Katie Meadow

I agree that the NYT recent Thanksgiving suggestions have been blah. And that includes the fat section that came with today's Sunday Times. It put me to sleep. But truly I am starting to believe it isn't just the uninspired suggestions from all quarters, it's me, feeling there's nothing new under the sun at my in-laws' Thanksgiving; truly, I just don't find this kind of food very exciting any more. Bread does seem redundant if there is some type of stuffing or dressing. I used to make a good stuffing cooked in the turkey but I got tired of it and my husband likes doing the turkey unstuffed, and I agree that it cooks better that way. Any dressing I made would have to be vegetarian for half this crowd, and I've never found that to be very tasty. Honesty, a plain biscuit sounds good! If anyone here has a great vegetarian dressing recipe I would be happy to hear about it. One of my SILs might be willing to make it, since some of them seem to miss it, at least in theory.

This is really a question for fast food history buffs out there. Not that I can imagine devoting a career to such a thing if it means eating fast food every day, but yeah, I will try to keep my own prejudices at bay. I often see Taco Bell as referred to as Tex-Mex food. Why? Taco Bell was created in Irvine CA in approx 1950 by a man named Glen Bell. I don't think of Southern CA as the home of anything Texan. The genesis of Taco Bell is that in the fifties most Americans were not very adventurous about their food; Italian, Mexican and other so called "ethnic foods" went downscale to appeal to a broad market of people who were used to bland commercially packaged foods. I'm sure there was plenty of great home cooked Mexican food in SoCal, but not too many abuelas were opening restaurants. When I moved to New Mexico in the late sixties I believe there was a Taco Bell in Albuquerque by that time. With the unbelievable choices and fabulous hole-in-the-wall joints serving up bowls of red and green, chunks of pork with hatch chiles, chile rellenos and so forth,Taco Bell was never a draw for me or my friends, so I can't really say who patronized it. White people? Locals who found it novel? It was very rare to see any ground beef in any home-cooking or restaurant food. It was also rare to see a hard-shell taco where we ate. Never having spent time in Texas and only small amounts of time in the south, I only know from my interest in food (and from the Homesick Texan cookbook!) what characterizes Tex-Mex cooking. Chili, not Chile. Ro-tel tomatoes. Ground beef.Texas has a lot more cows than New Mexico, so ground beef chili became an American staple. Ground beef doesn't involve as long a cooking time as chunks of meat, especially tough less expensive cuts. So, you Taco Bell devotees, ring in. What's so Tex-Mex about it? Does it just come down to ground beef and Velveeta?

I'm not fond of most quick breads; often they are too sweet. But I do like this chocolate loaf. It uses olive oil and not butter, and is not as sweet as chocolate cake (and I cut back on sugar routinely), with a more bread-like crumb and gets baked in a loaf pan. So I'm thinking' it qualifies as a quick bread. In my mind a quick bread should be excellent toasted with a swipe of butter, and this one is. I have no idea where it originated; it came to me at a time when I was first looking for baked goods that used olive oil. Nigella has a loaf she calls Dense Chocolate Loaf Cake (uses butter), and that one is all over the place on line. I haven't tried it yet, but I suspect it is richer than this one. PERFECT CHOCOLATE LOAF CAKE 1/2 cup sugar 3/4 cup cocoa powder 3/4 cup light brown sugar 1/2 tsp baking soda 1/2 cup vegetable oil 1/2 tsp baking powder 2 eggs 1-2 tsp espresso powder 1 cup buttermilk 1 tsp sea salt 1 tsp vanilla extract 1/2 cup chopped chocolate 1 3/4 cup flour or nuts or chocolate nibs Preheat oven to 325. Grease a 1-lb loaf pan. In a large mixing bowl, combine sugars and oil; mix to combine. Beat in 1 egg at a time until well blended. Add in buttermilk and vanilla extract. Mix. Add in all remaining ingredients except chopped chocolate. Beat to combine with a wooden spoon. If a few lumps remain, that's OK. Don't overmix. Fold in chocolate and immediately pour batter into loaf pan. Bake for 55 to 65 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Remove from oven and let cool completely before running a knife around the edges of the pan to loosen. Then, turn cake out onto a large plate. Dust with powdered sugar, if desired. Slice and serve. —MAY NEED LESS TIME IN THE OVEN

The Collins St Bakery did themselves some great PR with those tins. I have them in two sizes. I've never been in Texas and no one from Texas has ever sent me a fruitcake. I use mine all the time. I think I must have picked them up at a flea market or Goodwill a million years ago; mine are not shiny and don't say "deluxe." You can order the fruitcake from Amazon and the tin come with. The entire country must be lousy with 'em.

@kayb Envious I am! Black Arks are about my favorite apple in the world when they are good. The last few years here in CA they have been scarce and not as crispy as in the past. The season for them is like 2 weeks if we are lucky.

We have several old martini glasses. A few have broken over time, and I've discovered that large martini glasses are the current standard. I prefer the smaller size. Yep, I'm a cheap date; one is usually enough for a pre-dinner drink. And for those who wish to have a second one, it isn't overwhelming if the glass size is on the smaller side. I too like a little head room in my drink. I don't want to bend over and drink like a cat before I can reliably pick up my glass. And that goes especially for a second drink, when my sense of balance is already out of whack.

There's only one part of Thanksgiving dinner that I really like. That is the 15 minutes after the turkey comes out of the oven when I pick away at the crispy skin. Since the bird gets carved before anyone really looks at it, no harm done. Because my husband and I cook the turkey, I have no trepidation about this practice. After that the rest of the meal just bores me, food wise, including the turkey. I suffer through this because the one thing I want out of a roast turkey is the carcass. I am hopelessly addicted to turkey soup. My husband's family is very attached to their traditions, and for the thirty years since I married in, most of the dishes are pretty much the same. There is always a vegetarian entree as well as all the standards, but typically it is full of gloppy cheesy things and not very appealing to me. The pies, however, are very good, all baked by my SIL, so basically I don't eat much dinner; I save room for apple pie, which is my favorite. This year the crowd will be big, and there will be five pies! We have a standing dinner engagement with friends the following night and it's agreed by all: no leftovers and no Thanksgiving type foods allowed. Last year we had Coppa with mostarda, Lobster BLT's and a spectacular coconut cream pie (and I'm not big on cream pies ordinarily.) So the day after Thanksgiving is always a high point.

I noticed the same thing right away. There was absolutely no mention of the fact that the amanita muscaria is not edible--hardly a harmless mistake and very surprising for the NYT. Faeries love those cute red mushrooms with the white polka dots. And that's why faeries are now extinct.

This is one of those times I wish I had never opened my mouth. As I said above, I have nothing against using fresh tomatoes and roasted green chiles to make a salsa. I simply meant that I tend not to mix green chiles into a sauce that is made with dried red chiles or red chile powder. And if I am having a "verde" dish, be it enchiladas or posole or whatever, if I wanted more heat I would chose to add roasted green chiles over any type of hot red salsa, bottled or otherwise. Thanks @Lisa Shock for clarifying the "Christmas" concept. Now I sort of remember those combo plates: basically if you can't decide if you want red enchiladas or green enchiladas you can get both kinds next to each other on the same plate. And of course the truth is that you use what you have to make something you like to eat. That's the nature or regional cooking. As for Hatch Chiles, the story is long and twisty, and anyone confused about the type of chile pepper that is grown in the Hatch NM area can join the crowd. There is something called the New Mexico Chile pepper, and it is grown widely. And, as you would expect, it's all about terroir. The area around Hatch just seems to produce a heat and flavor that's very appealing. In the sixties and seventies when I lived there, the heat (Scoville type) was reliably consistent: Everyone seemed to be in agreement that Hatch chiles were very hot. Obviously they were using seeds that produced a distinctive chile. Now I think Hatch growers are producing milder chiles called "Big Jim" and others, and the last time I tasted so called Hatch chiles they were not as hot as I remember, and individuals varied within batches. I believe most of the crop is picked green for the markets and for roasting, but I'm sure some make it to a ripe red color if they get picked later and could be dried if so desired. Again, I don't pretend to be an expert; a NM botanist or Ag Sci from UNM might be a good source. Or some very dutiful research on the net, being careful to sift for misinformation. Mine included.

My desire for a simple hot dog grips me about twice a year. In other words, I don't eat a lot of hot dogs. My standard is one particular truck that parks on Central Park West near the Museum of Natural History, so that's kind of obscure and I don't know if the dog has anything to do with it or just the fact that he has a great topping. The dogs do seem to be grilled. I've tasted the NYT winner Wellshire Farms. Indeed it is juicy and the texture is pretty good. However, it is so salty it would choke a Central Park horse. I guess one could check the salt content compared to the other favored dogs, but after eating an average hot dog I'm ready to move on and not think about a hot dog for another six months. And why not grill a hot dog if you have a gas grill? It heats up very fast and you don't end up with a pan to wash. Of course maybe you really have a thing for a dirty water dog.

I don't remember any "Christmas" option. Maybe it is more popular now than back then? I lived mostly in Albuquerque, with occasional time in Santa Fe and Taos. Not saying Christmas chile didn't exist! Since 1974 my trips back to NM have been brief, way too brief. I miss it. One of my closest friends was from a multi-generational Taos family and much of what I learned was from her father, who was a great cook. At her family's house you could always count on a pot of long simmered posole and an addictive bowl or red chile, which could be added to the posole to taste. The rest I gleaned from eating at various tried and true dives and cafes over a period of six or seven years. Not an expert, but I ate a lot of New Mexican food.

Okay, I have a question, or really a thought. I lived in New Mexico during the late sixties and early seventies. If memory serves, mixing red and green chile was not common. You got a bowl of red or a bowl of green. You had enchiladas verde or enchiladas rojas. For chile dishes using red chile you used dried red chiles, rehydrated them and made a slurry that could be added to taste or used in a sauce. Or you used dried red chile powders instead. For dishes verde you used fresh green chiles that were roasted, peeled and chopped. Sometimes a sauce was made using tomatillos with green chiles, as in a typical green enchilada sauce. Not one to object to experimentation or necessity or just using whatever is on hand, I get that flexibility is a good thing. However, out of habit I tend not to use green chiles in a cooked red chile/tomato based sauce. The flavors are very different. Perhaps my feelings about chile are simply regional. I suspect that Texas-style, which I really don't know much about, don't follow those formulas. Of course my concept of anything Texan is often hazy. I have this idea that in Texas they just throw chopped fresh jalapeños into everything. Of course if you are making squirrel stew I can't see how a can of Ro-tel and some jalapeños could possibly be a bad thing. (Apologies to Homesick Texan--I am devoted to your recipes for escabeche and queso!) I do love fresh tomatoes and fresh green chiles together, such as in the basic summer salsa that mixes roasted green chiles, diced tomatoes, cilantro, lime juice and garlic. But when it comes to cooked sauces or pots of chile/chili I tend to keep them apart.

@andiesenji's beaters beat all. They are lovely. Andie, I have it in the fog of my memory you are a Hobart girl. That company invented the very first stand mixer in 1908. The first electric hand mixer was invented in 1922, but didn't become practical until Kitchen-Aid produced the bullet-shaped light weight prototype we use today. Not that anyone asked, but if you are going to talk about egg-beaters these are important facts bearing on the question of why Zyliss thinks this new style old-style object will be a big seller for them. My millennial nephew and millennial daughter would not be the target audience; they have the electric beaters their parents gave them when said parents upgraded. Top versus side handled: I have a very vague memory of the side handled version, but as a lefty I can't quite see what the problem would be...am I missing something? But of course us lefties are a clever and adaptable bunch.The gears on the top-handled ones work both directions, why not the side ones? I know I had a top-handled version when I moved into my first apartment during my college years, but that was fifty years ago. The hand mixer was the first appliance I bought for myself. Out of sentiment I held onto that egg-beater my mother gave me for about two days. Almost everything a person would have used an egg-beater for I use an electric hand mixer. Or, for appropriate short tasks, one of several whisks I have accumulated. Again, what am I missing here? For what reason would anyone go out and buy an egg-beater unless they live in a cabin without electricity? If my house loses power due to a hurricane, I won't need an egg-beater; I'll be in one. If I lose power due to an earthquake I may have a lot of broken eggs on my hands, but "Where's my husband?" will probably be closer to the top of my list of questions than, "Where's my whisk?" I'll need his stamina and optimism to whisk all those eggs. But back to the left-handed issue and the electric hand mixer, neither of which are actually the topic of this thread. The side-cord is always meant for right-handed people, and it isn't easy to find a mixer that has a back cord or a rotating cord. Just saying. OMG it's time to get a grip and get out of bed and eat some toast.Time's a wastin'. I think I'll light a fire in the grate and dig out my brass toasting fork. Then I'm going to take my old British toast rack, which is the greatest invention of all time for making sure that your toast is stone cold on the journey from the fire to the table.

To clarify: It was always called Williams BBQ, but it was no more Southern than Zabars, a few blocks down on Broadway.They never had any pretensions, nor did any of us upper west-side New Yorkers ever confuse what they made with traditional BBQ meats. It was a one-of-a-kind Jewish/Eastern European roast chicken / rotisserie take-out hole in the wall. It was a very long time ago. No spare-ribs, no Texas brisket, no smoke, no hot sauce. But renowned? Yep.

Hot topic! I used to be a member of the SF Mycological Society. So fun bringing home a basket of wild mushrooms. Lots of chanterelles close by in the east bay hills. The black ones were extra special. Morels less easy to come by. My enthusiasm waned somewhat when I become super sensitive to poison oak, which seems to grow everywhere Chanterelles do. Gets you out into the woods in lousy weather, that's for sure. Lately I have been enamored of Shitakes. Recently I made Vivian Howard's Crispy Rice w/Leeks and Shitakes. I typically use cremini's for the following: David Lebovitz's recipe for Farro with Mushrooms and Bacon. Save leftovers for breakfast and top it with an egg (I know you people are legion!) Mushrooms and eggs always seems like a good idea. As a kid I loved mushroom omelettes. Mushroom and barley--- soup or casseroles. I grew up a few blocks from the renown Williams BBQ on the upper west side of NY (sadly, it is no more) and they made the most outstanding mushroom barley casserole; I'm guessing it had chicken broth and chicken fat it. It was my family's first line of defense for take-out, along with their roasted chickens. I've tried for many years to duplicate that casserole. Always good, but never quite the same. Maybe something about the way they cooked their barley or the kind of barley they used. And unexpectedly addictive: Rick Bayless' Mushroom and Corn Quesadillas, which I think I adapted liberally, but you get the idea. Fresh sweet corn is a must, though, and it's even better with home-made corn tortillas. Out-of-the-park knockout if you saute the corn and the mushrooms in duck fat. This seems like a slam-dunk when you think about that yummy fungus that grows on corn. Not even gonna try to spell it just now, but I can hear that wonderful word in my head. @IowaDee that long underwear story is the stuff of legend. He must have been pretty chilly for a few minutes.

Anything tastes bad after 100 years. What they're selling now are the ones that never sold after the original batch in 1917.

I find that Chipotle Chile powder works well if I don't have a little can. And since I end up throwing out 97 percent of every can I open it makes more sense. If I need extra smokiness I might add just a touch of smoked paprika when using the Chipotle powder but only a touch, so as not to interfere with the flavor of the Chipotle. As for hot sauce I don't typically add it to chile/ chili but I am now a convert to Crystal for a variety of other things. I went on a field trip to Smart & Final with my husband, who buys all his King Arthur flours there and they sell it, so I tried it. Love the vinegar style of hot sauce, but some I've tried are too hot. Crystal is relatively mild (I like that, too) and with only three ingredients the flavor is very pure.

One thing remains clear about Halloween candy: the goal for those stocking up for the big night is to buy candy that is cheap and cheaper. Which bags of candy provide the most bulk for the least money? Is there any wonder almost all of it is bad? After having given out candy for a zillion year and having a child who gathered it eagerly there is one thing I learned: kids, with some exceptions of course, like most of us, want chocolate and value those mini Baby Ruth,, Butterfingers, Mars Bars, Reese PB cups, etc. above and beyond most candies. They love volume, and they appreciate the CONCEPT of a mountain of candy, but they are no more enamored of candy corn, lifesavers, etc or most of the worst candies mentioned above than we are. In other words, whatever stuff you covet for yourself when your kids display their haul is the stuff you should be buying if you want to make anyone happy. Unfortunately many of us try to buy awful candy not only because it is cheaper, mainly because we know we are less likely to eat it up ourselves before the 31st. That's why I never buy m&m's. It's the only mini-packaged candy I actually like. No one in their right mind gives apples or boxes of raisins or home-made anything. Those days are long gone. All candy needs to be commercially wrapped in safe packaging to save parents the extra anxiety. Sewing a costume and sending your kids out into the dark of night is more than enough stress.

My whole life I've been using Hellman's or, on the west coast, Best Foods. I tried Duke's recently and admit it's very good. The overall taste is a bit sharper and saltier and it is a little less stiff, but I like it. Surprisingly when I checked the sodium levels Duke's has a bit less. So with Hellmans/Best Foods, you are getting added sugar and more salt to up the flavor. I'm not too keen on soybean oil or canola oil, but it seems you can't get commercial mayo without it. Using better quality oil would mean raising the prices, and Americans guzzle up so much mayo that would be a deal breaker. Am I too lazy to make my own? Yep.

My guess as to why deviled eggs move quickly is that they are kind of a bore to cook and peel, so if someone presents them already fixed up, well, that's an opportunity. It's like having someone else open your oysters for you. And filling the eggs is tedious if you want them to look appealing. So nice when someone pipes the filling in an artistic flourish. Also mayonnaise hides a multitude of sins, such as overcooked yolks. Plus people really like getting a mouthful of mayo--it's about the most popular condiment in America, not to mention that eggs are a pretty cheap date. They look extra nice in one of those retro dedicated serving platters with the cute depressions. And then there's this: once in a while someone actually makes them really well. Not too often, though. I can get behind them if the mix contains a bit of creme fraiche with a dollop of black caviar on top. If you want to knock yourself out, they look dazzling with a deep pink ring around the white edge after they've take a bath in beet juice.

Today I made Vivian's Crispy Ginger Rice with Leeks. I think I got it on line somewhere, but assume it is in the book. It's totally delicious. I used a bit more leeks than suggested (because I had some huge leeks and didn't read the ingredients list very carefully) and added Shitake mushrooms, which were also a suggested add-in. Love the crispy crunchy rice parts. Highly recommend, especially for rice junkies like myself.

Wow, I'm beginning to think I should just keep doing whatever it is I'm doing. An awful lot of good cooking can be had with a Viking range and one Le Creuset pot. I'll just have to cling to my remorse over the broken Crock Pot like Ahab and his missing leg. Truthfully the "relic" aspect and the mysterious provenance were a big part of the draw. Damn! However, the induction cooktop has given me a great idea. For years I've been complaining about the crappy teeny-flame stove at my in-laws' beach house. It's so slow to heat up a pot of water that I long ago abandoned the idea of having spaghetti when we go out there. At Thanksgiving I have to remind my nephew to start water boiling for his mashed potatoes about an hour before actually cooking them (yes, we're talking a lot of potatoes.) None of the many family members want to spend the bucks on a new range/oven, so this might just be a solution.

I am paying close attention to this thread. I don't own a pressure cooker or a slow cooker or an IP, but I am toying with the idea of getting SOMETHING. I'm leaning toward a simple slow cooker such as the Hamilton Beach Set n Forget. One thing I always find surprising is the number of comments from users who tout the fact that they can't smell what's cooking in any of these machines. I like the smell of the foods I cook permeating the kitchen and beyond. Cooking things quickly is not a priority for me; I'm home a lot during the day. I don't intend to make yogurt in my lifetime. I'm very happy with the rice I cook in a pan. I am not fond of oven braising, not that the food doesn't turn out wonderfully, but I find my Le Creuset takes a beating when it spends hours in the oven. Plus I find it a pain to check on the progress. One concern I have is temperature control. I have pretty good control with my Viking range and can get a very small flame for maintaining a low simmer to make stocks or cook beans. I most likely would not use a slow-cooker for stocks anyway, since I have a stock pot that is bigger than any slow cooker I would buy. Are most slow cookers able to do a very low simmer? Are there any that can be controlled with more precision that just "low, medium, high"? It is possible that my real reason for getting a slow cooker is absurd. Several years ago I discovered a never-used in original box Crock Pot. You know those old brown and yellow colored objects that everyone in the sixties had? During the late sixties and early seventies I lived in New Mexico and every family seemed to have one of those for beans or pozole. The fact that I came across this pristine artifact in my own basement and had no idea where it came from was enchanting and made me so nostalgic. I brought it up to the kitchen and took it out of the box and promptly dropped it on the tile floor! So much for ceramic. On the one hand the whole episode was hilarious. How could such an accident NOT happen? On the other it just sort of irritated me for all the years since that I never got a chance to try it. Hence suddenly I have a strong yen to see what a slow-cooker does.

How sad that the last post about fresh sardines was in 2009. It's been a horrendous week here in Northern CA. We have relatives in Napa and in Santa Rosa. All are safe, so far, but many have not been so lucky. The air is foul all over the bay area. The only bright spot has been the re-appearance of fresh sardines. For several years there was a ban on sardine fishing due to a drastic drop in their population, but all of a sudden they are back, and beautiful. We grilled them today and it was heaven. Of course, not everyone loves fresh sardines, but those of us who do here on the CA coast, they are a treat not to be missed. The prices are wacky. At one upscale fish market they are selling for $10 per pound, cleaned. At Berkeley Bowl they won't clean them for you but they are selling them for under $3 per pound. Sort of exciting, given that fresh wild King salmon is scarce along the CA coast this year and Alaskan salmon is selling for close to $30 per pound at most places. Black cod is up too, above $20 for the first time in memory here. So, sardines! Sustainable, super healthy, delicious!

@kayb Sounds like a good solution. I have no IP. My latest possible solution to making room in the freezer is to dump all the cylindrical mismatched containers I have collected and invest in some good quality square/rectangular ones.