maggiethecat

I agree with your general procedure for cannelloni, and this is how it was always prepared by my Italian-American Nonna-in-law. Well worth the work. Manicotti was a crepe-like dish, and never pronounced, unfortunately or not, as manigot. Nor would that side of the family have ever called anything pasta fazool (Unfortunately or not.)

I'm a fruitcake fancier too Kerry (two Canadians, eh?) and I'm looking forward to this. I'll be honored to join you

What? No Puff Pastry? No Shalimar?? ← No Dear Rachel. I mostly make my puff pastry and I have my Shalimar You can play with your journals -- please, please do!

The pine cones were for sure time-consuming, but you remember them fondly, so that counts. If I could receive a jar of the marmalade you describe, I'd prize it over a Tiffanny's blue box.

I'm in awe. You're making gingerbread house kits? Lucky recipients. I know the lure of the chiffon cake molds -- they are adorable. I'm using mine as molds for kitchen-cooked soaps. Have the glycerine base, fab essential oils and the honey, cream and crushed apricot kernel additives Packaged with rolls of my chocolate-dipped lime shortbread.

I thinking back to what was available at The Green Pansy, where we went out for Chinese in the early sixties. Granted, a mill town in Quebec couldn't compare, restaurant-wise with San Francisco, but I'm betting that the selection there was similar to what we ate in the sixties: egg rolls, fried rice, chop suey, Sweet and Sour Something. The placemat was a menu, and it sat surrounded by Formica. No wonder the Mandarin was such a sensation!

Absolute fact. We get a pound of yeast from King Arthur's, keep it in the freezer, (once for well over a year) with no loss of umph. We once worked out the savings over the .25 ounce packets and came up with the 20X cheaper formula too.

That sounds astounding, Kerry. I'm no chocolatiere, but that combination of ingredients gives me furiously to think about Campari, grapefruit, chocolate and bitters. Hmmm.

Brilliant. I can totally taste this in my head. I'm not waiting for apple pie -- I'll add a splash to applesauce, apple chutney, apple crisp ...

Thanks for starting this brave topic, Fat Guy. I'm firmly in the green butt camp of banana eaters -- I won't touch a banana with a speck of brown. The perfect banana you describe is the only way I'll eat them -- they have a lilting fresh flavor. Mottled, they are a sickly blast of sugary mush with the taste I associate with artificial banana flavoring. No character, no nobility, inedible.

I am shocked, I tell you shocked!!! You guys totally suck. Does using canned corn count?

I like the ginger and dry mustard ideas. Do you have any anchovy paste? A little squirt would add some salt and unami.

149,963 including 11 more for me.

I like every part of the chicken, in order of preference legs, breast, thigh. Five pound bags of leg quarters go on sale once a month for 39 cents a pound, bone in breasts for 99 cents, thighs for 49 cents, boneless breasts for 1.29. I don't buy chicken unless it's on sale, but I think Mz. Ducky's San Diego pricing is close. Whole chickens can run from 69 cents a pound to 1.49 a pound.

Dan, you're right -- excellent point, and I'd snarf at least half of any roast you put out. But I'm just talkin' about folks who don't live with that tradition, have a lowly oven and just want a Sunday best pork roast.

That's it!

It's a cranberry, almond and cinnamon tart. A beauty. Check in your local Walgreens or CVS -- there are still copies around here. But be aware that there are two covers for this issue: subscribor (with the lovely tart) and newstand, which features a turkey. Look for the turkey.

We did this again tonight, with the same gob-smacking awesome results -- crispy skin, tender meat, pure pork flavor. Three hours a pound, as well as I can figure.

I'm suggesting the heretical: a turkey stock makes a great base for onion soup. The caramelized onions, in quantity, provide a fresh rich sweetener, the rich stock is a fine substitute for beef broth. With the addition of the croutons, the cheese and the cognac that turkey stock is gonna hold it's wattles high. Come to think of it, turkey stock would work well in the peerless Mushroom Soup recipe from Bourdain's "Les Halles" cookbook. The mushrooms and sherry would provide the important flavor notes and the turkey stock an anonymous basso profundo.

Brooks, thanks for the link to the most interesting article about anyone, anywhere, I've read for a long, long time. Not only is it a great piece about restaurant craft, but I have a brand new heroine. I've changed my sig line in her honor. I haven't eaten at Commander's Palace -- damn! -- but my daughter- who- dines did a couple of years ago. Her happy memories are indelible.

Is it expensive?

Pears. Apart from bananas, pears are the only fruit in the standard grocery aisle where agribusiness hasn't bothered to breed out flavor and texture for shelf life. It's because they don't need to: the noble pear can be harvested green, ripened on a windowsill or in the fridge. The texture won't turn all woolly and dusty, as the new plums and peaches do. The varieties maintain their flavor profiles and distinguished shapes -- a Bartlett isn't a Bosc or a Comice. For the cook, a pear can swing sweet or savoury, like any adept apple. (Except that a supermarket pear will leave a supermarket apple in the dust for flavor and texture.) Bake with them, make chutney, infuse vodka with them, serve them with a cheese course, add them to a pork braise -- these round bottomed beauties can do it all. And in my neck of the world, pears are on sale for 39 cents a pound. Even bought green and ripened at home, eaten out of hand, juice will be guaranteed to run down your chin. Let us now praise famous pears, and the ways you respect them in your kitchen.

The proof of the pudding is in the eating, and I'm delighted that your frittata disappeared. I'm too late to add much here, but should something similar come up in the future I suggest you google a big recipe website like epicurious.com and search for strata. A strata is a savoury bread pudding which incorporates lots of eggs. Milk and cheese are standard ingredients, but could easily be omitted, especially with the addition of stuff like caramelized onions, mushrooms, fresh herbs etc.

I can't believe that no one has snatched that up as a sig line yet. (My mother would occasionally drape the surface of her mac and cheese with some parcooked bacon before sending it into the oven for that last bubbley bake. Your friend is right -- it's fantastic.) On to flavored cheeses. To paraphrase Duke Ellington, if it tastes good it is good. I don't think wacky cheesemakers should throw the fruit bowl at it (I prefer my fruit on the side, thanks) but I do like some of the herbed soft cheeses. And yes, I want my ash. One additive I truly detest is smoke. Talk about a way to mask (indeed eliminate!) the flavour of a Gouda, mediocre or splendid. Any smoked cheese simply tastes like fatty smoke to me. I really hate them.

OK, cut back a tad on the salt, though I agree that the minimal amount of salt in your bread is the least of your friend's nutritional worries. Under salted bread just ain't worth eating. I've forgotten the salt a couple of times and shitcanned the product. Just plain inedible.