Nick

Sounds like this is a book I'll have to get. When will some restaurant critic/reviewer write, "My Years at the Trough?" Be a good followup to Kitchen Confidential.

A pound of salt (outside of brining or pickling) lasts me for a year or so. You don't have to use a lot to enjoy what it adds to flavor.

I probably have 50-60, but almost all of them are packed away in cardboard cartons here and there. There are a couple of those I'd like to dig out some day if I can find them. One's from the American Beef Council, or something like that, and it has a dynamite recipe for making the best chili seasoning I've come across. It's a pamphlet sort of thing that came with some Omaha steaks years ago. The other is a seafood cookbook from Maine that has lots of recipes from "average" Maine women and covers just about every fish and shellfish that can be gotten along the shore here. Nothing fancy, but some good solid cooking. The only two cookbooks I use on a regular basis are the new Joy of Cooking (plus an older edition) and the Pro Chef from the CIA. I don't usually go by recipes - I get an idea of what I want to do and then use them for reference and as a starting point.

For the last year or so all I've had in my kitchen is Maldon, but if I were going to do a brine or pickle I'd go get some kosher or regular pickling salt.

Here's the website of a company here in Maine that harvests and sells different sea weeds. I haven't heard of anyone "farming" weed in Maine.

I've never thought of spreading lard on tortillas. Interesting. I usually mix it in with the flour, masa harina, and salt before adding the water. And I'm lazy, so I melt the lard before adding instead of cutting it in.

I check out the cars in the parking lot. First, are there quite a few? Second, are there so many cars that it'll be a while before you get seated and served (full parking lot?) Third, the mix of cars in the lot. A somewhat funky Chevy or Ford parked next to a shiny BMW or Volvo is a good sign. If everything looks good after checking out the cars in the parking lot (and you can find a parking space), I like to see a menu posted outside before entering. If there isn't, I go in and ask to see one before asking to be seated. That also gives you a chance to check out the place from the inside. Are the people working there happy; does the food being served look good; is there an overall good smell to the place? All this from the one who rarely eats out.

I never really had any desire to eat horse meat. Maybe it has something to do with having worked with horses - mostly in the woods twitching out logs. You can get close to a horse when you're working together. I did sell a horse for meat once. She had come down with equine encephalitis (swamp fever) for which there is no cure and is highly contagious among horses through mosquitos. She was a good horse. Eight year old black Percheron from some Amish people out in Ohio and she boated all the stone for the foundation of the first house I built. She was one of the best horses I ever worked around.

I might eat out two or three times a year, unless I'm on the road - which might happen every two or three years. This doesn't include being in town and just grabbing something to eat.

Goya's truckin'. Getting lots of shelf space (relatively speaking) in Hannaford's and also Shaws - in Rockland, Maine.

Well, it's really four people, but someone else should make that announcement.

Remembered the name of the seafood restaurant I mentioned up above - it's Monte's. While I didn't expect them to have a website (not that kind of place), I did a Google and did find how to find them - MM (mile marker)24.5 - though I'm not sure there are any markers between each mile. The site I found the info at is here. Check it out as there are lots of places listed going down the keys. I'm pretty sure it was The Island Tiki Bar & Restaurant on Marathon that's listed where I stopped for lunch the last time I was down that way. Small, kind of funky looking place on the right, part way through town. Sit by the water, great service, and decent food. Now that I'm thinkin' about all this I want to head back down that way and dig the whole Key scene again.

I'm not an expert, but I do make my own lard (mostly for use when I make tortillas.) The stuff in the store is awful. It's fairly simple to make, but takes some time. The main thing is to start with leaf fat. The new Joy of Cooking has a good piece on making lard that will get you started (p. 1069.) Also, I just found this article after doing a Google search and it explains things about the same as I make lard. "EasyFunSchool" (the site) has a better explanation than the other sites I looked at. I use a cast iron kettle and the hardest part is getting the first bit of fat to melt. After that melts and gets hot just keep adding more without trying to push things too much.

As you're driving down the Keys (toward KW) there's a seafood place on the right somewhere around Big Pine that has some of the best southern fish I've had. I think it may be past Big Pine on the way to KW and has no huge sign and is a low-roofed unassuming place. Mostly a local place that also sells fresh fish. I've been trying to think of the name since you first posted, but it hasn't come to me. And then it's been 6-8 years since I've been there so it might have changed - but I doubt it. It's one of those places that's been around forever and nearly everytime I went to visit my father (Saddlebunch Keys) we'd go to eat there. If you want fresh seafood and have a place to cook it, check out E. Fish (wholesale and retail.) Left side of the road about 15 minutes above the Saddlebunch (Sugarloaf) keys. Sorry to be so vague about this - it's one of those things that if I were there I could drive there with no problem. Also, once you get to Key West, take a trip to Stock Island and stop by the Rusty Anchor. It's a local place down by the shrimp docks. I used to stop in to have a few beers there and talk with local fishermen, but never ate there though though I think it might be pretty good. Last fall when I did my Gulf shrimp thread here I ended up getting some of them shipped from Patty at the Rusty Anchor - Key West pinks. By all means try the pinks while you're in KW. They easily beat the flavor of Gulf whites in our taste test here in Maine. Also try to find a place where you can get a good "Cuban sandwich." They're generally little places located in strip malls and on back streets. I've tried for years to get the recipe as to how they do the roast pork - it's delicious. You're headed to a good place. My father lived down there from '74-'98 and I always liked going down there. If you're driving from the mainland, watch out for "suicide alley." It's a stretch of two lane road with an occassional third lane for passing, and impatient people do foolish things thinking they'll get somewhere a little faster. And thanks for your recommendation on crabcakes when I was down near Baltimore last month. It was too bad I didn't get in town to try them.

I don't know what the bugs might be like in Japan, but here in Maine a couple of years ago we had some hard-backed brownish/grey bugs that looked like they'd come in from outer space and, while they didn't seem to eat much, the leaves got all brown, wilty, etc. They weren't potato bugs or squash bugs. They pretty much were established by the time we noticed them and they were beyond the control of anything. I think we tried Rotenone and probably BT to no avail. Ended up knocking them off the leaves and into a container and dumping into the chicken pen. Most of them were on winter squash and even though the leaves looked terrible, the squash came through okay.

Are they eating the leaves or making the leaves turn brown and dried out?

Refried bean burritos. Got the urge around four this afternoon. Cleaned the pintos, brought'em to a boil, let sit for a hour - before pressure cooking with a piece of good double smoked bacon end, some cumin seed and garlic. Got some lamb sausage thawing out (this'll be a first) that I'll fry with peppers and onions and more garlic. Didn't feel like making tortillas so went to town to buy some and found some halfway decent corn to go along with the burritos. Funny how these urges just get hold of you.

That's a lot of sauce. How long will it keep in the fridge? Sounds good! Maybe substitute a cup of Heinz Chili Sauce for one of the Ketchup.

I was just thinking the same thing.

Ain't the internet (and egullet) something? I saw Vengroff's post, and since I did the steel work for the Matchbox oven, I called Pat Manley who built the oven. (We're in Maine.) Pat will check this out - he didn't know about egullet - and then perhaps email the people at the Matchbox to let them know about this. And then, in turn, someone at the Matchbox will check in here? Ain't the internet something else? Glad to hear that people like what's happening at the Matchbox. Anyplace that Pat builds an oven the food generally ends up being pretty good.

If it's a really gorgeous piece that you love and value, take it to someone who has a wet saw with a diamond blade and a sliding table (or saw) and who has cut stone many times. Trust me. I know about this and if one of my customers (all stone workers) were in your area I'd give you their name. Unfortunately, the closest one is probably a hundred miles or more from you (Bovina.)

I meant animal shit - more politely termed manure - mixed into the soil. Or a chemical nitrogen fertilzer mixed into the soil. Too much nitrogen can lead to great stem and leaf development and that's about it.

Is there any chance you're feeding it too much nitrogen, either natural or chemical?

It may disturb some people, but there's a lot of truth in that statement. All kinds of little sqiggling and jumping critters that we'd never think of eating contribute to the best eggs.

Now there is a market waiting to happen. I don't know about anyone else, but around here it gets hard to give zucchini away.