David A. Goldfarb

I like lambics, but has anyone else noticed strange intoxicating effects from them, beyond what one would expect from drinking an equivalent amount of another alcoholic beverage? I first observed this once when I had a rather modest amount of Lindemans Framboise-maybe 6 or 8 oz., and I felt like I had vertigo. I thought maybe I was fooled by the sweet flavor and had drunk more than I'd realized, so I tried a more controlled experiment and the next evening tried just one wine glass--4-6 oz--and noticed the same effect, as if I'd just drunk two or three pints in the same time period. I haven't noticed this with other lambics, but this was really strange.

One thing I like about the KitchenAid is that it has only one beater, so anything I could do with a whisk or a spoon and a bowl, I could do with the mixer (unless I want the specific control of beating by hand or to beat egg whites in a copper bowl, which I don't have for the KitchenAid), and it doesn't produce more dishes to wash or other complications. Part of the reason I don't really feel compelled to own a food processor is that it doesn't make sense for small jobs without a dishwasher. I do have the discontinued attachment for my KitchenAid, though, that takes food processor disks for tasks that lend themselves to that treatment. I don't use it so often. Easier just to use a knife most of the time. Bread is much less of a project with a stand mixer. Even if I don't have a starter going and just want to make a basic yeast bread, I can decide to do it just as easily as walking to one of the bakeries in my neighborhood. Then most of the work is just being around when it's time to punch it down, put it in the oven, and take it out. I'm not of the no-knead school.

I have the Sideswipe. If you use a brush, it's not hard to clean. When I saw the Metro with the long blades, having already bought a Sideswipe when it was the only such option, I thought the grass might be greener on that side of the fence, but my Sideswipe has held up well for a few years now, and I think the pattern of silicone blades makes for good blending.

I shelled out the $18/lb once for Tarbais beans just to see what they were like, and I thought they were nothing special, though they were fine in the cassoulet. They are larger than Great Northerns.

Reading the results of the butter tasting panel mentioned in the other thread, my first thought was "these people have really boring taste.

Went last night and now the full menu is offered at the bar/cafe section. We had an excellent brandade croquette appetizer with a white bean, cilantro, and spicy tomato-pepper garnish. I've got some baccala sitting around, so I'm tempted to try making it. You can order two sausages as a main, so we got four-Tunisienne, which is like a merguez, Beaujolaise, more French rustic with pork and mushrooms, canard, and Thai. All were good, Thai and canard really good. Very reasonably priced-$13 for the brandade app and $25 for each pair of sausages. An impressive display of classic copperware from the kitchens of various distinguished chefs.

Things that affect the flavor of butter include the amount of butterfat, whether it is cultured or not, and what the cows eat, so it's certainly expected that butter from different regions made in exactly the same way with the same amount of fat will taste different. The culture can also vary among cultured butters. Of the imported, high fat, and cultured butters one can get in New York, I like Celles sur Belle myself.

Just got back from Balthazar, and I want what the couple at the next table was having, which I think was pitched as something like "seafood salad for two," consisting of two stacked trays, oysters on the half shell over ice on the bottom, a heap of cold shrimp, clams, mussels, crab claws, lobster, and probably a few other items on the top tray.

I think it's interesting to cook from the classic sources and to get an idea of what those sauces should really taste like, no short cuts, and a lot of twentieth-century foods make sense when you are aware of their earlier context.

This has been a staple in our kitchen for all of my life. I like to sprinkle it on cottage cheese and its great to sprinkle on chicken thighs prior to putting them on the grill. And, btw, welcome to eG! Lawry's Salt was a staple in my grandmother's kitchen, and my father's too! I haven't thought about it in years.

I like Finnish salty liquorice, horehound candy I've had in North Carolina, and I've had a high end dark chocolate flavored with Cointreau that was pretty good.

Who has not upon occasion, of necessity or out of laziness, made pasta in too small a pot? I certainly have, and out of curiosity, I've made it in an oversized pot as well. In my experience there is no question that the amount of water affects the texture. It's easy enough to test. Sometimes there is truth in lore.

As I recall, he asked various experts and chefs and the fairly uniform reply was that, well, you could do it, but you wouldn't really want to, if you wanted the pasta to come out well. I read that as a very lukewarm recommendation for boiling pasta in not enough water. Something interesting to try is boiling pasta in more water than usually recommended. It comes out soft on the outside and even firmer in the center--more al dente if you will.

McGee's article demonstrated that it was possible to make dry pasta soft with less water, but it didn't make much of a case for doing so, because the resulting texture was less desirable. Yes, the starchy water is a positive byproduct of making a lot of pasta in a restaurant kitchen, but if you want starchy water at home where you only plan to make one batch of pasta in the big pot, maybe it's better just to make some starchy water by overboiling a small amount of pasta in a separate pot, rather than ruining the pasta you plan to eat by boiling it in an inadequate amount of water.

I've tried blending the eggs, and I think they come out too spongy, so I beat with a fork or a whisk, depending on how many eggs there are. I like making them in a cast iron pan and just before they're done, I turn off the heat and let them cook on the reserved heat until the desired texture is reached. My wife likes them softer than I do.

I've priced fish at the Union Square Greenmarket, and usually it's less expensive than at the better fishmarkets in the city that have fish of similar quality, particularly for oysters. Sometimes the local lobster are a little more at the Greenmarket. I've noticed fish being less at the Union Square Greenmarket than at the Greenpoint-Williamsburg Greenmarket, perhaps because it is a different vendor, but also it may be that there are often two fish vendors at Union Square, only one at Greenpoint.

I haven't tried the virgin rapeseed oil, but my impression of Canola/rapeseed oil has always been that the main attraction is its low cost. It was the kind of cooking oil you could find easily in Eastern Europe in the era of late Communism. I've never thought of it as fishy, but that it didn't have any particularly interesting or sufficiently neutral flavor where neutrality would be desirable, and it does seem to gum up easily. I just don't care for it. For frying in oil (as opposed to rendered animal fat, butter, etc.) I usually like olive oil at lower temperatures or peanut oil at higher temperatures, preferably the cold pressed peanut oil from Hong Kong that tastes like peanuts.

In NYC the same vendors may charge different prices in different neighborhoods. I often go to Union Square, because it has the best selection, and the hours and location are less inconvenient for me than other options, but I know that it's more expensive than, for instance, the market in Washington Heights, where many customers can be seen paying with EBT cards (public assistance).

I've had an "Irish Breakfast" that's kind of smokey, like it has some Lapsang Souchong in it.

We were admittedly regifted an electric waffle iron for our wedding from friends who got one for their wedding and never used it, and I do go on the occasional waffle bender, making waffles for breakfast for a few weeks at a time. Then it goes back into the cupboard for several months until the urge returns.

I suppose it depends on how much staging I need. If I'm stir frying, where the wok is really hot and everything needs to be ready to go immediately, then yes, I get everything ready. If I'm doing the kind of thing where I've got stuff on the fire and it doesn't require so much attention, and I can chop ingredients and wash a few dishes all at the same time, then I do that. In a restaurant kitchen where one has to be ready to prepare a repertoire of dishes from a menu on a moment's notice and have five different things come out at the same time for one table, then obviously, a little more organization is required. At home cooking for three people, it's just more dishes to wash.

One on the stove, one on the microwave, and a big one that's easy to see and doesn't have any other function near the ceiling over the oven.

The board I usually use is too big to lift easily, so if it's a small amount of stuff and it's not too complicated, then I'll prep as I go and transfer things on the flat of the knife blade. If it's something more complicated, I'll prep everything in advance and transfer using the knife, or if I've run out of board space, I'll use small bowls. If I have a lot of stuff to transfer, and it's awkward to pick up with a knife or my hands, then I'll prop the pan or pot on a partially open drawer under the counter where the board is, and sweep it all into the pot from the board with a knife.

Naphtha, which is the base for lighter fluid.

Just today I got an e-mail announcement for Gotuj z Julią from the Polish publisher, Wydawnictwo Literackie, which also publishes her memoir, Moje życie we Francji.