Katie Meadow

Here in the East Bay the typical platter usually has cilantro, thai basil, sliced jalapenos, cut limes and bean sprouts and there is always a bottle of Sriracha on the table. I make a sort of unorthodox or faux pho, using oxtails as my stock base, along with lemongrass, etc. I like to add chopped cilantro a few minutes before serving and then have the thai basil as a garnish. I would be interested in other ideas for a more classis stock perhaps. From a casual glance at some other threads, a lot of people like The Vietnamese Table book. I've never used it...does anyone like it for pho recipes? I disqualify pho restaurants if the broth is too sweet or too salty. That said, I would be happy with a bowl of pho for breakfast, lunch or dinner. For pho phreaks www.phofever.com has fun stuff on it, including some background on the history of pho, T-shirts, etc.

A Votre Sante!

Wonderful thread! Several posters mentioned Sarde en Saor. Earlier this month I was in Venice and flipped for this, ordering it every time I saw it on a menu. I also had a very exotic en saor of those tiny crabs or "moeche" (sp?) one night. The dish varied, and sometimes it was clear that the sardines had been floured and sauteed before marinating. Another time the sardines appeared to have been uncoated. Both were great. I would like some recipes, or at least just an elaboration of approx quantities and technique from anyone. The bones were left in (at least I think so), so I assume smallish sardines are called for. Some fish-mongers here in Northern CA are starting to carry fresh sardines now, so the rest of the ingredients should be easy. Feel free to jump in w/recipe ideas. Thanks, I can't wait to do this. I was surprised to see bergamot make an appearance on this thread. I had no idea that they are grown in southern Italy. If you like that flavor here is a suggested use. We can usually find Bergamot once a year, for only a few weeks, some time around late December/new years. My husband and I invented a very nice, albeit intense drink called the Bergamotini. It's really a Leap Year cocktail from the Savoy London (per Gary Regan) with a simple substitution of bergamot for lemon: 2 oz gin (we prefer simple Bombay--not saphire) 1/2 oz Grand Marnier 1/2 oz sweet vermouth 1/4 oz fresh bergamot juice 1 bergamot twist Shake and strain, add twist. Bottoms Up. And you will be.

For many years my husband and I made Lemon Curd for gifts. It's very easy to make and keeps well. Some people were crazy for it and begged for another jar a week later. Others (mostly relatives) looked crestfallen when they received it a second year. It was very good, but I burned out on it and now don't really care for it much. Besides, I think it was just an excuse for showing off our own cool labels bearing a cartoon of our Australian Shepherd. Our brand was called "Bossy Aussie." Before that we made seasoned vinegars with different herbs. Pathetic confession: one year (and this is a low point as far as inspiration goes) we bought a giant quantity of expensive olive oil and decanted it into smaller bottles for gifts. We probably had the nerve to slap our own labels on, too. Actually great olive oil is a gift I would always be happy to get. Most dreaded homemade gift: an orange stuck with cloves. Only appropriate if it comes from someone under the age of four. And even then it's a puzzle. Grown-ups who make them are scary. Favorite gift: my father-in-law's home cured olives. Most surprising gift that seemed inane but turned out to be useful: pine cones waxed and wicked or somehow treated for use as wood fire starters. I have a feeling it was a lot of work; my in-laws only did that once. Gift no one's ever given me that I would love to receive: really great bitter marmalade. Fine cut, a bit on the soupy side, clear, not cloudy. Love that story upthread about the sister-in-law and the sexy crocheted shopping bag.

Sounds yummy, Dave! Our Porto was not expensive; depending on the venue we paid anywhere from 3 to 4.5 euros per glass (awful exchange rate now.) What struck me was that everywhere we ordered it the taste was exactly the same, as if there was some standard tawny port served as an aperitif. Peter, I didn't realize that the French are more likely to drink port the way I had it--interesting. BevMo, by the way, is Beverages & More, a giant warehouse chain. I'm in Northern CA--dunno how widespread that operation is, but the prices are good for most of the standard liquors, beers and wines. Oh, and if taking a bath in pastis is your idea of heaven, you and my husband can soap eachother up to your hearts' content. I'll be watching the sunset here on Earth. To me, Pernod and Pastis are Klingon drinks, best sipped with an appetizer of live eels.

I'm not a port drinker and know close to zero about Port. In Provence, while my husband was practically taking a bath in Pastis, my mother and I started ordering Porto after a waiter suggested it. It was served chilled in lovely little glasses and it was perfect for those warm evenings. My husband claims he saw the bottle, and that it was tawny port. We ordered it in several towns and it always tasted exactly the same. Of course immediately upon getting home I went to BevMo thinking to duplicate the experience. Hundreds of bottles of Porto and not a clue what to buy. What was I thinking? More important, what was I drinking? Is there some standard Porto served as an aperitif in the south of France? Help me, I miss my dusty ochre violet hour!

Thanks Lior, Pransantrin and others who have expressed such tolerance and generosity toward their guests, and for pointing out that allergies, and some other food preferences can be worked around without feelings of hostility. Surely those of us who enjoy food enough to belong to eG have a repertoire of good dishes that can accomodate a lot of different tastes/restrictions. It's a balancing act between the host and the guests; hosts should inquire ahead and be flexible, and guests should take some responsibility for their own limitations by giving the host good warning, being appreciative, arriving with a dish of their own to share or expecting to eat whatever they can and have a good time. When those unusual situations arise, if there is a misunderstanding or if a guest is rude, you just have to laugh it off and not invite them back. I feel sorry for those people who have lots of strange food hang-ups that are neither dietary restrictions, allergies nor philosphically or culturally based. There are people who, for whatever reasons, simply don't enjoy food. We have all known someone like that; someone who fusses and picks over stuff, who worries all the time about what they will be able to eat, who obsesses over ingredients, and who ultimately ends up eating food that isn't very appetizing, as if it was medicine, or some kind of job. That's sad, but it isn't something to be mean about. As for you Jensen, thanks for the compliment--I tried to convince myself that naughtiness was a sign of smarts when my kid was young! I'm just witchy Aunt Katie. Those boys probably think I'm a dope. Doesn't she KNOW we hate nuts?

Your solution sounds energetic and delicious. I would have definitely wanted both the gratin and the oven chips if I was there. I don't think I have the stamina for making an extra dish. FYI, speaking of dairy free potatoes (and I apologize for veering off topic) I used to adore Potatoes Anna made with copious amounts of butter until I needed to reduce the cholesterol in my diet. The September issue of Bon Apetit has a good substitute. Its a Gordon Ramsay recipe for Potato-Onion Gratin that uses olive oil instead and it's very good. Speaking of Gordon Ramsay, is there an unnatural fascination with him on eG? No other chef, with the exception of Anthony Bourdain, seems to get more thread time. I think GR is very strange. But this potato dish is nice.

I agree that the reason for the event is primary. If the birthday girl's fave is stir-fry prawns you might suggest your vegan girlfriend bring an Asian-style salad to go with and she will have a fine meal with rice and her own salad. Most picky-eaters have learned to adjust (okay, let's hope the grown-up ones have) and will help you out. If the menu is the main event they can be forewarned or not invited. If I have a menu I'm excited about and find a guest won't be able to eat it, I try to shift gears and take it as a challenge. Allergy to wheat? Make a curry over rice. I find I am happier adjusting the menu rather than the dish. Vegetarian relatives? Kids who only eat white food? I had both, and learned how to make a nice crunchy mac & cheese, veggies on the side. Don't like that crunchy top? Good, more for me and Dad. To my chagrin, I discovered my 3-yr old daughter liked expensive cheeses--as long as they were white, like brie. When red sauce became acceptable I began to love lasagne. Then one day lo & behold the lasagne acquired a layer of spinach or artichokes and that passed the test. The kid who ate only white bread, noodles and rice for four years now eats the brie on baguette AND the homemade tomato soup with chive garnish--and everything else. I have to say that the no-carb crowd would have a hard time at my house, but for my one dear friend who does that I've learned that soups with a rich stock and lots of veggies work best because I can make the rice or noodles separately and add them at the end--or not. I prefer that technique anyway, since the starch elements don't get overcooked or soggy. The biggest void in my repertoire is vegetarian soups, since I can't resist a good stock made from chicken feet, a carcass and bones. Before I had a kid I watched my sister-in-law in horror as she made a cheese sandwich for her oldest boy. He wouldn't eat it, so she ate it. He said he would eat pb & j, so she made that. He wouldn't eat it, so it was tossed. Then she made a third sandwich which he also claimed he would eat. Didn't. Mind you this took place over an hour's time. I made a silent vow that if ever had a child I would never EVER fall prey to this kind of humiliation. Ah, so easy to say! We had our low moments, but I rarely made alternative meals and I didn't require her to eat; I did try to accomodate her most of the time and made do with good food that wasn't esoteric or terribly adventurous for a few years. The nephew who took such advantage of his mother now owns a restaurant and is a voracious and adventurous eater. He is completely self-involved but is also charming and sweet. Go figure. One compromise I won't make for anyone: brownies without nuts. I have three nephews (brothers) who all refuse to eat nuts, and only because the older one started it; none are allergic. I don't often make brownies for family gatherings, but on those rare occasions I always put lots of nuts in and take a disgusting amount of pleasure in the fact that these boys all say, "Oh, I don't like nuts." As if I didn't know.

What about "build your own" for the tea sandwiches? You could offer butter, jam, cream cheese, walnuts, lox, thinly sliced dill pickles, cucumber and tomato slices, chopped black olives, chopped chives and scallions, etc. And then there's watercress--just for a sociology experiment. On second thought it's possible this hands-on approach is counterproductive if you are after propriety and etiquette. An interesting bread alternative is that swirled pumpernickel & white bread (I can't remember what it's called) but it looks fun and fancy and often prompts discussion amongst kids who haven't seen it. (That would be nice w/chicken salad or egg salad--yum!) My daughter was really into the cream cheese and olive combo, and I think she even tolerated tomato and scallions on it. I've always been surprised by the number of kids who like olives--maybe it's the salt--but haven't put cream cheese and olives together. Good on white bread, excellent on a fresh bagel. I can't look at a can of chopped black olives without thinking about school lunches. Sick as it may be, I always thought that tinny taste of the can was integral to that sandwich. I tried using "real" olives but it never tasted quite right. Other sandwich ideas: thinly sliced cheddar and apples, cheese and pickles, date-nut bread with cream cheese, chicken salad w/walnuts. Oops--make sure the kids know there are nuts if you use them. Otherwise tea will be a lawsuit waiting to happen. Maybe just go with the olives.

Alle Testiere I need to correct an error in my review. My nephew was with us for dinner, so that makes four people. 230 Euros sounds a little less scary divided by four. And he's young and eats a huge amount. He ordered oysters in addition to an antipasto, but I can't remember what he ate.

We spent the evening of the French quarterfinal win in a "big screen" restaurant in Bormes-les-Mimosas on the Med coast. Halfway through our meal we heard a spontaneous and reverant burst of song from a large private party in another room--you guessed it, the Marseillaise. It was like being in a movie! The game was beginning. My mother, who of course identifies a lot more with Casablanca than she does with rugby, was brought to tears, which was hysterically funny. We had wanted to order "muscles" but the restaurant across the street that served them had a power failure. So instead we were treated to a live performance of national pride. Very moving! Your post is great-- I will forward it to my daughter who plays club rugby. The confit part may be a stumbling block for her but the rest of the jokes could probably be understood by people whose culinary thrills--so i'm told--include drinking beer out of a shoe if you don't know all the words to the rugby songs. For those of you in France, I'm sorry for your loss.

My understanding is that bulgur is toasted cracked wheat. My husband uses cracked wheat once in a while when baking bread, soaking it first. I don't know how the toasting affects cooking time, but it definitely gives it a yummy flavor. Bulgur is usually specified for tabbouli, rarely cracked wheat. I make tabbouli by pouring the hot water over the bulgur, and that's a different process than just cooking bulgur. I guess cracked wheat can vary in size, just like steel cut oats can vary. We have bought our bulgur in bulk from the same source for years, but if the crack was larger I guess the cooking time would need adjustment and so would the ratio of grain to water. I cook my basmati rice the same way as below, with a 2/1 ratio. I use a small saucepan w/ relatively high sides. Melt a small pat of butter (olive oil would work, I'm sure) and sautee 1 cup bulgur with a little salt over a moderate flame. Stir for a few minutes til it starts to smell toasty. Add 2 cups water, raise the heat til it comes to a good simmer, cover, then lower the heat to very low or so the bulgur is simmering gently. Cook 12-15 minutes without stirring or til all water is absorbed and the bottom is just starting to stick. Let sit another few minutes covered (left-over steam will unstick the bulgur if you have cooked it a bit too long) then fluff with a fork. I don't see why the addition of onion, sauteed a few minutes before adding the bulgur wouldn't be nice. If you were adding lentils to the same pot I guess that would change everything a lot. I would be inclined to cook my lentils separately. My husband recently cooked bulgur and I noticed he had turned the flame down so low that it wasn't even simmering. He was expecting it to take 20 minutes. His bulgur does frequently come out wet or gummy and now I know why.

Ae Oche Zattere Ponte Lungo Dorsoduro Il Refolo Campiello del Piovan 1459 Santa Croce Let me start my saying that my standards for pizza are disgustingly high because we've been making our own pizza about every other week for years, and thanks to some great suggestions on a pizza thread here we are closing in on that ideal crispy thin crust. Lacking that wood-fire taste we're doing as best we can. So. I would say that at least 75% of all pizzas I had growing up in New York were better than Ae Oche. It's popular, I'll say that, mostly with the students in the Dorsoduro. The pizza was just plain bad. Soggy. Il Refolo was better, and the little square by the canal was a pleasant place for lunch. The salad was run-of-the-mill. We chose a pizza with radicchio and buffalo mozz. Their technique was interesting--the shredded radicchio and the buff. went on after the pizza was done, so they were uncooked. Strange, but interesting. The crust was mostly crisp, and it was cooked well and was pretty tasty. Not great, but far better than Ae Oche. Maybe Venice just isn't a pizza town. I would have thought to see more seafood on pizza--like vongole or cozze pizza, but didn't see any.

Ai Quattro Ferri Calle Lunga S. Barnaba 2754a Dorsoduro I would not recommend this restaurant. It was a short walk from our hotel, and by the end of our trip my mother, who is 89, was really tired, so we didn't want to stray far in the evenings. I had the verdura mista, and it was pretty good. The three of us shared a large branzino. They brought us the fish to approve and it did look very nice and fresh. Then they brought it out for us right after it was grilled, and it still looked good. Then, before I could say anything, they whisked it away. Ten minutes later it came back, looking like a big mess and no longer hot. For us stupid Americans they deboned and beheaded the fish. They weren't very artful about it and, to add insult to injury, they overcooked it as well. I saw an Italian table served a fish with its head still on, which is how I would have preferred it. This restaurant does not take credit cards and our fish cost 75 euros, which seemed steep to me for what we got. Dessert was also a mixed bag. It was sweet wine and cookies. The wine was rather nice, but the cookies were lousy.

Da Alberto (address etc upthread) I loved this place. We easily made a reservation the day before for a Friday night dinner, but found ourselves in the neighborhood at lunchtime on thursday, so in we went. Only half the tables were full, but it was early. This restaurant was definitely a great value. My mother had the grilled veggies, and with the exception of the peas, it was totally satisfying. The potatoes were divine--like the frites of my dreams. I wanted more Sarde en Saor, but could only get them as part of the mixed seafood antipasto, so my husband and I shared that. Very very good. The sarde was great, a bit different from the one at Sempione, but equally good. My mother and I both had the special, pasta with red sauce and mussels which was terrific. The sauce was clean and delicate, consisting of fresh halved cherry tomatoes, mussel broth and a little olive oil. The mussels were beautiful, tender, tasty. My mother spent half the trip trying to get "small" pasta instead of spaghetti, like capellini or linguini, and since this was served with a finer pasta resembling spaghettini, she was thrilled. And it was cooked perfectly. My husband, continuing his inkfest, tried the cuttlefish pasta, and it too was great. He spent a certain percentage of the trip with a black tongue. Luckily the goth lip thing fades quickly, since he isn't really the type. The house red at Da Alberto was the best house wine of the trip. I think we had tiramisu for dessert, in our attempt to duplicate the experience at Testiere, but I'm sure no other Tiramisu came close to that. Really lovely restaurant.

Osteria al Ponte "La Patatina" 2741a Calle dei Saoneri San Polo We happened on this little place by accident. We started our day at the mind-blowing fish market (where I got to see those baby crabs live and kicking) and were on our way to the Frari. My mother gets hungry on the early side and as we crossed over the Rio San Polo bridge she declared she needed to eat and there was this Osteria, only one table free. Many of the tables are common family style tables. There were no women inside, and all the men were clearly local working people. By one o'clock the working men were gone and a variety of people started filling tables, most speaking Italian. My mother had spaghetti with clams, which she found very nice, and I had a delicious steamed combo of mussels and clams with a nice broth (not too salty!) My husband had squid w/ink pasta, which was very good, with lots of tender squid, and we shared a vegetable-of-the-day, which was plain pristine spinach, served as usual with cruets of oil and vinegar on the side. They talked my husband into ordering the house tart, made on the premises. It was good, not fantastic. The price was right, food very good, atmosphere great.

Alle Testiere (address etc upthread) My mother had to beg for a reservation and that was three weeks ahead! We managed to secure a 9:15, but had to wait almost a half hour outside before they could seat us. Meanwhile self satisfied (and all English speaking) patrons were leaving and none failed to reassure us it's worth the wait. It was, in fact delicious. After reading the above testimonials I was thrilled to find they were serving those little crabs. They were serving them "en saor" (just my luck!) and they were kind of amazing. Only four though, just enough to make me wish I had about thirty more. I had a simple spaghetti with vongole for my entree, having decided that it's a dish that sounds easier to perfect than it is. Usually it's too salty or the clams aren't sweet enough. Anyway it was great. My husband hit the jackpot. For an antipasto he had mussels steamed in a very subtle ginger sauce. They were by far the most tender, delicious mussels I have ever eaten. Then he had prawns in some kind of cinnamon sauce, also very subtle but exotic and out of this world. I'm not much of a dessert person, but we ordered tiramisu and it was the best I've ever tasted--just fabulous. 230 Euros for the three of us.

Sempione Ponte Beretteri, San Marco 578 No mention of this on the thread, and we wouldn't have gone there if we had not been invited out by an acquaintance who spent her childhood in Venice and who is a friend of the owners. No way to know if they pulled out the stops for us as a result, but our lunch was very good. Our friend claimed that it's a favorite of gondoliers, who supposedly eat in the back room that looks out over the canal, but I didn't see any working folk in the restaurant, nor were we invited to sit in the room with the view. Sempione started my week-long love affair with the Venetian specialty Sarde en Saor--sardines that have been cooked then marinated for three days with pickled onions and typically served as an antipasto. If you hate pickled herring you probably will not like it. Anyway, their version was delicious--clean and simple, the sardines were firm and the onions crunchy and refreshing. Our hosts and my husband had the polpe (octopus) salad, which was tender and sweet and lovely. My mother and my husband split a vegetable risotto which had great flavor but we thought the rice a little too al dente. My nephew had the branzino, and I thought it was very nice and tasted super fresh, but my two experiences with branzino lead me to believe it's a very bland fish, so if that's not what you are expecting you might be disappointed. I had grilled eel, which was straight-ahead but not fabulous, and not as tender as the freshly caught eel I had from the northern CA coast. Our host had the pasta in house sauce (seafood) and reported it excellent. No one had dessert. The espresso was one of the best we had all week. i didn't pay attention to the prices, but I am guessing gondoliers, unless they are very well paid, don't eat there regularly.

Following up and many thanks! We have returned from our way-too-short trip to Provence (and Venice). The weather was fantastic, and in the small hill towns we had great picnics wherever we came upon nice charcuteries. The stand-out meal was indeed lunch at Bistrot du Paradou. I love that place! I love that there are few choices and they just pick the wine for you. The starters were either a green salad w/lardons and a perfectly cooked egg w/ runny center, or a tart with artichoke and tomatoes. Both incredible. Also the bread: fantastic. Entrees were lamb or rabbit. My husband always opts for lamb, which I don't care for and he was in heaven. My mother and I had the rabbit--a beautiful crispy sauce and a bacon wrap--very simple. My piece was the leg/thigh, which was great. My mother's was the breast, and it was a tad dry, which was too bad. It was served with a nest of perfect buttered noodles and a swoon-inducing scoop of some sort of roasted tomato confit, which I could have made a meal out of itself. The cheese course was outstanding. My dessert was the best of the three, a fig tart with what seemed to be wood-fired figs. Actually there were some great figs all over Provence and I bought a variety I have never seen at the Aix market. In Aix we had a very good meal at La Chimere, which, by about 10 pm was jam packed with French people and very few English speakers. I had the best snails ever, very traditional garlic sauce to die for. My entree was grilled tuna and it was cooked just right--nice and rare in the middle but still warm thru. It was sitting atop a wonderful gratin of thinly sliced potato and artichoke layers; the chokes still had good bite and were really flavorful. My husband had venison, of all things, served in a rich dark sauce with mushrooms. It was rather amazing, but too rich and gamey for me. We also had a very good lunch of soup au poisson with the traditional rouille at the Bastide du Cours on the Mirabeau, mob scene and all. Aix gets the prize for best patisserie. Hands down it won best cookie on the planet. All three of us were in shock. I can't remeber the name, but it's on a well-traveled street. Also, just below the main attraction of the Cathedral St.-Saveur and Musee du Vieil is a little take-out joint that is a french cook's interpretation of Vietnamese food. It's terrific and makes comparatively inexpensive lunch. It's across the street from a very popular wagon that sells a variety of exotic fresh juice concoctions and crepes. One thing we learned too late: look for the boulangerie that boasts "feu du bois." That wood fired oven makes the difference. On a crossroads in a not very scenic town on the road from Aix to St. Maximin-la-Ste Baume we stopped at a bakery that made a croissant like no other I ever tasted. A little smoky, a little char on the bottom, no touch of grease.....completely amazing.

I'm back from my trip to Provence, my main regret being that I didn't have more time there. My one mini-regret was that I missed my only chance to have Bulot. Our first day in Aix I spotted it on the menu but really wanted the fish soup, which was very good. Guess I assumed I'd have another chance, but in eight days in a variety of places I never saw it again. I did have snails in Aix and they were fabulous. I saw bulots at the Aix market and in the Venice fish market as well, but never on the Venice menus. Next time.

By way of thanks and a follow up....we just returned from a great trip to Provence and thanks to this thread I was thrilled to see Salade de Museau in a small and very sweet little charcuterie in the town of Goult. We bought it along with a slab of pate de campagne and both were excellent. The salad was as described, thinly sliced with a delicious bold dressing. Great picnic material. Saw it again, looking beautiful, in an amazing charcuterie in Aix-en-Provence. That place was hopping, and we waited (w/no other English speaking tourists) on line for almost a half hour to buy our picnic supplies. I looked for eels but never saw any cevettes on the menus. I saw some eels at the Aix market and more in Venice (live ones there) but not little ones.

When making a big pot of soup or stew I adore my Le Creuset. It's big enough for soup but not for stock, since I like to make a max amount of stock in order to freeze some. So when I make stock I use a really large high-sided stainless steel pot that can accomodate a whole chicken, extra feet and various types of bones, etc. It seems to me that the weight of a 20+qt. LC (or even a 15!) would be prohibitive with stock in it. I haven't noticed any substantial difference in the quality of stock made in a light-weight stainless pot vs enameled cast iron. I saute bones, if I'm using them, in basic cast iron and then transfer them to the stock pot. I would have thought that a simmer is a simmer, and all the great attributes of cast iron aren't really crucial to making a stock. I'm curious...can anyone testify to a difference? Am I making crock stock without a proper stock crock?

If some dried spices should be aged beyond being totally dry, that's news to me. If I open the jar and don't smell a nice strong pleasing aroma, or if the color is dry and dusty, out it goes. I buy the tiniest amounts of spices that I can, unless it's something I use all the time. I don't use ground ginger very often, so that's one that often has to get replaced. Making gingerbread with anything but fresh spicey ground ginger seems like a waste of time and energy. Just before Thanksgiving every year I notice my dry sage is hopeless and I have to buy more. I believe I use dry sage once a year, exactly. I haven't paid close attention, but I am guessing some dry spices last longer than others. In my experience cinnamon seems to have a long shelf-life, but maybe heavy-users disagree? I also think that when spices like paprika and cayenne get brown or dull in color the flavor gets dull or bitter as well. My guide is to trust my senses. Yeah, in a pinch I'll use a pinch, but then it goes on the shopping list. If I am buying in bulk and am forced to purchase twice as much as I actually want I give the extra to my neighbor who also cooks a lot so she can restock her supply with fresh.