Toliver

Pocketless? How does one play pocketless billiards? [RICKY RICARDO] Lucy...you have some 'splainin' to do! [/RICKY RICARDO]

It was mentioned earlier in this discussion that Epicurious (parent company of Gourmet magazine & Bon Appétit magazine) sponsors some PBS cooking shows. Could you ask her if she'd ever consider doing a cooking show for PBS either as a "Gourmet" chef or as just herself? I'd hate to just see her disappear from television.

You won't find it at a fast food place. I recommend your local mom & pop spots. I was surprised to discover that there's a mom & pop Mexican restaurant (of all places!) near where my mom lives that makes fried chicken that tastes almost like my mom's fried chicken. Who knew? I haven't shared the secret with my brothers, yet. It's every man for himself, I say.

I was in a local drug store and saw a display with three "new" candies. I don't know how new they are but they were new to me. There was a Limited Edition Dark Chocolate Twix bars, Reese's Fudge Peanut Butter Cups and Triple Chocolate Kit Kat Bars. They were touted as "Limited Edition" and were all in one display. I, of course, took one for the team and have sampled all three. Hey, someone has to do it. The Triple Chocolate Kit Kat bar (according to the wrapper: "Crisp Chocolate Wafers and Chocolate Creme in Milk Chocolate") was nothing to post about so I won't bother. The Reese's Fudge Peanut Butter Cups didn't seem any "chocolate-ier" than the regular peanut butter cups though the chocolate did have a softer, chewier texture. I guess you could say it was a little more fudge-like to the tooth. Perhaps that is what they were aiming for but I don't think it's enough of a enticement to make me buy it again. But the hands-down winner was the Dark Chocolate Twix Bars. The enrobing chocolate is visually darker than the regular Twix bars. At first bite, they tasted like the regular Twix bars but then a definite dark chocolate "note" asserted itself (I wish I could taste wine as well as I can taste chocolate! ). I would love to see this made into a widely available chocolate bar. It's a winner. edited to add links...but couldn't find a link to the Dark Chocolate Twix

Anyone been to Mama Dip's in Chapel Hill?

I was going to mention this, as well. I've bought a number of "community" recipe collections over the years and was surprised to find, in more than one of them, a lot of the recipes called for the use of "Accent" seasoning. Though our generation may not cook with it anymore, our parents certainly did.

Sara saw it coming. There was another thread discussing the downturn in the FoodTV programming last year or so and there was a link to an article with Sara commenting that shows like hers were on the way out at Food TV. She saw the writing on the wall quite some time ago. I wonder if she'd end up doing a cooking show on PBS? If Epicurious launched a syndicated PBS cooking show, it would be a great supplement to their magazines (Gourmet and Bon Appétit) and to their web site. They could probably churn out a companion book quite easily. And the idea of a competing network ("The Cooking Network"?) would be welcome given the direction FoodTV is heading.

What a hot button issue! It makes for an interesting meal, doesn't it? I am notorious in my circle of friends for usually arriving early when meeting up with them and not being a happy camper when someone shows up late (put me in the Dr. Phil camp on this issue). Many moons ago I was supposed to meet two friends at a local bar/restaurant at 7pm. I was early, of course, and both of my friends showed up late. Very late. I was royally ticked off at them by the time they showed up. One of them had boyfriend problems that caused her to be late and the other had boss problems that caused him to be late so we finally went into the restaurant and started off with a couple rounds of heavy drinking since we were all in pissy moods. The drinking continued throughout the dinner and by the end of the meal, we were so looped we had to have the waitress explain the bill to us. To this day I still don't easily tolerate tardiness. Afterall, if I can make an effort to show up on time, why can't they?

Such a dish already exists. It's Chinese and is called "Got Let" Chicken (this is the spelling I am familiar with...there may be variations). The legs are "frenched" and the meat is pulled up to the one end and rounded off, making, in essence, a ball of chicken meat on one end, i.e. a Chicken Lollipop. This is dipped and breaded and baked or can be fried, as well. My mom took some Chinese Food cooking lessons about 30 years ago and always dreaded making the Got Let chicken because her 4 teenage boys (including yours truly) would eat two sheet pans of these "chicken lollipops" at one sitting. As for the lingering odor of fried chicken... Cooking the chicken outdoors (a la Brooks) is the best solution. For indoor odor, I'd suggest lighting a candle (or two). Andiesenji posted a solution (earlier in this thread? Or was it in another discussion?) but I can't remember what it was she said worked well for her. Perhaps she will repost it here.

The promotion posters from previous years are a hoot and a half! Thanks for the links.

Sure, that's easy for YOU to say. Why, you might as well leave it out altogether! ← Or use a lot less than what's called for. Adjust it to your tastes and if your tastes can't stand it at all, does as the others have suggested and use a substitution.

He means the typical Italian grandmother doesn't put the green onions, for example, directly on the cutting board and slice them using her Global Chef knife using her knife skills. Instead, she'd hold the green onions in her hand and slice them up against her thumb using her paring knife, often right over the bowl, pan or cutting board. Mario is about authenticity in Italian food, both in ingredients and in the cooking/prepping methods (e.g., using the well method to make pasta). On his show, just about everytime he's cutting up veggies using his chefly knife skills, he mentions that it's not really the authentic way of cutting/slicing vegetables in Italy. Hence, the "not cutting in/on the board" comment.

I'm a chilehead and can handle it pretty hot. That being said, as Jason suggested, there is a point of heat beyond which only the stupid (or those without tastebuds) roam. That's a territory I don't wish to visit. I was given a bottle of Dave's Insanity Sauce and thought, "Yeah, sure, like it's going to be that hot." I put what I considered to be a normal dash of the sauce on a taco and promptly got the hiccups for the next half hour. For the non-chileheads out there, when eating spicy food, hiccups are your body's way of saying "What the F$@# are you trying to do to me?!?!" Needless to say, I "cut" the Insanity sauce now and haven't had a repeat episode since. 6 million Scoville units? Does the military know about this stuff?

In the previous eG discussion I linked to on page 3 of this thread, Dave the Cook was of the opinion: I wonder if anyone near participating in this cook-off and is to the point of frying up some chicken would care to try a side-by-side experiment (provided they have a dutch oven and a fry pan)?

Thanks for the link, Brooks. One problem. They don't say where they are! This isn't the first site that I have seen like that. ← fifi, this is from their home page (just chop off everything after the main address in the address line):

Previous argument...er...discussion of pan-frying versus deep frying chicken: "The Fried Chicken Debate: Deep Fried or Pan Fried?, Consistent Quality vs. Risky Excellence" with info about pans, fat and frying (that quickly veers off-topic). fifi did post her fried chicken recipe in it with tips added. Another tip: use a splatter screen, if you can.

Now that you mention it, I remember that episode. I thought the addition of the onions was really odd. I had never seen it, for whatever that is worth. I wonder if that is a micro-regional thing, sort of like poaching eggs in gumbo? Do you remember if they ate the onion? Milk gravy . . . Definitely. I think my technique for that could use some work. As I remember, if Aunt Minnie was frying a couple of chickens, she would use two frying pans so that the "crumbs" didn't overbrown with the cooking of the second batch. Then she made the most sublime milk gravy. I never perfected that. Mine is ok, just not as heavenly as I remember. ← I wondered if the onion really added anything to the final product. It's gotta be there just for flavoring the oil. The Chinese season their oil before stir frying...why not do it with oil for frying chicken? And to answer your question, no, the onion was discarded. I am sure by the time the chicken is done cooking the onion is "toast" anyway, so to speak. My milk gravy has always turned out disappointing. It usually tastes like "nothing". If you have any tips or a recipe you can post, that would be great. Milk Gravy was never really covered in any of the eGCI classes.

Anyone add onions to their oil? Is that a Southern thing? I saw an episode of "Tyler's Ultimate" where he was in a restaurant kitchen in Oxford, Mississippi, where they were making fried chicken. The women doing the frying (using the biggest fry skillet I have ever seen) tossed hunks of onion into the oil before they started frying the chicken. You can click on the link to "Chalfonte Fried Chicken" for the recipe where the onion gets dropped into the oil.

"We sing of Spring, sing joy Spring!..." - The Manhattan Transfer This was the first week strawberries from Santa Maria have made an appearance this year. I even saw peaches for sale at the produce broker's stall (boo hiss ) but I don't buy from him so I passed them up. It's a still mix of seasons. There are a lot of greens around (even brussel sprouts!) and apples & citrus are still present. The honey man didn't have honey yet. I would have thought with the super abundance of wildflowers this year in SoCal that he'd have a good harvest already but I guess it's too soon in the season for him. I ended up buying: A head of organic cauliflower as big as a bowling ball (it's huge, I tell ya!) A head of organic cabbage, firm and green. Three bunches of organic carrots (orange, this week) Organic blood oranges Romaine lettuce And some pieces of Linzer Tort, a bag of apple-raisin scones and a bottle of ketchup from the German woman who sells baked and canned goods (her horseradish mustard is wonderful).

Last night's dinner was a pork loin roast that was just incredible...moist and porky! Served with mashed potatoes and oven-roasted aparagus (a la the roasted cauliflower method) that was simple yet delicious. Didn't really make a gravy from the pork loin...just a nice sauce from the pan drippings.

Are you, at least, a southern Canandian?

Lamb chops would be great. I wish jinmyo would pop in this discussion and put her spin on them. I think the suggestion of asparagus is right on target since they're coming into season now. And something with early strawberries for dessert!

I stumbled across these and thought they were waaaaay cool: Not Your Mama's Rolling Pins

I like both pictures much better. In the first picture, the lighting is pretty even overall. It's good but there's no distinct key light to provide interest. In the second picture, the main (key) light is a lot stronger. It looked like you tilted the dish as well as the camera (which imapcted your plating). I straightened it out in Photoshop so I wasn't as distracted by the angle as before. I also ran it through the Unsharp Mask, as well, to make it "pop" a little more. You're set-up looks like it will come in quite handy. I am anxious to see more pictures!

I asked a friend of mine who is from Vietnam if she could tell me the names of some of the leaves/herbs she uses in her cooking and she said she really couldn't tell me. She and her family always refer to the leaves/herbs as "the leaf you eat the duck eggs with" or "that leaf that looks like a rat", and so on. She said "we know it when we see it!" Makes it kind of hard for the unintiated to shop for Vietnemese ingredients!