djyee100

Sounds like the main course will be farmed salmon. From the Atlantic? The rich wild salmon from Alaska and the Pacific NW are out of season. Last month I ate some winter salmon at a restaurant (against my better judgment), and it was definitely less flavorful than summer salmon. So I suggest you go with a white wine rather than a red wine for this salmon dinner. I suggest any of the Rhone whites, or a blend: viognier, marsanne, roussanne (I know, I know, you have to find them outside the USA and France). Awhile back I tried an arneis at a restaurant and liked it so much I bought a bottle. This one, from the Piedmont, Italy: http://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=732848 If you think the salmon entree will have enough oil in it to stand up to a red wine, you could go with a pinot noir. Pinot noir with grilled salmon is one of my faves. You could also try an old vine dolcetto, another wine from the Piedmont. Dolcetto used to have a bad rep because the vines were allowed to overproduce so the wine was blah. But a well-made dolcetto, especially from old vines, can be very good. Sounds like it will be a fun dinner.

I recently took a cooking class with Rosetta Costantino, the author of a new cookbook, My Calabria. We made a memorably good winter salad of salt cod, potatoes, red onion, and capers, in a lemon vinaigrette. I want to make this one at home, but I haven't tracked down the salt cod yet. The recipe is on Googlebooks, page 187. Here: http://books.google.com/books?id=86R77RdzTj8C&pg=PA187&lpg=PA187&dq=costantino+my+calabria+salt+cod+potato&source=bl&ots=vW5iLIGri8&sig=wzrERw3DyE7bAsy93PcRpClg5bA&hl=en&ei=vdMoTe_pJIX4sAP08NDoBw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CBMQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false

Another possibility: cheesecake. The Romans mixed fresh cheese with honey and eggs, maybe added a squeeze of lemon, then baked the mixture to solidify the texture. Not much difference then from now. The same for butter cookies, the simple kind made only with fat, flour, and sugar (or other sweetener). Westerners make their cookies with butter; Asians use lard. Egg drop soup has graced Asian and European peasant tables for centuries, and it's probably the same now as then. What's to change? Some kind of stock flavored with onion or garlic, with an egg swirled into it.

And the first one is still circulating, too. Seriously, though, I'll nominate griddled bread, like the Asian fried bread with scallions. Flour, water, salt, rolled thin into a circle, maybe some spice or veg to make it snazzy, then the whole deal is fried on a griddle with oil. These things always feel ancient when I make them.

Awhile back I did a "light test" around my kitchen and dining room, just photographed a bowl of fruit in different spots at different angles, with all the available lights on. I came up with 2 or 3 locations where I could just put something down and the available light was OK. In a pinch I have a clamp utility lamp that I bought at a hardware store (like this http://www.google.com/products/catalog?hl=en&biw=1280&bih=841&q=clamp+utility+light&um=1&ie=UTF-8&cid=15405644703087915335&ei=bqMaTb-MAo3GsAOXnc3cAg&sa=X&oi=product_catalog_result&ct=result&resnum=3&ved=0CDcQ8wIwAg# ), with a 100w incandescent bulb in it. I clamp the light to a door or shelf or chairback or whatever, & point it to the ceiling or wall to illuminate the subject with more indirect light. I rarely use the extra lamp, though--too lazy to get it out of the closet, too anxious to eat. As always, wonderful dinners here, everyone.

In Cookwise, Shirley Corriher lists 1 cup of bread flour as weighing 5.6 oz. One cup of AP flour, spooned into & leveled off in a measuring cup, is listed as 4.25 oz. For people who scoop AP flour with a measuring cup out of the bag, pressing it against the sides of the bag (a method frowned upon by experienced bakers), Corriher allots a more generous 5 oz per cup. The few times I've bothered to weigh my own cup of flour, it's somewhere around 4.5 oz, usually under rather than over. This past weekend I attended a cooking demo given by Alice Medrich. She gave 4.5 oz/cup as her standard for AP flour measurement. So that's another prominent baker to add to the 4.5 oz list. I've heard anecdotes about humidity affecting flour, although in the other direction--dry air (from winter houses, or living in the desert) dries out flour & (I'm guessing) makes it denser and lighter when measured by volume.

I had lunch at Chez Panisse Cafe (upstairs) a couple weeks ago. I thought the food was as good as ever. What was revolutionary 30 years ago is now classic. My friends who are restaurant mavens and chefs roll their eyes when I say I eat at Chez Panisse. They want what's new. Perhaps that attitude explains some of the negative press . I suggest that you not overlook simple items on the Chez Panisse menu. The restaurant has built an incredible network of suppliers over the decades, and simple dishes show off these great ingredients. For my lunch I ate sweetwater oysters, handcut bucatini all'amatriciana, and persimmon pudding. The persimmon pudding was the best I've ever eaten. When you visit in April, though, the menu will be entirely different--it changes with the seasons, whatever ingredients are at their peak then. I've also dined a few times at Zuni in the past couple months. (BTW, I'm not a frequent restaurant goer. Because of the holidays, I've been out and about more with friends.) A dinner of brined, grilled quail with grilled radicchio & frisee, fresh figs & balsamic was especially good. For one lunch, along with a grilled fish main course, I ate a starter of house-cured anchovies with slivered celery & pecorino romano, and a dessert of gateau victoire--both were superb. Whenever I eat at Zuni, I check out any house-cured items, like the anchovies, or fresh sardines. I like the coffee granita for dessert, too. I read in your blog that you are a baker by avocation. If you are spending any time in Berkeley, I suggest visiting the Crixa bakery, across the street from the fabled Berkeley Bowl market. The Crixa bakery has some of the most unusual and imaginative baked goods around, always done well. I've recommended this bakery to many friends, who love it. http://www.crixacakes.com/ I also recommend the Cheese Board, across the street from Chez Panisse, for its sourdough crust pizzas & hearty breads, muffins, and scones. The Acme bakery, with its great breads, especially the sourdough (pain au levain), has an outlet in the SF Ferry Building, not to be missed, as well as a bakery on San Pablo Ave in Berkeley. have fun on your trip!

Just my two cents. To avoid any possible contamination in your kitchen, toss out the can unopened. Are you really that scientifically curious?

Rosetta Costantino's new cookbook, My Calabria, has a note about oil-preserved foods that might be useful. Costantino has kept oil pickles in a cool pantry, but recommends refrigeration for added safety. The "Note About Calabrian Sott'Oli (Foods Preserved Under Oil)" is available on Googlebooks, Page 280 (scroll up): http://books.google.com/books?id=86R77RdzTj8C&pg=PA281&lpg=PA281&dq=my+calabria+costantino+oil+pickle&source=bl&ots=vW5gLJIsd7&sig=wTINchIv7D_iECKtvjVx6CfvQqA&hl=en&ei=Tn4KTY2EAYacsQO48cDFCg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&sqi=2&ved=0CBMQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false

Last year I bought the Igo brand piment d'espelette at the Spanish Table store in Berkeley. I thought the quality was excellent. The price raised my eyebrows, though--$17 per oz. I can't remember whether the store carries other brands at lower prices. I suggest emailing the Berkeley store and asking. http://www.spanishtable.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=SFNT&Store_Code=TST

I suggest Catalan Onion and Almond Soup, a recipe from Joyce Goldstein. It's a rich almond and orange flavored soup with a sweet-savory base from onions. Very unusual, & I thought it was irresistable when I tasted it. The trick is to cook the onions until they are meltingly soft, but not brown. The taste of the chicken stock is important, too. Try to make the soup with homemade chicken stock, or good quality commercial chicken stock. The recipe for Catalan Onion and Almond Soup is here (page 7 of the pdf): http://www.almondboard.com/FoodProfessionals/AlmondsInFood/Documents/RecipeCards.pdf I also like Beverly Gannon's Maui Onion and Ginger Soup. It's an onion soup that's gone Hawaiian with fresh ginger. I find it warming and satisfying in winter. I've cooked this soup with yellow onions, and it's come out fine. I also gradually add the fresh ginger to the soup, and keep tasting it, since the intensity of fresh ginger can vary. Too much ginger will overspice the soup. At the end of cooking I add 1 TB or more of brown sugar to balance out the spiciness of the soup with a little sweetness. The recipe for Maui Onion and Ginger Soup is here: http://www.gourmetsleuth.com/Recipes/Soups-and-Stews-247/Maui-Onion-Ginger-Soup-1094.aspx

If you can get your hands on Paula Wolfert's Slow Mediterranean Kitchen, there's a recipe for Green Grape Tart. Also an interesting-sounding recipe for a gazpacho made with green grapes. In the tart recipe, the green grapes are cooked and reduced to a syrup, then added to the tart filling. If you make a syrup from your grapes, you could probably think of some other dessert uses for it.

I'm curious about the Acme puff pastry method also, not to mention the cookbook. The Acme Bakery Cookbook isn't on Amazon. Where are you finding it? I make my own ice cream & sorbets, and most homey baked goods like scones, muffins, tarts, loaf cakes & cookies. The quality and flavor beat any commercial ice cream or baked goods. I rarely bake my own bread, though, because it's easier to buy Acme's Bread. Sometimes in a mood of self-improvement I do a run thru my bread repertoire, and when I realize once again that my bread doesn't match up to Acme's, I go back to buying Acme's.

A freezer full of chocolates...what a dream. Here, the only thing I'm fixed on is stollen, made with homemade citrus peel and a roll of almond paste to symbolize the baby Jesus in the manger. Gotta make this one, because I like to sift on the confectioners sugar until it looks like a snowdrift. I might add, that's about as close as I like to get to snow, period. Another possibility, an orange chocolate chip brioche I baked awhile back--that one may be due for a return engagement. A couple years ago I also made brownie-stuffed vanilla cookies for friends and neighbors, one of Alice Medrich's recipes (aka chocolate hamentaschen). People have been asking for those cookies ever since, so maybe it's time to bring back that treat too. The recipe for the brownie-stuffed vanilla cookies is here: http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/rosemary/2008/03/for-purim-hamantaschen-for-cho.html The cookie recipe and a better photo is on Googlebooks here, Page 62-63: http://books.google.com/books?id=gh354XCbhcoC&pg=PA62&dq=alice+medrich+Chocolate+Hamantaschen&hl=en&ei=7V30TP6VKI6asAOC3cSrCw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CC8Q6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false

I recently checked out a new release, My Calabria by Rosetta Costantino (with Janet Fletcher), borrowed from my public library. Calabria is the toe tip area of Italy. Costantino presents some delicious-sounding, gutsy Southern Italian food. Not just another Italian cookbook. Costantino has documented the distinctive regional food style of Calabria, based her family's recipes and her travels there. Good organization, good recipe-writing (as far as I can tell from reading), gorgeous photos. If there's any drawback, it's the fact that we're almost in December, and many of the sunny Italian ingredients for these recipes won't be in season for another 6 months. However, some recipes are suitable for winter months, and I plan to cook a few when there's a break in my schedule. Costantino teaches around here, and one of my friends has taken many of her cooking classes. My friend raved about Costantino's food and her classes, and I'm sorry now that I never took one of her classes myself. But I'll do the next best thing--try out some recipes in this book when I have the chance.

The black things, I'm guessing, are ripe old almond fruit. On the right edge of the pic, you can see the almond nut shell in one of the cut open fruit. I think. Tricky... http://www.google.com/images?hl=en&expIds=17259,24472,27147,27817&sugexp=ldymls&xhr=t&q=almond+fruit&cp=10&um=1&ie=UTF-8&source=univ&ei=BxHzTIyxFZS4sQO1ip3MCw&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&ct=title&resnum=2&sqi=2&ved=0CDYQsAQwAQ&biw=1280&bih=854 Artichokes are coming into season here, same for great winter greens, and almond season is over in California--hence the dried almond fruit (if that's what it is). I would expect the Australian almond fruit to be in the fuzzy green stage now. The cockatoo, flowering vine, and springlike colors in some of the other pix say Australia, though.

I think that's a good point. It may be that some producers are tacking the label "heritage" onto Broad Breasted White/Bronze turkeys, which, ironically, are not recognized breeds by the American Poultry Association. ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_turkey_breeds ) I don't know if any laws prohibit the use of the label "heritage" for these commercial breed turkeys, and if not, that's an issue to be addressed down the road. Frank Reese's definition of heritage turkey, including the heritage breeds : http://www.goodshepherdpoultryranch.com/heritageturkeydefinition.html It seems to me that if you're going to pay the bucks for a heritage turkey, it's worth asking which of the heritage breeds you're buying. If the producer says Broad Breasted White/Bronze, move on. Or if the store and/or producer doesn't know or won't say, that's an answer, too. It takes extra effort to acquire and raise the heritage breeds, and the store and producer will know when they're selling the real thing. At the cooking demo, Niman said that Frank Reese will not ship his poults, which is standard procedure for the industry. Reese considers shipping as too stressful for his babies. Instead someone has to show up at Reese's ranch to pick up the poults. And that's what Niman and his wife did: they drove to Kansas from California, and returned home with the poults in the back seat. Their breeding flock began with chauffeured turkeys.

A few weeks ago I attended a cooking demo for heritage turkey, the turkeys that Bill Niman raises, originally from poults from Frank Reese. The turkeys were brined (one brined with herbs, the other with plain salt brine). I didn't think the meat was gamy. I thought the meat was very tasty, with a full, turkey-ish flavor. However, you do have to accept that domestic turkey is a bland bird to start with--the heritage turkey makes the most of what can be done in breeding a flavorful bird. Niman said at the demo that he detected little flavor difference in the various heritage breeds that he raises. The biggest difference is the size of the bird. The price of the bird can give you pause: $6-$7 per lb, and the smallest turkey you can buy is 10 lbs. I seriously considered buying a heritage turkey for Thanksgiving, but then it turns out I won't be cooking turkey after all--so I can postpone my decision for a year. (When I mentioned the high price to a friend, he suggested driving to a small state park near here and running over one of the wild turkeys that crisscross the roads. My friend was just kidding. I think.) If you haven't seen it yet, Saveur wrote an entertaining article about Frank Reese, the keeper of the flame for heritage turkeys. Here: http://www.saveur.com/article/Kitchen/Rare-Breed

Recent discussions about wine on EGullet motivated me to seek out a wine buyer now wine shop owner who taught courses at UC Berkeley (continuing ed division) many years ago. Those wine courses were the most enjoyable academic work I've ever done. I realized what my grad school studies had been lacking all along--alcohol. Anyway, my former wine teacher suggested riesling, pinot noir, tokay, or gewurztraminer for the Thanksgiving dinner. I myself would add a good Sancerre to that list. When it comes to riesling, I prefer the lighter "Kabinett" style. And if you have any riesling left over from Thanksgiving dinner, it goes great with Thai food. While I was at the shop a staffer recommended this value wine to me, a Paul Pernot chardonnay/white burgundy for $20, which I bought. I haven't tried it yet, but it sounds good. It was highly recommended to me. This wine: http://www.b-21.com/prodinfo.asp?number=FWPPBB08AE&variation=

I buy Thai basil at the farmers mkt and treat it like a bunch of flowers. For each branch, I strip off the bottom leaves (they only get mushy), cut off the tip of the stem at an angle with shears, and put the branch immediately into a vase of cold water. Keep the basil on the kitchen counter. I change the water in the vase once or twice a day. My Thai basil will last almost a week that way. If you refrigerate any kind of basil, the leaves can turn black from the humidity and cold temp in the fridge. Thai basil is pretty strong-flavored. I'm not sure I would like it in pesto--it would be too anise-y for me. I've made pesto with sweet basil a day or two ahead, kept it in a sealed container with a thin layer of olive oil on top. The surface will discolor slightly, but not the rest of the pesto. With all that Thai basil, you could do some great stirfries this week with pork, shrimp, mussels, fish, or eggplant. How about a curry? The Cradle of Flavor cookbook has some good recipes using Thai basil, too.

Just to put this issue in perspective: ordinary Joes (or Jills) do not buy 1869 vintage collector wines that probably taste like vinegar now. Ordinary Joes & Jills want something nice, occasionally something special, to put on the dinner table and share with friends. There are always new places opening up in the world as a source for good, affordable wines--in fact, some of the new wineries will be tomorrow's stars in the wine world. In California, when Napa and Sonoma wine prices hit the roof, areas like the Central Coast developed more affordable, good (and some great) wines as a result. The other day I was reading that the Sierra foothills region is the new growth area for winemaking in this state, and I had to chuckle. Ten years ago I met a winemaker from that area, tasted his wines, and they were already darn good (Crystal Basin Cellars, http://www.crystalbasin.com/ ). Five years ago I met a guy from Pennsylvania whose passion in life was to be a winemaker--in Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania wines are up-and-coming now, too.

The photos on Prasantrin's link helped ring a bell here. I recently ate Cake aux Olives at the Tartine bakery in SF. It was just like the pic-- a heavy, cheesy, eggy bread with olives and ham in it. If you google "Cake aux Olives" you'll find more recipes in French. good luck.

I can't give you the hows & whys of the chemistry. However, something effective is going on. It may be that enough of the oil is absorbed into the meat to give it that slight flavor. Remember, the oils in herbs and spices are very strong at full strength, even toxic. A couple wks ago I attended a cooking demo in which a chef brined 2 heritage turkeys, one with a flavored brine (herbs & spices), one just salt, maybe a little sugar. Everything else in the cooking process was the same. There was a marked flavor difference between the 2 turkey samples. After tasting, people knew immediately which turkey had been soaked in the flavored brine. If you have any doubts, you can do a comparative brining yourself. As to which turkey was the preferred flavor--that's where people differed. The flavored brine immediately hit the palate, and people said, Mmmm! But after a couple bites some people felt that the flavored brine masked the true flavor of this excellent turkey. The majority seemed to prefer the plain salt brine by the end of the tasting. One person (a local cooking teacher) advised using a flavored brine only when you're using a mediocre quality meat. I thought he made a good point.

Whew, what a fascinating controversy. I'm not going to bandy the difference between plagiarism and other kinds of copyright infringement. The bottom line is, if you copy and use other people's copyrighted material without permission, you may find yourself slammed with a lawsuit. Attribution doesn't matter if the protected material has been copied and used without permission, and the re-publication of the copyrighted material does not fall into the fair use exception. I looked up the apple pie article on the Cooks Source online mag, and while the intro page of the article seems to be missing, the jump for the article, on page 24, is still up there. Complete with the apple pie recipe that appears to have been lifted word for word from Gaudio's website. It's possible that every online view of that webpage can be considered a re-publication of the copyrighted material without permission. Even at a penalty at one cent per view, given the publicity surrounding this controversy and the number of people checking out the mag, the total penalty might be...well, a pretty penny. Of course you still have to get money from Cooks Source mag (or Griggs--if she can be held responsible as an individual), and neither may have much money to sue for. The lack of adequate legal remedies for online copyright infringement is another big issue. Under U.S. copyright law, a copyright notice is not necessary in order for the work to be copyrighted. If I write an original poem on a cocktail napkin, I have the copyright to that poem. I have reduced my literary inspiration to tangible form--written words on a cocktail napkin--and copyright automatically attaches. I suggest that you assume the material is copyrighted, and request permission for reprint, unless the website specifically says that the author releases the material to the public domain, or otherwise grants permission for reprint. I don't know of any rule like that under U.S. copyright law. The U.S. courts use a balancing test, with multiple factors, to decide if a re-publication of copyrighted material falls under the fair use exception. If you copy the critical 70 words in an article without permission, you could still be in trouble. I was noodling around on the web just now, and this website has a good explanation of U.S. copyright law basics, if you're interested: http://www.lib.purdue.edu/uco/CopyrightBasics/exceptions.html

Pamela Sheldon Johns has a recipe for Florentine Rice Gelato in her Gelato! cookbook. She reverse-engineered it from her favorite gelato di riso at a gelateria in Florence. The recipe has intrigued me, but I've never tried it. I can't get my head around rice in ice cream. Here's the recipe online: http://leitesculinaria.com/9550/recipes-florentine-rice-gelato.html