JAZ

You'll get no argument from me that there are times when delivery is the only appealing option. What I find curious is that pizza became the delivery food of choice, when there are other foods that travel better. Chinese food, in my opinion, works much better as a delivery food. I used to order from an Indian place, and almost everything on that menu was great when delivered (no surprise, probably, that naan was the least appealing delivery menu item for me). Roasted chicken would be a good delivery option -- why doesn't anyone offer that? Why pizza?

We've been making a variation on the Last Word -- same ingredients, different proportions. The Closing Remark 2 oz. gin .25 oz green Chartreuse .25 Maraschino .5 oz. lime juice

This topic on Domino's pizza tracker got me thinking about delivery pizza in general. My opinion is that it's pretty much all bad. Not that the places that deliver are all bad, by any means. But whoever thought that pizza was a good food to make ahead of time and deliver? The crust is always soggy, no matter how crisp it started out. If it's hot when it goes in the box, then it steams and gets gooey. If it's not hot, well then, it's cold by the time it gets to you. Sure, if you're prepared and have the equipment, you can put a pizza stone in the oven when you order and then slap the pizza on it to crisp back up, but that kind of defeats the purpose of delivery. I think the only way delivery pizza could be really good is if there were roving vans with pizza ovens in them -- then, when you ordered, they could pop the pizza in the oven and start driving. It'd cook on the way and be handed to you straight out of the mobile oven. That would be worth ordering. I can think of a lot of food that stands up to delivery better than pizza -- most Asian food, for instance. Yet, we all order pizza, and we all put up with second-rate products, just because they're delivered. Why is that?

I use a light rye from the supermarket, so yes, it's not very assertive. It's sliced relatively thin as well, so it stays in the background. I like caraway seeds, but that's optional.

And who knows what other claims to first invention might still be floating around out there. ← Interesting, Ellen. Although I did a pretty thorough Internet search, I didn't run across that exchange, and a search for William Tiny Naylor doesn't result in any patty melt mentions. But I wasn't obsessed enough to do a library archive search, so I'll freely admit I could have missed a theory or two. Makes me want to go look up that back issue of Saveur.

If you want the best of a sieve/tamis and a food mill, you might want to try this one, which is, essentially a sieve with a food mill blade and handle. At $36, it's not exactly cheap, but it's not much more expensive than a good ricer with a fine disk.

I also like Italian tuna (in oil) but I mix it with a coarse olive spread -- store bought if you can find a good one, or this is the recipe I use when I make it from scratch: 1 cup pitted kalamata olives 1/3 cup sliced green olives with pimento ½ cup roasted red peppers Pulse these in a food processer, or chop fine. Add: 2 cloves garlic, minced Juice of ½ a lemon 1 tablespoon capers 1 tablespoon minced shallot 1 pinch red pepper flakes 1 can light Italian tuna packed in olive oil, with the oil For color you can top with a bit of parsley. Another topping I like is a spread made with roasted red peppers and caramelized onions.

I think it's a meat grinder. But Dave the Cook did the artwork. Dave? As I mentioned in the recipe, and Keith Orr reiterated, grinding your own beef makes an amazing difference. It's kind of a pain, but if you only make these once in a while, I think it's worth making them as well as you can.

I agree about the Mimosa -- it can be an excellent drink when made well. Blood oranges are great for Mimosas if you can find them; not only do they add a bit more depth, but they make a beautiful drink as well.

I don't think I'm better than people who like to refer to themselves as foodies. I just hate the word. I don't like words that end in "ie" for no reason, and "foodie" sounds awful to me. It makes me cringe, just as "veggie" does. So I don't use it.

I finally got a chance to read this column, and I'd disagree that she even makes a point at all. Her writing is always strained and unfocused, but this column is so confused I don't see how it got into print.

This is a late reply, but in Imbibe, Dave Wondrich outlines a method to approximate the old school version, which is just to make a simple syrup and macerate raspberries in it. I made one, using 1-1/4 cups of sugar to 1 cup of water, which I boiled until the sugar was dissolved and took off the heat. Then I added a 12-oz. bag of frozen (thawed) raspberries, stirred and mashed a little and let cool. Strained, pushing heavily on the berries to get the syrup out. It's not really sweet, but it's worked well in the drinks I've tried it in. I store it in the fridge, because I didn't fortify it with any spirits. Now I just have to figure out the pineapple syrup that so many of the old recipes call for. Any help out there?

I'll second the recommendation for the Rosle. It's great.

You can always sell them on the eG Shopping Block. I did that with back issues of Saveur and Cook's Illustrated that I didn't want to keep.

I used to be able to buy bags of chicken backs from my neighborhood butcher when I made stock, but now I have to rely on the backs of the chickens I butterfly for roasting, plus any leftover bones I have frozen from various uses. Since I usually don't have enough, I often augment them with a whole chicken. After some trial and error, what I've ended up doing is cooking everything at a low simmer (skimming as necessary) until the meat on the whole chicken is cooked. I remove the whole chicken (leaving everything else in the pot simmering) and let cool enough to handle. I pull off the breast meat and thighs and throw the rest of the carcass back in the pot. That way I have some chicken meat that's not cooked to death and still has flavor, but I also have a carcass, plus the wings and legs to contribute their all to the stock. It's a compromise, of course, but it works for me.

But that's a fairly well known quote (from the Song of Solomon: "Stay me with flagons, comfort me with apples; for I am sick of love."). I don't think it's that odd that two authors would choose it as their book title.

From the article: In the grand scheme of things, this kind of bacterial activity is probably pretty minor. It doesn't bother me a whole lot, but then I come from a family that shares food. (By the way, I don't do it myself out of consideration for others who do care.) On the other hand, this is something to think about: Oh, and that "5-second rule"?

Waring has had an induction burner on the market for a couple of years. Is this a new model?

Nice stories. When I teach cocktail party classes, I always tell my students, "Don't serve anything to eat that requires your guests to put down their cocktails." Everyone laughs, but it's a good rule to follow.

It seems as if every time I turn around, there's a new silicone tool for the kitchen. Used to be Silpats and expensive French silicone molds were all you saw. Then spatulas made their debut. Now, there are affordable baking pans for everything from madelaines to popovers, as well as potholders, oven mitts, pinch bowls, even "poach pods" for eggs. I've tried quite a few of these items and have found that some work beautifully and some not so well. I like Silpats and baking pans for candy work -- a square silicone cake pan is the best caramel mold ever, and I have several ice cube/candy molds that I use for chocolates. As far as I'm concerned, silicone is the best thing ever to happen to home candy making. I like the spatulas and spoons as well, although I have had a couple of them crack, and the style with wood handles are a pain, I think. The pastry brushes are good for oiling pans and for marinades, but not so great for pastry work -- in my experience, the bristles aren't fine enough to get a nice even layer of egg wash or butter on pastry. Potholders and oven mitts? Useless. They're too bulky and inflexible to grab anything securely, and they heat up fast -- I can't hold a hot cookie sheet long enough to get the cookies off. I still use the potholders as trivets occasionally, but that's it. So, what silicone tools are your favorites? Any must-haves?

It's not as dense as a ganache, but I wouldn't call it airy.

On an older topic, I posted this recipe for a malted milk filling that I've used for truffles. It takes a lot of malted powder to make the filling taste like malted milk. You can't do it with a ganache. Hope this is helpful. Chocolate-Malt Filling 1 cup white chocolate chunks or chips 2/3 cups milk chocolate chunks or chips 1/4 cup unsalted butter 3/4 cup plus 2 tbsp plain malted milk powder 1 3oz package cream cheese, softened 1/3 cup milk 2 tsp vanilla extract Melt chocolate and butter in small heavy saucepan over low heat and cool slightly. Beat the malted milk powder and cream cheese until well blended and completely smooth. Beat in half of the chocolate mixture just until incorporated. Beat in the milk a little at a time until well blended. Beat in the remaining chocolate mixture and the vanilla until evenly incorporated. At this point the texture will be really strange and viscous. Don't worry. Refrigerate for 30 minutes, or until somewhat thickened but not stiff. Beat the filling on high speed until light in color and very fluffy, about 3 minutes more; scrape down the sides several times.

Since this topic has run its course, we're closing it. Thanks for participating.

What don't you like about it? I don't have any myself, but have used them in the kitchen where I teach and like them fine. I have the baby one (2 oz.), which I use for cocktails, and wouldn't be without it. Actually I have 5. I love them.

I agree. I wrote about some experiments with MSG in the Daily Gullet a few years ago (scroll down for the section on MSG). Here's part of what I said: and