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Everything posted by fifi
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Sounds like you are burning it. The first requirement is a heavy pot. I use a large LeCreuset for my gumbo but seasoned cast iron also works well. I have also used Calphalon. If you don't have a heavy pot, don't even try. You will burn it. For God's sake DON'T use olive oil. If you are not using lard (most don't anymore) peanut oil is the best choice. Any other neutral vegetable oil is ok. Use equal volume proportions of oil and general purpose flour. This gives you a "loose" mixture that is easy to keep moving. (Are you using something other than all purpose flour? Check this. If you have something weird lurking in your cupboard like self rising flour that could be a problem. A friend of mine called me about his foul smelling roux and wondered why it didn't smell deliciously toasty like mine. He was using whole wheat flour and olive oil to make it "healthier". ) A beginner should stick with the Emeril 2 beer method... medium heat, longer time. Keep stirring. That means do not stop, ever. I use a wooden spatula type thing that allows me to sweep the bottom of the pan thoroughly. For a dark "South of I-10" gumbo, I go all the way to the reddish Hershey bar color. This means that you need to have your trinity (chopped onion, celery, bell pepper in a typically 2/1/1 ratio, seasoned with salt and cayenne) at the ready to dump into the roux. This "searing" of the trinity adds a flavor note and stops the roux from further browning... burning. I suspect that you have not hit all of the points above... heavy pot, continuous stirring (burning of bits in the odd corner), or simple oil and flour.
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I will be spending some time in The Hague and am looking for some suggestions. My previous forays have been fruitless. Any help will be appreciated.
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I hadn't really thought about the size issue. I would certainly only do a tagine for a group of at least four. It seems to be so festive, what is the point of a tagine for one or two? Thanks for that before I blindly go get the Le Creuset. Back to the drawing boards.
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We used to catch the mackeral type a lot. The usual approach here in the gulf was to bleed the fish thoroughly before putting it in the ice chest. Some folks would cut out only the upper bundle of muscles (epaxials? my anatomy nomenclature is rusty) and throw the rest to the sharks. I never did like it very much but I don't like strong fish. I did have some smoked at a fishing tournament one time that was pretty good.
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That Team Mumu site may be the death of my laptop. Pina Colada snorted from the nose when I read about the head falling off (PLONK!). But vacuuming up the tail was the kicker. edit: Memo to self... do not drink while reading these threads.
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How can you govern a country which has 246 varieties of cheese? Charles De Gaulle, in "Les Mots du General", 1962 and... They dined on mince and slices of quince, Which they ate with a runcible spoon; The Owl and the Pussy-Cat by Edward Lear
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I just moved my office so I don't have much but here goes... A box of Dutch licorice. A can of wasabi peas. One half a lunch sized bag of nacho cheese Doritos, stale. Several packets of take out Tabasco. And on the conference table, two candy jars, one with black jelly beans and another with M&Ms. And the ever present huge sippy cup full of water.
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I have helped with this with some friends in Hawaii so I would think the same technique would be familiar to your Tongan friend. Here is the plan... Read on. First you dig a hole. A really BIG hole. Depending upon the size of the pig, a rectangle to fit the pig and the rocks, and probably at least 4 feet deep. Haul a bunch of fairly big rocks, about volleyball size and line the pit. Cut a bunch of wood, enough to fill the pit. Light the wood and allow the wood to burn down to coals. Be sure to keep the coals and wood distributed to heat all of the rocks evenly. If you have read this far, you say to hell with all that work and go rent the truck. I have actually always wanted to do this. My friends had a hole in their backyard just for this purpose so all they had to do was haul the wood.
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Stone... Do you mean fuzzy logic as in how my ridiculously overpriced but absolutely marvelous fuzzy logic rice cooker works but I am not at all sure that I understand except that it detects a temperature rise and then does something else? Or are you just being a smartass? (My rice cooker has a retractable cord. Can we work that in?) edit: correct run-on sentence... nah, never mind.
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I seem to fit in with all that has been reported here as far as what happens to the appetitie and the choices in the summer. I am one of those strange people that actually love the Gulf Coast summers. You can retreat to your air conditioning with a cold beer and watch that thuderstorm. Then in the evening the humid air is like a soft hug that you enjoy while munching a little bit of something spicey, not too much, and another cold beer. Really cold boiled shrimp is sounding good. OOOPS! Just noticed another summer tradition. There is a tropical storm in the gulf. Time to assess what is in the freezer and decide what to cook-up in case the power goes and everything rots.
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This cracks me up. At lunch with the guys at work a few days ago, we got into a discussion about BBQ. I was telling them what I had learned here, temperature control, etc. A few of the guys are control systems engineers and they immediately started designing a control system that opened and closed vents, monitored the meat interior temperature, graphed the "temperature stall", various alarm systems for high temp, low temp, end of the stall... you get the idea. Much scribbling on napkins ensued. For the next couple of days, I would get questions about desireable temps, allowable ranges and on and on. I just love engineers. They are so cute.
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The rough board shack on the bayou was shaking in the storm. Within, the voluptuous Marie stirred the pot over a hot fire, her bosom heaving with each turn of the spoon, preparing the roux for what Bertrand might bring from his hunt in the swamp. As she cut the vegetables for the roux, she thought of Bertrand's dalliance with the slut down the way. As she chopped the celery, she imagined chopping parts of Bertrand's body. Bertrand's body, a piece of art. The door slams back. Bertrand is framed by the violence of the storm. He is carrying a large alligator tail. "I have alligator for our dinner." "I have the roux at the ready." Bertrand sees Marie's heaving bosom. He takes her in his arms and all else is forgot. The roux burns.
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Correction... The place on 34th street in Houston is Klose.
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Interesting materials issues. I have been out of the materials biz for a couple of years so my memory is a bit rusty but if the problem wasn't solved with the adjusting of the thin set, why didn't they look into some of the silicone or fluorosilicone adhesives. Some of those approach a useful temp of 500F. (Think Shuttle tiles here.) I don't know what kind of skin temperature the cookers reach but it seems that that would have been an approach. Being an elastomer, stresses of differential expansion would be accomodated. Maybe the cost of the stuff was prohibitive or the skin temperature was too high?.
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I, too, have memories of fork to elbow child abuse. Sporks? What the f#%& is a runcible spoon? From The Owl and the Pussycat ...So they sailed away for a year and a day to the land where the bong tree grows. And there in the wood a piggy wig stood with a ring in the end of his nose. His nose, his nose, his nose. With a ring in the end of his nose. "Dear pig, are you willing to sell for a shilling your ring?" Said the piggy, "I will." So they took it away and were married the next day by the turkey who lives on the hill. They dined on mince and slices of quince that they ate with a runcible spoon. etc. (I can recite this stupid poem and do it often and at high volume in public places to annoy my children.)
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JAZ... If you are reading Nero Wolfe for the first time, try to catch some of the A&E series. They haven't been running them lately but are selling the DVDs and I expect they will be re-running them in the future. They really did a good job of casting (Nero, Archie and Fritz are spot on) and translating the books to the small screen. That series is one of the rare cases where the dramatized rendition has added to my enjoyment of the books.
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I bought The Nero Wolfe Cookbook for my sister for a gift. She is also a Nero wolfe freak. I thought it was kind of fun. I haven't tried any of the recipes, though. (No. I didn't read it before I gave it to her! She loaned it to me later.) maggiethecat... I hope the piece you are working on is for eGullet!
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I just finished Near a Thousand Tables by Felipe Fernandez-Armesto. This is one of the best written and most thought provoking books on food history that I have read in a while. The writing is delightful and he has some really different ideas. Every couple of pages could provoke an eGullet debating thread that would run on for pages. (There are, perhaps, some here that shouldn't read this. ) One of his theses... The microwave oven threatens society as we know it. Off topic... I am currently stuck in Nero Wolfe mysteries. (Maybe that isn't exactly off topic.) edit: fumble fingers
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AAAAHHH... Back to CFS. This is one of those things that seems simple but you can sure screw it up. I go through periods of being "on the hunt" for my own personal ideal of CFS. I have found few. It is a lot of trouble and smells up my ventless apartment so I haven't tried it at home lately. I did try it a couple of times in the past but it is one of those things I eat out. Sad story about screwed up CFS. I had a bunch of Europeans in town and needed to take them to dinner. They wanted "local" (whatever that is in Houston... sushi? Chinese?, Tex-Mex?). I took them to Rio Ranch. Now... This is no less than Robert Del Grande's (of Cafe Annie fame) version of a Hill Country ranch house on steroids complete with the requisite limestone and big beam construction, serving "Hill Country" cuisine. Actually a very pretty building. They are reputed to do a really mean CFS. Several of us ordered it. I was really curious as to how you would make an "upscale" CFS. I described the dish to them. We joked that I was trying to bump them off by feeding them a "heart attack on a plate". Well that was true enough. That was the most awful CFS I have ever had. The meat (supposedly sirloin ) was tough to the point of the ridiculous. The crust was heavy and very greasy and had a weird texture. Did they put cornmeal in it? The gravy was just about tasteless and also had "texture issues". There are many things you can do to screw up CFS and that kitchen managed to hit on every one.
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Thanks, willow. I was wondering about the tiles. But they really do look cool. I was thinking purple. The Primo looks interesting but it is butt ugly. Also, those metal stands look a little flimsy to me. The wooden mounts in some of the pictures look better. There is actually a dealer in my "back yard" so I may check them out.
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SEA-TAC used to have a really great restaurant. Several years ago I went through there leaving on a red-eye to the east and planned ahead to eat there having read a good review. I had a great steak, good wine and all was well. Even tough I have been through there many times since, I haven't looked into the possibilitiy. I wonder if it is still there.
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I do about what everyone here has said. Squeeze of lime is new though. BRILLIANT! Can't wait to do that.
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Oh. I just read about the mojo de ajo. I make my own. I use the oil to grill fish then sprinkle the roasted garlic on top. Everyone loves it. I first had it in Cozumel in the late 70's at a shack on San Francisco beach with grilled fish, black beans and rice. I never forgot it. Only in the past couple of years did I pick up the method from one of Rick Bayless's books. I have been garlic soaked ever since.
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Hey... Thanks for the Pico's tip. I LOVE Mexican breakfast, especially the chileqiles. (I am also not sure of the spelling. I have seen several.) I make those at home a lot. Especially if I have a crowd for breakfast. We should keep this thread going with our "finds". edit: Maybe we should retitle the thread? Maybe not. On second thought, looks pretty good.
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Popcorn... That sounds good. Could you post a recipe? (But please make the raisins optional. There are a few raisin haters here.)