Katie Meadow

Good maple syrup is gold. No need to be in a hurry--it's only 4 quarts! I find maple syrup keeps very well in the fridge. I shove the main bottle way in the back and decant as needed into a pint container for handy use on oatmeal, pancakes, etc.

No, I wish! Il Refolo was closed when we were in Venice. I think they close early for the season, but I am sure they will be open in June. That's a good suggestion--I've heard great things about it. I have one bit of advice for anyone visiting Venice. Get the Rough Guide Map, the one sold separately and printed on rain-resistant paper. It's better than the map that comes with the Rough Guide book Venice, because it actually has EVERY street on it! No other map I've seen has every little street with every street name. It was invaluable. I've never seen anywhere in the world where more people were consulting maps at every intersection. Sometimes we just gave up and wandered aimlessly; you get lost and found about two hundred times a day. If the kids don't like to eat fish but like to look at amazing sea creatures (albeit mostly on ice) take them to the Rialto fish market, which operates almost every morning. There was a whole swordfish (really big!), live eels, teensy weensy live crabs, and all manner of amazing things. If that's too gross, make it up to them by stopping (again) at one of the six thousand gelaterias. If you want to see their eyes pop (unless they are already too high on sugar) take them to Marchini, just a couple of blocks from San Marco. It's worth it for the visuals alone; pastries from out of a dream. But then Venice is a whole city that's like a giant beautiful confection.

Thanks for the suggestions above--and no, they weren't too late. Working with rice noodles has been a long learning curve. I had the feeling I could as easily as not ruin these noodles, so I did an experiment. I poured almost boiling water over just a few noodles. Within a few seconds they were softer than I like, so I decided not to parboil them at all. 2-5 seconds might be about right, but that seems pretty hard to control. Instead I simply added them to the stir fry after the flavoring sauce went in and by the time they were heated through and mixed with the vegetables--all of 30 seconds maybe--they were done. It was very good. I had carrots, kolrabi (kolrabi must be the new "it" vegetable in Chinatown--it's everywhere), cabbage and teeny weeny baby bok choy plus a little leftover duck. My flavoring or finishing sauce was simple Andrea Nyguyen formula: soy sauce, fish sauce, sesame oil and I subbed a little duck broth for the water. Yes, these noodles do look exactly like those pictured in the bowl of Bun Bo Hue on the dustjacket of "Into the Vietnamese Kitchen." I am thinking that you could just put them in a bowl as is and pour the hot broth over them and they would be just right. This is inspiring me to take a closer look at these fresh rice noodles and see what else I can do with them. Sorry, no pix!

I second Da Alberto, especially for lunch. We had a late lunch there, just walked in. The tables were well-spaced, and even tho no kids were with us I would definitely have been comfortable w/kids. The waitstaff was very sweet and relaxed. And the mussels were out of this world. I'm sure they would make your kids a simple plate of pasta. I looked in vain for good pizza in Venice. One place was okay, with nice outdoor tables next to a small canal (can't remember the name) but I would avoid Ae Oche, which for some reason is highly touted in the guide books. At night it was full of young noisy people (not that that's a bad thing), sevice was slow and we all thought the pizzas were dreadful.

Howdy, I have a noodle question. Typically when I buy rice noodles for Viet stir-fry or soups I buy dried. But today, on a whim, I bought fresh rice noodles in Chinatown. They are packaged in a styrofoam tray as always, looking beautiful. The label says Bahn Tam. Does Tam denote a thickness? They are round noodles, about the thickness of cooked regular spaghetti--not vermicelli. I want to make a stir-fry tomorrow night. I probably should use them asap--like tonight--but I can't do that. Do I need to drop these noodles in boiling water before I do anything else? Or can I add them to the wok toward the end (the way I would if I pre-cooked al dente fresh Chinese wheat noodles) just so they get heated thru and coated w/sauce for the finish?

Thank you Cakewalk and all others whose enthusiasm for Sephardic Charoset nudged me over the fence. I'm never going back. I made a hybrid that seems most like the recipes for Yemenite or Turkish Charoset, which use both fresh apple and dried fruit. And I basically used what I had in the house already. Approx 1+ cup of finely chopped dried figs and apricots was soaked in wine (not sweet wine) for an hour or so. Walnuts and pine nuts were briefly toasted and then chopped fine. I finely minced by hand 3 Braeburns and a green apple, sprinkling with lemon juice as I chopped, then added a lemon's worth of fine zest. I drizzled the apples with honey to taste--stopped at still tart. Then I mixed in the soaked fruits and added a little bit more wine, then the nuts, and finally a few shakes of toasted sesame seeds and a very modest sprinkle of salt. It was fabulous, got raves, and sadly, there wasn't a forkful left to take home. The pine nuts added a terrific flavor and just the small amount of sesame seeds was a great surprise. If I had had dates or pistachios around I think I would have tried to work them in too. Dates & walnuts is tried-and-true; apricots & pistachios is a divine intervention.

That sounds very yummy. I've never had onion marmalade. Anyone know how to make it? I think one could come up with a very nice low-brow version of this sandwich with some type of pate, onion marmalad and....what was the chocolate like? Dark or more like nutella? Nutella would be pretty much of a surprise paired with Foie Gras. Talk about high-low. When we in the south of France last fall we did a lot of picnicking. We would end up with the remains of Salade de Museau, various pates, various cheeses, etc. Salade de Museau, alone or in combo with other things, makes for a very satisfying sandwich.

Mine is very simple but it's all about texture. Also, I do not use sweet wine. I confess that the seder we attend is very lax, and everyone brings great wine and lots of it, most of it CA wine and there are usually a few bottles that are kosher. So, I've always used a red wine leftover from the night before, like a pinot or a light cab or a merlot or whatever's around. I don't go near a processor, so it's just a tad time-consuming. I slice my apples as thin as I can, then chop them carefully into tiny little dice. The walnuts are also chopped by hand, very fine as well. As the apples are chopped I spritz them with lemon juice to keep them from browning and to tarten them up. Then I add a little honey to taste, and then a generous sprinkling of wine. I use 3 apples (usually one of them green) to a 1/2 cup of walnuts, and the honey and wine I just do by taste/feel; I don't like it sweet. I save some at home and then bring back my friend's fabulous home-made horseradish just so I can have it the next day. There's someone else who comes to this seder who also brings charoset. It's very sweet and looks like cement. Not very appealing. Cakewalk: I would love to see those recipes, they sound very tempting. I might try incorporating soaked fruit into the apples just for a change.

Chris, at my next Southern style dinner party I am going to make the Peppered Pecans to serve with drinks. They sound great, although you would probably frighten some people if you used the larger amount of hot sauce. Anderson's Sweet-Sour Coleslaw sounds good and very simple w/no mayo, and she says it gets better if made ahead--always a plus for a party. I'm not sure I'd use a whole onion, though, since raw onion doesn't agree with everyone, including me. Actually I have an idea: if you are making the pickled shrimp you will have some bonus pickled onions that you could substitute for the raw. Pickled onions are great mixed into slaw. Nobody doesn't like collards...or don't they? Her recipe for New Southern Collards might be nice. I haven't made this, since I have a Robert Carter collards recipe to which I am slavishly devoted, but this one isn't acidic nor does it have pork in it. That would make it a good companion to vinegary slaw and pulled pork. Can you tell I'm not in the camp that believes no amount of pork is too much? A natural with pulled pork--and with the pickled shrimp too--would be her Little Havana Black Beans and Rice. And a pot o' beans can be made the day before, so that's a plus. What are you having for dessert?

The pre-bake pix upthread make the potatoes look distinctly UNmarinated. I like the idea of adding potatoes but marinating them seems couterintuitive--they will soak up plenty of flavor during cooking, and it's possible that marinating them would make the marinade/sauce starchy or cloudy. Another good addition would be fresh artichoke hearts, tucked in maybe half-way through the cooking.

Oh yes, I almost forgot about the schmaltz. If you don't want to make cracklings (gribenes) you would typically have the fat you skim off from the stock you've made for your matzoh ball soup and use that. If sauteeing the livers isn't a no-no for you (and I know my family didn't care), then you could sautee the livers in a generous amount of chicken fat. That would add enough to the mix I would think. But chicken cracklings with hot sauce...yummm....

I think the Foie Gras parody upthread is very funny! Put me in the "irritation with Chris Kimble" camp. I can't stomach his monthly letters about what an idyllic life he has, tapping his perfect trees to make his perfect syrup, inviting the indians over for Thanksgiving, neighborhood shooting parties, roasting pigs and jawing with all the local farmers. A couple of years ago I wanted to see what CI was like, but I didn't want to pay for it, so I sent in a "reader's tip" and got a year for free. After that I couldn't get rid of these people! I asked to be removed from that email list and two years later I still get these self-important updates about the folksy life on the farm. I think the recipes are kinda dull. "Best" this or that? I'll be the judge of that, thanks. Their approach to cooking seems more like Problem Solving. This old saw about "we make it hundreds of time so you don't have to" just seems kind of antithetical to what cooking is really about: having fun and experimenting and figuring out which techniques work best for the way you like to eat. In a whole year's worth of issues I was inspired to make very few of the recipes and only one was a keeper for me. I didn't find their product comparisons too enlightening, either. Products that I have found useful and long-lasting were often omitted, and the one time we bought something they highly recommended it turned out to be useless. It was cheap, though.

Heartily concur. Unless you have a great deli nearby that makes chopped liver you really like, most prepared stuff is pretty heavy-handed--and overmixed--and it will make you sad. Caramelize the onions and set aside. Gently sautee the livers, then (yes!) hand-chop them. Mix with the onion, salt and pepper to taste, fold in finely chopped egg. Try holding out some of the yolk; it's just personal, but I think the chopped white adds to the texture but too much yolk just makes it taste eggy. Then do as my dad did: add a splash of brandy! Flamed cognac would work too I imagine but my dad wasn't fussy. Garnish with a dusting of finely minced parsley or chives et voila! Your guests will be on memory lane. I'm there just thinking about it. If your guests were at my long-deceased uncle's house for passover they would be drinking martinis with their chopped liver on matzoh.

I frequently cook ham shanks mainly for the stock, so I too have ham left over that needs to be put to good use. And I'm also salt-sensitive. The best way for me to deal with leftover ham is to encorporate it into a dish that can be undersalted. Ham salad is yummy, and if you eat it as a sandwich on good bread that cuts the salt somewhat. Another salad that works well is a warm rice salad with some ham in it. My favorite use for leftover ham is in soups. Try making bean soups, vegetable soups with potatoes or soups with greens like kale or collards and seriously undersalting them--or even adding no salt at all during cooking. Then half an hour or shortly before the soup is done add the shredded or chopped ham. The salt from the meat disperses (or at least it seems to) and does the job. If anyone at the table thinks it isn't salty enough, they can sprinkle at will.

Thanks mizducky for the clarification of sodium content in kombu. Gordon, you've been quiet since you started this thread. It would be useful to know if your wife's doc suggested she back way off on salt and sodium-laden products or whether she has been instructed to avoid all sodium. My solution in lowering my salt intake was to pretty much eliminate processed commercial foods. Then I allowed myself to add a small amount of salt to home-cooked foods. I treat salt like it was precious gold flake. A very small pinch of good sea salt goes a long way on a tomato or on a rib-eye, especially once your taste buds adjust to a diet with less. Your wife could probably eat one sliced tomato a day with a few grains of fleur de sel for the rest of her pregnancy and not get half the sodium that's in one 6 oz can of tomato juice! Using less processed foods means you could use salt mainly for finishing, and that way you could salt your own portion and wouldn't feel so deprived.

Chris, when I lived in New Mexico, the families I knew made fantastic posole, using dried corn that was slow-cooked for several hours at least, until it "pops." Lots of them used rice-cookers and had the corn simmering in broth with pork and red chile from morning til dinner. I think some posole corn is "half-cooked" and may take less time, but my memory is that with the real thing you have to cook it until it bursts, which was usually a matter of five or six hours.

When I had to cut way back on salt I too discovered that anything with a lot of citrus or anything very tart can go the distance without adding salt. I made a lot of Avgolemono (Greek Lemon soup) and Sorrel soup. I also found that roasting a chicken rubbed with lemon juice and oil and paprika was very satisfying without salt. I agree that unsalted beef is a tough sell. Upthread there was a suggestion of kelp and kombu. I always stayed away from any type of seaweed, assuming that it naturally contained seasalt. Actually I have no idea whether that's true. I sympathize! I was amazed when I realized how much sodium is in all products on the grocery shelves. Most plain old cottage cheese has a ton of sodium, and brands vary widely.Tell your wife to take heart; soon her taste buds will adjust and she won't miss it as much as she does now. And it won't be long before there are cherries and plums and other fabulous fruits! And then you'll have a baby!

As noted above, the Malpeque is a variety of Virginica oyster, which is an east coast or Atlantic oyster. A true Malpeque would be a Virginica oyster that grows wild in Malpeque Bay on Prince Edward Island. A great description of the few mayor types of oysters and the enormous differences in taste that result from where they grow can be found at TheNibble.com. Location, location, location. www.thenibble.com/reviews/main/fish/seafood/oyster-glossary.asp I don't believe I have tasted a Virginica farmed on the west coast, but the above site says that the Totten Island Virginica is farmed in Puget Sound. I always assumed what are sold around here as "Atlantics" are flown in from back east, but perhaps that's not be the case. Seems clear that if you cultivate a Malpeque or other Virginica on the west coast it will taste different than that same species grown on the east coast, just as a Virginica grown off Long Island will taste different from one grown in Malpeque Bay. It doesn't seem right to call it a Malpeque if it wasn't grown in Malpeque Bay, but it would be fine to call it an "Atlantic" if in fact it's a Virginica. I had some delicious oysters in the Seattle area last year; I'd love to try some Canadian ones!

Chris, this blog screams out for recipes that combine pork and chocolate. I have a recipe for something you might like. It's a Red Pork Chili that calls for not only chocolate but coffee as well. These flavors are subtle (well, not the pork or the chili of course) but they definitely add a twist. If you want it I will send it along sometime soon. It's what I would want after a cold day in outer space.

Whoa, this thread is running the gamut from "Ewww!" to "You should be able to look your protein in the eye before...etc." An NPR report back in November claimed the latest scientific evidence is that lobsters do indeed feel pain, along with other crustacea. This is how most creatures manage to stay alive: they respond to pain or discomfort by gettin' the hell outta Dodge. They turn tail, retreat or scuttle away as the case may be. If this isn't a hoax, there's a object marketed mainly to the restaurant trade called a CrustaStun, which sends a 3-5 amp/110 volt shock to the critter, killing it in a hurry. There's a picture of it but I didn't want to study it long enough to figure out how it worked. I have never tackled a lobster and I probably never will, but I do cook Dungeness crabs. I put them in the freezer for about 15 minutes first and then drop them in boiling water. I was never told that it stopped them from feeling pain; I always thought it was just so I could get them out of the bag and into the pot without too much trauma. My trauma, that is.

Dockhl's recipe upthread is a nice traditional one, similar to the original recipe I had, altho mine didn't call for adding wine. Wine sounds good, though. I also have taken to making a hybrid broth, using some lamb shanks and a lesser amount of beef shank and some beef marrow bones. I cook the shanks until the lamb is tender and falls off the bone, reserving that meat. Sometimes I will reduce the stock further if it needs it. I don't use the beef shank meat, it seems pretty unappealing. I add the reserved lamb meat at the end. I cook the barley separately, toasting it in a little butter like I do rice, and then simmer it in light stock until still al dente. I add it into the soup about 15 min before it's done. I'm not sure why I do this; I think it makes the broth less cloudy, but I could be wrong and perhaps its just a personal quirk. The turnip sounds like a nice twist--I'm gonna try that (and the wine!) next time. Do the turnip cubes behave like the carrots and hold their shape? I agree: home-made scotch broth will not disappoint.

My mother would agree I'm sure. Campbell's Scotch Broth was her go-to canned soup. I remembered it fondly enough so that when I grew up and learned to make soup I made my own version. Some memories are best left to grow in the dark in peace. The last time I opened a can of Campbell's soup (many years ago) most of it got tossed. I don't remember what it tasted like, but mainly it tasted like salt. $40 would buy a lot of lamb shanks, barley and carrots. I bet you could make your own Scotch Broth and knock the plaid socks off all your relatives.

Okay, I can see the cartoon right now: the cute goat with a chef's toque cheerfully straddling the conveyer belt and dropping perfect crottins while the cheesemonger with his clipboard happily check's em off! the French have such an earthy sense of humor, non?

Is it a sheep's milk cheese, Dave? Crotte means to befoul, yeah? I'm with Suzi, and assume that cheese is some good s--t, c'est vrai? Do I want to know how they age it? We buy a cheese called a Mutton Button here. Maybe what you've got is just a Mutton Butt?

Can it ever be as good as I remember? Almost never. I didn't eat a lot of fast food or junk food growing up, but I certainly ate my modest share of chips, oreos, coke, hamburgers, fries and street pizza. Since I got a Weber grill I've never looked back when it comes to commercial burgers. I don't eat at fast-food restaurants, but even rarely do the fries at upscale bistros seem as good as they should. I find that in order to meet my nostalgia criteria I have to remake most stuff from scratch--then it tastes as good as I remember. Oreos? No. The chocolate cookie isn't bad, but the cream filling tastes like palm oil and corn syrup or something and is far too sweet. I find that I like Nabisco Famous Chocolate Wafers; they taste a bit like the cookie part of the Oreo--not too sweet. Skippy and Jif? Awful. Tastes like sugar and plastic. Campbell's Tomato Soup? Bad. I've got a recipe that does the trick using canned Italian tomatoes and good chicken broth. Thomas' English Muffins? Nothing to write home about. There's far too much great bread out there now. Sugar Pops? Didn't they used to taste like sweet corn? Now they taste like styrofoam and and who knows what else. Hershey's Chocolate? It no longer tastes even a little like chocolate. And here's the big category: Chinese restaurant food. It's what my family ate almost every Sunday night. I've tried, but I've given up and started to shop in Chinatown and make my own. I just can't find any Chinese food that doesn't seem like a salt lick or that isn't swimming in oil. Vietnamese restaurants function for my family--especially when my daughter was growing up--like Chinese did way back when. Cheetos? Yes, I have to admit, they still taste fantastic to me. I try to restrict my salt, so this is forbidden fruit, but every once in a while they are perfect, just as they always were. I could never duplicate them, nor do any imitators come close. Add a Bloody Mary and it's a complete meal. I don't believe these products are much different now than they were fifty years ago. I'm sure it's me; most stuff that tastes good to many ten year olds just doesn't taste good to me.