Chris Hennes

For those of you who DO like your garbage disposals, what are your brand preferences? Mine just gave up the ghost and I will be replacing it, and soon. For the record, it was a 1/2 hp Kitchenaid model: very quiet, and powerful enough for my needs. But apparently not very reliable!

Try the dipping in sauce then oil thing sometime: it's messy, yes, but the product is quite different from going the other way, and I like them a lot. Not necessarily more than oil then sauce, but as much, I think. I don't usually try to fill that kind, though, I just fold them and put some toppings on top (I like thinly sliced white onions and a cotija (spelling?) cheese).

I generally roast, but more out of shear laziness than anything else. That and I love the smell of roasting chicken.

I just can't say enough good things about Herwig's. I'm back in State College for the week, so today at Herwig's recommendation I got the half chicken (he accused me of being too thin, of course, so I asked him to help correct that): it was an incredible amount of food, relatively inexpensive, and absolutely delicious. It has been said before, but I'll say it again: if you are in State College, eat at Herwig's. And remember to pick up a six-pack of beer on your way, it's BYOB. ETA: Regarding Green Bowl: I agree that the individual sauces are nothing to write home about, but with judicious combination-forming (and keeping the sauce to a minimum) I have still had some very good meals there. Never tried them for dinner, however, so I can't comment on that. For me, most of my downtown State College dining has been for lunch (my office was under a block from Herwig's: dangerous!)

I'm lazier than Fat Guy: I put it in cold water and leave it alone for a couple hours. It thaws quite quickly. I'm actually not sure how much difference using warm water would make, and I'd be a little leery from a food-safety perspective (though for home use, over relatively short thaw times, vacuum sealed, it's probably not a big deal).

Ray's Smokehouse BBQ (non-chain, 1514 W. Lindsey Street., Norman, OK) Opened last year by former OU football free safety and five-year New York Jets player Darrol Ray, this is one of the few non-chain BBQ restaurants in town. Located in what obviously used to be a Pizza Hut, and decorated with photos of Ray with various other local "celebrities," it's more of a pet project than a serious BBQ restaurant (though Ray has a bit of experience in the industry: this is his second restaurant). The brisket was sliced too thinly, oddly juicy, and devoid of any smoke flavor whatsoever. The pork ribs were a bit better: tender, reasonably flavorful, with a decent dose of smoke flavor but a strange sweetness to whatever they were rubbed with. The sauce is too heavy on the tomato, in my opinion, and the sides are so-so. Unless you're a big football fan and want to get Ray's autograph, I can't really recommend the place.

Alas, chances are very good that in your hypothetical scenario you would indeed have killed all the yeast: bleach is a very effective disinfectant, even in small quantities. But, I guess we'll find out tomorrow...

Jaymes: are you able to get good texture for your tortillas as those massive dinner parties? It seems to me that rancho_gordo is right, that if you want to have some bite to the tortillas you have to sauce and serve quickly, with no baking step.

Interesting, it actually had not even occurred to me to include tomatoes in the base sauce. Based on your description ("light pink") is it pretty heavy on the cream then? Any suggestions as to a proportion between the tomato puree and cream?

It being spring, and the asparagus and peas at the farmers market looking particularly good the last couple weeks, I've been playing around with "pasta primavera." I'm not using any kind of recipe, nor am I looking for the most "authentic Italian" version, I'm just looking for how others make theirs. Last week's I made like an Alfredo, but with added sauteed peas and asparagus. Tonight I gently sauteed the peas, asparagus, and some sugar snap peas as well in some nice olive oil, then gave it a squeeze of lemon, a hit of garlic, some more olive oil, and tossed it with some linguini and parmesan. Bother versions were good but not great. Tonight's showed promise, but I think needed more lemon and maybe some black pepper. What's next? Do you have a go-to recipe? Any other thoughts for pasta/noodle dishes that incorporate our springtime harvests?

This is a technique stolen from an old Cook's Illustrated issue: you spray both sides of the tortillas lightly with oil, then pop them in the oven to soften. The exact temperature isn't critical, just pull them out when they get soft. Because I was doing so many I used 200°F, but I usually go with 350°F because that's what I bake the enchiladas at. Once they are soft, you run them through the chile sauce, fill 'em up, and roll. ETA: No, not wrapped. They are only in for a few minutes.

It's amazing how many of us have suggested things involving tortillas: my go-to leftovers dish is some form of enchilada.

Last week I had some (ok, like 100) tortillas I wanted to use up, so I went into an enchilada-making frenzy. By way of filling, I made two kinds, pork and chicken. First, I had some BBQ pork ribs leftover that I reheated and let saute in their own fat until they were well glazed with juices and pork goodness, then cut that 50/50 with some black beans I had cooked. I added some chopped green chiles and some cheddar once it was cooled back down, and then, to help bind it together, the heavily-reduced bean-cooking liquid (based on pork stock). For the chicken I roasted a chicken, then shredded it, made a highly-reduced stock with the bones, mixed that 50/50 with the remaining black beans, and again added some chopped green chiles and cheddar. For the chile sauce I cheated a bit. I sauteed a couple onions in pork fat until soft, then added a jar of chile powder. I let that cook in the fat a few minutes to "toast," then added some chicken stock and a can of whole tomatoes, pureed. After a few minutes I whizzed it with the immersion blender and let it cool a bit while I worked on the tortillas. The tortillas were around a week old, which IMO is still just great for enchiladas. I sprayed them on both sides with cooking oil and popped them in the oven to heat and soften a bit. Not the same as frying, but since most of them are going to be frozen and reheated it doesn't make much difference. Which brings me to the last step: I obviously couldn't eat 100 enchiladas in one sitting, so most of them got frozen. I first froze them individually on sheet pans, then vacuum sealed them in sets of six. To reheat them, I put a batch in the oven at 350°F for 15 minutes, then sprinkle with cheese and give them another 15. The texture is a bit different than when fresh, they get crispy edges from the dry oven heat, but they are still mighty fine.

That's an interesting thought about making extra roux, Chris. My strategy has been to make what I label "Gumbo Starter" for lack of a better term: I make up the roux, add the trinity, add the stock, and maybe add some ham or other smokey flavor. I simmer this for a bit, then bag it and freeze it. When the mood for gumbo strikes I find some protein or greens that look good, cook them up, add them to the "starter," simmer for a bit, and serve. This lets me make up a batch of gumbo with whatever protein looks good, or I've got handy, without having to do the roux/trinity/stock part every time.

Red Primesteak (non-chain, www.redprimesteak.com/, 504 N. Broadway Avenue, Oklahoma City, OK) I've been meaning to try Red Primesteak pretty much since I moved here: they are owned by the Good Egg Group, the same folks who own Cheever's and Iron Star, so I had high hopes. They position themselves as a bit more upscale than either of the other two places, but "upscale" in Oklahoma has a different meaning than in New York or Philadelphia, or Dallas for that matter. Unsurprisingly they are focused on steak, though their gimmick is the inclusion of both a rub and a sauce of your choice with whatever steak you choose. Since in my opinion a dry aged prime steak needs little adornment, I cannot weigh in on their rubs or sauces, since I had them left off mine. I had the dry-aged ribeye, which was excellent, easily the best steak I've had in Oklahoma (not exactly a glowing endorsement, I will grant you). It was much too large, but the price was reasonable for the quality, so it's hard to complain too much. As sides we ordered the horseradish potato gratin, which was also very good, and the green beans, which tasted like red bell peppers and soy sauce (OK, but I prefer my green beans to taste like... well... green beans). As appetizers we had the crabcakes, which tasted like seafood stock rather than crab, and the roasted quail, which was quite good, perhaps a little on the generic side. We each had one of their cocktails, and again I had high hopes since they listed their daiquiri as being made with fresh citrus: alas, they didn't mean lime. It was a mixture of lime and grapefruit juice, which ultimately meant that it was much too rum heavy, since the grapefruit juice is nowhere near as assertive as lime. I had a "Broadway," their take on a Manhattan, and it was a bit orange-happy. Overall, I can't really recommend the cocktail scene there, but it's still better than anything else I've tried in the OKC area to date. The steak I can wholeheartedly recommend, it was excellent. Be careful with your apps and your sides and you'll leave happy, and not too poor. Our total bill after tip, including two drinks a piece, was just under $200. Maybe not cheap, but not ridiculous.

Thanks, that's great. The days I listed as being available for lunch it's because the afternoon's sessions are boring and I am going to skip them, so location isn't that critical. I may actually be more inclined to drive around a bit, for lack of anything better to do. The hotel is gorgeous, so I guess I could just sit around, but I'd rather drive in search of food...

Woohoo! Tomatoes and peppers arrived from Cross Country Nurseries this afternoon! This year I've got six tomatoes (three San Marzano and three Cherokee Purple) and six peppers (two Guajillo, two serrano and two "Biker Billy" jalapenos). Now I just have to weed the plot that's reserved for them...

Actually, it seems to me that you would be far worse off getting "other funky stuff" using water, a.k.a. "the universal solvent." While with ethanol a very high percentage of the extract will be quinine (and of course some other stuff that is soluble in ethanol), with water you will get a much lower percentage of quinine and much higher percentage of other stuff, since the quinine is not very soluble in the water, and it is reasonably likely that plenty of the other compounds are also soluble in water. Of course, we are talking about tree bark here, so perhaps there isn't that much stuff that is soluble in water! That said, of course I will be trying both: I have eight ounces of powdered bark, and am making very small amounts of extract for testing purposes.

Only one way to find out if your experience was a one-time thing... the menu looks great, I'm going to give them a shot. If the service is crap for me as well... another data point, anyway.

Yup, just make sure you aren't dissuaded by the empty building next door (their old location) - plenty of places to eat in there and nearby (and the churros they sell in the supermarket aren't half bad either, despite it being an Asian market). Nathan, sorry for the tardiness of my reply, I missed your post before... everything I said above still holds. I'll have to gather my thoughts before posting another update, and I'm afraid I haven't made it up to Lawton (of course, feel free to post your thoughts!!). A couple places on my "to try" list are Bolero tapas bar in Bricktown and Avanti Bar & Grill at the Courtyard by Marriott off of Memorial Road (of all the bizarre places for a nice restaurant).

Thanks for the advice: Stephan Pyles it is. I am now looking for lunch on Tuesday, lunch and dinner on Wednesday, and a relatively early dinner on Friday. I'd like to keep it under $25/person not counting booze (which I always hold immune from budgetary considerations ). In OKC we have no decent Italian to speak of, so that would be a good option. Plenty of Mex and Tex-Mex here, and some decent BBQ, so unless it's someplace truly superb (like Mia's), probably stick to other options. I'm in town for a conference, so not much time for sightseeing, etc. I'll hit Central Market and a liquor store on my way out of town, of course...

I'll be back in Dallas (well, Grapevine...) at the end of May. I've got rez at The Mansion at Turtle Creek one night, which will consume the bulk of that week's dining budget. I ate at Mia's last time I was in town and it was great, but I am also looking for some more different inexpensive places to check out. Any genre is fine. Suggestions?

I haven't gone quite as crazy as Chris A., but I've got some Cinchona bark, gentian root, and wormwood. I'm thinking that the easiest way to play with these would be to make extracts/tinctures (what's the difference?) of them. Any advice on that front? Are the essential oils/etc. more soluble in ethanol or water?

My order from Tenzingmomo.com arrived without a hitch: it contains, among other things, one bag of brown powder labeled "Cinchona Bark" and another bag of identical-looking brown powder labeled "Quinine." Presumably they are one and the same, despite the labeling differences. Uptopic I see two different extraction methods: hot water and neutral spirits. Does anyone know which makes the most sense? Does the quinine dissolve in water or alcohol? I suppose using neutral spirits you're getting some of both, but is there any reason to do so?

I just used whatever they were selling at the hardware store: I went through three or four of them on the project, it takes a while to wear away all that enamel (I actually only took off most of it, there was still a thin coat in spots, but I was out of brushes, so I just painted over it). I basically just washed the thing really well with soap and water after that to remove the grease and sanding residue. I have no idea about the solvents, I have never had much success with them and generally prefer mechanically removing paint, etc.