Knicke

Cheap pie filling (looks like snot with fruit in it; tastes like it too) Red Delicious apples Supermarket tomatoes Shredded mozz. in the bag. Blech.

My Puerto Rican aunt make "Arroz con Dulce" which seems to be along these lines. It is NOT rice pudding...you put yourself at her mercy if you call it that. I think it's a bit more involved than putting sugar on the rice, but not much.

Weird, weird, weird. Allergic to chicken and NOT eggs?! I guess being allergic to chicken would be preferrable; being allergic to eggs effectively renders inedible a much large set of dishes. Still, how strange.

I can concur on the sushi. But the 'omnivorousness' and 'voraciousness' are the main things. I remember my first successful loaves of homemade French bread. They took a long time to proof in a cold kitchen, so my roommates and I were good and 'toasty' by the time they exited the oven. As soon as it was cool enough to handle, it disappeared in under 10 min., accompanied by much slathering of butter, honey, and homemade strawberry-rhubarb jam. *snarf* *gulp* *munch* *SWALLOW*

I'm making pork too! The local butcher had some nice-looking chops today, so I'll make it easy on myself and pan-fry 'em with some sage and butter. Polenta and greens to go along with. And a plum tart with cream for dessert. May stop to pick up a bottle of wine, but it's doubtful - I'm too hungry to take that kind of time!

We are still waiting for a Trader Joe's here in Colorado. The closest options are Arizona and Nevada; that's a long way to go for a little gelato! I get so pissed (and wistful...'pistful'?) sometimes hearing about all the interesting little tidbits folks find there. AND we've been waiting for a Fort Collins branch of Whole Foods for a year now! They keep saying it's coming, and there's a lot of hubbub around the construction site, but when...WHEN? So sick of driving to Boulder for specialty food ingredients! What's the name of the company that produces this fabled Green Tea Gelato? I'm wondering if it's sold solely through TJ's or if you can find it somewhere else....

Neato. I was interested in getting an ice cream maker for the express purpose of trying my own green tea ice cream. Can't wait! (The new Cuisinart component is freezing as we speak; think I'll have to start with plain chocolate, though. :)

Yeah, I like lard crusts; grew up on 'em, too. But bacon fat might be even MORE porky...beyond the level of acceptable porkiness for a sweet pie. Hard to tell. I've tasted both fats, of course, but never in large amounts and always with other ingredients...must admit the idea of taste-testing big ol' spoonfuls of lard and bacon fat really icks me out.

Hi, all. It’s been difficult to find decent aquavit around here where I live (despite the fact that this is a drinking town). I’d love to make something approximating it by way of vodka infusion. I’m just wondering what-all I should make sure to include in the infusion. Found Lynn Rossetto Kasper’s recipe for Mock Aquavit, but shouldn’t there be some lemon peel in it? Any opinions?

Olives!

Mmmmmm. Bacon fat. It certainly seems like a possibility, cbarre. I'm not a big student of pie crust texture, so I can't really make any comments on what MIGHT happen. I have no reason to think it can't be made to work, though. Maybe start, as you suggested, with only part bacon fat and see what it does to the texture? Then, if that produces favorable results, try again with a greater proportion of bacon fat. Perhaps there's something inherent in the character of bacon fat which makes it act wildly different in a pie crust recipe...perhaps not. Hopefully by gradually introducing more of it into the recipe, you can figure out whether or not it acts differently. I really, really like this idea now. Thinking about all my favorite savory pie recipes, and lots of them would taste good with a 'bacon crust'. Emmm. Can't say how I feel about using it in sweet recipes until I tasted the re-vamped bacon crust. Gut reaction is 'no!', but then again I haven't tasted it and while I like bacon, I'm not as rabid about it as some eGulleters seem to be.

Toliver, gotta find it and put it in 'eGullet format', but I'd be happy to post mine! Hopefully will get to it sometime this week. Yes, 'it already comes in a can', but it's a whole different animal made from scratch. A bit of a pain to cut off all those kernels, but sooo worth it...

Reese Cooking Wine (ugh) as aperitif...

Hmmm...it's probably too late for Jenny, but I DO have this recipe for knock-down drag-out creamed corn. It's a lot like Mayhaw's recipe, but with some cream, bacon (!), some cilantro, and a few grape tomatos added. Shallots AND garlic actually, but you can use whatever sulfurous veg you like. And like Al_Dente suggested, it has jalepenos, too. Add other chilis if you like those better; it just needs the suggestion of heat. Heaven. Or at least Cloud #9.

Hmmmm. I hear you about the cakes with EVOO. Certain ones work better than others, I think. The not-so-sweet ones, especially. I tried a recipe for 'Cornmeal Cake w/ Rosemary Syrup' recipe from epicurious.com...had gathered everything, then realized I was out of butter. Not about to traipse back to the store to get some, so I used EVOO instead (having successfully made cornbread that way before). It was yummy. I could seriously taste the EVOO; it really added a depth of flavor that is not always there with butter. cbarre, I don't think I would have made the truffle oil connection at all, but I am awfully intrigued! I bet walnut oil could work in the same recipe... So, pie crust: obviously a recipe where the character (not just flavor) of one particular fat is essential. Can anyone think of other substitutions that just don't work?

Alacarte, I think I know what you're talking about. The level of anxiety increases proportional to how far 'out on a limb' the recipe may take me...and proportional to the formality of the occasion, I guess, though as a carefree early 20-something I'm not habitually throwing formal dinner parties... It's only natural...you want it to be really, really good... Last time I remember those 'butterflies' was Thanksgiving potluck this past fall. I made a creamed corn dish that I personally really liked, bacon and chilis and a few tomatos. I knew it tasted good to me, but it was not 'the same ol' safe creamed corn', and I was pretty anxious for everyone to like it, as I'd made a whole casserole-full and would be responsible for leftovers. Plus, who wants to be the lame-o who manages to screw up simple creamed corn? Groundless fears. They ate up every bite.

Ooooh. Thought of another. I was about 5. The first mushroom I remember liking. One of my dad's students' parents told him about morel-hunting and invited us to come find some on their land. Walking about in the Ohio spring woods, 5 year old eyes peeled for exposed tree roots. It was quite the treasure hunt, and quite a good haul: about half a paper shopping bag full. I was pretty reluctant to try them, seeing as the only mushrooms I'd had to that point were grey and somewhat rubbery and NOT at all pleasing. But they looked so funny, and smelled so good while sputtering away with a pat of butter on the stove...well, Dad finally convinced me to try one. He probably shouldn't have; then he could've eaten 'em all himself. Now I like all fresh and dried mushrooms. Still can't quite stomach the rubbery canned monstrosities, although the pickled ones are ok.

Mom and Dad, given time and energy, could be fairly decent cooks. At least they don't subscribe to the 'cooked to death veggies' line of thought...there was always good tasty stuff from the garden in summer...come to think of it, in winter, too. However, they both work as teachers and it must have been quite a chore to get food on the table every night. When I was in elementary school, my dad the experimenter got very into the stir-fry concept. Which would have been great had he actually stuck with what worked...but he quickly took 'stir-fry' to mean 'throw random cupboard items into skillet; bind with available ingredients (more often than not, cream of whatever soup; ew); serve over rice'. When we had good stuff in the fridge/cupboard, this was fine. Some attempts, however, were awfully...strange. For awhile he was throwing cashews or almonds into everything. This during a time when I was wary of foods TOUCHING each other on the plate, not to mention mixed together and mortared with cream of mushroom or cornstarch glop. I ate a lot of plain rice at dinnertime.

I've been going bonkers with new soup recipes this winter. Seems I'm whipping up a new chicken stock every two weeks, with either Jewish-y and Asian flair; lots of sick friends to take it to. I'm finding it a forgiving medium for cautious experimentation. I can see the attraction of braising, warm oven heating the kitchen and all that. I prefer tougher, slow-cooked cuts of meat in general. Here's the thing, though; I have one roommate, and she's a vegetarian. And so many braising recipes require large chunks of meat, which is fine except it's daunting to imagine eating 'em all myself. I mean, I actually like leftovers and am willing to use and reuse them as much as possible, but one can only eat so many sandwiches. So, you braisers, suggestions? What do I do with all the extra? What's the best way for me to save it so's I can eat it later (probably in another form)?

My first lobster dinner... I was maybe 10, and the family drove up to Maine to see how the 'summer people' live and camp out, etc. I was picky about texture but little else. My parents ordered lobster several times in restaurants while there, but I could never be persuaded to try it. Bad food poisoning experience with Ohio seafood Anyhow, it's our second-to-last day in Maine, staying at a lovely lakeside campground. It was during the week, so it was empty-ish and all we could hear was the cry of loons and lapping water. ANYHOO, we stopped at a gas station cum convenience store cum roadside diner for fuel, and of course they had a tank of lively lobsters up near the checkout. My dad got to chatting with the lady behind the counter, just asking how they were chose and cooked and all. Next thing I know, the nice lady has sold four honking pinchys, given us cookin' tips, etc. Then she finds out we're camping and have no big steamer to cook 'em in. She runs next store to the diner and brings out a steamer for us to borrow, knowing we're nice folks and will bring it back. Which we do, but not until we've steamed those pinchys up on our little propane stove, and tucked in with zeal and gorgeous amounts of lemon butter. I can still taste that first bite of tail meat. All the while gazing out on a pristine lake, water lapping, lapping, lapping.... I've always thought it was sort of weird that I only wanted to try lobster AFTER seeing 'em bundled into the pot and hearing 'em 'scream', but it made it even more fascinating and palatable, somehow. I guess I really revelled in the grotesque as a kid....

Hmmmm. Hard to tell...hangover 'breakfast' usually has to happen the night before, unless I pass out before then...usually I don't pass out. Probably because I'm a bit of a wussy drinker, but mostly because I'm soooo hungry after drinking...water throughout the night and morning is the only sure mitigation factor that I know of...but cravings are another matter... The two-egg breakfast at the local truck stop was the fall back in college, whether breakfast or midnight cushioning...Over-easy with wheat toast. Hash browns. Bacon. O.J. Lather, rinse, repeat. They actually also made heavenly oatmeal from scratch (thick cut oats) with raisins and cinnamon, which turned up on the table occasionally. I'd love to find a 24-hour joint with food that good again...

MMMMMM. Greek food. And even if it isn't 'haute', well heck, it tastes good. When I was young (and picky), I had a cold octopus salad at Greek place in Chicago which was a revelation. Surprising, given my normal aversion to tentacles. It was divine and not rubbery at all, like most molluscs I'd experienced up to that point. Plus, the language is so fun-sounding. "Spanakopita!" "Avgolemono!" "Souvlaki!" Can't wait to read more of these, seattle!! Have long had a hankering to travel to the land of the sparkling Aegean myself; this will just whet the appetite all the more...

For a couple years while I was in college, we could get this really vile stuff from the neighborhood liquor store. It was called Fat Cat Beer, and the can was bright orange with a blue cartoon sorta Tom-n-Jerry like cat on it, smoking a cigar. We thought it was hilarious, because it totally looked like a pop can marketed to little kids. The label read..."Water, hops, blah, blah, blah...what can we say, it's just great beer!". Well, it wasn't. The brew itself was also bright orange (we're talking Orange Crush color, to match the can), tasted like paint thinner , and is the only substance that managed to give me a hangover BEFORE I even got drunk. But the can WAS hilarious, it WAS marginally drinkable (if served ice-cold and chugged, not sipped), and get this...in 2000, a six-pack cost $4. Which works out to about 60 cents a can. My former white-trash boyfriend and I used to go bullhead fishing all the time, and we'd usually take along a couple sixers of Fat Cat in our styrofoam cooler. After awhile, we broke up, and a few months later, the store stopped selling Fat Cat beer. I can still recall (with an equal mixture of fondness and dread) the signature headache it caused...