fifi

Sooooo... What style of gumbo, and how dark is your roux?

Hey, motochef, have you found any place better for pork than Hong Kong Market? Just checking because I see a piece of pig in my Christmas future.

Two words... sick puppy. I can't wait for the next installment.

Thanks for that report, Toliver. I was afraid that would be the case. If the smoking set doesn't chime in soon, I may PM one or another.

The crane... OMG the crane.

This came up before on this thread. I am not sure we ever figured out what to do with them. I recall my sister tasting them and saying they weren't worth pursuing.

I have had many experiences with excellent service and I always tell the management about it when it occurs. Another way I acknowledge an excellent server in a restaurant that I frequent is to request that server when making a reservation. The one incident that sticks out though occurred in a most unexpected place. This occurred sometime in the early 80s on a business trip. I arrived late after a horrible plane ride (weather) and had trouble finding the hotel where I was staying. It is after 9:00pm by this time and I am hungry. The dining room was surprisingly formal and looked pretty empty. I asked the hostess if it was too late to order or should I try room service. She most gracefully said something like "Certainly not. You look like you could use a nice meal properly served." She proceeded to seat me at a very comfortable table and the server appeared immediately. I asked for suggestions. She said something like... "After difficult travel starting off with something light is advised." She seemed so perceptive I suggested that she just do the deciding and serve me dinner. She proceeded to supply a small cup of delicious fish chowder and a perfectly lovely salad. The grapefruit sorbet was a surprise. Then came a reasonable portion of beef tips in a wonderful red wine sauce. She also supplied a glass of very good red wine that was refilled promptly to the correct level. I declined desert and asked if it would be possible to get an Irish Coffee at the bar. "Oh, goodness. No need to go to the bar. I will fix you a proper Irish Coffee right here." Then she rolls up this huge table with all of the fixings in gleaming silver. I still remember the pile of oranges on the silver platter and the huge heap of tan crystal sugar glittering in the light. She proceeded to perform the whole routine... dramatically cutting an orange, wiping the lip of the crystal mug, coating in sugar, toasting the sugar over the flame, whipping the cream... you get the idea... and served it with a flourish. Then she made another one for me to take back to my room! (She didn't even ask me. She was reading my mind.) Total damage was only about $30??? I tipped VERY generously. A lone woman late at night when I am sure the restaurant staff would rather go home and I don't remember ever feeling so pampered and genuinely cared for. And this in a not-so-remarkable Hilton in Mobile, Alabama. Ya never know! epilogue: I sent a hand written letter on nice stationery to whatever Mr. Hilton was boss at the time. I received a gracious handwritten reply.

For beef I think Pete's is THE place. However, if you are in the mood for pork, take a trip out Bellaire Blvd. (way out) to the big Hong Kong Market at Boone road. I think that is the cross street. Anyway, it is out oast the Beltway. Their pork is amazing. They will even cut that fresh ham off of the whole leg for you to your specifications. Even if you are not after pork, the excursion is worth it just to see the place.

Yeah Venado, If you go to the USDA site for farmer's markets here, you will see how pathetic the Houston scene is. I think the lady growing the salad stuff for the restaurants is part of this one. That is what my sister and her friend said, anyway. I don't understand why we can't get a good market here. We have a lot of growers in the area. There is an oriental family that does it in a big way... exotic veggies, herbs and stuff. They were written up in the paper a couple of years ago. There is a lot of that kind of growing going on but I will bet it all goes to restaurants and maybe groceries like Hong Kong market. Anyway, with the salad lady and Monica Pope involved maybe this one has a chance. edit to add: You will find out that this is a persistent rant of mine.

I THINK all that Luther's has now is pork. I haven't been to Otto's in a long time either so I don't know about them. When I said up-thread that my grandfather used to bring them to me, you have to realize that is almost 50 years ago.

Thanks for bumping this up, woodburner. Funny that you should do that. My nephew and I were just discussing this the other day. I only made a couple of half hearted attempts to find them. If you do find them, please report back about the amount of meat on them. We seem to remember that the ribs we got already BBQ'd had at least 3/4 to an inch of meat on the bone, then whatever was between. They were probably custom cut for Otto's.

Repeat after me... GRATIN Since I got my Le Creuset cast iron gratin pans, everything is a gratin. I started with Steingarten's Potatoes Dauphinois and went from there. Those potatoes are the reason I got the pans in the first place. I found that just about any vegetable can be thinly sliced, covered with cream, with your choice of seasonings, and you have a wonderful dish. I haven't tried fennel, yet. If I see some that looks good I definitely will. My favorite eggplant dish is here.. You can leave out the sausage and it is still good. The gratin technique seems to concentrate the flavors wonderfully.

*crawling out from under my rock* Why didn't I know about this? My sister just reported in on a fledgling "farmer's market" that sets up on Saturday mornings from 8 - 12 on White Oak between Oxford and Studewood. Apparently it is in the parking lot of Onion Creek. There are about 10 booths. She got some organic veggies, mainly greens and radishes, Brazos River pecans, homemade soap and lip balm, dough for scones and flat bread from Boulevard Bistro. That is Monica Pope's place. My sister met her. She was there, which makes this more interesting. Supposedly this thing has been organized by the Urban Garden folks. (She also says it was recently written up... somewhere. I searched on the Chronicle and the Press sites and didn't get anything.) I have no idea if this is a "sanctioned" (whatever that means) market or not and it sounds small but at least someone is trying. I also have no idea how long this has been going on. It seems to be a pretty well kept secret, at least from me. But then, I don't hang around inside the loop a lot reading the local rags. I won't get a chance to check it out for at least a couple of weeks. If any of you Houstonians get a chance to, a report would be appreciated. Some history on how it got started and what the aspirations are would be interesting. The farmer's market situation in this city is abominable. I would sure like to see a really healthy one get going.

Hey Venado... A big Texas HOOOOW-DIIIY! Welcome to eGullet. Hope you hang around. This place is a hoot. I have heard for years about the van guy on 2351. For years, that was my freeway exit and I never thought about stopping there. Leave it to me to look for the far flung (west Houston) instead of in my own backyard. I will be stopping there now that you have reminded me.

From the report here, this has happened twice. The difference is the addition of truffle oil. The amount of truffle oil is not specified but I have to assume that it is not a lot in proportion to the recipe given. edit to add: Does anyone have a connection to McGee or any other food science luminary?

Congratulations, Chef Fowke. Uh... Do you guys realize that we could have our very own restaurant reality show, right here?

Oh, great. Some sort of crystallization? I dunno. I'll have to PM the big guns. This is weird. Especially given the oil content. Stay tuned.

I agree on the coconut milk. I have found great variability in the quality of the brands. The "Taste of Thai" brand, generally availble in our mainstream markets, is not that good. My brand recommendations come from, for one, Victor Sodsook, author of True Thai, one of my favorite cook books. David Thompson's book, Thai Food, is pretty obsessive (to the point of making the cuisine almost inaccessible) but instructive. He goes on about the positive aspects of the coconut milk separating out into the cream, etc. This seems to be the difference in the brands. The Chaudoc brand, for instance, does not seem to be artificially homogenized and is, therefore, closer to Thompson's ideal. edit to add: Thai food is delicious to me, even if indifferently done. Luckily, we have some very good Thai restaurants here. But, if I can make a delicious curry or soup at home it need not exactly match what I can get in Bangkok. If it is delicious in its own right, that is ok by me. David Thompson can rot in hell.

I am somewhat of a history buff on Hawaii and I can say that one of the appeals is the way assimilation has occurred. I would hate to see that go backwards. Hawaii's history is what it is, good and bad. Where we are today is a miraculous place where a mixing of cultures has occurred with relatively little divisiveness compared to the rest of the world. I have seen that in the day to day interaction of the people as well as the cuisine. I have a very good friend who is part Portugese and part Hawaiian. His Hawiian grandfather only recently died at about age 98 and went surfing the day before he died. When asked about the "problems" of the merging of the cultures, his answer was... "I don't worry about it. I just go have lunch." I guess that is my take on what is magic about Hawaii and its cuisine. The choice of Oahu as "The Meeting Place" may have been prophetic.

Please do try it. If you can get the ingredients, you are in luck. We happen to have a vibrant Asian community here in Houston and I have a friend with a kaffir lime tree as a source of the leaves so the two most troublesome ingredients, the fresh galangal and the leaves, are available. From there on it is an easy dish to make. There is also a thread here somewhere on the Thai curries. We pretty much agree that some of the premade curry pastes, particularly Mae Ploy brand, are pretty darn good and handy. I keep the curry paste (it keeps forever) and cans of coconut milk on hand and have the makings of a quick curry from leftovers or whatever. I haven't done a search yet for that thread on the curry paste, but if I find it, I will post a link here. Happy Thai cooking.

I applaud the council members for their sensible response. Where is the response of the law enforcement authorities? I haven't seen that yet. Maybe it just hasn't made the news. The rule of law should prevail. I was about to make some significant purchases from Williams Sonoma. I have suspended that decision. When legitimate businesses in this country bend to the will of a very small and fanatical minority, we may be in trouble. Same goes for Charlie Trotter et al, unless they have a true and personal moral commitment. That is a different deal altogether.

At the end of the day after, I have an observation regarding the post mortem on turkey day as represented on this thread and the thread in Special Occasions here, where various "disasters" are recounted. There are a lot of stories of successes and "challenges". It appears that by far, most were met with good humor and a real sense of sharing that is the most basic part of communion with friends, family and miscellaneous acquaintenances. I was cheered to see that there was very little of the "worst meal ever" discussions. There was a lot of joy in the sharing of good food and the effort to create it. It looks like a lot of people had fun cooking, eating, and sharing the experience here. We developed recipes, lamented turkey amputees, worked on frying turkey without damage to body or abode, and continued the unending quest for the perfect bird. I just think that is kinda cool. As this is my first T-day here, I just want to thank everyone for an enjoyable experience. Now we get to start all over on Christmas.

OK... macho man. The advantage of having the ceremonial lowering and raising of the bird a two man operation with a piece of rebar through the rack is that you can keep your arms (and legs BTW) some distance from the bubbling oil in case a pop does happen. A common very bad mistake is getting surprised by a pop of hot oil, jump and drop turkey, all hell breaks loose.

Good show, tommy. That is one handsome bird. From what I can tell from the picture, it looks like the air drying routine worked out. Loverly crispy skin.

Damn. I just found out it is spelled mirliton. There is a fritter recipe on Food TV here from Emeril. Looks a little fiddly and I am not sure if you would ever know that mirlitons were in there. We may try shreading some and making a latke type thingy. Some will be stuffed with my ex's aunt's shrimp stuffing, put in the vacuum pack bags and into the freezer for winter time snacks.