Pierogi

HAH ! The friends I always make Polish Christmas Eve dinner for have teased me for years that, in addition to the tradition about the number of courses, number of guests, etc., the food can only be white. That mustard is far too colorful. I believe the tortellini things are "pelmeni".

Jumping in due to my screen name ... I make pierogi every year at Christmas time. They're time consuming, but relatively easy. It's essentially an egg pasta dough, with various fillings. I usually do potato/onion/bacon/cheese, mushroom/sauerkraut, and ground beef/sauerkraut for mine. My mother used to make sweet ones, where the filling was ricotta cheese, egg and cinnamon. You fill the dough, fold it over to make the half-moon shape, crimp with a fork, then drop it into boiling, salted water until they float. You can eat them that way, or, as I prefer, drain them, and then pan saute them in melted, browned butter and some thin sliced onion. A dollop of sour cream doesn't hurt, either (since at that point your calorie/carb count for the day is shot to hell anyway). Since you've got a pasta machine, it should be a breeze for you. I do the mixing of the dough, and most of the kneading, in my Kitchen Aid, but have to roll it out by hand, which is tedious. From what I can see, its very very similar to making ravioli. Like everything else, homemade is superior to mass produced. Although I do cop to having a box of Mrs. T's frozen ones in my freezer most of the time. It helps when I get a pierogi craving in July. The ones Mitch bought look pretty damn good, though, and pretty close to mine.

Back in the day, my high school service clubs used to sell green bagels on St. Patrick's Day as a fundraiser. Bearing in mind this was the early 70's in suburbia... They were pretty lame bagels. In college we all graduated to green beers.

YAY, Darienne ! SCORE.

Quite simple, really. Hot chocolate is made with hot milk and either Nestle's Quik or Hershey's syrup, and hot cocoa is made with hot milk, and well....cocoa. And sugar of course, and a pinch of salt. All are excellent, it just depends on what you have in the house.

You have seriously got to love a place called "Pork Store".

FWIW, on page 100 of the current (and I should mention very sparce and disappointing) February edition of "Bon Appetit", in a section entitled, I believe either "Prep Kitchen" or "Cooking School/Class" is an article called...."How To Break Down A Chicken". Thus, the madness is perpetuated.

*swooooon*.... As if I wasn't blissed out enough by the covert pictures at Fairway, then you have to go and show me the shopping porn shots at Eataly. Excuse me for a moment, I have to get in my car, drive to the nearest MegaMart and give it a swift kick, 'cause it can't compare to either of those places. Nice work on the incognito photo shoot, Johnder. You have a future in espionage, I think !

Let me go on record as stating, in the cocktail world of eGullet, I'm a hack. I'm a poseur. I have no business stating my opinion in with those of Chris Amirault's, Lancastermike's, ThirtyoneKnot's and Haresfur's. None whatsoever. I will never acheive the depth and breadth of their liquor cabinets. I will never have their palates. I will never get to that level. That said....I am a "consumer" as you said you were interested in hearing from. I also will never order a drink from a bar, any bar, that uses any commercially prepared mixer such as a sour mix, nor will I prepare one with such a mix in my home. In a dicey bar setting, (like in a chain restaurant) I either order something "un-defialable" like a gin Martini, not too dry, up, with 2 olives, or a Bourbon Manhattan. Or I drink wine. I make my own grenadine. I make my own simple syrup. I make my own sour mix as I need it. I use fresh citrus only. The difference between that, and the commercial material is staggering, even to my unsophisticated and plebian palate and sensibility. To me, and this will sound harsh, premade cocktail mixers appeal to people who throw keggers and buy red plastic cups in which to serve their drinks. I've done plenty of that in my time, but now, I know better. It's like the difference between eating at McDonald's and eating at Shake Shack or Taylor's Prime Refresher. Yes, you can get a burger and fries at both places, but they are not in the same league. This crowd is not going to give you any love for premade stuff. Sorry.

Word ! Give me nice, ice cold whole fat milk or go away. Sometimes I just crave it. Does skim milk still have that sort of blue-ish color it did 40 years ago? That right there was enough to make me run far far away.

Doesn't this belong in the "Culinary Apocolypse" thread...?

Yes, you're absolutely right of course. I knew that the North American "hard shells" are an invention of the Southwest and border states (as is, btw, the fish taco, but that's another thread....). I was actually thinking about including it in my response to Darienne, but well, I hit "post" and the thought went "poof" (as many of my thoughts do) and it was lost. Thanks for helping out my old, feeble brain. They're still tasty though, in their place !

Oh, and I loved the snowman with the Christmas wreath outside the Chinese grocery. I *especially* loved the traffic cone with the Chinese characters on it that was used as his jaunty little orange hat.

I am so living vicariously through this. Understand, I love living in Southern California, and know I'm so blessed to be here. (Especially since it was 75° and sunny today, and I haven't turned the heater on in about 3 weeks.... ).... Seriously, its a pretty great place to be. Ocean, mountains, desert, all within a not-so-dreadful drive, even with our traffic. And a pretty good cultural/restaurant/sports scene (yes, pretty good, no, not on a par with NYC). BUT. There are 2 places I've visited that I would move to in an instant given the opportunity and the means to do so. New Orleans and Manhattan. Both cities just spoke to me the moment I saw them the first time. I'm looking at these pictures of the city and just plotzing. I could so do that. I could SO have that view out of my kitchen window, Mitch. I could SO eat lunch in that cafeteria with the glass towers around me. Wow. A girl can dream, can't she....? When I win the lotto...

The large, dinner plates I bought for myself are white and square. Slightly upturned around the edges. I like them, and I use them a lot. For salad dishes I use clear glass, don't know why, just always have. I think because they look cool on the occassions I throw them into the freezer to have an old-fashioned "chilled" salad plate ! The dinner plates I grew up with are a rose and white stoneware diner-style plate, with the 3 compartments. The pattern is called "Roselyn Castle" and the style is grill plates by Shenango China. I believe they were my grandmother's. I only have 3 of them left, and I usually only use them when I'm making something old-fashioned-ish and comfort-y. Cabbage rolls usually go on them. Side dishes, small plates, bowls, etc. are a mix, but I'm trying to work towards a mix of various styles of cobalt blue or cobalt/clear glassware. I love cobalt glass, and have a set of my grandmother's stemware that is etched clear glass stems on a cobalt base that I would risk my life to save in an earthquake. I also have a pretty large set of Oxfordware stoneware from my mom that is a "chalky cobalt" in color. There's chili bowls, oval bowls, round cereal bowls, a variety of mixing bowls, and I work them in as well. Serving pieces are a total mish-mash, and whatever strikes my eye and fancy. Let's say I'm *eclectic*. Yeah, ecletic. That's it. But I do think the food actually looks best on the plain white ones, and that's mostly why I stopped using the red & cream set so much.

Thanks, you guys for the "flaming peel" tutorial and encouragement. I'll give it a go this week, and report back. BTW.....my maternal grandfather ran a speakeasy on Chicago's South Side during Prohibition. You guys are my long-lost soul mates, I think. LOVED the "medicinal" whiskey...Lord knows *I'VE* always found some lovely spirits good for what ails me.

Amen. I gave up on sandwiches a while ago. Now I repurpose whatever was dinner the night before. ... I was doing the same thing when I was still working. Leftovers from dinners earlier in the week were my lifesaver. I found a lot of things....pastas especially, or even chunks of protein with some veggies on the side...tasted just fine without being nuked if they'd sat at room temperature for the morning. I'd pull them from the fridge as I was leaving home, and then NOT put them in the fridge at work. They were usually....coolish...when I wanted to eat them, and tasted just fine, better even than if they'd been nuked. As I was cleaning up from dinner, I'd package them into lunch-sized containers that went into the fridge for later in the week. Some things, obviously, needed to be reheated. Stews, gumbos, braises, layered, baked pastas, anything that had a lot of fatty sauce, needed a quick run through the microwave. But saucy pastas, not so much. However, don't disparage the occassional sandwich....especially leftover ham, roast beef or meatloaf (my personal fave). But make them the night before, as you're cleaning up from dinner, wrap them and stick them in the fridge. Who wants to face that in the morning !?!?!?! BTW, in most cases (attention...common sense needed), those also taste best at coolish room temperature.

You know, they don't really. If, and I guess this is the key, you get shells from a market with a high enough turnover that they're fresh and not on the road to cardboard. That could be an issue for you, I'm guessing. But if you try, make sure to heat them in a low oven (250-300°F) for about 5 minutes. Uncovered, just toss them on a baking sheet. That will liven them up. Then when you put your fillings in, the liquid sort of softens the corn, and they just get....crispy and chewy and *good*. It's the textural contrast thing. Put the "jucier" stuff on the bottom, and the drier stuff on top. The bottom may split a bit, but you can usually keep it mostly together by squeezing it with your fingers. Like overstuffed sandwiches, though, the kiss of death is to put a filled hard taco down ! The oven-crisping should be done for tostada shells, also. You'd be amazed at what a difference it makes. Don't get me wrong, I love soft tacos in certain applications (I'd *NEVER* make a fish taco with a hard shell), but sometimes I've just got to have that contrast between the succulent filling and the crunchy shell.

Ohhhhh, just thought of one other thing I use wax paper for.... Lining a sheet or pie pan for doling out tablespoons of tomato paste or similar stuff to freeze for extended storage. You just plop the tomato paste onto the wax paper, toss in the freezer for a couple of hours, then peel them off and throw them into a zip bag. Seal and you've always got a tablespoon of tomato paste (or whipped cream or whatever) when you need it. Toss the wax paper, and your sheet pan goes back into the cupboard.

OK....I've got a question I've been dying to ask, and since we have 3 of the 5 eGullet Cocktail Eggheads * here in one place, at one time (virtual place/time, of course), maybe I can get the definitive answer. I am intrigued by the concept of flaming a citrus peel over a drink. I can intellectually see how burning the oils leads to a more complex and maybe pronounced flavor. However, I am scared spitless (and y'all know I cleaned *that* up....) by the thought of introducing live fire over high proof alcohol. I mean....I like my eyebrows, eyelashes and hair. A lot. Bear in mind I am a total klutz, and have limited coordination. I can trip over a seam in linoleum. How do you accomplish this feat without burning down the house and calling out the paramedics? A replay of the great Chicago Fire I could do without.... Thanks in advance. (*The other 2 Eggheads being Chris Amirault and EJE, of course, with KatieLoeb as a shout-out....)

As I remember, Cook's Illustrated did that when they decided they liked Diamond better, and there was a pretty significant difference. Not as large of a difference as between kosher and table salt, but still noticeable. Diamond was lighter.

Picadillo is seriously one of my favorite Mexican/Latin dishes (see my response to your chile relleano post...). I've made a ton of different versions, and this is the one I've finally settled on as being most to my taste. I got it an eon ago from the Food Network website. I just went to see if I could link it, and it doesn't appear to be up on their site any longer. I'm pretty sure it was by Aaron Sanchez. I also Googled that, and couldn't get a hit, so here it is, rewritten sufficiently I hope to get by any *issues*.... Picadillo Tacos (6 servings) 2 Tblsp. vegetable oil 1 large onion, finely chopped 2 garlic cloves, minced 2 pounds ground pork 1/3C raisins 1/4C toasted slivered almonds 1&1/2C canned tomato sauce 1/2C sliced pimento-stuffed green olives ¾ tsp. ground cinnamon ½ tsp. ground cumin ¼ tsp. ground cloves S&P to taste 3C shredded romaine or iceberg lettuce 1&1/2C coarsely grated radishes Lime wedges Cheddar cheese 12 taco shells Heat oil in heavy pan over med/low heat. Add onion and garlic and cook until veg is soft, stirring often. Raise heat a bit, and add pork. Cook, breaking up lumps, until browned and cooked through. Drain extra fat, add raisins, nuts, sauce, olives and spices. Simmer, stirring occasionally, until thickened to your taste, about 10 or 15 minutes. Put the picadillo in the warmed taco shells, and top with desired toppings. Squeeze lime over. Cooked picadillo keeps in fridge for a day or two, reheat before making tacos. It also freezes really really well. I much prefer it in the hard, fried taco shells than in tortillas as soft tacos. Enjoy !!

LOL LOL LOL ! Seriously.... My dogs just finished a Christmas prezzie from their Aunties that included a box of Three Dog Bakery's "Lick 'N' Crunch" cookies, which are made to look like Oreos, but with a carob cookie and a peanut butter filling. The girls loved them. I sort of sniffed them and went, yeah, you're a dog, you eat tree branches and used Kleenex..... Edit to add...but on the other hand, carob has been around as an ingredient for a long, long time, so I'm sure it must have a use...somewhere. I'm just not aware of any, so I too am looking forward to see what people come up with.

Darienne, your leftover picadillo is also really, really good as taco filling. I prefer it in the hard, fried shells rather than as soft tacos, but all the normal "toppings" (shredded lettuce, diced tomato, diced onion, cilantro and cheese) work beautifully with it. I love a good picadillo taco. I need to make some soon. Picadillo is also a good filling for regular old, run-of-the-mill bell peppers. Make sure to top with some shredded cheese, and then cook as you would any other stuffed pepper. Congrats ! You're blazing a good Southwest trail there in the frozen North......

Holy cow, this is going to be a fabulous week. All of my favorite things in one blog, New York, good food, shopping excursions and COCKTAILS !!! Mitch, the PEZ collection is so cool, love the Fozzie Bear dispenser. He was my favorite muppet (after the Swedish Chef). And what an absolutely, dead-on, killer brilliant way to store your pot/pan lids ! That is probably the coolest thing I've ever seen. Wow. That'll solve a ton of problems for me, including closing up the black hole behind my stove where it won't suck up to the wall because of where the gas line comes up from the floor. I am ALWAYS losing stuff behind the damn range, since I have a utensil rack hanging above it. Wow. What a brilliant idea. Sam, that cocktail paraphernalia collection is stunning. I am seriously envious. Just gorgeous stuff. John, I too, hope for some gratuitous Chow shots this week, as well as more shots of that gorgeous nature from your upstate house. I can't wait for the rest of the week. YaaaaHOOOO !