JAZ

Jane, just to clarify: if I import a book that's not indexed into my Bookshelf, do I have to click on the "RI" icon if I would like to see the book indexed? Simply importing it isn't enough? The reason I ask is that the RI interface is a little clunky. If I don't have to go through it, I'd rather skip it.

How about coming home from a week-long vacation to find that your fridge/freezer died at some point during the week, with spoiled shrimp and shells (for stock), duck breasts, duck fat, several quail, and pork chops? And that's only the freezer.

With some dishes, I don't add any vinegar to the dish itself, but serve it with a side dish with plenty of vinegar. For instance, I almost always serve broccoli in a sharp vinaigrette alongside macaroni and cheese. I don't want to add extra acid to the mac and cheese, but it benefits from an acidic salad on the side.

Do either the various Vita-Mixes or the BlendTec do small amounts well? By "small" I mean, say, half a cup of pureed tomatoes or vinaigrette.

It seems to me that there are two lines of criticism going here. If Bluecoat has production/quality control problems that result in some batches being definitely off -- burnt tires, "synthetic moldy ick" etc. -- and people comment on that, how does this make them pretentious, or blowhards? It's unfortunate that Paul Pacult got a bad bottle, but it's not his fault. Should he have tried again, with an untainted bottle? Maybe, but I can't blame him for not wanting to if the original bottle was that bad. As for the other line of criticism, there are lots of gins out there that don't carry much juniper punch (as Sam points out). Bluecoat (a good batch), Bombay Sapphire and Tanq 10 are the three that I've tried most often. They're fine -- good in some drinks, not so great in others. If I were going to pick one gin to drink, though, none of those would be it: I want my gin to have a big dose of juniper. Does any of this mean you should pour out your bottle? Of course not. To take a similar example, I'm on the record here describing Smith & Cross rum as tasting like dust balls and old sweat socks, but none of its adherents called me a blowhard (at least not to my face), and I certainly didn't imply -- nor did they infer -- that I thought they all had bad taste. I'm sure none of them are pouring their bottles down the sink.

My best luck with double crust pies is when the filling is cooked before adding. Chicken pot pies, for instance. When I've made double crust apple pies, the only time I've been successful with the crust is to cook the apples about halfway before sealing up in the durs.

A recent article from the Wall Street Journal reminded me of this topic: Couples' Food Fights. Rereading this topic, I realize I've been pretty lucky. I mean, my first live-in boyfriend (whom I now cheerfully refer to as "my dickhead ex-fiance) and I had problems over cooking, but we had problems over everything. I guess it's fitting that my one and only published piece of fiction was about cooking and eating dinner with him. So maybe it was worth it.

In our cooking classes, we regularly do side-by-side comparison of roasted v. steamed vegetables -- usually asparagus and carrots. You're right that the browning makes a difference, but I'd say the loss of water in the roasted vegetables accounts for the biggest difference. The flavors are more intense: for the carrots, it means they're noticeably sweeter. Generally, the students prefer the roasted versions, although I think that the steamed versions give a purer flavor -- no Maillard flavors masking the vegetables.

When I moved, I somehow lost/misplaced/threw away my only paring knife. I thought I'd miss it, but I lived without it for at least 6 months. Then I got one for free, so it's back in my block. I use it occasionally, but could live without it again, I'm sure. My utility knife gets easily ten times the use my paring knife gets.

I've been cooking a lot of Mexican and Mexican-influenced dinners, but haven't been taking pictures. A few days ago it was pork chile verde based on a recipe from Rick Bayliss' Mexico One Plate at a Time, with rice and refritos. Tonight I had a quesadilla and a "shrimp ceviche cocktail," also from Bayliss. One of these times I'll take pictures.

Chris, what did each "round" consist of? Different exemplars of one spirit (that is, 10 Scotches side by side)? Or family types, such as 10 different kinds of whiskies? Did the coffee beans and water alone really clear your palate enough between rounds?

Something I just learned from McGee's On Food and Cooking is that leaving cooked rice at room temperature for too long can be unsafe. Apparently raw rice often carries bacteria that can withstand high temperatures (and so survive the cooking process). The bacteria grow pretty rapidly at room temperature, so he recommends serving rice hot and refrigerating any leftovers. Or, you can add an acid (as in sushi rice or rice salads, which inhibits bacterial growth.

I'd go with fruit crisp or cobbler. You can use the large aluminum disposable pans and even frozen fruit works well, so it's very easy. People feel virtuous eating fruit and for those who want more, you can have ice cream or whipped cream to go on top.

Chicken wings? Depending on how you cook them, you might be able to do them the day before and reheat.

Linda, although I always liked pretty much any style of gazpacho, when I had a smooth "authentic" version at a Spanish restaurant, I was hooked and spent ages trying to find a recipe for something similar. I finally found it in Penelope Casas' book La Cocina de Mama. I actually bought the book just for that recipe; I've never made anything else from it and still think it was the best $30 I ever spent. The recipe is online here: Andalusian gazpacho. It's really easy. Since you strain the soup, you don't have to seed or skin the tomatoes. At first, I thought it strange that the recipe didn't call for onion or cucumber -- I'd always had gazpacho with them and thought they were standard. Casas says no, so I believe her. And the only chunky vegetable in this is some red bell pepper added as a garnish if you want. Again, she says this the authentic method. In any case, I've never used any other recipe since I came across this one. A couple of suggestions if you try this: First, unless you hate cumin, I suggest adding it; it provides some depth of flavor. Second, use a good quality sherry vinegar and olive oil; they do make a difference in this recipe. Third, I never find that the sugar is necessary, but then again I use Campari tomatoes, which are pretty sweet. You might want to leave it out and add it at the end if you think it's necessary.

You could try starting with the milder chiles and working your way up to the hotter ones. Polanos are medium hot peppers that have a lot of flavor, and a lot of applications, I think. If they seem hot to you, keep eating them until they seem mild. Then go up a step in heat to jalapenos or serranos.

Quite possibly. Not only did the third worst team get a very valuable prize and the best teams not have a chance at it, but the third worst team is the one who got a recipe on the restaurant's menu. It would have made much more sense to give the early winners a chance to stay out with immunity, or continue on for a chance at the prize.

For me, it's pears. Fresh pears can be great, but more often, it seems, they're either mealy or mushy. Canned pears are much more reliable.

Cocktaildb.com, run by Ted Haigh (Dr. Cocktail) and Martin Doudoroff is pretty highly regarded. Esquire magazine's drink website consists primarily of material written by Dave Wondrich. I don't know if he's still involved with it (or if they're adding new material), but it's amusing and informative for the most part. If you want stories with your recipes, it's a good place to look.

I refrigerate nut oils. After a long time they start to taste a little stale, but they never seem to go rancid.

Fennel?

Thanks again for the suggestions. A couple of points: I want to send homemade treats; they don't necessarily have to be sweet, but that's the way I'm leaning. Also, I was told specifically by my nephew that liquids are not allowed. I'm sticking with that.

The beef jerky is a good idea -- thanks. I can't send liquids at all, so the hot sauce idea won't work. Mostly, though, I'm looking for desserts/sweets, because my nephew has a sweet tooth. Although maybe crackers or something like cheese straws would work.

My nephew is posted in Afghanistan for 6-9 months, and my plan is to send him a box of treats at least once a month while he's there. The problem is that I can't send anything chocolate (because of the heat) and that whatever I send has to have a pretty long shelf life. My first box contained caramel corn with toffee almonds and sweet and spicy walnuts, both of which were well received. Next box, I'm thinking of buttercrunch with salted cashews and macadamia nuts, and probably more walnuts (because he really likes them). After that, though, I'm stuck. I guess I could try some cookies, but what would be the best candidate? Something like shortbread? Any advice or ideas?

So even if he didn't write anything at all about his experience, he shouldn't have accepted the gifts from the chefs? I agree -- that's part of what I meant when I said his column was disingenuous. He has to realize that most readers would not have that kind of access to restaurants and chefs. Not acknowledging that his situation is unique was a major lapse.