Katie Meadow

Worse. It isn't chicken.

When you serve a cheese course do you have crackers with it? If so you might not want apps in which crackers or bread play a role. For a no-spreading or no dipping (and no dripping) cocktail go-with I like edamame in the shell, marcona almonds, olives, fried chick peas or just a plate of exotic crudite--veggies that aren't all that common, like kohlrabi cut paper thin with sea salt, interesting looking radishes, some of those odd-colored little purple or orange carrots, whatever. For a light and not messy toothpick food, pickled shrimp always seem to go fast. I'm in favor or any pre-dinner snacks that don't require utensils or plates, just a stack of napkins. My mother always used to serve celery root remoulade, but that involved utensils, plates AND napkins.

I take a few lavender buds and make a lavender simple syrup which can be easily kept in the frig. I add a splash to iced black tea or to lemonade.

Totally concur--I plan for guests to arrive 45 min to an hour before we sit down to dinner. My friends pretty much expect this when they dine chez moi. But it is important (and nice!) to make sure guests know this. I simply tell them, "We will probably eat around 7:30, so come around 6:30 for apps and drinks." It lets those who don't know me well know what to expect, and it allows those who run late kind of a grace period. If my fabulous cheese sticks are gone by the time they arrive, or if they are too late to score one of my husband's Manhattans, well, how sad for them. It's been a while since my relatives and friends had small kids, but cocktail hour was why the VCR was invented. And I do mean VCR.

My solution to dinner parties where more than one or two close friends/relatives are invited is to make dishes that can be prepped way ahead. A fancy lasagne, like an artichoke lasagne or a meat lasagne can easily be oven-ready a couple of hours ahead. So can a stew or braise which benefits from sitting in the juices at room temp. Coq au Vin is one of the most appreciated meals that can be cooked way ahead, except for the rice it gets served on, and that's easy to time. Same goes for dessert: pies baked ahead, things that can be chilled in individual servings or things served with fruit sauces, since those can be made ahead. Or something that gets unmolded at the last minute but can made way ahead; usually a crowd pleaser and gets points for visual appeal. Chilled fruit poached in wine with home-made cookies is always a winner. Even pizza can be prepped mostly ahead: toppings cooked or chopped as necessary, dough made several hours before; it does take some fancy footwork in the kitchen at the last moment to turn out several pizzas for a crowd, but at least you can spend cocktail hour with your friends first; I agree with the poster above though, that if it's really warm indoors and you can't bake the pizzas outdours, best to have another option. I guess the most important thing for me when having people over for dinner is to make something that doesn't frazzle me in any way. If I am cooking something that needs to be done last minute or during cocktails, typically somebody will find me and keep me company while I do it. Although I really don't want help with the actual cooking, it's nice when a guest volunteers to pour water or carry out soup plates. I'm always touched when young people volunteer to help and I try to find something for them to do. My husband has gotten it into his head that his job is to entertain the guests rather than help, and he would continue to chat in the living room even if black smoke was pouring from the kitchen. That's why pizza isn't a bad option in our household, because he is the dough guy and peel expert and HAS to be in the kitchen. I appreciate the impulse of people with a bad sense of time to entertain or reciprocate your last invite, or who get unbalanced by putting a big meal on the table but still want to do it. They may not realize that this creates an awkward evening for some of the guests. I have many friends who never reciprocate and I am totally fine with that. For some people it's just too hard or they really don't like to cook. I think it's important to reassure those friends that you like doing it yourself and they should just keep on coming over and bring a nice bottle of wine. People who feel it is their duty to return an invitation are the most likely to be a mess over it.

Make a compound butter using fresh dill--it's great on boiled fingerlings or new potatoes, great as a finish for simply cooked salmon and great for scrambling eggs. If you like radishes with butter, try radishes with dill butter. Egg salad or deviled eggs with dill, very nice. Mixed with sour cream / crema / yogurt to accompany savory pancakes of various kinds.

I don't have a lot of sympathy for the chronically late, whether they have an inflated sense of their own importance and don't think about how their actions effect others--or just have a very bad sense of time. It's no different than people who are always telling you how busy they are. Everyone's busy, get over it. And everyone has a cell phone. How hard is it to call ahead if you are going to be late? That said, when entertaining friends and expecting to have some fun, who wants to get angry or resentful? One thing I find helps my guests is to suggest a time to come, but also tell them when you expect to eat. This can help people who have some sense of time but also provide a little flexibility. If talking to your friends honestly about their tardiness hasn't worked, tell the chronically late to come half an hour earlier than everyone else. Or eat as planned without them and hope they get the message if they walk in and you are serving dessert. If children are involved (your own included) even more reason to set some boundaries. If they bring their children when you are slicing the pie tell them you are so sorry you've already eaten, but you would love them to sit down and have dessert.That should make the kids happy and put the late parents off balance. After all, they weren't invited because they were busy and couldn't get it together to feed themselves. In the end, there are chronically late people who never get it, so do whatever doesn't make you (or your other guests) annoyed.

Making a blanket yes or no statement about stews being better the day of or the day after seems senseless. What kind of stews are we talking about? Some meaty stews or braised dishes like briskets, coq au vin various types of slow cooked shanks hold up really well and often seem better the next day. For me that is the result of ingredients that only gain from resting and the fact that often the next day means a labor-free opportunity to simply appreciate what I made without a lot of prep work or clean-up. Things I find less appealing the next day are soups or stews that include rice or noodles and delicate vegetables, soupy bean-pot dishes that tend to thicken up, or anything that tends to suffer in textural quality after sitting around. Generally if I don't love leftovers at least I appreciate them; the exception is any dish made with fish or shellfish. Seafood risks getting overcooked just sitting for an hour in the stew-pot and definitely underwhelms after suffering overnight in the fridge.

Kohlrabi opinion number three: I love it, it's wonderful---does NOT taste like broccoli stems or any other part of broccoli, which I can't stand. I like kohlrabi as an app with cocktails: slice paper thin, fan out the slices to look lovely, sprinkle with coarse sea salt. Also very nice on a plate with deviled eggs. I grew up thinking it was a particularly Jewish vegetable because my dad used to say it meant voice of the prophet (or song of the rabbi.) Apocryphal no doubt, since that would be kol, not kohl, but still an outstanding vegetable. It is plentiful in Chinatown; no idea how Chinese cooks use it, or if they eat it raw. I could imagine it being good in a stir-fry, but I've never tried it.

If I read the op right, the issue is about what jam or jelly is favored with pb. My preference is raspberry jam, on the tart side.

Thank you HC, perfect instructions. Did the bit with the salt-water (non iodized sea salt) and cornmeal for two hours (which was really all the time I had before cooking) and the clams were incredibly clean. Also incredibly tender and sweet. The variety and the quality at Citarella always kills me. As for quantity, I got less than I planned because there was beautiful boned shad, so the clams were more like a large appetizer. We don't see shad on the west coast, ever, so I couldn't resist. And yes, I'm pretty sure I could eat two lbs of steamers all by my self.

I'm in NY and for my last dinner I'm hoping to score some steamers at Citarella. The 3rd Ave store is walkable from where I am staying. Not talkin' about hard shell or littlenecks, but the ones that, if they could see themselves in the mirror, might feel bad about their necks. It has been years since I had them and even more years since I made them. What are direx for simplest cleaning and steaming? Do you use beer or water? My memory is water, but I am open to suggestions. Does anything else go in the steaming pot along with the liquid? All I know is that the show is basically clams, broth, melted sweet butter, in that order. How much liquid so everyone has a generous bowl of flavorful dipping broth? Is the ratio of 1 lb per person + adjustment upwards for long-time deprivation sound right?

I love the idea that hash is for leftovers. But what do you do with leftover hash? Two days ago I made hash from leftover partially cooked potatoes and leftover cooked chard and onions. Very tasty, crispy, cooked with a healthy dose of smoked paprika. Yesterday I made a spaghetti fritatta (tortilla espanola, take your pick) with leftover hash and leftover spaghetti. Excellent use of leftover crispy highly flavored potatoes; a labor intensive sub for tater tots no doubt, but then I don't remember the last time I craved a tater tot omelet. Perhaps never, not that it couldn't be good. The fritatta was way better very warm out of the oven than room temp later, but generally that's how I feel about any baked egg-type thing.

Basmatti is what I typically make and pretty much do as Emily, above: 1 cup rice to 1.75 (or even slightly less) water. I do it in a pot on the stove, and saute the rice briefly in a little butter or fat and salt to toast it before adding the water. When it starts to boil I turn the heat way down, cover it, and cook it undisturbed. When all the water is absorbed and the rice is just starting to stick to the bottom of the pan I turn off the flame and leave it alone with the cover still on for at least 5 minutes.

We make marmalade in February and March when Sevilles become available in northern CA. The method we use is closer to Andie's description--I wouldn't call it quick, but it takes only three or four hours start to finish. The oranges are juiced first, pulp with pips saved. The juice is cooked down w/a bagful of pips. After 20 minutes or so the fine-cut rind is added. A second stage boiling occurs after measuring liquid and adding sugar. The most annoying and tedious job is scraping the peel. My preference is for as little pith as possible. The orange halves from the juicing get cut into wedges, and a sharp knife cuts away the thickest part of the pith. Then my husband has the hideous job of scraping the peel clean. We have found that a serrated grapefruit spoon is pretty effective, but we aren't making commercial quantities. He scrapes, then I cut the peel into fine shreds. If I found a tool that would make at least one of these two jobs easier I would be really interested. But getting the peel prepped has always necessitated two steps. I've never tried the long soaking method. My experience is that depth of flavor in our marmalade comes from whether or not we partially caramelize some of the sugar before the final boil-down, resulting in somewhat thicker, darker and less delicate marmalade. At least that's the only way we have been able to change the flavor without ruining the texture. I like marmalade both ways--light and delicate, or more burnt caramel. In either case I find any white pith left on the peel only interferes with clarity and makes the taste bitter. I would love to exchange marmalades with anyone who does the long-soak method, just to see how that changes the taste.

Could you describe the operation you hope to perform? What exactly is a marmalade cutter?

Cajun Grocer carries Steen's and I ordered some other stuff as well. Their price for Steen's seemed good compared to several other on line sources, but I didn't do a very thorough search. After tasting the Steen's alongside corn syrup and Lyle's, I can imagine subbing equal amounts of Steen's for corn syrup, or at least trying it before making an adjustment. I bet Steen's is yummy on steel cut oats and I'm sure it will be great in my Chipotle Ketchup recipe. I never make candy, so I'm thinking I don't have to buy corn syrup ever again. Tasting the corn syrup by itself was thoroughly unpleasant; quite different from the experience of dipping into cane syrup.

Just noticed a typo in my equivalency formula. I meant: does one unit of CORN syrup = 1 Lyles = 1 Steen's? Hungry C, how would one determine if the chemical properties of corn syrup were significant in a given recipe? I can say for sure that in something like bbq sauce or home-made ketchup it makes no difference, as I've subbed Lyles or maple syrup for corn syrup with out any problems.

Okay, cane syrup doesn't get enough respect, so I'm bumping up this thread. The op wanted to know how to make a substitute for Steen's Cane Syrup. I sort of want the reverse. I'm trying to rid my life of corn syrup by using cane syrup instead. The most common uses I've had for corn syrup is in making BBQ sauce or ketchup and baking pies, particularly pecan. Does anyone routinely substitute either cane syrup or Lyles Golden syrup when a recipe calls for corn syrup? I have Lyle's on hand (primarily for making Laurie Colwin's gingerbread cake) and now I also have some Steen's cane syrup. Although they are both made from pure cane juice they taste very different; the Steen's syrup is thinner and has a mild to medium molasses taste. But how do they compare when it comes to sugar content? When it comes to sweetness, does 1 unit of cane syrup = 1 Lyles = 1 Steen's?

There are discussions of where to buy grits in several different threads. Sources people like include Hoppin' Johns, Oakview Farms and Anson Mills. I've got a new one: Geechie Boy Market & Mill in South Carolina. I haven't compared shipping costs, but a 2 lb bag of white or yellow grits is $5. I've now tried both, and I think I like the white grits better; yummy. Geechie Boy also sells cornmeal, but it's finely ground--more like corn flour in my mind. The grits take what I consider to be an average cooking time, somewhere between 45 min and an hour, depending upon your preference/amount of liquid. Shipping price goes down with purchase of three or more bags of grain.

Long story short, I have about a cup of minced dried fruit that has been soaking in red wine. It's pretty heady as is, and is left over from making Charoset--I didn't have enough fresh apple to mix it with, so I reserved it. It is mostly figs, apricots, cherries. That's it, just fruit and wine and a touch of pomegranate molasses. I'm thinking a simple semolina pound cake would be nice with it. What should I do to make a compote? Add a little water and simmer it briefly? I don't want to lose too much of the boozy flavor.

Typically I am not a breakfast person; going out for breakfast or even brunch always seems like a waste of money to me, since most foods have limited appeal for me in the morning. I crave neither protein nor acidic fruit, and I am very happy with just a piece of toast. Once in a while I have a yen for steel cut oats. And I admit I love grits for breakfast, but that takes even longer than oats. When lacking any bread products I might make popovers, which I love, but that doesn't happen often; they take about 40 minutes start to finish. Sugary pastry need not apply. The truth is I haven't the slightest interest in cooking breakfast. I just want to sit with my newspaper and have my toasted bread and tea. Once in a while I break the rules, but usually if someone else is cooking (rare) or I am on the road. My experience is that some people want protein in the morning, so they prefer eggs or cereal with milk. To figure out how to get protein without eating eggs or making milk a main part of the meal takes some effort, especially if you are not interested in meat before lunchtime, which I am not. Although I do make one exception: if it's brunch and I'm eating out and shrimp'n'grits is on the menu, I go for it. Seems like if you are energetic and have the time, there is an endless amount of breakfast material out there. Since I don't want to bake in the morning, I often think ahead and make cornbread or biscuits for dinner, just so I can have the leftovers toasted the next morning. Toasted biscuits are awesome with some bitter marmalade. Then there's hashbrowns and hash or other potato-vegetable pan-fries. With onions, leftover potatoes, peppers, mushrooms, tomatoes in season etc, some great eggless meals can be had. Soba, if you made me a vegetable hash some morning I would be thrilled. Every vegetable you cook looks enlightened. And I wouldn't turn down cold blueberry soup on a hot summer morning.

More common spelling (and the one that helps you pronounce it) is Matzoh Brei. As in "bry."

With or without the brisket, never sour cream. Always cold apple sauce with a squeeze of lemon to tart it up and a dusting of cinnamon; it's all about contrasts.

It's not at all uncommon, for instance... Thank you Margaret for the Red Flannel Hash recipe. I've heard of red flannel hash but never had it. Today I made Golden Flannel Hash; I couldn't pass up a bunch of lovely organic golden beets with tops that I saw this morning, and I had some bacon and a few potatoes in the fridge. I'm very much liking the method of sauteing the onion and garlic, then removing it and adding it back to the potatoes after they have started to brown. The beets were roasted first, cooled and diced. The beet greens I cut in a rough chiffonade and sauteed them ahead. I finished them with a little bit of vinegar and maple syrup the way I do collards. The beets and onions and greens and cooked bacon went in with the onions. The only surprise was that the beets were so sweet I thought I should have added just vinegar but no maple syrup at all to the greens. I thought about adding a little cream, but in the end decided against it. We topped our hash with fried eggs. My takeaway from that recipe is that greens in hash are fabulous, but beets should be used with restraint. For all I know the Yankees who invented Yankee red flannel hash like their hash sweet. Maybe it's a New England thing, like the preference for Boston clam chowder over Manhattan. Anyway it was hash, and it was good. Chris, those morels look scrumptious. I used to do a lot of mushroom hunting but finally got so sick of ending up with poison oak that I just gave up my shroomin' ways.