zilla369
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Posts posted by zilla369
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What was your family food culture when you were growing up?
Both my parents grew up in Appalachia (West Virginia), but since dad joined the Marines at 18 and my parents moved to Parris Island immediately after marriage in 1959, we didn't have as many traditional Appalachian dishes as we might have. I remember a lot of Campbell's soups and Kraft Macaroni and Cheese.
Was meal time important?
Not very. I mean, we all liked eating, but i remember that for most of my life at home, my dad ate on a "TV Table" in front of the news, while my brother, mother and i ate at the dining room table.
Was cooking important?
Well, it was important to my mom. My brother would only eat plain hamburgers and french fries for years. When i reached adulthood, i realized that we had never had seafood (except for fish-sticks), spinach, brussel sprouts, asparagus, etc. Green vegetables were for the most part limited to canned green beans. Nothing like my grandmother's home-canned green beans. Although my mom was into trying magazine recipes, my dad for the most part didn't appreciate them much, unless the recipe took the form of a chocolate cake.
What were the penalties for putting elbows on the table?
I don't think my brother or i ever did this - somehow we learned not to, early on. I do remember getting in trouble for bringing a book to the dinner table.
Who cooked in the family?
Mom and only mom. To this day, i've never seen my dad cook anything.
Were restaurant meals common, or for special occassions?
Special occasions only. Burger King was a big special occasion. I remember going to a birthday party at a "fancy" restaurant for a classmate at age 8. My Marine drill instructor dad accompanied me for safety reasons, but sat at a table alone so as not to infringe on the party. I remember that he ordered trout and was appalled that it was served on the bone.
When did you get that first sip of wine?
Never. I didn't taste alcohol until i went to college (at age 17). For what it's worth, a word of warning - don't totally deprive your teenagers of any experience with alcohol before they go away to school. Forbidden fruit, and all.
Was there a pre-meal prayer?
Some years yes, some years no. Much like our "on-again, off-again" affair with Christmas trees. Some years we had one, other years it was an off-limits luxury because of its pagan origins.
Was there a rotating menu (e.g., meatloaf every Thursday)?
Well, there was a rotating menu, but it wasn't aligned with specific days of the week. Lots of Hamburger Helper and Rice-A-Roni.
How much of your family culture is being replicated in your present-day family life?
Almost none. Matter of fact, when i visit my parents and cook for them, i have to be extremely careful not to season anything too highly, or cook vegetables too al dente. Last year i made lasagna for my parents (with basil! imagine!) and my dad said "well, it's different...not too bad. I do notice that it's not giving me heartburn."
Heh.
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Here's one that's lit from within, kinda neat.
After about 10 minutes of searching around on the 'net and looking at prices, i have to say, i'd be sorely tempted to construct a stand myself, if i were you.
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Root beer and Dr. Pepper are completely deplorable. A mere whiff of root beer is enough to set my gag reflex in motion.
Will you marry me??
If you're a man, that is. 
Well, given that I'm a woman, I'll at least sit in a soft comfy chair and have a cuddle with you!
Really though, it's nice to have found a kindred spirit... I always get the weirdest looks from people when I tell them that I don't like root beer.Care to make your union polygamous? Or just let me squish into the chair with y'all? Cause I don't like root beer, never have. Makes my tongue numb. Dr. Pepper is just a big vanilla-y yawn.
:::moves over to make space:::
I'm in. No root beer, ever. The closest i can bear is a sassafrass anglaise i made as a dessert sauce at my last job, and that in only very limited quantities. ( i should admit here, i made a traditional anglaise and then spiked it with a "root beer extract" originally intended for home root beer-making).
*snuggles up to the root beer haters*
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I noticed POM was prominently featured on "Queer Eye" tonight!
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Perhaps just as important: Why does it work? Has it anything to do with the acid/alkalai levels in the bleach vs. vinegar?
Food scientists?
Bueller?
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Here's how we were taught to wash and store mint to keep it fresh longer. Worked for us:
Soak mint for 5 minutes in bath of 5000 g water with 1g of bleach added. Rinse, then soak 10 minutes in 5000 g water with 1 gram white vinegar added. Drain well, but do not rinse. Store in cooler in an airtight container with paper towel in bottom.
Ladies and gentlemen, i present the definitive method for keeping mint fresh for service, suggested by nightscotsman!
I used this method on one bunch last Wednesday and the mint was STILL fresh-looking this evening. The control bunch (from the same delivery), kept in the "herb box" in a reach-in with all the other herbs, in a paper bag, was limp and lifeless.
I must admit, i didn't measure the 5000/1 bleach-water and vinegar-water solutions - suffice it to say i made very weak solutions of both, in ice water. After the vinegar bath, i shook off the excess moisture and imprisoned the stalks in an air-tight container with a damp paper towel on the bottom, and a dry paper towel on top. The leaves are still bright green and rigid. Thanks, Neil!!
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Thanks for answering! I had seen that particular passage in Googling, but it doesn't really explain the difference between mexicana and the other products to my satisfaction. Just wondering about other eG'ers experiences with and knowledge of crema mexicana.
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I just saw Bobby Flay (i know, i know) making fish tacos and using "crema mexicana" as a topping. Apparently it's sort of like creme fraiche or sour cream. I read a description online that said it was the consistency of Devonshire cream.
Does anyone know what the (albeit subtle) differences are between crema mexicana and these other old standards? Where does one buy it?
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Here's how we were taught to wash and store mint to keep it fresh longer. Worked for us:
Soak mint for 5 minutes in bath of 5000 g water with 1g of bleach added. Rinse, then soak 10 minutes in 5000 g water with 1 gram white vinegar added. Drain well, but do not rinse. Store in cooler in an airtight container with paper towel in bottom.
Aha! maybe what i'm looking for.
neil - soak whole stalks of mint, or the trimmed tops?
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Fresh mint is fairly cheap, i know. But i'm so frustrated with trying to keep it long enough to use an entire bunch. The restaurant kitchen is hot and humid (big surprise). I've tried keeping it bare, keeping it in a plastic bag, keeping it in a paper bag. I've tried cutting the stems and keeping it in water. The best method i've found is cutting the tops and floating them in a bowl of ice water, but that only works for one service - after that, the little suckers get waterlogged. Anywhere really cold i try to keep it (like near the exhaust in the cooler) turns it black almost immediately.
A bunch of mint only lasts me one to one-and-a-half services before i consider it unsuitable for garnish.
How do you guys hold your mint?
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You're obviously (to most of us) pretty passionate about what you do. It comes through in your show and in the Rants on your website. So, what are you passionate about right now? It doesn't even necessarily have to be food related. Give us an idea of what's rattling around the ol' noggin this week, please!
You've got an engaged, alert, informed audience. Rant away - we're only here for the Alton!
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Alton, thanks for participating in our Q&A.
We know from reading your website that you've sworn off high fructose corn syrup and hydrogenated fats for the spring & early summer, with the goal of dropping about 25 pounds. What foods will you miss most?
Love your show! Looking forward to that bathing suit shot at the end of July.
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mnfoodie - i'd be honored if you'd give my recipe a try. I normally use granny smith apple slices sauted in brown sugar and cinnamon, but i don't think the batter would turn out significantly different using pitted cherries.
Mine puffs up and then falls after taking it out of the oven - but it's not overly eggy. It's a very thin batter, like pancake batter. Fluffy.
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Thanks for the replies, everyone. I did finally find the technique online, i didn't realize it was also known as "Cafe Brulot".
I did a tableside preparation of it tonight for the chef's table of 8 people. We turned out the lights and i didn't set myself on fire, or anything. Folks actually applauded! And diners other than those at the chef's table were very curious about it, so i ended up making more and serving it around the dining room, compliments of the house. A big hit, and it actually tasted good, too. Also, i picked up a tip online to toss ground cinnamon into the blue flames, which makes cool orange sparks. Extreme coffee!
And Mark - it really does look like burning rattlesnake skins in the witchy light, doesn't it?
Next time i'll try and get someone to take pictures.
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Hmm....here's my clafouti batter recipe:
1 cups granulated sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
6 eggs
1 cups AP flour
2-2.5 cups whole milk
cinnamon to taste
This batter is fairly fool-proof and puffs up nicely every time. Looks like the major difference between my recipe and Martha's are the flour and sugar amounts. I think more flour is probably the big thing. Good luck with your next batch!
edited to add: i whisk the eggs and sugar together, add salt and cinnamon, sift in flour and whisk, add milk and whisk again. I've never strained mine.
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Mr. Stripey, the best tomato known to man.
Get me some fresh mozzarella to go with it and stand back or you might lose a limb.
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It depends....are you going to put all the ingredients for a salad in a bowl, then toss lightly so each piece is lightly coated with the dressing? Then plate it up and serve it?
You betcha. I also lightly season the mixture at the same time.
Heh. I bet nobody's got the stones to order dressing on the side at Keller's places
(although, come to think of it, he'd probably direct the kitchen to accomodate this request like he does so many others.)Please understand i always, always, provide dressing on the side if directed, and still build the salad with the same loving attention as i would if i were dressing it. I just think egulleteers are probably more discerning diners than most. I could just about swear your average diner is doing it out of some weird habit, given that they're using all the dressing i send out, and again, i haven't seen anyone taste it first. They just order it on the side, dump it on, and stir.
Question:
Do you "dressing-on-the-siders" order your entree sauces on the side, as well?
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Aha! It's as i suspected. I'm being punished for the sins of serial over-dressers.
However, i have yet to see any "on-the-sider" taste the dressing before dumping it on the salad. And the ramekins come back empty, because i only put as much dressing in them as i'd put on the salad itself.
But you're kidding yourself if you think you're going to get a better distribution of dressing at the table with your fork than i can achieve in the kitchen.
I understand concerns about getting a salad that's been all dressed up and nowhere to go for awhile. But i don't serve those. That's why it's such a bitch when the server comes back with "sorry, i forgot to punch 'on the side"". 80% of the time that salad goes into the trash.
Maybe after we've been open awhile we'll get a reputation for knowing how to dress a salad properly!
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In working the salad station at my new job, i've noticed a high - very high - percentage of people that order their salad dressing "on the side". I'm sure people have their reasons, but i just never realized how many folks order salads this way.
Are they afraid the salad composer doesn't know how to properly dress a salad? Afraid there will be too much dressing? Too little? Afraid they won't like the taste of the dressing?
It makes my job a bit more time-consuming because we (being a white-tablecloth joint) don't simply perch the ramekin of dressing on the side of your salad serving dish, touching the lettuce (yuck) - so it requires two hands to carry a salad rather than one.
Also, if the server forgets to enter "on side" on the computer, the salad invariably gets sent back to be remade, wasting the original salad if it doesn't sell in the next few minutes. Then i can follow the freshly made salad and separate dressing out into the dining room and watch as the person who sent the salad back unceremoniously dump the ramekin of dressing onto the bare salad, creating, in effect, a salad identical to the one they rejected moments before.
This makes me want to stab people with my cheese knife, but so far i have limited myself to making voodoo dolls out of radishes and chives, and dropping them in the deep-fryer...
Why do you order dressing "on the side"?
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I'm going to offer stuffed mushrooms as an appetizer course for the chef's table at our restaurant.
My question is: most stuffed mushroom recipes do not call for the caps to be par-baked, but i often find when i eat stuffed mushrooms prepared by others, the caps are underdone (to my taste).
I think i'll toss the caps in evoo and thyme, s&p, then bake them for ten minutes or so before stuffing. Any reason why i shouldn't?
By the way, i'm planning on stuffing them with a chorizo, shallot, frizzled spinach and cream cheese mixture.
Post your stuffed mushroom success stories here.
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Okay - c'mon you guys. I know you won't let me down.
In the restaurant at culinary school, they used to serve a coffee course at the end of the meal, which involved flaming liquor poured down a long spiral of citrus peels into cups of coffee. I've seen it done, but never done it myself. I'd like to reproduce it for the chef's table at the restaurant i'm at now, but i'm a little skittish to try it without some direction.
Can anybody post a technique? Thanks!
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Maybe i'm mistaken, but looking at the tv listings for both tonight and next Monday, i don't see "The Restaurant" in its usual time slot, 10 PM EST. I see that Bravo is replaying this season's first two episodes, but even though NBC's website says "Mondays at 10!", i can't find it on NBC by searching upcoming TV guide listings. If the reason for this has been posted elsewhere, please forgive. Or perhaps it's only blacked out in my local tv market?
Hmmm...
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No way in hell am i picking three "favorites" - impossible!
I will go ahead and fourth or fifth the people that listed Shropshire Blue, which not only tastes wonderful, but also has a rich golden color that makes it attractive on a cheese plate.
Someone else listed Tillamook Cheddar - yum
A recent find: Dutch Parrano Originale. Per their slogan, "Looks sort of Dutch, tastes sort of Italian." Melts like a dream. My new secret weapon pizza cheese. It's sort of like Gouda, texturally. Website says it's a "deanery" cheese, and defines that as a cheese that is made using a "special coagulant" to flavor it.
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Today is the 130th running of the Kentucky Derby. Of course the mint julep is ubiquitous around Louisville this weekend, but there are other traditions, as well.
I just returned from cooking breakfast at a local B&B for their full house of (12) out-of-town guests. Really out of town, in the case of one couple, a Nobel Prize winner and his wife all the way from Switzerland.
The menu:
Course 1:
French baguette toast served with mint julep butter and blackberry creme fraiche Ruby red grapefruit
Course 2:
Eggs Benedictine (english muffin, seared country ham, poached egg and benedictine sauce rather than hollandaise). Y'all probably already know that benedictine is a combination of dill, shallots and cucumber, usually conveyed in cream cheese, but i used creme fraiche instead.
Sauteed asparagus
Rave reviews!
Especially on the mint julep butter.What are you cooking for Derby Day?
Buying a B&B
in Food Traditions & Culture
Posted
Whoo hoo! I'm particularly interested in the specifics of breakfast and service thereof, since i moonlight (sunlight?) at a B&B as cook a couple times a month.
But don't skimp on more pictures of the coast! You could always just tape a chive to the camera lens or something (to keep it food-related)