JAZ

I'm sorry I didn't post something earlier (a combination of the new eGullet and my less than state-of-the-art computer and old internet browser has been causing me to lose posts), but I wanted to say hello to all the veteran posters, who have already made this a great (and, dare I say, "spirited") forum, and welcome all the new members who might wander in here. A general announcement is forthcoming which will include a little background on all the forum hosts, but for those who don't know me, I'm a San Francisco-based food writer and cooking instructor, specializing in cocktails and party foods. I love this forum and am looking forward to hosting it. So (imagine a cocktail glass raised in salute), here's to us!

I've always liked hot spiced cider with brandy. To a couple of quarts of cider, I add a half a cinnamon stick, a couple of cardamom pods, a few slices of ginger, a couple of cloves and the juice and rind of half a lemon. Let it simmer for a half hour or so, strain, and serve. A hot brandy with a splash of cinnamon schapps and an orange twist isn't bad, either.

If you're interested in more fillings for phyllo or pastry triangles, here are a few of mine. They all freeze well. Smoked Turkey and Roasted Red Pepper 1 cup smoked turkey (or chicken), diced 1/3 cup green onion, chopped fine 3 cups jack cheese with peppers, shredded 1/3 cup roasted diced red pepper 2 tablespoons cilantro, minced (optional) 1/2 cup sour cream 1 1/2 teaspoons cumin 1/4 teaspoon chili powder 1/4 teaspoon salt, or to taste Mix all ingredients, adding more sour cream to bind if necessary. Ham and Gruyere 6 oz. ham, diced small (about 1 ¼ cups) 3 oz. gruyere cheese, finely grated (about 1 ½ cups loosely packed) 1 tablespoon minced parsley 2 tablespoons finely chopped green onion or shallots 1 tablespoon honey mustard 4 oz. cream cheese, softened Mix all ingredients by hand or in a food processor until thoroughly blended. Mushroom Brie ½ lb. mushrooms, diced 2 tablespoons oil 5-6 cloves roasted garlic 2 to 3 tablespoons heavy cream Several ounces of Brie Clean and finely chop the mushrooms. Heat the oil in a medium skillet and saute the mushrooms until they release their liquid. Continue to cook, stirring, until most of the liquid has evaporated. Meanwhile, with a mortar and pestle or in a blender, combine the roasted garlic and cream into a thick paste. When the mushrooms are cooked, add the cream mixture and season with salt and pepper. Place a small amount of mushroom filling on your phyllo strip and top with a small piece of Brie. Just remember, if you're making more than one type, sprinkle the different varieties with different toppings (sesame seeds, paprika, parmesan cheese, etc.) so you can tell them apart.

Check out this web site. She's a friend of mine and does a very good job.

Stacey's Bookstore in SF (on Market at about 2nd) has a great cookbook selection, although no used books.

It's not that I use my food processor often, but when I'm making large quanitites of food, it's a godsend. For instance, It's one thing to grate a cup of cheese by hand, but a couple of pounds? Food processor. Likewise for a couple of heads of cabbage. And it's indispensible for my cheddar-ale spread.

Working in a cookware store, I see a lot of gadgets. The little fish cooking guides, the garlic peelers, the shrimp deveiners, the egg cubers -- you name it, I've seen it. All I can say is: VinChilla. This thing is a wine chiller, priced at about $100. Everyone who comes in to buy one thinks that it's a home model of the chillers you see in some wine shops. But when you read the directions, you find that you fill this thing with ice and water (it looks like a big clunky wine bucket), put your wine in, and it spins the bottle. One of my goals in life is to talk people out of buying this thing.

If you have the time and ingredients to experiment, you could try this. (Since cardamom is the strongest flavor, I think that's the flavor to match.) Mix a little cardamom with some sugar and make some "cardamom toast" (like you'd make cinnamom toast but with the cardamom mixture). Then taste it with a sip of brandy. Repeat with a bite of toast and a sip of bourbon, then with rum. Then you can tell if any of the three is a particularly good match, or if one or more of them definitely don't work.

Thanks -- I could say I'm looking forward to lots of spirited discussion, but I would never stoop to using such an obvious pun. And so was this.

I do think that for many, part of the lure of the grilled cheese sandwich is the childhood memory factor. In my childhood, my mother made our grilled cheese sandwiches with American or mild cheddar cheese, on white bread, but with yellow mustard (the only kind you could find in our town back then). After grilling, though -- and tell me if this isn't unique -- we'd squeeze honey over the top (or open them up and squeeze it inside). I firmly believe that my mother could have made a fortune had she capitalized back then on her fondness for honey and mustard together. Alas, she didn't. These days, I still love just about any variation of grilled cheese sandwiches. Every once in a while, I'll make one of my mother's versions. It's not the best, but sometimes, it's the only one I want.

I don't think making completely unsupportable claims about the health benefits of raw food (and the dangers of cooked food) is innocuous. The food may be great, and that's fine. The so-called "philosophy," however, bothers me to the point that I would never patronize her place. It's a personal thing. One question, though, for Stone (or anyone else who's eaten there): You mentioned that the chocolate used in the fudge sauce has bee cooked. How does Roxanne justify that? And come to think of it, how are her desserts sweetened, anyway? (Okay, that's two questions.) I can't think of a sweetener available to a raw, vegan cook -- I mean, honey's out because it's an animal product; sugar of any kind is heat processed; maple syrup is boiled. So what does she use?

Hannibal Lecter: Fava beans Chianti

You might want to read this from the egullet archive: Ventilation.

Yeah - I haven't tried the Buddha's hand yet, but if it's anything like the other flavors, I'm certain it's delicious. These guys are the same folks that make the Germain-Robin brandies and those are an excellent product as well. JAZ of eGCI cocktail classes fame suggested a drink of the Hangar One Mandarin Blossom with a splash of Lillet Blonde. It's my new favorite drink! Sort of an instant French Martini, but with a little more panache and delicacy. Really tasty. I'm not sure whether to thank her or blame her for my downfall... Actually, I think it's a collaboration between G-R and St. George Spirits in Alameda. As I understand it, St. George distills it and G-R does the marketing. In any case, it is wonderful. And I'm glad you like the drink, Katie. (Should I say "thanks" or "I'm sorry"? ) Any great ideas for a name for it? I've been calling it a Blonde Bombshell ("blonde" from the Lillet, obviously, and "bombshell" from the abandoned naval airplane hangar where it's produced) but I'm not entirely happy with that name. It seems a little ferocious for such a subtle drink.

Do you have Julia's Mastering the Art of French Cooking? There's a recipe in there for Coquilles St. Jaques a la Parisienne that I've used a couple of times -- I thought it was great, although I've made a couple of changes from the original. Start out by slicing and sauteeing about a half a pound of mushrooms. Set aside. Simmer 1 cup white wine and 1 cup water with a little salt and pepper, a bay leaf and a couple tablespoons of minced shallots. Poach your scallops (recipe calls for a pound) for a couple of minutes -- you want them just short of done. Strain out and set aside. For the sauce: Reduce the scallop cooking liquid down to one cup. Cook 3 Tbsp. butter and 4 Tbsp. flour together for a couple of minutes -- they should be foaming but not browned. Blend in the cooking liquid and 3/4 cup milk and whisk until smooth. Bring to a boil. Blend 2 egg yolks with 1/2 cup heavy cream. Slowly beat in a little of the hot sauce into the egg and cream mixture to temper it. Then combine the two mixtures and heat back to the boil. Season to taste (I add a couple of drops of Tabasco) and thin with more cream if too thick. Strain it if you want a perfectly smooth sauce. Julia calls for slicing the scallops into 1/8 inch slices and assembling in individual shells, which I don't have. I slice them in two and assemble in individual gratinee dishes (or leave them whole and assemble in one big shallow dish). To assemble, mix the sauce with the mushrooms and scallops. Spoon into a buttered gratin dish (or individual ones), sprinkle with grated gruyere or parmesan cheese (and drizzle on a little melted butter if you like). Run them under the broiler until cheese is lightly browned. Hope this helps.

Why is it that when French people mispronounce English words, we think it's cute or charming, but when Americans mispronounce French words, we think it's a mark of stupidity?

Menacing people with hot marshmallows is not something I'd recommend. When I was about 10, my sister and I were fooling around with toasted marshmallows. Hers ended up on my nose and burned about three layers of skin off. Hurt like hell and not only left me with a scabbed up nose for a couple of weeks, but caused my nose to be ultrasensitive to sunburn for years.

Maggie, I believe you have a copy of the Zuni Cafe cookbooK, don't you? If so, look up the recipe for the pasta dish with roasted broccoli and cauliflower. I don't remember all the details, but it's spicy, with toasted breadcrumbs, garlic, red pepper flakes and capers -- it's really good. If you don't have the book, I can look up the recipe at work.

The bartender at one of my favorite places infuses gin with apple and cucumber and uses the resulting liquor with Pimms No 1 in a variation of the Pimms Cup. Great drink.

Well, in French, confit is actually not a noun at all; it's an adjective translated as "preserved" -- from the verb confire, "to preserve." So technically, "duck confit" would be preserved duck, while "ginger confit" would be preserved ginger and "lemon confit" would be preserved lemons. It's just that in English we have other terms for other preserved foods (especially fruits) but no other words for the duck thing, so "confit" has come to mean the duck thing only and not other preserved foods. But strictly speaking, in French at least, the term "confit" should always be preceded by a noun denoting whatever is being preserved (i.e., duck confit, rabbit confit, grapefruit confit, herring confit, or whatever).

One more for me (considering where I work, I think I've been showing admirable restraint) -- American Boulangerie by Pascal Rigo, who owns Bay Breads and several other bakeries here in San Francisco. I'm hoping it will inspire me to start baking bread again. [Moderator note: The original Cookbooks – How Many Do You Own? topic became too large for our servers to handle efficiently, so we've divided it up; the preceding part of this discussion is here: Cookbooks – How Many Do You Own? (Part 1)]

I just made a big batch of chili verde with those shoulder strip "ribs." So much easier than cutting up a shoulder roast.

I don't know if it's still good, but I used to love Nizza La Bella on San Pablo in Albany. Great bistro food, with heavenly cocktails. Haven't been in a couple of years, though.

When I go out with my family or friends, we all tend to discuss what we're getting, so if I'm trying to decide between two options, I mention it. Often someone else will say, I'll get A if you get B. If no one else is interested in either of my choices, I usually ask the servers what they'd recommend. In making up my mind what to order, I generally go with things I can't or don't make at home or things I've heard others rave about.

I sometimes wonder whether the cocktail glass as we know it was evolved for cocktails and used famously for martinis or the other way around. I have some old "martini" glasses that belonged to my grandfather and look more like small old-fashioned champagne saucers than they do conical cocktail glasses. I also have an antique dark amethyst cocktail mixer with matching cocktail glasses, and the glasses look more like handeless punch cups than they do cocktail glasses. I have a vintage art deco cocktail set with glasses that look almost like stubby cordial glasses and a set from my grandmother with glasses that are the same shape as Riedel's single malt scotch glasses -- that is, they have no stem and they're sort of tulip shaped with a flare at the top. The set of my mother's that she's promised me, however, does have glasses with today's typical shape. I believe they're from the 60's. So my guess is that the glass shape we see today became popular in the 50's.