badthings

Although they are getting harder to find, there are still well-made cru Beaujolais out there that you could keep for a while. I'll have to look up the astounding (unsulfured) Morgon I had last year. This may surprise some of you, but Steve Edmunds has released a real California Gamay noir à jus blanc (from El Dorado county, of all places) that is fun, delicious, and appropriately beaujolais-y (in a good way, not a rubbing alcohol way). If only he could sell it for the price of a DuBouef Villages. I wouldn't age it for a long time, but it could take another year in bottle.

Sharksoup, I believe the argument is that every factor you list, until the last 5, are in fact components of terroir, and that how you handle the final 5 is simply a product of all of the other variables of terroir up to that point. I suspect that everyone here knows -- I certainly drink the results nearly every day myself -- that the vast majority of grapes are made into a consistent product in the vat, by winemakers concerned not with such niceties but the demands of the market. I don't think anyone is being done a disservice by the suggestion that there is, or can be, more to wine than a succession of microbullage, Burgundy RC212, and American oak inflicted on grape juice. Perhaps you find the flightier fancies of terroirism irksome, but they are better than a purely functionalist approach to the subject -- at least if you want to persuade people to spend more than $10/bottle.

I've been meaning to ensure a steady supply of rubbing alcohol for posterity.

Whichever you choose, try to wait a few hours after you put in the bird before you get started. I've found that starting on the Wild Turkey first thing is not conducive to a good carving job. Among other things.

I don't think it's dumb -- my girlfriend swears that food tastes better if someone else makes it. (Of course, that's because she eats my delicious food all the time). There is something to it though -- a salad with a vinaigrette does taste better to me if someone else does all the work. For more elaborate food though, I think there are too many variables. But the chef is usually more acutely aware of his or her own failings than anyone else -- as Matthew said. EDIT: typo

The origin of ceviche is practically like the origin of fish -- it must be prehistoric, dating to the first time someone caught a fish in a region with a citrus tree. But I know some Peruvians who can talk about it infinitely, like Texans about chili. One of them forwards this site: many interesting recipes here. I seem to recall Sophie Coe talking about a distinctive lowland cuisine based on fish, but I lent my copy to this very same Peruvian. The Oxford Companion to Food entry (thanks to Amazon search inside the book) does not reveal much except for a disputed connection with escabeche -- it cites BARBARA SANTICH, "On Escabeche (and Ceviche)," PPC 20 (1985), if anyone has access to that.

I just reduce one 8-qt. stockpot into 1 ice cube try, then stick the cubes in a ziplock. I don't really measure anything -- just dilute to suit! (if I need a rich stock, 1 cube to 1 cup water say, or as thin as 1 cube to 2-3 cups depending on what I'm doing). Last night I made a potato-leek soup with 3 cubes to 6 cups water, making a pretty dilute stock, because I was splitting the difference between Julia's and Jacques's recipes in Cooking at Home (Julia only uses water, so nothing interferes with the potato/leek flavor).

AP:

Chron: Where indeed? On the other hand, the argument that you should be able to call one thing something it's not because of the impoverishment of your own language is a little specious. But grappa, unlike cognac, has no real geographical meaning (except insofar as it's an italian word). Here's the link to the Istituto Nazionale Grappa that is mangled in the Chron story. EDIT: definitely follow that link. great combination of useful and laughable information: The reference to Salerno is particularly amusing.

link I suggest getting there early if you want to go -- a similar event last year was quite crowded. (Orville Schell, by the way, was one of the founders of Niman Ranch (formerly Niman-Schell), in addition to being a journalist.) Petrini is also talking at Ferry Plaza this Wed. at 4.

I'll second this. Delightful book. Excellent recipe! Squeat I just made this last week -- it was excellent, quick and easy. A new staple. (the leftovers, collapsed and dense, made a kick-ass lunch too). Cusina: I really admire people who find the time to cook real food with kids. Making your own stock is easy. It's worth all the effort.

By the way, pimentón espelette (from basque country) is availabe in the US from the Spanish Table, Williams-Sonoma, and probably Tienda. There is also a woman in Napa who grows them, and sells them whole at the SF farmers market.

If you are going to make flour tortillas there is an excellent article on the subject in the second Steingarten book.

ouch. you inspired me: a picture is worth a thousand words. (sorry, shitty geocities account, so you have to click to see for yourself). EDIT: we were discussing autochthony on an earlier thread, thought you might have seen it.

Thank you for a great summary: I am going to bookmark this thread for future inquiries. I have two questions: 1. I get the feeling that, at least in an ideal France (Italy is also suggestive in this regard), the varietal is actually a component of the terroir. I.e., using an easy example, Syrah is Cornas on some level -- you can't define the latter without the former (and the AOC rules are the effect, not the cause of this situation). I have always understood the idea of "autochthony" in this way. 2. What about a short definition? Is it worth trying?

$30 retail is what I paid for Veuve Cliquot in High School (when I wasn't drinking malt liquor). So that is indeed a good price these days. At the time, I congratulated myself for finding a good deal on a relatively unkown brand. I guess, compared to Haffenreffer, I was sort of right.

Heh. Of course, I meant that it tasted as if someone had turned back the clock on 50 years of breeding to remove intramusular fat. Good as Niman Ranch pork is, they are working with the same genetic material as everyone else. Or so I thought until this loin. By the way, KFC is now claiming health benefits for fried chicken. Come on everyone, let's keep this thread going. I want 50 pages!

The only problem with really wild fennel in California is that dogs are at least as fond of it as we are.

More Salmon in the news: this is a big issue in BC Salon on Whole Foods farmed fish. [you have to watch the ad, of course].

A more palatable resistance: Niman Ranch. I had the most astonishing pork loin last night. It tasted like it came from 50 years ago.

Interestingly the Post had a Page Six item today on people who hate Zagat for other reasons: (that link will only work today.)

I have had a Salter aquatronic for several years and never had to change the battery. I only bought it because I thought it was considerably cheaper than it really was, and I wasn't paying attention at checkout. It works fine, but I don't think half-ounce increments are precise enough. Also, it is really slow. The wet/dry conversion is useful, but I'm not sure how precise it is. The 6001 looks better on all counts, but when I need a new one I'm going to look at non-digital options.

But Mad Dog 20/20 comes in bubblegum flavor. I wonder if the Gallo ones have detectable cork taint.

I have the 10" round lodge, and I go through the motions of seasoning it because I feel it makes it marginally easier to clean (and because of rust). Not easy, just easier. One way to mitigate the smoke problem is to use it under a broiler instead of a stovetop. preheat for half an hour or so. It still smokes, of course, but it seems to mostly stay in the oven.

Gallo of Sonoma tainted too. Laube's on a roll. I was talking about Hanzell to one of the workers (clerks? what do you call them?) at a local wine store the other day, and she said basically: it's their own fault. Implying that it's long been known that chlorine is the culprit and they were too lazy (or maybe cheap) to replace it with a better cleaning solution. (I don't know if this is true, but she was pretty adamant).