pjs

I've never seen them under a pound. Are they legal that small? PJ

Nickn, If I had to pick one over the other I'd prefer the Maine version. The problem I have with them is that the only ones that are readily available down here all weigh 1¼ to 1½ lbs--I think they're called chicken lobsters. It's gotten to the point when the chains advertise them for sale as $4.95 ea. instead of $4.95 lb. What blew me away when I saw the local Florida tails for sale was that some of them were big--about 1-1½ lb. each. PJ

Big Florida bugs. $21.99 lb. for the tails. Now all gone. Sob. PJ

Years ago when I sold live lobsters while working at big supermarket chain in NYC one of the most popular ways customers wanted them prepped was split for broiling. We had a huge knife--the blade must of been at least 14"--which we laid down the middle of an upturned bug--head to tail. One or two whacks with a wooden mallet to the back of the the knife was all that was needed. Poor things didn't know what hit them. PJ

Having read Priscilla sing the praises of Lurpak in the "What did You Cook" thread I finally broke down and bought some at the local grocery. Only three dollars and change for a ½ lb. Thanks Priscilla--just what I needed--one more essential worth paying an obscene price for. PJ

Cheffie3, don't give up on fresh clams. There are so many amazing things you can do with them--raw, chowder, Chinese style with black bean sauce, Italian style in soup or a pasta sauce, etc. Stick to littlenecks (small size) or cherrystones (med. size) and buy them from someone you trust. Wash them when you get home and store in the fridge in an uncovered bowl no longer than a day or two. Quality clams of these sizes don't need to be cleaned once opened except for any small amount of sand they contain. Chowder is kind of difficult for a novice as you have to open the clams before cooking and save their juice if you want to do it right. A good beginners recipe would be M. Hazen's clam soup. I made this two days ago. Very simple, very easy, very good. PJ PS I'd like to post the original Howard Johnston's New England Clam Chowder recipe--I have a copy of it from a reliable inside source--but need to test it one more time.

My favorite dive bar was across the street from Creedmoor State Hospital in Queens. The fact that the sot behind the bar served me anything I wanted despite my being only fifteen years old had nothing to do with it--it was the ambiance. After closing we'd go swim in the hospital's outdoor pool--since the inmates weren't allowed to use it, we thought someone should. They drained it soon afterwards. They also had a superb baseball field complete with stands, also unused. We partied in the dugouts. In his post Bourdain didn't mention the Haymarket on eighth although he refers to it in Kitchen Confidential. I used to go there--late 70's--for the Whitbread on tap until I had to slam a too friendly regular against the bathroom wall. I still have nightmares featuring the depraved cook they contained in the cubicle at the end of the bar. PJ

Priscilla, I like to always have a bottle of Pernod or Ricard around--nothing better for finishing seafood--but I've never heard of "51". Is it something I need to do a futile search for in my current backwater habitat? PJ

The Wusthof 8" wide sounds like the answer to my dreams. My current tool of choice is a 15 year-old 8" Henckels. Though it's not been sharpened down anywhere near to uselessness and holds an edge well, I'm tired of banging my knuckles. PJ

The one Buffalo wings recipe I keep going back to is by Paul Prudhomme. The wings are coated with hot sauce and melted butter that has been allowed to cool slightly and sprinkled with a heavy dose of paprika, cayenne, onion powder, garlic powder, salt and pepper. The butter makes the spice mixture adhere to the wings as long as everything is around room temp. They're then skillet fried in oil, drained and dipped in a sauce of butter, hot sauce, and more of the same spices. PJ

Steven, your stone looks identical to the King 1200 I have. I would be glad to lend you my King 6000 if you want to try taking it further before buying. I know exactly what you mean when you say they're the sharpest of anyone I know. Amazing what a little research can do. nickn, that clam treatment sounds like it would work. Lately I've been throwing mine in the freezer for about 5 minutes to facilitate opening. All the credit for this trick goes to Lidia B. project, Rockwell is a measure of hardness. Japanese woodworking tools are currently pushing 67. They are most likely laminated--hard center, softer outside to make sharpening easier. While harder steels hold an edge better, they are more difficult to sharpen and more brittle. I've no experience with the diamond stones but I've read of a well-known sharpening expert who tried to true-up the suface of his diamond stone and ruined the thing. He now uses them only for initial cleaning up of the edge. His name is Brian Burns and I learned more from him than any other source. Try a google search. As far as jigs go, unless it was made specifically to fit the profile of the knife I don't think they work. Practice freehand on something disposable. Just remember to increase the edge angle slightly as you go up in grits. PJ

oraklet, I totally agree with you--it depends what you want to cut. Boning knifes won't benefit from being honed. However a freshly honed chefs knife is truely a thing of beauty. It makes short work of slicing tomatoes. Stropping is only used by the fanatics that insist on using nothing else but Arkansas stones dripping in grungy oil. I prefer water stones--start to finish. Steven, I didn't see a clam knife in your collection. Or an oyster knife for that matter. I can only hope you don't steam them open. PJ Edit: I just noticed #1. Do you have a finishing stone?

Here is a condensed version of what I know about sharpening blades. There are three currently popular methods: 1. With hard natural stones--i.e. the Arkansas'. 2. Japanese water stones. 3. Sandpaper on glass. All the above methods work equally well when you understand that there are three distinct steps to sharpening a blade. 1. You get rid of the nicks and other nasty stuff with a workout on a coarse stone or paper. 2. You then sharpen the blade with increasingly finer grits. This is where most culinary-based sharpening instructions stop. 3. This is the secret. You need to hone the edge to a mirror-like finish in order to get that scary-sharp blade that will shave the hairs off your forearm. This is accomplished by stropping the blade on leather with a polishing compound, or using a super fine water stone (6,000-8,000) or sandpaper (2,000+). By the way, all a steel does is straighten out the wavy edge you developed by using that ridiculously low blade angle. It also ruins all the honing you did in step three. PJ

Steven, Despite the fact that l currently live in the 6th borough--Florida--I look forward to paying full retail for your new book. PJ

Great post Toby. I will now trash all my Chinese cookbooks--except the one by Virginia Lee. PJ

Once again I agree with Suzanne. An occasional judicious application of steel wool on your cast iron does no harm and gets the built-up carbon crap out. PJ

Lodge rules. Open all the windows, turn on all the fans, cut the wires to the smoke alarm and heat that sucker 'til it glows cherry red. PJ

Boil small red potatoes until cooked but still very firm. Let them cool and slice into 1/4 inch rounds. Saute in half butter and half oil of your choice. When nicely browned and almost done add chopped garlic, shallot and parsley. Finish with a little more butter. PJ

My beverage of choice with Steak Frittes is brown gravy. Give it a rest. Puleeeease. PJ

In one of the many supermarkets I've worked in the eggs were never refrigerated until they hit the display case. We couldn't fit a pallet or two's worth in the walk-in anyway. We were never written-up on it. Always bothered me. We did turn them over fast though. PJ

Jinmyo: actually I was thinking about a Spanish/Portuguese version. Not too far removed from the Italian one. I did buy some Chorizos today. Spices? I'm still hoping someone has a tapas recipe. Andy: I will look for that infernal hinged sandwich thingie in my mother's garage. That sounds dangerous--I like that. PJ

I only know two ways of making Beans on Toast. The classic British method of pouring a heated up can of tomatoey beans over day-old toasted bread. This is especially good for dinner after a prolonged, mind-numbing drinking bout. I enjoy this four or five times a year. -and- The Italian version--Zuppa di Cannellini con Aglio e Prezzemolo--which is a thick soup of white beans, garlic, parsley, olive oil and stock served on a toasted crouton. I enjoy this far more often as--when somewhat sober--I can remember what a knife is and how to use it. I'm wondering if any other permutations exist. PJ Oh yeah, the Italian beans are simple, the British beans are sublime. *Edited to be more imaginative and less dysphonic. Insert a smiley with a shit-eating grin here.

Suzanne spilled the secret. You need to let the batter rest covered at room temp. for 2 or 3 hours. You can then--if you want--fold in stiff-beaten egg whites for an even lighter crust. Great with fresh shrimp. PJ

I've given up buying the skinless Hebrew Nationals that you find in the supermarket. They have little in common with the natural casing ones I sold when I worked a deli counter. The Boars Head naturals are good. Nice porky flavor with a good snap. PJ

Mashed potatoes with goat cheese. Thank you Liza. PJ