Mottmott

Thanks for the suggestions. The recipe is Lamb with Garlic and White Beans from The Cooking of SW France. The Toulouse Sausage is from the same book. Paula gives the option of commercial chorizo, kielbasa, or cotechino, but I thought it would be fun to make my own. I already did test up a little patty for flavor. The texture was okay, but perhaps I will give some of it another grind and mix it all together so it's not uniformly gritty, but still has a distinctive texture.

I'm making one of Paula Wolfert's recipes that calls for Toulouse sausage, not available locally. So, I'm making sausage.s for the first time. No problem with making the meat mix which is resting in the fridge right now. I used the large grinder plate as called for in the recipe and am wondering if some of the little bits of fat, about 1/4", aren't too large. Should I do a second grinding? Paula, you online? I did consider just making little hand shaped, casing free sausages. But I've decided to go all the way. My KA grinder attachment accepts funnels for stuffing the sausage. I'm soaking the hog casings now and have experimented with getting them onto the funnel. So far it looks as though it must be done under running water. But then, there are a few little puffs of water between the funnel and the casing. Will that hurt anything? Is there another, a simpler way to do it? Are there any little tips to make a successful outcome more likely? Also, the casings came in a packet of about 50' which is much more than I will use today. How long will they remain good in the fridge? Or should I just pack up the extras and freeze them right away?

Deglazing a cast iron an with wine? I've seen all sorts of cautions against using a cast iron pan to make sauces? And yet I recall having seen some high priced chef, sorry forget who, deglaze in a cast iron pan and then add cream to finish off his pan sauce. Is the key having a WELL seasoned pan? Half way off topic: same technique, different meat. With appropriate time modifications and a little basting (I use a turkey baster), the technique discussed above is wonderful with chicken (butterflied or in parts), too. I always brine mine first to keep the flesh from drying out in the oven, fry briefly stovetop in the very hot pan, presentation side down, in some grapeseed oil, then pop it into a hot oven to finish. With a little basting it doesn't even need turning.

I'm playing catchup reading your blog, Jack. (DSL has been flickering all week.) Your blogs and postings are always an inspiration, particularly for your blending of elemental and sophisticated cooking, your garden, breadbaking, smoking. And all of it brought together with such seeming effortlessness belied by the beautiful results. Most of us would need to be a half dozen people to match you in the kitchen.

I feel creeped out by the "big brother" aspect of this program. OTOH, Type 2 diabetes in children is an alarming trend. Isn't a big part of the problem what is being served for lunch in schools? And who's serving it. I'm all for monitoring that. In the long long ago, I recall public school and college cafeterias where the food was prepared in house and not by for profit food "providers." I recall my shock at seeing MacDonalds in Phila's Children's Hospital as long ago as in the 70's. Our food systems seem designed to maximize profits and minimize health, generally speaking. Good luck to parents who try to buck it.

Here's more information about eggs, as well as tips about freezing whites, for anyone's who is interested! http://www.baking911.com/pantry/eggs.htm ← Oh, you're the Sarah of 911? If so you should be unmasked. It's a great site, full of useful information. Indeed, an avalanche of information. Everyone should check it out. Edited for typo

What an entertaining thread. I feel obliged to bring a sidedish. I had a distinguished old batchelor professor from grad school (think Variorum Origin of the Species) who liked to come to dinner, didn't like children. Actually, they made him uncomfortable as they took the attention from him. He was so entertaining and so enjoyed good food that we always found a way to keep our otherwise doted upon kiddies out of the way. I never expected him to "reciprocate" in any other way than visiting us. He had been a generous teacher for me and countless others in ways we could never reciprocate. I think among real friends reciprocation is not an issue; people do different things for each other. And I do think it is a kind of obligation for those of us who have the ability and means to do so to include others at our table who don't. Most of these people are generous in their way which may be more restricted than ours. I think it's easy to spot moocher "pro's" who simply want to be sure they're getting more than they give, so avoid them. S/he's the same person who has all the expensive booze and food, then wants to just split the check.

The only one I have that has not yet been mentioned so far is Banyuls vinegar. Otherwise the usual range from white and cider through several wines and balsamics and a few Asian vinegars, though nothing to match Andie's Asian array and, alas, no Traditzionale. I am contemplating getting some mother and making a Riesling vinegar as I can't find any around here. What do you use the Coconut vinegar in?

Here is an old thread about pokeweed. There have been others, but I can't find them... Poke can be poisonous, but I'm not sure just how poisonous it really is. A farmer at my local market sells it sometimes: he raises it in his basement, so it isn't exposed to light. The baby poke is pale, whitish green with a purple base. The advice to serve it like asparagus is about right-- I've steamed it and let it chill in the fridge with some vinaigrette. It's not bad, and has the added thrill of vegetable fugu. ← Andrew, as I found mine at the Reading Terminal Market, too, I'm sure we're talking about the same thing. And the vendor did mention something about growing it in the basement in a special way to eliminate the toxicity. so it probably is an immature version of pokeweed mentioned by others.

Has anyone had any experience with this? I found this beautiful vegetable at the farmer's market. Alas I don't have a digital camera, but it is quite distinctive. The 8" stems are a wonderful soft pink and are toped with delicate celery yellow-green leaves. At the stand they suggested that it was similar in taste to asparagus (which it is) and that it should be sauteed with garlic. This time I did, then flavoring it with lemon zest and juice, adding a little cream at the end. But I think that if I find it again, I will steam it and then use it in a salad in a way that highlights its color or as a garnish to something relatively delicate, like fish. I tried to google poke, but only found recipes from Hawaiian and cakes with pokes in them.

POKE, I bought some poke! Had to do it, as I'd never seen it before and it is so pretty. It looks a little like asparagus stems topped with the light inner celery leaves. Wish I had a digital camera so I could show you. At the stand (in the Reading Terminal Market), they suggested it was similar to but more assertive than asparagus and suggested sauteing it with garlic. Has anyone ever tried this vegetable? And how did you prepare it?

Anyone notice the irony of the WSJ admonishing chefs - or anyone else - for selling out to corporate interests? And all the more if their journalism is sloppy and inaccurate. I'll be more impressed when they write exposes of their corporate advertisers instead of celebrity chefs. Talk about cheap shots. As for me, as a diner, I've been plotting how to fit Atlantico into a June trip to Maryland before it's too late to make a reservation. If the food in front of me tastes as good and engages me as much as accounts of it have, I don't care even if Jose Andres were paid 5 hundred or 5 hundred thousand to invent interesting and tasty ways to incorporate avocados, mangoes, jicama, or the tools used to slice, dice, freeze, or foam them. And for the time and cost of a meal, I'm happy to naively assume that someone who has obsessively worked 20 or more years to become who he is will not compromise his food. As a home chef, using a recipe by a chef I can easily judge the success of it whether or not the chef or writer may have been paid by the raisin association or some brand of chocolate to make up new recipes using their product. It's a meal, not defective "O" rings in a rocket. Or a pharmaceutical that may give us heart attacks. Nor do they influence children to nag their impoverished parents into $200 sneakers. Let's keep some perspective. I am very willing to consider the ethical dimension of people capitalizing their genuine accomplishments, whether in food, sports, medicine, the arts, to sell products. It's an epidemic. Issues of trust are supremely important. But I think that discussion should begin with the ethical implications of media outlets (including film) and individual journalists who do product placement and promote political agendas in the guise of objectivity. It needs to istart with interlocking corporate backscratching agreements, etc., not a chef writing or demonstrating recipes for raisins, avacados, or beef.

I have both extra aged and "regular" reggiano in the fridge now. I use the latter in pesto or on pasta where it is one ingredient among many, not the star. I save the aged parm to eat with wine fruit and nuts. Try it with a few drops of balsamic. I'd also use it on pasta if it's the star of the dish or perhaps shaved on a salad where you can taste it rather than losing it in the mix. But my advice for anyone with access to a good Italian deli is to avoid the supermarket stuff. Even if it's the real thing, it's been precut and stored in plastic who knows how long. And don't throw out the rind. use it to flavor soups

Cooking for "just one." Luxury, self-indulgence, total freedom. My meals range from ridiculously simple to ridiculously complex. Sometimes just bread, cheese, fruit, wine or cider. Other times a dish that takes a couple days. I don't like eating leftovers for days at a time, so when I make soups, braises, lasagna, etc., I package most of the leftovers up immediately in zip bags for later instant dinners. I also use my freezer to keep what I think of as building blocks for a meal: homemade dough, stocks and sauces, mirapoix, caramelized onions, duxells, ready to bake cookies or scones, etc. (some cakes freeze very well and can be easily sliced while still frozen). This makes cooking so much easier for me. And best of all, living alone, it's really simple to invite someone over for dinner.

Rx does have a nice brunch, but I don't find their menu quite as intereting as their evening menus led me to expect. Marigold's brunch is more adventurous, I find. I suspect that the quiet and conservative guest would be more comfortable there, too. I don't know whether or not they have a Saturday brunch, but it's worth a phone call to find out.

I like to scan in any recipes I want to use and keep them on file in my computer. When I need it, I print it out. When I'm making a complex meal, I find this enables me to "organize" the recipes in a way that makes following it easier than the orignial does.

Pears poached in red wine. One of my favorites.

Jason, funny you should mention that and I will try it. Does it work a bit like anchovy does when added as a base note? ← Yeah, it adds an extra savory "something". ← I went with putting some prosciutto in the sauce instead of the stuffing. It's all in the oven now. LOOOve braising.

I also use proscuitto end + p-r rinds when cooking cannellini beans. ← Great suggestion. Isn't it wonderful how much one's cooking improves by using the bits that so many people discard. Now that summer is coming I will be making lots of beans. I love to keep them in the fridge for impromptu salads. One of my favorite lazy summer tricks it to keep some beans and rice on hand so I can add whatever raw veggies look best to make a salad du jour - and homemade beans are so much better. And these salads not only taste good but are pretty enough to make a party dish.

Jason, funny you should mention that and I will try it. Does it work a bit like anchovy does when added as a base note? I'm making some stuffed squid in tomato sauce today. I was planning to add some prosciutto to the ricotta filling and wonder whether having it in the sauce, too, mightn't dilute the impact of the ricotta in the filling. (I still haven't decided exactly how I feel about twining a particular flavor throughout a dish so that every element includes it instead of having the individual flavors bump up against each other pristinely.) Now that you've brought this up, maybe I'll put the prosciutto in the sauce instead of the stuffing. Oh, oh, choices, choices.

I'm now in prossession of the little end of a prosciutto. I plan to use some of it in a risotto and in pasta. What do you use this for?

I was unable to give enough time to do this experiment, but I did do a short-rib braise last night as in my ususal way of just throwing it together rather than trying out someone's recipe. I've arrived at this procedure over the years, often varying the liquid for the braise and the seasonings, accompaniments, etc. I'm happy to benefit from reading all the braising posts (and especially happy that it mostly supported what I've been doing for years). It was wonderful to see all these documented efforts to help us tweek our braising and will be invaluable for beginners. Those who did all this work deserve a big round of applause. I usually don't use short ribs and would like to say that though they are very good, I prefer something with a bit more meat on the bone such as shin or oxtail which also give a more gelatinous quality to the final product. Let me say in advance, that my haphazard approach to timing does occasionally subject me to overcooking the meat, particularly if I give it extra next-day time to flavor the additional vegetables. I caramelized about 3 lb ribs in the LC 5 1/2 qt stovetop, removed it, caramelized the mirapoix, put together a cachet of herbs and spices, removed veggies and deglaze with wine (usually most of the bottle, this time an Australian Grenache Sirah), returned meat and veggies to the pot, and topped it off with about a quart of beef stock, brought it all up to a vigorous simmer and popped it into a preheated 325 oven covered with a round of parchment. This started the meat (on top of the veggies) almost submerged in liquid but ended with the meat mostly exposed at the end. I then went upstair to work, checking the braise only when the come-eat-me aroma wafted up to where I was. (Probably about 3 hours, my ah-I-can-smell-it-now method allows me to be completely off the clock.) Starting it out in 3-4 times as much liquid as I expected to end up with ensured that I need not pay too much attention to it and yet wind up with an adequate amount of sauce. Fork tender Delicious! If I were doing this as a company meal, I would be less casual about stopping the cooking process, checking it along the way more. I would cover it with a lid for awhile to conserve more liquid so that I could then thicken it by blending it with some of the vegetables cooked with the meat. (Though the deeply reduced gravy is really good.) The next day, I'd defat it and serve it with other vegetables that had been roasted separately, It would be optional whether to serve them on the side or heat them up with the braised meat long enough to let some of the flavors to meld. This allows me to carefully defat the dish after refrigeration. I also have thge option of warming up the separately roasted vegetables in the liquid to meld the flavors together. Again, I tip my fork to all the participants who did all this work for us.

This workshop is timely, I needed to make up a big batch of brown stock anyway! One hitch: I have never, probably will never, braise anything in alumifoil, so I'll probably do mine in LC, stainless, ceramic, and copper. Or I could do the last in a speckled enamelled steel if you think that would be a better approximation to the alumifoil. I'd do one in unglazed ceramic, but mine's too big for a two rib braise. Lastly, do you have any problem with our seasoning our braises, herbs and spices as usual, assuming we do so consistently for all samples? This sounds like fun. Wish I had a digicam. Maybe I can enlist my son to take some pics in exchange for eating the ribs. (His wife's a vegetarian.)

This one has my vote.

I just made an enormous batch of orange and grapefruit peel. Homemade items on hand at this moment: tomato sauce beef stock (just finished off the chicken) apricot preserves onion confit frozen pie dough chicken & duck & bacon fat clarified butter mirpoix pesto preserved lemons tangerine peel oven dried tomatoes (some frozen, some packed in oil) vanilla sugar orange sugar balsamic reduction Suvir’s tomato chutney rum soaked raisins and currants (wonderful to use in baking scones, bread puddings, etc.) Often I keep: duxelles cookies or scones to be baked as needed various soups and stews or trimmings and bones to make them frozen fresh pasta