CathyL

Lissome, honey's been around a lot longer than sugar.

Red meat, very rare (Rosemary's Baby dripping chicken heart rare). Fat/salt, as in potato chips. Milk chocolate, which I disdain otherwise.

A quick Google suggests it's merely a marketing distinction - some publicist must have thought 'antique' conjured up moldy or dusty or embalmed. As for Binstock...I need to reread that sentence after a night's sleep.

Um, no. Enlighten me, please. The woman is enamored, or the arbor is?

Monster veal rib chops, marinated in beer 'n' stuff and broiled. (He got part of my chop's eye in return for his ungnawed rib bone, a mutually happy exchange.) Yukon Gold chunks, roasted with EVOO and pimenton. Romaine/radicchio/endive, raw mushrooms and sweet onion with mustard-shallot vinaigrette. Pedestrian, but very satisfying.

For me they have to be not just sour, but crisp & hard. Grannies can be mealy/mushy. Greenings & Pippins are usually good. Sometimes Braeburns, which are tangy if not sour. There are a lot of wonderful heirloom varieties available at NYC farmers' markets, but it's been a very rough year for apple growers. Northern Spy and Black Twig are lovely cooking apples.

Russ, I think that's precisely what others have been saying here. It's good to hear it from a food writer rather than a group of 'civilians.' I've been wondering whether John Thorne would have been as ready to participate in a Q&A had he read such a piece first.

Here's a Jean-Georges recipe for curried mussels. Delicious.

Spoken like the gentleman you are, Robert. Thanks.

Terrific post, Lauren! I love Danny's restaurants too.

When I was a kid red/Bermuda onions were sweet enough to eat raw. (My dad and I made sandwiches on rye bread with Miracle Whip. ) Is this just the fog of nostalgia, or have Bermudas indeed gotten stronger and harsher?

ChefG, did this question slip by you? I'm sorry it's not in multiple parts, but I am really curious and I think a little disclosure/confirmation would be nice for everyone reading along at home. Perhaps chefg chose not to answer it.

Anna, the cure I like (from Jacques Pepin) uses no acid either: soy sauce, molasses, spices. What matters is the salt & sugar. What's the rest of the menu, or is it posted elsewhere?

Yes, 48 hours should be fine. The texture of gravlax is firmer than raw fish. I get cleaner slices with a long, thin blade than with a serrated one.

Hamachi/yellowtail is amberjack - a migratory game fish, similar to tuna, but a different species.

A good downscale place is Hamura's Saimin in Lihue.

Wow. Thanks for sharing that, Tony. So what did you drink? At a Taste of Australia lunch recently, one of the fish guys was talking about the challenge of marketing Tasmanian ocean trout. The Other Pink Fish? Tetsuya's Choice?

Dinner was indeed memorable, and great fun. Quintarelli was the Italian white. I think. The beef knob was delicately flavored and very tender. One of the dishes - was it the veal tongue? - was lit with preserved lemon. Ali is a magician. Simon's head may have been smooched, but not by me. An opportunity lost.

That sounds fabulous. I do this kind of cooking on my ceramic smoker, which retains heat very well - I'll have to try your recipe. By the way, my all-time favorite rib preparation continues to be the black mustard seed/juniper/garlic/etc. rub from Serious Pig. Although I give you full credit, among my BBQ buds these are invariably referred to as Cat's Ribs.

Yes. As I understand it, the rate of heat transfer is driven by the delta in temperature between the hotter item and the cooler one.

Oy. Buck up, Jin. The lippy lad is bound to hit on a sound idea once in a while, if only by chance. Think a million monkeys pounding on a million typewriters. Julia Child's broil on one side/then roast method works well with a butterflied leg, if live coals aren't possible. I like bone-in also but there's something rustic and summery about a charcoal-grilled butterfly, especially if a few rosemary sprigs are tossed on the fire before the lamb goes on.

Maida Heatter has a series of wonderful dessert cookbooks. All include a mix of quick/easy and more challenging desserts; she tells you what to expect at each step, which makes even complicated dishes accessible. I can't recall ever having a failure with one of her recipes.

John, would you give us a glimpse of what you're cooking/writing about these days? I'm also curious about dishes, thoughts or experiences that you intended to write about but didn't, and why.

I also like Jim's method. Sometimes I add a few unpeeled garlic cloves at the start, or mix in some minced toward the end. A sprinkle of pimenton is good too.

You're lucky that's all you lost. D the C's so dreamy. Anyone else remember a noxious concoction called Malt Duck?