mushrooms, very carefully wrapped meats, beans (adzuki, pinto, fava, etc etc etc), herb mixtures, range of nuts. edit full disclosure: Here's the leftovers thread: clickety click click.

Excellent idea! I never follow recipes but read them thoroughly. I would appreciate seeing what steps were left out or compromised or simplified.

I usually make them into something else. Terrines, pasticchio and whatnot. Heh. The other day I had some leftover mashed potatoes, a wild mushroom and red wine gravy, and some breaded chicken thighs and drumsticks. I stripped the skin from the chicken, mixed the meat with the gravy, put it into a casserole pan, pressed the potatoes on top, dusted with grated pecorino and fresh bread crumbs. I baked the casserole, put the skin in the microwave to crisp it well. Minced up the crackling and scattered it over the faux "shepherd's pie". It's also amazing what will work in fried rice.

I've never had shad roe but love roe of all kinds. I'll look for it. Adam, you're going to make your own bottarga? How will you do it?

Thanks for the postmortem, Malawry.

The infamous Michelin thread can be found here while a less infamous thread can be found here.

A brief recipe for Bull's Ball Pie. Click me.

I think I used "Plotnicki-esque" in several sentences today. When the people I was speaking to raised eyebrows or queried, I just sighed and rolled my eyes slightly. From the embarassed responses, I think they'll start using it too. The "plot" part makes it sound as if it means something meanigful, if you know what I mean. So, we were saying something about whether or not the light has dimmed on French cooking?

Most Indian restaurants that I have encountered have buffet steam tables at lunch time. I've tried but I just can't eat anything that (visibly) came from a steam table. I've tried ordering from the menu but the staff get all shirty about it.

I too like Steve Klc's idea of a book club. I vote for "The Last Days of Haute Cuisine" (because I was planning on buying it anyway ). edit full disclosure: I mispelled "I" and had to fix it. Really. I had typed "T". Sad, but true.

Okaaay.... Who'd like some nice grilled cheese sandwiches?

For relevant threads, please see here and here. As always, my thanks to Steve, Steve, Steve and to Suvir, Simon and all others who have and might participate in such interesting discussions. (Dance, minions, dance for our amuuuusement. Ha ha ha ha haaaa)

Ah, egg. I've only had egg in oyakodon (which I'm not as fond of). Thanks. Demiglace? I've only had "tonkatsu sauce" which is a kind of Worcestershire/apple/shoyu kind of blend. ami, I'm all for beef sashimi. Sushi I'm not so sure of. But am willing to be convinced.

A review appearing in New York magazine can be found online here.

Oh. Another science thing.

True. "Comfort" food and "retro" food are indeed two different categories with a definite overlap for some. As jhlurie points out, the retro dishes here are not from the childhood of most of the particpants. And yet they are recognized as signifiers of "comfort". As such, these dishes have an interest more conceptual in nature than pure comfort dishes. Almost every chef has "ironic" dishes: Keller's "soup and sandwich", the "mac 'n cheese" dishes made with penne or ziti and artisinal cheeses one finds everywhere and so on. I do this myself, calling kale and canneloni beans with rosemary over bruschetta "beans on toast" and so on. These dishes make reference to the concept and then rub the concept and actual experience against each other to provoke a new appreciation of flavours. Would making authentic reproductions of Atomic Age casseroles then lack this kind of irony? Or be so arch that the idea is the point and flavour a secondary or tertiary matter? edit: Oop. I want to make sure that edemuth and Malawry understand that I'm not talking about what they're doing. As edemuth has said, they want to reinterpret the dishes. Hm. But even so, the base material sounds so bad that it might be better to just dally with the idea and go for flavour.

Wilfrid, that's right. Americans (and many Canadians) primarily pile sweet jams and jellies on toast. Gah. Sarnies on toast. Now, that's comfort food. Never got into mushy peas, myself. My mother couldn't abide them. RPerlow's right about soups of course. I'd say that soup is pretty much world wide (except perhaps for aboriginal peoples and there I just don't know). Miso shiru, hot and sour, soupy dals, potato and leek, and then the ubiqitous tinned soups like Cambells.

Good God, yes. Kippers with eggs are comfort food. But green bean casserole? Tuna noodle thing? Creepy and strange. Why would anyone subject themselves if they knew better? But smoked fish and eggs are transcendently great: lox and eggs; smoked haddock and eggs etc etc. What "comfort" foods are transcendent? Cross at least a few cultural boundaries? I mean, toast yes. But anything else? Here's what I mean: A "comfort food" meal for me might be a typical Sunday lunch throughout childhood: roast leg of lamb, a vinegary mint sauce, mashed potatoes, green beans. I expect leg of lamb has no such associations for Americans. But how about mashers?

BON, the katsudon I have had always have the tonkatsu sliced and laid neatly atop the rice with sauce drizzled over top. I can't figure out the photograph. What's the white liquidy looking stuff?

jhlurie, Korean food is great. I love kimchee, have made it, but prefer what I can buy from a local shop: baby daikon kimchee, cabbage kimchee, a kimchee made with assorted greens. One of the things that I like about Korean food is that much of it is Japanese food but with chiles. But I think there might lie the rub with Korean renditions of dashi. A good dashi is very subtle and nuanced. A great dashi is profound. This involves so many different factors: the kind of kombu and bonito shavings, length of time in steeping, quality of the water and temperature. My experience with Korean restaurants (whether posing as Japanese or not) and my association with owners and purveyors has indicated that the dashi used is usually a packaged mix. ("This is what the restaurant buys!" "'Des'ka?") I have always suspected that the Korean prediliction towards chile heat has influenced a disregard for dashi.

The few potluck dinners I have participated in have been scarring experiences. I was put off humuus for a decade by one and can never look at an egg noodle without a slight frisson of dread. To paraphrase the philosopher Fatus Guyus, "Most people enjoy their own cooking. Most people have low standards." Eating at someone's home who has not been thoroughly examined beforehand for several months as to their culinary sense is foolhardy at best. A potluck is a concatenation of random preferences, habits, boxed mixes, and tinned soup mystery ingredients. This way lies madness.

Malawry, I find lower grade goat cheeses are at their best warmed. As on a pizza, stuffed into cubanelles and roasted, on bruschetta and so on. "Jiggly chick"? I was getting winded.

In terms of multi-cheese, I like fontina as a base with something else I want to try. Chevre pizzas are splendid. Chevre and roasted fennel with garlic and black pepper is one of my favourites.

Not at all, Adam. Roasted garlic? I don't have a favourite when I make pizza. Whatever I've put on it is what I wanted at that particular time. When I send out, I have found that a "medium, easy sauce, extra cheese, black olive, well-done" from one particular place in Ottawa called Ricardo's is excellent. But it doesn't work with other sizes or any variation in ingredients. Does anyone else find this? That a pizza can be great if ordered with very specific parameters, terrible from the very same place if the parameters are altered? Am I a freak?

Sorry to interrupt. I just wanted to say that I think, with a bit of editing, Survir Saran and Steven Shaw's conversation might be put to good use perhaps not in Survir's current book but one in the future.