Nick

Well, I've just come back from scoring some scallops and green beans for supper and made an even wider search for Magi Sauce that proved as fruitless as the first - and see that this discussion has made no headway at all. And people talk about the chattering of squirrels. Spelledit.

On who's authority have you learned this? On whose authority do you ask this ? Don't side-step the question.

On who's authority have you learned this?

Yes. Wars now seem to fought more on the basis of hegemony and access to resources. At the top of the list of the latter, at this time, are oil and water.

I still like it. Are people suffering from writer's envy?

Those are words worth pondering. Could it also be worth considering that God, or your name for that, did not set up religions. And so we have these man-made things called religions, with their various prescriptions and proscriptions, imposing their will upon all who cannot find their way in the world without such a hierarchy. Each religion looking at another through the lens they have ground - that has remained unchanged for so long. Perhaps it is time to grind a new lens that all can see through.

More, more of Ivan's writing please. Recent unpleasant events are swept away like so many crumbs after reading such a piece.

Tony, I agree with you. Though it would have been interesting to see the thread expanded beyond "dietary laws" to include food that various people around the world hold "sacred" to their being. This could include rice in some cultures, potatoes in others and, for North American Indians, corn (Maize).

Jason, I think I can hold up to the heat that I'll take from my last post on this thread without resorting blind retorts on my part. But, do what you think best. FG, I'll PM you. Nick

Another observation from the country boy. NYC/NJ Jews *rule* this site. Quite clear from this thread. OTC was trashed, and along with it the "America" thread which devolved into this same sort of thing. We now have a substitute. Admin - how many cooks of Arab background (or from any other) that feel that people of the Jewish persuasion *rule* here will be willing to share their recipes or stories at this website. You want to build this into the #1 worldwide food site? You're gonna have to do better. Getting rid of OTC was a good step. Getting rid of stuff like this should be the next. Nick

While I was "baptized" when an infant, I have never followed any particular religious practice. In later life, my mother told me I had let a particularly loud fart when being baptized in the local church. Perhaps that set the tone for for what would follow in my life. I am, however, part (Native American) Indian and as the years have passed (and after having explored the writings of Rudolf Steiner as well as the practice of Buddhism) the pull of my Native American blood has grown stronger and now seems sufficient. There are only two very simple things to understand: 1) There is the Great Spirit. 2) There is the Great Mystery. If more people could learn to appreciate the simplicity of the above, and leave intellect and ancestoral differences aside, we might have a better chance to to find peace within ourselves - leading to a better chance for peace in the world around us. It might also help alleviate religious dietary restrictions.

I noticed some posts here recommending that and I couldn't figure it out either. The posts seemed to pay no attention to how much rice was in the pot. Michael Kane and I started cooking (brown) rice back around '66 when Kushi showed up in Boston and opened Erewhon on Newberry St. Michael's rice has always been better than mine - or anyone else's that I've eaten. Michael dove right into rice cooking. When he was on the road (bass player) with the Youngbloods back in the early seventies he'd take along a one burner electric hotplate and cook rice in his hotel/motel room. I saw this. The last time Michael and I were together was in '87 when I made the trip out to Marin County. Having not seen each other in seventeen years (though it was like yesterday) we reverted to our old ways of consuming prodigious amounts of beer, playing a little music as best we could , and eating - in that order. One morning, Michael served us rice. Just rice. It was (and is) the best rice I've ever had. Cooked in a three or four quart stainless, non-descript pot. I said, "How did you do that!? Michael says, "I used chicken stock." Well, it wasn't just that. Michael knows how to cook rice. To get back to the knuckle method. Somewhere early in our budding attempts at rice cooking, someone had shown Michael that the way to cook rice was to make the depth of the water over the rice equal to the depth of the rice in the pot. This works. If you're cooking larger amounts of rice, decrease the amount of water over the rice. Don't get too scientific. Stick your finger in the rice and see how far it comes up your finger. Then add water until it comes that much further up your finger. This is all for brown rice and age and where/how it was grown makes a difference. Knuckles don't count. Everyone's are different. I'll email Michael this link and maybe he'll make a post. Or maybe, like me, he doesn't do that much rice cooking these days.

FG - MSG must have been in the air this morning. I made a dump run, then delivered some engine mounts for a new lobster boat that's being built, and on the way home MAGI sauce popped into my head as I was thinking about supper. Haven't had any in the house for years. Went out looking this afternoon, going from store to store in town to town. No MAGI sauce.

I wash rice. Short grain brown in a bowl. Depending on the rice, it takes anywhere from three to six changes of water before the rice is clean and ready to cook. It's probably just a fetish I picked up somewhere along the road.

This sounds like a classical violinist I was asked to play with at a friend's house. She could only play by reading the score (music) and I could not. She was a very good violinist and I was well regarded for my guitar playing. The evening was a hopeless failure. People who only cook by recipes can turn out some very fine food - my mother was one. On the other hand, I tend to wing it - with results that range from delightful to somewhat this side of disasterous. Probably those who cook by the book and those who don't should be careful when making a meal together.

Jin, You're right. I generally cook rice only for myself with enough to go as leftover for a day or two. When Kikujiro started the thread off, I thought we were talking home cooking. But, I am confident that my way of cooking rice can be used for fifty people or more- with practice. Something tells me I'm not the first one to cook rice this way. PS - Years ago it became the rage in the macro community to pressure cook rice. I thought I'd give it a try. Tried numerous times and went back to cooking it the same as I had since '66 or so.

That's why I put in a little extra water if I think I'm going to forget what I'm doing.

Isn't MacDonald's trying to go "upscale"? I think you're on to something Jin. I sure as hell couldn't have come up with that. Turning the buns into croutons was a stroke of genius.

Mamster - What's the temp in your average restaurant kitchen?

In the case of brown rice, it gains flavor if left out overnight. But then I'm the guy that likes to age cod and scallops.

What is so difficult cooking rice? Wash it, put it in a pot, cover it with water about equal to the depth of the rice, when it comes to a boil add salt and cook briefly with the cover off. Then put cover back on and turn down heat to as low as it will go while maintaining a slight simmer. After awhile you will know when the rice is done. No need for a timer.

That's the way I do it here in Maine. With my new little house and its attached woodshed I'm in hog heaven when it comes to this. The concrete slab in the woodshed holds right around 32-34F in the winter. I just put the covered pot or pan out there on the floor and let it cool off. Many nights, like last night (outside temp 12F), I just leave it there all night - in fact I left it there all day today. Why bother with the fridge? Looking at some of the other posts - I think the gov't guidelines have to be written for people who can't think or don't want to do anymore than follow guidelines from the "authorities." Some things, such as rice and some vegetables (and even some meats), will keep fine even if left on the counter over night. Though not if your house is 80F+. As far as putting something in the fridge that's more than warm, plus wet - you're making your fridge work overtime and you're not doing any good for the stuff that's already in there. I've lived a significant part of my life without electricity and from that learned to be inventive. And, I've never suffered food-poisoning from my own food. Once in awhile some off-flavors, but that's it.

I'm learning such neat little things from the Zuni Cafe cookbook. I'd heard that insta reads come in two types - those that take the temp at the tip and those with the temp sense further up the shank. Here's the neat tip from the book, "Most manufacturers mark the sensor location with a dimple in the shaft." Sure enough: looked at my Polder digital, no dimple; Cooper dial (which I really like), three dimples an inch and three quarters from the tip. Don't think the latter would work too well on a steak.

I've just started reading Judy Rodger's, Zuni Cafe cookbook. Two things struck me in the first section, "What to think about before you start." One is, "Cookbooks will give you ideas, but the market will give you dinner - study your market at least as avidly as your library." The other, "Recipes do not make food taste good; people do." Most of us know this, but it's nice to be reminded of these basics once in awhile. I'm enjoying reading her book. Rachel - if you want to put the 15% link in here, go for it.

I'm not too keen on eating any four-legged critter that eats meat itself. Don't ask me why I don't apply this same thinking to fish or chickens. I don't know.