Pan

I don't remember seeing hotpot at any of the Sichuan-style restaurants I've been to. Do they in fact have it at Grand Sichuan? I'm trying to remember if they have any dishes in casseroles. What is Sichuan-style hotpot like, anyway?

Also, aside from differences between individual northern Indian states on the one hand and individual southern Indian states on the other, the differences between northern and southern styles as a whole (to the quite limited extent it may make sense to generalize about "northern" and "southern" cuisine to begin with) are vast, and probably as great as differences between northern and southern European cuisines. India is a huge and extremely varied country and subcontinent.

Of course, no-one has been proven guilty and we don't know where the investigation and perhaps eventual trial will go, but my first thought was "No good deed goes unpunished."

Sure. I'm already a regular by now.

So then you were also disappointed when Teresa's renovated, I guess... Sorry, I don't miss dirty and shabby.

I really enjoyed your blog, Lisa. Thanks for taking the time out to share all of that with us.

One of the most memorable meals I ever had was up a flight of dusty, rickety stairs in a very spartan restaurant that served Kashmiri wedding banquet food but did so a whole lot more cheaply than the sort of "fusiony" tourist place sold their rather insipid food. The atmosphere was provided mostly by the fantastically flavorful food and the view of the main square of Srinagar and the people walking in it.

I visited Nashville once (to try out for their Symphony), and one of the food-related things I remember doing during my visit was checking out the Farmers' Market in that park with the modern sculptures and stuff near the Statehouse. I remember buying sorghum syrup there (I think the farm it came from was in Owensboro, Kentucky) and finding it very pleasantly fragrant though not as great as maple syrup (but maple sugar is my favorite variety of sugar). Do you use sorghum much? It might be a cheaper and palatable alternative to maple syrup as long as maple syrup is an excessive luxury for you.

TJ, if you hate durian, try rambutan, but for best results, have both in season on the _East Coast_ of the Peninsula.

A.D., it was great to vicariously experience your dinner at Per Se, as I have a very strong feeling that I'll probably never experience it in person.

Thanks for the explanation, Anil.

Light and clean aren't the only considerations! But they're better than dark, dirty, and shabby!

That's really horrendous. I hope they find the killer.

You're not going to have room for dinner now. Sounds like a lot of fun, and it was smart to go to Congee Village for lunch on a weekend since, as you know, it's impossible to get in there for dinner on a weekend without reservations.

Mr. Rogov, it's nice to see you on the site. I read Ha'aretz's English-language version online just about every day - mainly to check the latest events in Israel and the rest of the Middle East, but I do also look at your work from time to time and have even posted a link or two in the Africa and Middle East Forum. Welcome!

Chef Gateau, you are a great teacher. Thank you for sparing some of your time to teach us about gastronomy and history.

I don't remember that story, but I'm glad you liked the one I told. I translated that story into Italian when I was in Italy, and the Italians loved it. They said "That should be an Italian story!" My Chinese and Korean friends have also found it amusing.

But just to extend the tangent slightly further, some of the folk music Bartok recorded was relatively old and some was relatively new in style. I'm guessing that in both "folk" and "classical" cuisine, there are old and new elements. Seems like a pretty safe guess, as Adria is himself doing among other things, radical new variations on old themes. (Full disclosure: I get this from reading, having never been to El Bulli or, indeed, any similar restaurant.)

For the disciplines of a culinary Mozart to be effective, there must be an audience which appreciates them as well. Those who listened to Mozart included large numbers who could themselves play his music, if not well, and the music of his contemporaries. (Bear in find that until the early 19th century, when Mendelssohn revived J.S. Bach, "contemporary" music was the only kind there was.) You're right that there was very little secular music from more than a generation previous that was performed, though I believe Handel's oratorios (especially The Messiah) have had unbroken popularity since their first performances. However, I understand that Gregorian chant was used in Roman Catholic churches from before the time it was written down (as the "Gregorian" chants were really Frankish chants and weren't written down until Charlemagne so ordered) until the early 19th century. Then, after a few decades of disuse, the performance of chant was revived by the monks at Solemnes, though it's likely that their performance practice was somewhat of a reinterpretation and probably different in some substantial ways from the earlier continuous practice. Is there an analogy to church chant in cooking? I'll bet there is, but I'm guessing it isn't being presented often at luxury places by famous chefs. I'm guesing that local traditions include some modern versions of very old dishes that have been transmitted in an unbroken line from generation to generation like the church chants were. I'm also guessing that there are indeed some famous chefs who do upscale interpretations of such dishes at luxury places. Analogies between highly different art forms are usually problematic, but by all means, have at it.

Alright, I did a search of any food humor, jokes, or stories on the General board, then tried Chowhound and quickly gave up searching for any of my old posts there. So here goes: A story from the "Old Country" about two merchants and a fierce king There once was an island where a very fierce king ruled. He demanded that all outsiders who arrived in his realm give him a gift, but since he was never satisfied with their gifts, he had each visitor put to death. Therefore, the island was completely isolated and merchants did all they could to avoid it. But one day, a merchant ship carrying a cargo of onions was blown off course (these being the clipper ship days) and dashed against the island's coast and wrecked. The merchant survived the crash and was met by an emissary from the king. "What great gift have you brought our great king," he asked. "Well, Sir, I do indeed have a great gift for your king," the merchant replied. "But I would humbly ask you to agree to two conditions: I would like to have six months to teach the royal chefs how to use this gift, and during that time, I request that my ship be repaired for my journey home." These conditions being agreed to, the merchant set about teaching the royal chefs how to make all sorts of dishes with onions. This island was so isolated that it had never seen onions before, and the new dishes were met with much curiosity. At the end of the six months, the ship had been repaired to better-than-new condition, and the king told the merchant: "You have truly given me and my kingdom a wonderful gift, one which has given and will give me and my subjects boundless joy. Therefore, I am giving you a gift of equal value in exchange. This box will be delivered by my messenger onto your ship. You shall open it upon your safe arrival in your native land and remember the king who has dealt justly with you." The merchant swore to open the box only upon his return home. Fortunately, the return voyage was uneventful. Upon arrival, the merchant opened the box. To his amazement, it contained the crown jewels of the island kingdom: Sapphires, rubies, diamonds, emeralds, all of the finest quality. The merchant retired, had a mansion built in his native village, and lived out the rest of his years in luxury. Upon hearing this news of the merchant who had made his fortune from onions, another merchant scoffed, saying "Why, those islanders have no garlic either! Garlic is a much greater foodstuff than onions! Can you imagine what they'll give me in exchange for garlic? Why, the Tsar will envy me!" This merchant resolved to set out the next day for the island, and did, with a ship packed to the gills with the finest garlic. Having arrived safely, merchant #2 was welcomed at the royal palace and commanded to spend the next six months instructing the royal chefs on the use of his exotic foodstuff. Well, after the six months were over, the king and all of his retinue were overjoyed! Therefore, the king told the merchant: "We are truly blessed that you chose to come to our kingdom and bestow upon us this most wondrous of foodstuffs, which magically makes all our savory foods tastier. For what you've done for us, we love you and you are welcome here any time. Now, please take this box that has been prepared for you by my servants. It contains the only thing in this kingdom that is equal in value to the foodstuff you have given us. Take it home, and when you have arrived safely, open it and remember the king who has dealt justly with you." The merchant swore not to open the box before he had reached his native shores, but almost couldn't contain his curiosity. Nevertheless, he did manage to wait until he had dropped anchor in his home port. Then, he opened the box and found that it contained - the very finest onions.

But I like Harold in Italy...

Ok, so I guess it isn't the one about taking the fuck out of onions.... No, nothing obscene or off-color in the story. Hmmm....I'm wondering if I ever posted it before, a couple of years ago or something....But what thread would it be in? Some thread about stories or jokes about food...

That makes a lot of sense, Dave.

I'm going to issue a challenge for some states I can't find a characteristic ingredient from: New Hampshire (OK, some maple syrup, but Vermont has them beat there) Rhode Island Connecticut Pennsylvania (and pizza and scrapple are not ingredients ) Ohio Indiana (corn?) Kentucky (sorghum?) South Carolina Alabama (perhaps shrimps?) Mississippi (catfish?) Missouri The Dakotas (wheat?) Montana Utah (salt? ) New Mexico (chilis?) Arizona (watermelons? I remember a Korean grocer telling me the yellow watermelons he was selling were from "Arijona." ) Oregon (apples, perhaps, and some wine) Alaska (moose? berries? What's most characteristic?) Actually, New York is hard, too. I'd say apples from the Hudson Valley, though Washington must produce more apples, and there's also New York wine, though of course California produces more wine.

A few thousand in Bombay but almost none left in Cochin. But back to food.