Katie Meadow

I use my husband or my guests. So I don't use a tray, but I'm not stupid. I can see small plates or bowls on a tray, but a regular size tray maxes out with two large dinner plates that are just as easily carried one in each hand. I don't think I am steady enough to carry full glasses on a tray; in that case I could make two trips to the dining room faster than one trip with a tray, since I would be very nervous and walking slowly and carefully. My mother uses a tray to take her breakfast from the kitchen to her dining table six steps away: cereal, spoon, cup of coffee. The spoon would otherwise have to be in the full bowl of cereal, which she considers hazardous. Mind you, my mother is 90 and has never fallen in her life as far as I know. Unlike her daughter.

I'm always amazed at how much Lidia uses tongs--like an extension of her hand. I love the way she uses them to plate and twist pasta. Besides the obvious, such as grilling or browning steaks or chicken pieces, I find tongs indispensable when making stocks. It's how I fish out the chicken or oxtail or hamshanks or whatever when it's time to remove the meat from the bone, etc. Trying to use a slotted spoon for large ungainly hunks like whole shanks or a large section of turkey carcass doesn't work as well as a long sturdy pair of tongs.

Agreed. Coffee and tea are ultimately beyond analysis since they satisfy so deeply in so many ways, with or without food.

For vegetables I use a ceramic knife exclusively. I am positive that everyone who has posted on this thread knows ten times more about knives than I ever will, because I know almost nothing about them. I am assuming that none of the knives mentioned above are ceramic. I think of myself as a pretty decent cook and I am fast and accurate when it comes to vegetable prep work. Our knives are a motley assortment of carbon and other types of steel, none of them terribly pricy and most of them old. Except for my one Kyocera ceramic knife. In size it's somewhere between a small knife and a chef's knife. It's very sharp, the blade is thin, and it cuts through an onion like butter, through tomato skin like it wasn't there and, in my hand at least, is agile enough to cut the choke from an artichoke heart without unnecessary waste. I use it all the time, every day, especially for vegetables. In about nine or ten years this is my third ceramic knife. They don't last forever of course, mostly because someone (not me) drops them and they break. I have learned the hard way to keep my ceramic knife off limits to all family members. I use it, wash it, dry it and put it away myself. That way if it breaks no one but me has to feel miserable about it. The edge does wear down eventually, but if I can keep them from breaking I can get at least three years out of one knife. For about $50 or or $60 every few years I get a great knife I use every day and never have to sharpen. Works for me.

I agree that adding citrus or vinegar to many dishes brightens them. Chicken soup gets a great boost from a little lemon or lime juice, lentils love a finish of red vinegar, pinto beans over rice get a squirt of lime juice. Pho without a drizzle of lime is sad! But no one has mentioned acidic components that aren't so obvious. As someone who has often had to cook low-acid meals for a family member, let me tell you: acidic elements are in about 90% of the foods we eat. The big one no one has yet mentioned is the tomato. Tomato is one of the foods highest in acid, and it's in a great percentage of soups and stews we all make. If you have ever tried to cook without tomato you will quickly realize how much even a modest amount of it add to the piquancy of many soups. And then there's lowly mayo. It adds a layer of acid to any sandwich. Even a main dish that doesn't include tomato, vinegar or citrus is usually balanced in the meal by a salad, slaw, or veg that's got plenty of kick from acidic ingredients, so when you eat them together they enhance each other. Remember the cake vs pie thread? Pie had more votes and I suspect that's because many pies have major amounts of acidic fruit to balance out the sweetness. One way to get around that overwhelming sweetness of a non-acid dessert like cake (and even chocolate is acidic) is to complement it with a cup of acid: black tea or coffee. Better yet, espresso with a twist.

In my research on the Paul Revere display-ware I did come upon some detractors who claimed that because the company wanted to create a "collectible" copper series the pans are not meant for heavy duty labor--too thin to distribute heat well. It is pretty light--much lighter than my one and only other copper pot which gets very heavy use--BUT it was perfect for that tarte--easy to manipulate, easy to hold the serving platter under and flip over. In weight it kinda resembles those specific tarte tatin pans that have copper exterior and tin interiors. And which Mauviel charges two million dollars for.

When you say "regular" I assume you mean regular buttermilk, not regular milk, right? It's been a long time since I bought Bulgarian buttermilk. It's tasty, but my memory is that it only comes whole-milk, or 4% milkfat. Since I try to cut down on my cholesterol I always use a low-fat or 1.5% buttermilk when I make pancakes or bread or whatever. I don't recall if the Bulgarian is tangier, but it's certainly richer. I'm sure it would make yummy pancakes, and I would just sub it in the same quantities as your favorite recipe, then see if it needed adjustment.

The old-fashioned way to make red chile (bowl of red as opposed to bowl of green) doesn't use powder. You would take dried red chile pods and soak them in warm water. Then they are blended and strained and can be kept as a thick paste that could then be used as a base for a variety of chile dishes like enchiladas, posole, or thrown into beans or just sopped up with tortillas. When I lived in NM a bowl of red was typically made by cooking pork, low and slow. The chile paste is added to that. I had a friend whose dad grew up in Taos and he made the best red chile and the best posole I ever tasted, and that's pretty much how he did it. For a shortcut you can certainly use ground New Mexican chile. If you don't have a Mexican market near you, I am guessing there are plenty of mail-order places in NM where you can get different kinds of ground chiles with various grades of heat and I'm sure that will be tastier than something off the shelf at Safeway. Really fresh red NM chile has a sweet/bitter taste that's unmistakable. And absolutely--the fresher the better. The last time I was in Santa Fe I was sad to realize that I could no longer handle the really hot stuff. Your post is taking me back.

I too was a child of the golden age of Madison Ave. While Don Draper was drowning in alcohol and taking the train back and forth to the 'burbs, my dad was hard at work at the real forward-thinking agency that is depicted as the nemesis of the fictional Sterling Cooper. He suffered through his share of three-martini lunches but three days a week he spent his lunch hour swimming laps at the Y. He never smoked nor was he a heavy drinker. And we lived in the city, a 15 minute subway ride to work. It was my mother who had her scotch and cigarettes while chatting up a storm during late afternoon play-dates. I love Mad Men, and I think there are some truly inspired moments in it. But there are some major inaccuracies and stereotypes, especially when it comes to the women. Many women rose through the ranks at his agency and became great copy-writers. You didn't need a college degree, just talent. My dad had a long and distinguished career in advertising. He never brought his work home with him and he was always home in time for dinner. I was never taught how to mix drinks, nor was I encouraged to drink except for New Year's Eve. On several memorable occasions my parents came home from whatever party they were at shortly before midnight to open up a tiny container of caviar and a bottle of champagne and share both with me and my brother--when we were too young to be out at parties of our own.

You can't hurry love. And you can't hurry onions. For a simple garnish or for a topping for pizza or a hamburger I use a cast iron skillet (not enameled) and it takes no more than a half hour to make thinly sliced onions tender and caramel-sweet over moderate heat, uncovered. I like them when some are starting to blacken and crisp. My feeling is that high heat can get them crispy, but if you cook on high heat the whole time your onions just won't have time to get tender before they start to burn. Unless, as the previous post suggests, you want them to have a bit of a bite and blackened as well. The more onions you have in the pot the more moisture you have, so cooking onions for an onion soup would take longer, like maybe 45 minutes or so. But I would stll do it uncovered, and I would still use a med-low heat. I haven't made onion soup in years, but that's my memory. Butter or olive oil? Depends what you are making or what taste you want, no?

Most people who get headaches from red wine are having an allergic reaction to histamines and tannins. There are histamines in beer as well. You could also be allergic to sulfites. You made me curious since I react to histamines as well. I agree that keeping a beer and headache diary would be a good idea--especially if going on a bender is your way of doing the research. Otherwise you will looking in the recycling the next morning and trying to figure out which bottle was the culprit. http://www.livingwithout.com/2008/jj08drinks.html http://cdavies.wordpress.com/2007/03/27/beer-allergies/

After the beating I took (and so undeserved, too!) in this thread I swore up and down I would not enter this war-zone of an inquisition again. However, that post about the pineapple and mushroom pizza was disgusting. As a pineapple purist and member of a persecuted sect I would never sanction mushrooms on the same pie as the virtuous fruit.

My understanding of these "condensation" braisers is that you can cook low and slow in the oven without worrying about evaporating your pot juices. Using less liquid to begin with and not letting steam escape by contantly checking its progress, the juices are supposed to intensify in flavor while the meat gets maximum tender; it doesn't boil in a bath, but doesn't dry out either. I see how water in the depression accomplishes this, but it seems like ice would melt awfully quick and not make a big difference. However, from the standpoint of degrees of awkwardness when it comes to refilling the depression, perhaps it's easier to throw on ice cubes rather than pour in water?

The menus sounds great, don't they? Sidwell tuition is just under $30K per year. For that kind of money I would want fabulous food AND cloth (i.e. recyclable!) napkins.

Yesterday I made Chicken and Barley Soup with Kale, using home-made chicken stock that I had frozen. It was very simple: leeks, carrots, celery, fennel, fresh thyme, barley, curly kale, chunks of light and dark meat. It's a variation on a soup I make all the time. Sometimes I make lamb stock from shanks and do Scotch Broth (in that case I omit the kale), sometimes I use a combination of carcasses and bones and make a hybrid stock, but I'm into barley big time these days.

At the Goodwill, while my daughter pawed through tees and sweaters for a junior semester abroad, I checked out the kitchen stuff, usually a fruitless activity at this particular store (Corningware bakers w/out tops, vases from flower delivery, etc.) However the stars were aligned. I picked up a dirty Paul Revere fry pan with stainless steel interior and copper on the exterior, all the way up the sides. I did a little research, and this company, which of course makes Revere ware, put out a line of so-called "display copper" from 1967-85 with the Paul Revere signature on the bottom. It's 10+ inches with 2" sloping sides and a brass handle. My husband cleaned and shined it and it's smashing--looks almost new. But not only that: I've been fretting about what to use to make my first tarte tatin. This pan gave me the courage I needed! It was fabulous. I could see how dark the caramel was getting because of the stainless steel interior, and when it came time to flip the tarte, it dropped right down--no sticking, no problem. A great pan! Cost: $4.59.

If ever there was a time to make your own Scotch Broth, it's now, lassie! I made some last week, using one lamb shank (not exactly cheap, but worth it if you want a little tender meat in your soup) and some other cheaper lamb cut and made a stock. Then I used nothing but the basics: onion, celery, carrots, a little fresh thyme and barley . Salt, fresh ground pepper, and that's it. Yummy and nostalgic.

Looks very yummy! For many years we had a tradition of Coq au Vin for New Year's Day. It's my absolute favorite thing to do with chicken. This year one guest has a problem with tomatoes and red wine, so we're having roast chicken instead. Tarte Tatin for dessert. Happy new year!

Out, out damned fruit! Oh how I wish the word "pineapple" had never crossed the brain/eG barrier. Mea culpa! But lets don't lump pizza with pineapple in the same category with technique heresies. Pineapple is a single ingredient, not a method of making pizza. I don't like pepperoni or clams or bell peppers on my pizza but that doesn't mean a great pizza can't be made using any one of them. You may not like radicchio on your pizza, but I make a fantastic pizza with grilled radcchio. Since perfecting our own homemade pizza my family has all kinds of preferences: very thin crispy crust cooked if possible on an outdoor grill. Minimal toppings, including modest amount of mozz that is strewn casually and does not cover completely, minimal sauce or just fresh tomato, and one or two additional veggies in moderation. No argument here: there's nothing more awful than a mile-high soggy rubbery bready pizza. But that's just lousy pizza, and that's really more about technique than about ingredients. For those who want nothing more than a modest combination of mozz, basil and fresh tomato (and sometimes that's just perfect) call yourselves purists and be done with it--you can say you are a purists about technique AND ingredients. I have a hard time believing, however, that you survived having children, who like all kinds of strange stuff on their pizza and are not very forgiving of parents with an abundance of rules--food or otherwise. But there's nothing inherently verboten about grilled onions or radicchio or chard or any number of other toppings; they were on plenty of menus when I was in Italy. I admit that it may be a leap of faith to allow toppings that are not "native" to Italy (like the Scottish fruit--since we don't want to say its name too often) but here we are in the land of multicultural pizza! Happy new year!

Aww, it's a chilly wind that blows from the east coast! If I'd thought about it I would have realized how much heat I would catch for just the mention of pineapple in a pizza thread. Ouch! I grew up in New York and wouldn't have eaten Hawaiian pizza for love or money. Then I moved to California and went to Hawaii for vacation. Californians...we'll eat just about anything. And right now I have this thing about tomato with fruit. I love it. I've had salads of tomato and watermelon and tomato and peaches. I make a lovely tomato sauce for my pizza and I gotta say, it's frakkin' good with fresh pineapple. So, slkinsey, High Priest of Pizza, sneer all you want and thump your bible, but watch where you throw those stones: try not to hit the President-elect and his kids, who are most likely chasing their Hawaiian pizza with shave ice as we write!

Anyone who makes pizza regularly has strong opinions about toppings (and about the use/style of sauce, nature of crust, and everything else about pizza.) Here are my topping guidelines: Fresh tomato: should be used only during tomato season when they are good. To reduce the moisture, slice thinly and place between layers of paper towel or bar towels. Pat dry as necessary. Done like this, no unwanted wetness will occur on the top of the pizza but the tomato flavor will not be diminished. Pineapple: canned pineapple is revolting. For those who like Hawaiian pizza, fresh pineapple works great. If the oven is as hot as it should be, the edges of the fruit will char and the moisture in it will evaporate and not effect the pizza adversely. Other veggies: raw vegetables are peculiar on pizza for the most part. Very thinly shaved zucchini can work raw, but most other veggies like peppers or mushrooms or chard or raddichio are much tastier if sauteed or grilled first. Garlic: I'm not wild about using raw garlic on pizza. I prefer to add minced garlic halfway through when sauteeing any vegetable--lots if I want a garlicky taste. I'm not a vegetarian but for some reason I just really like my pizza veg. My husband likes mussels and clams on pizza because he had that in France. My daughter wouldn't touch that. I don't like sausage or pepperoni and the idea of chicken pizza seems just plain weird. We've been making pizza at home for so many years, and my daughter, my husband and I have so many strong opinions about what types of meat we will tolerate on it that by default we go with vegetarian pizza and we're all happy. And I admit it's quirky, but we do sometimes make a pineapple pizza without any ham. My daughter loved it when she was little, and now it seems just fine. Once in a while, if my husband lobbies heavily for ham with that pineapple--and we are feeling merciful or he seems pitiful--we add it.

I've never heard of using eggs. I do a very simple chestnut bread stuffing with the usual suspects: modest amount of chestnuts, homemade bread that has a good percentage of cornmeal cubed and dried, butter, celery, onion, sage, thyme, etc and one minced tart apple. Half gets cooked in the bird and half out. The stuffing inside the turkey gets no add'l broth or anything. The stuffing that's cooked as a casserole gets some broth. Seems to me the amount of moisture in the in-bird stuffing depends not only on the type of bread used, how dry the cubes are and whether or not broth is added, but also on how well sealed the cavity is. If the cavity is barely closed with a few metal thingees (like those sold in packages) broth or a binder might be necessary since more dry heat is going in. I sew my turkey up the old-fashioned way with needle and thread, so less drying heat gets in and therefore no need for add'l moisture of any kind. The small amount of apple is enough. It isn't gummy, but it does come out moist.

My favorite holiday lunch (or even dinner on a night when I need a break from complicated food) used to be butter and Stilton on a plain Panzanella cracker, a perfectly ripe pear (like Royal Riviera if I could get one or twelve) and a bottle of Newcastle Brown. Now I'm into Deschutes Black Butte, so I would go with that! And not to leave my other favorite beer out, Rattlesnake Beans over rice and Deschutes Mirror Pond.

I always think of Pommes Anna as nothing but potatoes sliced very thin in layers with butter slathered over every step of the way. The potatoes get partly crispy, which for me is the major thrill. Adding cheese would kill the crispy somewhat, no? Sounds like you are going for a more classic gratin, which might include creme fraiche or milk or cream, onion, but always cheese--often gruyere. Look up some recipes for Pommes Dauphinoise and you might get some good ideas. And Dauphinoise is a yummy word! Gruyere and just a little grated parm or aged pecorino is a nice combo; a combo of one that melts well and then a little of another that's more aged and punchy for flavor. There's a manchego with rosemary coating that might add great flavor, but I've never cooked with it. I would try to assemble it ahead and bake it on site if possible or if you bake it aheat, reheat it in the oven.

Andie: next time I make a nice beef broth (and I usually use oxtails for that) I am going to try it with tea. Paul: mmm...pears with tea infused creme anglaise! How do you infuse the creme a. and how are the pears cooked? In wine? Have you ever cooked pears in a combo of tea and wine? Earl Grey would seem like a natural.