mrbigjas

I hope they stay open with the stores being together. It's right on my way home, so convenient for when I have pocky cravings.

Really? That would be excellent. I had heard, and now I can't remember where, that it was basically a western outpost of El Rey Sol, the place down at 6th & South. I love their beef stew tacos, but it's not mexican-mexican like Veracruzana or La Lupe--they use flour tortillas for most things; they usually use monterey jack on everything instead of queso fresco, etc. mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm tacos

OK I go into both of these places relatively often, but since I'm not... uh, not a real social type, I haven't gone up to the folks at the register and asked the obvious question: With these two merged, is the fish quality going to be as good? IOW, is this going to be the best of Fish & Coffee and the best of Midori Mart? I hope so. Basically, anyone have any idea what's going on with the combination of the two?

Got that right. Just threw me for a second, is all. I heard "season, and put in the pan" which I did... in a manner of speaking. haha Either way, it's all done now and was tasty as hell.

I did the thing tonight with the iron pan in the oven at 450. I had a small bird--at $2.49 a pound it was under $8, so I'm thinking like 3+ pounds? After half an hour it wasn't done, and i'm thinking about why as it finishes cooking here. 1. My oven may suck more than I thought; I really should get a thermometer and test it. 2. I crammed most of a cut-up lemon in the cavity (along with some star anise) and it was a small bird, so that may have acted kinda like stuffing and prevented it from cooking quickly. 3. I put a hoisin/vinegar/garlic/ginger/scallion glazey type thing on it, which mighta burned a little. Either way, I'm not a convert. I think I make a mean roast chicken the regular way, at around 400 with occasional basting. Or at least, I like it. And I know what I'm doing. This thing threw me off when it wasn't done. Dammit.

Also if the bartender gets overenthusiastic or showoffy and shakes the drink too hard, there can be little chips of ice in it. I hate that.

Now that's some funny shit right there.

Oh MAN.

Well, looking more closely at it, it was really in two pieces. I took off the smaller one and ground it for burgers. The larger piece I ... uh... not butterflied, but kind of cut along it to make a long flat piece, which I then flattened a little. Made a stuffing of day-old bread and shallots and garlic and savory, with some stock. Stuffed it and tied it up like Dave said. Roasted it till it was done (FYI, if you're taking the interior temp of somehting with one of those cheap instant-read dial thermometers, don't space taking it out of the meat before you put it back in the oven, or the plastic face will melt). Made a flour gravy of the pan drippings, shallots, some sherry and more chicken stock. And because I bought a shitload of garlic today for a dollar, I roasted up a few heads of that, and used it to make roasted garlic mashed potatoes, because I am a born and bred yankee and stuffing alone just ain't enough starch for us up in this part of the country. Thanks for yer tips...

In Chicago there's this yuppie sandwich place called Kitsch'n on Roscoe where they do a tuna melt where they basically melt the cheese till it's brown, like a cheese wafer sort of. I guess they do it on the grill or in a pan. The tuna salad comes out pretty warm, the cheese (asiago, maybe? I can't remember) has that great browned cheese flavor--it's one of the best tuna melts I've had. Washed down with a chipotle-spiked bloody mary, it was an excellent brunch before a Cubs game when we visited last summer.

OK folks, for some reason on a whim a couple of months ago, I bought a skinless boneless turkey thigh, which is now defrosting in my fridge. I'm trying to figure out what to do with it. Since it doesn't have skin or bones or a bunch of extra fat, I'm worried about it getting dry if I roast it. But it's like 2.5 pounds or something, so it's a lot of meat (there are only two of us who live here, and neither of us is a big eater). I'm thinking maybe browning and then braising it into some kinda turkey stew? I really wonder why I bought this thing.

Wait, by "treasured" do you mean "one that I am unwilling to share?" Because that sounds damn good.

I had a pretty great burger at Ten Stone a couple months ago. Really probably the best burgers I've had in town were at the aforementioned Roosevelt's, about 12 years ago when they first introduced the "recession special" as they called it then. My memory may be a little rose-colored from the fact that it was a nice 1/2 pound burger for $2.50 or something, at a place where the menu was a little too expensive for a starving college student, usually. But it seems to me that the burgers themselves were really excellent. From the accounts above, I guess they're not so good now. Too bad.

There was a guy named Pat here in Philadelphia at a place called the Odeon, which was down on 12th St. It was where I learned how to drink martinis, and drank quite a few. He was an artist--he eventually quit bartending to do art for a living, but damn he made a great martini. I've had hundreds since then, but none have lived up to his. (And yes, I realize it's mainly sentiment that makes me feel this way, but indulge me for a second here, because he really did make a great drink)

Thanks, Suvir. I just might do that. The only reason I wouldn't is because I don't really feel like I was having "problems" per se--I just was expecting something different than what they meant. When they said nonstick, I was imagining something like teflon, where you can crack an egg in the pan dry, and it'll slide right out. Their surface was more like circulon or anolon--more nonstick than stainless steel (I was exaggerating above a little), but not completely slippery like I imagined it would be. But you may be right about it being the original technology, since it did come with a page of instructions about 'seasoning' it, which I dutifully did a few times. And it mentioned that it would darken with use, which it has done. I mean, I'm not really unhappy with it--I was just a little surprised when my omelette stuck in it, at first.

I've had a small scanpan omelette pan for a couple of years now, and I have yet to understand their "nonstick" claim. Now, nonreactive I can see--it sure seems to be an inert cooking surface. And it's certainly nice and heavy and I don't mind cooking with it, for certain uses. But it's no more nonstick than stainless steel, in my experience. And it never has been. I don't get it. I mean, the alloy and the process are interesting and even useful, but I don't understand why they categorize it as nonstick.

We can reconcile these issues with a little treat called Watergate Salad. recipe here.

Cool, thanks.

I'm making stocks today. Chicken, and lobster. OK when you make fish stock, if you cook it too long it can develop a weird taste. I've read a bunch of recipes, and most of them say to cook it for about half an hour or 40 minutes. Which is what I've done in the past. But the lobster stock recipes I've read say to cook it for a couple hours, like chicken stock. Which is fine, and that's what I've done. But here's my question: is there any reason I can't strain and reduce it, for storage? Will it get funky if I do?

Well, I made a lobster salad. Homemade mayonnaise, a couple scallions, a little lemon juice, a little parsley. Very little to mess with the lobster. buttered toasted baguette. lettuce. avocado slices on the side. mmmmmmmm How long can I keep the shells in the freezer before I make stock? I was going to do it this weekend--I rinsed them OK, they can hang for a little while, right? P.S. Edited to say thanks for all your suggestions. Next time I have lobster I'm gonna try that quiche, I think.

You sure do got a point there. I just did a web search for lobster salad recipes--you're right, the ones with avocado look good. Luckily I know a market on my way home from work that actually has ripe avocados on a daily basis...b

I just may do that. I do have issues with cold dinners, though, for some reason--like, I need to cook something. I've been out of town for the last four weekends, and a homecooked meal is my goal; I mean, homecooked by me. So anyways, are you saying that I can't reheat it?

OK so we had three cooked chicks left over from lunch in new hampshire today. We threw them on ice and brought them home here to Philadelphia. I shelled them, keeping the shells and bodies for stockmaking tomorrow evening (they're in the freezer now). But the meat is waiting for me to do something with it tomorrow for dinner. Thoughts? How to heat it up without making it totally chewy? Is that even possible? What to do with cooked lobster meat?

Do you guys no longer have the prix fixe lunch menu? I always thought that was a damn good deal--what was it, like $35 for three courses or something? I did that a few times, while I've only had dinner at SB once.

Thanks Rich.