Wolfert

I used to do it on top of the stove or in the oven as described above and both work very well. Now I use a small crockpot set on low and just leave it all day. I think I get more fat out of the skin by the very slow cooking.

I like emile henry's fait tout and gratin pan and use them both a lot.. Also, I use le creuset casseroles for all types of recipes that require slow cooking. BUT lately, I've started to adapt all my recipes to red claypot cooking---soaked unglazed ones have unique properties by which food is steamed in its own moisture. The taste is very pure.

About 15 years ago, I had the great chance thanks to an organization called "the peace table" to spend 2 months living with a family in Georgia in order to study the food and traditions. I can tell you there is a tradition of serving various mezze-type salads to accompany, rahter than begin, a meal. In Georgia, the little dishes stay on the table throughout the meal, thus they turn into side dishes for the main course. For example, a creamy walnut and pomegranate sauce is used as a dip and then some fish kabobs are placed on the table and the sauce is there for dipping. Another dip that works similarly is a georgian sour plum sauce called tkemali, a dark, thick, tart, and spicy dip for bread, then it follows a s the dip for grilled meat, poultry or boiled greens.` I think the most wonderful georgian pate\appetizer is pkhali, a term that refers to a group of vegetable purees, each made from a single boiled or roasted vegetable mixed with spices, walnuts and pomegranate juice. Most taste better the second day. Pkhali can be made with radish tops, cabbage, onion, thisteles, beet greens, beets, green beans, nettles, or spinach. It is always served molded, usually into an oval loaf. The loaf is marked in a crisscross fshion with the blade of a knife, then often garnisehd with pomegranate seeds, slivered red onions, tiny dabs of sour cream, or a few drops of spiced walnut oil. Diners cut out wedges and eat them with a fork. It is very typical to serve 3 or 4 kinds of pkhali as a first course with a flat griddled bread.

I freeze very flavoful romas without blanching ;they hold up perfectly throughout the year. It's great to just grab one tomato for some slow cooking and not have to open a can.

My own experience has been when cooking in a tagine, the more you use it, the better it performs. I'm referring to terracotta ones, not the le creuset or fully glazed.

zatar is a GENERIC word for a whole family of herbs including savories, hyssops, thymes, oreganos, etc. You can find them all over the Middle East. Around the eastern mediterranean, the word za'tar (or za'atar) is used two different ways: to refer to a class of herbs and to refer to a spice and herb blend of za'atar and sumac (or hyssop and sumac) In an article by Fleischer & Fleischer, the couple stated that the true za'atar of the bible was hyssop. In Morocco, there are at least a dozen types of za'tar. In Professor Jamal Bellakhdar's La pharmacopee marocaine traditionnelle the true za'tar is origanum compactum Benth. Identification of Biblical Hyssop and Origin of the Traditional Use of oregano-group herbs in the mediterranean region, 1987 Alexander Fleisher and Zhenia Fleisher Faculty of Agricultural Engineering Haifa, Israel

Have you ever noticed how some salts salt while other salts hardly salt at all?.

Thanks very much. I didn't know about linking with egullet. I'm sure we can do that. Your comment about slowing down is right on. I think fast cooking can be exciting, but it is also stressful and exacting. A few seconds off and you can ruin a dish. Slow cooking is relaxing and also more forgiving, since there's usually a decent margin of error.

If I were to follow Adelle Davis' method: I would first "put the meat in a preheated 300 F degree oven for l hour to destroy ybacteria on the surface. Then adjust the heat to the internal temperature desired, and forget about it. The longer the meat cooks, the more tender it becomes." I have done this method with pork roasts,always firstat 300F then down to 180 degree F for 12 to 18 hours depending on size. Fabulous. The key is to cook the meat to the internal temperature desired.

Russ: Are you asking me if I liked the review? I

Did you use an unglazed pot? Did you use a lot of liquid? When slow cooking in unglazed clay you don't need to add liquid. If you can get a copy of Adelle Davis' Let's Cook it Right you will find some very interesting material on slow cooking. "In experiments where identical roasts were cooked at different oven temperatures to the same degree of doneness, roasts cooked for 20 to 24 hours were preferred in 100 per cent of the taste tests to roasts cooked in 3 hours or less. Although the cooking time seems startling at first, the meat is so amazingly delicious, juicy, and tender, slices so beautifully, and shrinks so little that meats cooked at higher temperatures no longer taste good to you." Adelle Davis. Let's Cook it Rright, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1947

I signed up to do an egullet Q&A in early October when the book is to be published. If you can't wait to know more about it, you can visit my website and read the publisher's weekly review.

Suzanne: I only used the frozen ones once to re-test a Cypriot recipe for my last book. I sauteed the defrozed chunks in oil for a few minutes then added some tomatoes and csimmeredthem until completely tender. They worked fine as a bed for lamb and rice stuffed swiss chard rolls. I wish I could be of more help.

a bit of trivia on taro: Before the 16th century, when the potato was introduced to the mediterranean from the new world, the taro was as prevalent in cooking as the potato is today. Taro is still eaten widely in Egypt in a dish called oulaas, as well as along the Turkish Mediterranean coast in lamb stews. You can buy the taro frozen,imported from Egypt, at middle eastern stores. just ask the grocer for kolokassi.

You might want to give turkish bay leaves a second chance. When freshly dried and crushed they are wonderfully fragrant when used in cooking. Problem is they lose their flavor in about a year. Try The Spice House in Evanston, Ill., Penzeys, or Kalustyan. By the way, California bay leaves are a different species. I just checked and the Spice House carries the California Bay Leaves Uses "While most cookbook authors prefer the subtler Turkish bay leaves, we also offer you the option of these far stronger California bay leaves. Their beautiful, long, dark-green leaves make them ideal for craft work such as herbal floral wreaths."

You're right about the unpleasant quality in undercooking taro. There is another reason as well: it easily turns slimy. There is a method for slicing taro that prevents this unpleasant texture: scrub the taro roots under running water, dry well, then peel. Next cut them into 1/4-inch thick chunks, but just before you finish cutting, turn the knife so that the piece "chips," or snaps off. (You can substitute frozen taro root then simply use it frozen --it's been "chipped" for you.) In the Mediterranean on the island of Cyprus they saute it in olive oil with onions, lemon juice, grated tomatoes and enough water to cover until the taro is soft enough to break in half when pierced with a fork, about 3/4 hour. it is used as a bed for swiss chard stuffed with meat and rice. It is actually quite delicious.

I like B44 a lot. It's catalan mama's cooking.

Here is the response from the gateau a la broche people. Is there anyone from the sonoma-san francisco area who would want to share in the cost..two or more broches bring the cost down to something reasonable. Let me know...Paula Dear Paula, There should be no problems for a gateau a la broche to pass US customs. The price of 1 kg gateau a la broche is 23.13 Eur The shipping costs would be : - By Chronopost / Fedex : 51.87 EUR (4-8 days) - By Priority shipping Parcel 24.35 EUR (15-20 days) For a 2 kg gateau a la broche - Chronopost / Fedex : 66.78 EUR - Colis postal prioritaire : 34.30 EUR In fact, the first kg is the most expensive. During the processing of your order, you can check at every moment what are the fees by clicking on "See the content" of my basket on by choosing your country of delivery. Order directly a gateau a la broche from our page : http://www.bienmanger.com/2F162_Gateau_Broche.html You can contact me for any further information, Best regards, Laurent Looking forward welcoming you soon on www.bienmanger.com

Broiling is a good way to go. If you still want to grill, this is how I do it:I find that the more slowly a slice is grilled the better the crust and the creamier the interior with no separation. By slow grilling I mean grill for at least 10 minutes per side, the exact time depending on your grill, the type of corn, and the firmness of the polenta. I slowly heat up an oiled ridged grill, then add the polenta slices. I don't turn them until they unstick themselves---their way of telling me they're ready to be turned.

thanks for the links. I wrote and asked for airmail prices for the cake...and, of course, if it has customs papers.. Poilane ships to the states so maybe it will work. I'll keep you all posted.

Rickster: that is it! perfect set of photos. thanks for sharing the site.

the name of the cake described is simply "gateau a la broche" and is made as I described above. Bux is right in his description of a gateau basque. The reason teh above cake doesn't have a Basque name is it isn't Basque. It is originally from around the Aure valley in the pyrenees.

The jarred borage stalks (thespanishtable.com) aren't mushy just meltingly tender. I use them in rioja-style beef stews and puree them with small peas for a chilled Turkish soup.

thanks. I'll try to track it down.

I hate to add a crass point---money. Every once in awhile a food writer wants to reprint my recipe(s) in their book or in some printed material they are preparing and they pay my publisher a fee. I get about half. I remember when I was writing Mediterranean cooking in 1975. I wanted to republish Elizabeth David's recipe for peach jam. I could have "adapted" it but I liked the way she expressed herself. I had to pay her publishers about $165 for use. And I did. It's a lot less then ascap charges for reprinting a song. I did a story years ago on tunisian cooking and wanted to quote Dizzie Gillespie' Moon over tunisia. Ascap charged the magazine about $500 for those 4 lines I needed to finish the piece with a little zing. We did.