weinoo

We did - but the neighborhood was way more mellow when we moved down here 18 years ago. Of course, that was after it wasn't so mellow! Speaking of Corlear's Hook, it's where the term hooker originated! https://infamousnewyork.com/2019/07/12/corlears-hook-birthplace-of-the-hooker/

Another good reason why you own a Blue Star range and me a Wolf. On/off, no circuit boards to burn out, and on those (here at least, very rare) occasions where the electricity fails, I can still light it with a match. It's not easy making inexpensive consumer/prosumer products to match the expertise and precision a real combi-oven might provide.

Yeah - I keep telling my docs that!!

And it makes me feel good, which is the emotional quotient I attach to much of my cooking, the same way how a dish smells and looks might. With many of the things I use to cook with and eat, I like to look at the cost per serving difference - it's usually pretty fucking minimal. And I never disregard that I'm lucky in that I have those choices.

Yes - its' fresher. You can tell the second you open the jar and pop the seal.

After a little back and forth over in the dinner thread regarding my use of Wild Mountain Cumin, via Burlap & Barrel via @rancho_gordo...here's a new thread. I've been trying to up my game a bit, in all aspects of cooking, and one of those areas which might use an upgrade is the spice drawer. After all, we've read the horror stories about our mother's spice racks, sitting over the stove, and tasting/smelling of nothing but dust and must. To whit: "Oh mom, where's the cinnamon? I want to make some oatmeal this morning." "it's over the stove...I bought it when you were born." (I was 25 at the time...and visiting). (My mother always had fresh Werther's). In any event, here in NYC we're pretty lucky, between Kalustyan's, Dual, et al. And of course there's Liev at La Boîte, a true game-changer. But plenty of others have arrived on scene. https://www.foodandwine.com/seasonings/spices/game-changers-superior-spices Go ahead, have at it. Make fun. It's Friday.

I've had both good ones and bad ones, and when I started investigating about making them at home, decided they were too much of a pain in the ass to pull off properly.

Here's a piece about Burlap and Barrel I should've linked above... https://www.businessofbusiness.com/articles/burlap-barrel-mccormick-durkee-spice-trade-big-spice-startup-disrupt/ I look at spices now the same way I look at beans after buying from Steve. @rancho_gordo's stuff generally isn't sitting in silos, warehouses, stores for maybe years before they get to the consumer. Why think dried spices aren't going through the same process? By buying from these new, smaller vendors, I hope to be in the smallest possible way, making a farmer's life a little more sustainable. Same as going to farmer's market. Not buying fish from a million miles away. etc. etc.

It's good, and nice and fresh - came with a recent @rancho_gordo bean subscription . Burlap & Barrel is one of the "new on the scene" spice purveyors, allegedly working directly with farmers in places where agri-spice growing is way more common. So they are theoretically getting much fresher stuff, which has traveled through way fewer hands. I maybe didn't answer your question, but I do enjoy sometimes avoiding the big companies. Not always, as can be seen by the spice collection above.

Kudos.

Tried my hand at a new (to me) dish last night, actually doing some real cooking for the first time in a few weeks: Musakhan. It's a purportedly perfect Palestinian poulet platter, to be eaten communally. It's served in the too few Palestinian restaurants here in NYC, Qanoon and Tanoreen, to name two. Lots of spices are involved, and as with many recipes, your mileage may vary: As my obsessiveness requires, various recipes were perused, to come up with something that while I'm sure would piss off properly pissed off Palestinians, wasn't bad for these jews. I used a technique from one or two or three of the recipes, which involved "marinating" the chicken pieces in half the spices and salt for a few hours, then browning the chicken pieces in lots of olive oil, before removing them and then slowly cooking down the onions, with more of the spices and olive oil, for a good half hour, before returning the chicken to the pan with the onions, and then roasting both together in the (non WIFI connected CSO) oven for about 20 more minutes. The whole was then plattered over slightly warmed incorrect bread (I only had some thick pita, at least not pocket pita, so that's what was used). Topped with roasted pine nuts (and boy did I catch these just in time), more sumac, more olive oil, and no herbs because that would've made the dish look too nice. Still in its pan, but finished cooking. Plattered: It'll be better next time, if I can source the right bread - and I would maybe use just legs, thighs, and wings (even though Significant Eater prefers overcooked white meat). But this chicken was absolutely delicious. And alongside: House pickled radishes. Olives. Roasted peppers. Cucumber/red onion/yogurt/garlic/dill salad. We've not eaten in a restaurant in almost 3 weeks now, and one of us is getting stir crazy.

Absolutely - after all, I do smoke other things in our apartment. Oh, I mean, like salmon in the gin donabe 😉 And if the weather is right (i.e. the wind), we're in a high-floor corner apartment and the cross-ventilation is insane at times. We get what's called the Corlear's Hook breeze - which I just made up. But we are quite close to Corlear's Hook, and the buildings here certainly provide for some interesting wind patterns at times.

I think it’s Thursday.

Not too bad on the smoke - I do have a pretty powerful hood, albeit it's a recirculating hood, that filters through various semi-permanent layers, ending up going through a big charcoal filter (that one gets replaced about every 6 months). Yes. Not electric nor induction.

A Közmatik (Pazaar is evidently the brand) is allegedly a Turkish cooking utensil, used over a gas or wood flame and roasting things on it. Eggplant, peppers, zucchini - you get the picture... Me, being an idiot, probably should have removed the grates and placed it directly onto the gas flame, but I didn't. And it might be upside down - I've seen pictures of them being used in either position. In any event, it worked really well, and there's basically zero cleanup, which was always a pain in the ass for me, when roasting veg directly on the grates or the flame. Obviously, I have no outside roasting potential. Roasted peppers, with red wine vinegar, olive oil, lemon, garlic, salt, pepper. Herbs to be added at end maybe.

Both Breville and the Cuisinart Steam she/he/her/him are the only ones I can envision ever needing, unless I was to upgrade to a house. It's bad enough I'm connected to the internet for practically everything else; I prefer my cooking equipment to be stand alone. And I enjoy getting yelled at by my wife and my cat, not my toaster.

That bean is a hard one to find here. I think the closest I can come to it is from @rancho_gordo. His Alubia Blanca beans might be a decent enough sub (I've brought beans back from trips, and man they can weigh a suitcase down in a hurry!), but sans terroir: https://www.ranchogordo.com/collections/heirloom-beans/products/alubia-blanca-de-san-jose-iturbide

French Nicoise olives are milder. You could try soaking the kalamatas in a few changes of water to reduce their intensity. For green, I like the lucques olives.

Exactly - taste of the clean sea. Almost sweet and salty at the same time. With a little bit of a chewy texture. Nothing really to compare them with, as they're quite unique.

Tough job, but someone has to do it! It would be interesting to find out where they're from; the crazy expensive ones I've eaten have all been from Galicia, hand harvested by maidens...I'm not making that up!!

Pretty much why I asked this!!

Hmmm - I find the stuff virtually undrinkable due to its saltiness. I have a couple of Catalan cookbooks, and really enjoy making that salt-cod salad, Esqueixada...

But if I drink 3x the amount of Radler...

Not too much different in its effect that a Radler, wouldn't you say?

Back to my (or someone's) roots, yesterday I made a kinda all-day Sunday gravy. Using beef, pork, and hot and sweet sausages (but no larger hunks of meat), and three different kinds of canned and/or jarred tomatoes... \ For its first use - dinner last night... Faella penne with all-day gravy, some herbs and Parmigiano-Reggiano. Zero leftovers, whereas I usually have enough left over for a frittata.