Toliver

Perhaps Dave should address this. From my understanding, the longer you brine it, the saltier it will taste (thus getting "tastes like ham" comments from your dinner guests). I've also read on some of the other eGullet brining threads that brining too long can turn the meat mushy. Will this happen after a 5 day brine? It seems a little excessive to me. At what point in the brining timeline does the brining become moot because the deed is already done, so to speak, and any longer in the brine won't help the meat that much? Edited to add an "s"

Hmmmm, by coincidence, I have Spam, Velveeta, kethcup and a food processor in my kitchen. This could get interesting...

As a native San Diegan, I can tell you it's Ray Kroc with a "c". Thanks for the pic of the dreaded "bins". From a consumer's point of view, I've seen them in action and it's not a pretty sight. When I order I always wonder how long my burger has been languishing in a drawer/bin and what nasty little elf put it in there in the first place.

Of course food is art. Van Gogh used paint...Julia uses butter and garlic. Picasso used canvas...St. Jacque uses a ceramic platter. Different mediums, but art nonetheless. I think because food & eating is such a transitory experience whereas most art is considered timeless and permanent (I know, there are exceptions) that food isn't considered to be art. As an aside, I think there was an attempt in California(?) to try and get the UC college system to open a school dedicated to the food arts to be named after Julia Child. It didn't happen, of course.

Zoinks!! Sweet Christmas Tree!* That's a helluva lot of salt! *new Mamster expletive

I'd like to revise and extend my previous remarks... Paula Deen (FoodTV) and her laugh/cackle drive me nuts. Surely she must be drinking before and during each show since everything seems to be amusing to her, then...out comes the cackle. She sounds like someone pissed off a chicken.

I think the potato suggestions are on the mark. French Onion soup tends to lean towards the salty side of the palate and potatoes should be ideal to help counter this.

They cook it, they serve it to me, they cleanup and do the dishes. Sometimes it's nice to let someone else do the work. The Ruth's I've been in haven't had the best atmosphere...sort of generic looking inside. You'd think they could have come up with a consistent interior design that said something about them...like the Bonaza steakhouse chain did. Ruth's got negative points from me for serving a great martini with a plastic bucaneer's sword stabbed through the olives. And I couldn't believe that the Ruth's in Las Vegas is in a strip mall. I do recommend Lawry's Prime Rib in Las Vegas. The interior is done in a wonderful art deco style, the prime rib can be cut with a fork (and is well seasoned...Lawry's, of course) and the wait staff is superb. You are waited on hand and foot. They practically cut your meat for you and spoon it into your mouth. I half expected them to burp me when the meal was over. I felt sorry for the waitresses, though, for being forced to wear "serving wench"-like uniforms. That was the one thing in the restaurant that wasn't as classy as everything else.

My mom used to make the Tomato Soup cake a lot when we were kids. It tasted a lot like a spice cake. If you've never made it, you should try it at least once. I have a dear friend who makes everything from scratch, especially pies and cakes. She inherited her recipes from her grandmother who raised her. She has made chocolate mayo cakes on many ocassions and they were quite moist. Mayo is oil and eggs, afterall, so why shouldn't they be good cakes? Just don't use Miracle Whip by mistake! Oy! As for the oft-requested in this thread "orange layer cake", the only one I've ever had was the one from the Cake Mix Doctor recipe book. It was a bundt cake, actually, with an orange glaze and it was wonderfully moist and "orange-y". The orange layer cake does sound good, though.

I grew up eating my Mom's Navy Bean soup. It was a budget stretcher so we had it often enough that I grew to despise it. But now as an adult, I crave and adore it. That's just how Life is, isn't it? My mom would cook the beans with diced onion and smokey ham hocks that would fall apart during the long simmer. Finding chunks of the ham in your soup bowl at dinner time was like hitting the lottery. And, as if that soup wasn't good enough to be served by itself, Mom would make corn bread in a cast iron skillet. I'm sorry to inform you corn bread purists out there that it was usually a slightly sweet corn bread served with butter and honey. It was all that we knew when it came to corn bread. Once the soup was ladled out, we'd also add a little cider vinegar to the beans. It added a little extra something. Today I'll sometimes add basalmic vinegar if I don't have cider vinegar on hand. Thanks for the thread, fifi!

It's amazing what you can get them to talk about when you're not just sitting down and talking. Get them involved in something (grocery shopping, baking cookies, fishing, etc) and just casually bring things up and they will just talk the day away. You can learn so much during those times.

I thought I would haul this thread back up to find out if you ever did make the choucroute garni (I googled "choucroute garni"...good gosh, how many different meats can they put into one dish?). Talk about a hearty meal! Also, was your attempt at fermented pickles a success?

oh man, that actually sounds pretty good. Fritos were the key ingredient to my mom's (non-italian) meatballs & rice. We all loved them as kids but now that we're all adults, the recipe stays in the kitchen drawer. They were huge meatballs, too. The recipe also called for Campbell's Cream of Mushroom soup which makes it sound like something belonging on the "White Trash Delicacies" thread!

Never have made them myself but I have heard that when making biscuits, the less you work the dough, the better they will turn out. If you work the dough too much the gluten toughens up the dough and then you might as well use them for doorstops.

Ahhh, I was wondering if you were asking professionally or for home use. My mom uses something along these lines to keep her mashed potatoes hot when cooking holiday dinners: Thermal Server And to keep the grvay piping hot: Thermal gravy pot You can find items similar to these in your nearest Bed, Bath & Beyond, or home/kitchen shop.

Bingo. See the lovely pictures that Holly Moore posted. I don't live in the south but there's a diner/cafe here where I live where when you order breakfast and they ask what kind of toast you want with it, one of the options (and the ONLY option, as far as I'm concerned) is biscuits and sausage gravy. Of course, they don't call it "sausage gravy". They just call it "gravy"...the sausage is naturally assumed to be in there. It'd be wholly unAmerican if it wasn't. The gravy (a true southern milk gravy) is usually off-white, slightly tan colored from the sausage & drippings. The gravy is not thin, either. It should have some body to it. Not thick like a pudding but thick enough to blanket the biscuit like a lucious lava. As Holly said, the lumpier (meaning more sausage crumbles) the better. Add some black pepper and I add some Tabasco and you're in heaven. Of course, the biscuits (usually a buttermilk/baking powder biscuit) are fresh and hot, just out from the oven. To be truly decadent, you would slather the hot biscuits with butter before ladling the gravy on them. As you can see by Holly's pictures, biscuits and gravy can be a meal unto themselves. Usually that means 2 to 4 biscuits (depending upon the generosity of the diner). The gravy should arrive in a seperate bowl so you can ladle on as much or as little as you want. I usually use it all. After all, if you're eating biscuits and gravy, you shouldn't do it in a half-assed manner. Gosh, all of a sudden I'm hungry.

Take a moon pie and add some heat and you got yerself a convoluted "s'more".

Reisen's chocolate caramels....but wishing I had salami sticks, string cheese and macadamia nuts instead.

Beans, The fatal error could be a worm. My mom has the Home XP and she kept getting a message that her computer was now rebooting/shutting down. Her tech support told her it was the latest worm virus. You may want to run a virus scan and/or visit Symantec's web site. And to put the thread back on topic, this is a wonderful report. I am looking forward to reading more about your homecoming and the celebration for your Grandfather's birthday. Mmmm...King Salmon.

Don't buy it at that price! I am sure other "NYCer's" will be able to direct you to a more reasonably priced market in the city.

Yes! "Houston, the Eagle has appeared." That eagle is no dummy. He got Eagle Hunter to bring the food right to him. Who's training who?

Thanks for all the kind words! When I stumbled onto the competition, I started writing it immediately for about an hour or so. Then a week went by without any progress. When I discovered the deadline had been extended (thanks, Maggie!) I decided to finish it. All told, it took about 2 and a half hours. I had to rewrite what I had originally started when Maggie threw down the gauntlet and said there'd be extra points to use "Chad" & "Bloviatrix" in the same sentence. "Hah!", I said, and leapt to the challenge (sufffering little to no physical damage in the process). Originally, I had a better preface setting up the use of "pueblo" but that went out the window with the gauntlet being thrown. The major hurdles were "Bloviatrix" and "Jinmyo". Once I figured out those two, it set the tone for the rest of them. I am not proud of what I had to write in order to squeeze in "Varmint". It is not good writing and I will not pretend that it is. Having mulled using words like "Nabokov" & "Kirov" (and tossing them aside) just to gain the "V", I settled on "rev". And to pat myself on the back, I thought my "Zilla369" and "Tommy" were both a hoot and a half. Thanks, Maggie, for the fun challenge!

This is good to hear. These past few years in California they were rarely seen even though it was their migration season. I was afraid their ecology/environment had been ruined or destroyed beyond repair. As a child, I remember being on the playground during recess at grade school and there would be hundreds and hundreds of Monarchs flitting by. We'd run and flit with them until they flew beyond the school grounds. They are a beautiful site to behold.

Yes, fifi, my mom does the same thing. She's 73, lives alone, and has a pantry, freezer and refrigerator all overflowing with food. Sadly, I've seemed to have inherited this overstocking tendency and I live alone, as well. It would be interesting to see how many eGulleters have experienced someone like this in their lives.

Such a dreary night, I thought, as I finally made it back to my pueblo, via Trixie’s joint, slipping out the back and up the fire escape unnoticed. Sybil rushed to the window like a good watch dog as I opened it quietly. Stepping through it into the apartment, I froze as I suddenly heard the sharp click of a gun hammer being pulled back. Some watchdog, I thought, as I gave the animal a wry look. With a small pop, the tranquilizer dart hit my bicep. My heart began to rev, arm in trouble, legs beginning to weaken. “Madam, Bali can be nice this time of year,” I said to her through a haze. She laughed softly. I knew who it was. I could smell her distinctive perfume. I first met her in Indonesia during “The Case of the Missing Daijin”, my only failure as a private eye. I lost one client being too careless and swore I would never lose another. Raw, bright light blinded me as she suddenly turned on a flashlight. I played along. I didn’t want to rob our dainty guest of her drama. “Where’s your partner?” I asked, feeling a little woozy. “I dropped him off at Guy’s place”, she replied. “I wanted you to my self.” I knew she didn’t mean that in a good way. She liked her prey to fight. In Bali, we’d had one row after another before the big Dust-Off. She laughed again. I would have gladly cut her off if I could, but I wasn’t the one holding the gun. “So, Mrs. Terrine, what can I do for you?” I inquired, calling her by name. “I am a Ms. Terrine now. I’ve recently lost my husband.” I vaguely recalled him. John? No, it was Jim, Dixon county’s number one cabbage salesman. He was pudgy and bald, entering his late 60’s. The three of us had gone to an Indonesian movie theater to see “Godzilla” 369…no, it was 370 days ago, if I remembered correctly. “Jay, messy divorces were never for me,” she said with a smile in her voice. “That’s news to m...my ears” I stuttered through the sleepiness enveloping me. “So you lost your husband. Overboard on a cruise, I suppose?” “If you only knew” she laughed. She wasn’t kidding. As I blacked out I knew she was serious, on that I could rely. Serious and deadly, like her borscht. edited to add a '.'