SethG

In the section on flour at the front of the book, I believe, Dorie says that if you scoop correctly you're supposed to get 5 oz. cups. So that's the figure I use when I weigh. Edit: see page 13, paragraph 2. And so it is written.

You might want to check here. I don't know if this is mentioned in that other thread, but I've been reading The Taste of America, by John and Karen Hess. It's a polemical masterpiece from the 1970s. Much has changed since they wrote this call to arms against the food status quo, and many readers may grow tired (as I did) of the authors' doctrinaire rejection of any bread containing sugar and any sauce containing flour. But the early chapters record the history of the previously unsung glories of the colonial American kitchen, and the depressing decline in American eating caused by industrialization and misguided pseudo-science. The authors also demolish the "gourmet" food experts of the Seventies, making James Beard and Craig Claiborne, in particular, look like fools. I've just gobbled this book up in the past week. I may have made it sound solemn, but it's actually filled with wit. I recommend it highly.

Could be. Or is it instead a portent of doom?

Welcome JanKK. Your Danish looks fab. I hope others gave it a whack as well; I did not. But I'll owe it to you guys and do it later.

Thanks for that link, Pan. That's a wonderful feature on the fish market. In the video feature, there's a vendor who says he doesn't like change, etc., but then adds "if they give us everything they promise us, everything [with the move] will be fine." Yet the accompanying stories emphasize only the state-of-the-art new facility and the sentimental angle. I'd really like to know more about what these vendors (many of them apparently "little guys") are worried about, and what they've been promised.

I meant mine, not yours. And I'm talking about after cooling-- they might have been prone to run right out of the oven, I can't remember. I'm jealous-- they were such great brownies! They'll taste good no matter what you do.

Mine had a very fudgy center but were not runny. They remained in the realm of the solid. Maybe this means they were overcooked!

Lisa, yesterday I cooked some artichokes in your honor. I actually peeled and halved mine, simmering them in aciduated water and tossing them with a vinaigrette. Like yours, mine were labeled "baby artichokes," but mine were not. As I understand it, baby artichokes are supposed to be immature enough that their "chokes" are undeveloped, leading to less work for the cook/eater. My so-called babies were really just small artichokes, and they had a quite well-developed choke I had to cut out. Does anyone get real baby artichokes around here? (I'm in Brooklyn.) How about you?

Not so far from the Rocco thing, but a classic: spread Nutella and banana slices over crepes, roll 'em up, bake about 10 minutes and sprinkle confectioner's sugar on top. Simple and delicious.

Wow, if Danish turns out to be the most popular suggestion ever made on this thread, I'll just have to join in. I must have never had a proper Danish. Rhea, I agree, the naan was a little chewy/pretzel-ish, although I liked it. I want to know how Dahomechef got his to puff so evenly around the rim.

Katie, how much will that set us back at retail?

Just want to add my endorsement (which is worth millions!) to Esposito's. Last week I got some caul fat there (they carry caul fat!) and I also got a hot sopressata, which I'm sad to report was devoured in a single sitting by yours truly. It was great.

Bumpety. It's time. What whites will you be drinking this summer?

Okay, here's the ugliest Persian naan in the history of the world: It was fine, all stretched out and dimpled and flat, then I decided I could just plop it in my oven right from my hands. Big mistake. It got all caught and bunched up and there was nothing I could do about it. So it's a naan dumbell. The Oasis naan came out fine. I made one with cumin and one with caraway. Both were delicious. By the way, I took a look at the danish, and I might bow out of doing it this week. I made croissants last week, and I think I may have had enough rolling and folding for a while. But the danish appears to call for less difficult rolling and folding than the croissants, so maybe I'll change my mind.

It's true, this blog is great. Very educational. My real reason for posting: how come I still see Carolyn's old avatar?

I haven't reviewed the recipe, but danish sounds good to me.

So whose job is it to call our blogger and wake her up? edit: oops, never mind, I see she's up.

Arbuclo: when you get around to baking, you really get around to baking! I'm making naan dough tonight and I'll bake them tomorrow. I haven't found barley flour locally, so I can't make the pebble bread yet. Anybody want to propose something (preferably non-bread) for the next thing?

Thanks, Steve, for your reply. That is useful info. I definitely had a misconception or two about the market-- I certainly have seen photo essays on the place, which contained picture after picture of what I thought was fresh fish. I was worried before you even mentioned it about the effects on Chinatown. My presumption was that the fish vendors in Chinatown get much of their fresh fish from the Fulton Fish Market. If this was in error, then there's not a lot to talk to them about. On the other hand, if they do rely on that market to any large degree, then we could see a big change in the well-stocked, underpriced fish stores in Chinatown.

I've been there. What I meant was that I've never bought fish there at four in the morning. And no, I don't think I have to buy fish there at four in the morning to think that something significant, and remember I mean not only culturally but also commercially, may be lost when it's gone. Is it so unseemly to ask a few tough questions?

And Penn Station was just a rail yard. Look, I know the fish market isn't some grand work of architecture, but many commercial entities become civic monuments regardless of their architectural merit, or even their continued functionality as commercial entities. The New York Stock Exchange is such an entity. If they moved to New Jersey, but left their building in lower Manhattan standing, it would still be a tragic loss of a part of New York's heritage. Hell, if they even did what most markets in the world have done, and abandoned their trading floor in favor of computerized transactions, the effect would be much the same. I'm not saying they don't have the right to do these things if they wish. I'm just saying that longstanding businesses (if they're lucky) can become valuable institutions, a part of the city fabric, and that when they do carry such status the things that they do affect more than just their own bottom line. All this isn't to say that I think the Fulton Fish Market does not function. No one has said anything to make me think it doesn't function just fine. I've tried to be careful. I'm not criticizing or disagreeing with Shaw, necessarily. I know he's researching a book and that this research has taken him to Hunts Point, where I have never been. I've never visited the Fish Market. But I think we should think critically about this, and that the past gives us cause for skepticism. That's all.

You know, I'm a little surprised at the complacency of the eGullet community regarding this move. Steve's arguments may be correct in this instance, and I didn't start this thread thinking we'd mount an actual fight to save the fish market. I figure it's much too late to stop the move. But these arguments are exactly the same ones that doom every great civic monument, from Ebbet's Field to Penn Station to, well, Les Halles. It is always the case that the ancient, traditional place of doing business is too small, is hard for some folks to get to, and is in need of modernization. This to my mind is but one factor to balance against what ought to be our presumptive interest in preserving such places. Is it really true that chefs don't shop there? This is contrary to what I've read before. And as for the "inevitable course of history" argument, I really don't know if it's so inevitable. We have the city we create and deserve, and if it is our desire to have that city be one in which nothing exists below 96th Street except for apartments that sell for more than one million dollars, then we're well on our way. Maybe the fish market is a total stink pit that's of no use to anyone. But I suspect that's just the official story. I'm currently on a leave of absence from my job, but I work near Chinatown, and when I return June 1st I'm going to start asking the fish vendors in Chinatown how they feel about this thing.

Of course! Just as I thought!

That thing you did with the open door... genius! How did you do that? Yours, computer inept P.S. I'm seeing the pictures just fine myself. P.P.S. You'll love the Brown Cow. P.P.P.S. Don't know what bakery you're talking about in Brooklyn, my home borough, but I must proselytize: bake your own bread. It will be even better, I promise.

Couldn't this potentially have huge consequences for Chinatown fish shoppers, both in Manhattan and Brooklyn? Steve, how do the small vendors feel about the move, if you know? (Are there any?)