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Jungle Curry (Gkaeng Bpah Gkoong), a soup-y, very hot curry with plenty of dried and fresh chiles, brined green peppercorns too, but no coconut milk to mediate the heat. Those jungle people are tough. For this curry I combined prawns from the freezer, leftover corn from the fridge, and vegs from my last impulsive shopping trip at the farmers market--fresh peas, okra, tomato, Chinese and Thai eggplants, and King trumpet mushrooms. This curry tasted good even though it was very spicy. Hey, who turned up the thermostat?

Something like this, maybe? http://www.amazon.com/Cut-Resistant-Gloves...50622456&sr=8-5 I was reading the Hog Island Oyster Lover's Cookbook by Jairemarie Pomo. There's a couple pages about good and bad knives and gloves. The author recommends a glove called Boss, which is supposed to retail for about $10. It's described as a knit body with a blue latex shell. My search for the Boss oyster glove on Google came up empty, though. For shucking in hand, the author recommends pairing the Boss glove with a leather-palmed glove for maximum safety. But she does caution that these gloves will not prevent you from slicing your hand--accidents can still happen. The author recommends Dexter Russell oyster knives. http://www.thefind.com/kitchen/browse-dext...ll-oyster-knife She also says those very expensive chain mail French oyster gloves are not stab-proof after all. Another good reason not to spend $150 on an oyster glove. I knew there must have been a good reason why I never bought one.

I was told that the garlic press, by crushing the garlic, releases bitter flavors. I was told to always chop garlic. That said, I've seen any number of good chefs and cooks smash garlic with the flat of a knife (equivalent to a garlic press, I'm thinking). I like to chop garlic, but if I'm in a hurry, I just smash it with a knife.

That food looks authentically good to me. Tonight, a dinner that says summer to me. A starter of melon draped with prosciutto, soppressata, and fresh figs. Followed by pasta with fresh tomato sauce. One of my favorites, angel hair pasta with tomatoes, basil, capers, and pine nuts, from Beverly Gannon's General Store Cookbook. The recipe for the pasta is available on Googlebooks. Go to Page 30. Angel hair pasta with fresh tomatoes, basil, capers, pinenuts

I've known serious cooks who like to use the pre-peeled garlic in jars, though I prefer to use fresh garlic myself. So who's to say? I've been frustrated with those papery little peels, too. Recently I started using a stainless steel meat pounder to crack open those cloves when I have a lot of garlic to peel. Something like this: http://www.amazon.com/MIU-2-2-Pound-Meat-P...0373591&sr=1-21 I lay all the cloves on the cutting board and whack away. In a few seconds I'm done. Seven in one blow. The paper skins will fall away and leave the cloves bare. That meat pounder is also handy for pitting olives, but be gentle. When cracked, the olive will split open and you can easily pull out the pit.

I would also suggest making lobster stock from the shells, the skinny little legs, and the bodies. I've never made lobster stock, but I'm about to, since somebody gave me a big bag of shells and bodies recently. (The bag's in my freezer.) I've been told to make the stock like fish fumet, but cook it longer, about an hour, since the flavor is more difficult to extract from shells rather than fish bones. Or you could make lobster butter. Here's a recipe from James Peterson's Cooking, available on Googlebooks (page 351): Crustacean Butter

I came across this paragraph while reading Pamela Sheldon Johns' Prosciutto Pancetta Salame.

Green Curry with Shrimp Dumplings (Gkaeng Kiow Wahn Loogchin Gkung) from Kasma's It Rains Fishes. Another recipe I turned the page on for years, until I made it in one of Kasma's classes. I was reminded how great ground meat dumplings are as comfort food (think meatballs and spaghetti). This dish is another new favorite. The recipe is available here: http://www.thaifoodandtravel.com/recipes/greencur2.html

Your food looks gorgeous and I bet it tasted great. Did the people know you at the potluck, and what kind of cook you are? In my experience, people tend to go for the lowest common denominator at potlucks if they don't know the people who made the food. They're especially cautious around seafood--they don't know how scrupulous the cook is about buying very fresh seafood, and handling it properly. They're also very cautious about spicy food. They don't know if they'll end up with more heat than they can handle. That's why I usually bring salads or home-baked goods to potlucks. Nothing special, I know, but people can see what they're eating and not worry so much about spoilage, weird ingredients, and the like. Your experience was just too bad. If you make the same food and invite a bunch of friends, they'll probably come over and vacuum the plates and wish for more.

Thanks to all, for the interesting info here. So if I understand correctly, fresh currants are those little red berries for preserves, dried currants are from the Zante or Corinth grapes, but now that fresh Zante grapes have been showing up at markets and people are eating them, everybody's confused. Oh, the uncertain currents of food terminology. I've seen Zante grapes around here later in the season, at Whole Foods no less, but I'm sure they're at the farmers mkts too. They are tiny dark grapes. I kind of remember seeing them in Sept or Oct last year. Now that I've read this discussion, I'll have to keep an eye out for them and give them a try. Alice Waters in her Fruit cookbook says that dried currants are made from Zante/Corinth grapes, sometimes marketed as Champagne grapes (to further confuse the issue). She suggests frosting Zante grapes with sugar. Judy Rodgers in her Zuni Cafe cookbook has a slew of Zante grape recipes I've never paid close attention to before. There's an apple crostata (or galette) with some Zante grapes--the grapes are scattered over the crostata about 5 mins before the tart is finished baking. Also a piccolo fritto of thinly sliced onions and fennel with Zante grapes, drizzled with saba or balsamic. (Floured and deep-fried grapes? I've never tried that before.) Rodgers suggests serving that piccolo fritto over a frisee salad with pecans, along with duck, squab or quail. (Yum.) Lastly, there's a recipe for brined and spiced Zante grapes, served as a condiment. The spiced grapes can go into a salad of spiced Zante grapes, prosciutto, fennel, and walnuts. Zante grapes brined and spiced as a condiment. The recipe is here: http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn41...6/ai_n16705550/ have fun cooking, Peter & Katie. ETA: Another idea from the Zuni Cafe cookbook. Toss some Zante grapes into a panful of sauteed chicken livers and onions about a minute before serving. I'll have to try this one.

Kha, that crab curry was one of my favorite dishes when I tried it in Thailand, so your post brought back some good memories for me. What kind of chile paste do you use for this recipe? ... Jaz, I made the string bean dish with a sweet-hot Roasted Chile Paste, nahm prik pow. The chile paste is available in commercial brands in Asian markets, though I made the recipe with some nahm prik pow I brought back from Thailand. Kasma took our group to a small coconut sugar refining factory in the Damnoen Saduak floating market outside Bangkok, and pointed to the nahm prik pow for sale on their counter. We got the hint. The samples of nahm prik pow at the store were served with fried pork rinds. We dipped the crispy pork rinds into the roasted chile paste, and was it good. While the other members of our group wandered around the factory, watching people make sugar, I hung out by the nam prik pow counter, munching chile paste and pork rinds. I wanted to make sure that the shopowners felt appreciated in their efforts. A photo of the sugar factory from my friend Amber. For commercial brands of Roasted Chile Paste, Kasma suggests the Mae Ploy and Butterfly brands on her website: http://www.thaifoodandtravel.com/brands.html Kasma also has a recipe for Roasted Chile Paste on her website: http://www.thaifoodandtravel.com/recipes/nahmprikpow.pdf We made it recently in one of her cooking classes, and I think it tastes better than any commercial brand I've tried. It's also straightforward to cook. I'm planning to make it myself someday. It's on My List. The Roasted Chile Paste I bought at the market in Thailand tastes very much like the Roasted Chile Paste we made in class. Also, some of my class notes on the Roasted Chile Paste recipe: - Slice the shallots about 1/8" thick. Not too thin. - For this recipe you can use japonais chiles (from Asian markets) for flavor, and throw in some puya chiles (from Hispanic markets) for an attractive red color. - You can skip the first step of dehydrating the shallots. They actually taste better if they are just fried. Cook them at low-medium heat for about 45 mins, until they are medium-brown. Keep in mind that you will cook them more later. (This was an update on the recipe from Kasma.) - The yield is about 2 cups. It's good for a year in the fridge; use a clean spoon to dish it out.

I believe they all show these specials online - at least WS and Macys do. Just look in the All-Clad section and watch for "Exclusive" or some such wording. Here's an example: http://www.williams-sonoma.com/products/c3...re%2Dall%2Dclad They are also available in-store of course. ← This is the Williams-Sonoma 7-piece set of All Clad I was looking at last night: http://www.williams-sonoma.com/products/sk...re%2Dall%2Dclad This is the 10-piece All-Clad special for $699: http://www.williams-sonoma.com/products/sk...re%2Dall%2Dclad If you buy the set from the store, you save on shipping charges, of course.

I agree. Williams-Sonoma has a 7-piece deal on All-Clad for $529. I realize that's somewhat over your projected budget, but these are all useful pans from a top-of-the-line brand. I bought the 10-piece set myself a few years ago, and that equipment covers almost everything I want to cook on my stovetop. Plus, the pans are great. Also, if you cruise through some of those notoriously expensive stores, like Williams-Sonoma, Sur La Table, or even Macy's Cellar, you can find deals on their sales shelves or tables--last one of its kind in the store, a closeout on the style, a pan with a scratch on it. I've picked up some high-quality items here and there, at a fraction of the regular retail price. Someone once told me he liked to shop at Amazon.com for some good cookware deals. I haven't done much shopping on cookware there myself, but it's an idea.

I'll have to nominate Indian poories. I love how they puff up in the hot oil. Any kind of fritters gives me a thrill, too.

I've started following this thread recently. What great food here, and I love the variety of styles. Here's my contribution, a light summer meal of Persian food: Cold Yogurt and Cucumber Soup with Mint, Walnuts, and Rose Petals, and a sandwich with a Persian "Frittata" of eggs, eggplant, tomatoes, turmeric, cinnamon and saffron. Both dishes are my take on recipes from an Iranian chef I once met named Ariana Bundy. To make the Cold Yogurt and Cucumber Soup: Combine 4 cups yogurt; 1 cucumber, seeded if you like, and diced; 1 clove minced garlic; and 3 chopped scallions. Season with salt and a few pinches of sugar. Chill for at least one hour. If necessary, add a little ice water to thin it. Serve in chilled bowls with a variety of toppings. I like to set out these toppings and let people sprinkle on their own: 1 TB freshly chopped dill, 1 TB freshly chopped mint, 1/4 cup chopped toasted walnuts, 1/4 cup coarsely chopped golden raisins, 2 TB crumbled organic dried rose petals (no pesticides!). I posted the recipe for the Persian "Frittata" elsewhere on EGullet. Here (Post # 3): http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=124765&hl=

It would depend on the type of cure and the length of the curing process. Waters' recipe is a short cure, almost like a marinade, and the recipe calls for fillets of sardines. Waters suggests that you ask your fishmonger to fillet the sardines for you. (Good luck.) My fishmongers will scale the sardines, and after that, forget it. I've done my time slitting and gutting sardines in the sink. I love the taste of sardines, but they are very bony little fish.

Funny, last night I was looking at a recipe for Fresh Cured Sardines in Alice Waters' The Art of Simple Food, wondering if I wanted to deal with all those little fish bones. Waters' recipe cures the sardines with garlic, lemon, vinegar, fresh herbs, olive oil, S&P.

A couple dishes from Kasma's It Rains Fishes. One of my perennial favorites, String Beans in Roasted Chilli Sauce (Tua Kaek Pad Prik Pow), or string beans stir-fried with garlic, sweet-hot chile paste, and Thai basil, and a new favorite, Hot-and-Sour Dry Rice Noodles (Sen Lik Dtom Yam Haeng). I've turned the page on that noodle recipe for years, and I probably still would not have tried it, but I tasted it in one of Kasma's classes recently, and I loved it. People who like Chinese Hot and Sour Soup would probably like these noodles. They have that same hot and sour intensity. Besides the hot and sour sauce, the rice noodles are garnished with BBQ pork, lightly poached ground pork, peanuts, green onions, and cilantro. No poached pork liver on top of the noodles, as in the recipe, because I forgot to buy it at my last trip to Chinatown. Actually, I forgot to buy a number of items on my shopping list on that trip, yet somehow many things that were not on my list made it home. The recipe calls for fresh thin rice noodles, but I had none of that on hand. So I dug through my cabinets and came up with a 1 lb pkg of dried rice vermicelli I was happy to get rid of, and that went into the pot. It tasted fine. Only 3 limes in the house, when the recipe calls for 4, but I thought the lesser sourness was better. Those thin Chinese egg noodles would taste good with this hot and sour sauce, too.

This year Kasma has divided the four-week trip into two 2+ week trips, a Northern & Central trip, and a Southern trip. See Trip B and Trip C on her website: http://www.thaifoodandtravel.com/trips.html People have been asking for shorter trips, since it's easier to get away.

A refreshing dinner salad for a hot day, Grilled Eggplant Salad with Roasted Peppers and Shrimp (Yam Makeua Yao Pow). A recipe I learned recently in one of Kasma's classes. The peppers are supposed to be jalapenos or fresnos, but I had red bell peppers taking up room in an overcrowded fridge, so I tossed those in. The salad is hearty from the eggplant and peppers, hot and sour from the chile-lime dressing. I'll be adding this recipe to my repertoire of potluck foods--it's Thai, but not intimidating (especially with bell peppers), and I think people will like it. The recipe is available on Kasma's website here: http://www.thaifoodandtravel.com/recipes/reggsal.html We also made the Prawns and Bean Thread in Clay Pot in class, and it was perfect. Why didn't mine come out that well when I made it earlier at home (Post # 797)? So I tried it again at home, and followed the recipe instructions exactly this time , and it came out great. The first time I substituted kecap manis for black soy sauce , because I had run out of black soy sauce, so don't do that. The kecap manis really threw the balance of flavors off. This claypot recipe is easy and delicious. In class Kasma had us line the claypot with bacon (she said pork fat is good too), and that made this dish even better. The bacon is flavored with all that black pepper and cilantro and soy sauce, so don't throw it out--eat it!

Have you tried the King Arthur recipe for whole wheat brownies? http://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/tas...brownies-recipe I baked this recipe years ago, with regular whole wheat flour. The taste and texture were very good.

I've never cooked goat, only eaten it in braised Thai Muslim and Indonesian dishes. It tastes very good with all those curry-type spices. But I'm not sure that's what you want for a tailgate party. My guess is that cooking goat is much like cooking lamb.

If somebody told me that I was eating panther, I would expect a lean gamy-tasting meat, and a big bone showing an animal with the power to leap and spring (that's why the goat leg idea is so good). Some goat neck might trick your friends into thinking they are eating from the other end of the animal. Those big vertebrae, if you get the idea... Tell your friends it's a delicacy. I second Judiu's idea of anchovies to introduce a fishy taste. Animals taste like what they eat, and this is supposed to be a Southern swamp panther, yes?

Don't forget panzanella. I like this version that once appeared in Saveur. I always reduce the amt of oil and butter, and the dish still tastes good. http://www.saveur.com/article/Food/Summer-Panzanella My favorite fresh tomato sauce with pasta is from Beverly Gannon's General Store cookbook, Angel Hair Pasta with Tomatoes, Basil, and Pine Nuts. The recipe is available on Googlebooks. Go to Page 30: http://books.google.com/books?id=hUK0obUbH...=beverly+gannon

BTR, I thought my walnuts were a bit more mature than ideal. I'm just going to make sure I don't overextract, since the tannins in the older walnuts will make the final product bitter. Letting the nocino age will help reduce the tannins, also. My recipe says to extract from 6-8 wks, before draining off the green walnuts. I'll definitely be checking at week 6, if not a little sooner.