Katie Meadow

I don't think it's exactly a myth about needing high BTUs, but more heat is better. I cooked for many years with a wok on a so-so average stove and it was okay, but then I got a Viking. The flame is big, although I would have to go through stacks of old manuals to locate the original specs re the BTUs. The stove has heavy cast iron grates and I have an optional cast iron wok grate that I can switch in as needed. Clearly I'm not getting the kind of heat they get in commercial wok kitchens, but my wok gets hotter than on any other stove I've ever used, and that seems to be a good thing. The wok is carbon steel, relatively heavy, with one long wooden handle. The ones with two short loop handles don't seem very practical, but I suppose it's about what you are used to. Don't those handles get awfully hot? I purchased mine when I lived on the edge of SF Chinatown about forty years ago and I use it at least once a week. I think of it as being a very typical round bottom shape. No longer lovely, but at this point it hasn't changed its venerable look for years. I hope it lasts the rest of my life.

We had plans to have a lunch of Thanksgiving leftovers with my SIL and BIL and their daughter but now I'm thinking maybe not. Their daughter, whom I adore, has a bigger bubble than us elders. If any of you saw Rachel Maddow's show this evening you may guess it was enough to sober me up good. Not that I've taken any risks for the last nine months. Strangely enough my husband apparently plans to cook a whole turkey as he does every year even if we don't get to share it. That seems worse to me than two people and a ham, frankly. I don't lift a finger with the bird, so no complaints. I get a carcass and we'll have a lot of gravy all for ourselves. I've discovered the absolute best use for the gravy is to mix it into the sauce in a pot pie. The poor man, he's going to be choking down a lot of turkey sandwiches. Luckily he bakes a great white bread loaf that's just right. My sandwiches are the simplest: turkey and lettuce with butter spread on top and bottom. Okay, I've talked myself into it.

Hot smoked salmon was something I didn't really get exposed to until I moved to the west coast. The Pacific North West, often small roadside stands, makes hot smoked salmon (and other hot smoked fish like Black Cod) one of the great treats of a road trip along the coast. Often it doesn't last longer than the destination. When it's good it's nice and moist and flakes easily. But one of my favorite uses of hot smoked fish is in kedgeree, that Indian-colonial cultural mix of rice, fish, and sometimes chopped hard-cooked egg, often lightly curried. Recipes often specify smoked haddock, but we don't get that around here, and salmon is perfect. Very comforting dish! I also like hot smoked salmon in some kind of fried fish cakes, with potatoes and other ingredients. Variations are numerous. Or, if I'm really lazy, I do nothing with it, just pick away at it as an appetizer on dark rye or crackers or all be itself. It could also be good in a breakfast quiche or pie.

The Vikings made some pretty good lox. If they had managed to make it as far as Lithuania they might have learned how to make a decent bagel.

Okay that looks fantastic. Never made congee, never used the porridge setting on my rice cooker, which looks just like yours. Can you give me some details? Was there a recipe? What kind of rice? Ratio of rice to liquid? Did you use a stock or just water? Seems like it would be easy to make a shrimp-shell stock to include. That's brilliant about using the warming function to cook the fish. So tell me whatever you can without boring yourself to death. I don't usually need someone to tell me what to do, but in the case, yes. Thanks!

So...does every stir fry taste porky? I'm used to using peanut oil exclusively. For a stir fry sauce I might add a bit of pork or ham broth or chicken broth depending on what's in the wok.

Chippy-ish.

Agree, a great name. You can push the cantilever only so far before you reach the tippling point.

I just assume that the fuzzy refers to how cute it is, like so much Japanese design. It's like a little egg shaped critter that does your bidding and congratulates you for petting it by chiming twinkle twinkle little star. I admit, it is kinda cheerful in a mindless way.

My Neuro Fuzzy is the same. We don't have a lot of appliances (compared to some) but this one is a lifesaver. And I am not one of those people that has ever struggled to make good rice. I make mostly med/short grain or sushi rice in it. We eat a lot of rice and my husband has always had trouble with timing. Not any more.

@Kim Shooksorry to hear about your knee. But definitely considering some kind of debility that would give my husband a long awaited chance to WAIT ON ME.

I grew up eating Chinese, probably once a week. We had several places to chose from, walking distance on the upper West Side. My big revelation: when I was about eight or ten I went to Mexico with my dad. He had a craving for Chinese and I remember him making a bee-line for a particular place in Mexico City. I couldn't believe that the Chinese waiters were speaking Spanish. I assumed they all must have been fluent in three languages until I finally got that oh, wow, they lived in Mexico, not New York! I'm sure my dad ordered my faves for me. No way can I guarantee my memory on this but I think this Chinese restaurant specialized in chicken soup of some kind.

Stroke that beard, Dr. Weinoo.

@ambra Fun is one way to put it. The package of dry pasta looks like it should be called "Little Condoms!" Those Italians, what a sense of, well, humor, to call it Vesuvius. Okay, it's been a long time since I examined a condom up close. As for Rustichella D'Abruzzo, I buy the penne in bulk. Last time it was on sale for $2.99 per lb, which seems like an awfully good deal. I use a lot of that shape.

Vivian has a twist on this recipe called Fresh Corn with Chicken Drippings. I'm not sure whether it's in DRR or not, but I have a copy and made it once. Very good. Labor intensive, like many of her recipes. And probably best made with high season corn. Chicken on croutons is a year-round proposition.

I ordered the smaller packet of this pork bone broth back in January and promptly forgot about it. A few days ago a light bulb went on when supplies were running low and I didn't feel like cooking, and we had our first chilly day after a long hot summer. Very good for a packaged concentrate. Salty but porky. A huge improvement on most of the powder packets. Husband agreed. However after twenty minutes I started to feel like I'd mainlined MSG. There must be a lot of it in those packets, and the ingredients are not in English. My husband didn't detect it, but I would warn that anyone sensitive to MSG (like me) to be cautious when trying it. Too bad, because before the dizziness hit me I though I had discovered a great new emergency soup.

Unless my memory fails, my mother used to shop during the fifties/sixties at a Daitch on the West Side, around B'way and 86th

Yeah, mine is similar, but a little more primitive in a sort of old lady green, if you know what I mean. No offense! Depending on the day and how the mirror reacts to me, I could easily pass for an old lady. But I still dress like I did in pics of when I was about six: jeans rolled up, tee shirt, flannel shirt, Keds. Silver hair now, so way more modern look.

A little doohickey has been floating around my kitchen since forever and I have no idea where it came from. Flea market maybe? It is a small green plastic square with a pass-through. You load one green bean at a time I guess and pull it the through from the bottom to split it. Cute, right? Not growing up with green bean casseroles, of course I've never used it. Not sure I can find it in 2020. If I can, it's yours, @Shelby. If not maybe @andiesenjican post pix of six different types of bean splitters!. "Post pix of six splitters:" say that six times, fast.

@Kerry Bealyou are the best friend ever. Won't you be my neighbor? Oh wait, on Saturday I decided not to move to Canada just yet.

Lost me at doilies.

I find this whole discussion about the LGD fascinating. Vivian Howard has a lot of recipes that sound great and a lot that don't. She combines flavors and ingredients in unexpected ways, and sometimes I think her recipes are over complex or just plain bizarre, with ingredients that fight each other. Soon maybe I will get up the energy to make some LGD, just because you all have me so curious, but I have to say that the combo of mint and anchovy doesn't make me want to run to the market. No complaints about Castelvetrano olives (aka Nocellara) though. I'm lucky they are available in bulk in these parts and I love them. There are a few of her recipes I have in regular rotation, and others that I've saved and can never decide to commit to making. Vivian herself is sort of hypnotic with her cornfed beauty, her cheerfulness and her wonderful accent; a perfect blend of appealing and annoying all at once.

https://gardenandgun.com/recipe/the-condiment-that-vivian-howard-would-save-in-a-fire/

@Shelbyplease let me know how you like the pickled shrimp. I've made pickled shrimp and eaten it a few times elsewhere but the real challenge seems to be how to make it NOT rubbery. If Vivian can manage that I'm all in.

I think nowadays it's pretty common to give babies rice cereal and not wheat at first, no?