blue_dolphin

Eric Kim's Gochujang Buttered Noodles from NYT Cooking with sugar snap peas. Made with the Thai wheat noodles from TJ's.

Damage control!

Instead of “Surge Pricing,” they could have framed it as reducing prices at off-peak hours to encourage customers to visit during slower hours. Of course, there’d likely be an initial price increase so they could knock something off during the slow times but it could be rolled out as a bargain time rather than a penalty.

I'm not a fast food eater but I'm curious how this will work. If I'm waiting in line in the drive-thru and I see the prices go up, is there an off-ramp I can use to exit and go somewhere else? Seems like it could backfire if they're effectively charging people higher prices for the privilege of waiting in line for a longer time!

I believe this is a dish rather than an individual food, but I don't think I could make myself eat Spotted Dick.

I agree. Presented as some sort of ‘variety meat’ terrine, I’d go for it but I still remember the time, as a very novice cook, I read the recipe for head cheese in my old edition of Joy of Cooking. Oh my!

Indeed. Saw this on Instagram the other day, mostly food-related: Heinous things I did to make my three-year-old daughter cry today: ✔️ Poured syrup on her pancakes without letting her hold the tiny handle on the bottle ✔️ Wouldn’t let her play with my toothbrush ✔️ Beat her to the kitchen in a race I didn’t know we were having ✔️ Ate the last of her orange after she told me she was finished with it I’m a MONSTER, apparently.

That might be why we called them muskies when I was a kid fishing for them in Lake Champlain. I used to dislike that word as well. Then I went through a period where I was dealing with some health issues and prescribed myself a nutrition-packed ...um...I'll call it a blended meal to avoid distressing you. A couple of servings each of fruit and veg, protein, flax seeds, wheat or oat bran, wheat germ. It was a pretty painless way to hit all the daily requirements. It was my weekday breakfast for years and somehow I got over my aversion to the word. I'd still never order one anywhere though 🙃

My new shears blessedly came in a small paperboard box, no plastic blister pack!

Do share your thoughts after you've had a look. And thanks for the book recommendation, I'll look for it.

Not sure this is a remarkable deal but if anyone's in the market for a pair of kitchen shears, the Amazon price on the Kershaw Taskmaster Shears (eG-friendly Amazon.com link) has been bouncing around between $16-19 dollars for a while now - a fair price for a sturdy pair of shears that come apart easily for cleaning by hand or in the dishwasher. They are identical to the Shun Multi Purpose Shears (eG-friendly Amazon.com link) priced at $54.95. I purchased a pair of the Kershaw shears in 2011 @ $39.99 and they've served me well. I thought I lost them and was surprised to be able to replace them at less than half the original cost. Of course, the old pair resurfaced the very day the new ones arrived. No complaints though, a second pair will be handy.

I recently purchased 2 fish and seafood cookbooks and this older topic seems like a good place to mention them. Eric Ripert's Seafood Simple: A Cookbook (eG-friendly Amazon.com link) came out in October 2023. I think simple is the key word to describe this book. The recipes are fairly simple, elegantly plated with spare, zoomed-in photos and the background information on fish and seafood species and sustainability is scant and superficial. This book makes me want to go out to a fine-dining restaurant. The second book, The Hog Island Book of Fish & Seafood: Culinary Treasures from Our Waters (eG-friendly Amazon.com link) by John Ash came out in May 2023 and is almost encyclopedic by comparison in terms of the number of species used and the space given to describing them. Photos are more zoomed-out images of casually-plated fare printed on matte paper. This book makes me want to cook. Seafood Simple: A Cookbook (eG-friendly Amazon.com link) is full of beautiful photos of artfully plated food, printed on glossy paper and there are lots of great reviews for it on Amazon. There are photos of most, if not all recipes. It's 286 pages long and Eat Your Books tells me there are 99 recipes, 8 of which are "how-tos" like how to clean shrimp or remove pin bones. Recipes are organized by cooking method: Raw, Steamed, Poached, Fried, Baked, Sautéed, Broiled, Broiled, Grilled and a very brief section on Preserved fish. He doesn't use a huge variety of fish. Salmon shows up in every chapter. I'm not sure how good the index is. Neither black cod nor sablefish are listed in the index although the recipe for Miso Cod "Nobu" lists black cod in the ingredients. He gives a brief nod to sustainability and recommends consulting the NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) for US readers but doesn't go much deeper than that. While the recipes generally recommend similar fish that would work well, he doesn't go into the admittedly confusing area of fish names and where they might be sourced from. I suppose that's quite appropriate for a book trying to appeal to an audience looking for something simple. The recipes themselves are pretty straightforward, though a certain amount of skill and razor sharp knives will be needed to produce results similar to the photos. For example this dish of Salmon Wrapped in Collard Greens with Beurre Rouge consists of salmon filets, topped with thin slices of raw button mushrooms, wrapped in blanched collard greens, steamed, cut in half and plated atop a beurre rouge. I think he's actually used the suggested alternate of Swiss chard in the photo in the book. He doesn't say anything about trimming the thickness of the central stalk, though it looks like that has been done. Photo above included for review purposes to demonstrate the sort of zoomed in photos used throughout the book and how beautifully this simple dish can be presented by someone who knows what they are doing with a sharp knife. I'm sure I'd have mushroom slices sliding out, squashed fish and raggedy collard fibers. I thought the chapter introductions might offer some helpful tips and tricks for the different cooking methods, but they really don't. Throughout the book, he says to gauge doneness by sticking a skewer into the fish and holding it to your wrist (though the photo in the baking section shows the chef holding the skewer to his hand, not wrist) but I couldn't find any tips on how one might educate themselves on this method. The Hog Island Book of Fish & Seafood: Culinary Treasures from Our Waters (eG-friendly Amazon.com link) by John Ash was recommended by one of the co-owners of the fish share service I've been using. She received it as a gift last year and has enjoyed using it. There are relatively few reviews for it on Amazon and they all seem pretty brief but they're positive. At 351 pages, it's quite a tome. Eat Your Books tells me the book contains 306 recipes, 32 of which are "how tos" like clam and oyster shucking. I'd say somewhat less than half of the recipes appear in photographs which are printed on matte paper, something I know annoys some people, though not me. The recipes are organized by fish type: Mollusks, Cephalopods, Crustaceans, the Salmon Family, Other Finned Fish, Halibut and Other Flatfish, Big Meaty Fish, Little Fish, Canned, Tinned and Jarred Fish, and Other Gifts from the Sea (caviar and roe, sea urchins, seaweed and sea vegetables). As one might expect from a book named for a business (Hog Island Oyster Co) that's on the supply-side and well-known for its sustainable practices and environmentalism, there's a lot more background on choosing and purchasing fish and seafood with sustainability in mind. Each chapter includes background information on the species covered, and does a good job parsing out the often confusing nomenclature. It uses clear, simple pen & ink diagrams to demonstrate prep techniques used for the species covered in each chapter. The recipes themselves are clearly written and include a good mix of soups, salads, pastas, risotto, etc. as compared with Seafood Simple, where a majority of the recipes seem to be a fish plus a sauce. As mentioned, the photos are zoomed-out images of casually (even messily) plated food. The image below accompanies the recipe for Ginger-Soy Salmon with Soba Noodle Salad. Photo above included for review purposes to demonstrate the photography style in The Hog Island Book of Fish & Seafood. I expect this book will be an excellent reference for me and the casual recipes are a better fit for my style of cooking. I'd highly recommend it to someone wanting to get into fish or seafood cookery with something a bit fresher and maybe less intimidating than Peterson. I'm debating returning Seafood Simple but The Hog Island Book of Fish & Seafood is a keeper for me. Edited to add that I just saw how long this post is 🫢. Sorry for going on and on!

Sausage, egg & cheese on a toasted English muffin: The cheese is Jasper Hill Farms clothbound mature Cheddar, perhaps overkill for a breakfast sandwich but I ran out of the cheap stuff!

Thanks! The recipe calls for 2/3 red beets and 1/3 golden beets and I think that would look really stunning. The flavors were still great.

Check out the recipes on Pasta Grammar and watch their YouTube videos. Here's their Lasagna alla Napoletana. As far as tips go, if you'd like to test out a lasagna recipe in advance of your friends gathering and without making a ton of it, you can easily make a 1/3 or 1/4 scale recipe in an average loaf-size pan in the 9 x 5" or 8 x 4" range. Just one strip of noodles at the bottom, maybe a little more at the top if the sides are very sloped. Makes 2-3 servings and is a fun way to play around with variations.

I have that Lodge and while it's heavy, you can usually handle either the bottom or the lid separately, which cuts down on the weight. Both pieces have a both a main handle and a small helper handle on the other side so you get pretty good control, especially with a good pair of oven mitts.

Beetroot and feta galette with za'atar and honey from Falastin. Recipe available online here. Another tangelo on the side.

Beetroot and feta galette with za'atar and honey from Falastin. Recipe available online here. This is very good with layers of flavor throughout. Lots of fresh thyme and oregano in the buttery crust, a base of ricotta mixed with garlic (I doubled that after a comment that it didn't stand out and I had really nice homemade whole milk ricotta to use), slow cooked onions with sugar and apple cider vinegar making an agrodolce, tossed with parsley, more oregano and za'atar, slices of roasted beets, topped with feta, drizzles of olive oil and honey, more za'atar and thyme .

Well, Happy Birthday, @Vapre 🎂🎉🎁! What a great gift!

What vendor did you order from?

Made a breakfast sandwich by splitting and toasting a piece of yesterday's cheesy jalapeño cornbread to surround an egg and country ham biscuit slice. Not bad, I might try again with sausage to see if that works better with the cornbread. On the side are a tangelo and the Sweet + Sticky Brussels Sprouts from Nik Sharma's Veg-Table, which were excellent. After roasting, they're lightly dressed with a sauce that's made with mirin, honey or maple syrup, miso, rice vinegar, soy sauce, and sesame oil.

@rotuts, if you are ever interested in trying something different with your fish sticks/nuggets, you might consider Nigella's Fish Finger Bhorta. The recipe is in her book, Cook, Eat, Repeat, and a lot of folks in the cookbook group I participate in thought it was surprisingly good. It's on my list to try one of these days.

Cheesy Jalapeño Corn Bread from Snacking Bakes by Yossy Arefi. There aren't a lot of savory recipes in this book, but I found one and made a little half recipe in a 6-inch pan so I could check it out. I was worried it was going to look pale because I used white cornmeal and a sharp white cheddar but the cheese topping browned nicely and it came out fine. Half the jalapeños get chopped and mixed into the batter so you get a little heat throughout. At first bite, I thought it was a little sweet but the salty cheese and chile heat balances out the honey used in the batter so I was happy to have it with my breakfast this morning and would probably make it again.

Clockwise from lower left, scrambled egg, cherry tomatoes, roasted Brussels sprouts tossed with hot sauce, manzano chile salsa and queso fresco, cheesy jalapeño cornbread from Snacking Bakes, and pinto beans with more salsa.