Katie Meadow

Unconditional approval for use in potato salad.

The STUPORBOWL was of no interest to my parents or my husband's parents when we grew up--me in NY, him in CA. My husband will probably watch this year, only because the Niners are in it. We used to go to the movies every year during the game, but not in the last few years. I like wings, but am not a fan of anything ranch. In fact, we don't eat and watch TV at the same time, except maybe popcorn once in a while. The rest of the typical game day spread is completely beyond me, as are the rules of football, which I will never understand as long as I live. When my husband tries to explain the rules of play my brain just goes somewhere else, even though I THINK I'm listening. Most likely I will sit next to him and read the paper during the game and pay attention to the screen only when the commercials are on. Sick! My spectator sports of choice are baseball and tennis. For food we will be having cauliflower marinara on pasta. Always good and always easy. But it will not be eaten in front of the TV. He freaks out if I even get one crumb on the sofa, so you can be sure he won't allow red sauce anywhere near the TV! And that's how my tomorrow will unfold. I see the game as leisurely crossword puzzle time.

Worth comparing to Deb's, I should think, but haven't done so yet.

For many years, while my mother was alive, I was a devotee of the Halal cart on the southwest corner of 53rd, near the fountain. I would get the chicken, and always asked for mostly white sauce and a squeeze of the red, which is very hot. My mother lived three blocks from that cart. There was almost always a quick-moving line; those guys work fast! I have actually made that Smitten Kitchen recipe when feeling nostalgic, but not for many years. It wasn't exactly the same, but it was pretty good.

And good riddance I say.

I pulled the plug on corn syrup years ago. In my pantry you will find Lyles, Steen's cane syrup, sorghum syrup and Tippleman's Burnt Sugar Syrup. Oh, and maple syrup which I rarely use except on pancakes. I'm not fond of molasses, so I usually sub Steen's. I use the Tippleman's,along with butter, to fry apples as a breakfast treat. It would also be the best option for Jamaican Black Cake, if you are so inclined. One of my favorite recipes for gingerbread/cake is Laurie Colwin's Damp Gingerbread, which uses Lyles and no molasses. Delicious!

That is indeed one weird looking tin. But in its favor it is nothing if not collectible. What a stroke of mad genius to spotlight Ted as a representative of the King's Guard. I guess he needs a sugar fix to keep himself upright.

@liuzhou I know the snails for the broth are river snails, but is there more than one species used? Are the snails farmed? If the soup is so popular now how do they regulate the harvest? Or do they? Just curious.

Yep, same recipe, same hilarious comments. When it comes to crab cakes I agree: lotsa crab and as little filler as you can get away with..

Now that we have thoroughly pounded Chicken Maryland and dissected the implication of Chicken MarylandS it's time to turn our attention to the city of Baltimore. What came across my inbox from the NYT this morning via Sam Sifton was Pierre Franey's recipe for Crab Cakes Baltimore Style. The comments from readers are simply hilarious. Franey, as you might know, is not from B-more, and natives of that city don't take kindly to his take on crab cakes. Pick your crab-meat, and don't let anyone tell you what to do with it.

I don't buy a lot of cookbooks, but recently I bought several used ones on eBay: Root to Leaf / Steven Satterfield (of Miller Union in Atlanta) Open Kitchen / Susan Spungen 50 Great Curries of India Frida's Fiesta / a lovely book that has recipes for some of Frida Kahlo's favorite meals for entertaining.

If Chicken Maryland is a dish that includes bacon-wrapped bananas with cream and mustard sauce, Maryland can bloody well keep it.

Up my alley! Do you have a recipe for the beet sauce? One of my local restaurants serves casunzei, which I adore. It's ravioli stuffed with beets and goat cheese with a sauce of butter and poppy seeds. Making a beet sauce for store-bought ravioli might be an easier hack.

If the state of Maryland wants to think it invented dark meat, well, that just doesn't fly. But having a weird word meaning the leg-thigh in one piece is fine by me. If that's what they original intended they didn't do a very good PR job.

That's my understanding as well. When I first came across a recipe that specified "4 chicken marylands" I had to look ir up. But there is also a dish called Chicken Maryland which consists of a fried chicken cutlet, or even just fried chicken. No idea what would make it particular to the state of Maryland in either case.

The easiest meals I know that only use one cooking vessel are stir-fries. I am assuming you are allowed to call it "one dish" even if the rice gets cooked separately. Very little to clean up after a wok friendly meal, and a well seasoned wok practically washes itself. All you need is one burner and an electric rice cooker.

Late brunch for a friend's birthday and she loves a Mexican Coffee cocktail. Ordinarily I don't stock tequila or Kahlua, but I do now. A really delicious drink, of course with a float of cream. We served them with dessert.

@weinoo, another three ingredient almond cookie is this one from Doris Greenspan: https://food52.com/recipes/67683-dorie-greenspan-s-3-ingredient-almond-crackle-cookies They are best eaten within 12 hrs of baking for the most crunch. After that, even kept in a tin, they get chewy, which isn't bad either. Sliced almonds, sugar and a whole egg, and that's it. Really easy, really good, perfect with pears in wine for dessert. Great choice for gluten-averse dinner guests. I have a close friend, very appreciative of all dinner invites,, not gluten-free at all, but who is cooking-averse and loves these. Even she can make them.

Where in CA are you? If you drive over a cliff someone will bring you a casserole, or at least give you a recipe for cat food using only a hot radiator.

RB&R is a pretty forgiving dish. I am not fond of andouille sausage either so I don't use it. I make a ham stock often and just use that to cook my beans; for that I use ham shanks or smoked pork neck. When the stock is done I remove the meat and pick it off the bones and freeze it along with the stock. Another trick is to use smoked turkey and avoid the pork altogether. Or use pork for stock and then add the smoked turkey for meat. But I have no doubt rabbit can be worked in somehow.

Porn syrup. Never a dull moment.

I think the Empire Kosher chicken from TJ's is very good. The organic Empire kosher chicken was even better, but they don't carry that any more.

And given what a terrific bean the Rattlesnake is, why isn't it more available? When we had a supply we used to call them Snakes in a Pot. What I use now for most pot beans is Rancho Gordo Domingo Rojo. Makes for great red beans & rice and is fine for any southwestern style pot. I spent many years in New Mexico, and no one cooked anything besides pinto beans. Okay, but once I tasted Rattlers it was true love. May be you joined the forum later than me, but I've been whining here about this for years!

Dinner was a splurge. Because of the delicate situation of West Coast wild King Salmon I rarely eat it. And of course the price is insane. But I was craving Kedgeree with wild salmon. So we bought a little under a pound at $30 per. It had been frozen, of course, but still, wild King Pacific salmon. I love Kedgeree, but never eaten it in a restaurant, only made it myself and this one was excellent. It was pretty traditional, but I happened to have some fresh curry leaves and that was the magic ingredient. The fish was very gently poached til just cooked and was delicious, the more so for depriving myself for a couple of years. It was added back into the hot rice mix mixture at the very end, so it didn't overcook. I like fresh fruit alongside curry, so I made my absurdly simple salad consisting of celery, apples and walnuts in a very light dressing. In addition we had some very good mango pickle to go with. I've made kedgeree with smoked fish but with wild salmon it's the mostest.

The dried beans I bought for several years from Purcell Mountain Farms were a brownish mottled bean, deeper in color than a pinto.. The one time I found the fresh ones in the pod the pods were perhaps a mottled greenish color but I don't remember well. When cooked everything about them was perfect: they held their shape, the pot likker was dark and flavorful, and the beans held their shape and were delicious. My gardening days are barely visible in the rear view mirror.