JAZ

So I know that mirepoix -- the mix of onion, celery and carrots typical in French cooking -- is supposed to be the backbone or starting point of stocks, broths, soups and sauces. Having learned much of my cooking from traditional texts like Mastering the Art of French Cooking, I absorbed that lesson. For years I made my stock with the trio and then used that for soups and sauces. Then I started making my stock without anything but meat and bones and decided it made for a much better result -- if I want the taste of vegetables I add them later. I gradually stopped automatically using mirepoix and found that in most cases, it made an improvement in my cooking. I was reminded of this recently when I made tomato soup using a recipe I found that called for the usual mix of onion, carrot and celery. I figured I'd give it a try again, but sure enough, it wasn't great. Not only was the tomato flavor severely muted, but since the soup was only partially blended, it also left little bits of carrot and celery in the soup, which were offputting. I'm glad I gave it a try, because now I know I was right. No more mirepoix for me (at least not automatic mirepoix). Am I the only one?

Not a TV show, but in a blog post on chicken curry, Michael Ruhlman says that his kids "are getting their veg from the chicken stock." When a reader points out that the chicken stock in a serving of curry contains virtually none of the nutrients of the vegetables used to make it, he steps in it even deeper with his reply: "really? then why does stock made with onion carrot and celery taste so much better?"

I tried this Food & Wine recipe for braised chicken with mushrooms and artichokes and will definitely make it again. I did make a couple of changes -- I used dry sherry because I was out of white wine; I degreased the sauce; and I thought the cream was overkill (I served it with fairly rich mashed potatoes; maybe with a leaner side the cream would have worked). To serve, I garnished with gremolata. It was great.

You might find some possibilities in this topic.

After many tries, I finally came up with a carrot soup that reminds me of the best soup I ever had (at Cortez in San Francisco). It had a hint of vanilla and was drizzled with chive oil. I haven't tried the carrot soup recipe from Modernist Cuisine, but I did borrow a trick -- adding carrot juice after the soup is blended. There's a photo and complete recipe here (scroll down).

So you feel that bagged ice, from unknown water sources, is better to make cocktails with than ice made from high-quality filtered municipal water or spring water? I'm not sure what I said that would cause you to infer that, Mitch. I wasn't talking about the quality of the ice; I was making a suggestion about the easiest ice option for someone with severe arthritis.

I guess I don't see how this is an improvement -- she'd still need to get the ice out of the trays. If you're suggesting letting the cubes melt enough that they'll fall out of the tray without twisting, then you get another problem: the half-melted ice will refreeze into a giant lump. As I recall, that style was awful. When the tray was full, it was virtually impossible to move the handle. In any case, I think it would take as much hand strength as the newer plastic trays. Although bagged ice isn't ideal (irregular shapes and sizes of ice chunks, plus if the ice isn't stored correctly, you can get the melting/refreezing problem with bags), it might be your best bet. I've tried a number of ice cube tray options over the years, including the OXO, and I don't think any of them are easy for someone with arthritis. Depending on how much ice you use, your budget, and kitchen space, maybe something like this portable ice maker would be a good option.

This is, to my mind, the best single piece of advice in the bunch. While it's true that there are many poorly written recipes out there, that's exactly why it's important to read through the recipe before you start. That way you'll know if there are any potential problems or screwy instructions. It's not about deciding if the recipe is good; it's about figuring out everything you need to do before you start. That being said, there are several tips that are either incorrect or incomplete, which could prove problematic for beginning cooks. For instance: 19. For best results when you're baking, leave butter and eggs at room temperature overnight. (Ina Garten) -- True for some baked goods, but certainly not for pastry dough. In that case, you want the butter as cold as possible. 64. When you grill, pull your steaks out of the refrigerator one hour ahead of time so they can come to room temperature. (Geoffrey Zakarian) -- If you have a really thin steak, an hour might be enough, but for a thick steak, it'll take several hours.

Before I had a food processor I used a potato masher with good luck. I used the kind where the business end is a plastic plate with circular holes in it. Not as easy as the food processor, but not that bad. I wonder if a potato ricer or food mill would work.

Not that this is practical for a bar, but you really should try a Clover Club made with either fresh raspberries muddled, or at least homemade raspberry syrup instead of the grenadine. It's an entirely different drink -- not that the one with grenadine is bad, but raspberry makes the drink, in my opinion.

We recently tried the "classic" potato chips and were favorably impressed. They're a little thicker than Lay's so they have more potato flavor, but they're still thin and crisp, a style I prefer to kettle-style chips. And you can't beat the price -- $2.00 for a 10-oz. bag. I'm not sure if that's a promotional price, but it's about half the price of Lay's.

As we found out a while back, there are many names for this dish.

While your menu sounds great, all your choices are pretty big. It might make sense -- depending on your client base -- to have either a "small plate" section or "a la carte" options. I'm thinking of people like my parents -- they used to love to go out to breakfast, but never wanted anything quite that large. When given the option, they chose a couple of single items instead of a full breakfast, like one pancake and an order of bacon, or a single egg and toast.

Mitch, I'm confused -- if the avocado was in the fridge for 10 days and then it spent 4 days at room temp, isn't it likely that the fruit ripened during the days on the counter, and not in the fridge?

Andie, while it's certainly true that refrigerating onions slows the release of the volatile compounds that cause tears, it's my understanding that this is a temporary change -- that is, as soon as the onions warm up, they're just the same. I've not found any objective information that supports the theory about the compounds moving or concentrating in either end of the onion. Where did you come across this?

We saw these in a market last year and tried a couple. We found them virtually useless, but then we were trying to use them in cocktails. Maybe reducing would help with the flavor.

Not really a punch, but this can be mixed up in batches: 2 parts grapefruit juice, 1 part tonic, hefty dose of Angostura bitters (or Fee Brothers if you have to be completely non-alcoholic). It's very refreshing and doesn't seem like a "kid's drink." I make it for non-drinkers all the time.

New York Magazine (nymag.com) recently ran this short piece on the resurgence of the Reuben.

Butter toffee nuts. I've used peanuts, almonds (blanched, slivered, or whole), and even pine nuts when I didn't have anything else. They cook fast and then you just have to wait a few minutes for them to cool and harden. They're good on their own or with chocolate chips, and great over ice cream.

Why is it that American TV/radio food people pronounce "marinade" as "mar-i-naaahhhd"? Lynn Rosetto Kasper and Sara Moulton are two of the worst. Do they think it sounds high-class, or European? Drives me crazy.

We made this salad -- Wolfgang Puck's "Chinese" chicken salad -- but used iceberg lettuce instead of the romaine. It worked quite well with the dressing.

So, no added oil at all? Just water (or water-based liquid)?

And even better I imagine with a garnish of crispy duck cracklins! I once bought twice as many duck breasts as I needed for a class (they came two whole breasts to a pack and I thought they came packed with two halves), so I ended up with lots of extra duck breasts. I repacked and froze them two halves to a bag, so when I took one bag out to defrost, I always cooked both halves. I'd take one half out very rare and then use it a couple days later for hash. The first thing I did was to cut off the fat layer and re-crisp it, both to provide fat for the potatoes and also so I'd have the cracklings to top it. Ordinarily I don't have written recipes for dishes like this, but I wrote this up for an article on poached eggs. For a photo, click here. 1 Pekin duck breast (whole) or 1 small magret (moulard) half duck breast, cooked 1 to 2 small Yukon gold potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch dice (about 1 cup) Kosher salt 1 very small onion, diced (about 1/2 cup) 1/2 cup chicken or duck stock 1 tablespoon cream (optional) 1 to 2 teaspoons cider or wine vinegar Fresh ground black pepper Chopped chives or parsley for garnish Place the potatoes in a small pan and cover with water. Over medium high heat, bring just to a boil. Reduce the heat to maintain a simmer and cook for 5 to 6 minutes, until almost done (potatoes should still be slightly firm in the center). Drain thoroughly and pat dry. Meanwhile, remove the skin and fat from the duck breast and dice it. Cut the meat into 1/2-inch cubes (you should have 1 to 2 cups of meat). In a medium skillet over medium heat, saute the diced duck skin until fat renders and the skin is very crisp. Remove the skin and reserve. You should have a thick coating of duck fat in the pan; if not, add vegetable oil to coat the pan. Raise the heat to medium high. When the fat is hot, add the drained potatoes. Sprinkle with salt and saute for 3 to 5 minutes, until crisp and golden brown. Add the onions and cook for a couple of minutes, until they begin to color slightly. Add the duck meat and cook to heat through, 1 to 2 minutes. Add the stock to the pan and stir to dissolve the browned bits from the bottom of the pan. Reduce until most of the stock is evaporated. If you like a richer, more cohesive hash, add the cream, stir and cook just until the cream is heated through and coats the hash. Sprinkle the hash with a teaspoon of the vinegar and a couple of grinds of black pepper. Taste and adjust seasoning, adding more salt or vinegar as desired. Divide the hash between two plates and top each with a poached egg. Sprinkle with the reserved duck cracklings and chives or parsley, if using.

We tried the Pink Lady -- not bad, but very sweet for our taste. I'll make it again, but with less simple syrup.

I've done this several times since this thread started, using about a dozen and a half eggs and haven't had any problems. I've done two eggs at a time in a 1.5qt stainless saucepan with aluminum disc base and four in a 3.5qt of the same brand and model (Cuisinart classic). The only thing to clean is dumping out the water and wisps of egg. What did you have to clean up? Did the eggs stick at all? Bottom of pan was caked with albumen though the eggs themselves did not stick. Put pan back on heat with some dishwasher detergent and it is pretty much cleaned up now. It is an excellent stainless steel pan and I use induction as my heat source. JAZ mentions some problems with overcooking the bottom of the eggs maybe because of her use of a better pan than I used and I wonder if that's what gave you problems too. The pan I used is fine but not excellent: maybe that's the key? I believe that Anna is talking about the method of starting in cold water that Varway mentioned, not the original method. My guess is that in cold water, the thin albumin separates out, sinks and cooks on the bottom of the pan as the water heats up. In hotter water, the eggs sometimes sink and sit on the bottom of the pan, but they don't stick. And although my usual poaching pan does have a heavy bottom, I've poached eggs in all kinds of pans and have found that with the vinegar and salt in the water, eggs don't stick regardless of the pan.