fifi

Brooks, I had to laugh at this: You know, strangely, I have never made sauce piquant. Odd.

That isn't bad at all. last weekend I got robbed at $11.99 (US) for 8 ounces. And that wasn't the jumbo. Then I noticed that they charged me the same thing for the tub of claw meat. (I am usually watching when they ring up but I got distracted this time by ruunning into a friend.) But then, I think the fish guy screwed up. When I got home and looked at the receipt, it appears that I paid $5.38 (US) for 2 pounds of medium shrimp tails. I guess it all came out even in the end.

Susan . . . That looks absolutely lovely. No biggy on not adding the sausage when I do. I have tried to figure out why the roux looks darker after adding the trinity but I don't have a clue. Your Emeril's stuff is probably spot on. I keep a jar of the Rustic Rub around that I make up myself. It is my go-to Cajun style seasoning. Yeeks. Even after last week's Cajun orgy, I may have to get a package out of the freezer and have gumbo again tomorrow. Pretty pot.

Buckwheat holds fond memories for me. When I was growing up, my dad would do Sunday morning breakfast, especially if he had a house full of "his girls." Pancakes were his specialty and his favorite was buckwheat. I can smell them now.

I guess that my oldest piece is the 6 3/4 quart oval, about 15 years. I have always just used a 3M green thingy scrubber on it with Dawn. I use it at least twice a month and it hasn't developed a patina that I can tell. My new favorite is my "little white pot" the 2 1/2 quart oval. I use it about twice a week. It has gotten stained with mushroom soup of all things and braises with a lot of paprika. It's interior is white white. I just splash some chlorine bleach in there with cold water and let it sit for about 15 minutes. Someone up-thread mentioned that the LC cleaner takes care of everything. That is on my list for my next trip to the cookware store. I stray into using ss utensils occasionally (yes, I know better) and I understand that the cleaner even takes care of that. Maybe that would take care of your patina.

You are right Abra. I can't find leaf fat. Heck, I have a hard enough time finding good dense, white pork fat. The last package I bought at my Fiesta Mart had enough meat in it that I ended up making carnitas. The only hard part of rendering your own lard is finding the fat.

I also don't fry much at home because of the mess. However, I do a really mean pan fried chicken. I am looking forward to installing a big outdoor burner in the new house to facilitate shrimp boils, fish fries, chicken fries and the like. My nephew and I fry turkeys around Thanksgiving sometimes. Back in the 70s, tempura parties were all the rage. We dipped and fried all sorts of improbable things, hung around the stove dipping and munching while sipping some sort of cheap white wine. My favorite was the mini daylily flowers. I do, however, order fried food frequently at my favorite restaurants. Being on the Gulf Coast, shrimp figures prominently. One of my favorite places is here. And my current obsession is coconut shrimp. I love fried food. Done properly, I can't see that it has any detrimental effect on weight or health. If there are any downsides, they are canceled out by the endorphin rush that you get with that first toothsome crunch into that perfectly fried shrimp.

ACK! Don't dump that lovely fat! If it tastes good, treasure it. I don't think you made a "mistake." You were being "resourceful."

Now that is truly inspired. There is a group of us that have this huge party every May. I always do a shrimp boil. I can't wait to try this.

Patrick S, thank you, thank you, thank you for providing the references to those studies. I always felt in my bones that naturally occuring fats were the way to go. Many years ago, I quit with the margarine and went back to butter. I started making my own lard, my attitude being, "to hell with it, it tastes good." I quit worrying about the coconut milk in my Thai curries. My reasoning wasn't based on data. I just figured that molecularly manipulated fats, i.e. trans fats, just had to be wrong. We didn't evolve with them.

Take a look at this example from Paula Wolfert. Then go weep.

Well! Thanks a lot you guys! Now I want one of those too. Queso fundido, dewberry clafoutis, YES! (That groaning sound is coming from my Amex card.)

*Ever the optimist, our intrepid remodeler continues to delight and delude himself. Little does he know that, just over the horizon, galloping along at a breakneck pace, is . . . impending doom.* Sorry. I just had to add that. This is going entirely too well. Are we to have a topic without the angst, the pathos, the conflict?

I haven't made this in a while. It is a slaw recipe that I got from a college roomate's mom. We used to go to her "summer house" in Madisonville LA for various culinary events including gumbo and jambalaya parties. She always made this slaw and swore she got it from her grandmother. (When you see the ingredients you will see why the laugh.) Add some grated onion to your usual shredded cabbage and maybe grated carrot mixture. The dressing is 1/2 mayonaise and 1/2 Wishbone Italian dressing and a goodly shake of cayenne.

I actually called them, 888-992-0008. Apparantly, the supply is secure and they get them all the time. The lady I talked to was actually in the shop as far as I could tell. We had a nice conversation about how popular they were, Paula Wolfert (she was enthused about Paula writing a book on clay pot cookery), eGullet, etc.

Brooks . . . Those sound exactly like these things that my great aunt would make when I was a kid. She didn't add spice to them back then but that certainly is in order. Sometimes she did add cracklins though. And, yes, they were fried in lard. The cracklins were from the lard making process, well hidden from us kids. (Well, most of the time. We were pretty smart kids.) For some stupid reason we called them bump-bides. They are great with gumbo and chili. I have got to try to make some next time I make lard.

Tell her you want the $49 dollar one, and that she is forbidden to fill your order until I have mine!!!!! ← You are safe. I got the 2 quart "soup pot" and four of the 2 cup casseroles.

ACK!!!! I had better get to ordering. I have been wanting about four of the minis for reheating individual servings of braises a la Wolfert. I sure hope they get some more of it in. I want a bean pot that holds around two quarts for those half pounds of beans. I think I will give them a call. edit to add: I just talked to this very nice lady at Nuestra Tierra and they are getting another shipment in a couple of weeks.

That makes sense. I just checked my containers. The container part is polypropylene (PP) and the lids are low density polyethylene (LDPE). Interestingly enough they are made by Reynolds. The lids fit exceptionally well and are really leak proof. Here you go. I like the clear ones (natural) instead of the white. The cost per 16 ounce container with lid comes to about 14.5 cents (US). Actually, I see that they also have the lids in PP. Maybe they wouldn't crack as readily.

You can always wash and reuse the deli containers. I can still get the heavier ones at my restaurant supply. The lids look like the more opaque ones that Rachel has but the container is still pretty transparent. They microwave just fine. I can get them in sleeves of 50 still. The neat thing about them is that the three sizes I can get; 8, 16 and 32 ounce, all use the same size lid. If I had to buy a case, I would. I am not sure about the paper containers. They are probably water proofed with food grade parafin that would probably melt off in the microwave. It won't hurt you but the container may not make it.

Heh heh heh . . . I just love throwing fat in the fire. Let me ask the question: Have you ever tried it? I haven't. Therefore, I am not willing to dismiss the idea until I have tried it. It might be an interesting twist on gumbo or it might come out like an interesting vegetable stew.

Just to be perverse . . . Here is how I would handle this scenario: I have my good lamb. I have learned how to pick the right cut and quality. I have learned the seasoning technique. But all I have is my McCormick's oregano. It is the mediterranean type, not Mexican. (That is a different plant altogether.) No, it is not the same as that wonderful herb that came off of the southeastern slopes of Mount Olympus. I make the dish and serve to my guests. They pronounce it delicious. Here is the perverse part: I don't tell them that it doesn't taste exactly the same as the dish I had in Greece. I know but they don't. I did improve the dish for having discovered the details of lamb selection and seasoning technique. I just smile and accept the compliments. I generally go with what I can get without wearing myself out. Folks in California need to understand that most of the rest of the world do not have their fortunate climes and market opportunities. I guess that is why Alice often rubs me the wrong way when she starts preaching produce. When good stuff does show up, I take the reverse engineering approach. "Are those purple hull peas that guy has in the back of his pick-up?" And, sorry, I refuse to pay the price for the chicken at Central Market to make stock. I have tried it and proclaimed it not worth it. Technique seems to be the important ingredient in good stock. And, let us not forget that there are some cooking styles that are intended to make what isn't prime ingredients taste delicious, gumbo for instance. I guess I am just a practical cook. Most of the time, I deal with what I can get, without too much fuss, and do my best to make it good. Then there are times that I am cooking a Coquille St. Jacques for a special friend and will visit three or more markets before deciding on which scallops to buy.

AH HA!!! Roast the vegetables! Brilliant! That might also drive off some of the water that I was worried about! We may be on to something here.

Laniloa, you said the magic word . . . apple. A Granny Smith apple cut into wedges. Dip it into a good rich yogurt slightly sweetened and with some added vanilla. It tastes incredibly, ridiculously decadent. One of my favorite things since I tend to snack in the evening.

One of the things that I have noticed about gratins, while cooking my own and coaching various friends, is that the cooking time to get to ultimate doneness and caramelization varies greatly. For instance, I have coached several cooks through my eggplant gratin but they all had different pans. Since I have pretty much standardized on 325 degrees F in the lower part of the oven (so I can make comparisons) I have found wild differences in pan performance. That makes this one of those things that, if you are cooking for the first time, makes it very difficult to judge. When I do a new recipe, I will note the time it takes to get to the desired degree of doneness, and more importantly caramelization. This all makes it tough to write a recipe that doesn't give times in a plus or minus thirty minutes or more.