Katie Meadow

Yes, I've coarsely shredded many a potato with my processor. Grating by hand seems like a tiresome and dangerous chore. Keep your moulinex in fighting weight. When the end times come and the electricity goes out those French contraptions will be gold. Where IS mine? I think mine was orange. Were there a bunch of colors? And do they still sell them?

No chicken liver mousse or chopped liver should be be without cognac. Sounds delicious. But eating it on a croissant seems extremely strange, especially given the mousse is almost half butter itself. Croissants with coffee for breakfast. Chicken liver mousse or pate or whatever you call it is my idea of a perfect snack that turns into dinner with simple crackers or rye bread accompanied by ice cold vodka...and probably later in the day. I know, not very adventurous!

Every few years someone posts about their moulinex and I am reminded one more time that mine has been missing for years. Maybe my daughter will dig it up in the basement in some unimaginable future. Unless I see a picture it stays forgotten. I loved it.

I'm envious! Where I shop the pecorino comes and goes, the variety keeps changing. I find one I swoon over, and then they never get it again. Pecorino Molitarno was one of those, but there were lots of others. They used to regularly stock Pecorino Stagionato, both plain and truffled. Loved them both, though I didn't splurge too often on the truffled one. Now it's gone. Annoying.

Strictly applesauce. Sometimes I add a sprinkle of cinnamon and a squeeze of lemon juice. All my hanukkah dinners from childhood involved brisket, so dairy would have been unusual. I associate sour cream on potatoes with diner food. Good, but not latkes.

The last few years have taught me that a large percentage of people will believe all kinds of nonsense.

Even a bird that isn't old gets plenty tough after two or three hours of simmering. In my opinion the only poultry part that stands up to a long cook is a turkey neck. If you don't mind a hybrid stock toss in a few turkey necks with a chicken carcass and you can eat them as a chef's treat after the stock is done, with broth and generous amount of salt. Fat necks are better than skinny necks.

Celery root remoulade! No cooking involved, just grate and dress with standard remoulade sauce. Of course standard remoulade is meaningless, they vary from very French to very Louisiana. David Leibovitz has a simple one. I just looked at a few recipes on line. None of them include horseradish, which my mother always added to her sauce. And I seriously doubt she ever used anchovies, but I'm not positive. She always served it as an app with a variety of other non-finger foods for a cocktail hour. She must have grated it by hand, which isn't a easy chore, since she never owned a processor. I also like it cooked and mashed with potatoes. Butter, cream, yum.

But isn't that exactly what it is? Cauliflower that's been "riced?" It imitates rice, but it's made from cauliflower, no? Surely the people that are into it are people who want foods that give am impression of carbs. as a base for other veggies or meats, but are in reality not carbs or grains. I admit I have never made it, as I am happy eating rice that looks like rice and cauliflower that looks like cauliflower. Maybe cauliflower rice would be a good way to make a veggie pancake. So far I have never felt the need for a vegetable to look like a grain or a grain to look like meat. The concept of being nostalgic for a hot dog and the fact of being a vegetarian is a tough one I guess. I haven't eaten beef for a couple of years now, but I will allow that if I ever get an overwhelming craving for a green chile burger I will make my own and enjoy the hell out of it without any guilt. After all, only one serving of beef per year is still a reasonable contribution to the general good. But then I don't eschew beef because I think it's unhealthy, but because it seems like one small way I can help the planet. I know my personal choice makes a minimal impact, given the consumption of beef in this country, but it's something I can do.

Applesauce, puree sweet potatoes and bourbon back.

Lacking a recent roast chicken carcass, I typically use mostly backs and the rest wings and feet. If I can get an old bird instead, that would be excellent. Home made chicken soup is always win-win. Just breathing it while it's cooking has to be beneficial. Of course this time of year there's turkey soup, which hypnotized me while it's simmering away. Too incapacitated to make a real soup? Just drink a cup of turkey broth with a squirt of lime.

Yes, I think of simple chicken soup as comfort food: a little chicken, rice, carrots, maybe with an egg drizzled in. My mother always fed me chicken soup with rice and maybe a slice of toast when I was sick. She never made stock from scratch in her life. I use chicken stock for numerous soups, simple and not so simple. Soup in general is comforting, but if I'm under the weather it's most often very basic, maybe with a squeeze of lemon or lime juice. If I'm simply depressed chicken broth wonton soup might be my first choice!

When my daughter was at Berkeley High, 2002-2006, Boba tea was just becoming a thing around UC Berkeley. She raved about it and made me try it. Once. And that was enough for me. Maybe I managed to suck up one giant gluey ball in my giant straw.

Beans are not a grain!

Wheat. Hard to live without it, and I tried for a year. Most kinds of wheat noodles, yes. Farro and bulgur are regular residents. Farro for soups and salads. Bulgur=tabouli (essential for summer!) Couscous, good every once in a while for a change. Never had it made in the traditional slow cooked way, only the instant 5 minute thing, but I bet the real deal is great. Freekeh: jury is out, tried it only once. Rye. Technically a grass related to wheat. If you need to be gluten free don't eat it. Love it love it love it. Takes talent to use it in bread; the higher the percentage they harder it is to work with. My husband can attest to that. I miss New York. Rye is versatile and good for drinking. Barley. Mushroom and barley is a nostalgia casserole. If barley isn't a main ingredient in Scotch Broth it isn't Scotch Broth. Love it. Barley tea: weird. Buckwheat. Not a grain, technically a grass. Groats are horrid. Some buckwheat added to wheat products is really nice. Pancakes, Soba. In cookies and cakes. Quinoa. Also technically not a grain, it's a seed. BORRRING. Expensive, too. I lump it in with kale and I say the hell with it. Both are marketed as super healthy, but neither is really more healthy than the other pseudo grains or greens. Is corn a grain? Originally it was a grass. Often considered a grain. I like it in all its iterations except bourbon. Going to get out of bed now. Can't wait to have some toast.

Mmm. I see a Date Nut Bread in my very near future. I haven't made one for a few months. In early pandemic times I was making it every other week, like some mysterious addiction. The King Arthur recipe is excellent, by the way. I guess if you are making a multitude you need to find an easy way to chop them. I've come to the conclusion that the best dates for date and nut bread are dates that are not too fresh and not too dry. Just right.

Who doesn't like babies? Geez.

I grew up eating Uncle Ben's and only Uncle Ben's. As far back as I can remember and until the day she died at 94 my mother never cooked any other kind of rice. Chicken and rice was her signature. She lived three blocks from the Halal cart at 53rd and Sixth Ave for her last 50 years and never once wondered what the line was about. That halal plate was always my pre-plane meal when I left after visiting NY. She was a dyed-in-the-wool New Yorker who never ate street food.

Baby collard sellers take note. Kim's a comin' for y'all!

Exactly. But my experience is limited.

One baby veg that's awfully good is baby collards. They can be sautéed like chard, quickly, with no need to boil. I admit I am no fan of long cooked collards, but if you chiffonade the baby ones and cook them with garlic, then add some smoky broth and simmer for ten minutes or so, they are really good. Finish with a splash of vinegar and a tsp of Steen's.

Maybe the smaller one could be used as a sushi mold? I can't quite make out how the lid is designed.

After one turkey sandwich I'm done. The carcass goes into the pot. @Margaret Pilgrimit's hard not to want an ethereal dumpling. How do you make them?

If I were vegan, here's what I would want as a gift: really good vegetable broth. The store bought ones always seem strange to me, but a really good from-scratch broth can be delicious and useful. Then your friend can easily throw in some soft rice, greens, whatever. Half my husband's relatives are vegetarian and I always struggle to come up with good soups for them. Making my own veg stock has helped. I've noticed that many places that serve vegetarian or vegan soups just add a lot of pepper to get a flavor boost. Veg soups that really benefit from a good broth are leek and potato, which can be blended as desired,and any variety of tomato-rice soup.

Personally I am against too much uniformity in storage. When I started cooking in my twenties I used to frequent flea markets in New Mexico and picked up a variety of various older canning jars. I still use them. I've saved glass jars that appealed to me ever since, and probably own a more eclectic bunch than I even need. I do have a basic label-maker, which has pretty much replaced many of the cockeyed labels of my past. Too matchy-matchy? Not a good look, as far as I'm concerned. Rice. My comfort food. I usually have on hand three or four kinds. For sushi or Chinese stir fry I'm very happy with the Kokuho Rose. I like Carnaroli for rice pudding, some soups and risotto, but I haven't tried lots of different brands; most seem good to me. Most supermarkets stock only Arborio, which is fine in a pinch. My reliable gourmet/cheese/pasta shop often has a wide variety of esoteric Italiian rices, but lots I haven't tried. My mainstay for long-grain has been CA grown Lundberg organic white basmati. Often we have to settle for their regular non-organic as it the organic isn't always easy to come by, but the organic actually seems to taste a little better. I love the smell. I've tried various other basmati rices, some from India, but they have seemed dull in comparison. Maybe they have been on the shelves to long? I like if for curries, Mexican dishes, rice salads and any kind of beans and rice. I've tried Jasmine rice, since that makes sense for lots of Asian dishes, but I just like the basmati better. I can't quite get a handle on the Carolina rice varieties. Gold or not gold? Aromatic or not? Is it long-grain or medium? Really happy to entertain any suggestions about the differences, your favorites brands, purveyors, etc. The prices can be steep, so what about value? Seems like it would be nice to use it with Red Beans or any kind of southern style shrimp 'n' rice.