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Oh please, Sissy! Ah need mah smellin' salts! Ah'm havin' one of mah spells!

This thread has to be pretty near a champion for the number of fabulous ideas and recipes in one thread. And you all seem to be of a same mind... not a bunch of sweet stuff, thank you very much. I gotta get some sweet taters this weekend and start planning for Thanksgiving.

I have to admit that I make a pretty mean pan fried chicken. I don't do it that often because my previous house had inadequate ventilation and my current apartment has just about none. For new house, I am toying with the idea of an outdoor kitchen area with a honkin' big burner to indulge in my frying tendencies. My chicken is the soaked in buttermilk and floured in a brown paper bag style. No, I didn't get that from James Villas. That is how my great aunt Minnie did it. My favorite medium for frying is fresh lard. (I make my own. I refuse to use that hydrogenated stuff on the grocery shelves.) If I don't have that, I confess to using Crisco. Thin fish filets are the next favorite. When I was hanging out with a fishing crowd many years ago, we would often have a big fish fry after a particularly successful trip. As for the okra... Well... We all know where I stand on that.

I am thrilled to hear that you were able to connect with Middendorf's. My tummy is enjoying a sympathetic yummy. Looking forward to photos. Great trip, guys.

The list of times and stations in various cities is here alphabetical by state. I cannot believe that it is not in Houston. GRRRRR!!! I always liked him, a lot. Then I read the Apprentice book. Now I absolutely adore him. I can't believe that our rotten local station doesn't have this show. Get a rope!

Heh... I haven't confirmed this yet, but a San Leon resident tells me that Wrecker's is owned by none other than Mr. Kemah chain restaurant himself... Fertitta! All of the locals complain about the prices. Hey... It's San Leon.

AMEN!

Great topic. I'll put in my two cents. I took a hiatus from cooking for about 12 years or so. My kids were living with their dad and stepmom. I was traveling a lot. My main meal was lunch, eaten out. There was no "evening meal" as such, fruit and cheese or other snack. If I were really ambitious I would nuke a Lean Cuisine. When the kids visited short term or longer over the summer, a little cooking went on. But... boy was that expensive! I just wasn't set up for major cooking. I had long ago learned that while living alone, it made no economic sense to cook routinely. Then my son came to live with me while he was finishing school. (He was in his 20s at the time.) He likes to cook and insisted that when we were both home, that we cooked and sat down to dinner, no phone, no TV. That got me back into cooking. I started buying new toys. I sold the condo. I bought a house with a pretty good kitchen and a walk-in pantry. The adventure was back on! (I had grown up with a bevy of great and creative cooks and gardeners.) Now, the pendulum swings. I live alone again. I have sold the house and am in an apartment until the house gets built. But, I won't be going back to the cooking hiatus. In fact, there will be a lot of compromises in the house in order to have a dynamite kitchen. I now look at cooking for one (most of the time) as a challenge to figure out how to do my favorite things "downsized". Cooking is my hobby and creative outlet. I love my toys and to heck with the economics. Daddy-A brings up a great point that I wonder about... telecommuting. I started doing that 2 or 3 days a week about two years ago. That has proven to be a real opportunity for indulging my hobby. When it is time for a lunch break, I can pop off to the store and put an idea into the oven for a long braise, get back to work, and keep an eye on the oven. I wonder what effect telecommuting will have, long term, on how our society will approach cooking and the effect on family life. Maybe we should start a thread about telecommuting and the kitchen.

I do recall a recipe from my ex-MIL years ago that is about the only use of canned peas that I can remember being good. She insisted on Green Giant brand. I always found this interesting because she was not a big fan of canned vegetables. She would drain and rinse the peas. Then, some minced garlic was sauteed in a big dollop of butter. The peas were added with a little chicken stock and a fairly generous amount of oregano. After they were heated, she would smash a few peas to thicken the "sauce". It was really good. I haven't thought of that in years.

I have to say that I have tried various griddle pans. My well seasoned cast iron fry pan and I have never been able to produce the results that my dad did on that electric griddle. I will concede that I have never tried the Lodge thingy that fits over two burners. I wonder if those have differential temperature zones. Does anyone know what temperature a griddle needs to be to make those dancing eggs, excellent pancakes, crispy edge sausage? For bacon and sausage, do I need to get some of those griddle irons? Where do you get a griddle iron anyway? And, what does it look like?

Have you ever used this product: Grill Brick This material is actually foamed glass. It's primary use is as a high tech insulation material for cold and cryogenic applications. There are really only two (soon to be one) manufacturers, the main one being Pittsburgh Corning. I am familiar with the product and the manufacturers from my real job and was amazed to see what percentage of their production (tons) goes into griddle (grill?) cleaners.

I also live alone. My usual routine is to clean as I go. Even when I was in the house I did that. Now that I am in an apartment with a small kitchen, it is more critical. I really can't do any real cooking in a messy kitchen. Messiness dicombobulates my mind. I do really well at clean as you go if I am into a cooking "project". However... I have recently fallen into a really bad habit. The last few weeks I have been working at home more than usual. I am finding that I go into the kitchen to rewarm some beans or make a sandwich for lunch, make a quick grilled cheese sandwich, whatever. I leave little messes that soon add up to a kitchen that has met Armageddon! Even if I have emptied the dishwasher so that the odd dirty plate or bowl can go in there, they still tend to stack up. And I am getting worse about emptying the dishwasher. Therapy... I need therapy!

I was having the same problem with the timing for Middendorf's. One of the times I lived in Hammond, we would head down I-55 (or the old swamp road before I-55 was done) for I-10 to start a trip to Houston. We would time it to stop at Middendorf's for a big old box of thin fried catfish. That was the on-the-road snack. I don't remember when they started frying, though. I do remember my parents wanting us to be on the road early and we would find all kinds of reasons to drag our heels so that we could leave late enough to get that catfish. Can't wait for the reports. I am so jealous!

Most of the time, all we can get is the smaller flats. They range from about 3 to 4 pounds. I have never tried to do those in the oven uncovered. For the low slow method, I use a covered Le Creuset with no added liquid. Like buttah!!!

Thanks for this. I am so looking forward to the new kitchen. My big thrill will be the griddle. (GE Monogram, made by DCS) When I was growing up, my dad had an electric one... Sunbeam maybe? He made dynamite pancakes on Sunday morning. My sister was away in nursing school though here in Houston. If my sister had duty, her roommates would still show up at our house on Sunday morning for those pancakes. Then he would crank it up and here would come the sausage patties and eggs. I am sure that when I get it, there will be a learning curve and probably some time will have to pass before I get it properly seasoned. I would like to hear more about getting it seasoned and your cleaning routine.

I can characterize the Houston scene in just about the same words. We have tremendous competition, some great chefs, a rich and varied ethnic dining scene, and a casual attitude that makes more than most folks feel comfortable in whatever venue. I think our two cities are very much alike in that respect. If I have a nit to pick (and a very small nit at that) it is the use of the word "cuisine". I guess in my mind cuisine means distinctive food... French, Italian, Tex-Mex, etc., with many of them having regional sub-sets. If you say Naples, I think of certain foods. And I have never been there. I would like to see a similar retrospective on the Houston dining scene. That would be fun.

I was scratching my head on that one, too. I sure couldn't define a "Houston cuisine".

I had some left over smoked salmon once. I get the PNW style from Vis Seafoods in Bellingham. I used it in a recipe sort of like this one. I added some capers. I didn't have any asparagus that time around but the combination was delicious without it. There are a bunch of other recipes on that site that are similar so you can kind of shop around and see what variation on lemon cream you might like. I did the search on "lemon cream pasta".

The Jiffy Mix corn souffle thing is an old one that I picked up from a friend. It is a perennial favorite around here and it is common for it to show up at pot lucks and church suppers. Hmmm... I wonder if it is one of those "Southern" things? There are probably a jillion versions. The basic is: 1 box Jiffy Corn Muffin Mix 1 egg 1/4 c milk 1 can creamed corn 1 smaller can corn kernels, drained Then the variations start with what else you add: jalapenos sauteed onion cheese pimentos Whatever floats your boat. Don't over mix. Pam or grease a square baking dish. Bake at 350 for about 45 minutes (I think) or until it is firm in the middle when you poke it. Let cool a little before cutting in squares to serve. I saw a tip from a chef here a long time ago about the cheese. I was always frustrated with the cheese in this. I would use grated cheese and some of the flavor was there but I wanted to find the cheese. It always got lost. Then this kindly person suggested cutting the cheese into little cubes and let them dry out a bit so that it forms a skin. Then mix them in. Brilliant.

NO!

I have a braising method that does "melt in your mouth". Since RecipeGullet is temporarily off-line, I will introduce you to Crab Boil Corned Beef. You take a corned beef, I usually get a small flat for this, 3 pounds or so, and soak it in changes of cold water for a couple of hours. Then I mix a bag of whole crab boil spices (Zatarains if you can get it) with some added whole cloves and allspice and a 1/4 cup or so of brown sugar. Put that in a plastic bag with the beef and pound it into the surface. Into a Le Creuset with the lid on at 250 to 275 for about 3 or 4 hours. Knock off most of the seeds and stuff and slice.

Picking myself up off the floor after a total incapacitation event. I may have to call 911. I will need some time to recover to read the rest of this thread and see if I can contribute.

Yeah... That fits.

I do have to say that my pregnancies were a vastly humbling experience. I was a young mid-20s scientist. I had heard all of the tales of weird cravings and aversions. I thought they were all poppycock with no discernable basis in fact. Just a ploy for attention... blah, blah, blah. Sure, I understood about the first trimester morning sickness. That had basis in hormonal fact. So... what was wrong with me? I didn't have morning sickness and I was struck with weird reactions to food. I finally gave it up and surrendered to the mysterious and wonderous process and accepted it for that. I found the whole experience pretty fascinating. Working around the food vagaries was sometimes a challenge as I was very particular about trying to balance nutrition against my weird habits. I was always able to compensate somehow so it must be doable. I was able to accommodate my cravings and aversions while still staying "balanced", more or less. My doctor was of the opinion that you should just roll with it and do the best you can. I didn't have any serious dietary or health problems so he really wasn't worried. When I did get into one of these weird cycles, I kept a diary of sorts and reported it to him so he would know what was going on. It always gave him a good laugh.

Richard... Richard... Richard... You were supposed to tell me that it absolutely would not work in the larger pot and that I would have to go get another toy. I saw a 3 or 4 quart in the grocery the other day. It sure was cute.