Katie Meadow

Love this topic. I used to try and collect 5-ingredient recipes, but 3 is even better. One of my favorites: summer tomatoes, chopped and barely warmed and left to muddle in a bowl with salt and pepper, a pat of butter, eaten over hot freshly cooked pasta or basmatti rice.

You are not alone. My name is Katie Meadow and I'm a marmaholic. No jam, just marmalade. Every day. And it has to be bitter and fine-cut. I find a lot of commercial marmalades just cut up all the peel without taking off the pith, and that makes the marmalade cloudy and, well, pithy. And yes, most are far too sweet. When you find a commercially produced product that's good, let me know. There are a couple of people in the bay area who make good artisanal marmalade, but the price is, as you probably know, astronomical, especially if you go through an 8 oz jar in under three weeks like we do. That's why we started making our own. When sevilles become available late January through March we try to make enough to last the year. It's kind of a chore (I'm not a person who loves making preserves by any stretch), but after several years we've gotten our technique down and can produce five or six jars a session with a minimum of trauma. And we manage to make a few extra to give away. Good luck. I know what it's like to miss your marmalade.

Barbara's shredded wheat seems to age very well in the bowl. It isn't exactly a crisp factor, but even though it loses some of its bird's nest crunch its changes always seem positive if you know what I mean. Do I sound like a lunatic?

I'm very impressed. Last night for dinner we made banh mi. I roasted the pork a la Andrea, and made the pickled daikon-carrot mix, and wondered if I shouldn't learn how to make chicken liver pate instead of buying it ready made.

Thank you all for great suggestions. Finally I got around to this and for a first effort I thought it was great. I made the filling as simple as possible, and checked several recipes from various places for quantities. I ended up using 2 lbs of raw fresh spinach to 1.5 c feta. I used half an onion and 6 or 8 scallions, 2 cloves of garlic, a generous amount of dill, some parsley and 2 eggs and a little grated nutmeg. I used French feta, which is a bit less salty and a little more creamy than some other types, and no other cheese at all. A little pecorino might have been nice, since my feta was not that salty, but I didn't have any on hand. It made just the right amount for a 9x13 baking dish. One of my pet peeves about most spanakopita is that it is too greasy, so I took to heart the recommendation above to use 2 sheets of pastry at once, meaning that every other layer got a modest slick of olive oil. I can see how using salted butter instead of olive oil could be pretty good, so I might try that next time. My husband actually thought I should have used more oil; the filo sheets were so light and crispy they practically floated away. But I kind of liked that. I'm very very glad that I cut through the top layers of pastry before baking. I can see how not doing so would result in much frustration at the table.

Not exactly a secret, but the midtown Halal wagon on the southwest corner of 6th Ave and 53rd St is as reliable as its long line. But at least they are fast. Maybe there's some kind of addictive substance in the white and red sauces (I always ask for both.) There's another wagon in the same vein at 6th and 55th, also good, but not quite as satisfying. I guess I just like standing on line. Whenever I visit my mom in NY--she lives right there--I always get the chicken and rice plate for an easy lunch or dinner. I find the lamb is (reliably, too) rather tough, so I avoid it. The portion is very generous, the red sauce very hot.

Not just you.

I'm partial to the white stone ground grits from Hoppin' Johns, which are easily ordered on line. I've never tried Anson Mills, bu maybe I will. I start my grits in water, but add whole milk at two different junctures. No idea where that recipe came from. Sometimes I add cheese to finish, sometimes not. Depending on what's in the fridge, or my mood, I might add sharp cheddar, or creme fraiche, or even a mild goat cheese. Actually I prefer my shrimp 'n' grits without extra cheese. Grits topped with some kind of salsa are yummy, especially a spicy fresh tomato salsa, so that's an essential for me, with or without cheese, with or without shrimp. And then the shrimp. I've done the shrimp numerous ways: a quick pan-fry or something I clipped from I don't know where called Southern Barbecue Shrimp. You preheat the broiler and cover a sheet pan with foil. Then mix melted butter, worcestershire sauce, a tablespoon or so of golden sugar, fresh lemon juice and a sprinkling of Old Bay or other seafood seasoning and toss the shrimp to coat. Arrange them on the sheet and broil, turning them over at half-time; only takes a couple of minutes per side. Using Old Bay and worcestershire doesn't seem very southern, but so it goes. So, I plate the grits, top with salsa and then top that with shrimp. I drizzle on any extra shrimp sauce from the bowl or the foil and that's my shrimp 'n' grits. As for a substitute for grits, well, couldn't you use a coarse-ground polenta? Actually I've stopped using polenta altogether, and if I'm cooking Italian I just make grits instead and tell everyone it's polenta. Edited to add some prices: I just looked at the three on-line sources mentioned. Anson Mills sells 12 oz. of grits for $5.95. Hoppin Johns sells 2 lbs grits for $7.50. Oakview Farms seems to have a great deal: 2 lbs for $5.25. I didn't price shipping.

What about par-boiling or pre-cooking the potatoes? My Dad used to mince the potato into teensy perfect dice, smaller than 1/4 inch, and I don't recall him par-boiling, but the only time I ever tried making hash I partially cooked Yukon Golds. So if you use raw, when do you add them? When the onions just start to get golden?

When I am short on time and last minute inspiration and need a salad for an Asian style meal I do this: slice cucumber very thin. Salt and drain to crisp if you want. Make a dressing of lime juice, thai fish sauce, pinch of sugar. Add chili oil or red pepper flakes to taste. Adding a squeeze of ginger juice might be nice, and a flurry of cilantro. Top with chopped roasted peanuts.

The older I get the simpler I want my dressing. Assuming we are talking about a basic mix of green lettuces, I have taken to using good Italian white wine vinegar. I make an emulsion with a little dijon mustard and olive oil. I don't measure, but my preference is for more olive oil than the standard 3:1 that my mother always used. I like to taste the olive oil, and have the salad not too acidic. I add salt and pepper after a brief toss with the dressing, and toss some more. I sometimes use a small amount of balsamic if I want that flavor. For a fruity salad I would add more balsamic. I also make a lot of warm rice salads when I have leftover chicken or ham or whatever, and for some reason I like to use sherry wine vinegar for that. For avocados or sliced raw fennel I like just lemon and oil, no vinegar, no dijon. I just emulsify briefly, with a fork, can't be bothered shaking in a jar. And I only make enough for one salad. I have no idea why, but I don't like keeping dressing in the fridge. Maybe because sometimes it just doesn't get used and becomes a jar of something icky that I have to deal with.

Mostly maintaining the cut-backs I made two years ago. More home-baked bread. Home-made marmalade exclusively, no store-bought or farmers' market jams. Bulk olive oil only. Less meat, more chicken. More ways to eat chicken IN things instead of chicken as the main event, such as in soups or rice salads or burritos. More big pots of soup, more beans & rice. More potatoes of all kinds, and more creative ways to cook them. Less pricey cheese, and less cheese period. Way fewer olives. Sandwiches for dinner sometimes: tuna melts, banh mi (learned how to make a pretty good one from Andrea's book!) Blt's in summer. Fewer packaged snacks, more stove-popped popcorn. Lots of different recipes for coleslaw. Rye instead of single malt scotch (not a hardship, I'm into it, but it does seem less of a budget-buster.) No to-go coffee, only home-brewed. No more cooking magazines; using the library and more internet sources for new recipes and ideas. Cookbooks have to be gifts (and not from myself to myself!)

I load flatware exactly as FG does: knives with blades down, but forks and spoons with tines/bowls up. This seems to be the easiest for grabbing, sorting and unloading. Knives get the benefit of hygiene and safety--although we're not talking sharp or pointy knives here. Forks and spoons look too much alike when they are turned head down, although I admit it's uncouth to grab them by the eating end; afterall, I go our of my way not to do that when I set the table. However, heads up makes it easier if your dog does the prewash. We wash all pots and pans or cooking equipment by hand, saving all the space for tableware, which seems to be the best use of space and water, although no scientific measurements have been taken. We have an Asko dishwasher and it seems to be particularly well designed to hold lots of dishes. Since we got a new set of everyday restaurant dishes, which are made to be very stackable, it holds an incredible number of plates and bowls. Chopsticks in my house are all wood, and no wood goes in the dishwasher. I wish I could say I am not anal about rearranging the dishes when I see evidence of poor spatial relationships, but it ain't so.

My guess is Denmark. Very nice find.

Long, long ago, in a place called Long Island, my father used to refer to my habit of slathering sun-tan oil all over myself as "basting." A coating of grease cooks you inside and hastens the crisping of your skin to a lovely golden rosy burnish. Among other things.

I am from the Baba Yaga school of chicken feet. They are good for only three things (once they have been separated from the chicken, of course): moving your house to another part of the forest, making good stock and grossing out the Justin Bieber age group. Okay, I might try a phoenix claw, but I'm not sure. And if, as someone wondered above, I had to give them a manicure every time I made soup, I'd be too nauseated to cook.

Search on eBay for Oreshki and you will find a variety of these Russian nut molds.

The science of chicken feet escapes me, but I love them for stock. I use 1 lb of feet to 4-5 lbs other parts; rinse 'em and in they go. Using just feet for stock doesn't sound promising, but I'm guessing it's been done somewhere, some time. Feet don't make stock cloudy, not that I've ever seen. My understanding is that cloudiness is more likely the result of not skimming early in the process and of allowing the stock to boil, instead of keeping it at a low simmer the entire time.

So all this talk of pudding cake inspired me and I made a Lemon Pudding Cake the other night. I sort of combined my recipe with Plum Tart's recipe. I used about 2 T butter, and I cut back the flour in my recipe somewhat, although not quite to 1/4 c. I also liked the idea of holding out 1/4c sugar and beating it into the egg white, which gives the whites a different quality altogether--a bit more substance but still light. Whatever you want to call it, it was delicious; soupy pudding on the bottom, light and spongy on the top, like a sauce and a cake all in one. So what would you call David Ross's Apple Gateau (recently in making/baking thread)? The intro to the recipe says that it is more of a pudding cake than a gateau. Instead of water, halfway through the baking melted butter (a lot of melted butter) gets poured over, which I thought was very strange, but it turned out great. This dessert does not separate into a pudding and a cake, but the apples do organize themselves into a layer, and the consistency of the cakey part is, well, puddingy. No separating the whites and yolks for that one.

Runwestierun, that's one way to even the score. Very funny. Well, I should have known that just the appearance of this topic was a bad omen. I spent the morning sort of wishing my Oster beehive blender would break, but not tonight, since I was supposed to make a cream of green chile soup. I hate that blender. And tonight my sort-of wish came true. The part where the soup pours out from the bottom instead of the top wasn't exactly in the plan, but there you have it. I'm going to consult the blender topic, but if anyone has suggestions they are welcome. Yes, of course I want a Blend-tech, but I'm not sure it's in the cards just now. My daughter had a New Years eve 2am run-in with a tree and did some damage to my car. She's fine, but body work isn't cheap. Isn't there anything in between all the $50 blenders and the $500 ones? On the other hand, the place that's doing the bodywork is amazing. It's run by an Italian family and the waiting room has Memphis style chairs, some sculpture and an espresso machine. They made my husband a very good double espresso with lovely crema on top. Hasn't anyone invented an espresso-size to-go cup yet? And I thought my mother's 9 euro espresso in St. Mark's was pricey. This one will be a lot more.

When it comes to pancakes it's hard to imagine the size of the egg makes a huge difference. After all, when you look at a variety of pancake recipes the number of eggs to the amount of flour and milk doesn't appear to be very scientific, but varies a fair amount, no? Recipes written within the last 20 years seem to call for large eggs if they specify the size. Can you even buy commercially sold small eggs any more? I'm not the most exacting baker, that's for sure, so I just buy whatever is sold as "large" and it works okay...that's the least of my problems when I bake. Even the eggs sold at the farmers' markets around here are large and conform to most commercial sizes. I remember buying farm eggs when I lived in New Mexico in the late 60's and 70's. The dreamy pastel araucanas those days were more like Robin's eggs! At least that's how it seems through the looking glass.

Today's NYT magazine has a Sam Sifton recipe for Jamaican oxtail stew. It sounds awfully good. In New Mexico we usually made green chile stew (bowl o' green) with beef and potatoes. A bowl o' red most often was pork.

I can smell them on my hands for a whole day afterwards, no matter how hard or often I scrub my hands with anti-bacterial, lemon juice, water or anything else. I wear disposable gloves to prevent this issue; works very well! I use gloves, too. And I de-vein with sharp scissors rather than a knife or special tool. Then I rub the cut edges with a paper towel. Quick, easy and efficient. OK, I have a high tolerance for ick. If you do too, here's the quickest way to devein shrimp: grab the vein from the center of the cut head end between your fingernails and pull. Keep a paper towel handy to wipe the veins off your hands. Perhaps my high ick tolerance also prevents me from noticing the lingering scent of shrimp veins on my hands. :blink: I only use that grab technique if a recipe requires the shrimp to be deveined and with shells left on. But I don't use my fingernails, I use a blunt tweezers to grab the vein from the cut head end and slide it out slowly. It works, more of less, but it's icky. I don't have a high tolerance for ick. Cleaning shrimp is not a task I like at all, so when I cook shrimp I consider it a virtuous and selfless act.

Frankly I like Bittman's politics better than his recipes, although once a week Bittman anything is plenty for me. However, if anyone else in the magazine's regular food rotation gets axed as a result, I'm going to be extremely unhappy. I'm already sad that Christine Muhlke is giving up her farm column (she's moving to Bon Ap) but if Cooking with Dexter goes away I will be inconsolable.

Trying to think of things that are not easily replaced rather than appliances that could be purchased again (if money was not an object, of course) if lost or broken. I no longer own a Sunbeam Radiant toaster, but that's more like a phantom limb; somehow its ghost still occupies space. I couldn't easily replace my 30" Viking range (small size is hard to find and price is an issue!) and although I appreciate it every day, a replacement could be found. It occurs to me that the irreplaceable items are mostly found objects that were given new life by me. They include: a perfectly square Griswold cast iron skillet that can cook 11 slices of bacon with room to spare. An old large copper skillet found at the Goodwill that turns out a terrific Tarte Tatin. A very unusual size glass loaf pan that is the exactly perfect size to mold the large meatloaf that I make. A 1930s dark brown glazed casserole dish that is just right for a deep-dish pot pie. A traditional 6-popover pan used by my husband's grandmother. A genius of engineering and design. Most valuable and irreplaceable is probably my stainless flatware by Wm Fraser, made in Germany. The pattern, Finesse, was discontinued sometime in the late 1970's or early 80's, I believe. Some of it was purchased by me while it was still in production, and some was inherited from a friend of my mother's who had the same pattern, which seems like a stroke of amazing luck. Nothing gets used more often and holds up so well.