weinoo

Yep - similar to what we did... My step ladder and a broom fit nicely in there. Left the 3" on purpose.

I popped into a little store in a little town in the Hudson River valley and was a bit surprised to find a display of... I may have bought out their whole supply.

I always thought and learned that honing was to straighten out the edge. Which I do each and every time I use a knife.

yes - this was I’m pretty sure explained nicely in Merle Ellis’s classic Cutting Up in the Kitchen. I’m somewhat sure it’s the cut served in some old school Jewish delis/restaurants as Roumanian steak.

Oysters are right around $3 each in restaurants. These are some of the freshest I’ve tasted, some right out of Casco Bay. Whole sea bass was $37, WHICH I think is a lot less than I’ve paid for whole roasted lesser fish is NYC. (And today at lunch, they were $32 for a dozen of Maine’s finest.)

We’re on vacation, in Portland, Maine. And what better way to start vacation eating when in Portland, than with… a dozen of Maine’s finest. And a nice Sancerre from the Loire Valley. There was wood roasted squid and potatoes along with gnocchi with a lamb ragu for starters. Significant Eater had a spinach pie for her Maine. Roasted in their wood-burning oven as well, I didn’t think it was as good as my… Black sea bass, with mushrooms in a lovely, buttery sauce. This was excellent. At Fore Street, the restaurant which really put Portland dining on the map. Open for over 25 years, it was so good. I wish NYC had a place like this…https://www.forestreet.biz

The price paid for some of the losers is way too much to be turning them into burgers. At least not yet…there are other races to be won.

Also @paulraphael - this place is in Long Island City - I've ordered other stuff from them and had very good luck, and it's quick and very fairly priced... Alma Gourmet

I think the bottom line is you want porcinis (dried) from Italy. Hence, from a good trusted enough source. My impression of dried porcini mushrooms from Bulgaria (the link above), Poland, China, is that they're simply not up to the Italian quality. Yes, I've tried them all.

Oh - you also might want to just check out what they're carrying at Di Palo's.

Looks like the same sourcing for these two places... Borgotaro porcini come from Valtaro, a valley of the Taro river in the Apennine mountains where Emilia Romagna, Tuscany and Liguria meet. Then there are shipping charges, which probably are a lot higher from Italy than from the Bronx. Gustiamo will let you order as much stuff as you want, and the shipping maxes out at $20. Or, they let you pick up at the warehouse on Fridays.

Since it's as if I run a restaurant here (albeit a small one with only one or two customers at a time) (but I do shop, prep, cook, and clean the kitchen), tuna fish salad covers all the bases. I'm literally making a salad out of tuna. Same as we say whitefish salad, shrimp salad, egg salad... On a few menus... Ben's Deli...Old Fashioned Chicken Salad or Large Tuna Fish Salad Platter 15.99 Prepared from scratch by our chef 2nd Ave Deli...* Tuna Salad16.95 Sarge's...TUNA SALAD* ........................................................................ 14.95 Katz's...Tuna Salad Sandwich

And do you have a proper steel/ceramic for honing every time you use your knife? Just as important, in my opinion, as sharpening properly.

Gustiamo has quality.

Yesterday, I took a drive out to deepest Brooklyn. Ostensibly, I was headed to Brighton Beach to one of my favorite Russian places, to pick up a few things to maybe have for dinner. No dice - closed for good. So, with my trusty Google maps, I headed even further into Brooklyn, to find... One of the 3 Forever Jerk locations. As Pete Wells wrote, To Find New York’s Best Jerk, Follow the Smoke: Indeed, found it! The big rig in front was not fired up - they wait until a few hours before dinner, but the one in the rear (with the haze of smoke) certainly was. The line moved quickly - I bought a couple of chicken lunches and an order of ribs. I don't know how I made it all the way home with that lovely scent in my car, but I did. I enjoyed it for lunch, and we both enjoyed it for dinner.

This is an issue for sure. I have fairly new cookbooks which are in worse shape than some of my 50-year old plus ones. It's like the bindings or glue dry out super quickly or something. And the book crunches when it's opened.

Relish tray with a tuna fish salad sandwich (on Eli's Health Bread!). Or, conversely, a tuna fish salad sandwich (on Eli's Health Bread!) with a relish tray.

That's some burns waiting to happen right there, my friend. As you can see on the top of HIS hand!

Perdue Whole Cornish Hen With Giblets 1.5-lb. or 1.8- to 2.3-lb. frozen Cornish hen That one must have been good at hiding and continuing to eat.

Nope.

I noticed this in the store the other day... Almost 3 pounds, and it's a cornish hen.

Yes - like... And some rye croutons! Last night... Stir-fried tofu with mixed vegetables. Jasmine rice.

This can help but isn't fully necessary... and if I can make them... fancied up with some chives.... anyone can.

Definitely...but I do think the ones at Katja come from Holland or Belgium - I'll try to get a picture the next shipment. And we look forward to seeing how you like to prep and eat them. FWIW, at Katja they are trimmed, peeled almost to the top; the trimmings are then used to make a stock. The spargel is poached in that stock, which has a little added sugar; evidently helps bring out the natural sweetness. How do like them? Hollandaise? Drawn butter?

The whole Ashkenazic canon awaits.