patrickamory

What's always blown me away is the method by Laurie Colwin in Home Cooking. Though I almost set the house on fire once doing it.

An extra twist I had not considered...

dcarch that neodymium knife holder is amazing! does it hurt the points?

It's fascinating. How do these regional traditions come to pass, and how do they still survive in the 21st century? To the extent that fast food chains put out press releases stating, "New Yorkers do not like mustard on their hamburgers." In an age when everyone is more mobile, more well-travelled, and a huge percentage of New Yorkers did not even grow up here?

Interesting, here's an article with many comments about where McDonalds hamburgers come with mustard and where not: http://aht.seriouseats.com/archives/2010/03/dear-aht-differences-in-regional-mustard-use-on-mcdonalds-hamburgers.html Long Island - no New Jersey - yes Boston - yes Texas - yes Wisconsin - yes Bay Area - yes SoCal - yes Northwest - yes (though see the Portland comment above) This struck me as revealing: "I grew up in New York but we would frequently drive to visit relatives in Pittsburgh, and we were forever trying to pinpoint the exact line on I-76 when mustard started appearing on the burgers." and "I can definitely confirm mustard on every McDonalds burger I've ever had outside of NYC and my native Long Island, including NJ, CT and Upstate NY. States in which I've eaten McDonalds include: NJ, CT, RI, MA, ME, PA, DE, NC, SC, GA, FL, AL, MT, WY, CA and SD. Every last one of them had mustard. I concur with my fellow Islanders: mustard is in every way anathema to a NYer on a burger." Obivously I cannot hang with that last statement, but then I grew up in Massachusetts so what do I know!

I'm sure you're right about Adam Platt!

Mustard on a burger is pretty rare on the East Coast - or at least Northeast - I think... the default is definitely ketchup. And as I wrote, yellow mustard is extremely hard to find in New York City (Five Guys is one of the few places to serve it). (Even McDonald's doesn't serve mustard as a default on their burgers in NYC as they do in the rest of the country, and they are frequently out of the packets as well. Not that McDonald's should be a benchmark - I think in this case they are following not leading.)

Nice looking moussaka Norm. Yumm.

Thai mortar & pestles do not need to be seasoned. Just rinse it out thoroughly. Never wash it with soap. If you need to clean it, put a solution of 1/3 white vinegar 2/3 water in it for 15-30 minutes, then rinse out. One of the greatest cooking tools known to man! (My avatar swears to it.)

Both Mission Chinese and Pok Pok are on my list to try. But BOY do I agree with Adam Platt about the "No Reservation Generation" phenomenon. So incredibly annoying. I put up with anyway at places I love - Diner, Fette Sau, and a few select other places. But I hate it.

Is a west-coast burger the in 'n out style? I think yes - the West Coast burger in my mind is what has (d)evolved into the nationwide fast food burger - quite thin chargrilled patties, and a lot of toppings including yellow mustard. But it has a distinguished heritage - Pie N Burger in Pasadena, Tommy Burger on Beverly in Los Angeles, Tail O' The Pup when they still existed, and yes, In N Out Burger as well. The only place you could get a burger like this growing up here was at McDonald's. On the East Coast - and maybe I should specify the Northeast - a burger for me growing up was a thick puck or baseball-sized patty, often quite rare (even bloody rare) in the middle, with ketchup, sometimes lettuce and tomato, and very rarely mustard (in NYC you're lucky to be served yellow mustard anyway - it's almost always brown). The focus was on the quality and especially the rareness of the meat rather than the sandwichness of it, the proportions, or the toppings. This is what my dad and his friends would have grilled in their backyards when I was growing up in Boston, and it's also what I ended up encountering in Irish bar & grills in both Boston and NYC... think Doyle's in Boston, or the now-vanished McBell's on Sixth Avenue, Molly's on Third Avenue, Donovan's in Woodside, the Corner Bistro in the West Village and countless other Irish places... The NJ slider tradition would seem to give the lie to this since it's closer to what I think of as West Coast / In N Out in some ways. It may be the Northeast or New England versus the rest of the country.

Always enjoy J.G. Melon's.

Lamb kheema

You're not. SobaAddict's presentation and photography skills are as always top-notch. Yummy lookin!

My current favorites, in different styles: - Corner Bistro - the bistro burger (bacon cheeseburger). Big fat chargrilled classic East Coast Irish burger. - Shake Shack. Still the best West Coast style burger in town to my mind. I prefer the cheeseburger to the Shackburger. - Dumont. The regular Dumont, not Dumont Burger. The burger with blue cheese is ridiculously delicious. For those willing to travel to New Jersey: - White Rose System in Linden. Fastest way to get there is via Staten Island. Way way way off the beaten track. Absolutely perfect real sliders cooked in the same way since the 1930s - mashed on the griddle for crispyness, then steamed under a metal dome with onions. Your only neighbor will be a truck driver in this deserted industrial area, plus maybe Tony Bourdain. (Not affiliated with the inferior place of the same name in Jersey City.) More info here: http://aht.seriouseats.com/archives/2009/09/classic-sliders-white-rose-system-linden-nj-new-jersey.html

Red curry paste frying in cracked coconut cream: Red curry of duck leg and green beans: Minced beef with green chiles and holy basil:

David Thompson,Thai Food - definitely agree. Also one of the best cookbooks I own. Diana Kennedy, The Essential Cuisines of Mexico. Just try making those tamales without some basic prior understanding of masa. Najmieh Batmanglij, The Food Of Life (Persian cookbook). Another book that does not compromise at all, and is all the better for it.

Yes, it should. You will be fine. (Speaking as a fellow apartment wok user.)

OMG the whole raw suckling pig with the eyeballs intact. I'm not sure I've ever seen that before.

Tasty looking smørrebrød Anna!

dcarch, that looks like the produce place in Grand Central Market. Is it?

I have some extremely old mustards. Whole grain French pommerys and similar. They don't seem to go bad.

Mr Holloway we own a jaccard (and vacuum chamber), but never use it. Do you find it improves marinades substantially? mm84321 it's rare to see a cooked monkfish so accurately evoking the live animal. Chana chaat for the hot weather. First the chaat masala, ready to be ground (everything except black salt, garam masala, amchoor powder and cayenne): And here's the chana chaat:

(A bit late to the game but:) Ha! I have that exact same bottle of Penzey's dried fennel seed, and used it in two different recipes today. Most likely bought it at the same stand in Grand Central - I live 6 blocks away. Shock of the familiar. Margarine in Denmark? I always associate the country with Lurpak, since that's the brand of butter I usually buy. I like the look of the open-faced sandwiches. Or have they just not been topped with a second slice? I see later you say you haven't done smørrebrød yet. We had tons when we were in Copenhagen, but that was 12 years ago. For a long time, my partner made them for me and company on my birthday, using the book from this restaurant: Markets look excellent. Produce looks excellent. Enjoying this blog already.

I love tiny coldwater Maine shrimp in season... and even out of season (frozen and deep fried). That catch may be dwindling as well, it's unclear (see Maine shrimp thread). For other shrimp dishes requiring larger sizes, I get wild Gulf shrimp at Wild Edibles here in New York. Unpeeled and cleaned, it's in the $20/lb range. I have to admit that shrimp looking exactly the same in Chinatown at $7/lb are pretty close in quality, maybe better sometimes. I'm presuming those are farmed, maybe from Louisiana.