Andrew Fenton

Yeah, it didn't smell funky: in fact, I tasted a spoonful and it was pretty terrific. I've pretty much decided to eat it. I don't know whether I'll let my daughter (19 months old) eat it, at least until her mom and I have served as guinea pigs...

I decided to try a new (for me) method of making chicken stock, using a low oven and a long cooking time. I brought about 15 quarts of chicken, vegetables and water to a boil, then put the pot into a low (225 F) oven, intending to let it cook for 20 hours or so. Everything seemed to be working fine until this morning, when I discovered that my oven has an energy-saving device, and shuts itself off after 12 hours of cooking. That means the oven was off for around 6 hours. The stock was down to 145 F. According to the FDA, the danger zone for bacteria is below 140 F, but I don't know if the type of food makes makes a difference here. I brought the stock back up to a boil and returned it to the oven. Now I'm trying to decide whether I should finish cooking it, or toss it. Any food safety mavens have advice here?

I agree that if the question is "which tools do you like better", it's trivial; I don't have any emotional investment in my cookware. I figured he meant, which sorts of techniques do you identify with most: knife cooking or pot cooking? Which I guess would mean something like... swift precision or patience? I'm not sure, and I'm not sure the question really means that much.

A week or two ago, I bought a mess of red peppers on sale and roasted them, then took some andouille out of the freezer to thaw. A couple of days later, CI comes in the mail, with a link to a recipe for brown rice with andouille, corn and red peppers. Clearly, this was fate. I added extra andouille and served it as a main course casserole. And... it's fine. Basically, what you'd expect. I'll probably serve it again some time, because it's easy, my wife liked it a whole lot, and if you serve it with a salad, that's dinner right there. But it's not something you'd really need a recipe for.

Presented without comment, here's Just Food Pictures, a blog created by the cooks at Lacroix (and linked to by the City Paper's Meal Ticket blog).

Cocktails- especially DIY cocktails- are in. Rachel Maddow (not Maddox) is very in. Magazines can sell more copies, and websites get more hits, if they feature celebrities doing what's in. I guess I'd save my indignation for real crimes, like if Gwyneth Paltrow got a TV show about Spanish food. But that's a notion so crazy it could surely never actually happen, amirite?

Okay, is CI contractually obligated to carry a roast chicken recipe in every single issue? This issue it's glazed roast chicken. Come on- I don't even like roast chicken all that much! Sheesh.

You'd think they'd at least translate it into French-- that'd be worth a buck or two right there. Except, I'm not sure the French actually eat oatmeal. Maybe on le weekend, I dunno.

Yeah, the egg seems to be a little much; I can't imagine that it would add a lot to any of those sandwiches. But who knows?

Mama Duck did good! As did Ken, of course; it was a terrific meal. I enjoyed all the dishes, but the big surprises were the soup (simple, nourishing, satisfying) and the fried clam belly. I only wish I could get something that good on the beach in Cape Cod...

No pictures, but I had a first-rate pork sandwich at Paesano's this afternoon. The "Arista" is a pretty standard roast pork Italian style: broccoli rabe, provolone, peppers, and it's as good as any roast pork sandwich I've had in the city. Maybe better. (It's big, but since I had just a light dinner yesterday, I was able to polish off the whole thing.) Paesano's (which is owned by the Modo Mio crew across the street) has a whole slate of delicious-looking sandwiches. Lamb sausage with roasted fennel and gorgonzola? Mama mia, yes! That will be for my next trip, I think...

I just don't want to eat anything called a "bacon explosion." That has to be the worst recipe name since the Tunnel of Fudge cake.

It's been a couple of years for me too, but last time I was in, they still had the fries, which, I agree are rocking! The falafel is good, but I have a hard time resisting a kebab platter there. You know, I've been to Alyan's lots of times, but never ordered the french fries. My mistake, clearly! They do have very good lemonade, made with honey. Yum.

That's too bad about the marrow. I hope they were just having an off night; when I had it (over a year ago, to be sure), it was rich and buttery and awesome.

Oh, you're right, it is Alyan's (and it is good). Cedars is on 2nd. Does Marrakesh really have falafel? I've never been; but I've never heard of Moroccan falafel, either...

That's Cedars. To your list I'd add Chickpeas (South St. between 6th and 7th) and Hamifgash (Sansom at 9th-ish.) There are threads on some of these, including Maoz and Mama's.

I think that there may be some luck involved in which meats you get; I had the cassoulet a week or two ago, and it featured a big piece of garlic sausage, as well as the terrific duck confit and some pork cheek confit. Agreed, though, that the beans were a little overcooked, and I thought that the dish was too garlicky; TT has nothing to fear...

Big bump up, as I finally made it to MM last night. $32 is a crazy price, no doubt, for what was at times very good food. The downside- and why it's only $32, I guess- is the lack of precision. There were all kinds of mild irritations and slip-ups in our meal. Nothing that ruined a very nice meal, just little things: several misspelled Italian words on the menu, a server who wasn't able to accurately describe the specials, undercooked beans in the octopus salad, having to nag to get the waitress to bring out our dessert wine. That sort of thing. Still, some of the dishes- the pasta, in particular- were very good. Vincigrassi was as decadent as you could ask, gnocchi with a boar ragu was a nice contrast between a rich sauce and light dumplings, and the bite of truffle agnolotti made me wish I'd ordered them. The butterfish secondo (a substitution from the skate wing) was a little fishier-tasting than when I've had it before, something that makes me leery; but the sweetbreads were nicely crispy/creamy. Desserts were very good. I'll give MM one further props: they didn't try to rush us out of there. There were fairly long pauses between courses: a good thing! There's enough time to sit and enjoy the evening, something important that too few American restaurants understand.

I like the plan of waiting on the meringue. As long as the pudding is well covered to prevent browning, it will only improve after a day. But I wouldn't give the meringue more than 12 hours, tops, before it starts getting rubbery. What I would do is make the pudding the day before, plastic wrap it tightly, and let it mellow in the fridge. Then I'd make the meringue, assemble and brown it the day of the party. You should be good to go.

My ravioli aren't as good as the ones I can buy from one of my local Italian delis. And they are so time-consuming to make that I'll probably never learn to make ravioli that are as good.

My deep-fried anything isn't as good as the deep-fried food you'd get at even the worst restaurant.

Two western examples of drinking vinegar: Sour wine or vinegar, diluted with water, was what kept the Roman army refreshed on the march. From more recent times (but still old-timey), there's also "shrub": vinegar mixed with fruit and sugar. It seems to be enjoying something of a comeback in the last couple of years.

I'm not Chinese, and I can't claim to be an expert on children. But I agree with what others have said, lots of kids are picky about odd things, and they often grow out of it. I was, and did. I think if you make a big deal about it, your niece is likely to be more resistant, and will be less likely to ever eat tofu. Just continue to offer it, but not pressure her, and cross your fingers. (And if she doesn't like tofu when she gets older, blame it on the Portuguese.) Another track: has she tried Burmese tofu (made with chickpeas)? She might like it better, as it has more flavor than Chinese tofu. Deep-fried, it's pretty irresistable.

See, I probably wouldn't take a passel of kids to Matyson; it just seems to me that a place a step or two lower down on the casual scale would be more enjoyable for all concerned. I know you said BYOB, but I'm guessing that by that you mean "casual with good food" rather than "I am bringing a case of old vintages I want to sample with my seven year old." Accordingly, I'd say that the suggestion of Rangoon is IMO an excellent one. The food is great-- I don't know where you're coming from, but it's unlikely you have a glut of Burmese restaurants-- it's a good size to handle a group with kids, and nobody will blink an eye at the young ones. There are plenty of other good options in Chinatown as well. One (genuine BYO) is Zhi Wei Guan. I bet that 6-8 years old is a good age to introduce the kids to soup dumplings. You can blow their minds letting them guess how they got the soup in there... whoa.

Rumor has it that the BP space will become an Apple store. Which would be great news for Center City Mac users; I've definitely schlepped out to the Ardmore store way more times over the last couple of years than I've eaten at Brasserie Perrier...