Katie Meadow

How do you separate true flavor pairings from things that have an emotional grip or are seasonally available at the same time? Chicken and corn would not be considered a favorite pairing in the middle of winter unless you count fried chicken with a side of cornbread, but in BBQ season in the summer they are certainly linked in many minds and few people would say they don't sit happily on the same plate. I associate them together with new world soups south of the border. What about cultural factors? I ate very little pork growing up in NY. The only time my parents ate pork was when they used Italian sausage as part of a tomato based spaghetti sauce. As for applesauce I would never associate it with pork, only with potato pancakes or being sick.Then I moved to New Mexico, where red or green chile is rarely far from any pork dish so I tend to think of spicy with pork rather than sweet. In North Carolina I was served country ham with a side of cooked apples; very salty with a side of sweet--yummy. As someone implied above, if you live somewhere that you harvest apples and do in your pigs in the fall, that would make for a likely pairing. Mention was made of garlic, coffee and chocolate in combo. Those three ingredients are often added together to meat rubs, or various pots of southwestern style beans and/or chili, often with pork. As for bananas and tomatoes I can't imagine a more awful combination no matter what else is included or how it is prepared. Run for the hills!

I call it fried grits, but it's about the same thing; what varies the most if you are using (relatively) freshly milled corn meal is probably the grind, which is really a matter of taste. If I cook up about 1 cup grits or polenta and serve the two of us we usually have enough leftover to fill an 8 x 8 baking dish. This is done easily if you don't wait until the mush is cooled to put it in the mold pan. Smooth it out right away. I typically get a "cake" that is about 1/2 inch or a bit more in thickness. Cover in plastic and store overnight or til you want it. I cut it into pieces and saute it in a modest amount of butter or oil like Franci does above. I like it for breakfast with syrup and it is also yummy with a tomato sauce and a little melted cheese. And once you have it in a manageable frying shape you don't have to limit yourself to a saute pan; you can grill it outdoors or you can bake overlapping slices with cheese or sauces in the oven. When sauteing I have found it gets a good golden crispy crust in a non-stick pan as well as in a cast iron pan over a moderate heat, and the interior gets nice and melty.

Yes I am eating a lot of cukes these days. My three favorite salads currently: 1) Dilled Potato and Pickled Cucumber salad from Smitten Kitchen. Uses a quick pickle cucumber and lots of fresh dill. My change: way less mayo. And sometimes I mix mayo and creme fraiche or mayo and fage instead of using straight mayo. It's a great salad--the pickles are outstanding; best to do the pickles overnight. I find the salad is best eaten soon after dressing, but that's how I am about all potato salads. 2) Thinly slice cukes, radishes, fennel and a little red onion. Toss in a couple T fresh dill, a few sliced kalamata olives. Add a little salt and pepper and dress very modestly however you like. I just use a very small amount of champagne or sherry wine vinegar and a splash of olive oil. I'm sure lemon would be good instead of vinegar. I even like it with just olive oil and salt. 3) Rarerollingobject described a salad she made months ago and I think it is great. Mix cucumber, melon, ham and chopped toasted hazelnuts in proportions you like. Her dressing specified a little honey, mustard, lemon and oil. I find that this salad needs a VERY light hand with dressing, since a ripe melon may start to weep and the salad gets a little watery. I have used cantaloupe and both green and pink honeydew and various types of ham. Flavorful salty ham works better than mild.

What appears to be fine flour or grain may, even if put in a sealed glass jar, develop moths from eggs or whatever. We used to buy lots of our flours for breadbaking from a co-op in bulk, and it became clear that weevils or moths or something was in the flour from the moment we bagged it and took it home. I switched to using higher quality (sadly more costly, too) flours. I have never had a problem with King Arthur (I do transfer the paper bags to glass containers) nor with Bob's products.

I used to make Alice Waters corn soup recipe from her original Chez Panisse Menu cookbook. The technique is the same as her recipe cited above, but she doesn't even bother with the onions. She does add cream, which I sometimes omitted and love just as much. Keep in mind that straining the soup as she suggests makes it very luxurious and not very cost effective. You are left with not a lot of soup. Good, though! You can add almost any garnish: shredded basil, chopped fresh tomato, roasted green chile, chives, and so on. Gotta have great corn to start with, though.

I married into a family of many vegetarians, so I'm pretty used to knowing how to cook for them. However, in the last couple of years I have changed my diet to a low cholesterol one, and it makes me realize how reliant these people are on cheese and dairy for protein. Now, when I cook for vegetarians I don't worry about anybody's protein needs, and figure they can do without for their main meal as long as I provide them a plate of cheeses for apps. When they cook for me, that's when it's a problem. I don't want to burden them since they seem to consume cholesterol in vast amounts. When any of them are cooking, I now tend to eat earlier and come without being hungry, working around whatever is there or I make sure I contribute something I can eat. Cooking for vegans is a challenge, but I only have one friend who is a vegan and she's so self-effacing about her food habits it isn't a problem. I always make sure there is bread and grains and plenty of salad or vegetables that she can eat. Agree completely that it isn't the diet, it's just in how people approach it. At this point I can only think of two people in my life (neither of them me) that don't have some quirky dietary restrictions, so I'm starting to see it as the rule and not the exception. For so many reasons I'm a person that would have a hard time in a far northern climate with limited fruits and vegetables but lots of whale meat or reindeer.

I like to keep a jar of simple syrup in the fridge and use it to sweeten freshly squeezed lemonade, certain cocktails, etc. When you use syrup you don't have to worry about getting the sugar crystals to dissolve. Just pour a cup of boiling water over a cup of cane sugar, mix until completely clear and store in the fridge to use as needed. Add a sprig of mint rubbed between your hands to fresh lemonade for a big thrill. An exotic alternative: pick a few flowers of lavender and simmer a few minutes in simple syrup. Let cool and pull out the flowers. Lavender syrup is great in lemonade or an Arnold Palmer (half iced tea half lemonade.) Agree with mjx. Unless you have some particular health issue with cane sugar, you can't beat it for flavor. Moderation is the key. There has been a lot of bad press about sugar lately, but really the problem is that we have an extreme case of sweet tooth in this country.

Just two comments and then I will bow out; Paula Deen doesn't really merit all this copy. First of all, let me apologize if I offended anyone. Obesity isn't a laughing matter, but surely Paula has more to answer for than I do. The truth is that is a telling picture, ultimately way more sad and cautionary than anything else. Second, considering whether the punishment fits the crime is pointless. This is the Food Network for Gods sake; it's the smarmy world of big bucks entertainment TV. I'm sure they spent some agonizing hours trying to figure out which would ultimately lose them more money: canning Paula (love that expression!) or continuing to fight the bad PR.

To be honest all I know about Paula Deen comes from news stories about her health and the seriously unhealthy food that she is famous for. I don't find her cooking or her TV persona the least appealing, nor am I surprised by her expressions of the racism that lies so deep in our American culture. Uncovering this kind of thing moves us forward in teensy steps. Kudos to Dylan Wilson for his photo in the NYT front section today showing the lines to get in to Paula's Savannah restaurant. By the looks of it, Paula hasn't been doing her fans many favors the last few years. Lordy, but I shouldn't be laughing.

You're 80, right?

Early Vermont Mac apple. In Vermont, freshly harvested. Apricots from a friend's family property in Los Alamos NM. The size of a peach and dripping with juice. Not this planet ever again. Dried peaches that were dried on the roof of an adobe house in NM. Croissant from a town near Avignon from a bakery advertising "feu de bois" breads and pastry. Still warm, never tasted anything like it, probably never will again. Espresso ice cream shake in Ashland, OR. This one is a stretch, but it was very hot day, I was really thirsty and we had been driving for hours. Can't remember the name of the place but it's on the main drag, easy to find. Okay, I'm making myself sick here.

I live in the East Bay and don't get over to the city often, so I wouldn't have a clue about recommendation for places to buy cheese there. I do have occasion to go through Pt Reyes, the original home of Cowgirl Creamery and of course can buy their cheeses at other places. I do have a personal opinion about them, but have not been there for several years and have never been to their Ferry Bldg outlet. I am not a huge fan of their own cheeses. Also I think the prices are very high. And, at least at the Pt Reyes shop, they are not terribly helpful or generous in my experience. It feels like it's set up take advantage of tourists. As for supermarket cheese depts they seem woefully inadequate. If I know exactly what I want sometimes Whole Foods has it, but their selection is small and the people behind the counter are not very knowledgeable. The Fairway cheese dept in NY seems one of the better "supermarket" cheese sources, if you call Fairway a supermarket. In the East Bay I usually shop at The Pasta Shop for cheese if I am looking for something new, want to taste a variety of things and want to talk to someone who knows something. Also the Cheese Board in Berkeley has a big selection, good prices and some interesting cheeses and the people behind the counter will happily talk with you and give you many tastes. Janet Fletcher has a weekly cheese column in the SF Chron. Since she appears to love every cheese she reviews, I assume she has no interest in commenting on ones that are lacking. She does provide info on where to find the cheeses she profiles in the Bay Area. I checked her website and unfortunately she doesn't have a list of good cheese stores on the site. But I would suggest contacting her and seeing if she would give you a list of her faves. On her website she encourages readers to email her, so it might be a way to come up with destinations. Hi Dave! Yes, nothing quite compares to some of the great cheeses I tasted at village markets in the south of France. Often small producers and very specialized, but really amazing.

Okay, one question. I like all kinds of potato salads and I pretty much wing it at this point according to ingredients and my mood. Potato salad I don't like is what is usually served as a side to BBQ: the potatoes are overcooked russets and there is ten times too much mayo and often a high sweetness factor from god knows what. I mean they might as well be putting marshmallows in there. But my question is really about mayo. I find that almost all published recipes for a mayo based dressing calls for about 2 to 4 times as much mayo and/or dressing as is either prudent or appealing. And I am not talking about 50's magazine recipes, either; I'm finding this to be the case in upscale current recipes as well. When using a new recipe for potato salad I routinely cut the dressing ingredients in half and then don't end up using it all anyway. Many traditional American potato salads seem to be designed to hide lousy potatoes or else they are shilling for the mayo industry. Please tell me I'm not alone.

Hi, a green papaya salad isn't just made from unripe papaya. It is a special kind of papaya, and should be labeled as such. They are definitely different looking from the typical Hawaiian or Mexican papayas, which are eaten ripe. Sometimes I have gotten them at Berkeley Bowl. Another option would be to search out the Asian veg markets such as the ones around 12th Ave and 12th st in Oakland where a lot of Vietnamese shop and eat. I have made green papaya salad a few times, sometimes very simple ones, and sometimes Kasma's recipe, which I got from her class. If you don't know about her (she lives and teaches near Piedmont Ave in Oakand) check out her web site. Maybe her recipe is on it, dunno.

My philosophy is the opposite. Eat the best things first for maximum appreciation. Then you can let your dog eat the broken bits of whatever on the bottom, because you are already deeply satisfied.

I DO trust you. How do you marinate sardines? Are you talking about the Italian sarde in saor? I love them, but have never had the nerve or the energy to try and turn fresh sardines into saor ones myself. Can you buy them already marinated?

In the same vein, I served my sliced pickled beets with a little bowl of creme fraiche and mini silver spoons. Borscht on steroids! Agree that it verges on guilty pleasure.

It wasn't clear in your original post whether or not you are home while you are doing all this research, or whether your kitchen time at home is limited. I find the best ways to eat for cheap AND save a little time are as follows: Cook large vats of soup or stew once or twice a week. That way you have lots of leftovers. Use meat as an accent rather than a main course. Good quality meat simply costs more than good quality vegetables, grains and legumes. We eat meat about twice a week or maybe three times--not to save money but just because we prefer eating less of it--but it definitely saves money unless you are buying bulk meats from dubious sources. Make food that can be easily adapted for a different meal the second time around. For instance if you have beans over rice one night, buy some flour tortillas and lettuce and make burritos the next night, with maybe a small amount of meat. One trick I use with soups is to make the starch separately and then combine it w/ the soup at the last minute instead of putting it directly into the soup pot. The main reason is that rice or pasta in soup gets overcooked in the pot and tastes much better if put together at the end, portion by portion. Another advantage is that this allows you to add rice to the soup one night and noodles or barley or whatever the next night. Minestrone lends itself to endless varieties, vegetarian or with some type of meat, and is great with additions such as a little grated cheese or pesto. I don't own a pressure cooker or even a crock-pot. When I lived in New Mexico many kitchens had a simple cheap electric crock pot that was used while people were at work and could change a cheap cut of pork into a tender basis for beans or pozole or by extension any soup. Soups are very forgiving and a great way to use inexpensive vegetables such as carrots, onions, cabbage, greens, etc. If you have a few hours once every other week you can easily make your own stock, freezing some, and then making soups is a breeze. A few novel ways to use eggs: spaghetti frittata (uses less eggs), egg drop soup, chopped hard boiled egg as an addition to potato salad along with a variety of crunchy veggies. Cheapest, fastest, easiest salad: apple, celery and walnuts with a mustard vinaigrette. Hope there is something helpful here! Warm potato salad is another good meal. Try a Spanish style salad of room temp rice with roasted red peppers and tuna, celery and peas. Make hash with leftover potatoes and leftover meat.

The recipe I have indicates that it was originally from Gourmet Magazine Bring the following ingredients to a boil, stirring until sugar is dissolved. Then cover and simmer 30 min: 2 c cider vinegar,1 c water, 1 cup sugar, 1/2 tsp or more pickling spice, 1/2 tsp mustard seeds, 1/2 med onion, quartered, small bay leaf, 1 tsp black peppercorns, stalks of fresh dill. Cool. I might cut back just a little on the sugar next time. Meanwhile roast about 6 med beets in the oven with skins on, rubbed with olive oil and salt, in a roasting pan covered with a foil top. Okay, confession: I don't like messing with red beets. My roasted beets are typically either chiogga or golden. The chioggas look beautiful in this recipe. I roasted mine at about 385 degrees for about 40 minutes, or until tender but still firm. I like to keep them covered and let them sit another 15 or 20 minutes, then uncover and cool until you can easily peel off the skin. I quartered them and then sliced them in 1/4 inch pieces. The original recipe suggested straining the pickling mixture and then pouring it only the beets packed in jars. I didn't bother to strain, but I held out the onions. They made a packed quart with one or two small servings left over. They were great after just 24 hours. So far I have added them to a potato salad, along with some of their pickling juice. My only advice would be to go easy on the pickling juice. The beets themselves are pretty distinctive tasting, and I used a bit too much juice, so the whole salad had a slightly pickled quality. Which you may or may not like. I've made red flannel hash in the past with roasted beets, but never pickled. I've had Israeli style beets that were finely diced and then drizzled with olive oil and parsley. Can't remember if they were pickled or not, but that could be good. They were served on the side in a mezze plate along with hummus, babaganouj, a tomato-cuke salad and a cabbage slaw. A hot green sauce was served with. Good with all the sides, including the beets. A beet spread sounds yummy. And I can imagine beets and cukes would be good with a yogurt dressing.

I just made pickled beets. First time ever! And they are really good. I suppose you would call it a quick pickle, as they were not heat sealed in any way and tasted just right the next two days. I've been eating them out of the jar by themselves, or on a plate with simple raw vegetables like kohlrabi. In North Carolina they were often served as a side in a little dish. I started craving them, and every time they were offered I thought, "I can do this." Turns out I can do them better. But what else should I do with them? Matchstick them and add to coleslaw? Add them to a potato salad? What do you like to pair them with?

Totally agree about library and used book stores. One of the saddest things about the death of bookstores is how I used to buy cookbooks. More than any other type of book I might want to own, I need to peruse a cookbook thoroughly before plunking down money. My worst wastes of money on cookbooks have happened because I got excited about one and ordering it without seeing it first. My most successful purchases have been books I have looked at carefully and then found a cheap source on line (like Bookfinders.com) or used on eBay. If a cookbook is well-bound a lightly used one shouldn't be a problem.

Everyone must figure out their own way toward a healthy diet, or at least a diet that works well for them. I have a couple of annoying health issues that have required me to cut back on all kinds of food that I love. I rarely eat chips any more, but when I do, I want really good ones, not a substitute. As long as I know I can have anything on the planet if only as a rare treat, I'm okay with not eating anything that tries to be something better. I would rather have my favorite chips once a month than have something not as good more often. When it comes to salty snacking (and I have cut back on salt in the last few years as well) I like organic popcorn popped on the stove, then sprinkled with a moderate amount of good quality salt. I've now discovered smoked maldon salt (super strong), so I'm using just a little bit of that with my other salt to make "campfire" popcorn. Maybe that would go partway toward a BBQ flavor. Smoked paprika on fries (chips to the op) or on potato salad also makes its own party. Before I had to cut back on cheese I liked to put a little grated parm or pecorino on my popcorn and that was pretty fun. I found salt to be the easiest thing to cut back; it's very common to develop a lower tolerance for salt over a relatively short period of time. The down side is that you become so sensitized that it's hard to eat out. Forget processed or fast foods--some really pricey restaurants use a ton of salt.

World Wide Organization of Organic Farms. I think. The organization hooks up young people wanting to work on a farm with farm owners who need some help. The Wwoofers get free food and board in exchange for working on the farm. These particular kids were terrific; smart and really entertaining. They cooked the lunches and helped with dinners as well. Seems like win-win for all involved as long as they like each other. My daughter had a friend from CA who worked on a farm in NZ last year, same program I believe.

On our recent travels in North Carolina we discovered that it seems more common than it used to for smaller low-key places, especially if they are out of the way, to offer dinner for a fee. We stayed at two places in the mountains that offered this; in neither would it have been very convenient to drag ourselves out for dinner after we finally located them. The first place turned out to be owned by a retired engineer and his wife, who was younger and French. She cooked us an astounding dinner for a very low price--one of the best meals I've had in years. Her breakfast was just as great. The second place was really in the middle of nowhere with a farm attached. We had a lunch and two dinners as well as included breakfasts, all using locally sourced or homegrown foods. (These people had start-of-season asparagus growing out of their ears.) They charged us almost nothing, considering the bounty. This second place happened to have three WWOOFers staying with them, and these 20-somethings cooked up a storm. In both places we ate with our hosts and it was very fun.

Shel, you and I have many of the same sources here in the east bay. My favorite potato for salad is the French fingerling, a red skin variety. Very available at the Berkeley farmers market all summer. The rest of the year I alternate between red or white waxy and YG for salads. I agree that the YG's hold up a bit less well, but I like the flavor; it's imortant not to overcook them for salads.YG's work well for hash too as long as you parboil and then chill them, so they can be cut into tiny cubes and they will then retain the shape. I've tasted almost all varieties of potatoes that are available at the farmers markets here in the east bay. Red Rose are good too. The variety I like least is the Russian Banana. The blue ones don't do much for me either. And I agree that dressing them when warm or hot is beneficial, although my method is to just dress them with vinegar and a little salt, then let them cool before putting on the oil or other dressing components. Not sure whose direx I followed for that, but I've been doing it for years.