Katie Meadow

Availability of live or fresh Dungeness crab is seasonal on the west coast. If you buy a dungeness crab in June or August or September you are buying frozen crab that has been defrosted, at least here in CA. Not that it can't be tasty, but it will not be quite as good and it may be expensive. Most people I know just don't eat Dungeness crab except in season. I don't know the parameters of the commercial season further north, but surely it does not extend into summer. When you buy cooked cracked crab it is worth asking where it comes from and whether it has been frozen or not. Best to buy from a reputable source that will answer those questions so at least you know what you are getting. Crab season on the west coast varies according to numbers, quality and safely concerns, but in the past in CA it has typically opened in late November or early December. If memory serves, WA and other northern states open their seasons earlier; we used to get fresh crab over Thanksgiving weekend that was shipped down to the Bay Area before our local season opened. Until recent years there has almost always been fresh local crab by Xmas; eating crab on xmas day in Chinese restaurants is a fabulous tradition and a mob scene! Business must be hurting. Many crab lovers agree that quality tends to go down by spring, even if the season is still open. The commercial season ends to give crabs time to recover their numbers for the next year. This year reasons for the shortage are murky. Quality, possible toxins from algal blooms, you name it. In WA state the suspension of the season seems to be about the amount of meat per crab as noted above. In OR there were reports of a toxin in a few crabs. Here in northern CA they are saying various unclear things about safety. Frustrating, definitely. The fact that the last few years have been so disappointing can't be just a coincidence.

Once in a blue moon I surrender to the charms of Chex mix. Mostly I like it plain and simple, with just a bit less salt than most recipes call for, but I also like Lisa Fain's (Homesick Texan) recipe for Chipotle Lime Texas Trash, adjusted to taste. She has a heavy hand with the smoked paprika and chile, so I use a bit less. Also I don't like corn nuts (ever) nor do I like cheerios in the mix. I do like her idea of subbing a little bit of bacon grease for some of the butter. Personally I think chex mix has to be warm from the oven to be really good, and any chex mix that comes ready made in a package is horrid.

I'm one of those people who grew up with absolutely no xmas traditions. My parents were non-religious jews and my mother was not much of a cook. There were Chinese restaurant xmas dinners, to be sure. Xmas morning would most likely be bagels and lox from Barney Greengrass around the corner. Once in CA, I married into a family of Unitarian vegetarians who always had minestrone for xmas eve and opened presents that evening, so my husband and daughter and I were free to make it up as we went along on xmas day. Sometimes we gave a party, other times we were invited out. Other times we just went to the movies and had pizza. Or we went over to San Francisco and ate crab at one of the renown Chinese restaurants way out in the Avenues where it is a guaranteed mob scene. This year was the first year our daughter wasn't back for the holidays--so strange! We hosted my nephew's wife's Italian parents who were out from NY and who cooked most of the dinner: a feast of caponata, rigatoni with meat sauce and orange olive oil cake. Meanwhile my daughter was in Orlando with her fiancé's family. Their tradition for xmas? Steaks on the grill. All good! For me, turkey once a year at Thanksgiving is all I can handle. but if you have a carcass you don't want I'd be more than happy to take it of your hands. The day after xmas is really my favorite day during the holidays. You get to play with your toys, eat leftovers and try out your new tiny little sake glasses (so lovely). We're having bannocks for breakfast! Excellent toasted and slathered with Irish butter and marmalade. Happy Boxing Day to all!

The most recent info I could find about the shortage of fresh Dungeness crab here in CA is that they are doing crab quality testing and the local catch has been suspended or delayed. At stores we trust here there was some frozen crab but it was unclear where/when it was caught. There was no fresh crab from Alaska or northern states, either. in 2015 (I think it was) the season was a total bust due to algal blooms which produce a toxin you don't want to eat. This year that toxin showed up in crabs in Oregon. I haven't done any research, but it would not be a big surprise to learn that warming ocean waters increase the probability of algal blooms. Maybe the days of great dungeness crab seasons are over. Eight or ten years ago it wasn't unusual to see live Dungeness crab fighting for space in tanks in Chinatown and selling for as little as $2.99 per lb. @KennethT I grew up eating blue crabs on the east coast. I loved them when the shells were hard, I loved them when the shells were soft. Now that I live in CA I love Dungeness crab. Picking the meat from any hard shell crab is a lot of work, but if you love fresh crab it isn't an obstacle. The advantage to having a 2 lb crab is that it easier to get enough meat off it to make crab cakes.

I got my husband a pizza steel, the 3/8 incher. In the time it took to get here something miserable has happened to my left thumb (I'm left handed unfortunately). Any heavy lifting or manipulation is out of the question. He is going to have to wrap it himself. How sad! Looking forward to pizza on the grill next week, especially the part where I don't have to lift a finger.

I didn't know porchetta videos were a thing. I'm more of a cat video person.

Today: the lamb broth. Tomorrow: traditional in every way Scotch Broth. Today I made a rich broth by simmering two browned lamb shanks in light chicken stock. It is now defatted and cooling, to go overnight in the fridge. Tender lamb meat has been removed from the bone, fat and weirdness discarded, also submerged in broth. Tomorrow I will saute onion, celery, carrots and a bit of fennel bulb, then add the lamb stock and simmer for a bit, until veggies are soft but still distinguishable. Yes, I know, turnips are classic, but i'm just not a turnip kind of girl. Barley will be cooked separately in light stock and added toward the end with a generous amount of salt and pepper along with some shredded lamb. This is one of my all-time favorite soups. Here's to Maggie the Cat! Some of you will remember Maggie the Cat, who waxed poetic over Scotch Broth during her days on eG. Campbell's Scotch Broth was the only canned soup my mother would buy; she loved it. I'm sure she never tried to make it herself, and I'm sorry I never made it for her when she was alive. So here's to my mom!

What would The Ethicist say? First tell him how grateful you are that he makes the soup and how much the re-enacters appreciate a bowl of warm barley mash after a hard day of lute playing and rug beating and axe throwing or whatever you do at a renfair. Why is it so hard to simply tell people in a pleasant way how we really feel? But, yea, so it be. Tell him you are very finicky about your knifes and prefer them to be honed on your own tool, if he wouldn't mind. You might even explain what it is about the ceramic steel that makes for better maintenance in your opinion. If he objects, offer to sharpen the knives for him before he starts chopping. Or tell him he is welcome to use the device of his choice if he brings his own knives. If he doesn't know how particular chefs are about their knives this should be a growth opportunity. If he remains obstructionist tell him you will skewer him like a kabob, throw him on the embers and eat him between two bannocks.

We typically don't have a lot of turkey meat left over, and to tell the truth it doesn't appeal much to me. We save some for sandwiches and give a sizable hunk of breast meat away to my nephews to take home. I care about two things: the carcass and leftover gravy. Happily for me almost half of the 15 people at the table most years are vegetarians, and my husband makes abundant gravy. The carcass has been put to its highest use.The gravy has been frozen into two portions, both destined to be part of the mix for chicken pot pies that taste like turkey pot pies. Tell me something. Even if your turkey meat is moist when served on the day-of, how do you keep it from getting dry or tough when you re-purpose it in enchiladas or pies or whatever?

@Duvel Having such a kitschy "storefront" in an airport would make the trip for me, to say nothing of that dumpling soup. Not nearly as fun as xi'an dumplings, but lunch today was potatoes. The nephew who makes mashed potatoes for Thanksgiving dinner (a family tradition the way cement is traditional for sidewalks) left an industrial size bag of potatoes behind and I took them home. Has anyone heard of these: Albert Bartlett Rooster Potatoes? I've never seen them before. The package says they originated in Ireland and are now grown here and that they are famously "good for everything." As soon as I hear those words I'm pretty sure that means they are good for nothing. Indeed they have very little flavor. On Saturday I made roasted potatoes with duck fat and even the duck fat couldn't quite elevate them. Today for lunch I tried a more aggressive tack: I mashed them, seasoned them heavily, added a boatload of garlicky chard sautéed in more duck fat, made patties and coated the patties with Panko. Then I pan-fried the potato cakes and served them up with two optional sides: leftover turkey gravy and a rouille. Not bad. And we have a few remaining for breakfast tomorrow. So I reckon Roosters need a good wranglin'.

The pizza wheel cutter is a simple cheap device. Folks, it costs about $10-15 and there are lots and lots of styles. Good looking ones don't cost more than ugly ones. It should be sharp and that's what matters most. In my experience it is way faster and more accurate than using a knife, so it won't be in your hand long; therefore I suspect most models will be comfortable enough for the occasional baker. Using a scissors would never have occurred to me, but to each his/her own. I can see Martha Stewart using a high end scissors, but she's certifiable anyway. It won't take long to acquire panache and confidence when using the wheel. If you have stretchy thick mozzarella I can maybe see how a slow cutting technique could be a problem with any tool. If that happens, try using fresh buffalo mozzarella, which is never gooey! There must be a good reason why pizza joints and high end restaurants all use this tool. Ours is all steel w/no plastic parts and we've had it for about 25 years. We make pizza maybe once a month. Like several posters above I also find it very effective for cutting strips of dough, along with an ordinary steel ruler. I use it for cheese straws. I could see it would be quite useful for making a lattice pie crust, but even retirement hasn't resulted in me making pies.

I don't do a lot of pickling or preserving, but this time of year I do two things. We eat dinner every Friday after Thanksgiving (absolutely NO leftovers allowed) with friends who love the following, so I take them some: escabeche with cauliflower, carrots and jalapeños and Mostarda di Cremona. The escabeche I like is based on Lisa Fain's recipe in Homesick Texan. The Mostarda is adapted from Mario Batali's Molto Italiano (I go heavy on the fresh pears and NEVER EVER include....drumroll.....raisins!) I bring them some coppa as well, since it is so yummy with the mostarda.

What exactly is the difference between pistachio paste and pistachio butter? I was gifted with some Sicilian stuff a while back (can't remember if it was paste or butter) and I'm pretty sure it had sugar in it. I didn't even bother to put it on toast; spoon to mouth, it lasted a couple of days. I want to try some other brands, some perhaps with no sugar, so with moderate amounts of sugar. For baking purposes or ice cream I assume you want one with no sugar? The Fiddyment Farms seems highly recommended and it is available through Amazon Prime, which works for me. Both the butter and the paste have no sugar. What might be the best uses for either?

When it comes to lox or smoked salmon I'm a pretty traditional girl. I'm not talking about the Northwest style smoked fish which I never experienced until I moved to the west coast (fabulous but very different). I've always eaten my lox on a bagel with cream cheese or in scrambled eggs. But now I have a new way to eat lox/smoked salmon. And it not only makes for a great breakfast, it makes for a a great appetizer with a martini or prosecco! And all you need besides the salmon is bread, butter and a few herbs.. As we all know, a good bagel is hard to find, especially outside of NYC. The recipe below is for a LOT of butter. I made apps for a party and still had butter leftover for breakfasts. And I recently discovered that along with a cocktail it makes an excellent dinner all by itself. SMOKED SALMON ON DILL & CHIVE BUTTER TOASTS 10 oz best smoked salmon in med-thin slices 2 sticks of butter, room temp 1 tablespoon lemon zest 3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice or to taste 1/2 cup finely chopped chives 1 tablespoon (or + to taste) fresh dill, finely chopped 1 1/2 T dijon mustard 1/2 tsp salt (adjust depending on how salty your salmon is) 1/2 tsp fresh black pepper baguette, rye or other bread--very flexible! Mix butter, lemon juice and zest, chives, mustard, dill, salt and pepper in a bowl until blended. Cover and refrigerate. Bring to room temperature before using. Toast bread lightly and let cool just a bit. Spread on a layer of butter mix and place a slice of smoked salmon on top of each toast. Place on a platter and serve. Notes: This saves well in the fridge for a couple of weeks. I used the toaster. It doesn’t seem to be a problem if the bread cools a bit, especially if serving as apps. If serving a crowd it is easiest to toast the bread in the broiler, but watch not to over-toast. You can use a semi-sour batard or a rye bread or probably any of numerous breads. When I have it for breakfast I don't worry about softening the butter. I spread it on hot toast just the way I would for any buttered toast.

Perhaps we should. But I suspect I won't. I know myself well enough to know that teeny little packets in my freezer tend to be forgotten, discovered with confusion, and then tossed. Might as well face the music and do the tossing up front. Canned chipotle is just not a staple for me. Indeed I am finding my freezer to be a war zone these days. There just isn't enough room in it and I have a case of freezer anxiety.

As far as I know the mineral content of Oakland Eau de Tap has not changed; it's always been excellent quality and taste. I'm using the same water in the same pot in the same house. Since Moro isn't a bean I cooked before, I will have to wait until I make a familiar bean to test the water, so to speak. Interestingly, RG characterizes the Moro as a marriage between a black turtle and a pinto. Turtle beans do tend to hold their shape and to take longer to cook; I haven't cooked black beans in a couple of years. These Moro beans certainly have a richer liquor than black beans.

This afternoon I cooked RG Moro beans for the first time. Surprisingly, especially for such a small size bean, they took considerably longer to cook than many other beans. I've used a variety of RG beans over the past few years as well as two types of beans from Purcell Mountain Farms, and I cook them all pretty much the same basic method, so I'm thinking it's the Moro that's responsible. Anyone else have experience with this bean? I had to keep adding liquid and they just kept on drinking it up. Taste was very nice, bean liquor was super rich, but I had the feeling I could have cooked them 4 hours (and that's after a 6 hour presoak) before they would have been melting and creamy. Or maybe they just don't get that way? We were hungry, so after almost 3 hours we ate 'em. Typically I cook my beans 2 to 2 1/4 hours after soaking 5-6 hours.

Okay, I'll bite. I notice a thread titled "Lasagna Wars." If we are being correct, the spelling of the dish that involves multiple layers of pasta is in fact spelled Lasagne. Lasagna is the singular, and means ONE NOODLE: specifically referring to one noodle of the style of the broad flat pasta shape used for the casserole dish called Lasagne, which is plural and denotes layers of Lasagna noodles. It isn't really different than calling a dish of long noodles "Spaghetty." Only in America has the name of the dish become, by some sad corruption, "Lasagna." In Europe it is called Lasagne. End of whine.

Step up to the whine bar! I can't think of a worse topic for me, so I'm just saying Hi!

I swear it wasn't me!

Yes, we do have good oysters. My favorite local oyster is the Hog Island Sweet, and Hog Island's farm is about half an hour from the beach house. But I also love the briny east coast oysters that just can't be had on the west coast, although Hog Island also farms a smaller crop of what they call "Hog Island Atlantics," which are a little brinier than the Sweetwaters and have more of that eastern shape, but they are not quite the same as a European Flat. Rarely Hog Island gets some of those tiny Olympias from Puget Sound and that is a rare treat. My thanksgiving relatives are not oyster people for the most part. That's "day after" food for when the crowds have departed.

Turkey neck. This morning I made some stock for use in Thanksgiving gravy. Turkey neck is one of those things that I eat alone, partly because I'm sure that a person gnawing on neck bones isn't a lovely sight, and partly because I eat more than my fair share.

One of my favorite spinach recipes comes from Martha Rose Schulman via the NYT. It's called Provencal Spinach Gratin, and involves neither cheese nor eggs, but just a lot of spinach with a minimalist crunchy breadcrumb topping. There was a time in my life as a student when I was hooked on Stouffers Spinach Souffle. Remember that? It was basically a nice green salt lick and I wouldn't call it a scuffle. This recipe is what that should have been. Julia Child has several takes on real spinach souffle, and those are also very nice. I am not a fan of raw spinach, nor do I like spinach leaves in soup; I think they just dissolve and have an unappealing texture. For toothsome greens in soup I prefer chard or Tuscan kale. For green blended soups I like a mix of spinach and other greens. Spinach and dandelion greens are a nice mix.

Thanksgiving happens for my husband's family at their beach house north of Tomales Bay. There are deer and wild turkeys wandering about town all the time. The turkeys display like giant decks of cards in the middle of the road and have been known to block cars from driving down the narrow streets until the turkeys feel like they have done their job and move on. It's pretty funny. But it is weird to see one right out the window when we are passing around a plate sliced turkey.

If I wanted some type of fish at Thanksgiving I might opt for a smoked one. You could do it as an app; for instance a smoked trout spread or some type of smoked salmon on toasts. Personally I would be awfully happy about that. Although it does seem unusual to have trout on the table next to a turkey, if a grilled trout happened to appear before me I might just say the hell with the turkey. Of course if you really wanted fish as an option you would have to provide a challenging amount, no? So apps might be more realistic. But Thanksgiving is all about the bounty, right? And good suggestion on the veg dressing. I'm pondering the whole thing; the truth is my relatives seem far more attached to the idea of dressing than to the actual thing. Typically very few of them ate it, but they just wanted it to be there. I'm getting sleeeepy....