fimbul

edit: stupid fingers. stupid double posts. stupid cannibals. stupid crossing posts with andrew fenton.

This reminds me of Shakespeare's Titus Andronicus, where he feeds Tamora a meat pie made of the blood and bones of her sons Chiron and Demetrious. In this case, it was to avenge the rape of his daughter. The house of Atreus in Greek myth seems plagued by this sort of, erm, mischief. Iirc, Tantalus killed and cooked his son as an offering to the gods (with fava beans and a chianti, perhaps). Later, Tantalus's grandson Atreus killed his nephews and fed them to his brother (their father) to punish the brother's dalliance with Atreus's wife. I had a tutor in college who kept writing the school paper to enquire after the recipe for "Atreus Surprise."

As far as drink goes, I remember Flann O'Brien making much of a "pint of plain." Samuel Beckett's description of Belacqua's lunch in "Dante and the Lobster" has always made me long for a sandwich of burnt toast and blue cheese. Likewise, his description of Murphy's biscuits (in Murphy) is wonderful. Many good food scenes in Dona Flor and her Two Husbands by Jorge Amado.

A year or so ago, I was staying at a friend's parents' beach house, cooking for a gaggle of folks in their 20s who know *nothing* about cooking, kitchen etiquette, or basic safety. As I'm standing in the kitchen chopping an onion, a buddy runs in and grabs me from behind to give me a big thank-you-for-cooking-for-all-us-morons hug. My first thought was for my fingers; my second thought was that just then would have been a groovy time for a homicide; my third thought was that I couldn't kill someone who'd just wanted to say thank you; my fourth thought was that that was a pity. To this day, if I'm in the kitchen and using a knife, I'm very particular about putting the knife down if I hear or see someone approaching me quickly. Sadly, that didn't keep the same friend from nearly knocking me into the oven during my Christmas party. I'm thinking of acquiring a few baby gates for use during large gatherings.

Mark, are you from France? Otherwise you know nothing about wine -- according to your logic... You know... If I didn't know better, I'd say taking a potshot at someone for something they said in a thread three months ago was just TRYING to stir up trouble. If you want to start a thread about what makes a cook's food "authentic" and how that does or does not differ from "good," I think it'd be fascinating. This thread's for discussing Andale. I hear it's nice; how 'bout you?

Pork tenderloin, marinated in a sort of ersatz barbecue sauce, pan-roasted, then glazed with a bit more sauce and run under the broiler. amaranth, cooked risotto-style, gussied up with shallots, ancho chile powder, chipotle powder, and spinach leaves. yellow squash, caramelized, tossed with minced roma tomato and cherry pepper -- not very seasonal, but a good way to use what I had. served with Dogfish Head 60 Minute IPA.

I have a (forged) F. Dick knife I love. I prefer it even to my gf's Messermeister. *shrug* I mention this only to stick up for my baby. My worst purchase ever was a big Sabatier au Carbone that I bought from Amazon. Now that I've totally reground it and sanded down the bolster so that it doesn't take the knuckle off my right middle finger (I'm right-handed) everytime I use it, the balance is still crappy.

chiles/tomatoes/onions. orange/red onion/cilantro.

I keep meaning to post more to this thread, but my memory can never keep up with my resolutions. Last night I bought a chichen, lopped off the wings and legs and reserved them, then rubbed the bone-in, skin-on breast with green tea, ancho powder, and salt. Wrapped the breast in cheesecloth with lots of cilantro, and poached it (along with the chopped up, defatted carcass), with lemongrass, a leek, a julienned poblano, and some peppercorns. Meant to serve the bird boobs (removed from skin and bone) with salad greens, but the greens smelled like they'd died, gone to Hell, and come back to claim the living. So I winged (wung?) it: I stir-fried baby bok choy and julienned carrots with a minced serrano and a sliced scallion and some brown soy sauce, then wilted some spinach with toasted sesame seeds and a touch of sesame oil, and served the bird in the center of the plate with the leafy things on either side. Also had on the table a bowl of Vietnamese fish sauce enlivened with plum vinegar and crumbled Thai chiles, just to jazz things up. It was a pretty good meal, I thought.

Thanks for the report, fimbul. That is, as you have discovered for yourself and nicely summarized for us, the main drawback of buying a pre-configured set of cookware: most of the time you only get real use out of around 50%. The bitch of it is, I knew better than to buy a set, I just couldn't resist that price. Sometimes, sadly, I experience poor impulse control. It causes a sharp pain right in the wallet.

I rarely roast a bird whole myself. I make exceptions for chicken and quail, but duck, guinea hen, pheasant, etc. all get divvied up into tough and tender. Is the Charlie Palmer book worthwhile? What are his four methods for bunny?

FWIW, I spent forever trying to figure out how to debone/cut up a rabbit. It wasn't rocket science, and I did okay on my own, but when I finally discovered a how-to, I felt much better about the whole process. If you have time and a library, or time, money, and a bookstore nearby, both The CIA's The Professional Chef and Jame's Peterson's The Essentials of Cooking discuss and illustrate rabbit anatomy 101. I think the latter's book about French Cooking also goes into how to de-wascal your wabbit, but check before you buy it. I mention this because I've always had luck treating the rabbit's saddle and his legs as two separate meats. My best rabbit meals have involved braising the two hind legs in wine and stock, pan-frying the loins, and simmering the front legs and everything else for stock and/or shredded meat for pasta sauce. edit: anamtomy? DOH!

If it's not too late to chime in, I *did* buy the Sitram set from Costco. It's a good set, and the price was great, but I do have some issues with it, such as: - The steamer insert. I never use it. It takes up space. This sucks. - The fry pans that came with the set are ~ 8" and 10". Both are fine, but with those sizes I find cooking for more than two (and sometimes two) a real pain in the ass. A 12" cast iron skillet does me better, most times, without the issues caused by a disk bottom. - The saute and evasee pans are both fine, but both could be a tad larger. And, since I'm more likely to pan-roast or fry than I am to saute, they don't get as much use in my kitchen as they otherwise might. For my purposes, one larger evasee might have been a more economical choice, at least in terms of precious, precious cabinet space. Others might want to note that the tops are, indeed, a little flimsy. This bothers me not at all since I never use them, but others might view that as a con. That said, I'm happy as a clam with the saucepans, and the stockpot, though small-ish, is big enough for for my needs. I end up making stock more frequently than I would if I could make gallons and gallons of the stuff at one time, but I have no room to store such a large amount of stock, so the smaller pot works out for the best. The set is fine; it's a great price for decent to very good cookware. If you want your cookware now, now, now, and have the space to store pieces you might not use as much (or friends and relatives who'll take them off your hands), this is the set for you. In my case, however, the percieved savings will probably vanish over time as I find new homes for the fry and saute pans and the steamer insert and buy a couple pieces more suited to my cooking style and storage pace.

Six days does sound a bit long to me, but I've kept fresh ducks in the fridge that long (due to circumstances beyond my control) which turned out just fine. I do believe goose can keep a bit longer than chicken, but I don't know the exact numbers. I guess it depends on what risks you're willing to take. I like to throw my immune system the occasional curveball to keep it on its toes, and I (usually) trust poulterers and butchers not to give me advice that might make me sick, so, were I in your shoes, I'd likely keep the bird and cook it on Christmas. I'd smell the goose before I cooked it, though. On the other hand, more cautious types might reasonably state that *nothing* should be kept in a home refigerator for more than a day or two, and I've even been told (with great certainty) that no meat, fowl, or fish should ever be kept longer than a single day. *shrug* All this, of course, is assuming you're not feeding the very young, very old, very ill, or very frail, etc. etc. I usually serve people in their late 20s, and they can damn well take their chances. edit: typos

Alas, I think there's more to cooking good bird than that, Jinmyo. If spatchcocking were all it took, I'd be a past-master.

Jus aside, I think Marlene's advice will help your roasts immensely. I roasted for years at high and middle temps, stubbornly ignoring all the advice to stick to lower temperatures. I got good enough results, I suppose, but when I (fairly recently) finally decided to try these fabled lower temperatures I'd heard so much about, my roasts became much better all around. The meat was more evenly done, juicier, and the brown bits left in the pan were, indeed, brown rather than black. These days, I think the only things I roast at temperatures much higher than 325 or so are smallish fowl.

Last night's dinner was a lot of fun: -- Roasted duck legs with tangerine-duck juice served with caramelized star fruit -- julienned red and yellow peppers glazed in a bit of lemongrass-scented duck broth and served sprinkled with slivers of raw scallion. -- Spinach salad with red endive and a soy-lime dressing.

I still can't get over the idea of powdering meat. Good grief, think of the possibilities! Squab pixy stix! Alligator tea! Elk puffs! Shredded wheat "frosted" with pork! ... If any one needs me, I'll be at the patent office.

Well, you dry the lamb till there's no moisture left. Then, you get a REALLY BIG sprice grinder....

The pheasant I've cooked has all been farm-raised, bought frozen from the supermarket. I've roasted them whole, but always found the legs a bit tough cooked that way. I've taken to boning and sauteing the breasts, and confitting or braising the legs separately. From the wings and carcass, I make stock.

arbuclo, you asked about size too. My best response would be "big." In the US, Lodge cast iron is indeed the way to go, and I think their grill pans only come in sizes around 11" or so (er... 28 cm. or thereabouts?). If I were you, I'd aim for a similar size or a touch larger. It's hard to get really good grillmarks in a crowded pan, and, if you're cooking for 3 or 4, a 10" pan is really too small. Just be careful not to get a pan so large you can't heat it evenly. I'm often caught in stores clutching the 15" Lodge pan to my chest and cackling maniacally, but I've never actually brought one home. I think it'd be *way* more than my stove could heat evenly. But it's *so* pretty. *edit* Ooh! I just realized what dave was talking about! Yes, the long rectangular, fits-over-two-burners thing might also serve you well, assuming it'll work on your stove.

Mark Bittman offered a recipe for chicken confitted in olive oil in his Minimalist column in the NY Times. I don't think I have the recipe, but it's pretty much what you'd expect: rub chicken legs with salt and spices, cover in oil, cook slowly at a low temp. I've never done this with chicken, but I have, in times of duck fat famine, confitted pheasant legs in olive oil. It works well enough, and you can strain and save the oil for other uses.

Tuesday night: Rabbit. Loin boned out, rolled, tied, and seared quickly, hind legs partially boned and stuffed with kalamata olives and microplaned lemon zest, then wrapped in bacon and roasted at 350 degrees or so. (The loins were dull, the legs were okay. I think I just find rabbit boring.) Served this over cremini mushrooms, with more kalamata olives, parsley, and a jus made from reduced rabbit stock. Squash sauteed with garlic and fatalii chiles. Wednesday night (cooked for lonely old me after a day of lay-offs and other horrors at my office): NY Strip steak, seared quickly and eaten bloody. Squash in the same manner as above -- coming up with something new was too daunting. A bottle of wine or three.

Last night: - Roast chicken rubbed with hoisin and apple cider vinegar and stuffed with a lemon and half a fatalii chile. - green beans sauteed in peanut oil with ginger, orange zest, and whole thai chiles - green salad with ponzu-lemon vinaigrette Monday night: - seared (still cool in the center) tuna steak with soy-wasabi mayonnaise and sriracha - shrimp baked on a bed of sea salt and seasoned with orange, fatalii chiles, and cilantro - red potatoes parboiled, cut into batons, and baked with lots of sea salt and lemon zest - asparagus sauteed briefly in peanut oil (spiked with a drop of sesame oil) with diced red peppers.

There's an entire separate supplemental book about the food in that series. I bought it for my stepfather one Christmas but am blanking on the name. Lobscouse and Spotted Dog? I believe that's the name of it, yes. I had dinner, I think, with its authors a few years back. The mother of the girl I was dating at the time was a Patrick O'Brain nut and had a bevy of like minded individuals over to dinner one night. I was there, and was too dumb to chat up the cookbook authors, prolly because I was more interested in the girl than anything else. Er, as I say, I *think* they were the authors of the book in question. They were writing a book about the food in the Aubrey-Maturin series I know, and when Lobscouse came out I just assumed it was theirs and not the work of some johnny/jenny-come-latelys. Er. How's that for a short story made long? At any rate, I've always been curious about the cookbook. It looked like fun stuff, though I suspect not all the recipes would be to my taste.