fifi

I just returned from several days in Calgary. All of "those people", restaurants, hotels, gas stations (asking for directions), you name it, where RELENTLESSLY cheerful, helpful, smiling til their cheeks hurt smiles, enthusiastic... ARG!!! I yearned for a little brusque efficiency. The really scary thing was that you got the distinct impression that all of these people were for real. On my next trip, I intend to seek out assholes. They have to be everywhere... don't they? My (limited) experience in NY tells me that the ratio of assholes to nice folks is about the same as everywhere else. Well... maybe except for Calgary.

I have whole pig served at REAL luaus (given by friends, not hotels) and it was always SOOOO civilized. I fantasize having a pig and a few well chosen friends surrounding the pig and ripping, tearing and engaging in unfettered gluttony. Not pretty, but... hey... it is MY fantasy.

Wasabi peas are my friend. I do go through periods when I can't wait to get home and stuff some of my home-made pickled jalapeno halves with tuna fish and grated sharp cheddar with a little bit of mayo to hold it together.

For some things There's Nothin' Like a Ritz. I have had the mock apple pie. Amazingly, it tastes like apple pie. I have yet to figure that out. Also, Ritz crumbs makes the best yellow squash casserole ever. But for others... Plaine Olde Nabisco Saltines... the originals, none of the mutants. I got this confirmed last weekend. I had made a batch of pickled shrimp from an ancient family recipe that calls for serving with saltines. I couldn't find my box so we started with some Waverly Wafers. Then I found the saltines. All the difference in the world. Sometimes I just groove on the texture of Triscuits. Then... Anything with sesame.

Many years ago, my mother would grow corn up at our country place. It went from the stalk to the pot. I recall her trying the boil-in-milk routine side by side with just boiling. I don't recall that it was any great shakes or it would have become the standard technique when the corn was ready. We only did it that one time. But then, I am a heretic. I don't really like our "sweet" corn. I have admitted this on other threads. Give me the good old field corn anytime, like they serve on the street in Mexico. It tastes like CORN and has a nice chew as well. It is just hard as hell to find with our "northern obsession" with sweet corn. I have my eye on some corn fields that I intend to poach in the wee hours of some morning.

When I have an abundance of some herb, I whir it up with the olive oil as has been suggested. Then I freeze it in glass jars. I either put the whole mush into a small jar, having bought the smallest jars I can find. It doesn't have to warm up much to dig some out with a spoon. Or I freeze a few cubes and put them in a larger jar. The glass with the metal cap keeps the smell from permeating the whole freezer or other smells and flavors getting to the herbs. (I do the same thing with roasted garlic and caramelized onions.) Watch out for mint... It is out to get yoooouuuu.... aaaarrrggghhh!!!!

Another nice article, Mamster. I really enjoy your writing. Interesting comment on the peanut oil. We can still get it in the grocery stores here (Houston) althoug it is pretty expensive. Maybe it is a "south'n thang". It is the preferred oil for frying turkeys but canola is pushing it out due to cost. But now I am wondering about the peanut oil you refer to. The grocery store stuff doesn't have much of a flavor to me. I think Lou Anna brand is what we usually have. My next trip to my Asian market will definitely include a search for the brand you referred to. Thanks for the tip.

My pickled jalapeno recipe has been posted. Anybody got one for pickled peaches? I remember one that was almost as sweet as sweet pickles and had some spices in there.

I will assume that I have been bonked on the head by flotsam (or is it jetsom) and will not be able to cook my favorite things without a recipe... Emeril's - Louisiana Real and Rustic Victor Sodsook - True Thai Rick Bayless - Mexico One Plate at a Time (or any other Bayless book) Zarela Martinez - Food From My Heart Patricia Wells - At Home in Provence I had to leave a lot of books on the boat.

Pickled Jalapenos This recipe, more properly a method, was inviented by my dad about 30 years ago. He had been doing some work in Mexico and was struck by the difference in the jalapenos that were always served in the restaurants. I did some checking when I spent some time down there and this recipe confirms that he was right. Spices and the amounts are at your discretion. I do know that they seem to use a lot more than you see in the stuff we buy. The vinegar that is used is milder, too. For each pint jar c vinegar (see below) c water tsp pickling salt tsp spices ( see below) T sesame oil Choose firm peppers and other ingredients (carrots, onion, garlic cloves, cauliflower, etc.) Wash thoroughly and pack into a pint jar pickling jar. Wide mouths are easier to work with. If you leave the peppers whole, slit the side so the pickling solution can fill the peppers. You might want to slice the peppers and remove the stem, seeds and membranes. This will make for a milder pickle. Distribute the spices into each jar while packing with the peppers. Bring the vinegar, water and salt to a boil and pour into each jar leaving 1/2 to 3/4 inch headspace. Heat sesame oil gently (less than 150 degrees) and add 2 tablespoons to each jar. Seal the jar and process in a hot water bath (barely simmering) for 10 minutes. Let stand for a couple of weeks before using. Refrigerate after opening. Vinegars: The classic is a homemade fruit vinegar such as pineapple that good cooks in Mexico keep going in a crock on the counter. The fruity flavor and milder acidity really makes this recipe sing. If you aren't up to making your own, look for a milder vinegar like rice wine. I have been known to cheat and add a couple of teaspoons of pineapple juice to a low acid vinegar. Spices: pickling spice mixture, bay leaf, Mexican oregano, cumin seed, corainder seed, allspice berries, whole cloves. A lot of preparations I have seen in Mexico seem to have more than the starter teaspoon. Add more or less of different ones to your taste. (I add a lot of almost everything. And I don't skimp on the garlic.) Keywords: Appetizer, Side, Hot and Spicy, Snack, Tex-Mex ( RG525 )

I forgot another one... Raw tomatoes. It is a texture thing and a taste thing. I know that is strange. I don't care if it is the best home grown, vine ripened specimen. I just gag. I have to ask the Mexican places to serve my pico de gallo on the side. Cooked is fine. Funny thing is, both of my kids are the same way even though they grew up with inveterate Creole Tomato eaters.

I pickle jalapenos every year when good thick walled ones come on the market. I love it when I can get the red ones. That way I can have them like they do them in Mexico... lots of garlic, herbs and spices, carrots, etc. I also use a mild vinegar (pineapple if I can get it) so they are not as vinegary as the ones you get here in the cans and jars. There is just no comparison. I plan to do my father's watermelon rind sweet pickles this summer as a rememberance. I don't bother with cucumber pickles anymore. There are some good ones available from the deli. I keep preserved lemon as a "pantry staple" but I'm not sure that is really a pickle. Pickling is really fun. I would like to try some fruit pickles sometime. I have an idea that when we get peaches or apricots in that are not as ripe as they could be that the only thing they would be good for is sweet pickles, maybe with spices. See... You could let your imagination run wild. The possibilities are endless.

Paella looks suspiciously like jambalaya, except it has saffron. There are probably as many regional versions of paella as there are for jambalaya. And if you want to start a really serious food fight, just say one or the other is THE authentic one. I think it is good, ok, not something I would drive a significant number of miles for.

Very good question. We seem to have a couple of themes: taste and texture. (I did see one question about shape! How wierd is that?) Within those themes are some very specific likes and dislikes. When this thread winds down, I might collect all of the replies and see if I can quantitate and categorize the data. I will see if I can do that BEFORE I get a life.

Actually, I was googling and found this site. http://www.truffle.org/ And this one... http://www.oregonwhitetruffles.com/

Does anyone remember those violet candies? They came wrapped sort of like a pack of gum but square. They were opaque, sugary, violet squares. They tasted like violets. (DUH) I used to see them at the check out counter at some drug stores and the smaller groceries. If I found a stash, I would blow my whole allowance and hoard them. That was a looooong time ago.

But shrimps in the shell are glorious. I do like the heads off, though. We always cleaned our crabs before boiling or steaming. When I had to rip their backs off and plow through all of that gunk the way they do in Louisiana, I was grossed out. I still don't do it. I don't suck crawfish heads either. I can understand about cracking a cleaning shellfish. If you weren't raised doing it (like my crab thing) it can be tough to do.

I remember a story that probably prompts me to keep trying things. I have always HATED turnips. My mother would grow these beautiful turnips and fix them... "Oh, but you will like these. They are sweet as sugar." So I would try again. GAG! they tasted like sweet turnips. Then not too many years ago, I was at friends house in New England and the wife fixed a rather simple brown beef stew. I was in the kitchen talking and helping out when she drags out the turnips and proceeds to cut them up. TRAPPED! Oh well, I say to myself, I will have to grin and bear it. Surprise! That was the most delicious stew I had eaten in a long time. The turnips added just a little something... a "turnipness" that was just right. I will admit that is the only way I have ever liked them to this day. I can't imagine eating an insect if I were starving.

Oh! I am REALLY feeling better. I can't handle offal either. I do like liver though.

Pixelchef started a thread about not liking foie gras. The thread sometimes drifts into other foodie confessions. Someone suggested a separate thread so here it is. I don't "get" caviar. I can eat it but I don't particularly enjoy it, even the best stuff. Raw fish? Can't handle it. I think it is a texture thing. Raw oysters are in the same class. Actually, I don't even like the taste of oysters, cooked anyway you can imagine. Strong fish flavors make me gag. Truffles... This is the one that really bothers me. I really want to like these things. I really want to feel the rhapsody of a truffle. Can't do it. There is a story behind that. About 25 years ago, I had the pleasure of working in a chemical plant for a couple of months. We were using a particularly nasty solvent, acetonitrile (ACN), to extract butadiene. It has a distinctive smell. These days, you practically have to wear a moon suit to handle it. Fast forward to a few years ago. A foodie friend had just returned from France bearing some high quality truffle oil. All of the foodie friends agreed that it was the best they had tasted. I confessed that I had never tasted truffle. I was presented with a small piece of very good bread with a light smearing of the truffle oil. All were watching with great expectation as I lost my truffle virginity. My immediate reaction was... GAK!!! and I spit it out. ACN! That is what the taste was! Over the years I keep trying. I am a firm believer in continuing to explore tastes that you don't like at first. I have had fresh shaved white and black. I have had truffled eggs, truffle sauces, truffle stuffing. The list goes on and on. I still have to choke it down. No, I don't have a bad association with that chemical plant experience. Actually, it was a very good time. The smell of the solvent was distinctive but not disgusting. It just isn't something you would want to eat. OK... I feel a lot better. Now that I have lost my foodie credentials, I will crawl back under my rock. I hope this doesn't mean I can't play here anymore.

I have to share a recent discovery... Tostitos Gold! "The Perfect Chip for Hearty Dips". These chips are thicker than the typical Tostito, Dorito, whatever. They are closer to the thicker fried tortilla chips I used to get in central Mexico and Tampico. Those things were almost tooth breakers but had a wonderful chew. And they made the best chilaquiles ever. The freshly made chilaquiles on the breakfast buffet always had the most delightful texture and "chew". When I say thicker, I mean noticeably thicker. Bayless has a really good discussion of tortilla thickness, time in the sauce, textural differences, etc. in "Mexico, One Plate at a Time". When I read it, there was an "AHA!" moment when I realized that the thicker tortillas made the difference I was missing. He even specifies a weight of 10 ounces per dozen tortillas, calling them "medium thick". I am a confessed chilaquiles addict and a recent convert to Jaymes' short cut when I am in serious need of a fix. Try subsituting these Tostitos for the Fritos. The flavor is closer to tortilla than the Fritos. The texture is closer to what I was seeking. I say closer in that the ones I had in Mexico seemed to be made from a denser masa. I am not sure I am describing the texture correctly but these Tostitos are at least heading in the right direction. I have looked here for the thicker corn tortillas with no luck. But then, I haven't been to every little hole in the wall either.

And I thought $200 for the one I bought was nuts!

For typical long grain rice (I usually use Mahatma brand)... 1 1/3 cup water. 1 cup of rice. Salt. Use a heavy sauce pan with a good lid. Boil the salted water. Stir in rice, Reduce heat to low... such that there is very little steam escaping. Cook for 17 minutes. If anyone lifts the lid... kill them. Fluff with a fork. Works every time for me. But then, a few years ago, I saw that fuzzy logic cooker at Williams-Sonoma and bought it for myself as my totally insane Christmas present I give myself every year. I LOVE that thing. It does brown rice perfectly, even that sticky rice that you steam with pandanus leaves then stir in coconut milk and palm sugar for a Thai desert. I never did get that stuff right with the steamer, water spraying and all that jazz. Oh... The coolest thing about the rice cooker? It has a retractable cord!

Zarela Martinez' "Food From My Heart". I take pretty good care of my books so I am going by the number of Post-It tags hanging out. As we speak (er... type), I am making a batch of the Chiapas style marinade for a big piece of pig leg to cook tomorrow.

Now that I have gotten up off the floor and respiration has returned to normal... Mamster, you have just created a new fixation. I will be spending the weekend brandishing wisks and spatulas while yelling "AAARRR!" My son will be visiting and I am sure he will be suitably alarmed. I, of course, will not explain.