FoodMan

Thanks for posting the link. This whine is a classic...maybe we can talk to Walsh since he frequents our forum so he can double check with Allison Cook every week and make sure he does not review the same establishment. Elie

Had some leftover roasted chicken and had just made an herb focaccia. So we had chicken salad sandwiches on focaccia with fresh tomatoes and chilies from the grarden Elie

For some reason it seems that the Chronicle's website does not have today's issue of W&D. Hopefully they will post it tomorrow. Elie

Zora- Please do tell, what went wrong with your fatte? It would be very helpful if we can discuss it. I made a stewed eggplant fatte a few days ago and posted about it in the dinner thread. It came out very good. Let me know if you would like my recipe. BTW, canned chickpeas work very well as a substitute for dried ones in most applications. Elie

Fifi, thanks for posting the previous month's W&D in my absence. I got back in town on Memorial Day weekend and I've been catching up with some obligations. For now, here is the first W&D for June from last week. Nothing too juicy, the rave about the service at Maggiano's did catch my attention though. It's always nice to hear about a good level of service...too bad their food is a little bland for my taste. And are waiters really leaving "tip cards" in the customer's check?? That is not cool. Elie

Curryadd- It might be a good idea to start a new thread about this, but I second the Cafe Rebelais suggestion. Elie

I thought so, that's why I bought it this afternoon before I got home. Elie

I saw Kennedy's "The Art of Mexican Cooking" at a used book store for $5. I'm palnning on picking it up on my way home today. It's hard cover and in good condition. I'm thinking it is certainly worth paying more than that for it (I think Amazon lists it used for $38). No? Elie

For the reasons mentioned above (purity and intense heat), I use lump charcoal for grilling. For smoking I use briquettes (since they burn slower) with wood chunks (hickory or mesquite) on top of them. This is usually sufficient to generate a lot of smoke in my ancient, soon to retire, Weber-style grill. Elie

Here are some of my favorites: -Lebanese breakfast pies. These are the flat pizza-like breads topped with za’atar (sumac/thyme/oregano/salt) and olive oil, melting cheese, or spicy meat paste. I bake them at home almost every Sunday on the baking stone in the oven. The za’atar ones are my favorites, the smell of them baking alone is worth the trouble and I usually spread some labne on them along with olives, tomatoes and mint, then wrap the whole thing like a burrito!! Pure majic with a nice hot cup of sweet mint tea. My wife loves the cheese topped ones. - French toast made with Challah bread or Brioche. Topped with Strawberries, crème fraiche and pure maple syrup. - A simple omelet with a little herbs and maybe some mushrooms. I love this one with some homemade baguettes. - Homemade wheat toast with a collection of jams and preserves (strawberry, fig, apricot, Seville orange) and sweet butter. Elie

Zora- All fattes that I know do not have the yogurt baked with them, but I guess some could have it this way. However, the yogurt will curdle if baked at a high temperature, something to keep in mind. Also, the cold yogurt over the hot base makes for a very delicious combination. Let us know how your fatte came out. The book I’m talking about is this one, Click Here. I bought it a few weeks ago in Beirut for it’s actual price ($30), also see the author’s website for more information about it at www.cheframzi.net. It truly is a very good book with lots of authentic, traditional Lebanese recipes, glossy colored pictures and lots of history and background. It really is worth more than the $30 I paid for it. Many of the recipes are very old and obscure collected from small towns and villages in Lebanon, that to me is very interesting. According to the author’s website, he is working on an English and Spanish versions. Elie

Roasted chicken: rubbed with cinnamon, ground dry ginger, cumin and olive oil paste Eggplant “Fatte”: Small eggplant fried whole in olive oil then stewed in a garlicky tomato and olive oil sauce. Served topped with crispy toasted pita bread pieces, yogurt seasoned with garlic and S&P and fried pine nuts. Plain white rice cooked in samneh. Dessert: a fabulous artisanal chocolate from a local chocolate maker with a glass of port. The chocolate I bought was caramel/cashews/Jack Daniels/Fleur De Sel. Elie

Jason- I am looking forward to the pics. Can you elaborate a little further on how to manually stuff sausages using a funnel? Is it farily simple? What do you push the stuffing with? Thanks Elie

Like Anna I have a problem with breads made with 100% wheat flour, they are usually very dense and a little crumbly with a slightly sour taste. Any advice to improve on them would be appreciated. Thanks Elie

Hopefully my reply is not too late but here it goes. True, Fatte is a whole category of food items. The word fatte refers to the brocken pieces of toasted or fried bread that top the dish which normally includes yogurt as well. The most common is the Chickpea (hummus) one. It is very simple. Blend some yogurt with mashed garlic, lemon juice and salt to taste. Boil chickpeas that have been soaked overnight till very soft. Toast or ;even better; fry a couple of sheets of pita bread. Now to assemble just season the chickpeas and drizzle with a little olive oil, top with broken pieces of crispy bread, then drizzle generously with the yogurt. Garnish with some fried pine nuts and almonds if desired. Eat right away or the bread gets soggy. Other Fattes include eggplant or other veggies instead of chickpeas, a popular one is "Fattet Makadem" or lamb trotter fatte, and many others. If you are interested I can look in my huge Lebanese cookbook (in Arabic) and find you a more detailed list. Elie

this type of "thyme" -called sa'atar in Lebanon- grows wild all over the hill sides and we used to pick it when it is still nice and green and use it -just like Wolfert mentioned- as a salad with tomatoes, onions, lemon juice and olive oil. It is usually served wrapped in flat mountain bread or pita bread. Many families pickled the green plants that usually looked a little like Rosemary and serevd them the same way during the winter months. I used to love eating this salad with a handful of homemade french fries wrapped in the bread as well. Elie

Moderator Note: this was originally posted to the eGullet Q&A with Alton Brown. What is the best way to grind nuts very fine say to make a French Macroon? I usually use the food processor and then pass through a sieve. I keep doing it till I have the fine ground nuts. However, this is VERY time consuming. Do you have a better way? Thanks Elie

Alton, I am away in Beirut, Lebanon right now and logged in from a cyber cafe to get a question or two in since the Q&A will be over by the time I'm back in the US. So needless to say I am a big fan and your show is one of the very few I watch on FTV right now. OK enough blabber, 1-The show is great fun and very informative but there were many discussions on egullet about what some call the use of strange gadgets to accomplish simple tasks just for the sake of filling up the time alloted for the show (the bagel slicer/pork chop comes to mind). Which of these "corky" gadgets do you personally use at home? 2-What is the future of "Good Eats"? Will we see a few more seasons? 3-There used to be a tips and hints section on your website where you posted some that you recieve from your fans. What happened to that? 4- Did you ever fry a turkey or are you still against the whole idea ? Sorry for the many questions but I'm not sure when I can log in again. Thanks for taking the time to chat with us. Elie

Thanks for the note on the additional recipes. If you don't mind, post some details of how the pork butt works out. I am thinking about trying some cured pork next and would love to know the details. Maybe we can even have this thread converted to a cured meat details/issues discussion at that point. Thanks Elie. According to Mr. Henderson’s comments this cured pork recipe is based on the way Coppa is cured, which is the pork collar meat. He said a pork butt is a good substitute so that’s what I did. The meat is first soaked in a mixture of salt, red wine, garlic and cloves for about two weeks, it smells so good when you take it out of this mixture. Then it is cured in salt and sugar for another two weeks. The last step is to wrap with cheese cloth and tie VERY tightly and hang for two months (he says in a cool dark place, aka the fridge in my book ). I just hung the meat this past weekend so we still have some time to go before we see any results, hopefully it will work out and I can post some nice pics. I will let this thread know either way. Elie P.S. I am lucky enough that my wife’s grandparents had an older fridge/freezer they wanted to get rid of so it sits in my garage and all my mad scientist experiments happen in there (my wife would not appreciate a pork butt hanging in the kitchen fridge). I love having the extra freezer and refrigeration space as well.

I've made duck "prosciutto" two times once using Mario Batali's recipe and once using Ariane Daguin's recipe from the D'artagnan cookbook. Both came out very good but I prefer the D'artagnan one. In both cases I hung the breasts to dry in the refrigerator. I am planning on trying Peterson's recipe next. Right now I have a pork butt hanging in the fridge in an attempt to make Fergus Henederson's cured ham recipe from his The Whole Beast. We'll see how this turns out. Elie

I could be wrong but I think spinal bone marrow is a different thing than actual bone marrow from the shank. The spinal one is actually from the spine (spinal cord) and is an extension of the brain. It serves a different purpose than the bone shank marrow. Elie

Ok, this is really weird. For mother’s Day my in-laws and some other family members are coming over and requested some type of beef stew, so I opted for a beef Bourignone (sp?) with pearl onions and mushrooms. To go with the retro French theme , for an appetizer, I am planning on making individual bite size pieces of baked Brie en crout with …onion marmalade . I was not aware that the caramelized onion thing is a very common with baked Brie it just sounded like a great combination especially when I saw these wonderful Vidalia’s at the store. As for the Brie, I’m going to stick it in the freezer for 15 minutes or so to make cubing it easier, then I will roll and cut 2inch PF PP and wrap around the cheese cubes like wrapping a gift then bake. The only question is do I include a dollop of the onion marmalade in there or do I serve it on the side?

Not sure if this post belongs here but I thought you folks might know and I did not think it was worth starting a thread over it. I am planning on planting one or two zucchini/squash plants in the garden mainly for the blossoms. The question is, what type do I need to plant? Will any summer squash do? Elie

One of our favorite scallop preparations is scallops/pancetta/sage. The combination is heavenly. Basically saute the very thin Pancetta rashers then when they are almost cooked sear the scallops in the pancetta fat. when all is done cook the sage leaves in the same pan till they are almost crisp. Serve each scallop topped with a pancetta slice and a sage leaf and drizzle with some of the fat and/or evoo. Absolutly beautiful, delicious and takes five minutes to make. Elie

I still had a turkey in the freezer since this past December, and since it was approaching the 6 months mark I decided to defrost it and do something a little different. I’ve never made red mole before but have been meaning to try Bayless’ recipe for “Turkey with Red Mole”, what he claims to be the national dish of Mexico. So the turkey was defrosted in the fridge and was ready by Sunday. I removed the whole breast with the skin intact and cut the leg quarters off as well. I made a very good stock with the carcass and wings. On Sunday I bought all the mole ingredients and in a couple of hours I had a wonderful pot of mole slowly simmering and filling the house with a wonderful aroma. The breast was seared and braised in the sauce in the oven. After tasting this dish along with some fresh corn tortillas I was amazed how tasty and complex the flavor of the whole thing was. I am not a mole expert but this was one of the best I have had, it was amazing and I still had more than two cups of sauce leftover which I froze (It CAN be frozen, right?). My wife actually wants me to make another batch this weekend and invite her parents over for some more turkey in red mole (they have a frozen one in the freezer as well ). As for the leg quarters, I made them into chili last night based on a F&W recipe. We will be having Turkey chili and corn bread for dinner tonight since it is better after a good rest in the fridge. Nothing of this bird was wasted. Here is a picture of the mole: Elie