GG Mora

So, formal rules of etiquette dictate that in America, the correct way to eat asparagus is with knife and fork; in Europe it is correct to eat it with your fingers. What's so incorrect about eating asparagus in America with your fingers? I elicit looks of abject horror when I eat my asperges with my fingers, be it at home or in any restaurant -- low-brow or high-end. Last night I roasted a few bunches on the grill and trained my step-kids that they could use their fingers. My husband, an otherwise reasonable and reasonably well-informed guy, told them that it was okay in our home only, and that if he caught them "pulling a stunt like that" anywhere else he'd kill them (he's given to hyperbole). Is it really so mortifying? I'm curious how others weigh in on the matter, and whether or not you'd scowl at me were I to finger my asparagus in your presence.

"A pint's a pound, the world around" simply means that they're both 16 ounces -- the former fluid ounces, the latter, umm...well, whatever ounces of weight might be called.

I'm going to go back on my word here. Since I did 3 ducks, I only know that 3 ducks render enough fat to make 6 confit legs/thighs. I can't rightfully infer that one duck makes enough fat for 2 portions.

I've used the Whole Duck approach and found that each duck provides just the right amount of fat to make 2 confit thighs/legs. Amazing, no? I did 3 ducks at one time. For each duck, I first removed the breasts and removed the fat from the breasts, leaving a small patch behind -- say 1 1/2 x 3". These I froze for later use as...sautéed duck breast. Then I removed the 2 leg/thigh pieces from which I trimmed the extraneous fat. Then I proceeded to trim whatever remaining fat I could from the carcasses. All the fat I placed in a large skillet, which I tucked into the oven at 300°F for a few hours to render. I later roasted the carcasses with some vegetables and used them to make stock, from which I made a duck "demi-glace" to sauce those sautéed duck breasts. I used the leg/thigh pieces and the fat to make confit. Now I have a really sick confession to make. I did this nearly 4 years ago, and the confit is still packed in its fat in a large rubber-ring sealed Luminarc jar in my fridge. And I don't know whether it's still good. Several French pals have smirkingly suggested that it's just starting to get good. It hasn't grown anything, and if I open the seal, the jar neither sucks air in nor blows it out, and it doesn't have any wierd smell. I suppose I just have to dig out a leg and go for it.

Glenn Gould 1 6-lb. rib roast 6 1-lb. glib boasts 6 1-oz. giblet toasts, de-dum 6 glib farewell toasts 1 toasted gibe at the far wall 6 wall-mounted gibbers Mounting wall-faced glibness Glibly walling the mountenance, walling 1 6-mile walled mountain face 6 1-mile mountainous facts Factual mountain miles, hmm-de-hum 1 6-facted mile of mountain walls 1 mountain of factual walls, de-de-hum-hmmmm-hum 6-faced wall of roasted mountain 1 roasted whale of a factual inaccuracy Roasted roasted roasted facts 6 inaccurate whale ribs Ribly innocuous walloon 1 6-ribbed patroon roast Innocuous ribbing of factual inadequacy 1 6-lb. rib, mostly accurate Mostly inadequate patroon Mountainously inaccurate walloon ribaldry, de-de-de-hum-de-hum 6 ribald patroon ribs, roasted Roasted 6 roast inaccurate inaccurate Whaleful doleful patroonly 6-rib 1 6-lb. patroon, woefully mountainous, hum Patroon with woeful mountain whales Hum-de-de-hum-hmmmm 6-lbs. 1-and-6-and-1-and-6-and-roasty ribly ribald Glibly roasted 6-to-1-de-ribber, hmmmmmm 1 6-lb. rib roast

Oh, yeah. Caffeine overload. When you can't decide whether to scream, puke, or just sit quietly while your brain short-circuits.

EchinoPs. Insanely easy to grow, if you're into that kind of thing. Now I'm having flower envy.

Squeat -- I'm really enjoying this. Except when you go on about toasted ciabatta with marmalade. I'm trying so hard to eschew carbs, but REALLY, now. Thank God my kitchen is two flights up, or I'd be tapping my fingers by the toaster right this minute (having rooted through the condiment shelves for some ideal jam or another). You may have explained this before, but as a relative newcomer I'd have missed it...whence the handle "Squeat Mungry"? Sounds like a Dickens character. (I'm going to feel like such an ass if you tell me that it is...) As to somehow getting your recording on line....wouldn't a weekly Squeat Report be a monster feature for eG?

While we're at it, next time you order a bottle of Gigondas, be sure and pronounce the final "s". Ditto Vacqueyras. This is how they're pronounced in their place of origin. (Though in Carpentras, just 15 km to the south, they eschew their final "s". Gotta love the French). I'm sick of having snotty waitstaff "correct" my pronunciation. I have a friend who's a chef at a hotel in DC; for the life of him, he can't get his waitstaff to pronounce "osso bucco" correctly. Thus, the staff are out on the floor selling "OSS-ko BOOSS-ko".

Creme fraiche and candied walnuts.

When I bother to use a recipe, it often comes from Patricia Wells' "Bistro Cooking". JoC is always handy for double checking cooking times. And Anne Willan's "La Varenne Pratique" is invaluable for training. There are those who say you can't learn to cook from a book. I beg to differ, as long as the book is "La Varenne Pratique".

Makes better filler for meatloaf than bread crumbs or rice.

That's really good. Boiling the cans is just no fun. What about running them through the dishwasher? Is it hot enough to get them sterile? Good question. I did some research online, and the only specifics I can find re: pre-sterilization of empty jars indicates that they should be boiled in water for 10 minutes if at sea level with an additional minute for each 1,000 ft. gain in altitude. That'd be 10 minutes at 212° plus, well, whatever. Math isn't my strong suit. Most residential dishwashers heat the water to 180°. The instructions I found suggested that the jars could be washed in the dishwasher before sterilizing, but said nothing about using the dishwasher for actual sterilization. My rule of thumb when dealing with potential bacterial contamination is to err on the safe side.

Coconut Cookies II These are good enough as dessert all by themselves, but really good with caramel ice cream. 4 c AP flour (200g) 2-1/3 c unsweetened shredded coconut (200g) 1/2 tsp salt 1-1/2 c sugar (300g) 1-1/2 c unsalted butter (3 sticks or @ 340g) softened 1 whole vanilla bean 4 large egg yolks grated peel of 1 lemon Preheat oven to 350˚F. Measure flour, coconut and salt into a medium bowl and blend well with a large whisk. Beat together butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Slice vanilla bean lengthwise and scrape out seeds with a sharp knife. Add to butter/sugar mixture along with egg yolks and grated lemon peel and beat until well blended. With mixer on slow speed, blend in flour/coconut mixture until just fully incorporated. Without chilling first, roll out dough between sheets of parchment or waxed paper to 1/4" thickness, then chill until firm. Peel top layer of paper off dough and cut with a small round (2") cutter. Using a thin spatula, transfer cookies to baking sheets lined with parchment paper. Bake for 10-12 minutes total, rotating sheets front-to-back and top-to-bottom halfway through. Cookies should be lightly browned at the edges. Keywords: Dessert, Easy, Cookie ( RG739 )

Coconut Cookies II These are good enough as dessert all by themselves, but really good with caramel ice cream. 4 c AP flour (200g) 2-1/3 c unsweetened shredded coconut (200g) 1/2 tsp salt 1-1/2 c sugar (300g) 1-1/2 c unsalted butter (3 sticks or @ 340g) softened 1 whole vanilla bean 4 large egg yolks grated peel of 1 lemon Preheat oven to 350˚F. Measure flour, coconut and salt into a medium bowl and blend well with a large whisk. Beat together butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Slice vanilla bean lengthwise and scrape out seeds with a sharp knife. Add to butter/sugar mixture along with egg yolks and grated lemon peel and beat until well blended. With mixer on slow speed, blend in flour/coconut mixture until just fully incorporated. Without chilling first, roll out dough between sheets of parchment or waxed paper to 1/4" thickness, then chill until firm. Peel top layer of paper off dough and cut with a small round (2") cutter. Using a thin spatula, transfer cookies to baking sheets lined with parchment paper. Bake for 10-12 minutes total, rotating sheets front-to-back and top-to-bottom halfway through. Cookies should be lightly browned at the edges. Keywords: Dessert, Easy, Cookie ( RG739 )

I'm guilty of stealing a shopping cart, 25 years ago. And I had accomplices. We were freshman in art school, living in a tenement, no car. School was within easy walking distance. But in our second week we had to do laundry and go grocery shopping and the nearest combo was 5 miles away...by bus. So we loaded up our laundry and hopped the bus. And while our clothes were goin' around, we went next door to Shaw's and did a major grocery shop. Trouble was, when we got all done, there was no way three of us could wrassle all that back onto the bus. So we loaded our laundry into the cart with the groceries and went 4-wheelin' back home. The most direct route took us through the city park and across a bunch of fields. We conceived our first short film, crossing the fields with our cart like a covered wagon and...oh, never mind. But we kept the cart. Anyone who went to art school without a car knows that there's way too much paraphernalia to schlep around on foot, so the cart came in handy. We used it for two years until we sucked in a roomate with a 62 Volvo sedan. And he could cook, too.

Actually, if it worked the same way fenceless dog gating systems work, when the cart was taken beyond an electronic border, the user would get a smart little electric shock. I kind of like that idea.

A dozen cases of jars isn't nearly as much as it sounds. I've already gone through half of them, putting up (as noted earlier in the thread) strawberry conserve, rhubarb jam, mango butter and dulce de leche. I'm a jam-making junkie, and I've gotten my family hooked on the bounty. When I make biscuits for breakfast on weekends, there are no less than 6 jars of goods on the table, everybody passing and sampling. Two summers ago, I made ground cherry (husk tomato) jam. We're down to the last jar and I'm cussing myself out for not growing them again this year. As to references for canning, the book I learned from is "The Giant Handbook of Food Preserving Basics"; once you get the hang of it, all you really need are recipes. For those I turn again and again to "Preserving the Taste" by Eden Waycott and "Sensational Preserves" by Hillaire Walden. Both full of excellent stuff. BTW, the best tip I've come across re: sterilizing the jars is to wash them well and dry them and then put them in the oven for 20 minutes at 250° (I stand them upright on a sheet pan). If you wash and rinse with very hot water, you can let them drip dry while you're doing something else...cuts down on labor.

I'd always used Ball, and still will for the hum-drum, but back in the spring I ordered up a dozen cases of 9-oz. hex jars from Specialty Bottle (specialtybottles.com). Price per jar worked out to $0.69, including silver-toned lid. Makes for really lovely jams and stuff for gifting. Only problem is -- and I would caution anyone buying non-standard canning jars, even some of the Wecks -- the opening is smaller than the mass-produced jars for which most home canning funnels are designed. Thus, my canning funnel doesn't fit & I've had to improvise with a sawed-off conventional funnel. Big PITA. I did, however, shell out for a stainless canning funnel that I came across, and as soon as my local sheet-metal shop reopens after remodeling, I'll take the funnel in to be crimped down to size. I'm totally over the "quilted" jelly jar look.

Not sure where you are, but where I am in Vermont, folks are a little more canning-friendly. And jars are available at every hardware store and most grocery stores. I haven't been canning for long-keeping of vegetables, but so far this year I've put up rhubarb jam, mango butter, strawberry conserve, dulce de leche and sweet chunk pickles. Yet to come: apple butter and hot pepper jelly. The mango butter is just deadly on buttered white toast...even better on brioche or croissants.

"I love the smell of bacon in the morning. It smells like.....breakfast."

Could you mean the Jolley Trolley?

Sounds like everyone has technique covered, so I'll offer this flavor nugget. Saffron mashed potatoes. Let a few crunched-up threads of saffron infuse in the ______ (milk, cream, whatever). Excellent with mild fish dishes and not at all bad with roast chicken.

Tilt. Butternut squash are "winter" squash, thus, long keepers. But don't store them in plastic, as others have pointed out. If they HAVE gone funky on you, it's a perfect opportunity to try butterCUP squash instead. Like candy. Only better.

Good question. It's always a delight to rifle through the freezer on one of those "I just don't have the time" days and find some planned-ahead treasure waving its arms at me from behind the ice cream. Since I usually DO have the time (or more to the point, make the time) to cook, I don't bother caching anything too special, and I'm probably not alone in only stocking the freezer in the colder months. In spring and summer, isn't it too damned easy to toss some animal flesh on the grill and yank some greens from the garden for an instant dinner? But to actually answer the question: I pack away soup, chili, and "asian" chicken broth. Most common soup is a hefty beef/vegetable, next up is "peasant" soup -- a melange of leeks, cabbage, green beans, cannelini beans, potatoes, garlic and ham in a tomato base. Chili, well, we all have our own best recipe, no? And the asian chicken broth can get a simple treatment of tofu cubes, chopped cilantro and lime juice or get all tarted up with coconut milk, curry paste, shrimp, etc. for something a little more substantial.