fifi

Heh... You can have my okra AND my caviar.

Ok... To recap... Your sheet vinyl is fully glued down and tight to the floor. Now, the only question is, will the VCT stick. Do you have any doubts about that? IF so, you can try it out in some obscure space with a little scrap and see what it does. However, waiting for that test patch may delay your progress. You could call a flooring specialty store and ask. There are some big ones here that are usually pretty good at offering advice to DIYers. What is RTFM?

I have some Lodge, some ancient cast iron and a collection of Le Creuset. If anyone touches my patent leather looking ancient cast iron frying pan I will break their arm. If you shop around for Amazon specials, use the shopping features of Yahoo or Google, or have access to a Le Creuset outlet store, you can beat the price by quite a bit. Now... Why LC? Well, for one thing, it is impervious to acidic preparations. I do a lot of citrus chicken recipes, some things heavy on tomatoes or wine. As these are usually a long slow braise, "naked" cast iron just won't do. I also like the light color of the interior and the smooth surface. It just seems to work better for a roux. Therefore, I have a large one that I use for gumbos and other dishes that start with a roux. After reading Jeffrey Steingarten on Potatoes Dauphinoise, I ordered the gratins, one large and four small for individual servings. He was correct. Nothing provides quite the same wonderful crust as that heavy cast iron. Now I gratin everything in sight and some of the recipes have tomatoes. The acid resistance is again a good thing. They are also very attractive for serving. My new best friend is my little 2 1/2 quart oval dutch oven. I live alone and this allows me to cook a 1/2 pound of beans, four chicken thighs, a small pot roast... You see where I am going here. Sometimes smaller is better. I got that one on Amazon for $65. Other than acid resistance, ease of cleaning comes next. In order of those used most often (hard to say a favorite, I like them all): The small oval dutch oven The large gratin The medium size oval dutch oven The medium round soup pot The large round dutch oven The small individual gratins (but they sure are cute)

I am not sure I understand why it isn't grown in France. If there is a demand for it in the local population one would think that the local farmers would try and possibly get a good price for it. They could get a good price, it would probably sell cheaper than the imports and the consumers would get a better, fresher product. It really isn't a demanding plant.

A little history here... Back in the late 60s, I worked for the FDA in New Orleans. We were the regional lab. There were extensive "drying platforms" out in the swamps in deep south Louisiana. These were essentially plain wood frames with wire cloth for the platform. Highly salted smallish shrimp, briefly boiled in brine as I recall, were spread out to dry. They were then "tumbled" in a contraption that removed the heads and shells. The debris was sold to zoos and such for flamingo feed. It seems that flamingoes need a certain amount of crustacean in their diet to maintain their color. They are also ok with all of the salt since their native habitat is in salt marshes, sometimes in arid places where the salt concentrates, so they have evolved to deal with it. Then the dried shrimp are packaged for bar snacks. However, that was the destination for a very small part of the production. Most of the dried shrimp were then shipped to various Asian destinations. At least, that is the way it was then. What with the platforms just being out in the swamp and subject to all sorts of "critter visits" we kept thinking that there should be something wrong here. Shouldn't there be a chance for contamination with, at least, Salmonella? Well, we never found anything. The things were, for all practical purposes, sterile. We speculated that it was the high salt content. The critters seemed to leave them alone. I don't frequent enough bars to know how widespread they are as a bar snack. I know they are not uncommon in south Louisiana. As to how they taste... eh!

This raises several questions: If a dish is named for the essential ingredient used in the dish, and that ingredient is removed from that dish, then that dish can not still be properly called the same dish. Like liver and onions. Remove the liver, and can you still call it "liver and onions"? The word gumbo was not used by african slaves and was replaced with okra, after their knowledge of their native language was lost and they began speaking english only. It is really quite simple. The dish they created from their gumbo/okra remained the same name -- real gumbo has okra. Gumbo without okra is a variation that is not the original recipe. It is what happens when someone tampers with a cuisine. ← True... But, the word is used today (and for the past hundred years or so) to mean the generic cooking technique. We can debate all day what is and is not "original" gumbo. But, what is cooked in homes and restaurants and is called "gumbo", and what has been published for many years, has morphed. That is the way of language, and cooking. I have been searching for "original" gumbo recipes that rely on okra and can't find it. I find references and speculation as to what the "original" dish is but nothing definitive. At this point, I am not even certain that anyone knows. Perhaps some of our new friends in the SFA can add to the discussion. Perhaps a thread in the Southern Food Culture forum is in order. After all, gumbo cookery slops over into east Texas, Mississippi, and Alabama, and possibly beyond.

Yeah... You tend to get a bit of frostbite from the handle of the french chef... Actually, a few days in the freezer tends to kill most of the buggers. I do that with flour and other such things. Speaking of bugs... My sister has one of those grid/fluorescent things now and is after getting rid of it. It tends to collect dead bugs. Mostly she sees moths but they did have an invasion of those big gross roaches one time and she got sick of seeing the dead bodies up there in silhouette. Another reason for Dave to get rid of it eventually.

And... how do you know that... Hmmmmm? While I like the concept of the magnetic strip, both this kitchen and my previous kitchens never had a good place for one so I don't have any experience. A few years ago, a few months after I got the knife block, I noticed these little deposits of sawdust. My son kept trying me get me to put the thing in the freezer for a while but I was too curious as to what would eventually emerge. That took a while but it was some kind of little skinny beetle. Test concluded, I did put it in the freezer. *anxiously awaiting floor pictures*

I beg to differ! According to all of my literature on the subject, gumbo is called gumbo because it is the the name used by africans for okra! So how could you have gumbo without it? ← Well... it started out that way a few hundred years ago. Language changes and evolves. While gumbo may be an African word for okra (which language?), and it started out being a part of a roux based soup/stew concoction, the word evolved. Well, now that I think about it, I am not entirely sure when the roux came into the picture. The original purpose of the okra was likely to lend texture and thickening to the final dish. A native alternative was discovered... powdered sassafras leaves known as file (feel A) which lends a similar texture when stirred in at the table. File doesn't add a whole lot of flavor and is mostly a texture thing. That is what makes me think that a source for that texture that can be stored long term came to be popular. So maybe it was the texture that the cooks were after. Anyway... The word "gumbo" for the pod was dropped and replaced with "okra". (The origin of the word "okra" will require a little more research.) The word "gumbo" came to mean the style of cooking that we see today as gumbo... the roux based soup/stew. Indeed, in Gumbo Country, more often than not there is no okra and when it is present it usually says so on the menu. Looking through my book collection, which includes some old compilations from "Ladie's Auxilliaries" and such, very few of the recipes call for okra. A random perusal of those books indicates that maybe one in five recipes will include okra and those will include okra in the title. Those that do include okra tend to be the lighter variety (as in roux color), mostly seafood, heavy on the vegetables, and often contain tomatoes. Then there are the inevitable exceptions to that.

Duh... I should have known that. Great tip. The analogy to clarifying butter is really helpful. That will definitely be the technique I use when I make my next batch of stock.

That is one of those things that I do not want to know. ← While living in the first house I owned, a tiny movement caught my eye as I pulled the chef's knife out of the block. I peered down the slot and saw the unmistakeable silhouette of a cockroach, his wiry attennae twitching in the shadows. There was one in the cleaver slot, too, and another where the steel lived. I'm not a messy cook, nor a poor housekeeper. The house had been infested before we got there, it turned out -- not just roaches, but powder post beetles and some kind of water bug the name of which escapes me -- everything but termites. We moved shortly thereafter. This was 20 years ago, and thinking about it still gives me shivers. ← Thank you so much for that, Dave! That was just what I wanted to hear. (You just fell off my Xmas list. )

That is one of those things that I do not want to know. Can't wait to see the floor. I think that is going to be a shocker!

I have only recently tipped to the idea of saving chicken fat, typically the stuff that I take off of chilled chicken stock. I have only used it to sizzle grated or finely diced potatoes and the scrambled eggs to go with. I am thinking that vegetable gratins would be another use.

From a chemist's standpoint, I am not sure that I can come up with a substitute for sugar for that "snappy" crust. I can say that a fully caramelized sugar coating need not be sweet. I can see adding some kosher salt to the sugar, fully caramelizing the sugar and that would be a good thing.

Why does this exchange sound to me like... "my dog is meaner than your dog" ??? I'll see you those habaneros and raise you my bananas. Yes, Judith... Gloves are definitely indicated for intensive pepper work. I can often get by with it for a few, but if I am doing a bunch for pickling or such, the gloves are a big benefit. ONe thing I really don't get... I have had a "long term warm" on my hands from not so hot poblanos more often than not. I don't get it. It makes me wonder if there are differences in the capsaicin or oil content or something.

Good grief... Judith adds some wonderful ideas for sides. I am almost wondering if we shouldn't rethink the Yacht Club idea. (Nah.. not this year.) I do have to add that we didn't totally "stuff" the turkey with tamales. I would say that it was "loosely" stuffed. But those tamales in the pan were the bomb. I have not said that all tamales in the turkey and in the pan were unwrapped from their corn husks. Sorry if there was some confusion on that point. edit to add: OH GOOD GRIEF, CHARLIE BROWN!

Oooo... I am definitely thinking of a pepper plant for the balconey. My mother, some years ago, kept a Tabasco pepper plant going. It was a positive "tree". The reason she kept it in a big pot that moved into the porch was for the birds. She had a "pet" mockingbird that would hit the pepper plant for treats. One of my last good memories of her is of her sitting in her chair on the porch, talking with the mockingbird while it robbed the pepper plant of its fruit. While I didn't understand the conversation, she sure seemed to.

No forgiveness needed, amccomb. It is never too early to start planning Thanksgiving. However, I have to admit that this year, my sister and I made an executive decision that we are going to attend the Houston Yacht Club buffet. (My nephew is a member.) One of the most fun things we ever did was to recreate a whole menu from Jean Andrews, the pepper lady. She had published an article, I don't remember where, that had Tex-Mex/Southwestern twists on the usual favorites. No I can't find any of that so that is not much help but I can discuss the centerpiece... the turkey, of course. It was an old family recipe and it was stuffed with tamales. And, tamales were put in the bottom of the roasting pan to soak up the fat and juices. It was amazingly delicious. Slivers of peppers were inserted into the meat working from the inside and under the skin. There was seasoning also applied. That seasoning was a mixture of the usual suspects... chile powder, cumin, garlic. We got the tamales from our favorite provider. (We weren't nuts enough to make them ourselves.) The whole dinner was a huge hit. My favorite was the tamales from the bottom of the roasting pan.

yep... I remember that one now. Maybe there was another one? I remember that one of our brainy sorts came up with the enzyme, acid and copper ion thingy. That wasn't any of my wisdom.

sabg... Pleas do post pictures. I am sure that this recipe is one of those that reflects the personality of the cook. It would be really interesting to see the differences. Info for posting pictures is here.

Luckily Mayhaw Man posted the recipe so it is available while RecipeGullet is down. It is a really weird one but I can attest to the fact that it is delicious. EDIT: Merged with older thread

There was a thread here somewhere recently about this same topic. I'll be darned if I can find it, though. I have pickled and escabeched jalapenos for years. I noticed that folks really groove on the garlic cloves. I got into some particularly lovely peppers, went to the Asian market and snagged some really fresh and succulent garlic. I put up jars of about half and half peppers and garlic. The garlic turned out this most astonishing blue. That had always puzzled me until I read the recent thread. Then I realized that the house I owned at the time had copper pipes.

Great article. Congratulations. I loved the thing about the ham. I have to say that while I love Indian food, I was never inspired to get into cooking it until I wound up at eGullet and started reading Monica's writing.

I grew "banana peppers" one year. I was in a new house and the garden soil was sandy and pretty poor as I hadn't had a chance to build up a compost system as yet. It was also a relatively hot and dry summer and keeping the garden watered with the sandy soil with insufficient organic matter was a real challenge. I picked some of the peppers and brought them in to slice to put in a salad. Several folks were standing around in the kitchen as they usually do. Well... No sooner had I taken the first whack with the knife than the kitchen cleared out! Including me! These things were WMDs! I even mess with haberneros and I have yet to have an experience quite like that. Robyn... Your pepper looks exactly like those little bombs.

Aw... Brooks... You dear. I was actually about 11. I remember dressing up and eating at the Roosevelt Hotel. That is where my grandfather and grandmother lived while he was building a big warehouse complex. I also remember going to Antoines and Galatoires (sp?). Which one has the little porcelain black and white tile floors? For some reason, I associate shrimp remoulade with those tile floors. (Sorry, I can't let the concept of okra baby food enter my brain.) I think you missed it. When the North Sea oil boom started, drillers, crew boat operators and all sorts of folks with offshore oil experience went to Scotland for the work. I suspect that after a few years, the locals got trained up and the Louisianans went home. I remember reading about it sometime in the 70s maybe. Maybe that is when they got into frying all kinds of stuff?