thayes1c

French's Spicy Brown. I have all kinds of different fancy brown mustards in the fridge, but the French's is the only one that seems to get used for some reason (when I'm not just using the yellow). La Victoria green taco sauce, too. Sometimes I'll get a burrito from a local taco truck, bring it home and douse it in this refined, authentic sauce. (And I like the Taco Bell hot, too. Not the fire, not the medium, but hot.)

A personal favorite, apparently about Bordeaux and said by the eminently quotable Anonymous: The French drink them young, so a Socialist government won’t take them. The English drink them old, so they can show their friends cobwebs and dusty bottles. The American drink them exactly when they are ready, because they don’t know any better.

My girlfriend just bought me a 3L bottle of Chimay blue from the Cost Plus. It was only $50! It's going to be the centerpiece of my cellar for a few years, I should hope.

My fiance claims an aversion to pork. She says it makes her feel sick. But she'll eat pepperoni or Canadian bacon on a pizza. And she loves tacos al pastor. Sweet and sour pork from our local dive Cantonese restaurant is good, too. Even a slice of pork in her ramen is fine. Oh, and bacon at breakfast. Or on a burger. But just try to make pork chops or chile verde for dinner...

Ever been butchering a chicken only to find the little tenderloins beneath the breast have turned a sickly green color? And they have a mealy, cooked texture but no discernible odor? Ever been chopping up a chicken and then suddenly think, "My God! Zombie chicken flesh!" No? Me neither, until a few minutes ago. A nice, free range bird (a regional brand from a hippie grocery store) that just happened to have NECROTIZED PECTORAL MUSCLES!!! I did a little searching around and found out it's called Oregon disease, which is nice, since I'm in Oregon. It sounds like most people come across it after eating through a roast chicken, so I'm glad I came across it before eating any of the bird, but still, in case you can't tell, I'm somewhat traumatized. I thought I'd share the horror and see if anyone else had come across such a thing. Here's some fun links about the disease: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1903800/ http://www.thepoultrysite.com/diseaseinfo/104/oregon-disease-deep-pectoral-myopathy

Mmmmmm...Kid.... Indian is always good for goat, but personally I'd lean toward Mexico and make a birria. And yes, I am jealous. Quite.

Mozzarella cheese...SUBSTITUTE! Sure, you have to keep production costs low to sell a Totino's Pizza for $1.05, but seriously, mozzarella cheese substitute?!? I think it's made from potato starch, salt, oil and a hint of real cheese. (Full disclosure, Totino's was a childhood favorite of mine/occasional lapse of judgment I would enjoy until I, rather foolishly, read the ingredients.)

Epazote in eggs is good, added to huevos rancheros and the like. After making black beans with epazote, beans without tasted flat to me. On another note, in "large doses" (whatever that means) epazote is poisonous. Some sites caution against pregnant or nursing women eating the herb, although I think maybe Americans are a little dramatic about such things.

Pain au chocolat. I couldn't imagine anything being better with a strong cup of coffee.

Abyss Stout from Deschutes is a great one. I just opened a 2006 and it was double fantastic. I've got one more, and I expect it to be get better for a few more years.

I don't know what impact these packets will have, but I think ketchup packets will play an important role after the nuclear apocalypse. Feral, deranged humans will roam ancient landfills, searching for the many millions of unopened ketchup packets thrown away with fast food dinners, the greatest luxury left on the earth. Fear the coming of the condiment-dependent semi-humans at the end of the world!

How about stocks? The ever-illuminating Cooking Issues has a couple good posts on the subject: http://www.cookingissues.com/2009/11/22/pressure-cooked-stocks-we-got-schooled/

If you like beer there's a program called the Cicerone. It's no master sommelier course, but I think it will become a more valuable certification as restaurants stock better beer. The website is www.cicerone.org

In tupperware at the back of the fridge. (Sorry, couldn't resist.)

Here's more info from the NY Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/27/dining/27adria.html?ref=dining The "comprehensive encyclopedia" mentioned at the end sounds intriguing. Better start saving for it.

Anybody make the pickled mustard seeds yet? I made a batch and think they're great. Good on sandwiches, mixed into lesser mustards or on salads. I used two different kinds of mustard seeds and I think the size difference makes it a little more interesting. The recipe makes it sound like you might run out of liquid at some point, but I didn't find this to be the case. If anything, mine are a little too wet, probably because I was afraid to simmer them too much.

Let me just revive this thread to ask, has anyone tried the rapid agar clarification from the Cooking Issues team? It's fast, easy and I think it works great. No more freezing! http://cookingissues.wordpress.com/2009/07/14/agar-clarification-made-stupid-simple-best-technique-yet/

Electric quesadilla maker from my future mother in law. When I decide to make a quesadilla (usually at midnight after a few beers) I'll be damned if I'm going to wait fifteen minutes for that thing to heat up, if I remember where it is at all. And I certainly don't need anything that encourages me to eat more cheese.

Ugh. A Big Mac wrapped in a crappy tortilla? No, no thank you. I'm waiting for the shelf-stable packets of Big Mac puree, the ultimate in burger delivery systems. That's convenience you can count on.

Fat Tire beer. Used to love it, now the biscuity flavor overwhelms any enjoyment I might get from it. Fat tired out, more like it!

Can't do sushi. I keep trying but it makes me gag. Hate mayo or anything mayo based with a passion. Can't eat cheesecake because of the awful cream cheese twang it has. Bleu cheese coats my mouth with a smoky creaminess that I can not abide. I second the Jiffy cornbread. It's too cheap and easy to pass up. I'll take it a step further and say that I mix Jiffy cornbread with a box of Jiffy yellowcake because, GASP!, I like my cornbread sweet. I'll eat a McDonald's hamburger now and again, and enjoy it. Sometimes for dinner my fiance and I order the value meal at Taco Bell. Four bean burritos, six tacos and a caramel apple empanada for dessert. Oh, and I buy all my wine at the Grocery outlet, usually for less than $5 a bottle. Last but not least, every year I make a resolution not to eat any more frozen pizzas. Usually lasts a month or two before I'm hittin' the Freschettas.

I believe the recipe is in the Morimoto cookbook, too. I've never tried that one, but the Ma Po Dofu recipe he has in there is fantastic.

We used to call those small bottles of Mickey's "grenades" when I was in college. Almost as dangerous as the real thing.

A pat of butter is a strange one. When I'm making a sauce that needs a hint of nutmeg I like to refer to it as a "ghost of nutmeg." Then again, I am somewhat deranged. Also, I'm reading David Thompson's Thai Food right now and he mentions an old recipe that calls for a "small bigness" of something to be added.

My fiance was asking me about some gravlax I had made and said, "What do you call this stuff? Graviclaus?" I think it might be a new Christmas dish.