slkinsey

To be honest, I'm not sure the cold pan method (putting everything into a cold pan all at once and slowly taking it up to a simmer) works all that great for anything other than the simplest sauce. A key part of the technique for the cold pan sauce I usually make is that the extra vegetables (the onion and sometimes a few stalks of celery) are tossed out when the sauce is ready. They're just in there for flavoring. Puttanesca -- one of my favorites, and one I like with tons of evoo -- sort of depends on dissolving the anchovies in hot oil, doesn't it? The nice thing about the tomato/onion/butter cold pan sauce is that it also takes very little time/effort to make -- especially compared to some of the long-simmered Southern Italian sauces. You can chuck a can of San Marzano's into a pan with several tablespoons of butter, a hefty pinch of salt and a halved onion, set the burner on medium-low and come back 30-40 minutes later to a finished sauce. This preparation, more than any other I know, brings out the sweetness of high quality canned tomatoes. Afaik, Pesto alla Genovese contains some butter.

What is your basis for this?

Well, the location may have a lot to do with it. I suspected you might have a Southern perspective when you used the word "gravy," which seems to be used almost exclusively by Italian-Americans of Southern Italian extraction. Naples, of course, is smack in the middle of olive oil country. I have to assume that butter is only rarely used in the traditional cooking of that region. Since Naples is justly proud of its tomatoes and pasta asciutta -- and knowing the usual Italian orgoglio della zona -- it's not surprising that Napoletani/Baresi would insist on the local traditional methods of preparation and eschew butter. FWIW, I have tried making the simple "cold pan sauce" (tomatoes, fat and a halved onion) using both butter and evoo. In fact, I once did parallel batches so I could taste them side by side. They were both good, but entirely different. Most everyone agreed that the butter sauce was better. The butter areas, which also tend to be the fresh pasta areas. Bologna has Burro e Oro, for example. I wouldn't want a tomato and evoo sauce on tagliatelle.

Could be either one. Joe turned me on to the cold pan method, but I've talked about it quite a bit.

Interesting piece. I've had an amazing burger there. I should point out, not that it excuses their sloppiness on the occasion of Bruni's visit, that hamburgers are significantly more difficult to consistently cook to a given level of doneness (other than well done, of course), and especially when they are cooked in a broiler (which IMO is not the best way to cook a burger).

LindyCat, I'll have to run that by my doctor friend (who also happens to be diabetic) -- but it doesn't ring true to me.

It make such an amazing sauce! The recipe is from a Marcella Hazan cookbook. I'm sure it tastes fine and I should have guessed it was a Hazan recipe. However, she doesn't cook real Italian, at least in my opinion. She's more of an American-Italian icon. Marcella Hazan?! Have you read her books? She is anything but an icon of America-Italian food. Her Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking is considered the definitive English language cookbook on Italian cooking. I'm also not sure where you get the idea that butter and tomato in a pasta condiment isn't Italian. There is a very large area of Italy for which butter is the traditional lipid of choice. In fact, I would assert that there are many pasta sauces that cannot be properly made without using butter. I'm asking this with all due respect and out of curiosity: what is your basis for thinking that Hazan's recipes aren't "real Italian?" You've spent a lot of time in Italy cooking? Again, I mean no disrespect in asking this. It's just that I have spent a lot of time in Italy cooking, and her recipes seem plenty Italian to me. In re to the butter/olive oil thing, my perspective on this may have to do with the fact that I have spent a large percentage of my time in there in areas "on the border between butter country and olive oil country."

So... yesterday I had some time on my hands and decided to do a little booze shopping. I've been experimenting with a lot of drinks with triple sec and orange curaçao recently, which can get a little pricey when you use the top shelf brands. As a result I've been on the prowl for some Marie Brizard orange curaçao and triple sec. Most orange curaçao and triple sec from producers like Bols, Hiram Walker, De Kuyper, Leroux, et al. is sugary artificial crap. Marie Brizard products, on the other hand, are very high quality. Marie Brizard's orange curaçao and triple sec are often recommended as lower priced alternatives to Cointreau, etc. -- especially for drinks with enough other things going on that you are unlikely to taste the difference. The first odd part of this story is that I have had a very hard time even finding a place that sells Marie Brizard orange curaçao and triple sec. In fact, I still haven't seen any Marie Brizard orange curaçao for sale. Finally I saw some Marie Brizard triple sec at Warehouse Wines & Spirits. Here's the thing: they were charging 22 dollars for a 750 ml bottle. I noted that they were selling a liter bottle of Cointreau for 30 dollars. Using my amazing mathematical powers, I figured out that a liter of Cointreau would only cost me about 65 cents more than a liter of Marie Brizard triple sec. Now, Marie Brizard triple sec is good... but it ain't that good. When I pointed this out to the salesperson, he offered "well, it's imported..." as an excuse (I didn't bother mentioning that Cointreau is imported too). Needless to say, I bought the Cointreau. Was this an unusually high price for Marie Brizard triple sec? An incredible deal on Cointreau? I was expecting the price difference to be more like it is between Grand Marnier and GranGala (GranGala is less than half the price). Oh... and here's another head scratcher: I have been looking for Charbay Blood Orange vodka. Finally found some at Park Avenue Liquor Shop. They were charging $41 for a 750 ml bottle. No way am I spending $41 on a bottle of vodka. Last night I saw the same bottle at Astor Wines & Spirits for $27, and I didn't get the impression they were selling it as a loss leader. Any other stories of seemingly inexplicable price oddities?

Hey Jim! Glad you like the Falk and Sitram. I slide my heavy copper as well. In fact, it's a necessary part of sauteing. I don't think the scratches on the bottom will make a big difference over the life of the pan with normal home use. Maybe in a restaurant it would wear out the pan in 15 years. Maybe.

http://www.lcbo.ca/lcbo-ear/ProductResults...rs&ITEM_NUMBER= cool products, but really the wrong kind of bitters. The kind of bitters one typically dashes into a cocktail are nonpotable bitters, such as Angostura Bitters, Peychaud's Bitters and the various varieties of Fee Brothers Bitters (not to mention Gary Regan's upcoming Orange Bitters).

I think (and shall attempt to verify) that Staub is a little thicker/heavier as well.

These look awesome. The "soup pots" look a lot more like what I would think of as bean pots, and they also seem to hold a lot more volume for the money.

FWIW: good description of "temperature surfing" technique here.

Broadway Panhandler, according to their ad is selling a 7.5 quart round oven for $140.

Re hominy and grits: They are different forms of the same thing. Hominy is simply dried corn that has been processed by soaking in lye or slaked lime. "Grits" originally meant any coarsely ground grain (wheat, oats, corn, rice, whatever). Technically, regular coarse cornmeal and semolina are both kinds of "grits." Way back folks said "hominy grits" when they were talking about coarsely ground hominy. But there is no escaping the fact that hominy grits is the most common kind, and "grits" has come to largely mean the same as "hominy grits." A similar thing has happened with "polenta" which has some to be understood by most people as a cornmeal-based dish when it can in fact be made with any kind of coarse grain. "Shrimp and hominy" is probably a more accurate description than "shrimp and grits" because one could serve a dish of shrimp and grits made with regular corn (aka polenta) and it would still be "shrimp and grits." "Shrimp and hominy" on the other hand, specifies corn that has been treated with lye or slaked lime.

If you're not too familiar with gin, I wouldn't go too inexpensive if I were you. Gordon's is a very good gin, and a pretty good deal at about $15/liter. But it's not one I'm likely to use in a martini. Tanqueray is more expensive at around $25/liter, but you can use it for everything. It's IMO the most recommended brand if you're starting out and want to experience the classic gin flavor profile.

Broadway Panhandler is having one of their big sales from February 16 to February 27. Great deals especially on Le Creuset, which is discounted up to 65%.

I think it really depends on the style of cooking. The more simple the dish and the technique, the more the quality of the ingredients plays a big part. For example, one of my standard tomato sauce recipes: 1 large can peeled tomatoes, 4 tablespoons cold butter, 1 medium onion peeled and cut in half, put all into cold pan, bring up to heat and simmer low for 30 minutes, discard onion and use sauce. Now, this is a recipe in which the quality of the tomatoes makes a huge difference that anyone interested in food will immediately notice. If, on the other hand, I was using a can of peeled tomatoes to make something like chicken tikka masala, the quality of the tomatoes doesn't make nearly as big a difference -- one is unlikely to taste the difference between a $4 can of San Marzano tomatoes and a $1 can of quotidian tomatoes.

Maraschino is a clear liquor distilled from Marasca sour cherries, including the pits and stems. The best brand by far is Luxardo, and they use a very complex process whereby the fruit and the pits/stems are processed/distilled separately and then the results combined later to age for two years in Finnish ash vats. It's not really cherry-flavored, per se. It's... well, it's Maraschino liqueur flavored. Maraschino is an essential component of many classic cocktails. There are more than two: Aviation = gin, maraschino and lemon Pegu Club = gin, Cointreau (or curacao), lime, orange bitters, Angostura bitters Sidecar = brandy, Cointreau, lemon Brandy Crusta = brandy, maraschino, curacao (or Cointreau), lemon, bitters Brandy Scaffa = brandy, maraschino, bitters In addition to the thread on the Aviation Cocktail referenced by ludja, there is a thread devoted to maraschino that may be of some interest.

The thing is that it's not going to be entirely equal, because I don't have entirely equal cookware. The Staub will be oval whereas the Le Creuset will be round. Still, though, should be interesting.

As soon as I get back my Le Creuset from Shaw I am going to do a little experimenting of my own. Le Creuset versus Staub versus Falk versus All-Clad versus foil pouch or something like that. I figure I might as well do something with all these remote temperature probes I have lying around.

I'm in that minority as well! I almost always make my own. Not only is it much tastier, but it's easy to include any special flavorings you might want -- cayenne, garlic, parsley, chipotles, cilantro, lime, wasabi, mustard, curry spices, walnut oil, olive oil, capers, cornichons, etc. My usual recipe is egg yolk, salt, lemon juice, neutral oil and a touch of evoo. I make it in the "minibowl" that sits inside the main bowl of my KitchenAid food processor. I find that a two cup food processor works much better than a blender at making reasonably small quantities of mayonnaise -- especially if you like to make it extra thick (which I like to do if I am going to be using it for something like chicken salad). With a conical blender, there is too much splashing around and sticking to the sides. And I always seem to end up with a fine mist of mayonnaise on my face. One other effect of making your own mayonnaise: You might not eat as much of it, and appreciate it more when you do. Why? Well, because it's pure fat. To make one cup of mayonnaise, you combine one egg yolk with a tablespoon or two of lemon juice... and a cup of oil. Yep. Duke's is the only jarred brand I'll use. I always snag some when I'm down South. There is a certain creaminess to Duke's that no other brand has. How can you not like a brand started by "Mrs. Eugenia Duke of Greenville, South Carolina?"

Don't get me wrong... I am as much an Italophile as anyone, and I definitely prefer the Italian product. I can't really speak to the UK and German products. English bacon is really an entirely different thing, what with the whole back/streaky/middle/collar/Gammon/Wiltshire/etc. thing (and let's not even get started on Canadian peameal bacon). I'd say that run-of-the-mill industrial American bacon is typified by Oscar Meyer's product. It's moister than run-of-the-mill Citterio or Negroni pancetta, but it's overall a very good product. Cooked crisp, which is the way American bacon is designed to be consumed, I wouldn't say Oscar Meyer bacon is at all inferior to Citterio or Negroni pancetta, however prepared/consumed. In fact, my experience is that Oscar Meyer bacon is actually better than Citterio or Negroni pancetta if both are cooked crisp. Now, this might be a situation of forcing the Italian product into the wrong context -- but it's no more a mistake than looking at Oscar Meyer bacon from the perspective of "would I eat this raw?"

Interestingly, the Pegu Club is the featured cocktail on Daniel Reichert's vintagecocktails.com. He gives the formula (which is also the formula from Dr. Cocktail's book) as 1.5 ounces gin, 0.5 ounces Cointreau (not curaçao) and 0.75 ounces lime juice. Interesting is his description of the drink: "a wonderfully brisk and bracing sensation . . . reminiscent of an invigorating bitter-grapefruit sorbet." That's an interesting way of thinking about it, and it says "balanced in favor of the sour and bitter elements over the sweet elements" to me.

It depends on what you already have. I can't think of three, but I can think of four: 1. Gin 2. Either brandy, rye or bourbon 3. Cointreau 4. Maraschino There are a great many cocktails you can make with these four ingredients, plus the occasional lemon, lime or orange.