fifi

Very cool. I am not a vegetarian but I can see your point. Too bad that abusive jerks get the wrong side of the press. Welcome to eGullet and I hope you stick around.

I just got up to a predictably rainy day. Last night I put a batch of red beans in the crock pot and they are ready. Beans for breakfast? Why not. Now... I am talking Cajun Red Beans... Camellia brand with andouille sausage. This is the iconic dish of South Louisiana. The beans cook down into this creamy wonderfulness, destined to be served up over a bed of fluffy white rice, a splash of Tabasco for spice. Camellia brand is the only one that will do this. Other red kidney beans just don't achieve the same smooth texture. Luckily, my local Kroger now carries Camellia brand. I used to have to make a drive at least to Lafayette to get them. Onion, garlic, the andouille or sweet pickled pork is about all you put in there. Red beans were always "the special" on Monday (Tuesday?) menus. The tradition was that Momma made red beans on wash day. The red beans could simmer away on a back burner while she went about cleaning up the family's clothing. Another favorite bean dish is pinto beans like my dad used to cook. The bean pot had an insane amount of bacon and some good chile powder. You never see the bacon fat. The beans "soak it up". Then there are the black beans that a local restaurant (Topwater Grill) does like no other. I am still trying to get the recipe out of them. What are your favorites? What are the traditions?

I am hoping that mamster hasn't abandoned this thread due to it being hijacked into rice cooker-ville. What I want to know is... Is there any chance that the peaches at my local supermarket could ever compete with what you made? Is it worth a try? What about other "stone" fruit?

It has a "slow cook" setting so that may be what you are referring to. I have never done that as I have a crock pot. This is the one from Williams Sonoma. I love this thing. (I have been accused of loving it because I spent $200 for it and I had better love it.) My friend has the identical cooker. When she does a really big Thai spread, she borrows mine. You can cook 10 "cups" of rice and it will hold it PERFECTLY for several hours. I have experimented with all kinds of rice that I find at the Asian grocery. I make a best guess at the setting and it has never failed me yet. Buy it for that. Crock pots are a lot cheaper for casseroles.

So... Where is this program? I haven't been watching much FTVN lately so I am not up with the latest shows. I want to check her out so I can throw things at the TV.

Welcome, pat. I am so looking forward to more of your posts. There aren't many of us who grew up around here. Ever been to Topwater Grill? Maybe we should start a thread on that one.

My daughter was this really precious child. She was also devious. At about 1 1/2 to 2 years old she had this trick of leaning from the basket seat toward the rows of baby food, cookies or whatever and moaning as though she was terribly deprived. She always did this if there was a grandmotherly type near. They would coo and cluck and open bags of cookies, dig out some grapes or whatever from their baskets and give her stuff to nosh on. She had this technique down to a fine science. I would have a hard time suppressing an outbreak of the giggles.

Uuuuh... I "arrived" in Houston in 1946. I don't ever remember being without Tex-Mex. My mother made some killer Tex-Mex style enchiladas. There is a picture somewhere with me in my high chair playing with the cheese stringys. Felix's restaurant in Houston was founded in 1929. The original was on Main Street. The one I remember is on Westheimer and is still there.

thanks KAPDADDY. At least now we know how many brothers there are.

Well... There is always brocolli.

Thanks for that butterflying technique. That looks a lot easier than what I have been doing. I did an experiment with a pork roast on the smoker having brined it with added Goya bitter orange. The proportion was about what you have here. I concluded that I wanted more orange and that it was probably lost in the smoker. I vowed that next time I would "brine" in mostly the orange juice and reserve that technique for the oven. There is something about the orange and pork that is a match made in heaven.

Damn that sounds good. For me, there is nothing like braised chuck. That is the beefiest and bestest thing in the world. Braised chuck is the reason cows were invented. Never tried it with Shiraz, though. And I happen to have a bottle.

We have done it both ways and can't tell the difference. The rice dessert is one of our favorites and we have made it often. For a long time we only made it the traditional way. Then, when my friend did the dump and cook routine, we couldn't believe it. She has a much pickier palate than I do and if she can't tell the difference, well...

I don't have exact quantities. The rice cooker has a cup for measuring rice and then there are lines on the rice pot for how much water per "cup" of rice. There is also a setting for "sushi" rice. That is what we do. No soaking, no washing, no nothing. I used the "sticky rice" from the Asian grocery. Dump the rice, add the water, turn it on sushi setting, walk off. That thing didn't cost $200 for nothing. Seriously... I suspect all of this washing, soaking , getting-ridiculous-about cooking the rice is probably just so much bull cookies. Rice is not all that complicated. It is a starch. It will absorb so much water. The starch will cook. End of story. I have gone through all of the washing, soaking, steaming hoopla and I can't tell any difference from the "dump and cook" routine. The old rule of thumb (er... I mean forefinger) about putting the rice in a pot and adding water until one finger joint depth of water above the rice will probably work. edit to add: When I cook the short grain brown rice, I use the brown rice setting. Takes forever but it is perfect.

I just e-mailed Mr. Bayless through his web site to see if he will weigh in on this debacle. We will see. (Tony... what is with the weird apostrophe business?)

Hmmm... Do they check your shoes?

There was a bakery in Houston called "Four Brothers" (Five Brothers? I dunno) that made fabulous bagels. After FG's description it seems they hit the mark. They were located somewhere off of Stella Link and Braeswood. I don't know if they are still there. I will have to look them up. That area of town has a big Jewish population and there may be some promising bakeries there.

How could I have forgot the scalded milk. That was my ex MIL's standard. And a good standard it was, too.

In retrospect, the charm of Rio Ranch was in the service. This is really a case of the "front of the house" making the game.

Actually, I am going to retract my comment about "feet of clay". If the guy can make a bunch of money and that makes it possible for him to continue to take his emplyees on the yearly excursions into Mexico, continue to promote the wonders of Mexican cuisine, more power to him.

I would like some more details on what you did. Last week, they had boneless pork loin on sale for $1.99 a pound. Getting that hunk of meat for that price is about irresistable. I am always looking for other techniques. I usually cut off a few chops and do something with a small roast portion. Brineing is definitely in the program.

You are absolutely right. As a little kid, I would watch Aunt Minnie. She would apply a few wisks with a fork to blend the liquid (buttermilk in her case) into the dry ingredients. As soon as it came together it was out onto the floured board. Then there wasn't really what I would call kneading but some quick folds to bring the dough together. Now, you don't dawdle. The biscuits were quickly cut with a sharp cutter and immediately put in the pan. I think the timing is everything. I am not much of a baker but I can make pretty decent biscuits. I particularly like the Cook's Illustrated recipe for cream biscuits. Also, fresh baking powder is critical. If it has been open more than a couple of months, throw it out and get new. edit to add: The gluten content is an issue. That is why the White Lily flour or addition of cake flour. Also, I fogot to say that Aunt Minnie gently patted the dough into the thickness that she wanted before cutting. Her thickness was about an inch. This made for wonderfully high biscuits that rose well above the rim of the skillet. I think you would have to have the skillet heat to make this work.

Ain't it the truth, Dave. BF (Before Fertitta) The Flying Dutchman was legendary. We took people there from all over the world, including New Orleans, and it was universally judged the best EVER restaurant for Gulf Coast seafood, or seafood in general for that matter, that they had ever been to. The service was wonderful as well and we had our favorite waiter. Now, well... it is just ok... sort of.

When my Great Aunt Minnie made skillet biscuits, she would heat the skillet in the oven with 3 or 4 tablespoons of fat (usually bacon, sometimes lard, Crisco in a pinch). The skillet wasn't allowed to get scorching hot like for corn bread but fairly hot. (Boy, is that precise. It would burn you if you touched it but the grease wasn't hot enough to fry the biscuits. Does that make sense?) Then the cut biscuits were turned in the melted fat to coat the topsides and nestled into the skillet with the sides just touching. This technique of hers made for MY definition of skillet biscuits as opposed to those cooked on a baking sheet or in a cake pan. The tops and bottoms were crunchy crisp and the insides like a cloud. I think what happened is that the hot pan, and the residual heat of the cast iron, caused the biscuits to rise like a rocket. That is my theory, anyway. After that gravy thread, I am going to the store for sausage, White Lily flour and a fresh can of baking powder.

This in Friday's Dining Guide: "Fertitta has big plates to fill at Brenner's" What can I say? Alison says it all. She is more fair than I would be. I am still not over what Fertitta did to The Flying Dutchman in Kemah.