iain

One of those little choppy things - where you put the onion or whatever in the bottom and push up and down on the plunger thing - is probably the most useless kitchen gadget I own. I can chop an onion faster with a knife and the results are much more uniform and certainly less, um, juicy. I'm sure, though, that I'll be getting more useless kitchen crap come Christmas.

Alright...I'm going to make a batch right after thanksgiving weekend, I think. Anyone interested in making this a group project?

This seems similar to the Beatles or Rolling Stones question. I'm a fan of both. Same goes for coffee and tea.

Funny you mention that. In northern NJ, there are two italian restaurants with the new La Bistro (La Bistro and La Bistro II). Italian restaurants!

Fingerling potatoes are very waxy, so don't mash that well. They will always be a bit dry. I doubt if drying them out has that much effect. You can add cream or milk until the consistency is right. How much butter did you add? It is the butter that changes the mouth feel... I think you would need at least 4oz and maybe 8oz. I only used about 2 oz...more butter probably would have done the trick. I went with more cream, which improved things, but not enough for me. Next time, I'll use much more butter (like I really need an excuse to use more butter on anything). edited because there were too many instances of the word "probably" in the original post

This lesson, by the way, is excellent. I wish that I had it available last night, when I made mashed potatoes for maybe the second time of my life. I absolutely love potatoes in all their forms, but have a life-long (and unexplainable) aversion to mashed. I am working on overcoming that aversion now. The mashed potatoes I made last night used french fingerling and turned out rather dry, even though I used about 6 tablespoons of cream to 2 pounds of potatoes. Following advice given in The Joy of Cooking, I dried the potatoes over low heat after boiling. Think I would have been better off leaving them a little wetter before mashing? edited to fix bad italic tag

I'm likely to set off some sort of deluge here, but I have always operated under the impression that hash browns are made with shredded potatoes while home fries are made with cubed.

Would you recommend the Basics or Simple Recipes? They look like something that I should have in my own collection. I don't have any of the How to Cook Everything books, but my understanding is that How to Cook Everything: Simple Recipes for Great Food is the "master" volume that contains everything and the other books, including The Basics and Vegetarian Cooking, are more narrowly focused books comprised of appropriate selections from that master volume. edited for grammar

I haven't really tested any of these, but there seem to be a lot to choose from. The PalmOne site lists a slew of recipe organizers.

I just stumbled across this thread and wanted to pile on. I think an eGullet brewing forum is a great idea. When do we get started?

I haven't brewed beer in a few years. In the past, I've purchased supplies online from northernbrewer.com. Before that, I used to buy from a local homebrew supply shop in NYC, that has since closed. Does anyone have know of other online sources that sell high-quality ingredients?

Thanks for the recommendations. Of those mentioned, I've never had many of those mentioned and will keep an eye out at Union Square and snatch them up when I can. Question: what's Paffenroth?

I've only recently (in the past year or so) started exploring potato varieties beyond what I consider the standards: Russets, Yukon Golds, whites, reds. Today, upon the recommendation of the friendly potato dealer at the Union Square Farmer's Market, I tried a batch of Peruvian Papa Amarilla potatoes. All I can say, really, is "wow." Roasted in olive oil, with a little bit of rosemary and salt & pepper, these were absolutely out of this world. Quite possibly the best potatoes I've ever had, totally blowing away the French Fingerlings that previously held the title. So...which spuds are everyone else enjoying?

Sautéed some chopped bacon, drained most of the fat, lowered heat, added two eggs and a splash of milk, scrambled, added a healthy chunk of Maytag blue cheese, crumbled. When eggs were set and cheese melted, served in two warm corn tortillas, taco style, with diced tomato.

I agree...that is key. Had I not forgotten that the jar was back there, I most certainly would have been eating it much more regularly. I used it originally for mamster's kimchi & pork soup recipe which, if you haven't already tried it, is absolutely delicious. edited to add link to kimchi chigae recipe

I'm at home most every day, so lunch is usually a study in improvisation on the previous night's leftovers. Today's lunch was: Leftover pork chop, diced and sautéed in evoo with a small onion, sliced, a small handful of frozen corn, and one seeded and minced chipotle pepper in adobe. This was then split between two soft corn tortillas and topped with diced tomato and shredded queso blanco. (I was going to top it with some cilantro, but the bunch in the rotter drawer of my refrigerator had turned a corner.) All in all, a quite delicious, if not authentic, taco lunch.

Years...days....oh my. Consensus seems hard to come by. That's a fascinating article, though. Thanks.

Assuming I have stuck my fingers in the jar...then what? I used about half the jar about two months ago. I should mention that I'm not really all that concerned about all this; I'll eat some and see how it tastes. I'm just curious about the preservative nature of the kimchee-ing process.

I've had half a 32oz jar of cabbage kimchee sitting in the back of my fridge for about two months now. How long does this stuff last before it's time to get a new jar? On a similar note - does it even really need to go in the fridge at all? The jar says it does, but are they just playing it safe? edited fer grammar

I'd suggest you pick up a copy of Ricki Carroll's Home Cheese Making, an update to her previous Cheesemaking Made Easy. The directions are clear and direct, and she does a fair job explaining how and why things work.

I have a friend who I feel orders rather inappropriately whenever we dine together. More often than not, when in a nice-ish restaurant, the rest of the party will order an app and entree each, and she'll order a cup of soup to start followed by a plate of mashed potatoes - or some other side - as her main. Or one app only, to be served when the rest of us are served our entrees. Of course, this leads to server confusion, not to mention bad timing issues (she's done well ahead of everyone else) and makes splitting the bill complicated. She's not really a light eater, and even if she is, she should make an effort to come hungry, I think. Granted, she's a vegetarian and choices are sometimes limited, but this happens even if she's chosen the restaurant.

I personally prefer a burr grinder - mostly because they provide an even and consistent grind that's adjustable. This means if you're making espresso you can tell the machine to grind it super fine and if you're using a press, you can have the machine grind it on the coarse side. With a blade grinder, in my experience anyway, it's nigh impossible to get all the grounds the same, um, grind. As for cleaning, I find both styles to be a pain. But as long as you're only running non-flavored coffee through it, how often does it really need to be cleaned?

I grew up in suburban Passaic county (Ringwood, to be exact) and on recent trips home I've been excited by the number of Mexican groceries and taquerias springing up in neighboring towns. Pompton Lakes, for example, seemed on the verge of dying altogether. What used to be a bustling main street had, in the course of only a few years, become home to a growing number of boarded up shops. Now, there are no less than 2 taquerias (maybe 3, I can't remember) and a handful of Mexican groceries - all along a little stretch of road that runs about three blocks. Not bad for an area of NJ that until recently had only El Torito and it's ilk to look to for Mexican food.

The cubano sandwiches I used to get for lunch from Spanish-American Restaurant (in NYC on 26th between 5th and 6th) had an incredibly strong garlic-mayo spread on them. I'm pretty sure, actually, that it was just plenty of mashed raw garlic and mayo. I would have asked them what the spread was exactly, but my Spanish skills are pretty dismal. This spread went on the bottom slice of bread. The top slice had mustard. In between was roast pork, swiss cheese, ham, and pickles. The sandwich was pressed super flat and cooked crisp. Mmm...I'm hungry.

Do you think that the fact that the dough might have been a little wet contributed to gumminess of the final product, or would undercooking be a more likely suspect?