Katie Meadow

Anna, you are making the tried and true Jewish delicacy schmaltz and gribenes! A little onion added to pan is classic. Of course when my Grandmother did it she didn't use a bacon press.

Okay, I don't even know if this is a dumb question. I've been making stocks and broths for a zillion years and can do it in my sleep, although I don't. One of the first things I remember learning was never to let the stock come to a boil, always keep it at a gentle simmer. The above advocates of reduction for storage benefits talk about boiling to reduce the stock. How does that affect the final flavor or quality? Or is no-boiling just an old wives' tale? And how much reduction are we talking about? Do you turn a quart in to an ice cube? If so, I really could do it in my sleep, since who wants to babysit a pot of disappearing chicken soup for hours and hours? I just don't think I could stand to watch all my loving patience go up in steam!

I've come to terms with my smallish freezer and admit to a moderate case of OCD when it comes to stocks and broths. I get nervous if my my supply dwindles too much and feel compelled to make more. I don't want to get a separate freezer which would have to be kept in the basement, so I basically am resigned to a freezer that contains the following and not much else, ever: stocks of various kinds, roasted chiles, neck or other bones and the occasional carcass (chicken or turkey), home made tomato and pizza sauces, and a supply of grits. Once in a great while some leftover soup gets in there, but typically we are two people who are just as happy to eat the same meal two days in a row, so there aren't a lot of leftovers that get frozen.

The subtleties of vanilla bean quality, grade AA, A, B or Madagascar vs anywhere else pretty much escape me. That said, I have been buying Madagascar beans on eBay for several years from an operation called Vanilla Products USA. I just checked and yes, their prices are up by a considerable amount. However there are dozens and dozens of options on eBay, and if you can wade through them it seems possible to get quantity and quality and source you like, jarred or vacuum packed, at a price you can live with. Worth checking out.

I make stock all the time. I am also blessed (and cursed) with a very sensitive nose. Sorry for your freezer issues, since that is definitely the best way to store stock. Offhand I would say a week is pushing it, even if your fridge is very cold, but I can smell and taste a change after about four days, so I don't keep stock in the fridge longer than that.

I totally love this. More please, and more pix. I need a shot of the cabin curbside, as we say. I can't believe you stayed away so long.

No idea where this recipe came from, but I've been hanging on to it for a while and finally made it. Called Creamy Rice Soup with Poblanos and Spinach, It is attributed to Rick Bayless but I can't find it on line to confirm. This is the simplest soup on the planet, but the hitch is you have to have some leftover Mexican red rice, which I did. I had some freshly roasted surprisingly hot poblanos and subbed swiss chard for the spinach. Instead of adding crema to the soup, I had some creme fraiche that I dolloped on as a garnish. I didn't have any crumbly cheese but I'm sure that couldn't hurt. I've never blended rice for anything before, but this was novel and really nice. If you freeze roasted green chiles (I do) this is perfect for a comforting winter soup that uses few ingredients and takes about fifteen minutes to put together. Because of course it isn't winter here, my husband garnished his soup with fresh chopped tomato. Chopped cilantro would be good too. 2 poblano chiles, roasted 2 cups cooked Mexican red rice 1 qt chicken stock or veg broth 5 cups loosely packed baby spinach 1/4 cup crema salt queso fresco or other crumbly cheese In a blender combine rice and broth and process until smooth. Pour into a large 4-qt saucepan and set over medium heat. When soup comes to a simmer, add chiles and spinach, return to a simmer and cook a couple of minutes, until spinach is wilted. Turn off the heat and stir in the crema. Taste, season for salt, ladle into bowls and top with crumbled cheese or other garnish.

That will be interesting to hear what both of them say. Thanks! Oh, and I agree this belongs in a new thread.

One of the reasons the Seafood Watch program of the Monterey Bay Aquarium is so well regarded is that it has no ties to fishing management organizations; it does not determine catch quota or issue licenses. The news piece below about bluefin tuna prices speaks for itself. It is a no-brainer that the threatened extinction of certain species is affected by human greed. Elephant tusks, tiger penises and shark fins are some of the animal parts some people find valuable enough to be worth decimating their numbers. Paul Greenberg's "Four Fish" is one of the most well written and insightful books about our ocean ecology and politics. He is a long time fisherman whose thoughtfulness makes it a surprising page-turner. Highly recommended reading! I am in no way an expert on any of this. There is lots of information out there about the endangered bluefin tuna. We should all try to be informed and decide for ourselves what makes the most sense. "On Monday, a single 380-pound bluefin tuna sold for about $37,500 in the first auction of the year at the Tsukiji fish market in Tokyo. That's far below the peak price of $1.76 million that a bluefin went for at the same market in 2013, and this year's price isn't a good indicator of the supply, or population status. But it is a reminder of the unrelenting hunger and willingness to pay top dollar for the fatty pink flesh of this swiftly disappearing wild fish."—NPR “The Salt” 2014 "Tuna then are both a real thing and a metaphor. Literally they are one of the last big public supplies of wild fish left in the world. Metaphorically they are the terminus of an idea: that the ocean is an endless resource where new fish can always be found. In the years to come we can treat tuna as a mile marker to zoom past on our way toward annihilating the wild ocean or as a stop sign that compels us to turn back and radically reconsider. Today, high-seas and highly migratory fish are overseen by 18 regional fisheries-management organizations. These “consensus-oriented” institutions, in which each member nation has equal status, can be guided more by political horse-trading than by sound science. A former chairman of the scientific committee of the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (or Iccat), the body responsible for Atlantic bluefin, told me, “Even though scientific advice says you should stick to a specific catch number, in order to negotiate a deal they tend to nudge that number over a little bit.” That little nudge can be enough to put a population of tuna in jeopardy. In 2008 Iccat set Atlantic bluefin catch limits that were nearly double what its own scientists recommended. Conservationists howled, and the quotas were reduced sharply. But by the time Iccat met again, in November 2009, environmentalists had come to home in on the historic mismanagement of Atlantic bluefin, many of them arguing that a simple reduction in catch quotas for the coming fishing season was not enough — that in fact a zero-catch quota was the only thing that would stave off the fish’s extinction. Iccat rejected the zero-quota idea. This in turn forced a much more high-pitched confrontation this spring between parties like Japan, which seems to feel that fishery-management problems can be resolved within the status quo, and those who are looking to take the high seas in a profoundly different direction."—Paul Greenberg

Just curious: when you say "local" bluefin what exactly do you mean? Where do you live? Are you eating wild bluefin tuna? I know there are attempts to farm them, but these enterprises are fledgling and also controversial. Bluefin are one of the most awesome beautiful creatures on Earth and just in case you are unaware, they are seriously endangered. And yes, it's just one of those things I get really cranky about, so, sorry, I can't help myself.

I've used Lapsang Souchong to make a smoky tomato soup. Instant campfire!

Do you remember that hilarious story about the bees in Brooklyn several years ago? Their honey was suddenly a lovely and very unnerving shade of red. The reason? The bees had discovered the maraschino cherry factory nearby.

I wouldn't want a fried him to comfort me at night. A fresh him would be good, though.

RED RICE: For a red rice with a little less Texas, try using achiote paste or annatto oil. I've seen recipes that use it instead of tomato but also many that add both to make red rice. I got into it when I became interested in Daisy Martinez's Puerto Rican recipes. She calls it yellow rice, and of course there are infinite varieties, some using bacon, peas or other vegetables, etc. I love the flavor of achiote. I've used it on fish and chicken.

kayb, thanx! The corn around here has been especially good this summer, so we're eating it like crazy; recipes are stacking up. My rule of thumb for mayo works for about 90 percent of all recipes, at least for me: cut the amount in half. Of course it's Hellman's / Best Foods, depending on the coast. My feeling is that in order to love Duke's or Miracle Whip you must be spoon fed it from birth. What do they actually use in Mexico?

Whatever street corn pie is I want some. Por favor, tell me how to make it!

You had me at hedge witches.

Cakewalk, you've opened a can of worms that's been opened before on eG, usually starting with any mention of Hawaiian Pizza. And this thread was really about corn pizza. The origin of Pineapple Ham pizza is as weird and emblematic of how food is a such a vibrant ever-morphing thing that crosses cultural barriers as often as we get hungry. A Greek immigrant in Ontario invented the so-called Hawaiian pizza in 1962 in his hamburger joint. Go figure. It took serious root in Hawaii and the US and other places. If someone ordered a pineapple and Canadian bacon flatbread the pizza guy would look at you like you were nuts. What constitutes "pizza" is a topic for another thread and for anyone still having the energy to tackle it. Plenty of places now serve breakfast pizzas and dessert pizzas.They don't really interest me, but hey, I don't like my ice cream on top of sourdough bread. My millennial nephew adores cereal milk ice cream and he didn't even grow up eating cereal, which I find hilarious. He was raised by my hippy macrobiotic brother who fed his kids some truly awful stuff. If my nephew wants to call something pizza he's simply buying what they are selling. I DO eat my pizza with a knife and fork if I'm not eating standing up. I grew up eating it folded in paper in NY with oil dripping everywhere, so I'm not immune to the charm. I didn't even know eating pizza with a knife and work could be a thing. Unless the corn kernels are all well embedded in the cheese--and I don't like to use that much cheese-- it isn't that easy to eat Corn Pizza without utensils!

Paul, your pizza looks delicious. When you think about it, corn pizza shouldn't be any less appealing than corn on a flour tortilla; mixing it with tomato, bacon or ham, basil, cilantro, or oregano and chile in some form makes equal sense. I have certainly enjoyed a quesadilla or a burrito with corn on/in it with a red chile sauce or green chiles in some iteration. Kewpie mayonnaise...well, no. I've eaten at my share of Chinese restaurants, especially growing up in NY, but I've never seen Corn Pizza on the menu, so maybe that's been lost in translation. Since everyone is bringing up seafood, remember that clam pizza has been around a long time. It's famous in CT and I had a great one at Otto in NY a few years ago. The combo of shrimp and corn is a slam-dunk in a variety of forms, so crawfish can't be far behind, even on a pizza. I will say that generally I prefer vegetarian pizzas and rarely eat meat or chicken on my pizza; it's just a quirky preference as I'm not a vegetarian. One thing that was a bonus for my pizza was that I lucked out in getting some very fresh very sweet corn. The crust was our usual pizza crust, on the side of thin and crispy, a cousin of flatbread I suppose. So nice to have a new pizza I can make.

I didn't know pizza had an underskirt. A bit of char is so sexy.

Much to my own surprise it was very good. My husband, nephew and his wife all thought it was great. I briefly sautéed the corn with garlic and cilantro and some roasted poblanos. The recipe called for candied jalapeños. I made them the day before, but they turned out to be of such high heat that I decided against using them. To compensate for the pickling part, I added a little japanese pickle to the corn. The zucchini was sliced in wide thin ribbons USING A CHEESE SLICER NOT A MANDOLINE and sautéed in a little olive oil until the edges were a bit crispy. When building, half the pizza had a modest coat of tomato sauce and the other half was simply brushed with olive oil. The mozz went on first, then the zukes, then the corn. It really was quite tasty. You could call it South of the Border Flatbread if the idea of corn pizza is disturbing. One thing that interfered with my ability to assess the final result was that I couldn't see it. We are having a freaky hot spell here in the bay area so we ate outside (lovely!) By the time my husband brought the corn pizza out it was pretty dark. I am one of those people who likes to see my food, and a couple of atmospheric candles don't cut it. But even the most skeptical of the four of us (me) thought it was yummy. Of course I am a person who is not to be trusted. Although I am mostly a pizza traditionalist and minimalist, I do have my quirks: I really like pineapple on pizza, with or without ham.

In my experience most cuts labeled "beef for stew" make a decent broth, but oxtails make a broth with more depth of flavor and even texture. And in addition, oxtail meat seems more tender and more tasty after two hours or so of cooking than many other so called "stewing" beef cuts. If only cows had more than one tail each. Surely it would help them swat flies.

You are an amazing brave soul. I hope you get to take a day off. Read a novel. Scramble some eggs. If you must use some herbs cut them with a scissors. Everything you bake is extraordinary.

Yah, thanks for reinforcing what a bad idea this is. The zukes have been ribboned, salted and patted dry, then fried so the edges are a bit crispy. I don't think they will be too wet. I'm more worried they will be burnt. Sorry to hear that the Chinese love corn on every pizza. That I would never have guessed. You will all be happy to know that the other pizzas are tomato and radicchio. Both my husband and my nephew are vacuum cleaners and will eat it all. The reason for all this is that one out of four people are in need of pizza with no tomato sauce or cut tomato. There will be plenty of cocktails and wine, and home made peach buttermilk sorbet for desert, which I have already started in on before dinner. Cheers!

I could be wrong, but I think Hatch chiles really refer to terroir, as in that was originally a designation for a type of hot green chile that was grown in Hatch NM. The area now grows a variety of peppers, including Big Jim, which did not exist in the sixties and early seventies when I lived there. I've had Big Jims, and they seem to be generally a less hot long green chile; batches of Big Jim in the past have often varied greatly pepper to pepper, some being hot, many often not. True Hatch were reliably scorching in my memory. Of course there were plenty of long green chiles grown in the southwest that were less hot than the famous Hatch. It was a rude awakening for me when I moved from NM to CA. There were tasteless Anaheims and mild jalapeños; it was hard to get a really hot green chile pepper. Now there are some vendors at local farmers' markets that sell reasonably hot poblanos. For a while I was missing hot chiles so much that I ordered bushels of Hatch chiles from NM. Eventually the cost of shipping became outrageous, and often I was sent a mix of Big Jims which didn't thrill me. Left on the vine to turn red, most chiles in NM are then dried. The varieties of red peppers that get dried are numerous around the world. I have never seen a dried red pepper labeled specifically as Hatch, although I'm sure it can be done. I don't remember seeing any fresh long red peppers very often when I lived there. Maybe demand is changing that. In the last few years a couple of vendors here have been selling fresh Espelette peppers, which are a long red pepper and quite hot. They have a different flavor entirely, being, I believe, originally from the Basque country. If you ordered a bowl of red chile in NM you were getting a soup made from dried red chiles, rehydrated into a slurry or a sauce, mixed in some fashion with a meat or chicken broth or water. If you ordered a bowl of green in late summer or early fall you were most likely getting fresh green chiles added to or cooked with the broth. If you ordered it in the winter or spring the green chiles were frozen.As noted by many they freeze quite well, and are typically roasted before freezing. Some people freeze them whole, still unpeeled. I always freeze mine after peeling. Iowa Dee, I just read your latest post. You must be getting some unusual Anaheims, because in my experience a true Hatch and an Anaheim are as different as night and day. As for growing poblanos and leaving them on the vine to ripen to red, I'm sure they would be delicious, especially if they had some heat.