jaybee

Civil is as civil does. I just reacted to what seemed like unnecessary gamesmanship. But The thread has returned to Stew, thanks to Jinmyo and Simon. Don't laugh, but I really do like Dinty Moore's tinned version. They get huge truckloads of farm fresh carrots and potatoes (I've seen them delivered up there in Austin MN), They use good grade frozen Argentine beef. Huge stew kettles make the gravy, then the stuff is cooked as you'd do it at home x 1000. It is sealed in the cans and retorted. It can be doctored and gussied up. Not EG gourmet practice, but good stuff.

They also sell their cioppino sauce bottled by mail order. It is a very good base to use if you don't want to make it from scratch. I keep about six quarts of it on hand at all times.

I've skipped the potatos and served a thicker version on broad noodles, a la boeuf bourgingon. But I don't like it as much as the potato version. The starch in the potato seems to really blend wel with the sauce.

Oh, I forgot. Last time I made this, I added slices of imported Spanish chorizo. Yummy.

OK, by popular demand, here is the cioppino thread. I make no pretense to authenticity, as I long ago deviated from the "classic" dish. I've tried lots of different fish and seafood: monkfish is great, scallops and shrimp are too. Clams are a must. Don't use oily fish (Bluefish for example). Flakey fish will add flavor and texture but will not hold together in the stew. When I want to go upscale I add lobster meat. Variations can be made with different stocks added to the basic tomato sauce. Shrimp or lobster stock made from the shells. When in a hurry I sometimes add two bottles of good bottled clam juice. The stuff that's not too salty. If I have frozen fish stock on hand, I put a block of it into the sauce as it cooks. Season the shrimp and scallops with cayenne pepper, then sautee in olive oil, garlic and flambee them with cognac. Lightly dredge the monkfish in flour and sautee in a separate pan. Add the sauteed seafood and fish into the stew in the last five or ten minutes. Lately I'v been steaming small Yukon gold or red bliss potatoes, quartering them and putting them in the stew with about ten or fifteen minutes to go. Sprinkle chopped flat leafed parsley on top just before serving. The basic sauce is made tomatos, onion, garlic, tomato paste, red pepper flakes, but I really can't recall the master recipe. I have to look it up in the country this weekend. Serve with big slices of toasted olive oil and garlic-rubbed sourdough bread on the side and a strong red wine (a good Chianti Classico works well, or a good Zin). More ideas please...

Uhm, Jin, is this a new cooking technique, sort of related to the way cows digest?

Great! My recipes are in the country so I'll retrieve them this weekend. We should start a cioppino thread. Have you ever had the one from Tadish's Grill? That was my first taste of this dish and it really knocked me for a loop.

Jinmyo, when you say "go further and deeper" do you mean variations on the original dish, or something totally new and different? I make a pretty good cioppino. I really nailed a recipe, after being inspired by Tadich's Grill in San Francisco. Now I am trying different levels of heat, adding steamed red potatos, using some wine and it has changed the dish quite a bit, though the basic tastes are still there. There is little excitement in making something tried and true, even though it will be a crowd pleaser. I like to add one new and challenging dish to the list of things I try every few months. It's a little scary the first time, even with a practice run. When I am serving the same people in my "crew" and I offer a variation on something they like, they sometimes complain. I changed the Thanksgiving stuffing one year and there was hell to pay.

One last time. Read the thread from the top, awbrig. Look at the sequence. Understand the replies you gave. If you can't see what I'm saying, I'm wasting everyone's time. I'm not breaking your chops. You did a very insulting and condescending thing in the way you set this up. Dude.

And you don't think that answer to Jin's question was inappropriate?

I just did by adding to my previous post. I hope you can see what I'm saying.

Advice is only worth something if it's taken. You don't seem to need any. Look at what you just did. You post a question. Jin asks you to define what you mean. Nina suggests that stew is stew. Others answer seriously. You reply by lecturing everyone on how much you know about the subject, say how much experience you have making irish stew, post a website to tell people what they can learn about a subject you asked them about in the first place. Then you say you're only interested in a "killer" recipe. To be blunt about it, that performance is kind of obonxious

It's at least a two-napkin job. 1/2 pounder, great fries, cole slaw and cheese for 7 bucks. A vinnah.

Do you always ask questions to show how much you know about the subject? It is tiresome. Try Dinty Moore. They make an excellent product. Add some '96 Opus One and no one will know you didn't cook it yourself from your many different recipes.

Did you buy the bottle?

Wilfrid, just looking at the cover, it is easy to see why they took the tack they did. That headline will sell more copies on the news stand than a less sensationalistic line. The subject is not without interest. One slant could be that some of the laws prevent people from eating the best tasting foods and are arcane. Does the article make that point? There is more risk and harm from tainted meat (e-coli) than from unpasturized cheese.

My comments abou the substance of this thread were made in the context of the decision to erase off-topic chat in order to encourage relevant chat about food which, it was claimed, was being diluted by OTC.

Uh, between this thread and "how do you pronounce Otto", we see evidence how the absence of OTC has brought a laser like focus on food and elevated the level of excellence on EG.

True, since the Natick tribe meant to call it Beautiful place by the sea, and in !Ors, it means the disembowled remains of a hyena-eaten carcass, hardly a name for a restaurant that would appeal to any but offal-eaters.

It might be your nishtanah but it ain't mahn. I'd prefer to to discuss the relative merits of Lucky Thompson and Sven Kveltenson over a cup of hallilohazeh au gratin.

IMHO the topic is I.N.A.N.E., pronounced in-ayne.

And what if it was about some joint in Ogonquit that served scalloped pizzas? Would we spend 104 posts discussing how to pronounce Ogonquit?

Schneid has been in my general parlance ever since I overheard some old Jews playing bridge in 1947 whilst eating gribnes on the porch of a kuchelain in the Catskills. Two of them collapsed with coronary arrest when they tried singing Dancing in the Dark and couldn't handle the octave change since they started an octave too high.

Someone needs to explain to me how 104 posts on this subject are a worthy replacement for some of the off-topic chat that is no more.

Merci, Liza. Asked and answered.