Margaret Pilgrim

Nice sized trout! Husband turns his nose up at the 9-10 inchers available here, having grown up on, say, 7 inchers directly from the river, which he now muses were probably undersize.

Can you give us more info/direction on the fry bread? WANT!

A problem is that pizza is defined differently by its myriad devotees. Sure, there are iconic pizzas, pizza makers and gurus who set standards, but our individual goal, I would think or hope, is to reliably create the style of pizza that our individual households demand. Or better put, that the individuals in our households demand.

Thanks for this. My question/confusion was that I'm not sure I've ever had a pie of that configuration, paper-thin in the center, puffy edges.

Had you wanted to, would this dough have been amenable to being rolled out thinner?

Think not only of stuffed pastas but also the super fun and and interesting hand formed ones like strozzapreti and plci. More like playing with Pla-Doh than cooking. Pasta Grannies is a great source of inspiration.

Well, then there was the time in the country when I was bringing a huge stainless bowl of hot buttered popcorn from kitchen to main room. forgot I had put up the "kiddie gate" in the entrance I used to keep the cat from underfoot, crashed through the gate, knocking it aside, threw bowl and a gallon of popped corn into and across room....plied the cat off the ceiling where it felt it was safe... Murphy's law.

Ugly duckling plate = Sardinian braised lamb neck with fregola, dilled zucchini. Apologize for the unattractive plate, but it ate well.

A lifelong anchovy avoider, I have only recently learned that the pricey Italian and Spanish jarred anchovy are quite approachable and a wonderful ingredient in many dishes.

This is startling to me. What are the elements that offend you? It reads like stuff I could eat every day: rice, beans, pork, fruit.

It's interesting that the simplest dishes often receive the most examination. Perhaps because it is precisely their simplicity that encourages variation and hence push-back on straying from the classic.

Have to admit I've not read this thread beyond getting the gist. Not hard rock miners but back in our youth we spent most of our weekends out of the city, panning and dredging on the Yuba River. Our mining partners were serious about gold but not food. I mean, food was dreadful. The other couple were senior in this endeavor and had established a template. Breakfast, either at a village diner or on the river was bacon and eggs. Lunch was a can of Vienna sausage with Heinz chili sauce. Seems scant but I can't remember anything else. Maybe bread. Tad time was eagerly contemplated, maybe a slice of salami. Dinner was either steak barbequed on the river, salad. Or on a splurge day, dinner in the village restaurant, martinis, steak, baked potato, salad. Early bedtime in camp and tomorrow the same. I used to chide them that if the four of us escapees from the business world only took on weekend jobs we'd be way ahead of the cost of equipment for this folly. But then I didn't have their gold fever.

Interesting how flavors are perceived from sweet to savory. I adore springerle and even enjoyed fennel-confit eggplant as a dessert at an outre bistrot, love braised fennel, basil, tarragon and chervil. It is star anise in Asian dishes I don't handle. I made recognizable springerle several years ago from an internet recipe. Rather fun to make and quite delicious fresh.

Good points, but these tykes are under 5. Totally innate.

I have one grandchild who will kill for chicken liver pate (Julia Child recipe); she avoids all vegetables. Her brother will eat broccoli three times a day, literally. Asked what he wanted for sleepover breakfast, asked "do you have any more broccoli?". A third is a carnivore. Just pass more lamb chops. None of these taste match either of their parents nor ours.

I feel like I'm suffering from anomie. I eat just about everything, and can't remember family plate being forced down me. Away from home, I continued an adventurous palate but to this day can't handle smoked salmon, in fact cooked salmon in any form; raw is delicious as sushi or ceviche, but cooking especially grilling that draws out oils...so indeed any oily fish regardless of how healthful they are (mackerel, black cod et al). Iodiny shellfish. Can't abide star anise. I am a really cheap date. Love most of the wonderful "peasant" foods mentioned above. Last night we had a wonderful pot of choucroute...saurkraut braised with duck fat, onions, peppercorns, juniper berries, white wine, chicken broth. Ethereal with a couple of Polish sausage and chunk of guanciale. But we all have different taste.

Sounds interesting. We love condrieu with cheese, and are on the prowl for other viogniers "less cher". How do you think this would work? How did you drink it, with food or sipping?

For me, a kitchen should be a place fro experimentation but. not look like a lab, be conducive to work but not feel like a workplace. I need a place to spread out a couple of cookbooks and sit down with a cup of coffee or glass of wine, to develop menus as well as shopping lists. My central work table is as perfect height and material for kneading bread, rolling out pasta as for breakfasting. My kitchen must be a place of life and love besides a place to cook.

I think the most important thing to consider when planning a kitchen is how one cooks. Scale, frequency, preferred or frequent processes, tolerance for cleaning or amount of hired help. I cook essentially 24/7 but have a very simple kitchen that both works for me and, from their comments, also for visiting semi-pro cooks. Basics laid out for work flow and ease of preparation. Hefty but not fancy appliances.

Rats...I thought it was yours. Next time...

Chef David Kinch swears by mustard from Orleans from Martin Pouret.

What happens to the acres of mustard we see in fields and among crops in mid France?

Opening, seasoning and rolling butcher cuts is a brilliant move. Lovely.

They are way post Simpsons, and we have nothing collectible “mint in box’. You got that one right, Sherlock!

You don’t have grandkids. These have all been acquired “by special request” within the past 5 years, and better hire a goid defense lawyer should you get rid of or break one.