JAZ

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.

Much ado online about the food at Josh Ozersky's wedding -- more precisely, who paid for it. Ozersky, formerly of the blog Grub Street, now writes an online column for Time.com. His column of June 15, entitled Great Wedding Food: Tips from a newly married critic, drew a questioning and uncomplimentary letter from Robert Sietsema in his blog on The Village Voice, in which Robert asked Josh who paid for all that great food. Certainly Ozersky didn't mention that in the article (although he did in an addendum addressing Sietsema's letter). And it's certainly not the first time Ozersky has failed to disclose pertinent information -- for instance, in his rave review of Anthony Bourdain's newest book (also on Time.com), he didn't mention the fact that he'd been featured on Bourdain's TV show. Now The NY Times Diner's Journal has taken up the story: I met Josh a couple of years ago after a seminar he participated in and I personally doubt that his intentions were dishonest; that is, I don't think he intended his column as a review of these chefs and their restaurants. But it seems clear that he should have disclosed that the food was provided free of charge. Mostly, I think the original column was disingenuous -- an opportunity to brag about all the chefs he knew, not an effort to actually provide useful information about wedding food. Along the way, he managed to insult caterers with ill-advised blanket statements about their cooking skills. I found the column distasteful, regardless of who paid for the food.

Those modifications would also be necessary for a vegetarian dish -- not just vegan.

The potatoes don't fall apart with that much salt in the water?

Quite some time ago, Danielle Wiley posted a link to a recipe for sauteed beets and greens with horseradish creme fraiche (click here for the recipe). It remains one of my favorite ways to use both the beets and the greens -- and that's saying something, because I love beets.

When I was growing up, my mother made creamed peas and creamed onions, both of which had a roux-based sauce: white sauce for the peas and a similar sauce for the onions but made with half-and-half and chicken stock. It's what I always thought a cream sauce for vegetables was, until I encountered recipes for creamed spinach that used a) reduced heavy cream; b) sour cream;and c) cream cheese. Since then, I've been paying more attention to recipes. White sauce (don't call it bechamel) comes up often, but so does plain heavy cream -- usually reduced. In my limited experience, both work well enough -- cream is more delicate, but white sauce is more stable. I've only tried a cream cheese sauce once, and found it cloying and heavy. It seems to me that sour cream would separate, but maybe I'm missing something. What do you use? Are there choices I don't know about? Better choices for one vegetable or another? (I can't imagine using anything but my mother's recipe for creamed onions, for instance, but I'm not convinced a roux-based sauce is best for everything.)

Guess I wasn't clear. I know that cucumber salad is the traditional accompaniment for satay and I made it, but I think of it as more of a relish. I was looking for a separate side dish to go with the satay. I'm curious about why it's "not really Thai."

I was looking around recently for a salad to go with pork satay and came across this recipe for Thai tomato and green bean salad. I like tomatoes and beans together, so I gave it a try. Easy and great. I made two changes: first, I blanched and shocked the beans before slicing, because I don't much like raw beans; second, I substituted lime for lemon juice in the dressing because it seemed more natural to me.

Sure, that's the question. I don't know how thick a disk has to be in order to work well on convection. Would be cool if you could get away with a real thin one. May I suggest you take a look at Demeyere cookware? They've been making induction-compatible, copper-disk-bottom cookware for ages (their Sirocco and Atlantis lines; most other lines are aluminum based). Thick copper disk (2mm, I think), a couple of thin layers of silver and something magnetic for the induction, all encased in stainless steel. I've seen a cross section of the cookware, and the other layers of metal are all very thin. I've got a copper saute pan about the same size as my Demeyere one, and I can't tell the difference in the responsiveness, nor the evenness of the heat.

But grinding meat and using a Jaccard don't yield similar results at all. Grinding or chopping gives you a lot of small, separate pieces of meat. Jaccarding gives you a single piece of meat with the fibers cut by the blades. From the initial post, I assumed Peter was talking about techniques that kept the piece of meat whole.

I've never tried the can, although I did have one of the "vertical roasters" at one point. As I recall, it did result in good skin. With the can, is the beer supposed to flavor the chicken, or is the point just to have the chicken sitting upright?

Hmm, that's a good question. I assumed that I would just strain the stock, then continue to boil it down until it had reduced. I'm not sure that's the best method, though. I used to make chicken stock with onions, carrot and celery, and cook it for 3-4 hours. A couple years ago, I started cooking it longer without any vegetables, which for my uses results in a better stock. I can always add vegetables later if I want their flavor; most importantly, I think it's the vegetables overcooking that makes chicken stock taste funky when cooked for a long time. In any case, I use 2 pounds bones/meat for each quart of stock, so reducing is easy math. I usually start with 4 pounds of chicken and simmer it overnight on low. In the morning, I strain and chill, then refrigerate so the fat congeals on the top. The next day, I remove the fat and bring the stock to a boil. Since I started with 4 pounds of chicken, I know that full strength, I want to end up with 2 quarts of stock. Reduced to 4x strength, that's 2 cups, or 16 fluid ounces. I just boil away until I'm getting close to that amount, then start measuring. If I go too long, I just add water back to the stock to equal 2 cups. Does that make sense?

There's pressure cooking, but I guess that's probably a variant of braising. It does, however, take less time.

This topic reminds me that I've been meaning to pull out my copy of Quick Pickles by Chris Schlesinger. When I first bought it a few years ago, I made pickles at least once a week, but haven't made any in ages. I recall a great recipe for beets and one for carrots that I liked.

The bags work fine, but also remember that you don't have to freeze it at full strength. I make stock, reduce it to a quarter of its original volume and freeze it in one-ounce portions (I have ice cube trays whose "cubes" each hold an ounce so it's easy for me). Then, each cube makes half a cup of stock when reconstituted, which for me is the most useful amount to thaw at a time. If I want a cup of stock it's two cubes, etc. Takes up a lot less room in the freezer.

A few thoughts: It seems to me that Grubstreet purposely picked vitriolic segments from the book. I guess they wanted to be edgy, but who knows if that's representative of the rest of the book? More importantly, if they wanted to be edgy, they failed, since they (perhaps unwittingly) picked subjects that are mostly old news and that didn't show any creativity or new thought on Bourdain's part. That's unfortunate. From those short segments, it seems clear that it's not his best work. I mean, even in Les Halles, he came up with "sorry-ass bivalve in an apron" and all he can say here is "douchebag" and "old fucks"? It's lazy writing from someone who -- at least at one point -- was capable of much better. I loved Kitchen Confidential and liked Cook's Tour too (although with a broader scope, it was more diffuse; but it still had moments of greatness). I've been disappointed with his writing on various blogs and in articles since then, because it all seems the same, and it's just not up to his previous level of writing. I hope the rest of the book will show that Bourdain is still capable of better, but fear it won't.

A different look at roasting chickens: All That Glitters.

Dan, I wish my bar had a sink, but it's just a small stand-alone. Not a very good picture, but it gives the idea. It's in my dining nook, which is next to the kitchen (more convenient than in my last place, where it was across the apartment). I store glasses in the freezer, and cocktail equipment in the cabinet next to it, so that's where I mix and pour drinks. I don't have room to store bottles anywhere near that area, hence the inefficiency of having to bring bottles from the bar into the kitchen. I keep thinking that it would make more sense to take the shaker and jigger over to the bar and pour there, then return to the kitchen to finish. I should try to develop that habit to see how it works. Mostly, I was just curious about the set-up other people have to actually make drinks.

Depends on the kind of lettuce you buy. Romaine, when treated right, can keep for a long time. "Baby lettuces," on the other hand, can seem to wilt and slime up before your eyes. In any case, the first thing you want is for the leaves to be as crisp as possible, so I soak them in cold water for 15 or 20 minutes. Unfortunately, the next thing you want to do is dry them completely. Easy enough with romaine, not so easy with crinkly leaves like Boston or red leaf lettuce. Once they're dry, put them in ziplock bags and squeeze as much air out as possible. As I said, romaine, if it's fresh when you buy it, will last for a month or more this way. Even butter, Boston or red leaf lettuce will last for a couple of weeks, if you can get all the moisture off the leaves.

John Kessler reported in his blog on big changes for Joe Truex and Mihoko Obunai-Truex -- yesterday's post revealed that Mihoko is taking over Repast as owner and chef, and today he reported that Joe has been named chef and partner at Watershed in Decatur. I'm interested to see what happens at both places. The one time I went to Watershed I found the food good enough but boring, the space loud and the service unprofessional, but with Joe heading the kitchen, I'll give it another chance. Since I live right up the street from Repast, I'm more interested in what will change there. I don't know how much of the previous menu was from Joe and how much from Mihoko, but Joe was definitely the FOH presence. I can't help thinking that his absence will make a big difference in the atmosphere there.

Maybe it's just here in the Atlanta area, but in the last few weeks the price of limes has skyrocketed. Granted, the price of both lemons and limes fluctuates throughout the year, but I can't remember the last time limes were so expensive. My supermarket now has limes at 3/$2.00. The big bag that used to sell for under $3 is $5.49 now. Is it like this all over? Is there a reason for the price hike that I haven't heard about?

A general question: how far is it from your liquor cabinet/shelves to where you make your cocktails -- and your ice source? And how do you handle that? Do you move the bottles you need for a drink over to where you make your drinks, or do you take the shaker and jigger over to the liquor and measure everything out there? I have enough room for all my liquor in my bar, and it's organized well enough for me to find things easily, but it's in the dining nook, and my bar tools and ice are in the kitchen. I end up carrying bottles to the kitchen and then not carrying them back. Then the counter next to the fridge, where I make my drinks, gets full of bottles. At which point I take them all back to the bar where they belong, and then start over. Are the rest of you just not as lazy as I am, or do you have a better system?

Just as a side note, my friend bought the product I got at a place that had a cask of it, so it was decanted into bottles when purchased. Thus, I have no official label, just a tag with the name and alcohol percentage (18%)on it. I'm interested to hear about the higher proof spirit.