paul o' vendange

That's perfect, thanks! These are the cookbooks I treasure most.

I really like her bio, Blood, Bones & Butter. I love her saltiness. I passed on Prune but you've got me intrigued, now. Thanks.

Maida Heatter's Cakes (thanks @heidih) Rose Levy Barenbaum's Cake Bible (thanks @weinoo)(Hmm. I'm sensing a trend here. Namely, I've always sucked at cakes). "Un artiste au Grand Véfour," by Guy Martin. I have several others by him, including the massive and gorgeous Le Grand Véfour. I think his, Georges Blanc's, and Roger Vergé's are my favorite French chef's cookbooks. Frédy Girardet gets the Swiss nod. Let's Eat France!: 1,250 specialty foods, 375 iconic recipes, 350 topics, 260 personalities, plus hundreds of maps, charts, tricks, tips, and ... you want to know about the food of France," by François-Régis Gaudry. Looks goofy, pretty exhaustive, and a lot of fun. The Cook and the Gardener, by Amanda Hesser. I love narrative cooking books like this, and especially love "a year in....." books that chronicle the changing mood as well as produce of the seasons; this one promises to be a good one.

Hi Kai. Wonderful to meet you.

Thanks, that's interesting. Just found it curious.

Thanks TdeV, that's really nice of you. I think I'm good, between these 3 I have. Just curious if the translations are universally bad across the editions, and if so whether this 2000 French version is worth it. I'm probably just suffering from a flareup of my chronic CAS.* *Cookbook Acquisition Syndrome. Not deadly, unless your spouse kills you.

Life has its ways. Car decided to blow its water pump and radiator fan. Won't be available until next week. Capon is out the door as it's a ways away, going with leg of lamb. Not complaining!

Hibiki translates as "echo," though I cannot make out the kanji. If I were to evaluate it from a zen calligraphy ("shodo") perspective, I would say it is explosive with energy (ki), quite a unified and beautiful piece. Can't wait to get your impressions.

Hello, doing a capon for Christmas Eve and looking around. I really like Georges Blanc's Le Grand Livre de la Volaille, and he's got several nice ideas in there. I'm also flipping through my Larousse - I have 3 editions. 1961 (English), 1984 (French) and 2001 (English) - and recall an old thread I recently happened upon in which member Bouland, if I recall correctly, didn't have a lot of good things to say about the English translations. He makes reference to a French 2000 edition, currently on my cart. Without two editions back-to-back to compare (e.g., same edition, just French-English releases), I don't know the state of translations across the years - i.e., my two English versions. Anyone with insight on this? Anyone have the 2000 French version, and if so, thoughts? I should note what seems to me to be an oddity: the 2000 English version has a capon recipe which is actually Blanc's, from the above-mentioned book: Chapon poché et rôti au gratin de potiron. The Larousse version varies very slightly in ingredients and temps (e.g., 50 g butter v. 60 in the Blanc recipe on roasting the bird, 220 v. 200C after 30 minutes), and a bit more thorough in the steps, but it's otherwise the same recipe. I don't see that Blanc is listed as a contributor. Have I missed something?

See the Estrella Family Creamery story. These were consistent gold medal winners at the Dublin World Cheese Awards, but they showed positive for Listeria outbreaks on multiple occasions. Again, process flaws, and in my opinion they didn't learn from their first outbreak. I do believe in raw milk and I do believe it's tough for artisan producers, such as in my state, to make any headway when there is a heavy concentration of large agribusiness interests who have the ear of the FDA and related agencies. That said there's no excuse for something like listeria, and the FDA was right to pursue them aggressively. It's an incredible responsibility to feed people. Listeria is one of those things that should be priority one in daily sanitation protocols.

Hi Barb. Born Ventura, Cal '86, love and miss the Bay Area! Welcome, looking forward to your ventures.

She's awesome. Got her PhD in microbiology while a cloistered nun. Her work on rind cascade ecology and other related areas was something I leaned on heavily when putting together my hard alpine cheeses. Nun after my own heart - scraping caves all over France to map the strains of Geo. candidum and their properties. Great DVD, The Cheese Nun.

I used to make French alpine cheeses - Abondance, tommes, reblochons, all from raw milk. In my opinion listeriosis is a process issue; it comes from poor plant management and once it takes hold in a creamery it's extremely difficult to obliterate. I have an acquaintance from a long time ago now who specialized in soft cheeses made from raw milk. Tragically, listeriosis from his cheese killed two people. As much as I'm a booster for raw milk cheeses, I'm no longer sanguine about its use in soft cheeses, particularly when listeria can survive just about anything, including cold storage. Only used raw Ayrshire for my hard aged cheeses. I agree with you on your emphasis of proper ecology over sterilization - we spend too much time trying to sterilize, over creating environments propitious for the good flora we're looking for, who can outcompete pathogens as you say. Many years ago an upstate NY FDA inspector got it in her mind wood shelving is anathema to healthy cheese, and mounted a war to force creameries to move to ss shelving. I and 1000's of others wrote our reps on the flawed science in such a perspective, our own Center for Dairy Research vigorously defended the science of wooden board safety and thankfully the FDA backed off. Good article here.

Why, there's an extraordinarily simple explanation for why some water may be good for the enjoyment. Here. Even a kid could understand it. Edit: I should have said (j/k). Still, pretty cool.

I'm with you. Definitely a bourbon guy myself. Generally prefer it neat, though sometimes an ice cube or two is so smooth and refreshing. My late Estonian grandfather in law - can we say, straight vodka? - always gave us grief on summer trips up north. "Why do you Americans want to water down your booze?"

I do. If drinking scotch, for an Islay malt, I'll ask for a water back typically to add a few drops to the glass. I'm particularly fond of Speysides and Highland malts, but every now and then nothing goes so well as a bracing Islay. If we're talking bourbon or Irish whiskey, always neat. Edit: Sorry, missed the second part. I've never actually had a bartender not understand my request for a neat pour.

I hear you but that's based on the industrial model of CAFO's and all the hell they embody. Unfortunately that's the only paradigm we know in any practical way. Beef cattle raised on a small, managed intensive rotational grazing basis is a totally different thing environmentally. Edit: It's a paradoxical thing, I find, to know the animals we eat. Even love them. This was Charlie, a young bull l loved very much. I used to help friends who raise 4-5 cows on 10 acres of very well managed paddocks; I used their raw Ayrshire milk to make French alpine cheeses, Abondance primarily. Charlie was slaughtered and butchered on their land. I ate his flesh. I think the world would be a better place if we could all eat like this.

Spot on. I'm a hypocrite because I still do it, but industrialized meat kills me, and I cannot shake the immense cruelty involved in its production. As you say, American meat is anything but a free market. It will never happen, but Joel Salatin's rather Jeffersonian model of small farms dotting the land everywhere, providing clean...everything.... at reasonable prices to local consumers. Well, a guy can dream.

Sorry - koji, aspergillus, the stuff you inoculate rice with to make sake, etc.? I've not heard of this.

Awesome! Thanks Heidi!

Years ago I happened upon Martha Stewart's Wedding Cakes at St. Vinny's, but gorgeous as the cakes are, they are more inspirational (and aspirational) than practicable. Just an FYI if any don't know about the book.

Hahahha, um, yeah, that might be a good one. Sometimes my brain..... Thanks Weinoo!

I have sources all over the place, but I'd love an awesome book focusing exclusively on classic cakes. Anyone's favorite(s)?

Heidi - I'm so terribly sorry. I know no words can cover this, but my heart truly goes out to you. I lost a student to suicide and I struggled myself for many years, though that is a thing of the past. I hope you've found some healing over time. Master Kwon's dojang was close to where mine was located, about 30 minutes away. I taught tactical defense to military and public personnel, as well as assault awareness and rape prevention. I agree with your ex's point of view.

That's what saddened me. It seemed like Anthony's demons really turned a corner, at least as much as one could ever know. Hapkido - I met master Bong Soo Han at my master's, Kichung Han's, funeral. I eventually ended up as a live in disciple in a Japanese martial and zen temple, but began my adult martial life in tae kwon do. Pretty moving, to see so many old-school masters like Bong Soo Han and others paying their respects.