Memories - eG Wisdom from the Cobwebs

[Kerry Beal]

eGullet has been online for quite a few years. A fair number of well known food writers and food folks have passed through - and a lot of information has been posted on these pages. There have been Q&A's with famous and celebrity chef's, the Daily Gullet, the eG Culinary Academy, the foodblogs, as well as the day to day interactions.

 

Last night I was looking for some information on places to eat in Atlantic City - and I came across this thread by Fat Guy Atlantic City Then and Now and down the rabbit hole I went. I was taken by one statement in particular 'You can judge a buffet by its bacon. At least in the case of a breakfast or brunch buffet the bacon is always the first thing I check.' - so true! And back down the rabbit hole I went again.

 

I'd like to propose that we find some of these jewels from the past and post a link to them here so we can laugh, cry and learn together. So dig them up - threads, posts, and articles that moved, amused or taught you and lets go down the rabbit hole together.

 

 

 

[Kerry Beal]

Here is another - Anna and I got talking at lunch yesterday about kids with various foreign bodies in various orifaces (I had a child in ER who had choked on a little hair barrette the day before) - and she mentioned that when she did her first blog her grand daughter was taken to ER for swallowing something. Time I read about it myself.

[Lisa Shock]

THIS is my favorite thread of all time. It was started by @weinoo .

 

Prior to this, I had auditioned for the second season of Food Network Star, and met @gfron1 in person at the audition. It was the first time someone recognized me from eG, which was very cool. Anyway, during my audition, the FN people kept asking about my family and family cooking traditions and I (foolishly) told them that my mom's favorite saying is "There's a reason God made bakeries." I had always felt a bit alone, being the only person in my family who liked to cook, and often being the only person who noticed differences between brands, or recipes, or when something was reformulated. @annabelle's reply was amazing, it expressed exactly how my mom felt -being in the kitchen was a form of unrecognized indentured servitude. -And, how I always felt a bit guilty because I wanted to spend hours in there experimenting, and hours upon hours reading cookbooks from the library. It was really liberating to realize how many people were just like me, somehow winding up with a love of cooking without any support system for it at all. -We were allowed to cook because no one else wanted to step up and do it.

[Anna N]

 Yep that little child who swallowed a heart is now almost 17 and wearing her heart on her sleeve!

 

The topic that opened my eyes  to a whole world of flavours that I had never imagined was this one 

 

Laarb

 

if I close my eyes I can still bring back my first taste of laarb. My salivary glands work overtime!  It was my first step over the threshold into the darkside of exotic tastes. There is no going back  and I am always searching for another similar epiphany.  Laksa came close. 

Edited August 12, 2016 by Anna N (log)

[Alex]

Kerry, what a great idea for a topic! It was fun, too, seeing the names and avatars of all those former, and wise, eG'ers, and wondering what they're up to nowadays.

 

What immediately came to mind wasn't a post or topic per se -- it was anything Paula Wolfert wrote.

 

As you might know, about three years ago Paula was diagnosed with Mild Cognitive Impairment, an early stage of the Alzheimer's form of dementia. Here's a 2013 article from the Washington Post about that. And here are last year's articles from Bon Appétit, The Wall Street Journal, and kitchn about the Kickstarter campaign for her biographical cookbook, now scheduled for publication next spring.

 

This is one of many favorite posts: stratification. I had been making sauces like this for some time without truly knowing exactly what I was doing, or why.

 

And this is a favorite topic: Cooking with "The Cooking of Southwest France". I'm proud to say I was one of those eG'ers who did recipe-testing for the 2nd edition of the book. I still have the email I sent back to her with my feedback, almost exactly twelve years ago.

Edited August 12, 2016 by Alex
delete an excessive exclamation point (yes, I'm an obsessive editor) (log)

[weinoo]

I pretty much loved all of the week-long blogs by members.

 

Thanks, @Lisa Shock!

[Anna N]

Paula was (and is) a most generous person and poster.  When I mentioned on the forum that I had great difficulty sourcing many of the ingredients she sent me a list of dishes that were within the realm of possibility. I was so amazed that someone as busy as she would take the time to type out a list like that and PM it to me. I have a special place in my heart for Paula and hope she is doing well. 

[Alex]

1 hour ago, weinoo said:

I pretty much loved all of the week-long blogs by members.

 

Thanks, @Lisa Shock!

 

Yes! Especially the three from Ecuador by Elizabeth Campbell (Panaderia Candiense): 2011 2012 2016

[suzilightning]

Sometimes I will go back and re-read some of the early blogs by folks who dealt with different issues and how they dealt with them....inspiring words indeed.

[Anna N]

And who can forget The Daily Gullet especially @Maggie the Cat's contributions. Like this one

 

Click

[heidih]

Yes lots of great writing and thinking in the Daily Gullet.  Steven Shaw's pieces here are a must-read (I can't see the screen for the tears right now) - read the whole topic

 

 

Edited August 12, 2016 by heidih (log)

[heidih]

And of course his wife's beautiful tribute to her dad 

 

[Spork]

As a n00b here, I cannot begin to tell you how excited I am about this thread. I did research, and lurked a considerable amount of time, before I joined this forum. But, I do realize I only scratched the surface. 

 

I only browsed the posts, did not follow any links. But, I assure all that I will follow and read each and every link. 

 

Thank you all, from an interested n00b. 

[Shelby]

7 hours ago, weinoo said:

I pretty much loved all of the week-long blogs by members.

 

Thanks, @Lisa Shock!

Ditto.

 

I love to be able to have time to peruse old blogs.  SO fun....and then my brain drives me crazy wondering where certain members are that haven't been here for years.....

[Kerry Beal]

Ok - so this becomes dangerous - I'm about halfway through the Larb thread and I come across Chad's first larb attempt.

 

So now the rabbit hole leads to Chad's An Edge in the Kitchen.

 

Ok - back to larb.

[blue_dolphin]

I think it was last week when @Shelby was making some marinated eggplant which got me thinking of caponata.  I was shortly sucked into this great thread on the Cooking and Cuisine of Sicily.   Gotta go back and finish re-reading that one before I get sucked into something else ! 

 

Edited to add:  If you really want to go down a rabbit hole, do a search for "Cooking and Cuisine of" and you will find a wealth of Italian regional cookery threads started by @Kevin72.  So good!

A Year of Italian Cooking thread index

Edited August 13, 2016 by blue_dolphin (log)

[Anna N]

And if you want to wander all over the globe search out @Adam Balic's activity. 

[Anna N]

 And then I thought of member @Tim HaywardAnd fell down 

 

This

 

rabbit hole.....the careers we launched. 

P.S.   Rumours of our demise at the end of this piece are highly exaggerated.

Edited August 13, 2016 by Anna N (log)

[rustwood]

Last year I made pomme puree for the first time.  The recipe was in grams and until I was actually making it I didn't realize that it called for a pound of butter.  It was for a big holiday meal with guest so I really hesitated to deviate, but I ended up using about half as much.  It came out OK, but not great. Afterwards I was trying to figure out where I went wrong and found this quote in a post here about the recipe:  "..the amount of butter Robuchon uses is up to half the weight of the potatoes. No, I'm not kidding. Obviously you'll use less (everone does)."  I am sure it isn't nearly as funny if you haven't found yourself in that exact position, but it was priceless for me.  I laughed out loud. After reading that, I decided my mediocre result probably didn't have anything to do with the reduced amount of butter (plus it tasted very buttery).

[NWKate]

I, too, miss many of the old members.  I've recently returned after lurking for awhile.  I've been reading a lot of the old posts- especially in food culture and traditions and am especially enjoying those about the worst meals & guests and what our families did NOT teach us about cooking!

 

[Toliver]

I've always enjoyed the FoodBlogs. bleudauvergne's blogs from France were quite enjoyable for me. She had a natural eye for photography and, like many of the eG bloggers, had a gift for writing and storytelling.

From her third eG Foodblog concerning her butcher's retirement :

Quote

He deserves a golden watch. He deserves a historic plaque on the building, actually. Since he left, I have been sort of drifting. I’m a drifter in the local viande scene. I haven’t established a relationship with any one butcher in the neighborhood, and in my neighborhood, there are at least a half dozen. None of them offer offal like he did. I just blow like a leaf on the wind among them, and not one has done anything that especially impels me to become a cliente fidele.

I think eGullet was ahead of the curve when it came to food blogs and a claim could be made they paved the way for personal web blogs.

[BeeZee]

it was the food blogs that first drew me in...a fascinating in depth view of how other people cooked/ate, and their culture from a personal point of view (not academic).

[Alex]

I sometimes think of CaliPoutine's three-year, 765-post blog/topic Cooking for 50 Senior Citizens whenever I see this Jimmy John's TV ad.

Edited August 15, 2016 by Alex (log)

[Beebs]

The Onion Confit topic was what inspired me to join eGullet 10 yrs ago.  I made my first onion confit in a crockpot, following Fifi's method.  Wow - my whole apartment smelled of the most delicious slow-cooked onion for days!

[Beebs]

Oh geez, I've just spent the better part of my working day re-reading the Larb thread instead of doing actual work.  Went out on my lunch break & picked up the ingredients for pork larb tonight. 

 

Does anyone remember the title of the thread about ugly/ disastrous/ non-photogenic meals? It was inspired by the Dinner! threads and was I think the subtitle was "the other dinner thread" or some such.  Couldn't find it with the search function.  

That thread (and the horrible meals at other peoples' homes - can't remember the title either) used to get me howling, they were hilarious!