FoodMan

Thanks for posting the article link Melissa, Oliver is one of my favorite Chefs/Food personalities and I agree with everything the article notes about him, dysleixa and all. Everytime I walk into my local megamart and walk through the "ethnic" section I thank Oliver. A couple of years ago no one had even heard of "Digestive Cookies", Golden Syrup or Devon Custard cans. I used to have to go to specialty stores to get these. The ethnic section basically had some Hispanic and Indian items. A couple of months after Mr. Oliver became a regular on FoodTV, one or two shelves started getting stocked with these items, now a whole section of shelves has Custard (powder and canned), A couple of brands of syrup and treacle,an array of English cookies....it has become what I call the Jamie Oliver section. Elie

Houston Chronicle Food: Super Squash Renee Kientz discusses Mirliton aka Chayote aka Custard Squash aka..... Houston Chronicle Dining Guide: Reveling in Rotisserie If you like Dodo's Chicken and Pollo Riko, you might want to give Rancho chicken a try. Alison Cook reports. A Festival of Tastes Dai Huynh in search of the beast weiner Schnitzel in the area. See where she finds it. URL=http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/dining/sips/2845857]Capturing Cognac Dai Huynh condusts a short -emphasis on SHORT- interview with Jean-Dominique Andreu to talk about Cognac. I sure wish they had more to say. Houston Press Dining: Steak and Peanut Butter Robb Walsh reviews the new, hip Lemongrass Cafe whose menu is still young and plagued by the "Hit or Miss" syndrome. Elie

This place sounds and looks (thanks Scott and Richard for the pics) awsome. It sure puts me in the mood for some pumpking baked creations. Is that Streusel on to of the sweet potato/pumpkin pie? Or is the caption just mislabeled and the top-left one is actually the pumpkin Pecan? It is definitly on my places-to-visit list next time I am up there. Elie

This got me thinking, we could make the stuffing a little more acidic if we mix a little vinegar with the rest of the ingredients. I cannot imagine it will have any adverse effect on the taste, it might even improve on it. Thanks for the tip Mark Elie

Frika are green wheat kernels whose outer skin/peel has been burned off. They have a woodsy smoky taste and can be used like Burgul or rice. Hopefully someone else might have a more accurate or scientific explanation . Elie

This thread is turning more interesting by the day. I see what you mean about the zucchini, they could work in vinegar. I also like the idea of tomatoes. I would suggest to oven dry them before preserving, especially if you are doing it in oil. I say this because tomatoes are very "wet" and oven drying for a few hours will reduce the water content resulting in better texture and more adequate preserving environment. Elie

Boiled beef, which is actually a corned beef brisket from Fergus Henderson's "The Whole Beast". Roasted Culiflower with parsley and olive oil Green Sauce (parlsey, mint, anchovies, capers, garlic and EVOO) Dessert: Vanilla ice cream with sweet plum puree The best part is the leftover corned beef, It is so good sliced thin on some homemade sourdough. I had a huge sandwich of the stuff for lunch at work. Elie

Rien- All these "preserves" and pickles sound amazing. I cannot believe how much of those you must be consuming . I've been looking in stores for small cucumbers suitable for Lebanese pickles with no success lately. I ran out about 2 months ago. Thanks for your tips, the bannana peppers do indeed make good stuffed preserved chilies. As for the oil left over, you really do not end up with as much oil as you think. A big portion of the oil will be removed when you remove a pepper or two at a time to eat it. The leftover (maybe 1/4 cup) is usually filled with little pieces of the stuffing and I love it as a dip for pita bread. I've never tried cooking with it but I do not see why one cannot. I like your improvisation ideas, well most of them. I am not too sure about preserving rice stuffed vegetables. I would think that the rice (I'm assuming u meant cooked) would just get too soaked and mushy with oil. Also the zuchinni does not strike me like a preservation friendly vegetable, mainly because of texture. But hey, if you are willing give it a try and let us know. Elie

You are 100% correct. The difference is undetectable, even when using the really algea/mineral "full" sea salt which I doubt she used. After all, all salt is salt i:e NaCl. Sorry to veer off subject I just had to answer this. Since I am here though, I'll chime in. Ainsley cannot teach or be watchable to save his life, I cannot stand to watch him. Elie

Heh...That is funny. That man is like an 80-tentacle octopus. Fertitta that is. Let us know once you know for sure. Maybe a listing of all his restaurants can be compiled and posted along with a good/no-good rating. Elie

I would also like to add my thanks for your time, patience and great tips (I have a Piolane miche proofing as I type). This truely was a great Q&A session. Elie

This week's W&D is pretty dry. Although I could not quiet figure out if that lady from Erawan actually complained about her shrimp or just expected the waiter to know that they did not like it. My guess is her "whine" was edited and that part removed. Elie

Houston Chronicle Dining Guide Kudos to the Kitchen Dai Huynh interviews Jeff Armstrong whose restaurant 17 was named one of the best new restaurants by Esquire. Houston Press Dining Cowboy Cookin' Robb Walsh reviewes The Burning Pear who apparently is still smoldering not burning due to spotty service. Elie

Thanks for the tips, each and everyone of them is spot on, especially the straight chilies. the eggplant (assuming you are not talking about the Mario Batali one)recipe is very simple and similar to this one. Pick the small eggplants, you know the ones sometimes labeled Indian eggplant. they should be about 2-3 inches long and not more than an inch in diameter. Wash them, cut of the green stem and blanch in boiling water till they are a little limp but not soft. They should still be quiet firm and crunchy. Drop them in ice water until cooled. Now, make a pocket in each eggplant by cutting a slit lengthwise without cutting all the way through to either end or the back. Salt the eggplant and their pocktes generously. Put them in a colander, put a plate on top and a heavy weight (a brick or some cans) on top of the plate. Let them drain overnight. now they are ready to stuff and they should be pretty flexible. Wipe away excess salt, stuff with the nut stuffing, and preserve in oil and vinegar. Let me know if you have any other questions and please do report how the chilies come out as well. Elie

Also check out rien's thread, I bet you those walnut and garlic/chili flake eggplants were preserved in oil (aka makdoos) . Elie

First let me tell you glad I am that you decided to try this recipe. The pictures lokk great and they are very hard to botch. It is fantastic. Second, please, please do share any comments and pitfalls with us, they will not bore us I assure you. I make this recipe the way I saw my grandmother make it since I was a child so I might instinctively do things and forget to write them down. So do share. To answer the “donness” question; it really varies and you can certainly eat them within a week or even less. I just think they need some time for the flavor to develop. The color is a good indicator, the peppers should be more pale green than "vivid" green when they are ready. If you cannot wait then go ahead, open one in a week and see how you like it. After that keep it in the fridge since un-oil-covered areas tend to get mold. Now, to your safety question. This is a tough one and I read my share about what you are talking about and seen Alton Brown on TV warning against it and such. Sometimes I too wonder if I am playing with fire. So, the first advice is yes shake the jars gently every couple of days, I do that (one of the things I forgot to mention), but I am not sure this helps with the safety issue, I think of it as a flavor enhancer. My thing is that I have been eating chilies and eggplants (makdoos) stuffed with this mixture since I was a kid and I’ve never heard of anyone getting sick from it, ever. It is not just a Lebanese thing, I have a great preserved eggplant slices recipe from one of Mario Batali’s books that also uses slices of garlic and preserves everything in oil. Sorry, I know this might not be very comforting to you but it’s all I can honestly say. If you are really worried about eating them then maybe another batch can be made by substituting another flavor for the garlic (shallots maybe), and you can FedEx the batch you made to me . Elie

Very Very hot, you want that loaf to be thin and cook very fast on the saj. Elie

Rien- that sounds like a fun challenge, have you gone through all of them already? Keep us posted. Unfortunatly, the only "traditiolnal" use I know of for the brine is to toss it away. However, maybe you can use it as a marinade. Elie

Food and Wine magazine Austin Power: Restaurant News , Tyson Cole’s UCHI Houston Chronicle Food Section Tastes Like Jamaica RJ Middleton profiles this Jamaican authentic restaurant in "Tablehopping" Bittersweet Love Renee Kientz writes about the glories and benefits of this most sinful of foods, dark chocolate. The recipes especially that decadent chocolate cookie one sound amazing. Elie

Hmm...It does not seem that our local Houston PBS has the show in its programming. This sucks!! Is he still on a book tour? Anyone has the schedule? Elie

In this wonderful Q&A you mentioned your love for Struan bread at least twice. Since I’ve never had it I wanted to give it a try. I looked for it in the BBA, which is the book I own. Instead the index at the end of it lead me to a recipe you call “Multigrain Bread Extraordinaire”. I understood from the intro to the recipe that it is an “improvement” on the Struan recipe you have in Brother Juniper’s. Is it? Which recipe do you recommend that I try first, the one in BBA or the one from Brother Juniper’s? Basically which recipe do you like better? Since I do not have Brother Juniper’s book I did a web search and came up with this recipe. I assume this is your Struan bread. Elie

You betcha I served it with thick cream...that pudding is on the to-do list as well. Elie

Here is my post from the cracking of a cheescake thread. The 2 recipes produce 2 different results and the second one sounds like what Wolfert is talking about.

I've tried two cheescake recipes, the first one is this Alton Brown's recipe this makes a wonderful cheesecake, no cracks, smooth surface and very good taste. The problem for me is the texture. It is too creamy and not "cakey/dry" enough. It felt like eating sweetened cream cheese. this is only my opinion of course so Raynickben, you might like it more. the other recipe is this one From Tyler's Ultimate this also tastes good, but it does puff up and crack. All that is "covered" with the topping. Even on the show it cracked. The problem with this one again is the texture, it is too fluffy and again not dense and "dry" enough. So I guess I have not made a cheesecake at home that pleases me. I want it creamy but not too creamy. The texture should be in between a cake and a custard. Is that asking too much? Anyone has a recipe to share? Elie

Peanutgirl, these look amazing!!! Chile Rellenos are an all time favorite of mine. Last night: Sirloin steak rubbed with 'Kamunah' (a Lebanese spice blend), and seared rare Compound butter boiled yukon gold potatoes Carrots shredded with yogurt and garlic, it is sort of like a wonderful middle- eastern flavored slaw Elie