fifi

I have to try this. The combination of tomato and worchestershire sounds reminiscent of what makes Brennan's turtle soup so good. polly is right... another combination that is more than the sum of the parts. Damn... Now I have to go buy another book!

If you have any leftover smoked meat of any kind, check out my posole recipe in the recipe archive. It is dynamite. I have actually smoked something just to make this. (Note: It really isn't "my" recipe but something I put together as best I could from a discussion I had with a chef in Queretero.)

I wondered about the bird deal with the toaster bags. I just wish that people would get the science right when they report these things. It is not the polytetrafluoroethylene that is doing it. That molecule is much too large. It is the outgassing of smaller molecules with fluorine, maybe even down to HF, that are the product of incomplete polymerization or breakdown due to heat. I agree with you... A burnt chile pepper is far more hazardous to humans. edit: I seem to always miss tyos

Has anyone seen The perfect lids? Yet another product to save civilization. Actually, it is the adjustable spatula that cracks me up.

I love chicken, and most other birds... except maybe the fiddly little ones (not because of flavor but because of fiddliness). I have brined and smoked many a turkey and everyone raves over it. I sit there and go... "Yeah, whatever. It's still a friggin' turkey." Well, ok, maybe it doesn't really taste like ham. And it is better than roasted. Fried is still the best way to get me to eat turkey. In retrospect, by comparing my mother's roasted turkey to descriptions and pictures seen here and other places, she roasted a really mean turkey. So, overexposure to bad turkey isn't it. I guess I am just mad at turkey. I have tried elaborate brines, exotic treatments, elaborate turnings and techniques. I can get a juicy breast and done thighs. The flavors just don't seem to permeate turkey meat like they do chicken. It is like the thing is turning up it's pope's nose at me saying "Do what you will. I am turkey. I cannot be vanquished." So... I fry their butts.

I gave up the two spaces after a period many years ago as I judged that to be a particularly stupid affectation. But then, that was a personal choice and a current crusade.

I agree... threads should have a conversational tone. I tend to use a lot of ... and (). I also like ain't, gonna, dunno, etc. etc. etc.

If you are talking the American in the blue (?) box like the Velvetta, I am with you.

dearest tommy... brow-beating and insulting is not in our nature. please note that I have not hit the shift key in your honor. all of us editorial freaks have to have our little party, i guess. please carry on as usual.

adrober... wonderful post. I haven't made rissoto in a coon's age. I will get on it. The pictures got me.

Ah, beachcove... you have hit on a sensitive point. I agree with you. I would never want my eGullet friends to inhibit their posts in the name of grammar or correct vocabulary. (Of course... I have no such problem... ) I do think Bux is bringing up some issues in a totally neutral way. I think of the issue as yet another chance to learn. tommy will never capitalize. In fact, if he started to do that we would probably bundle him off to a rehab unit.

Go to the vitual Weber Bullet. all will be revealed. edit to add: I got a Weber Bullet because my big smoker is in storage awaiting the new house. This thing is amazing. the "big smoker" may go into permanent retirement.

tommy=>cold cloth? Yeah, Anna N, I tend to turn off my editorial censor for posts. However, some things do tend to still grate on my nerves. I defer to Bux's original post.

affect... effect

No, I don't add sugar. It is still closer to ham than turkey. That is a GOOD thing! (I hate turkey.)

Due to the perversity of the Gods... I never come out even.

I never thought of that. (I have a Zippo, somewhere.) Actually, I have done brined and smoked turkey several times. It isn't too bad... since it tastes a lot like HAM!

I totally agree with you on this. I think this is one of those cases where "traditional etiquette" has not caught up with modern reality. In the case I sited, the group of invitees were "into" the modern way of doing things and it was very well received. I agree that an audience that would be heavily weighted with the more traditional folk, this might not be well received. That is kind of a shame. The original ultimate purpose of etiquette was to make things as easy as possible for the guest and to help them feel comfortable. Unfortunately, at various times in history, etiquette came to mean adhearance to rules that no longer make any sense but are the perview of the elite and become a meaningless dance of propriety, forever divorced from the premise of the comfort of the guest. The Victorian era in England was famous for this phenomenon. Also unfortunately, the "rules" don't change as fast as the times and you end up with these absurd "work arounds" such as... you tell this attendant, they tell their family and friends, etc. etc. etc. ad nauseum.

You are right. Things were better when you were a kid. The hamburgers weren't steamed in a drawer, the restrooms and the rest of the place was clean, and they actually seemed interested in serving the customer.

I'm with you on this one.

Thank you, Toliver, for saying Velveeta. That is the classic from my childhood and I have been known to make it when recovering from a bad case of the flu or some other affliction. Plain white bread, Velveeta, and butter. That is all. Recuperative regressions aside... My current favorite is honey wheat berry bread and gruyere, butter, in my ancient cast iron skillet. I have been through other favorite bread and cheese pairings but the constants are the cast iron skillet and smashing it with a spatula. I don't add other ingredients to my grilled cheese sandwiches. I save that indulgence for my quesadillas, which are a variant of the grilled cheese sandwich, IMO.

I just thought of something... A couple of years ago, my pseudo-nephew got married. The invitation contained a separate card with information on where they were registered, including web site links where that applied. (Actually, they all had one.) I don't know where that falls in the "etiquette" program but I found it extremely helpful, not a "greedy grab for gifts". Come on... Everyone knows that invitees buy gifts. Why try to hise the fact under a bucket. Anything that makes the "guest's" life easier seems to meet the requirements of etiquette to me. Given the web based registration services, this makes your choice of stores broader. You don't have to worry that Aunt Lydia doesn't have a Williams Sonoma down the street. She can just click away, and a wrapped gift arrives at your door and she doesn't have to get out of her fuzzy slippers. What is better than that.

I freeze it if I'm pretty certain I won't use it in, say, six weeks. It's not so much that the fat will go rancid in the 'fridge, it's that fats, even in closed containers, are great at picking up the aromas (not to mention downright odoriferous compounds) and tastes that waft about the enclosure. This is not to say that freezers can't harbor some pretty stinky stuff, too, especially since, in most designs, the two compartments share the same air. Frozen fat is just less susceptible. I get away from that problem by storing fats in glass canning jars whether in the freezer or the fridge. I don't use fancy ones, just regular Ball or Mason jars. Wide mouth ones are easier to deal with. I use the same trick for anything aromatic like pestos and such. Plastic is just to permeable for aromatic stuff and stuff that might pick up the flavors. We learned that trick the year my sister popped some fresh dill into a big plastic container. We even had dill ice cream.

Good point, Jason. Keeping the turkey out of the oven is a huge help. You can do that by smoking it, frying it, or doing it on the grill as you and Rachel have described. What is it about Thanksgiving that everything seems to need an oven? We have been known to bake pies in the DeLonghi convection toaster oven. (Works quite well, BTW.) If I were planning a kitchen around the annual Thanksgiving event there would be at least three. But, THAT is absurd. when planning with other friends and family members that are bringing stuff, I always speak to the oven limitations.

Sorry, but if I had been a patron of the restaurant and you wandered over to me, I would have likely been polite but I would have wished that your parents had you firmly under control at their table. Age isn't really an issue. Intruding upon other patrons of a restaurant is rude. (There may be exceptions for certain neighborhood family places.) It is also dangerous to have wandering children under foot when the waitstaff are trying to deliver heavy loads of hot food. Uncontolled children is my #1 complaint at restaurants. Well, maybe #2 after raucous drunks.