mrbigjas

i have another question if you don't mind. i have always wondered about dried shrimp. how do you know which are good? also how do you know which size to buy? i've bought the little tiny ones before, but i've seen them in all kinds of sizes.

i made this dish tonight. stephenc, actually the hairy melon reminded me a lot of zucchini. i might have overcooked it a little--it got a little mushy. but it was delicious.

i suspect it's actually more the other way around--that everything else would take on the smoky flavor. either way i've noticed that och's, martin's, dutch country meats, and haltemann's all put the smoked products in one refrigerator and the fresh meat in a different one.

lamando, welcome to the forum! i hope you'll post often. we really enjoyed the meal we had there last week, although i wished i'd had some wine with me.

if we bought an ingredient and want to know what it is, or how good it is, or something, do you mind if we post a pic in this thread? i scoured the store for a shaoxing that didn't have added salt in it, and only found one... in addition i have a ceramic bottle of rice wine that a friend brought me from china. i'd love to know more about them, and also about the fermented tofu i bought. edit: did i forget to say thank you? i meant to...

i think that thing looks great. but then again i don't have a real frame of reference.

well, with all that bacon we went through in october, you can see why it's been a while, but my research continues: i picked up 1/2 pound of bacon from dutch country meats yesterday, and cooked up a couple of slices this morning. and it's damn good. it's slightly meatier and less aggressively salty than haltemann's. good stuff. a little pricier than the others at $4.89 a pound (if i remember right). one note: i don't know if they are curing it with a brine or what, but it shrank more significantly than the other bacons i mentioned.

lord have mercy. i've long suspected that i might need to relocate to chicago for culinary purposes, and this might be what tips the scales. ok sorry for the digression everyone. back to our regularly scheduled crazy chef vs. the first amendment debate.

i'm not a big cake purchaser and don't spend much time in bakeries, so my memory may be faulty but this is kind of ringing a bell--wasn't rindelaub's noted for it?

if you're going to vacuum seal a liquid, just freeze it first in your 1 and 2 cup portions, and then vacuum seal the the frozen blocks.

whoa whoa whoa, what? tell me more.

i'm convinced there's something about that burned flavor that people like. i mean, above and beyond starbucks' marketing prevalence. a lot of people i know, even when they have access to coffee that i consider better--and admit that it's better and more interesting and flavorful and whatnot--still go to starbucks, and say they just like that flavor.

interesting article, but it doesn't change the fact that their coffee still tastes like it's burnt to a crisp.

do you mean 12:30AM? like, you have a nice late-night thing going on? that's awesome.

don't forget nick charles' desire for 'a drop of something to cut the phlegm' every morning instead of breakfast... of course in his case he was talking about rye, and it probably wasn't a good thing. (edited to get the quote right)

have you tried these? i considered buying one last week but when i picked it up it had a super floral almost papaya-ish smell to it, and sometimes papaya smells like cat pee to me, so i put it back down. what do you do with those spearling? i saw them last week and was intrigued--any idea? just flour and fry, like smelt but snackier? do they need cleaning or do you just eat them as is?

wow, thanks bob. are the ones in the front case the choice ones? or just the less-aged prime? and are the more-aged ones the ones in the case on the side? that's good stuff. got that right--i do love that place. that reminds me that i was going to order a hanger steak from them this week...

i've never heard of a weber. most places i know of would describe #3 as a cheesesteak hoagie.

i've noticed the marbling issues as well in the last year-plus, especially in the strip steaks we usually buy, which we've mostly stopped buying because they're nearly fat-free in the main steaky kind of area. and i've wondered about it as well, but thought that i must be imagining things. but i didn't know that about the antibiotics/hormones. in fact, i thought that i read an article when the fair food people first came in and were advertising their meat as all-natural grass-fed etc. etc., the ochs folks were annoyed because their stuff is too, and they thought fair food's advertising made them seem less eco-friendly than they actually are. am i crazy? does anyone else remember that? edit: found it, and here's google's cache of it. it wasn't as explicitly stated as i had thought.

we had a nice dinner at mandoline tonight--which was empty by the time we left at 930, btw. people should go; it's a really pleasant place. specials were a malpeque oyster app with champagne mignonette, which included cucumbers besides the usual shallots and was excellent. for about $10. i reckon i was expecting a half dozen or so, but i decided to go for it anyway, and then out came a full dozen. surprising, but very nice! i've rarely seen a dozen oysters i couldn't down, so there they went. dinner was a pheasant breast, grilled, with wild mushrooms, a creamed spinach custard, grapes and roasted baby carrots. this was a great dish and i ate every bite, even though i was kind of full at that point. i'm gonna rip off that creamed spinach custard for myself, and soon--it rocked. the mrs had the roast chicken, which was also damn good--perhaps missing some of the crisp skin that i hope for from a roast chicken, but juicy and flavorful, and served on a bed of mashed taters, with a sherry (?) reduction and lemon zest.... great stuff, and only about $17.50 or so. all in all a really pleasant night, even in an empty restaurant. we were debating going there or amada, and as we were looking at the menu two women walked by and said WE JUST HAD DINNER THERE! GO! IT WAS GREAT! THE ROAST CHICKEN MY GOD! and now i'm glad we did, even though we were wine-less.

i don't know if it's this guy or another lancaster county farmer, but PA-grown saffron is available in the reading terminal market in the late summer from livengoods produce. i noticed it this summer and didn't buy any, but i may next year...

yeah i'm just kinda making up spellings there. sorry. i didn't say lingua, did i? i'm kinda confused. i asked lisa to see if they could get portuguese chouriço (spelling it right?) but i haven't checked back to see if they have. well, i probably described it wrong... how can i say--the texture is different. it IS bigger and chunkier in the casing, and not totally homogenous. the pieces aren't identifiable per se, but it's... different. it tastes frickin great though. they also carry lomo, the spanish cured pork loin, salchichon de vic, which is kinda like spanish salami, and morcillas. their charcuterie area rocks, really. i'm always finding coolio cured meats there that i hadn't noticed before.

we totally instructed someone (was it you, behemoth?) on the intricacies of creating an ersatz roast pork sandwich at home sometime last year, didn't we?

where else but dibrunos on chestnut. i was there and bought some this weekend. they had palacios brand for $7 or $8 for 9 oz, available hot or breakfast style (thinner, maybe spiced differently? i don't know, it just said breakfast). they also have a handmade one for like $18 a pound that rocks--it's much thicker (like 2" compared to 1" or so), and full of big chunks of seasoned pork. if you read chrisamirault's blog, it looks like the chourice he got for making caldo verde, and i've used it for that.

spanish or mexican?