slkinsey

Really?! Interesting. Where did you get this information?

I don't know what the law is in Canada, but it is against the law to sell lungs in the US.

My mother, a scientist ever on the alert for reasons I shouldn't eat certain things, recently made me aware of this article from news@nature.com. It had previously been thought that the prions were confined to the brain, spine and immune system meant that we thought it was safe to eat the other parts of susceptible animals in countries with BSE. The study upon which this article was based, Heikenwalder et al., Chronic Lymphocytic Inflammation Specifies the Organ Tropism of Prions, Science 2005 0: 11064601 (registration/subscription required) may change all that.

Another good one, not entirely unorthodox but unusual to some, is a scattering of fig preserve and gorgonzola, then some lightly dressed ruccola when it comes out of the oven.

Sounds great, Jack! We're going to have to postpone our Burns' Night dinner this year, since this year's Burns' Night is sandwiched between two weekends when bergerka and I have performances scheduled. I like the inclusion of Scottish salmon -- might steal that idea for our dinner in a few weeks.

Unusual and unorthodox pizza toppings... Interesting thread for me, because my tendencies are to go the other way in the direction of ubertraditional -- although some of these are considered by Americans to be somewhat unusual (red pepper or pancetta with an egg or two "fried" right on the crust, for example, or evoo-cured tuna with onions). Some thoughts that come to mind as being unusual in the American lexicon of pizza would be: - A pissaladière. This is more or less a Provençal "pizza" topped with caramelized onions, anchovies and black olives. Although it is most often made with a flaky crust, the topping would work beautifully on a pizza crust. - Any kind of shellfish. Brush the crust with evoo; place some raw seafood about the crust (clams, mussels, bay scallops, shrimp & calamari are all winners -- you could even do it with lobster); perhaps a tiny sprinkle of chopped garlic; bake in the oven; dust with parsley, sea salt and crushed red pepper. It's important that the crust be thin and the oven set up to fully bake the pizza in no more than 3-4 minutes, lest the seafood overcook. It's important the seafood be raw so the juices cook into the crust.

Whew! I was beginning to think you meant the Hotel Gansevoort.

Fatty pork? All the better... But do you really think it significantly increases their food cost? Soup dumplings don't usually cost much more than fried dumplings, do they? Hmmm... Hard to say. My impression is that they're comparatively more expensive for the amount of food you get. But it's hard to say with any certainty. My point was more that the five for a dollar places are likely operating on a low margin and have to keep their costs down as much as possible.

My guess is that they just use fatty pork. When you're selling dumplings five for a dollar and making a living, I don't think you're bumping up your food cost with jellied stock.

Well... it's mixing species to compare soup dumplings with the kind of (usually) fried dunplings to which this thread is dedicated. What do we think are the characteristics that make a really good Chinese dumpling? For me, the filling should be fine and flavorful, but a lot of the action is in the wrapper. It needs to be thin and, if fried, it should be crisp rather than simply browned. Nothing is worse than a thick, gummy, filling wrapper on a Chinese dumpling -- something that seems especially common with steamed vegetable dumplings. What's the deal with that? Does anyone make a truly outstanding vegetable dumpling? And for God's sake, why aren't they fried?! I think the New Green Bo fried dumplings are particularly outstanding. The wrapper is nicely thin, so it isn't too filling (you would underdstand why this is important if you ever saw how much food Fat Guy and I order when we go there together). The dumplings are deliciously crisp on the bottom, and yet not greasy. And I also like their long-and-skinny approach in contrast to the more common short-and-lumpy shape -- it maximizes the ratio of crispy wrapper to filling, much like the baguette's shape maximizes the ratio oif crust to crumb. This shape would be a disaster with a thicker wrapper, but works just right at NGB.

I'm not sure it would really be a "-cello" were it flavored by anything other than the zest of a citrus fruit. Vodka infused with kaffir lime leaf would be simply kaffir lime leaf vodka (or a kaffir lime leaf cordial after you sweetened it). Which is not to say that it wouldn't be tasty! Kaffir lime leaf vodka is very good.

In my experience, bitter orange peels are indeed different from sweet orange peels. This is not to say, of course, that good bitters couldn't be made with the latter.

They sell bergamots? I don't see them listed on their web site. What are their prices for bergamots?

According to their site, the mechanical spitjack goes for around 12 minutes between windings and a bell sounds when it is nearing time for a rewinding. Needless to say, however, it's not something you should expect to set and then go to another room for a nap.

Well, I'd think you could use it any way you might use either sour orange or lemon juice. You could use it to marinade chicken or pork before roasting, for example. You could use it in a vinaigrette or squeeze it over cooked foods. You could, I suppose, make a bergamot meringue pie. But, to be honest, most of these uses strike me as ones which will obscure the special taste. One thought I had was something like pollo alla Francese: pound pieces of chicken breast, veal or pork into thin paillards the approximate size of your palm; dredge in flour, egg, flour, egg, flour and then fry until golden; wipe the pan and add some butter and paper thin slices of bergamot orange; fry until orange slices are soft and lightly caramelized, and reserve; add bergamot juice, white wine and chicken stock to the pan, and bring to a light simmer; mount sauce with butter; add back the meat and bergamot slices and warm through; remove to platter (the bergamot slices will be edible).

http://www.spitjack.com It's a rotating spit (either mechanical or electric) that you can stand in front of your fireplace for roasting. I've wanted one of these since I saw my landlord using his girarrosto to roast a pheasant on his hearth. Le sigh... if only I had a fireplace. Is this cool or what?

Interestingly, there is no mention of chicken on their online menu. What we see is pork, turkey, sauce, pork, pork, pork, collard greens (most likely cooked with pork), pork and Brunswick stew (including pork?). This is, of course, not their full menu -- but it is, I think, a good indication of what they think they do best and what made their reputation. Interesting quote from the "articles" section of the site: This feeds into my thought that the way to go is to pick one style/technique, stick with it and refine it if you want to make truly exceptional barbecue. It also adds an interesting point to the question raised upthread about whether NYC can ever be a "great barbecue town." Can there be a "great barbecue town/region" that doesn't have it's own style?

Make cocktails with the juice. Make bergamotcello with the peels.

Not to make too fine a point here, but why would you want to take shots? What is it that we do when we slam a shot of booze anyway? We try to get the booze out of our mouth and into our stomach (and thence into our bloodstream) as quickly as possible. In other words: it's to get drunk. For me -- and I daresay most of the participants in this forum -- drunkenness may be the occasional result of pursuing my interest in alcoholic beverages, but it's never the goal. I want to taste what I'm drinking, and if it's so horrible that it has to be thrown back in great wince-inducing gulps, I'd rather not drink it at all. So, one solution is to be proud that you don't do shots and sip your alcohol. If you really want to drink in shots, just practice taking really big gulps of water when you drink out of a glass. Fundamentally, that's all there is to taking a shot -- learning how to swallow two ounces of liquid all at once.

One thousand blessings be upon you, my friend. Will check soonest. Were they there? Looking for some myself. Unfortunately, upon checking it appeared to me that the sour oranges they had there were, indeed, sour oranges.

Hmm. I suppose it is possible that it has changed. My information came from an All-Clad rep some time ago. Never bothered to measure it myself. Maybe that's why they call it "MC2" now?

There is an exemption, apparently, for places that do a certain percentage of their business selling tobacco products.

Some of my favorites include places I visit with some regularity with Fat Guy and Ellen: The two five-for-a-dollar places" -- Fried Dumpling at 99 Allen Street between Delancey and Broome; and, a little better IMO, Dumpling House at 118 Eldridge Street between Broome and Grand. New Green Bo

There is also Ninth Avenue Cheese Market (615 Ninth Avenue), which is an excellent, reasonably priced and often overlooked cheese market. And let us not forget that Fairway has an outstanding cheese department, both uptown and UWS.

I'm not sure I'd say there are a lot of claims, but there have been some. As Todd36 points out, it really depends on whether you are talking about a larger, well-known place or about a guy selling barbecue in a gravel parking lot on the side of some local highway. I'd say that it is standard to sell multiple meats in the former and a single meat in the latter, although exceptions can always be found. More to the point, I think, is the comment I made upthread about places that try to do multiple styles of barbecue along with the different meats. I have simply never been to a barbecue place that was successful at doing this. I'm not saying it's not theoretically possible, but I think there are a lot of things that get in the way. Show me a place that is selling both "Texas brisket" and "Carolina pulled pork" and I'll show you a place where at least one of those products will be not very good and not particularly representative of the advertised style -- and there's a fair to middling chance that neither style will be all that great.