saucée

I'm not sure why dipping bread in olive oil has to be an odious practice all the time , involving bread completely submerged in a bucket of bad oil with bad flavorings added to it. I'm certainly not in the industry and usually don't go to places where this is done, but I've drizzled a bit of very good oil on a plate and served it with my own naturally leavened bread (which I normally eat without any addition and have a great amount of pride in) for guests. Sometimes I might even add a spring of rosemary to the raw oil to scent it. When I do this, I'm not thinking of what is done in what region of Europe or the practice's historical ramifications. I do it because a bit of oil, drizzled or dipped with a little bit of oil is a luxury. It doesn't have to be a practice tainted with consum(er)ism, even if it usually is. A restaurant could do this well or do it poorly, in which case they ought to be judged accordingly. The practice in itself is not intrinsically in bad taste, wrong, pretentious, etc., though it could be.

Nope. Great looking burger-I've never had a venison cheeseburger, do you mix it with a little bit of beef or eat it straight? After some drinking, I wanted something fast. This was eaten really late at night, but I hadn't eaten since afternoon, so I'm calling it dinner ( ). Buckwheat crepes with gruyere and ham, fries The crepes and fries took a bit too much color, but they hit the spot.

Things like water ice have colors associated with rather specific "flavors" such as purple (usually called grape), red (usually called cherry), blue (blueberry?). Often these "flavors" are designated by color at some water ice stands. Similar flavors can be found in sodas, I think. Associating color with flavor might be a good way to add a consistent visual dimension to marketing things that taste like blue and look like blue but have seemingly no relation to anything natural--blue ice and white cheddar (neither of which, to my buds, taste much like any real fruit or dairy product) probably need something extra for a customer to hang their sense perceptions on and recall next time they are marketed.

Sure--here's how I made the tart: I made a pate brisee with a pinch of salt, pinch of suger, 1 stick of cold butter, 1 cup of flour combined quickly in the food processor with the addition of as little of cold water as I could add to make it just come together. Let it rest for about an hour, roll it out, and put it into the tart pan, then into the freezer for about 45 minutes. I preheated the oven to 400F and cut up the peaches which I macerated for a couple of minutes (not too long, though, they'll turn mushy). Then I arranged them in a concentric pattern, using two layers of peaches. The bottom layer turns almost to the consistency of jelly, the top holds its shape. When it came out after about 45 minutes, I strained some peach jam I got from the farmer's market, loosened it a bit of water, and used it as a glaze. I like tarts because they seem to be easier than covered pies and they are easier to make look this good. All it takes is some photogenic fruit.

That larb looks great, I might have to try that (never had it before, but heard a lot about it). Last night: Chicken with Riesling sauce, shelled sweet peas with herb butter, mushroom risotto Peach tart I should have used bigger plates since these were a bit crowded, but they were new so I had to use them. ETA: proper punctuation.

I buy most of my meat (chicken, pork, beef) from local producers, most of it frozen. I'd say pork handles it best, then beef, then chicken (but maybe that's just because I like the pork more, I don't know). I find its definitely better than what I can get at the supermarket and I'm rather lucky to be able to make some requests (like never been frozen hangar steak which I can get after being on a waiting list for a month, though its worth it). I've vowed not to eat supermarket meat again (we'll see what happens... ) but only because it's rather easy for me to get locally raised, pastured meat. I do wonder though whether some supermarket meat hasn't been frozen. Could it have been frozen during shipping and unfrozen before hitting the case?

The situation is similar here in Madison, Wisconsin. There are only two butcher shops I know of and they don't seem to get enough business. Luckily, some meat producers make monthly deliveries or sell at the year round farmers market. Their meat is better and it's easy enough to get here so I don't really have much of an excuse not to buy it. I'd rather support local businesses committed to their craft anyway.

I like to make potato rolls, which are similar to nickgrieve's rolls but with, surprise, the addition of a potato which nicely tenderizes the rolls (but not too much). You get a slightly chewy roll that is pleasantly soft but firm enough to handle a well-topped burger easily. 1 large potato, mashed 3 1/2 cups all-purpose unbleached flour 3/4 cup water 2 teaspoons instant yeast 2 teaspoons salt Put all ingredients together (making sure the potato is very well mashed--I use a ricer) and knead for about 10 minutes. Set well-kneaded dough in a greased bowl for about 90 minutes or until roughly doubled in size (in the summer I usually start checking in at 60 then periodically thereafter). After they've doubled, I cut them into a uniform size depending on how big I want them to be then gently degas so that the rolls won't have any huge cavernous holes in them, but I don't want to get rid of all of it, just so that it's uniform. Then I shape them like little boules and let them rise for about 60 minutes. Then I bake them in a 400F oven directly on my stone for about 20 minutes, or until the tops are browned to my liking. The more hydration, the bigger and more irregular the holes in the crumb will be so you could add up to a 1/4 cup more. These are my favorite for burgers. NB: If you're using active dry yeast, you should use a little less than double the instant.

I'd never been terribly upset with a supermarket steak since around here they're never packed with a "solution." Almost all the pork in my supermarket are, however. Recently, I decided only to eat pastured, humane, natural, etc., meat from local producers that I buy at my farmer's market or co-op. I agree with Mottmott that I'd rather have unfrozen meat, but then again I think this meat has better flavor even after being frozen and I've never noticed any glaring texture issues. Sometimes, if I talk to them well enough in advance, I can get local pork and beef suppliers to hook me up with unfrozen product, but its rare that that happens. Then, I do notice a slight difference, especially with the beef, but I'm not really troubled by it. Locally produced and naturally raised meat, though, for me, beats supermarket hands down, even when frozen. Also, I'm not so sure that some supermarket meat hasn't been previously frozen anyway. Locally produced meat, whether from a butcher shop or from the producer, seems to me to be a better product with a lot more thought and care put into it.

Thanks everyone! As for the stuffed pattypans: I blanched them first for about 10 minutes (they were pretty big). Then I softened some shallots in butter, added parsley, salt and pepper, finished with a little white wine which I let cook a bit. Then I added bread crumbs and let them soak it all up. I tossed this mixture with chunks of cheddar (the more the better). I had to bind it a bit with egg after adding the cheese to the mixture. Then I hollowed out the squash (as much as possible without compromising their structural integrity, stuffed and baked them for about 10 minutes at 400 F. The pizza on the left is a white, with garlic anchovy oil as a base, cheese, yellow tomatoes, and some beet greens I had, sauteed with tons of garlic. Getting them round is actually pretty easy--I learned it from a Julia Child show I watched on the internet, featuring Roberto Donna, here. All you have to do is take a rounded ball of dough, press down through the middle of it with your index and middle fingers of both hands together like they're marching in line. Then, when you get to the end of the circle, split your fingers out and walk them around the dough, gently pushing out, until they meet again at the top. Then repeat. After that, you just stretch the disk using your knuckles, making sure to keep stretching it in a uniform fashion. At this point, its hard to mess up because the gluten in the dough should be developed enough so that it won't stretch to much at one pull. Its all in the Julia/Donna clip. I hope the link to it works, since this is the first time I tried to post a link and I'm not sure. Edited to add: The Roberto Donna video in which he actually does the shaping is the Pizza Margherita one, I think.

I've been a long-time lurker on eGullet and, of course, the Dinner thread. This is my first official post. Here are two recent dinners: Pizza Pork chop (which looked better before I cut it in half) with grilled red pepper glaze, cheddar stuffed pattypan squash, tomato arugula red pepper wheat berry salad. (First post (!), )