MatthewB

Well, the goose didn't turn out as well as the Thanksgiving turkey. I overcooked it. I was aiming for "clear juices" but in retrospect that was wrong. What's the goal when roasting a goose? Temperature? If so, what temp/temps?

Have you tried a Scotch Brite pad as Suzanne F notes above (about 4 posts)?

FG??? Poor Fat Guy.

On a NWTC jag . . . Tonight will be "Garlic Soup with Ham & Poached Eggs" (page 386?).

The fish curry was extremely easy & very good. I'll do it again as I've a couple extra red snapper filets in the freezer now. I added shallots, sesame oil, hot pepper flakes, & fresh basil to the broccoli. That's a standard recipe for me. Unfortunately, I assumed jasmine rice in the pantry but only basmati showed up. So we made due with that. One issue: Only green & white on the plate!

Some recipes in SMK do call for a clay pot or a tangine but not as many as I assumed before I actually went through the book. (And she does offer alternative vessels most, if not all, of the time.) But as far as special equipment--and very interesting, I might add--is the need for a remote thermometer, especially for some of the chicken recipes. I didn't see Wolfert mention it, but I'll note that you stand a good chance of destroying remote thermometer probes when you're using them in ovens over 450 degrees F (approximately). So, definitely use a probe but don't use it when the oven is at higher temperatures.

I've reason to believe that I'll be receiving David Bouley's East of Paris : The New Cuisines of Austria and the Danube as an early Xmas present in a few days. I've a 10-12 pd goose on its way. (Thanks, Guajolote.) How about sides, etc. from Bouley's book? Thoughts, suggestions, and so on?

That sounds good to me too. I'm going to do the fish & curry tomorrow night. Also, broccoli via the steamed/sauteed method in NWTC--with some hot chili sesame oil & what not. And, jasmine rice. This afternoon I picked up Wolfert's Slow Mediterranean Kitchen. I've been going through it this afternoon & evening. Plenty of recipes that I want to cook. Anyone here interested in doing some recipes from SMK?

We ate at Chez Papa around this time last year. (Amanda Hesser wrote an article for the NYT in early December '02 that focused on "French bistros" in SF. Chez Papa & Chez Spencer were both noted in that piece.) Chez Papa was will worth the trip to the Hill. Recommended.

I was looking through NWTC this morning & a couple of items grabbed me . . . -- Fillets in Green Curry Sauce (pp. 228-29) -- Creamy Garlic Fish Soup After a Bourride (pp. 262-63) I'm thinking about the Fish Curry tomorrow evening & the Bourride over the weekend (depends on my SO's work schedule). I'm also considering doing Beef Rendang. I've liked & would use again Jenna Holst's recipe in her Stews. FWIW, on Friday night, I made Bittman's column recipe from this week--Beef Stew with Prunes. Much easier than our beef stew, not as elegant, yet more interesting flavors. I recommend it.

Is this eGullet or eJerrySpringer?

Quite a bit of this thread seems, IMHO, to focus on individual buying patterns, patterns related to both price & quality. This is interesting if we're atomized individuals but there may be a bit more to these issues. A couple of more interesting themes, again IMHO, that have emerged center on "conspicuous consumption" and "the Good Life." Jack Boulware's "Revenge of the Leisure Class" provides an engaged update of Thorstein Veblen's concept of conspicuous consumption. As far as the Good Life, Heather points to this when she notes managing choices between the amount of money she spends on food & how this relates to her ability to raise her children more actively than if she were employed outside the home full-time. I think this notion of the Good Life--e.g., answering for one's self (& acting upon this answer) as to what type of life is most worth living--plays a significant role in consumption patterns. Priscilla also pointed to this when she noted the conflux of self-identity & consumption. Edit: Perhaps the best place to start for a discussion of the Good Life is Charles Taylor's The Ethics of Authenticity. A fuller treatment can be found in Taylor's Sources of the Self: The Making of the Modern Identity.

Priscilla, you've just raised the discourse quite a few notches. Thank you. I hope the ball doesn't get dropped or handed off to a Jerry Springer-like running back.

You mean if we were having more sex (with more partners?) that we wouldn't be so depressed? Sounds like Wilhelm Reich.

Sounds like you've been reading Pierre Bourdieu, fresco.

FWIW, I haven't worn a watch in about 4 years. I don't think I could go without eating for 4 years.

Thanks, Jon. Peace your way, too.

Well, we agree that he made a mistake. I'll stick with that area of agreement. And, what the hell, we're approaching some holidays that seem to me to focus on peace & other silly stuff like that. So, goodwill to Rick Bayless, even after his error. And, goodwill, peace, happy holidays, etc. to you, Sam. Truly. Now I'm off.

Again, I understand what you're saying. My point is that at face-value Bayless was misguided. Going further than that verges on jadedness. I don't see any reason for any for us to be jaded on this issue. If we judged ourselves as harshly as Bayless has been judged on this thread, I doubt any of us could hold our heads up in any fashion. In other words, I'm offering that we can agree that Bayless--in this situation--was misguided. Any more than that is unnecessarily unkind. Why bother going there? Going further than misguidedness achieves what?

Well, I understand that you think that. But you might very well be wrong. And we will never know since we can't get into Bayless' mind on this! I'm willing to say that Bayless was misguided in this situation. Going where you're going Sam puts you out on a pretty small limb. Lots of folks--you & me included--make errors due to misguidedness. There's nothing in Bayless history, at least as far as I'm aware, to attribute the type of intentions to him that you wish to attribute. I'm a bit confused as to why you wish to play judge & jury on this. It's not a legal issue.

Sorry, I don't buy this. Are you suggesting that people never do things for one reason and then try to claim that it was for a different reason? Or that people don't conceal their true motivation for doing certain things? I would suggest that people do this all the time. I'm saying that we don't know. Are you ready to claim that you know what goes on in Rick Bayless' mind? If so, we'd better start referring to you as G**.

Who knows what has gone on the mind of Rick Bayless? He has stated that he believes that he did something worthwhile. That provides some clues. On the other hand, most eGullet folks--if not all, in some manner--don't think he did something--at least within his "BK Incident" actions--worthwhile. (Myself included, more than less.) So we can call him all sorts of names, rant & rave, curse & make vulgar statements, write e-mails to organizations in which he belongs, and provide long-winded diatribes to convince ourselves & others that we have found the "truth" about this matter. Perhaps he's wrong. Perhaps he's naive. Perhaps he's something else entirely. But the labels don't really matter. The labels don't change anything approaching "reality." All that's a tempest in a teapot. What does matter is how each of us lives out our lives in relation to the types of values/questions/issues/feelings/whatevers that this incident has raised. Talking is great. Keep talking. Go to bed at night & congratulate yourself that you've provided an articulate description of this "Incident." But the same world awaits the next day. Unless, of course, someone does something more than talk.

G, go see Lizz Fields.

If we're going to spill words, it might be more interesting to provide an interpretation of "The Incident" that is indebted--in a proper manner, of course--to Franz Rosenzweig's work.

Cook's Tour wasn't a series of public service announcements? If nothing else, Tony has very much done something along these lines. You really think the crowd that eats regularly at fast food joints has been effected by Tony Bourdain?