JAZ

I remember my aunt, who lived in Butte Montana (a big mining town), talking about some kind of pasty recipe contest or cook-off (this was years ago, so I'm fuzzy on the details). "They're making pasties with turkey. Those aren't pasties. And they don't even have turnips!" I thought it was a bit strange at the time. But it's interesting to know now that it wasn't just my aunt who was so vehement about what a proper pasty was.

A friend of mine and I were talking about how we decide what to make for dinner, and we realized that there are several ways to go about planning a meal, or even a week's shopping, if you plan that far in advance (which I generally do not do). Sometimes, I want a particular ethnic or regional cuisine, so that's my starting point. So, say, I want Mexican food. I then think about what ingredients I have on hand, and what I can make with minimal extra shopping. If I go the the store and a necessary ingredient is not at hand, though, I'm screwed. That is, if I have pork shoulder at home and I've decided on chili verde but the store has no tomatillos, I have to make a new decision. Do I try to improvise, or do I scramble for a new plan? (I should mention that I don't have a car, so driving to another market is not an option for me). If I have to go with a new plan there in the market, it can be sort of fun if I have a lot of time, but it can also -- well -- suck. Other times, though, I'll have one or more ingredients on hand, and my decision process starts with "what can I make with X, Y, and Z?" I'll have a piece of salmon that needs to be used, and some broccoli that's not getting any younger, and that will determine what the the rest of the meal will be. Then I'll come up with a menu based on the salmon and broccoli and go buy what I need to fill it out. Again, if I'm in the store and I can't find the ingredients to complete my meal, I have to wing it. But in this case, it's usually not too tough, because I've started out with the main elements. I might have to change from an Asian-influenced menu to a Mediterranean one, but I'm pretty good dealing with that. When I have time (and no particular menu in mind) I like to go the store and just wander around for inspiration. Usually, I start in the meat/fish section. I see what looks good or what's on sale, and I plan from there. This is generally less efficient than other starting points -- I'll have to try to remember what I have on hand (Jeez -- do I have cream in the fridge or not? I'd better buy some just in case) and also remember what I actually need to make the recipes I've come up with. But -- if I have the time -- it can be really enjoyable. And sometimes, honestly, my meal planning begins and ends with "what can I make without going out?" and I'll end up an omelet and a salad, because I have eggs and cheese and greens. Or I'll end up with potato gratin and an Italian sausage, because that's what I have. I cook for myself most of the time, which I know affects the way I plan and shop. I'm sure those who cook for a family plan differently. So how do you go about planning meals and shopping? What does your meal planning decision tree look like?

I made pickled cocktail onions a few years ago, with a combination of red and white onions. Although the red ones looked great going into the brine, most of the color leached out within a few days. They didn't look bad, but I could hardly tell the difference between the red and white. Not to say you shouldn't use them, but don't make a point of tracking them down for this use.

Also, if you don't mind a short cab ride or an easy bus ride, you could go north to Holeman & Finch. It can be busy (they don't take reservations) but the menu is nice and they have great cocktails. Or for a slightly more upscale atmosphere, Restaurant Eugene is right across the driveway.

So, if I'm going to make pasta for lasagne al forno (with ragu and bechamel), should I make a pasta with egg or without? And how thick or thin should the noodles be rolled?

So, you use the egg roll wrappers uncooked, or do you cook them first? I have to admit that I've never made lasagna, so my questions may seem naive. Is cooking and draining the pasta hard to time, or is there some other issue with it? It seems to me that of all the steps in making lasagna, the pasta would be the easiest. Am I missing something?

Having eaten my share of bar snacks, I wouldn't worry too much about matching snacks to drinks. Your patrons won't think in those terms, and if you want to match food with drinks, you'll have a lot better luck with a limited menu of actual food. The standards like potato chips, sweet-salty-spiced nuts, popcorn and sesame twigs can be great if made and served fresh. Avoid any kind of mixture, which only encourages pillaging by patrons who only like one element of the mix. Possibly the best (and coolest) bar snack I ever had was at a dive bar in San Francisco. They had a Girolle cheese slicer behind the bar, and when asked, they'd shave off some cheese and serve it with a plate of saltines. Not only was the cheese great, but you got to watch the cheese shaving while you waited. Whatever you do, serve water with the snacks, both because the snacks are salty, and because you don't want patrons trying to quench their thirst with your cocktails (or have them think you're serving salty snacks to make them drink more).

I had some stems left over from a broccoli floret dish, and used them in a gratin. After trimming and slicing, I simmering them in cream infused with garlic and thyme until they were softened but not mushy. Then I spooned them out into a small gratin dish and reduced the cream, poured it over and topped the whole thing with buttered panko and parm. The dish went into a 375 oven until it was bubbling and the topping had browned. I'll definitely make this again.

I make macaroni and cheese with a variety of cheeses, all based on a bechamel with the cheese added, and always bake it until it's bubbling, and never have this problem. I don't think it's the cheese; I think it's too much water seeping out. The only times I've had cheese in a cream sauce break down from too high a heat, it's been in a sauce without flour.

If you're serving mushroom soup, mushroom risotto might not be the best choice for a side dish. Also, creme brulee doesn't seem particularly light, if you're still thinking of something light for dessert.

I'm curious now -- did you start with a roux and make a bechamel, or just mix the cheese, cream and milk? I've never had good luck heating a cheese sauce for long if there's no flour in it.

When you say "broken," what exactly do you mean? When I think of a cheese sauce "breaking" I think of the oil in the cheese seeping out, usually because of too high a heat. But with a Mornay, you've got flour in there, which should keep than from happening, unless (like I tend to do) you forced a lot of cheese into your Bechamel. On the other hand, if you mean that you had a layer of water in the finished dish, then the sprouts are the likely culprit. Are they used whole in the dish, or halved, or shredded?

The original post was about cooked dishes, and if the reasons for their tasting better the second day are connected with heating an cooling, then any changes in coleslaw would be from a different cause.

Doing some research for a class, I've learned that if you refrigerate unripe avocados, they will never ripen -- the cold disrupts the ripening mechanism in the fruit. However, once they're ripe, refrigeration will keep them fresh for a week or so. (I got this from McGee, so I believe it.)

I made two batches of lemon bars (using Rose Beranbaum's recipe, which is my standard for curd) and something odd happened to the second batch as the bars were cooking. The curd developed a white sort of foamy layer on top. This happened one other time to me ages ago, at which point someone told me I might have whisked too much air into the curd. Since then, I've been careful to mix more gently, and until today, I'd never had a recurrence. Anyone know why this happens? It's not a big deal since the top can be covered with powdered sugar, but they're for a class, and I'd like to be able to tell my students why it happened to one batch and not the other.

Piping is definitely the way to go for fast and easy prep, plus a neat looking presentation. If you have mix-ins (like chopped bacon, onion or whatever), you just have to make sure your pastry tip is big enough that they'll fit through. A star tip results in a stylized deviled egg; for something more rustic, you can just use a plain tip. Even if you don't use a pastry bag and tip, spooning the yolk mixture into a plastic bag with a small hole cut in one corner and then piping will make filling those whites easier.

When I cook in rental kitchens, which generally have old, inexpensive cookware, the two things I notice most are hot spots and warped bottoms. I have to be very careful not to heat the pans over medium to avoid scorching. They also seem to be harder to clean, but that might just be a result of stuff burned onto the bottoms. If your cookware doesn't present either of these problems, then you might not notice a huge difference cooking with higher end stuff. But it could be that you're so used to making allowances for the cookware that you don't even notice its problems. That happened to me when I started to acquire higher quality cookware -- I hadn't realized how temperamental the old stuff was because I used to it. On the other hand, the difference was nothing like what I experienced when I got good knives for the first time. To this day, I'd much rather cook with inexpensive pots and pans than cheap knives.

I bought some a while back at Sur La Table in Perimeter Mall. Definitely call first, though; they change their stock of condiments from time to time.

Sounds like MSG in a tube.

I was not impressed with these, either. Especially considering the time they took.

I have to admit that I have never owned or used a vegetable brush -- what do people use them for?

The Atlantic often has articles by Corby Kummer, who is one of the best food writes out there, in my opinion. Here is a partial list.

Back in my days at Sur La Table, I had a customer who came in to buy Mauviel copper cookware. She'd just redone her kitchen. I suggested the heavier line with iron handles, but she liked the brass handled line because it was "prettier." As I suggested useful cooking pieces, she kept picking out whimsical serving pieces, such as a set of four graduated gratin dishes. All the sudden it occurred to me that she wasn't going to use any of this; it was just to make the new kitchen look "gourmet." We got along fine after that: she spent $2700 for her gourmet kitchen, and I made my sales goal for the week.

While I don't know the details of this diet, the premise that it starts with is seriously flawed. From The Paleo Diet: "The Agricultural Revolution began 10,000 years ago. . . . Until that time -- just 500 generations ago -- everyone on the planet ate lean meats, fresh fruits and vegetables." This is so clearly wrong that it makes me doubt everything else in the book. The fact is, "everyone on the planet" has never eaten the same things. Humans have eaten just about every possible variation of diets imaginable. The diet of the nomads was milk-based (camel or goat); in the Arctic regions, the diet was almost exclusively meat -- and fatty meat, at that. Tribes in Africa and South America subsisted on mostly roots and tubers (that is, starch). And if "our ancestors" weren't eating cereal grains and legumes, then how in world could they have domesticated them? If they weren't staying alive by eating them, why would they have even wanted to try? The generalization that the author makes here is simply ludicrous. It might be that a diet of lean meat, fruits and non-starchy vegetables can be quite healthy, but don't muddy the waters by saying that it's what our -- imaginary -- ancestors ate.

Several months ago, I bought a container of Walgreen's brand chocolate-covered almonds, which came in a reusable container with a flip-up lid (it also screws off). It's so useful that now I need to go buy more almonds just for the containers. Really, though, it's such a great idea -- the nuts have to packed be in something; why not make it reusable?