patrickamory

Tonight, crying tiger (seur rong hai): Cucumber salad with toasted dried tiny prawns:

The Schmidt family owns both Smitty's and Kreuz Market. The place currently known as Smitty's was the original Kreuz Market from 1900 until 1999. The patriarch had left the building to one branch of the family, while another branch owned the rights to the name and the business. Disagreements over rent and renovations escalated over the course of the '90s, until the Kreuz owners moved to the new location, while the building owners continued to do business in the original one. The two branches have now repaired the feud. http://www.austin360.com/news/lifestyles/food-cooking/lockhart-barbecue-family-buries-the-hatchet-with-2/nRpkB/

Gorgeous hummus. Also really feeling the lamb breast upthread.

I fear you might be right, since I remember during the 2003 blackout roaming the streets fruitlessly in search of a coffee.

Not an option on the 11th floor. Neither is a generator, or running an inverter from my (non-existent) car. My 15-year old Caloric gas range has electric igniters on the burners, but I'm presuming the gas will still flow and I can light them with a match... fingers crossed! (Oven would be more problematic.)

I dunno. Those 38 one-star reviews have some pretty bad tales to tell.

Tracy, I love the pot strainer. That looks like a seriously useful tool.

I was thinking about this too... I have a gas range and am hoping the gas stays on even if the electricity goes out.

In preparation for the storm, I made big 4 paste for seur rong hai tomorrow. But for tonight I just made our old standby, Julia's marinated pork chops from The Way To Cook. Probably the first real meal I learned to cook as an adult, and something we have constantly.

In all my many trips to Austin, Lockhart and environs, I think Smitty's is the most reliably great (going back to when it was Kreuz's). That said, I have never been to Franklin's. J. Mueller is my go-to in Austin, I'm not an early riser. It is all about the moist brisket there.

Dcarch the tofu with truffle oil looks like a Franz Kline.

robirdstx - I can smell that etouffee from here!

I'm not sure my local supermarket has grapeseed oil, and maybe not even sunflower oil. But I'll check and if they do, I'll give them a try.

Interesting... I avoid peanut oil because I don't like the taste of peanuts. I end up using canola oil because it's easily available (usually marked vegetable oil here I think), and seems the most neutral tasting. However I am worried about whether or not it's healthy... can anyone comment? (there may be another thread about this somewhere...)

Hi GeneMachine, Welcome to eGullet! And ... very impressed that you made proper New England baked beans in Germany! I've used cannelini beans to good effect. Try ordering some of janeer's recommended butterscotch beans, if the shipping isn't prohibitive. They are superlative. Patrick

Is Silver Swan still around? It used to be good, but may have gone downhill and/or closed. Rolf's has gone way downhill - avoid at all costs. Co-sign on Heidelburg - it's great. Zum Stammtisch in Glendale (Queens) might be my favorite. The goulash soup is to die for. I thought Wallse was just OK.

janeer - first time was with thick slabs of cold black forest ham from Schaller & Webber's with Irish mustard. Second time was straight up. The beans are sort of a complete meal in themselves. (As a child, we had the canned Boston brown bread. I have not tried your recipe - I don't do much baking. I don't think the readymade canned stuff is easily available in NYC but I could be wrong. It probably is better to make your own anyway!)

400 degrees sounds hot for an unglazed tagine... however if the company says it's okay, it probably is...

I've never heard of toasting salt! Intriguing. Please can you shed more light?

janeer, just made your amazing Rhode Island baked beans for a second time. Friends were blown away. Time was an issue this time so I ended up baking for only about 3 1/2 hours covered plus 45 minutes uncovered. It was still really good, though perhaps not quite as deep and intense as the full 6 hours. Thanks again - my favorite new recipe this year.

I've been going to B&H for years... I don't think it's as good as it used to be. They made one of the best mushroom barley soups in Manhattan... it's not the same. Ratner's was okay but went downhill over the years. Grand Dairy went under years earlier, sadly. edit: and I'm not sure exactly what the connection is between the Pastrami King in Merrick (which I presume is the website you're referring to) and the one that used to exist in Kew Gardens, Queens... but the Queens restaurant definitely moved into the city and became Pastrami Queen, back in 1998: http://www.nytimes.c...-manhattan.html "Pastrami King was famous for its rich, garlicky pastrami, made according to a Romanian recipe. Critics praised its cedary smokiness, which came from soaking and curing the meat over smoldering wood for 10 to 16 days. "'It was a wonderful institution, like a beacon of eating on Queens Boulevard,' said Ed Levine, author of 'New York Eats,' a restaurant Baedeker. 'When their pastrami was good, it was as good or better than any pastrami in the city, and therefore the country.' But Mr. Levine judged that the quality had deteriorated by 1997, when he left Pastrami King out of his sequel, 'New York Eats More.'" and more evidence here: http://nymag.com/listings/restaurant/pastrami-queen/

Ah, I've heard about Pastrami Queen. I think they are the same people who used to run Pastrami King in Queens back in the '80s, am I right? That place was superb. Daisy and rlibkind, I'm perfectly aware of the difference between delicatessen and appetizing. That's why I wrote, "Now if you're going for fish." For dairy restaurants, I truly miss Grand Dairy on the Lower East Side. Incredible, incredible restaurant.

For a tagine, I really highly recommend the 11.5" unglazed Rifi from tagines.com. You have to season it but the unglazed clay adds a completely irreproducible flavor that I really enjoy. It's only $40 and every braise I've made in it has come out beautifully. Be aware that you need a flame tamer and since earthenware has to be brought up to heat slowly, even longer cooking times!

"results trump process". hmm. for the eaters maybe. for the experimental cook, maybe not. this subject could perhaps start a different thread.

It's so hard to make beans look as delicious in photos as they are in real life. Regardless, these are RG black midnight beans. The base was onions, sage and garlic fried in suet. Finished with a little olive oil, lime juice and cilantro.