blue_dolphin

Turned some of yesterday's cauliflower/potato mash (without the smoked trout and preserved lemon and plus a bit of diced country ham and some cheese) into pancakes. With a scrambled duck egg, cherry tomatoes, sour cream and pickled onions

That stuff really does wonders for a simple bowl of beans. I should make a batch while we’re still getting plenty of good peppers. I tend to reach for Red Weapons for that purpose in the warm weather and Community Organizer when it cools off. Both excellent pantry staples.

Cauliflower Mash with Smoked Trout from I Dream of Dinner. The header note for this recipe just says, "Kinda sorta colcannon." The mash is about 1/3 potato, 2/3 cauliflower and I used baby kale as the green. I added some diced, salt-preserved lemon to my bowl and a squeeze of fresh lemon juice. I'd say both are musts. WRT mashed veg, I come from long lines of ricers, on both sides 🙃 so that's what I used, but I chose the medium size to maintain a bit of texture. I was thinking of adding cheese to the leftovers but I think I'll just have another meal. Warming, comforting but not too heavy.

Yeah, my library does that, too. Well, it's the "Friends of the Library," the community support group that accepts the donations and sells the books, rather than the library itself. The books I've donated tend to be fairly recent books so I'm happy they can benefit from them in any way. I can absolutely see why you'd prefer that collectable volumes actually go to use in the community library rather than generate funds to support it!

I read it. Whoever writes their headlines is clearly an effective alarmist! Acrylamide is indeed nasty stuff, especially when inhaled and it certainly seems prudent to minimize its consumption. Even though it hasn't been conclusively proven to cause cancer, it seems quite likely. The fact that different species metabolize acrylamide differently makes it challenging to draw conclusions from animal studies and humans are notoriously difficult to study. A lot of the foods on the list to avoid are worth limiting due to their sugar and fat content so obesity and diabetes are probably greater risks from a diet high in fried foods and baked goods than acrylamide toxicity is. As to your second question, the formation of acrylamide in cooking has really only been studied for the last 20 years so neither you nor anyone else knew about it 40 years ago! Edited to add: Maybe don't read those emails in the morning.

Not available for me, either.

@BetD, add me to the list of those captivated by your book. At the risk of going off-topic, I have a plaid BH&G cookbook that belonged to a friend and coworker who passed away quite some time ago. It is positively crammed with old LA Times food section clippings and most special of all, hand written recipes from other coworkers that I can recognize from their handwriting alone and others whose dishes I have fond memories of. Going through them is kinda like a virtual potluck with old friends!

Spicy Roasted New Potatoes with Lemon and Herbs from Falastin with an egg on top. This is an excellent potato recipe (available online here), though I think I might par-boil the potatoes first as the slices of red chile and some of the cherry tomatoes were quite charred by the time the spuds were done.

I know you didn’t ask me but you can always steam dried fruit to soften, in which case, no need to choose a liquid. Just keep checking til you like the texture. If I want something quick, I put the fruit in liquid that’s shy of covering and microwave, covered with a silicone lid, for a min or two, stir, let stand covered til I I’m ready for them and drain. If the recipe calls for a liquid, I might use it to keep the flavor. The choice of liquid is up to you. I like water + a squeeze of lemon for most berries and apricots, orange juice for cranberries, half rum/half water for raisins, port for figs…

Not necessarily. I've been using the Katz vinegars for quite a few years and only wish I could recommend them but they were too expensive for your budget ($1.10/oz) and very sadly, they're no longer available. I bought 10 bottles back in March when they announced their "Last Call" so I've have a bit of a stash. Prior to Katz, I was using Kimberley Wine Vinegars, readily available at While Foods. At ~ $1/oz, also out of range.

@Ann_T, I'm very impressed at the slicing job on the roast! Of course the bread and perfectly cooked beef are swoon-worthy, as is that bowl of chili! Musabaha (warm chickpeas with green chilli sauce and toasted pita) from Falastin Kind of a pre-blender hummus. Nice contrasts between the chickpeas, creamy tahini sauce, bright, acidic green sauce and toasted pita.

I have a big old corded KitchenAid which is still going strong so I'm not in the market but I that Breville would be my pick. Mine also has the little whisk attachment and I love it for whipping a single egg white or making whipped cream for one dessert serving with barely 1/4 cup of cream. Yes, I know those things can easily be done by hand but hey, what are toys for?

A few comments here: The Guilty Pleasure of Somebody Feed Phil

Thanks for sharing. The link didn't work for me but I was able to find it after a bit of looking. It seems to be available at most podcast places and this is Episode 1 from Season 7, titled, "Limes, Carambola, Action!: The History of Food in Cinema." from Nov 2021.

Here's a shelfie from my Mexican collection. I have more on Kindle. If I were going to recommend a single Mexican cookbook to learn from, I think it would be Roberto Santibañez's Truly Mexican. It's co-authored by JJ Goode (@jogoode, when he was posting here) who's written books with a number of chefs and seems to deliver solid recipes while maintaining the voices of his chef co-authors. It's from 2011, so not a brand new title, but has held up well. Excellent introduction with tables of fresh and dried chiles and descriptions of other ingredients. Recipes are clearly written and easy to follow with helpful header and side notes. It doesn't have photos of everything but quite a few. I often use his recipes as a sense-check when I'm cooking from another book. I believe it's still in print but used copies are also readily available for a modest price. Others that I like, in no particular order. The older Diana Kennedy books are classics, but like most older cookbooks, they don't have much in the way of photos. My Mexico just has an inset of ~ 5 or so pages, mostly capturing scenes from the country, plants, people cooking or selling food. One can learn a lot from her books but they don't really draw me in and make me want to cook. Her Oaxaca al Gusto is lavishly illustrated, though most show ingredients rather than dishes. It's a beautiful coffee-table gift book but not great for cooking. Lots of very specific Oaxacan ingredients that are difficult to source. The index is by region only, not by recipe name or ingredients, making it challenging to find a recipe, even when you know what you're looking for. The Bayless books are very accessible and the recipes are reliable. More Mexican Everyday starts out with 3 or 4 basic sauces that you can use throughout the book. No deep dive into unusual regional cuisines but very easy to cook from. I believe we have "Cooking from..." topics on a few of them. He has lots of YouTube videos your friend could check out. Mi Cocina is the newest in that collection and Rick Martinez writes it with the zeal of a born-again Mexican. He grew up in Texas, eating mostly American-ized food and wrote this book after taking a deep dive into Mexican cuisines during a 1 year trip around the country. It gives a nice sampling of regional cooking without being overly exhaustive about it. He also has a lot of YouTube videos available. As the title says, My Sweet Mexico is a book about sweets and could be good if your friend is a dessert fiend. Candies, pastries, breads, beverages, ice creams, paletas, etc. It's by Fany Gerson, who also wrote Paletas, a great little cookbook on Mexican popsicles and ices. Nopalito is one of my absolute favorites. Author and chef Gonzalo Guzmán, whose restaurant is in the Bay Area, grew up in a small town in Mexico where he learned all the old, traditional methods that had already been replaced in the big cities. He brings an appreciation for that tradition to his cookbook. I've cooked a lot from this book, thoroughly enjoyed the interesting flavors and return to it regularly. Amá is Los Angeles restaurant chef Josef Centeno's book of the traditional Tex-Mex recipes he grew up with in Texas. Every recipe has a story about the aunt, uncle, grandparent or other relative whose cooking inspired it. I've cooked a lot from this one and enjoyed everything. Grandma Alice's chorizo is fabulous and the Amá spice blend is something I always keep on hand. Not actually Mexican but really a great cookbook so I wanted to include it. Both of the last 2, being restaurant books, include cocktail recipes. I've made them all and enjoyed them!

I tend to doubt it. Most frozen fish I've gotten has been frozen with a thin glaze of water that I'd expect would interfere with batter adhesion. What is the objection to thawing? Are the pieces very large or all stuck together? I've found bagged pieces of fish to thaw pretty rapidly in a bath with an immersion circulator, set to the lowest temp, in my case, 40°F, so it doesn't heat. If I know I'll be cooking right away, I'll just use cold tap water to start the bath. If there's a chance I'll be holding it in the fridge post-thaw, then I add ice to chill it down and maintain a safe temp. The former obviously thaws quicker but both both go pretty quickly as long as it's not a huge thick brick.

No need to apologize! I clearly stated I was not a guru or up to the task, just joining the convo as a roasted veg fan. Please do respond clearly to the comments from gurus so the rest of us can be enlightened as well!

I suspect that’s the case. A number of my friends from China attended colleges in small towns in the US in the '70s. As you can imagine, they had to make all sorts of substitutions in their cooking. The use of dry sherry was one they they thought was acceptable and better than the salted “cooking wines” commonly available in the US. Not for drunken chicken, but fine where it’s just a few tablespoons or so.

So, a combination of at least 4 but less than 19 vegetables? 🙃 I love roasted vegetables but I’m not a guru so it is not common practice for me to combine that many for roasting together. I’m just not as gifted as some in determining the optimal cut size for each veg to allow them all to reach doneness simultaneously. I may put a few different veg (always less than 4😉) on a tray but I keep them separated so it’s easy to remove one and return the rest to the oven to continue roasting.

It is a pity that grocery store butchers aren't easy to find in these parts. I really like going to a local international market because pretty much all their meat is behind the counter with a full staff (usually 4-6 people) on hand to cut and wrap to order. You have to take a number and wait your turn but very much worth the time. Whole Foods and Sprouts both have people doing some cutting and wrapping but they're not particularly helpful with special requests.

Awww, thanks! If only I had your marvelous bread, my sandwiches would be so much better! And yes, I do like my toast TOASTED! Grilled gruyere with prosciutto and fig jam on sourdough. Crappy photo. Decent sandwich🙃

I have 2 bottles. This first one made me laugh when I read the label as it's from Taiwan - clearly not the real deal but I've been cooking with it. The second one is actually from Zhejiang province. It's made by the same company as the one that @FauxPas purchased at her provincial liquor store and also carries the Pagoda brand. It has characters that @liuzhou mentions: and they appear both on the paper label and also on the in the ceramic design on the other side of the bottle. The cork was secured with red ribbons like some of the earlier photos. It was a gift. I'll have to look around more carefully on my next visits to the Chinese grocery. Here in CA, wine and liquor are sold in grocery stores so I'd think it should be possible to get something without salt added, possibly at a higher price to cover the taxes.

Did you see this post from @paulraphael? He summarizes a bunch of work he's done and includes a link to an article on his site with more information: Vegan Ice Cream: It Can Actually Be Good! I do like that goat cheese ice cream and should make it again. I was thinking it would pair well with fall flavors like persimmon, pear, pumpkin, pomegranate.

I'd say @Porthos would be the man and if he can fix it, he should keep it away from @Smithy 🙃

Google shows me a number of articles that say limas can taste bitter if cooked too long but I couldn’t find any specifics.