jwagnerdsm

Looking forward to it, GG. Enjoy the weather now. It's snowing in Iowa and heading your way.

Anybody have any idea how I might use corn meal rather than Jiffy in that recipe?

A great, great report. Can you talk a little bit more about vapors. I mean, do you eat it or do you just smell it? I still can't quite grasp the concept of tasting compared to, well, eating, but it looks like an interesting experience. I'm also interested in the salad. And do you leave Trio feeling stuffed, satisfied, or a little hungry?

Elyse

The Corn Exchange (Rapid City, SD) What's this place?

skinsey, I am intrigued with your preparation. How difficult will it be to debone a turkey, something I've never done before?

I've got a problem with T-Day dinner. I've got a big bird and six sides that need oven time. The bird, a free range beauty that I ordered months ago, won't fit in a roaster (and I'm not nuts about the way it turns out in those anyway.) This being Iowa, the weather on Thanksgiving could REALLY suck but I am considering either: a.) deep frying the bird. b.) cooking it on the grill. Any other grand ideas? Opinions on my ideas?

Tamarind Paste is a staple in Pad Thai. Lots of work but worth the effort. The National Dish of Thailand.

Heather, This is an interesting topic for me because for the last seven months, we've attempted to eat only locally grown food. Not only does it take a lot of extra work, but it also takes some careful management because you can't just run out to the store at 4:30 p.m. to pick up those extra ingredients for dinner. I spend, on average, two hours in the kitchen every day just making dinner. And then there's the time I spend growing or sourcing food, canning or freezing it, cleaning produce, and figuring out substitutions for certain ingredients. The toughest months are ahead if you haven't been freezing and canning all winter. I say start slow. And get a copy of Putting Food By. It's the bible of food preservation and it will probably save you from killing your family. Good luck.

We allow sampling at our farmers markets in Des Moines. (We have a new indoor market that is kind of like a very small Penn Station in Philly. My kids -- ages 2 and 4 -- think of the market at their personal buffet: sausage, cheese, apples, etc.). The problem mentioned about people buying produce by the bulk and then selling it isn't unusual. In Iowa, the Women, Infant and Children's program offers food stamps for fresh produce if it is Iowa grown. So, some people claim that they are selling locally grown produce so that they can collect the stamps and redeem them. One way around it is to find a producer you trust and then ask about seasonal products and the reputation of other vendors. These farmers spend a lot of time with one another and, like any "community" there is a grapevine. They know what's going on and will usually point you in the direction you desire. Smoke Signal's theory is that if you let vendors sell products from elsewhere, it will help to educate the tastes of local consumers and, perhaps, create new markets for foods that aren't currently grown in the locale. Good on the surface, but, I think, a little flawed. Margins for truck farmers are often very small. Often, the price for farmers market produce is higher than grocery store produce. If you allow anybody to bring in anything, you'll undoubtedly have people buying bulk produce at very cheap rates and be able to sell it at a much lower price than locally grown foods. It would encourage the Wal-Martization (silly word) of farmer's market. Another problem is that anyone who has experienced fresh, locally grown produce knows that it is farm superior in taste to stuff trucked in from South America or whereever. You start pawning this stuff off at farmers markets and people aren't going to be able to educate their tastes in another important way: by experience the tastes of locally grown vegetables. The local foods movement is at a crossroads right now and is set to really, really take off. And not just in big cities like New York or Dallas or Austin. It's taking off in places like Ann Arbor and Gary and Sioux Falls. The way to grow it is to offer the best local food that is available. This isn't important just from a culinary standpoint. There is real hope that this whole movement will offer small farmers a real chance to stay on the land. That's good for small communities, good for the environment, good for all of us. There's a story in this month's issue of Saveur about the death of the local butcher. In Iowa, there are actually butchers (we call 'em locker plants in small town Iowa) who are thriving because of the local food movement. Free range chickens, beef, and pork needs to be processed in a licensed, inspected facility. So as more people seek out farm grown meats from small producers, these small farmers are getting their animals processed at these small locker plants. Four or five in the state have seen their business grow markedly in the last two years. That's a good thing, too. If I'm going to a farmers market, I expect it to be filled with farmers. Let the green grocers set up somewhere else. We'll find 'em when we want a mango or papaya or even a tasteless carrot or bland radish.

Thanks Bourdain. I've been a little uncomfortable with the response to adrober's review, particularly the inference that he doesn't have any right to say it because he's young and inexperienced. Glad you said it.

Katie, I am taking your reply as it was intended. As I stated before, I know very little about wine. They were acquired the way many wine novices acquire it: a gift or a souvenir or something. I only asked because I didn't want someone to say something like "holy shit, you drank an 85 Neibaum-Coppolla with hamburgers" when we should have saved it for a special occasion. I plead ignorance. Carema, thanks for your help. I really do appreciate it.

These bottles are lingering amongst the $12 to $14 bottles of wine we buy at the liquor. Can anybody tell me anything about them. They were either gifts or were things we picked up on overseas trips. Thanks Chateau La Croix Pomerol (1990) Rioja Bordon Reserva 1987 (Bodegas Franco) Niebaum-Coppola Rubicon Red 1985.

Thanks adrober, and welcome to egullet. I'd always wondered about Charlie Trotter's so I enjoyed your review. So there were only two menu options for the evening? Man, I am so small town. I'm so used to going to restaurants with so many choices ("you want to supersize that whopper value meal?") $350 is a lot of money. From what I understand you could almost get the TDF menu at Trio for that much.

Some of it depends on the regulations in your state regarding the sale of poultry. Here, (Iowa) all livestock needs to be processed at a state-inspected and regulated butcher shop or locker plant if it is to be sold. That means the bird is cleaned and ready to go, probably better than the birds you buy frozen at the grocery. Second, the bird may or may not be delivered frozen. That will account for some changes in prep time. You'll find a free-range bird to be much meatier, particularly the breasts. But you can treat it just like any other turkey. Oh, and there won't be one of those little pop up thermometers to tell you when the turkey is cooked.

Chicken soup with stuff from the crisper: green beans, spinach, potatoes, carrots, parsnips.

Rachel, Don't get me wrong, I am not anti-farm raised salmon (heck, I'm not anti-much of anything, although I can't think of much that I'm really in favor of either.) I was most curious about Whole Foods, since I have had this idea that it was some kind of hot bed of Birkenstock wearing commies. But in the last few weeks, while reading posts on this board, I've gotten the idea that it's more of typical food store, like your Cub Foods or Piggly Wiggly. The main text of the ad said: "Salmon raised on farms are very different from wild salmon. For starters, they're raised in floating feedlots that pollute the ocean. They're fed chemical additives to make their flesh pink like wild salmon's. Anti-biotics and pesticides are used to control disease outbreak on the farms. If that's not bad enough, farmed salmon contain disturbing levels PCBs. Despite human health and environmental concerns, many restaurants and stores are still willing to sell farmed salmon to you -- including some health and natural food stores you've come to trust. And that's enough to make anyone lose their appetite." "Tell These Stores to Stop Selling Farmed Salmon: Visit www.weeatseaweedandpinecones.com (alright, I made that part up. It's www.farmedanddangerous.org.)" Then is lists Whole Foods, Safeway, Kroger, Trader Joe's, Albertson's and Costco.

The best Chinese I ever had in the U.S. was at Kingdom of Vegetarians Chinese Restaurant in Philadelphia. I ate there once (and was a smidgen, just a smidgen, drunk, so I can't completely vouch for the food) but it's one of those places that still resonates when I think about good food. And, amazingly, it was all vegetarian. They did some incredible things with tofu and wheat gluten. I've always wondered why we eat mock meat when the real stuff is better and, uh, easier, but this stuff was all damn good.

Could you wedge a cat in there?

We don't have a Whole Foods here in Des Moines, but there has been talk of one coming. I always thought it was a sort of organic / health food / gourmet place. Am I wrong? I ask because I saw a half-page ad in the NYT today regarding the dangers of Farm Raised Salmon. It encouraged a boycott and said that Trader Joe's and Whole Foods were among the stores selling it. Anybody avoid Farm Raised Salmon? Anybody clue me in on Whole Foods? Jay

Jello salad, tuna casserole, meat loaf

I would probably say that the Joy of Cooking gets used three to four times a week in my kitchen, often times just to double check a process that I am using or to look for some ideas for cooking. Julia's "The Way to Cook" is right up there for me. It's another good reference. I notice on the Food Network that they are advertising an every man's cookbook that is supposed to serve as a far reaching reference. And it contains something like 136 recipes. Seems like a waste. What's the one or two cookbooks you can't live without and what makes them so great? Gotta start getting the ol' Christmas list ready.

Paula Wolfert

What if I brought the pig?