Dante

P.S. as to the original question, unless there's a new edition of the LCB book that I haven't seen, I think there's really no comparison between the CIA and LCB books. The CIA book is something like three times as extensive as the LCB book. While the LCB book has nice pictures, it's just not the same category of reference. Gotcha. Given the dwindling space I've got left on the cookbook shelves, I'll give the LCB book a miss. Sincerely, Dante

So, I can do Asian cooking so long as I avoid the noodles- meat, vegetables, nuts, spices- I'm there. But every time I try to cook somen, it comes out as a gelatinous mass. Last night I tried cooking my noodles for half the 3-minute recommended cooking time and still ended up with noodle jello (granted, my wife didn't mind, but still- I find a weak area in my cooking, I need to fix it). Anyone got any good tips for the somen-challenged? Sincerely, Dante

That's something the does upset me. I'm quite in favour of local, organic and sustainable, and am involved with the localvore scene here in the NH/VT area, but one of the prices one has to pay for seeing a movement gaining in popularity is that one has to watch one's terminology become trendy and, by extension, misused, and one has to endure seeing concepts one holds dear become watered down in the name of mass-appeal and (sadly) salability. Sincerely, Dante

Agreed. Infusion implies a very specific process. Now, one can, of course, flavour an ice cream with a tea infusion, or even infuse the milk used to make the ice cream with tea, but if one simply adds tea flavouring to ice cream, one is not, by definition, infusing the ice cream. Sincerely, Dante

I used to hate that one, but I've grown to like it since. The term "Gourmet" tends to get over-used (and carries for me a connotation of limited approach) IMHO, and not that many people in the mainstream world seem to know the term "gourmand". "Foodie", to me, implies a more comprehensive and inclusive approach to the concept of the gourmet. Everything from seeking the best corn-dog to appreciating the finest foie-gras. Sincerely, Dante

I dunno about that one- it can prove useful. Taking apart a recipe and putting it together in to something new can be kind of fun and interesting to me. Sincerely, Dante

Well, I can understand the term if used in conjunction with something that most people don't make at home. Making pasta or sausage, for example, seems fairly uncommon in my experience, so one may want to make that distinction. non-food-related, I make my own shaving cream, so I tend to make that distinction. Sincerely, Dante

"Melted" as in the melted fennel sauce I chose not to try in St. Louis. I asked the waiter how to melt fennel. uummm...normally when a vegetable melts, it means it's been in the fridge for entirely too long... Sincerely, Dante

Veggies I can deal with, "veg" bugs me for some reason (I winced every time I heard the word in Wallace and Grommit's "Curse of the Were Rabbit") another one- although I do have plans to dine at Elixir soon, I can't say I like seeing the word "sexy" used on their menu to describe things like sauteed onions. Maybe my opinion on that will change when I do go there later this month- I don't discount that notion that they may very well cause me to have some sort of food epiphany that will convince me that such things can indeed be sexy, but for now I remain skeptical. Sincerely, Dante

So, last Friday my Lovely Housemates took me out to dinner at Peyton Place in Orford, NH. And it may well have been the best dining out experience of my life. The building itself it oh-so-gorgeous- an old house built in 1773 more details here for those who want it. Amusing barrel full of wine corks in the fireplace in the main dining room, cute occasionally mismatched dinner ware evidently made by a local pottery place. (some pics here. Wine bottles as candle holders. Menu on a blackboard brought to the table (read and described to us by co-owner Heidi Peyton in her magnificent voice). On the way in, a customer standing outside for a smoke-break raved to us about how wonderful everything was tha night, describing it as explosions of flavour. Amuse-bouche was cucumber slices with a sort of Asiago and vegetable mixture on top- quite nice, can't remember all ingredients as it got lost in the shuffle of everything else. Fresh-baked dinner rolls with whipped butter- quite lovely.. My Beautiful Wife started with the spinach salad with bacon and the broiled oysters - I'd never thought it possible to cook oysters and still retain the best elements of them in their raw state but they managed to do it. My Lovely Housemate Claudia has the lobster salad with feta cheese over greens with orange vinaigrette- the lobster has such a wonderful moist delicate texture. My Lovely Housemate Rick has the home-made duck chorizo dumplings poached in soy stock with cilantro yogurt sauce. It was so wonderful- I’d never considered making chorizo with duck before. The seasoning was still very present but it didn't intrude on the flavour of the duck at all. He also had a nice corn chowder on the side. Sadly, I can't comment on this as I was so overwhelmed by the dumplings I forgot to ask for a taste. I thought about getting the Vietnamese Bouillabaisse but as it was a regular offering on the menu, I deferred in favour of the "Purple Haze Shrimp"- broiled shrimp with a habanero/purple cabbage sauce. The shrimp was exquisite- tasting of the flames but also still quite distinctly of itself, and the sauce knocked my socks off. Now, I'm a major chilehead, and few meals at restaurants have ever challenged me, but this one did- so delicious I couldn't stop eating it but hot enough that I had to think twice on occasion (the only meal that's ever had that effect on me before was the Chicken Rico-Rico at Sabang in Wheaton, MD). Everyone concurred on this- dangerous but delicious enough to make it well worth it. Accompanying this my housemate Rick chose a wine called Red Knot Cabernet Sauvignon- good body and flavour (especially as it should have been quite young at the time), still enough to stand up to and compliment the full assortment of appetizers we were having. Then came time for the entrees. My Beautiful Wife chose the Fresh Haddock in potato crust with star-fruit sauce- moist and exquisitely tender, the crust tasting of wonderfully fresh potato. Lovely Housemate Claudia had the Lamb Ravioli- delightfully strong but not too strong lamb flavour with a deep, rich sauce. Lovely Housemate Rick had the Boneless Duck Breast with sun-dried cherry sauce and buckwheat pancake- the texture and flavour was such that I still don’t feel entirely certain is wasn't confitted. I had the Steak Frites- cooked medium rare, like the shrimp stating of flame and itself, accompanied by puree of roasted red pepper, garlic and capers, and what were the best fries I've ever had (and I'm normally not one to rave about fries). Then the desserts came. My Beautiful Wife had the fruit compote in puff pastry with home-made cinnamon ice cream (something I'm normally not keen on but once again, they made an occasionally intrusive flavour perfectly compliment the food). Lovely Housemate Claudia had a nice citrus sorbet (but sadly, I can't recall the flavour right now) and I had an amazing raspberry and ranier cherry sorbet (I'm always a sucker for raspberries). All of the ingredients were as fresh as possible, and locally sourced whenever such was viable (which always wins points with me). They had brochures for their sources (including the pottery) in the lobby as well as a huge stack of cookbooks (I was quite tickled, and unsurprised, to see a copy of McGee's "On Food And Cooking" there) the service was nothing less than excellent- friendly and helpful without being obtrusive in the least. Mrs. Peyton stopped by our table to look in on us several times- her presence always a joy. We're now thinking of who else we can invite and why- partially to share the experience, partially as an excuse to come back again. Peyton Place. Sincerely, Dante

personal. Making mash involves "almost pureeing" the fresh chiles then adding water and salt. Water and salt changes the flavor of the chiles. It increases the shelf life but at a cost. Yeah- I've done fresh chile sauces, but was kind of curious about using mash- just a little test-batch to see for myself what it was like DIY. A co-worker gifted me with an insane amount of chiles, so I've got a lot on my hands and wanted to find new ways to play with them, hence the question. I knew the water-and-salt bit, but didn't know anything about proportions thereof and actual method. Care to share? Sincerely, Dante

Anyone out there know of any good raw oyster bars in the New Hampshire/Vermont area? Sincerely, Dante

A long time chilehead, it’s recently come to my attention that there’s an area where my knowledge is sorely lacking… Does anyone out there know how to make fermented pepper mash- the type one uses as a base for hot sauces? Thank you. Sincerely, Dante

Easy- same as I replied in the "Most Embarrassing Cookbook" thread- The Doctor Who Cookbook Sincerely, Dante

Hmmm...(fights temptation to add more to the list...) Ironically, since I last posted to this thread, one of my housemates brought home a copy of the Williams Sonoma Oils book that his mother had handed off to him, autographed by Chuck Williams, so it seems that my comment on the series invoked Finagle's Law ("The perversity of the universe tends to a maximum") to some extent. sincerely, Dante

Best I've found so far is this: http://killtherestaurant.com/findings.html#boston Sincerely, Dante

Best I've found so far is this: http://killtherestaurant.com/findings.html#boston Sincerely, Dante

How long ago was this?

oh yes- I'd second that recommendation. Still got the remnants of a bottle of that in the fridge (need to get more)- my wife loves it! Nifty bottle art too... Sincerely, Dante

I've got that one- quite the coincidence- my wife got it for me for Valentine's Day some years ago. Some really good stuff in there (the french toast recipe especially). Granted, none of the recipes I've tried so far have had the advertised effect (at least nothing I could chalk up to inherent qualities of the ingredients in and of themselves), but they're still quite good as a whole. to my knowledge, my mother's never noticed my copy, but I don't think she'd care if she did- she's been (unsuccessfully) lobbying for grandkids for years now... Sincerely, Dante

Just OK? Yeah- I started going on a cuisines-of-the-world binge when I moved up here to New Hampshire from the DC area- while NH has a surprising range of options re:international cuisine, there were some styles I still missed, so I decided to try to learn them, and it's kind of mushroomed since. that's how I picked up a lot of my Spanish- having to communicate with the dishwashing staff at places I worked at. Gotcha. Won't really make my priority-list, then. (I have to be extra-extra discerning in my cookbook-purchasing- I m-i-g-h-t be able to wheedle *one* more bookshelf out of the rest of the household, but more would be pushing it) Sincerely, Dante

I'll agree that the standard Insanity is best only as an additive (I'm not keen ont he flavour in and of itself, tho I do find it more pleasant than the rather-similar Endorphin Rush), rather than as a table sauce, but some of his other variants work nicely as table sauces, and I'm rather fond of his "Jump Up and Kiss Me" line of hot sauces. Sincerely, Dante

Quite so, our household's culinary library numbers slightly over 150 books currently- covering a rather wide area of topics. i admit I haven't perused the Williams-Sonoma books What would you say to recommend them? Sincerely, Dante

Hmmm...the bottle of Annie's Naturals Worcestershire I have here has... Water Apple Cider Vinegar Molasses Soy Sauce Sugar Tamarind Sea Salt Chicory Root Extract Corn Starch Xanthan gum Garlic Shallots Cloves Chili powder all but water, sea salt, chicory and xanthan listed as organic ingredients Sincerely, Dante

perfect! I hadn't thought of Life of Brian, as I was thinking in terms of titles, rather than content, but you did point out some good lines there... that was a startler, I have to admit- it had never occurred to me, but I guess it is possible with some... I loved Brendan Fraser's comment (not to mention the bit on the back of the case about "commentary by wine experts and Brendan Fraser") on the one he didn't like "Put it back in the horse". I almost fall off of the couch at that one. But thinking about the blind tasting scene reminds me of another revelation i had not too long ago... We hosted a murder-mystery party last year where for the wines we had three Zins from Tres Sabores- all same year, but different winemakers. I really was amazed that, if I hadn't known in advance, I wouldn't have guessed that they were the same varietal or year at all. Sincerely, Dante