NYT Articles on Food, Drink, Cooking, and Culinary Culture (2005–2011)

The Newest Addition to Ducasse's Crown: Mix In New York (William Grimes)

The first is a tall chicken potpie with crunchy bits of sweet green beans and velvety lemon cream. The second is a one-pot frontier dish, a cast-iron vessel filled with juicy, slow-cooked pork daubed with barbecue sauce and topped with corn bread and bitter lettuce.

In a seemingly more complicated dish, tortelli di patate..., she encases airy puréed potato in gossamer pasta wrappers and serves the little spheres in a meat sauce reduced to its syrupy essence, adding a bit of horseradish for a jolt of brightness.

50 Carmine (Eric Asimov)

Mr. Zagat said the Grocery deserved its rating.
"I've been there, I think it's a delight," he said. "The food is delicious, very simple."

Newcomer to the Rarefied World of New York's Best: The Grocery (Florence Fabricant)

Some say that colatura is the direct descendant of garum, the fish-based seasoning of the Romans. In fact, the brand of colatura available in the United States even calls itself garum (which might be a marketing tool, since Americans are more likely to recognize that name). But many experts and the people in and around Cetara (pronounced chay-TAR-ah) insist their version is much more genteel.

Essence d'Anchovie (Melissa Clark)

Interview with Marcus Samuelsson (Hugo Lindren)

Recipes in today's section:

1. Pumpkin, Sage, Chestnut and Bacon Risotto

2. Steamed Fish Fillets With Hard-Cooked Egg Sauce

3. Linguine With Colatura

What?!? No Nigella this week? :raz:

Soba

SobaAddict70 · October 27, 2003

NYTimes Weekend Report

Friday, 24 October 2003 -- Monday, 27 October 2003

Q: Is there anything the slightest bit similar about Japanese and Swedish cuisines?
Aesthetically, for sure. You have clean lines, minimalist. Also, the way we eat fish. Swedish people eat several different pickled herrings. Japanese several different sushis. And we compare them -- how's this pickled versus that pickled?

Restaurants for Night Owls

Wine for Under $20 (Howard G. Goldberg)

Two of the more exciting tandoor entrees are chicken legs stuffed with pilaf and eggplant pickle, and lamb filets wrapped around an apricot-fennel stuffing. The lamb is served with lemon rice, one of three flavored rices sold as a side dish. The other two are tomato and mint.

Diner's Journal: Amma (William Grimes)

There is sweet potato (of course -- though now that we are old and I have thrown a fit she no longer tops it with marshmallows), broccoli-and-cheese, scalloped oysters, baked apricots (for years it was the only thing one of my brothers would eat) and cornbread dressing. But sadly, no string-bean casserole topped with canned Durkee fried onion rings, a holiday classic that is my favorite guilty pleasure.

Where Casserole Is King (Julia Reed)

Recipes in Sunday's Magazine:

1. Seafood Lasagna -- Adapted from ''Crazy for Casseroles,'' by James Villas

2. Spinach-and-Artichoke Casserole

"We've been sold a bill of goods about convenience in American life," said Alice Julier, a sociologist at Smith College and the president of the Association for the Study of Food and Human Society. "Convenience marketing has shifted people's tastes so that eating fresh from the farm is almost something that people need to be re-educated about — what vegetables are and what different apples taste like."

Community Supported Agriculture: You Get What You Pay For (Kirk Johnson)

Underlying the debate is a resentment among some who live and work on the Lower East Side and who say that the profusion of new bars and restaurants in the neighborhood is turning a residential area into an entertainment bazaar.

Memo To Future Bar Owners: Never Anger The Community Board (Colin Moynihan)

Have a good week, folks...

Soba

SobaAddict70 · October 30, 2003

NYTimes Dining In/Dining Out Section

Wednesday, 29 October 2003

Burger King is the winner with its smoky barbecue and Santa Fe grilled chicken sandwiches on not-baked-long-enough baguettes instead of pasty hamburger rolls. Toppings are red and green peppers and onion and for the barbecued sandwich there is a tomato-based barbecue sauce. The sandwiches weigh in at 350 calories, 5 grams of fat and 4 grams of fiber, according to the restaurant. (All nutritional data in this article came from restaurant Web sites.) The barbecue version clocks in with an amazing 1,450 milligrams of sodium; the Santa Fe with 1,100. These sandwiches are also offered as part of a "lite combo meal": the sides are salad and bottled water instead of French fries and a soft drink.

Health Food Converts The Faithful Of Supersizing (Marian Burros)

"Pumpkin is the perfect crystallization of seasonal cuisine," said Mario Batali, whose restaurants Babbo and Otto were among the early users this year. "Summer's flavors are light and ethereal. Pumpkin is intense, visceral, close to the soil. You can taste that the earth has changed."

Pumpkin Season (Matt Lee and Ted Lee)

Without salt life would be impossible. Without pepper, it would be impossibly dull.

The Real Black Gold: Where Peppercorns Are King (R.W. Apple, Jr.)

You could consider using pepper vodka. And if I suggest garlic-infused oil, that is just because I always have it on hand. It is a lazy way to get the garlic flavor without running the risk of the garlic burning and becoming bitter as you cook the onion.
But you can use a garlic clove, minced (in which case keep watch while you cook), or peeled and smashed whole to give a softer sweeter hit of garlic to the sauce.

At My Table: Penne Alla Vodka (Nigella Lawson)

One dish that remains unchanged is Mr. Tovar's excellent, strangely described tagine. The spiced "toro" beef turns out to be chunks of rib-eye slowly stewed until they achieve the melt-in-the-mouth consistency of belly tuna, or toro. Served in a traditional peaked clay vessel, the toro tagine is a spice pot of exotic flavors and aromas, with lemon grass-scented basmati rice and pungent mango chutney. This is Django's signature dish, and deservedly so. Equally imaginative is Mr. Tovar's solution to the lamb requirement faced by every chef. He roasts the rack, but then uses meat from the shank to make a gutsy moussaka with citrus-accented zucchini and rosemary jus.

A Casbah Unlike Any Other (William Grimes)

Chennai Garden offers several kinds of dosas. The default selection seems to be the paper dosas, impossibly thin, crisp and delicate and just right with the traditional potato-onion mixture....Unusual variations include the mysore sada dosas..., stained almost red with peppers and very spicy, and the rava dosas..., a more pliable crepe made with wheat and rice flour and cilantro.

Chennai Garden (Eric Asimov)

As in many recent labor disputes, the major issues are health and pension benefits. The union is asking for a wage increase of 50 cents an hour and no change in health and pension plans. Most of the restaurants have separate contracts with the union, and want the workers to pay a greater share of costs for medical care and some want to stop contributing to pension plans. A few restaurants have said they would not agree to a wage increase unless the workers accepted the health and pension demands.

Restaurant Trouble (Florence Fabricant)

Coffee Pasta (Laurie Woolever)

In the story of tagliolini al caffè, Sicilian sailors, inspired by their Arab neighbors, mixed ground espresso into the flour they took on long voyages. The coffee prevented the flour from going rancid or harboring mold, and lent it a distinctive mocha color.

That task completed, add a bit more oil and the basic aromatics, like garlic and ginger, followed by the rice. When that is hot and glossy, you can add an egg or two if you like, return the cooked ingredients to the mix, and add soy sauce and other seasonings. The quality and freshness of the dish will be a revelation.

The Minimalist: Fried Rice (Mark Bittman)

At The Nation's Table: Pumpkin Vines (Victoria A. Riccardi)

Recipe: Chicken Livers on Toast

Ms. Yang peeled the celery-like strings off the vine stems, tore off the soft leaves and snapped the hollow stems into several pieces. She suggested stir-frying the vines with fish sauce, lemon grass and chilies. They are also delectable sautéed in olive oil with smashed garlic, pepper and coarse salt.

Meanwhile, Mr. Phelps and Mr. McCormick are eating subs and Entenmann's doughnuts in their construction zone. One night in December (months after they missed their first of many opening dates), they are filmed laying concrete for their front doorstep. It is cold and raining. They are mixing the concrete in the dark, in a wheelbarrow. Mr. Phelps, at wit's end, says, "I did this to enrich my life, though, right?"

The Anti-Rocco's (Amanda Hesser)

Letters Against The Critic: Letters To The Editor

Rooftop Style (William Norwich)

Recipes in today's section:

1. Penne Alla Vodka

2. Ricotta and Pine Nut Salad

3. Blond Mocha Sauce

4. Fried Rice With Peas and Chicken

5. Clams With Pumpkin and Pancetta

6. Baby Pumpkins Stuffed With Pears and Winter Greens

Cheers,

Soba

SobaAddict70 · November 2, 2003

NYTimes Weekend Report

Friday, 31 October 2003 -- Sunday, 2 November 2003

The recipe, a family secret -- until now -- was handed down to the son from his father, Narciso Rodriguez Sr., who is, on this evening, in the kitchen of his son's chic Chelsea penthouse cooking beans and rice -- or congri, in Spanish -- along with boliche, a pot roast stuffed with sausage; fish grilled on the terrace; a green salad; and, for dessert, flan.

Browner's book proceeds anecdotally, for the most part, and in reverse chronological order, and it includes numerous examples of really rotten hosts. Chief among them are the Roman emperors. Nero, for example, loved a good poisoning and would arrange for one to take place right at the table. Caligula liked to sleep with his guests' wives during a banquet (when his sisters were unavailable, that is). Titus thought it was amusing to ply his guests with lots of wine and then have their penises bound with cord, so they couldn't urinate.

A Companion Set Piece To The Annoying Dinner Companions Thread (Charles McGrath)

Wojcik, who is known for his surreally beautiful still lifes, which are periodically featured in Vogue, Esquire and Nest, first teamed up with Kurzweil four years ago, and a result was a kind of tuna melt of the mind: for their first project together they photographed chicken drumsticks submerged in green Jell-O. Since then they have collaborated on such outrageous ''recipes'' as red-snapper s'mores and a blue cake studded with shrimp.

Seventh On 6th Meets Tempura Chic (Michael Boodro)

''Everything I learned about cooking for him was from his mom and dad,'' Jacobs said, stirring the marinara sauce. Dressed in a white linen shirt that stayed remarkably clean, Jacobs moved slowly, clutching his back. He never used the glasses that hung on a black cord around his neck.

Memories of Sinatra's Chef (Alex Wichtel)

Reading Clubs: Back In Vogue (Barbara Fisher)

His 11-year-old vision involved as many candles and candelabra as he could get his hands on and a run on red roses from the local florist. ''It looked like Don Giovanni's last supper,'' he recalls. He has since refined his vision to a modern elegance that has won him a following among the city's most tasteful, including Nina Griscom and Amy Irving. Last month he began teaching classes in flower arranging for ''working girls and social ones,'' he jokes. Four two-hour lessons, with no more than 10 per class, cost $1,000, including all flowers and materials.

Designer Flower Power (Joyce Chang)

''When people come to your house, they don't expect dinner at Bouley,'' he says reassuringly. ''It's called entertaining. People come expecting to be entertained, and that includes everything from the food to the conversation to the table decor to the other guests. It's a total package. It transcends the food. In fact, food that's simple and good is often the most satisfying. People like the simple stuff.''

Jason's Next Sangweech: The Bar-Code Sandwich

And that is precisely why open kitchens have become so popular in recent years. Now that cooking has become a spectator sport, both the players and the fans want to share the spotlight; the host wants to talk to the guests, and vice versa. No one wants to feel like a galley slave. Indeed, even those who can afford galley slaves don't want them anymore. The foodie revolution has turned even the most perfectly coiffed Manhattanites into Italian mammas. Come on-a my kitchen.

Kitchen Seduction (Pilar Viladas)

I became one of two dinner-party inspectors for the British television show of the same name almost by accident. One day I got a call from a friend who was making her name as a producer. ''I don't know whether you'd even think about this,'' she said, ''but would you test for a new program about dinner parties?''

When The Guests Are The Stars Of The Show, Not The Food (Meredith Etherington-Smith)

According to the authorities, the boys were fed a meager diet that included pancake batter, and they ate wallboard and insulation to try to sate their hunger.

Reality Check (Leslie Kaufman and Richard Lezin Jones)

Note from Soba: I would like to dedicate this edition of the NYTimes Digest, in my own small way, to the Collingswood four. What they endured throughout all the years that they lived with their foster parents is horrific beyond imagining. I sincerely hope that their individual futures prove to be much brighter than their unimaginable past.

Despite the nation's struggle with obesity, the Agriculture Department says, more and more American families are hungry or unsure whether they can afford to buy food.
About 12 million families last year worried that they did not have enough money for food, and 32 percent of them experienced someone's going hungry at one time or another, the agency said in a report released on Friday.

Reality Check, Part The Second (reported by the Associated Press)

"Even an attorney reading the technology agreement might not understand that it purports to subject one to patent liability in Missouri," where Monsanto is based, Judge Clevenger continued. Someone versed in the specialized decisions collected in law books might have understood it, he wrote, "but we may presume that few feed stores stock the Federal Reporter on their shelves."

Technology and Intellectual Property Versus Farm Economics (Adam Liptak)

Restaurants: Sake Tastings

Two mezze deserve special mention. The first is acili ezme, a spicy mash of tomatoes, onions, parsley and walnuts. My advice is to spread it on a chunk of plain pide and alternate bites with cacik, a yogurt dip mixed with cucumber, garlic and mint. The other standout mezze is a mildly spicy kofte, or boiled lentils mixed with scallions and parsley and shaped into a small football.

Diner's Journal: Hemsin (William Grimes)

''Unusual nomenclature . . . including 'glutinous rice dumpling' with its tiny 'chicken-tongue' seeds and 'imperial concubine's laugh.' This last, according to Karp (personal communication, 1997) drawing on Groff (1921), 'commemorates the celebrated Lady Yang, whose passion for lychees, fetched at great cost by the imperial courier service, helped cause the downfall of her lover, the Emperor Hsuan Tsung, in 756 A.D.'"

Encyclopedia Gastronomica (Jonathan Reynolds)

Recipes in today's section:

1. Alan Davidson's Favorite Trifle

2. Sponge Cupcakes

3. Bar Code Sandwich

4. Veal Chop Milanese

5. Baked Alaska

Have a good week, folks.

Keep safe and warm,

Soba

SobaAddict70 · November 5, 2003

NYTimes Dining In/Dining Out Section

Wednesday, 5 November 2003

"We're seeing a lot of sheep and meat goats out on land in New York," said Dr. Tatiana Luisa Stanton, an associate with the Northeast Sheep and Goat Marketing Program at Cornell University. As dairy farms fold or merge, the land is getting snapped up by farmers raising smaller animals like goats, sheep, pigs and chickens.

Lamb Is The New Beef (Amanda Hesser)

"In my yapping to you, I've gone astray," he said. "I usually just do the celery chunky." The beef would be perfumed by a fine dice of celery rather than chunks — in Mr. Oliver's world, a misdemeanor.

Spag Bol For The Masses (Amanda Hesser)

It's tempting to criticize Midtown restaurants for charging twice Harry's wine prices, or more. Greed is always a factor, but there are special circumstances. If a restaurateur runs out of tomato soup, he can make more or buy more. If he runs out of 1982 Mouton-Rothschild and customers will pay anything for it, he has a problem: there isn't any more.

Childhood Chic (Julia Moskin)

In another signal that adult tastes are driving the market, the Little Pie Company has fused the cupcake and cocktail trends in its new mojito cupcake, with lime and rum flavoring inside and green lime and mint frostings.

To put it another way, cupcakes are by custom likable, yet insignificant. If they were trifles, they would be mere ones, rarely taken seriously as anything but convenient child-pacification devices.

Sidebar: One Critic's Cupcake Is Another's Cement Block (Eric Asimov and William Grimes)

Well, it is probably true that in the age-old, often futile human search for unconditional love, turning to a dog is rarely a mistake, especially if you're not picky about conversation. But isn't it a bit much to expect people with jobs and families to cook for the dog when they don't have the time to cook for themselves?

What Would Freud Say About This? (Alex Wichtel)

Aged sake adds layers of yeasty opulence to sliced duck breast, arranged over blanched cabbage in foie gras whipped into a froth. For sheer depth of flavor, the only thing on the menu to rival it is a heady stew of skate and smoky grilled eggplant with shisito pepper. When he's finished with the breast, Mr. DeChellis turns the rest of his duck to good use, in a runny egg custard with shreds of duck and large, meaty pieces of matsutake mushroom.

West Village Diamond: Sumile (William Grimes)

Chunks of tender pork...require no more than a simple sauce of pan juices with red wine and a side of creamy mashed potatoes. Monkfish...is grilled just enough to bring out its characteristic meaty flavor while remaining light and delicate, a rare feat.

Sam's (Eric Asimov)

Fresh market sales faded in recent decades, largely because of competition with Granny Smith. Today, one company, S. Martinelli & Company, buys 85 percent of the harvest from the area's 1,500 remaining acres to make juice and sparkling cider.

The Prize of Queens And The Pride of Queens (David Karp)

I like two different ways of combining the sauce with chicken. The first, which is outlined in the recipe, involves making a basic and relatively quick stock with a whole bird, then using the stock, the seeds and the chilies, along with some garlic, to produce a sauce in which the chicken is simmered.

Bits And Pieces (Florence Fabricant)

Recipes in today's section:

1. Pappardelle With Beef Ragù

2. Chicken With Pumpkin Seeds

3. Pan-Roasted Lamb Chops

Enjoy folks,

Soba

SobaAddict70 · November 9, 2003

NYTimes Weekend Report

Friday, 7 November 2003 -- Sunday, 9 November 2003

"I take issue with `poison pen,' " said Mr. Gill, known as Adrian to friends and enemies alike, a devious smile flickering across his face. "I care an enormous amount about restaurants and food, and I get very angry when they're bad. But I don't close down restaurants. Bad food closes down restaurants. Rude service closes down restaurants. All I do is notice it."

The Power Of The Pen Is Mightier Than.... (Warren St. John)

Mr. Ono throws a lot of ingenuity into these small-format dishes. Thick sticks of raw tuna are paired with equal-size sticks made from crisp mountain potato, and he does not hesitate to offer sardines braised with plum sauce.

Diner's Journal: Matsuri (William Grimes)

''You gotta like being by yourself'' to live out here, Tim told me as the shy moose disappeared into the willows on the far side of the river. From Thanksgiving to April, snow covers the six-foot-high fence posts, the temperature falls to minus 30 or sometimes 40, the cattle have been moved to their winter pasture and the ranches are mostly deserted except for their caretakers. When Tim and his wife, Diane, travel the two miles to the plowed highway for their biweekly trips to Jackson for supplies, they race their snowmobile at 60 miles per hour to keep from sinking into the soft snow. In midwinter, they visit their families in California, Kansas and Massachusetts. The rest of the time they like being by themselves.

Home on the Culinary Range (Jason Epstein)

Recipes in today's section:

1. Tim Boyd's Barbecued Brisket

2. Tim Boyd's Barbecued Spareribs

Mr. Grissmer added: "We get Wilbur's and Merkin raw chocolate from Pennsylvania, which is probably the chocolate center of the U.S. We use real orange juice and raspberry, no artificial flavors, no preservatives. From 4,000 to 5,000 pounds of raw chocolate per year, we end up with 15,000 pounds of finished chocolates."

Artisanal Chocolates (Patricia Brooks)

Restaurants: Turkish Delights

One of the original eating spots on the stretch of North Shattuck known as the Gourmet Ghetto, the restaurant is a cooperative in which all workers earn the same wages and share profits equally. It offers only a single type of pizza each evening, and don't expect pepperoni or any other meat. A recent offering was zucchini, roasted fennel, onions, mozzarella, olive oil and parsley. Grab a slice...or a pie...and enjoy it on Shattuck's grassy median strip.

Destination: Berkeley, CA (Louise Rafkin)

Over the next four months, no fewer than five clubs — each with room for hundreds or even thousands of dancers and featuring new-generation diversions like bungee-jumping cocktail waiters and raw-food kitchens — will open in two square blocks of West Chelsea.

Maybe There Should Be A Slate Diary On This Phenommenon (Julia Chaplin)

An authoritative study on the consequences of starvation is the Minnesota experiment, published in 1950, in which 36 men were deprived of half their caloric intake for six months. The men, all volunteers, were later rehabilitated.
After the starvation period ended, experts observed major changes in the men. Some engaged in self-flagellation. One depressed man cut off three fingers. Many of the men struggled with binge eating. Meals that would have sated them previously now left them extremely hungry. One subject, for example, was said to "eat and eat until he could hardly swallow any more and then he felt like eating half an hour later."

Consequences and Complications (Ian Urbina)

Soba

Edited November 9, 2003 by SobaAddict70 (log)

SobaAddict70 · November 12, 2003

NYTimes Weekly Update

Wednesday, 12 November 2003

Effective today, Wednesday, November 12, NY Times coverage will be split between articles that focus on dining in/dining out, and articles of a more general, albeit food-focused nature. The essential nature of this DIGEST has not changed however. --Soba

A. Dining In/Dining Out Section

In the hands of the best of these winemakers, the Champagnes are utterly distinct. The intense, almost austere minerality of the Terre de Vertus, or the equally lean and stony Champagne from José Dhondt in neighboring Oger, offers a marked contrast to the creamy fruit of a bottle of Michel Genet from Chouilly. Each of these wines is a blanc de blancs, made entirely of chardonnay from the Côte des Blancs, which is known as chardonnay territory. They are completely different from, say, the rich, round power of an Egly-Ouriet from Ambonnay, a pinot noir-based Champagne, which in turn bears little resemblance to another pinot noir-based Champagne, like one from Godmé, with its clear, precise raspberry flavors.

The Essence of Champagne (Eric Asimov)

That parade of bland, sweet, fruity, sometimes spicy flavors is hard to match with wine, and it has produced some outlandish suggestions, including gewürztraminer, which the Alsatians who make it drink with everything, from sauerkraut to cheese. Not for me, but I can imagine solving this conundrum with Conundrum, a Napa Valley blend of five varietals that yields an unusual white wine, both lush and robust, lively and full of tropical fruit flavors.

Matching Food With Wine (R.W. Apple, Jr.)

Fall food is perhaps the most satisfying for those who like eating: lamb lightly sauced, sweet with garlic and burnished with Marsala-spiked orange, followed by musky, spiced oven-poached plums. This is a proper autumnal dinner — enough to cloak you in warmth, but not so much that you feel smothered in some sort of gastro-quilt.

At Autumn's Table (Nigella Lawson)

The meals (which benefit City Harvest) are prepared by chefs including Chris Santos from Mojo, Zak Pelaccio from 5 Ninth and Anita Lo from Annisa, and they are served in utter darkness by waiters wearing night vision goggles.

Bits and Pieces (Florence Fabriacant)

Sweden's version of eau de vie is aquavit. At Aquavit, neutral aquavits are infused with spices and aromatics, like coriander, lemon and cloudberries. This can easily be done at home. It makes for a more strident digestif, and can be just the thing after a heavy meal, when clarity is needed.

Digestifs (Amanda Hesser)

Sidebar: A Selection of Digestifs

The Biltmore crab cake, cleverly disguised as a stuffed squash blossom, took me completely by surprise. The squash blossom, fried to a crisp, provided the necessary exterior crunch, a textural contrast to the creamy filling of crab meat in béchamel sauce. It is a seafood doughnut, really, whose smooth, unctuous filling gets the condiment it deserves, a spicy mango dipping sauce, offset by a cool corn and avocado salad.

Biltmore Room (William Grimes)

Quark, much of which is now made in the United States, is becoming easier to find in stores. The major specialty shops usually have it, as do many large supermarkets. An eight-ounce tub costs $3.45 at the Garden of Eden in downtown Brooklyn; a 16-ounce container is $4.59 at Fairway.

Subatomic Cheese (Melissa Clark)

Ku jol pan refers to a glossy tray divided into nine compartments. In the center dish is a pile of delicate palm-size pancakes strewn with sesame seeds. Surrounding the pancakes are little dishes of food, to be wrapped in the pancakes and dipped into a tangy soy-and-wasabi sauce. It is easily enough for two, and possibly three or four.

Temple (Eric Asimov)

Almost as good is one of the simplest apple desserts of all, a plate of caramelized apples, in which the fruit is thinly sliced and baked on a bed of butter and sugar until the slices are meltingly tender and the bottom has become a soft, sweet candy.

The Minimalist Delves Into The Soul Of Pie (Mark Bittman)

If nothing else, 2003 should prove a corrective year. As a result of frost last spring, windstorms in May and the heat wave of summer, production was about 40 percent lower than normal, according to the region's professional group. Because of the early ripening caused by the extraordinary heat, the harvest in Beaujolais began officially on Aug. 14, the earliest ever. The previous record was Aug. 25, in 1893. The usual date is mid-September. "In 1945, 1947 and 1949, we began the harvest at the end of August," said Bernard Jacquet, a Montmelas vintner quoted on the Beaujolais producers' Web site, "but this is the first time we've ever finished in August."

Hard Cider's Comeback (Lise Funderburg)

"It is not simply alcoholic fruit juice, but it's not wine either," said Charles McGonegal of AEppel Treow Winery in Burlington, Wis., which uses the labor-intensive Champagne method to produce cider. "It has its own tartness and tannin profile that sets it apart."

Small dishes of salmon or tuna carpaccio, seasoned with citrus, salt and chives, would be a better match, allowing a little bit of sweetness and acidity to stimulate your thirst.

Recipe: DEVILED EGGS WITH CAPERS AND ANCHOVIES

When Your Garden Becomes Your Pharmacy (Anne Raver)

Recipes in today's section:

1. Mellow Lamb Steaks

2. Autumnal Spiced Plums

3. Caramelized Apples

4. Caramelized Onion and Quark Dip

5. Quark Mousse with Mixed Berries

If you go to the NYTimes web site, you'll find an interactive panel discussion between Eric Asimov, Amanda Hesser, Tim Kopec (the sommelier at Veritas) and Karen King (the sommelier at Gramercy Tavern). Click on the yellow box marked "Small Champagne Producers" to begin the presentation.

B. Elsewhere in today's Times:

Dr. Heiser points out that the common name pigweed refers to a number of different plants, including calcium-rich amaranth.

The teenager, Bruce Jackson, and three adopted brothers were removed from the home in nearby Collingswood when child welfare workers discovered they were on the verge of starvation. The shocking condition of the children — Bruce weighed just 45 pounds — has drawn national attention to New Jersey's troubled child welfare system through intensive news media coverage. It has also led to criminal child-abuse charges against the adoptive parents.

Continuing Coverage of The Collingswood Four (David Kocieniewski)

The company, Humana Milchunion, which is based in Everswinkel, Germany, said that because of human error its Remedia Super Soya 1 product, which is popular in Israel and Jewish communities elsewhere because of its strict kosher certification, contained only a fraction of the Vitamin B-1, also known as thiamine, that is needed to prevent diseases like beri-beri, which can be fatal in infants.

Defects In Kosher Baby Food (Richard Bernstein)

SobaAddict70 · November 17, 2003

NYTimes Weekend Report

Friday, 14 November 2003 -- Monday, 17 November 2003

I'm currently fighting a relatively mild case of the flu, folks -- hence the late report. Things are on the bright side -- even though I spent the entire weekend sleeping with an occasional break, I'm 150% better than last week when I couldn't even eat. So, if you're out there, pray for me. Or, pray for good will and peace on earth. :wink: --Soba

A. Dining In/Dining Out and Travel

Fatty steamed pork was served with kimchi and a vinegar dipping sauce; next to it was a plate of shredded cucumber with jellyfish, a 1,000-year egg (hard-cooked in soy sauce and spices), a little beef, and a lot of wasabi.
The prized, intensely spicy whole-cabbage kimchi, essentially a globe of fire, was next, served with the taming influences of chop chae, at room temperature. Beautifully fried shrimp in egg batter with zucchini coins pressed into it followed, along with fried petrale sole, a West Coast variety.

Seoul Food In Los Angeles (Mark Bittman)

Restaurants: Thanksgiving Dining In New York

Two appetizers deserved mention, grilled baby octopus surrounded by spicy, macerated tomatoes, and a salad of bitter grilled radicchio with meaty, flavorful Sicilian sausage. Pappardelle, or ribbon pasta, with braised rabbit ragu, is a solid entry in an eight-pasta lineup that includes gnocchi in a tomato and pancetta sauce, and orecchiette with cauliflowers and pancetta.

Little Italy's Last Stand (William Grimes)

Jean-Georges Vongerichten, whose flagship restaurant, Jean Georges, is just across Columbus Circle, will run a New York version of Prime, his hugely successful steak house in Las Vegas. His neighbor will be Masa Takayama, a Japanese chef whose dinners at Ginza Sushiko in Beverly Hills ran $250 per person ($300 during blowfish season). Mr. Takayama has closed the California restaurant and will open Asayoshi in the complex, where he will be pleased to serve a $500 dinner.

Last week, Charlie Trotter, the highly acclaimed chef and owner of Charlie Trotter's in Chicago, signed on to open a seafood restaurant.

The Culinary Mall of America (William Grimes)

Blue Ribbon's beef marrow staggers: three sturdy shinbones topped with crispy, deep-fried parsley are plunked in front of you with a wooden stabber.

Bedford Bliss (Jonathan Reynolds)

Recipes in Sunday's Magazine:

1. Banana-Walnut Bread Pudding (Adapted from Blue Ribbon Bakery and Cafe)

2. Banana Caramel Sauce

3. Chickpea-and-Spinach Salad (Adapted from Moustache)

B. Elsewhere in the Times

The Brooklyn Brewery, known by its logo of a cursive B against a muted background — designed by Milton Glaser, the creator of the "I Love NY" campaign — has established a presence in stores and bars throughout the city and, to a lesser extent, the Northeast. But the company is perhaps best known among Brooklyn residents for the open house-style happy hours that it holds on Friday nights in an industrial space attached to its offices.

The Return of the Brooklyn Brewery (Michael Brick and Ben Sisario)

A copy of the full inspection can be obtained by mail by telephoning the city's Citizen Service Center at 311. The department will send the most recent inspection report for up to five establishments at no charge. The information is also available online at http://www.ci.nyc.ny.us/html /doh/html/rii/index.html.

Dirt Dish (George Robinson)

All the people sickened in the Pennsylvania outbreak ate at a Chi-Chi's restaurant at the Beaver Valley Mall, which draws patrons from a string of working-class towns along the Ohio River west of Pittsburgh, between early October and Nov. 2, when the restaurant voluntarily closed. Eleven workers at Chi-Chi's tested positive for hepatitis A and are being treated, Bill Zavertnik, chief operating officer of Chi-Chi's, told The Associated Press. The earlier outbreaks of hepatitis A did not involve restaurants in the Chi-Chi's chain, based in Louisville, Ky.

Hepatitis A Outbreak in Pittsburgh (Lydia Polgreen)

SobaAddict70 · November 19, 2003

NYTimes Weekly Update

Wednesday, 19 November 2003

A. Dining In/Dining Out Section

The Dining section recently asked some of the chefs who have been featured in the Chef column over the years to contribute recipes for their favorite Thanksgiving side dishes. We hoped they would show us the clever twist that can transform a sweet potato or make parsnips seem dazzling. Indeed, they did.
Carrots are glazed with maple syrup, browned butter, sage and dried grapes. Sweet delicata squash is braised in cider with balsamic vinegar and rosemary. Stuffing is brightened with golden raisins and fennel seeds. And sweet potatoes are made smoky and fragrant with chipotles, crème fraîche and cinnamon.

A Thanksgiving Feast Like No Other (Amanda Hesser)

Recipes accompanying this article:

Sausage Stuffing with Caramelized Onions (Tom Colicchio -- Gramercy Tavern and Craft)

Braised Brussel Sprouts with Pancetta and Toasted Bread Crumbs (Suzanne Goin -- Lucques and A.O.C., Los Angeles)

Mashed Sweet Potatoes with Maple Syrup and Chipotles (Bobby Flay -- Bolo and Mesa Grill)

Corn Pudding with Herb-Braised Chanterelles and Spicy Greens (Charlie Palmer -- Aureole)

Creamed Red and White Pearl Onions with Bacon (Barbara Lynch -- No. 9 Park, Boston)

Roasted Parsnips with Orange Zest (David Pasternack -- Esca)

Winter Squash Braised in Cider (Deborah Madison)

Wild Rice with Mushrooms, Cranberries and Walnuts (Alfred Portale -- Gotham Bar and Grill)

Braised Celery Hearts with Tomato and Olives (Judy Rogers -- Zuni Cafe, San Francisco)

Roasted Maple-Glazed Baby Carrots with Dried Grapes (Chris Schlesinger -- East Coast Grill, Cambridge, Massachusetts)

Jerusalem Artichoke Pancakes (Michael Romano -- Union Square Cafe)

Mixed Mushroom and Sweet Potato Stuffing (Charlie Trotter -- Charlie Trotter's, Chicago)

Mr. Oliver continued, "When you cook olives whole like this, it's almost like an anchovy. The salt comes out of the olives, and the olive becomes more like a vegetable. And the salt from the olive flavors the chicken really wonderfully."

The Chef: Rustic Simplicity (Amanda Hesser)

The potato is still king in Idaho, which in a good year produces 20 billion pounds of tubers, close to a third of the American total and enough to give three pounds to every person on the planet. "Idaho," the license plates still proclaim, "Famous Potatoes." A local company still makes a chocolate-covered candy bar with a marshmallow center called the Idaho Spud.

Potatoes Now and Forever (R.W. Apple, Jr.)

With her children long grown, her nights have changed, though she is still side by side with Marco and Mauro at Circo, greeting the customers. Then she often has dinner with her husband at Le Cirque. "He has a strategic table in the corner," she said. "From there he can see what's happening."

At Lunch With Egi Maccioni (Alex Wichtel)

Acqua Pazza (William Grimes)

The name acqua pazza means "crazy water," and it refers to the age-old practice around Naples of baking fish in a bath of seawater, wine, olive oil and tomatoes. True to form, the restaurant notes that the olive oil is from Liguria and the salt is from Sicily. The menu doesn't say it, but someone actually fetches the seawater from the Atlantic. The name is more interesting than the dish, which is pleasing but plain.

Among the toppings, along with the conventional — decent sauerkraut, onions in a sweet tomato sauce — I was happy to discover a new condiment, Peppadew, which I had never heard of before. Peppadew is the trademarked brand name for a sauce made of South African peppers that are simultaneously sweet and spicy and seemed to improve most of the sausages.

Mandler's (Eric Asimov)

Pilgrim's Progress (Joan Nathan)

For her stuffing, she uses freshly shucked local oysters and common crackers.
For her cranberry corn bread, which she eats for breakfast every Thanksgiving morning, she drives six miles to Plymouth for the cornmeal, stone ground at the water-powered Jenney Grist Mill, built in 1636.

The first known documentation of zinfandel in this country was in the 1820's, when it was offered as a table grape in the catalog of a Flushing, N.Y., nursery. Planted in California in the 1850's, it became the state's most popular grape by the 1880's. Now it is second only to cabernet sauvignon among California red wine grapes.

Healthy College Food (Marian Burros)

"We are not the food police," said Jeanne Tappan, general manager of the cafe. That was clear from the fruit cobbler prominently displayed as a special one day last month. "Our goal is to provide healthy alternatives so people are not conscious of eating healthy," Ms. Tappan said.

Food Chain (Denise Landis)

Alex Garcia, a chef who helped popularize Nuevo Latino food at several New York City restaurants and on television, has been charged with conspiracy and money laundering in connection with a drug ring that is said to have imported thousands of pounds of cocaine.

Downfall of a Chef (Florence Fabricant)

Recipes in today's section not included above:

1. Braised Ligurian Chicken

2. Turkey Braised with Cranberries

3. Cranberry Cornbread

Soba

SobaAddict70 · November 23, 2003

NYTimes Weekend Report

Friday, 21 November 2003 -- Sunday, 23 November 2003

A. Dining In/Dining Out and the Sunday Magazine

The simplest starter is grilled scallops with sweet chili sauce, crème fraîche and green plaintain chips, which seems like a one-chef dish compared with all-out productions like grilled ox tongue with cumin-spiced eggplant relish, quinoa flat bread and roast garlic yogurt; or main courses like chestnut risotto cake with pickled butternut squash and pine nuts, Zamorano cheese, hen of the woods mushrooms and arugula.

Diner's Journal: Public (William Grimes)

Restaurants: Clinton Street Row, the Modern Cindarella

''In Corsica, there is a chestnut festival every year,'' Olivier Baussan tells me through his translator, Delphine Hibon, while nimbly slicing halfway through the hard shells of a bowl of chestnuts in my kitchen. I've challenged him to execute an alternative Thanksgiving for those either homesick for the Italian countryside or looking for a change. His first course is a chestnut soup. ''In Corsica, they love chestnuts. They feed them to the pigs to make their sausages taste better. They have them in all varieties out of season -- in cans and jars, dried. They even make beer from them!''

A Country Where Thanks Is Given Almost Every Day Of The Year (Jonathan Reynolds)

Recipes in today's section:

1. Olivier Baussan's Chestnut Soup

2. Duck Breasts With Honey and Mustard

3. Honey Focaccia With Apple, Figs and Ricotta

B. Elsewhere in today's NYTimes

The West Chelsea and meatpacking district areas are rapidly being transformed from tired industrial and distribution centers to one of the most hip, lively areas of the city. The influx of media tenants, designers and retailers is raising rent levels and speeding the process of change. "There is something very New York about all this — the way a neglected industrial neighborhood becomes not just a little gentrified, but suddenly a destination," said Richard Born, one of four partners who own and operate the Maritime Hotel.

West Chelsea Gentrification: Chelsea Market and Food Network (John Holusha)

Advocates of the strategy, known as calorie restriction, or C.R., insist they're not dieting to get skinny but rather to have the last laugh. Eat smart enough, they say, and you can live to see great-great-grandchildren, not to mention postpone the onset of cancer, diabetes, heart disease and kidney failure.

Eating Less To Live Longer (David Hochman)

On Monday evening at Sumile, Ms. Kim was demonstrating, in her immensely friendly but professionally watchful way, the finer points of what she is trying to do. She prefers Stoli Oranj vodka to Absolut Mandarin for her blood-orange cabernet martini, because she believes it is softer and less alcoholic smelling (and more appropriate to her drink), a fact she proved with two snifters and a splash of each.

Fusion Cocktails Make Their Mark (William L. Hamilton)

Yet the recent outbreaks of hepatitis A linked to contaminated scallions imported from Mexico, which have killed three people and sickened hundreds, are only the latest examples in a sharp rise of food-borne illness from fruits and vegetables. In 2000, the last year for which information is complete, there were almost as many reported cases of food poisoning from produce as there were from beef, poultry, fish and eggs combined, according to an advocacy group's compilation of government data.

Food-Borne Illnesses From Tainted Produce On The Rise (Marian Burros)

Have a good week, folks.

Soba

SobaAddict70 · November 26, 2003

NYTimes Weekly Update

Wednesday, 26 November 2003

A. Dining In/Dining Out Section

Even if you do not own silver flatware for 12 or will wind up borrowing from a neighbor or a parent, what does matter when the plates, flatware, glasses and napkins finally do go on the table, is that they should not be placed helter-skelter but should follow certain conventions. It will make the table look more formal. And a nicely set table to greet the guests as they are seated will start things off in an orderly fashion on an occasion that often threatens to descend into chaos.

Table Manners (Florence Fabricant)

The spoon of today, with its elegant bowed profile and elliptical bowl, is substantially an innovation of the 18th century, according to Suzanne Von Drachenfels, the author of "The Art of the Table" (Simon & Schuster, 2000). It was then that the elaborate ceremonies of dining began to call for a complex etiquette and the use of ever more elaborate props.

A Dining Table As A Compact Cosmos (Guy Trebay)

The only reason not to shop online for food is fear that it might not taste good, so I've done the tasting for you. I have been out for the last year hunting for the best of everything, including some not so easy to find specialties: buttery, lightly smoked wild salmon; tender, full-flavored steaks that come from grass-fed beef; and barbecued brisket that is smoky but tender and moist.

Taster's Choice: Holiday Food Shopping, Online (Marian Burros)

And indeed, his steaks — on the plate — are exquisite, packed with flavor. Although Mr. Lang's menu offers fancier dishes for a night on the town, like tuna tartare with quail egg and sourdough toasts, it would be crazy to miss the impeccable Caesar salad. When it comes to the litchi sorbet palate cleanser, however, you're on your own.

Haute Steak Cuisine (Alex Witchel)

I would add a dollop of applesauce too, but that's because my meatloaf uses it in the first instance to add a slightly sharp sweetness and to keep the meat gloriously moist. Nothing is worse than ground meat cooked to sawdusty dryness.

At My Table (Nigella Lawson)

Cooking with Robert Shapiro: Risotto

Who knew that tony langoustines could seem right at home with pig cheeks seared in bacon fat and slow-cooked with collard greens and turnips? Ms. Vines-Rushing pushes her idea to the limit, garnishing this triumph of one-pot cooking with pork cracklings and finishing it off with a zesty application of pepper vinegar. The aromas waft from the pot in an intoxicating cloud, rich and fragrant, but with a bracingly acidic undernote.

Jack's Luxury Oyster Bar (William Grimes)

The lobster was cut into pieces, with mounds of ground pork heaped around, giving off an unmistakable burned waft. Yet the pork didn't taste burned at all. In fact, it was highly flavored, seared quickly in a wok to seal in the juiciness of the meat and well seasoned with a touch of sweetness. And the lobster was superb, moist and tender — fried quickly and then, what, braised with the pork?

Golden Gate (Eric Asimov)

At L'Impero, the price for risotto with truffles is $69, up from $49 last year. Harry Cipriani has increased the price to $175 from $150. At San Domenico, the price per gram has risen to $6, about what it was in 2001, from $3.50 to $4 last year.

Truffle Inflation (Eric Sylvers)

Once, halibut was almost always cut into steaks, but now you can find fillets, and they are a little easier to cook with. Swordfish is always cut into boneless steaks.

Gracias de Mexico (Susan Guerrero)

Since then we have ventured into jalapeño and chorizo stuffing, posole salad and yes, pork roast. And it is reliably reported that the repast this year may include Aunt Herminia's spoon bread with cheese and jalapeños and Aunt Mary's chiles rajas, strips of roasted Anaheim chilies and tomatoes.

The State of Food Insecurity In The World 2003 (Somini Sengupta)

Recipes in today's section:

1. Meatloaf

2. Polenta and Orange Upside-down Cake

3. Seared Halibut with Anchovies, Capers and Garlic

4. Corn Bread Chorizo Stuffing

B. Elsewhere in today's NYTimes

The rise in hunger came even though the world produced ample food, and in 22 countries, including Bangladesh, Haiti and Mozambique, the number of undernourished declined in the second half of the decade. "Bluntly stated, the problem is not so much a lack of food as a lack of political will," the report declared.

Soba

SobaAddict70 · November 30, 2003

NYTimes Weekend Report

Friday, 28 November 2003 -- Sunday, 30 November 2003

A. Dining In/Dining Out and the Sunday Magazine

In his award-winning books and many papers on the cultural and political significance of French bread, Mr. Kaplan has charted its role in the revolution of 1789, its anchoring of the French table through the early 20th century and its decline during the 50's, when the baguette became a voluptuous but empty emblem of postwar prosperity. A victim of hypermechanization, fast-acting industrial yeast and suppressed fermentation, Mr. Kaplan said, "it looked lovely but was barren of odor and taste."

Le Baguette Historian (Deborah Baldwin)

Another Oaxacan specialty is pork chop glazed with honey and the smoked chili known as pasilla de Oaxaca, served with potato purée and pickled peppers.

Diner's Journal: Lucy Mexican Barbecue (William Grimes)

If you go to the NYTimes website, you can hear a presentation given by Eric Asimov, Amanda Hesser, Chris Goodhart (wine director at Balthazar and Pastis) and Ron Miller (maitre'd at Solera Restaurant) on various red wines from the Ribera del Duero region of Spain. Click on the sidebar marked "Wines of the Times" to begin the presentation.

It's important to remember that specials have practical value in the restaurant game. In fact, before seasonality became a restaurant watchword, before greenmarkets were viable sources for local ingredients, before men started showing up in city dining rooms with freshly harvested venison or line-caught striped bass, specials had very little to do with showcasing ingredients or a chef's high-wire cooking skills...Something, at any rate, that will move plates.

Isn't That Special? (Sam Sifton)

Recipes in today's issue:

1. Jimmy Bradley's Salad With Gruyere

2. Sausage and Mushroom Risotto With Raisins

B. Elsewhere in this weekend's Times

"The arrival of Iams in mass-market stores was kind of like the arrival of Häagen-Dazs in the ice-cream market,'' Mr. McMillin said. "It took premium products mainstream."

The Latest and Greatest In Diet Pet Food (Brendan I. Koerner)

Nancy Sharp, the vice president of Food for Thought, a caterer in Chicago, said: "Business is marvelous. In September we got a flood of inquiries, and everything started confirming in October, so it's showing us that the economy is saying, 'It's O.K. to spend now.' "
That said, buffets - not sit-down dinners - are in style. And popular items are turkey, polenta, and "more pork than tenderloin because tenderloin is so expensive," she said.

Rising Economic Times: Party, Party! (Abby Ellin)

The waiter refused to deal with my accented German, addressing Tamzin and me in his equally accented English or in Italian, so that none of us could really understand each other. But the food he brought - a filetto di manzo (a grilled beef tenderloin) with mustard sauce for me and ravioli with gorgonzola for Tamzin - was excellent. After an enormous dessert of figs stuffed with a sweetened ricotta cheese, lightened with a shot of grappa, it was after 1 a.m.

Partying The Night Away, In East Berlin (Eric Pfanner)

Ironically, the teak handle and the cast iron give the Sarpaneva pot (which the MoMA Design Store sells for $165) a supremely utilitarian look. "It has a real human touch to it, a very masculine feel," he said. "And I love the teak. We are crazy about wood in Finland — I don't know why."

1960's Retro (David Colman)

About 11:30 a.m., Ms. O'Mara got to work — straightening a floral arrangement of red carnations, sunflowers and berries in an Oriental vase, and setting out silver chafing dishes for the food: smoked salmon, beef brisket, fried chicken, sandwiches, stuffed eggs, pecan wafers and a dessert ensemble of cakes, tarts and cookies.

Where Tailgating Is King (Curtis Wilkie)

Have a good week, folks.

Soba

SobaAddict70 · December 3, 2003

NYTimes Weekly Update

Wednesday, 3 December 2003

A. Dining In/Dining Out Section

At Chocolate Bar, a Greenwich Village storefront that calls itself a candy store for grown-ups, New Yorkers have the luxury of choosing among bars of perfectly plain chocolate containing 60 percent, 72 percent or 85 percent cocoa mass, the pure, unsweetened content of the cocoa bean. Fanatics are devoted to Michel Cluizel's super-bitter Noir Infini, which is 99 percent pure cocoa mass, even though 85 percent is considered the upper limit of palatability for most mortals.

Chocolate Is The New Olive Oil (Julia Moskin)

Sidebar: The Language of Chocolate

Sidebar: Chocolate Tastings

With these goes the secret ingredient that is the key to success in so many glazed dishes: sugar. The sugar melts, caramelizes and becomes sticky, causing the soy-spice mixture to adhere beautifully to the skin of the duck.

The Minimalist: Classic Chinese Roast Duck (Mark Bittman)

"They weren't really dessert," he said. "They were a diet dessert. You used to see them on the menu of Jewish delis all the time, the diet baked apple. We make ours with a little Sweet'N Low. That's what your classic New York deli customer wants: They order their diet baked apple and their Cel-Ray soda after their pastrami."

Deconstructed Apple Pie (Melissa Clark)

"Cooking is really disappearing," she said. "It's a greater loss than anyone realizes. If you don't share food around a table, preferably cooked at home, you won't know who you are or where you came from.

At Lunch With: Marion Cunningham (Marian Burros)

The key to a panna cotta," he said, "is that it be as wobbly as it possibly can be but still holding its shape." Shake the plate and you will know.

The Chef: Jaime Oliver (Amanda Hesser)

Amma must surely be the only restaurant in New York serving Gobi lahsuni, a potent, richly flavored Manchurian-style dish. Cauliflower florets are marinated in garlic and lemon juice, then tossed in a garlicky tomato sauce seasoned with scallions and chilies.

Amma (William Grimes)

Chopped tomato salad..., blended with pomegranate juice until it is almost as sweet as jam, then leavened with spicy peppers, parsley, lemon and olive oil, is another addicting dish.

Divane (Eric Asimov)

The famous miso marinade for black cod at Nobu, also in New York, is spiked with yuzu juice. At Geisha, set to open soon, the menu will feature one of Eric Ripert's dishes from Le Bernardin, tuna and hamachi sliced very thin in a checkerboard pattern, covered with a yuzu-ginger vinaigrette.

Today's Sexiest Fruit (David Karp)

Sidebar: Where To Go For Yuzu...

The Ins and Outs of Pinot Noir (Frank J. Prial)

Fine pinot noir has long been an artisanal product: small producers making small lots of wine. One was instinctively suspicious of pinot made in large quantities. That's changing. Producers like Gallo turn out delicious pinot that, while sometimes lacking finesse, may eventually introduce a whole new audience to these once pricey wines.

Dark chocolate (about 50 percent to 99 percent cocoa mass) is generally cocoa mass, sugar and lecithin. A whisper of vanilla or another spice is sometimes added. American-made dark chocolate can be labeled bittersweet or semisweet; semisweet is sweeter.

A Day In The Life Of Chocolate (Julia Moskin)

Recipes in today's issue:

1. Panna Cotta with Pomegranate

2. San Francisco Little Joes

3. Chinese 'Roast' Duck

4. Spiced Baked Apples with Maple Caramel Sauce

5. Brandied Custard

B. Elsewhere in today's Times:

The cruise liner has 10 restaurants, 14 bars and lounges, and a 1,000-seat theater. Docked here, it would draw millions of dollars in business away from city shops, restaurants, hotels and theaters, critics said. Representatives of the hotel industry estimated that it would take $40 million in revenue away from hotels alone.

Convention Ship Is Dropped In Favor Of New York (Michael Slackman)

Cheese and Vegetarians (C. Claiborne Ray)

The members knew that the drugs were expensive, about $100 a month for those without prescription drug plans, and that weight loss could provide other benefits, like reducing blood pressure and improving diabetes. They did not want to abandon dieting, he said, but they knew that many patients had trouble complying and that diets often did not reduce cholesterol enough.

Lowering Cholesterol (Gina Kolata)

Soba

SobaAddict70 · December 8, 2003

New York Times Weekend Report

Friday, 5 December 2003 -- Sunday, 7 December 2003

A. Dining In/Dining Out and the Sunday Magazine

Scallop-flavored XO sauce, a Hong Kong specialty, makes a natural partner for grilled prawns cooked en papillote with angel-hair pasta. Pig-cheek confit, given the setting, can only be described as cheeky. It's the accompaniment for suckling pig with a crackling, lacquered skin, served with crisp croquettes made from the trotter meat.

Diner's Journal: Asiate (William Grimes)

Restaurants: Wine Bars

Sidebar: Wine Under $20

The wine, virtually sweet, has a pretty bouquet, a toasty oak background and flavoring and hints of anise and cinnamon. It's a big, soft, friendly, easy-drinking partner for lamb.

Castello di Borghese (Howard G. Goldberg)

At our first dinner, we got a chilled cucumber soup with fresh dill, roast leg of lamb and an excellent lemon tart. Another night, there was a fish cake -- made of plaice and a little rice with lemon rind, ginger, parsley and cilantro -- accompanied by a tangy chili jam.

Food Heaven on Earth In Kabul (Julia Reed)

Recipes in today's issue:

1. Buranee Banjan

2. Yogurt Sauce

3. Risotto Cakes With Mozzarella

B. Elsewhere in this weekend's Times...

Weinzweig is especially good at quick yet satisfying pasta dishes you can throw together after a long day, and he's equally strong on snacks that underpin whole cultures, like Italian bread rubbed with garlic and tomato and gently warmed and eaten with the fruitiest olive oil you can find. If being a great cook involves understanding great ingredients and the people who make them -- and I believe it does -- then this book will nudge anyone toward greatness.

Cookbooks: Sokolov and Company (Corby Kummer)

By the time children are around 2, they can often recognize characters, logos and specific brands. Marketers are tapping into that audience with the product tie-ins, placed at a child's eye level, on about everything - Scooby-Doo vitamins, Elmo juice and cookies. Problems could result from the eagerness among fruit snacks to establish licensing partnerships with popular characters if characters become overexposed. But marketers remain upbeat.

A $200 Billion Courtship of Children (Courtney Kane)

Have a good week, folks.

Soba

SobaAddict70 · December 11, 2003

NYTimes Weekly Update

Wednesday, 10 December 2003

A. Dining In/Dining Out Section

While the martinis of lunchtimes past may never come back, along with the generous tax deductions for business lunches, there have been scattered outbreaks of wine and Champagne by the glass. Happy days, it would seem, are here again — at least for people who can afford to spend $30 on a hamburger and 90 minutes eating it.

Table For Five: Post-Modern Power Lunches (David Carr)

Sidebar: Click on the link beneath the link to this story on the NYTimes Dining In/Dining Out page to find out where the rich, the famous and the worldly prefer to sit at The Four Seasons.

The dishes in this focused collection, like a Cretan potato and squash pie spiked with mint, and spaghetti with oven-roasted tomatoes and bottarga, take planning. An investment in time is spent surrounded by profound aromas while coaxing complex flavors and rich textures from the ingredients.

Cookbook Carousel (Florence Fabricant)

Luigi, known as Nonno, was a factory foreman who, Mr. Valenti recalled, "had a perfectly tended garden I was not allowed to go into, and one side of the yard was filled with grapevines and lilacs. My memory of him was in the basement, concocting some god-awful wine. He could eat, that guy. He would sit at the end of the table and not say a word. Just eat."

At Lunch With: Tom Valenti (Alex Witchel)

First, a dish of involtini — eggplant sliced and grilled then stuffed with an herbed cheese filling and baked in a tomato sauce — followed by a sharp lemon and spinach salad and a not-quite-dessert of pumpkin-seed brittle.
The involtini is one of the dishes you'll find yourself making again and again in some style or other, or at least I do. I call it involtini because the first time I came across it, and made it, it was in its authentic Italian version: the cheese filling was made of provolone and the herb was basil.

Mediterranean Road Trip (Nigella Lawson)

star appetizer is a small bowl of crunchy lotus-root slices braised in a thick sake-soy sauce. The sauce, rich and yeasty with caramel overtones, has its sweetness neatly cut in half by subtle seasoning with hot pepper.

The sardine makes an appearance. It is braised with plum sauce. This is an accident that should never have happened, a dish that tastes exactly as bad as it sounds.

Balancing Act: Matsuri (William Grimes)

An appetizer of shrimp..., served still sizzling in an iron skillet with olive oil, lemon and garlic, is the stuff of a thousand Spanish restaurants, but it's rarely this good, each flavor so clear and pure that you feel compelled to spear every last sliver of garlic and bit of shrimp before mopping the pan with bread.

Schiller's Liquor Bar (Eric Asimov)

Beef stew should not be tackled unless you have two hours for it. If you substitute lamb, veal or pork shoulder, the cooking will go more quickly but the character of the dish will change.

Pie Pottery (Denise Landis)

A number of talented potters are creating plates that would impress the baker on your holiday gift list. All of the plates here can be bought directly from the artists.

From El Bulli, With Love (Florence Fabricant)

There, Mr. Adrià, the chef, creates his signature foams, jelly "noodles" and such oddities as corn sorbet seasoned with charcoal oil. He deconstructs dishes and experiments with gadgets, all in the interest of pushing the culinary envelope.

Restaurant Hiring Spree = Capital Gains? (Sherri Day)

Recipes in today's issue:

1. Beef Stew with Prunes

2. Pasta and Bean Soup

3. Involtini

4. Spinach Salad with Lemon and Mint

5. Pumpkin-Seed Brittle

Sidebar: If you point your browser to the NYTimes Dining In/Dining Out home page, you can hear a presentation given by Eric Asimov, Amanda Hesser, Howard Goldberg and David Rosengarten (editor-in-chief of the Rosengarten Report) on Sweet Rieslings. Click on the box marked "Sweet Rieslings" to begin the presentation.

B. Elsewhere in today's Times

The restaurant business, which has about $420 billion in annual sales in the United States, accounts for 6.6 percent of economic activity and has 11.7 million workers, according to the National Restaurant Association. When consumers are willing to spend more freely, the business tends to benefit directly. "Dining out is generally considered a discretionary item," said Richard D. Rippe, the chief economist at Prudential Securities. "As income rises, there's more willingness to do that. Now, as we begin to get a little better employment cyclically and as consumer confidence gradually improves, I think that would be a plus as well."

"I don't think we have to shoot the state's deer to feed the hungry," said Priscilla Feral, president of Friends of Animals in Darien, Conn.
Instead, her group has pledged to replace, pound-for-pound, the 1,600 pounds of venison that the local food bank would reap from the deer hunt with what it calls "cruelty free" vegan fare. That is, if the Audubon calls off its hunt. Even stricter than vegetarians, vegans avoid all animal products including eggs, milk and honey.

Carrot Pate For The Hungry And The Needy (Alison Leigh Cowan)

Other restaurant chains testing the potential of Wi-Fi include the McDonald's Corporation, which has a pilot program that involves 250 restaurants in Chicago, New York and San Francisco. McDonald's is providing free access in some cases and charging up to $4.95 an hour in others.
A McDonald's spokeswoman, Lisa Howard, said Wi-Fi seemed to stimulate business during slack hours. "One of the things we have seen," Ms. Howard said, "is a lot of off-peak, between lunch and dinner, people taking a break, getting a snack and getting their e-mail or doing some work."

I'll Have A Wi-Fi Happy Meal With My Fries, Please (Roy Furchgott)

The company's technology, thermal depolymerization, mimics the earth's creation of fossil fuel from extreme heat and pressure, but in hours rather than eons. The process breaks down organic waste - chicken bones, say - and rebuilds it into liquid fuel.

Build A Better Mousetrap... (Betsy Cummings)

Sorry for the late update, busy day today in the office...

Soba

SobaAddict70 · December 15, 2003

NYTimes Weekend Report

Friday, 12 December 2003 -- Sunday, 14 December 2003

A. Dining In/Dining Out Section and the Sunday Magazine

His passions are combined in "Dinner With Demons — a sort of Proustian journey in which Mr. Reynolds's memory bank is sparked by a whole lot more calories than are found in a single madeleine. Among the deceased relatives for whom he cooks this culinary thank you are his repressed mother, nicknamed "The Warden"; his rich and profligate father; his suave, epicurean Uncle Bus; and his first cousin, the film star Lee Remick.

All The Kitchen's A Stage (Robert Simonson)

Sidebar: If Food Be The Words of Art, Cook Away... (Robert Simonson)

The highlights include spicy bean-thread noodles with crab meat, straw mushroom and herbs; and steamed chunks of monkfish encircled by rings of winter melon, with a gentle coriander-ginger sauce. The pièce de résistance is Saigon crèpes, thin and crispy at the edges, folded over shrimps, meatballs, bean sprouts, lettuce and herbs in a chili-lime sauce.

Diner's Journal: Boi (William Grimes)

Restaurants: 'Tis The Season To Celebrate And Spend

Sidebar: Wine Under $20 (Howard G. Goldberg)

Long before Niman Ranch, everything on four legs was free-ranging. Jean-Georges Vongerichten made his name replacing cream sauces and the ever-present demi-glace with sauces made of vegetable reductions; Daniel Boulud made news by putting rustic dishes like short ribs with mashed potatoes on his four-star menu. But Vongerichten's revolution was similar to the culinary reform of the 17th century, when chefs reacted against the rich, heavily spiced dishes of the 16th. Boulud was merely enshrining the comfort food of his youth. The new cooking in Spain has been well documented -- at La Broche in Madrid, I was amazed to love the bacon-and-egg ice cream with foie-gras sauce, but I have dined on Ferran Adria's liquid ravioli with mixed emotions.

New Classics From Old Hat (Julia Reed)

Recipes in today's section:

1. Pumpkin Gratin (Adapted from ''the Dean & DeLuca Cookbook'')

2. Bourbon Pecan Pie

When you uncork the slender, graceful bottle of Duck Walk's 2001 Blueberry Port, you imagine you're in a blueberry distillery. The fruit virtually gushes out, powered by 19 percent alcohol. You put a small amount in a glass, inhale, sip, and you're ready to meet winter head-on.

Sweets To The Sweet (Howard G. Goldberg)

B. Travel

You don't see antelope too often on menus, so I gave it a try; while thick and not all gamy, it arrived undercooked to my taste, which the staff dealt with hastily, and with a smile. It was embellished with a zesty juniper-berry and black peppercorn jus.

Taking cues from the bartender, I started off with brittle, toasted ravioli filled with sweet butternut squash and set over a slick of fresh sage butter. Perfect. Seared shrimp in a spicy paprika-spiked sauce, presented in an iron skillet, was even better.

Choice Tables: San Francisco (Bryan Miller)

Restaurants profiled in this article:

1. Baraka (288 Connecticut Street (18th Street, (415) 255-0370))

2. Chez Papa (1401 18th Street (Missouri, (415) 824-8210))

3. Chez Spencer and Bar (82 14th Street (Folsom, (415) 864-2191))

4. The Last Supper Club (1199 Valencia (23rd Street, (415) 695-1199))

5. Tallula (4230 18th Street (Diamond, (415) 437-6722))

C. Elsewhere in today's Times:

At this point, liquor ads have saturated cable," said George A. Hacker, director for the Alcohol Policies Project at the Center for Science in the Public Interest in Washington, who has long fought against such commercials because of fears that they are more visible to children than print ads and glamorize drinking more.
"We're satisfied that at least the barrier against broadcast remains, but it's very hard to have a big enough thumb in the dike," he added. "They're aggressively advertising on cable, and we have more limited legal remedies there." That is because broadcast networks are more stringently monitored by federal regulators.

Alcohol Advertising...On Cable (Stuart Elliott)

Mr. Kellems, however, said he could not provide the names or locations of any charities or soup kitchens that received the birds and did not know how they were prepared, when they were served and who in fact ate them. (Pheasant under glass was an aristocratic dish of an earlier era; today's pheasant aficionados say the birds are delicious, although bony, and can be tough if improperly cooked.)

White House Letter (Elisabeth Bumiller)

For the last two holiday seasons, if companies even had parties, they were often low-budget affairs where the food often ran out before the event did. "Last year, it was an hour of Stoli from 7 to 8," said Nathan Ellis, who handles public relations for clubs and restaurants. "This year it seems like it's full open bar for at least two hours, anything you want."

Auld Lang Syne: Year-End Celebrations (Kate Zernike)

Have a good week, folks.

Soba

Suzanne F · December 18, 2003

NYTimes Weekly Update

Wednesday, 17 December 2003

Dining In/Dining Out Section

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/12/17/dining/17SERI.html"]The Family That Eats Together . . . May Not Eat The Same Thing (Amanda Hesser)

For Some, It's A Very Moo Shu Christmas (Alex Witchel)

Welcome to the conundrum that is Christmas New York style: while most restaurants close for the holiday, or in a few cases, stay open and serve a prix fixe meal laden with froufrou, thousands of diners, most of them Jewish, are faced with a dilemma. There's nothing to celebrate at home and no place to eat out, at least if they want a regular dinner. That leaves Chinese restaurants, but especially on a holiday, what's more depressing than eating at the corner egg roll mill?/QUOTE]
After Dinner Down Under, Chances Are It'll Be a Sticky (R.W. "Johnny" Apple Jr.)
THE Australians call them "stickies" and treasure them. So do many others lucky enough to have tasted these fortified dessert wines, properly named muscat and tokay, a pair of uncommon elixirs made only near this dozy old town along the Murray River, northeast of Melbourne and southwest of Sydney.
The Chef: A Down East Holiday Chowder (Nancy Harmon Jenkins)
SAM HAYWARD, who is the chef and an owner of Fore Street in Portland, Me., is a Mainer by adoption, not birth. In fact, he grew up in Tennessee and Louisiana, and received his early professional training in New Orleans before settling here almost 30 years ago.
Mainers are famously intolerant of outsiders. Even after two or three generations, people are still said, with barely concealed condescension, to be from away, or, like the Bush tribe, just summer folk. But Mr. Hayward lives here comfortably, as if he came from a long line of Mainers, with deep and thoughtful ties to the land, the sea and their products. He is also sensitive to the unspoken culinary connections between Maine and the South. . .
The Minimalist: In 2 Hours, You're Greek (Mark Bittman); see link below for recipe.
Eating Well: The Kitchen Faucet is a Vegetable's Best Friend (Marian Burros)
The importance of washing every vegetable that comes into your kitchen.
Restaurant Review: The Southern Hemisphere, Via London (William Grimes, in his antepenultimate review)
Public. From the folks who brought you Providores. In what might have been Connecticut Muffins's old factory?
The muted aesthetic makes the food seem even wilder than it is, no easy feat. Consider a recent special, grilled foie gras. . . This may be the world's first meat dessert.
. . .
Some touches baffle. Miso does not form a successful merger with mashed sweet potato, one of the side dishes offered separately on the menu. The two flavors stare at each other across the negotiating table, with no agreement in sight.
$25 and Under: Japanese Snacks That Skip the Sushi and Noodles (Eric Asimov)
Consider Kasadela, a little sake house that opened in the far East Village three months ago. The menu not only offers no sushi, but no noodles, no shabu shabu, no teriyaki — in short, none of the Japanese preparations most familiar to Americans.
It does, however, offer torikawa ($4), or chicken skin grilled until crisp around the edges and served on skewers. Perhaps this dish is not so different from gribeness, the Jewish chicken cracklings, until you dip it into pungent pickled wasabi, after which it takes on a distinct Japanese personality of its own.
(Followers of our own Rabbi Ribeye take note of Asimov's spelling.)
Wine Talk: Americans' Thirst for Wine is Rising (Frank Prial)
One happy note for the wine people: beer sales are down by 1 to 1 1/2 percent. Could the six-packers be switching to zinfandel?
Beef Prices Fall, but Consumers Aren't Buying That (Florence Fabricant)
THE good news is that wholesale beef prices are dropping, down about 20 percent since hitting all-time highs in October.
But don't try to tell that to George Sickles, a school bus driver, who was eyeing a bottom round roast at a Key Food store in his Brooklyn neighborhood about a week ago.
Food Stuff: Chocolate; Wine Carafe with Built-In Chill; "New" UWS Fishmonger; Latkes; Off the Menu (Florence Fabricant)
and Food Chain: All About Ghee (Denise Landis)
Recipes:
1. Braised Lamb Shanks with Lemon from Minimalist Mark Bittman
2. Scotian Lobster Chowder, from "The Chef" subject Sam Hayward

SobaAddict70 · December 22, 2003

NYTimes Weekend Report

Friday, 19 December 2003 -- Sunday, 21 December 2003

A. Dining In/Dining Out Section and the Sunday Magazine

Veal breast, a humble cut that attained star status at Craft, returns at Hearth, where it is braised in concentrated juices and served with roasted sweetbreads. Braising also works wonders with lamb shoulder and, unusually, lamb ribs and lamb tongue, a three-part dish given extra heft by the addition of barlotti beans and escarole.

Diner's Journal: Hearth (William Grimes)

Restaurants: Christmas Menus

Sidebar: Wine For $20 Or Less (Howard G. Goldberg)

Pindar's Cuvée Rare is a curiosity. This sparkling wine is made wholly from pinot meunier. In France and California, this grape plays only a minor, supporting role in Champagne and sparkling-wine blends.

Sparkling Wine From Pinot Meunier (Howard G. Goldberg)

Great Equalizers (Michael Boodro)

Recipes in today's issue:

1. Bûche de Noël

2. Meringue Mushrooms

3. Susanne Bartsch's Special Stuffing

B. Elsewhere in this weekend's Times...

It is a stunning downfall for a company that began as a family-owned delicatessen and grew in recent years to become a global rival to Nestlé, Danone and Kraft, selling milk and food products in 30 countries including the United States. That rapid expansion, however, came at a cost, and the Tanzi family that controls Parmalat began resorting to ever more convoluted schemes to finance growth.

The Rise And Fall Of Parmalat (John Tagliabue)

The new drug, referred to in its clinical trials as ETC-216, would be administered to hospital patients who have either had a heart attack or are at significant risk of having one, John LaMattina, the director for research at Pfizer, said. Dr. LaMattina cautioned that it would be at least four to five years before the drug could be widely marketed.
The trial for the drug used only 47 people. It would have to be tested on "hundreds, possibly thousands, and would have to be shown to significantly reduce the risk of a second heart attack" before the Food and Drug Administration would approve it, Dr. LaMattina said.

Pfizer's Newest Acquisition (Tracie Rozhon)

Charles Nassif was preparing the evening's signature drink: the White Christmas. "It's a white cosmo, really," he said. Made of Grey Goose vodka, triple sec, Apple Pucker Schnapps and white cranberry juice, it tasted like Sour Patch Kids with vodka. "And then you give it a Tom Cruise shake like this," Mr. Nassif said, demonstrating, "and give it to some happy person to drink."

Glittering Grays (Linda Lee)

I requested a Tuxedo because requests are at the heart of a good bar. The Tuxedo is a gin martini-like cocktail spiced with anise, which was popular in the 19th century and reappeared during Prohibition in a variation that called for sherry instead of anise liqueur. It is sometimes called a Turf cocktail and is similar in ingredients to an Income Tax.

The Mandarin Oriental (William L. Hamilton)

Happy holidays and good cheer, folks.

Have a good week,

Soba

SobaAddict70 · December 24, 2003

NYTimes Weekly Update

Wednesday, 24 December 2003

Thanks to Suzanne F for last week's Wednesday DIGEST. Me, I was too busy running around at work to even THINK of eGullet. :hmmm: --Soba

A. Dining In/Dining Out Section

At its most elemental, butter transforms dry toast. At its most recherché, butter turns a sauce into a sleek emulsion with a thousand tiny drops and steams pastry layers to a crisp, splintery web. It is both medium and message.
The French have known this all along, of course, and if they did not invent butter, they certainly put it on the map — particularly the Northern province of Normandy.

Artisanal Butters (Kay Rentschler)

Homemade eggnog is simple, a recipe for novices, as long as they can whisk. Where many eggnogs go wrong is that they rely more on cream than on alcohol. It's not a liquid dessert. It's a drink, whose coarse edges are muted with cream and eggs. "The Joy of Cooking" has a recipe that hits all the right points, some of them in excess. Made as is, the drinker is apt to experience a brief moment of jolly followed by blacking out. If this is desirable, turn to the book. If not, turn to my adaptation. I cut some of the cream with milk and cut back on the alcohol just a touch so one could finish a glass while still holding onto it.

Homemade Christmas Tastes (Amanda Hesser)

Whatever it takes to please his customers, old and new, Mr. Lau has been ready to do: traveling to Hong Kong three or four times a year in search of inspiration, often buying luxury ingredients there for his elaborate Chinese New Year dinners; working until 4 a.m. night after night to perfect a new tangerine-skin and preserved-plum sauce for duck; importing exotic dried mushrooms from Japan; stocking no fewer than 11 teas; clearing dishes when the waiters are busy, even donning a Santa Claus cap in the days before Christmas.

The Flower Drum (R.W. Apple, Jr.)

The panel, Amanda Hesser and I along with two guests, a colleague, Florence Fabricant, and Garrett Oliver, brewmaster of Brooklyn Brewery and author of "The Brewmaster's Table" (Ecco, 2003), tasted 21 ciders, including 11 from the United States, 7 from France and 1 each from England, Ireland and Austria....Some ciders were dry, fresh and intense, like biting into a crisp, juicy apple just off the tree, yet elegant, too. Others were sweet as dessert, tasting as if they were cloaked in brown sugar and caramel: "tarte Tatin in a glass," as Ms. Fabricant put it.

A Sampler of Sparkling Ciders (Eric Asimov)

Sidebar: Click on the box marked "Wines of the Times: Apple Cider" to begin the online presentation.

As far as I'm concerned, any breakfast cooking that does away with frying is a blessing. This is not because I have any quibbles about fat content, but because unless there are just two of you, frying is a lengthy, splattery process that doesn't induce lazy-morning serenity. This breakfast is designed to give you a warm glow, not make you hot and bothered.

Breakfast Rituals (Nigella Lawson)

The Minimalist: Churros (Mark Bittman)

His Gorgonzola and pear sformato, a dense, almost gooey soufflé, is an ingenious showcase for one of Italy's greatest flavor combinations. With the right dessert wine, it could be dessert and a cheese course rolled into one.

Azalea (William Grimes)

Eating the meat with a fork is fine, but if you take a soft corn tortilla and roll it around a few bites of the lamb, maybe with some black beans and a little hot sauce, and then eat the dish as a taco, well, then you have something truly delicious.
Perhaps it's the slight corn flavor of the tortilla, or the deceiving richness of its texture, or maybe the addition of beans and hot sauce, but the transformation of the individual components into a taco unit is a vast improvement.

La Palapa Rockola (Eric Asimov)

In Mr. Regan's tidy universe of drink, the cosmopolitan belongs to the same species as the margarita and the sidecar: it is a New Orleans sour, which, along with international sours, sparkling sours, and squirrel sours (so named by the author because they rely on nut-based liqueurs like Frangelico or amaretto), make up a genus of cocktails united by their use of sour citrus juices sweetened with sugar or syrups.

All About Mixology (William Grimes)

Iranian caviar is worth considering. It is superb, but prices are sky-high, about $75 an ounce. This caviar is mostly osetra, and it comes from a tightly controlled fishery. Bulgarian and Romanian beluga that comes from the Danube and the Black Sea is also of excellent quality and expensive, if you can find it. Part of the price covers the return of fingerling sturgeon to the river to maintain the fishery.

Caviar, The World Over (Florence Fabricant)

Dining Grab Bag: Letters to the Editor

Recipe: Roasted Oysters and Meyer Lemon

Mad Cow Traced To Washington State (Matthew L. Wald)

Recipes in today's issue:

1. Piped Butter Cookies (Spritzgebäck)

2. Brittany Butter Cake (Gâteau Breton)

3. Good Fruitcake

4. Eggnog

5. Cheeseball with Red Pepper, Olives and Smoked Paprika

6. Granola Muffins

7. Bacon and Egg Bake

8. Raspberry and Oatmeal Swirls

9. Churros

B. Elsewhere in today's Times...

The sick cow was sent to slaughter because of "partial paralysis" following complications in calving, and not because of any evident neurological problem, officials said. An Agriculture Department veterinarian examined the animal before slaughter and pronounced it acceptable, and confirmed on post-mortem that there was "some inflammation and hemorrhage in the pelvic canal," said another official on the conference call, Dr. Kenneth Petersen of the Food Safety and Inspection Service.

In the past, the hooves and horns were used for gelatins and bone and blood meal as fertilizer and the fat became soap. But with the invention of chemical soaps and fertilizers in the 1960's, other uses had to be found for the waste, and the animal protein market developed as a cheap way to bulk up animals.

Lag In U.S. Inspections (Marian Burros and Donald G. McNeil, Jr.)

Caroline Smith DeWaal, director of food safety for the Center for Science in the Public Interest, said a consumer should:
¶Avoid ground beef unless they grind it themselves from a whole piece of muscle meat.
¶Avoid brains, beef cheeks, neck bones.
¶Avoid any meat that comes from the head and any meat that is taken from close to spinal column or containing bone that is part of the spinal cord, like T-bone, which was banned in some European countries during the outbreak in Britain.
¶Avoid pizza toppings, taco fillings, hot dogs, salami, bologna and other products that contain not only ground beef but beef from machinery that squeezes out bits of meat that cling to the spinal column and other bones. Beef from this advanced meat recovery system is used in many meat products but bits of the spinal column are often not removed.

Burger Club: Not What The Doctor Ordered (Sandra Blakeslee and Marian Burros)

Parmalat said in September that it owed its banks almost 2 billion euros and its bondholders 4 billion euros. But disclosures made during the questioning of company finance officers have revealed that the total debt burden may be closer to 9 billion euros. Among the company's largest foreign creditors are Citigroup and Bank of America, though neither bank has said how much it is owed. Two of Italy's largest banks, Capitalia and UniCredito Italiano, are together owed more than 900 million euros.

The Rise and Fall of Parmalat: Part Two (John Tagliabue)

The fraud at Parmalat did not begin to unravel until last month, when Deloitte said it was questioning the accounting for a transaction involving derivatives. Then the company had trouble coming up with cash to pay off a bond issue. Investigations soon revealed that a bank account that supposedly held 3.95 billion euros, or $4.1 billion, at the end of last year did not exist. Now it appears that other assets were also fictional, investigators said.

Sidebar: What The Auditors Never Knew (Floyd Norris)

Shares of restaurant companies slid on the news on fears that customers will shun beef-heavy menus. Shares of McDonald's, the No. 1 hamburger chain, fell 5.6 percent to $23.85 near midday on the New York Stock Exchange, and shares of Wendy's International Inc., the No. 3 burger chain, fell 4.5 percent.

The Sky Is Falling: Mad Cow Disease Impact On Wall Street (Reuters)

A shortfall of international aid has forced the World Food Program to halve the food ration for 2.6 million malnourished people in Zimbabwe, and aid officials say supplies for that country of some staples like cooking oil will completely run out early next month.

Food Shortages Imminent In Zimbabwe And Other African Countries (Michael Wines)

"We're still helping people out with food and clothes and furniture," he said. "You've got a lot of need here."
And that need is almost palpable in struggling Yonkers. In the span of one year —from 2001 to 2002 — the city's unemployment rolls swelled by about a fifth. Today, the jobless rate sits just under 6 percent. It's on the rebound, Captain Kahn said of Yonkers.

Food Pantries As Economic Indicies (Richard Lezin Jones)

The development is likely to be a serious blow for ranchers, feed-lot operators and slaughterhouses. About 10 percent of American beef production is exported, industry officials say.

International Ban On American Beef (Matthew L. Wald and Eric Lichtblau)

SobaAddict70 · December 31, 2003

NYTimes Year-End Update

Friday, 26 December 2003 -- Wednesday, 31 December 2003

Today's DIGEST will be done in two parts -- a preview now, as I post this, Tuesday evening, and later tomorrow, when I update the post with material that will appear later on, on nytimes.com (i.e., Mr. Grimes' last review as restaurant critic for the New York Times). --Soba

edit: Mr. Grimes' successor will be named at a later date this winter. In the interim, Marian Burros will act as in his stead.

A. Dining In/Dining Out and the Sunday Magazine

New York may be the nation's bagel capital, but street vendors selling rubbery steamed bagels abound, not to mention local McDonald's franchises selling bagels topped with egg, cheese and bacon. Even such Midwestern depredations as blueberry bagels have gained a stronghold in certain precincts of New York City. The bagel as concept is ubiquitous in New York. But not all bagels are the same. Some are to be derided.

The Bagel Capital Of The World (Ed Levine)

An increasing awareness of foreign cuisines and an improving system for delivering exotic ingredients to market changed the appetites and the ideas of chefs and diners alike. Fusion cuisine spawned a dozen fads, fancies and minitrends, like Pacific Rim and Nuevo Latino. Some disappeared virtually overnight. (Remember new-wave Belgian?) But the trend toward more internationalization has become a fact of life. No one blinks at shiitake mushrooms or lemon grass on a French menu. And well-traveled diners now expect restaurants to honor regional differences when presenting, say, Italian or Mexican cooking.

Of Criticism And Introspection (William Grimes)

If you go to the Dining In/Dining Out web page for the Times, you can hear an audio presentation given by none other than Mr. Grimes himself, relating to his impressions and experiences during his tenure as the Times' main restaurant critic.

A particular gem as a teaser:

"...usually you feel like the hunted because everyone involved in the restaurant industry is absolutely determined to find out where you're going to be, what you look like, and every effort is expended to expose you. I dismissed a lot of this as pure urban myth, until it turned out all to be absolute reality..."

Click on the box marked "A Grimes Retrospective" to begin the presentation.

Click here for a discussion of this article.

The safest beef is from cattle that have been raised organically, because by law they cannot be fed animal byproducts, which, while banned from cattle feed since 1997, are believed to be the major source of mad cow disease. Organic beef is available by mail order, online and in some stores.

Where's The (Safe) Beef? (Marian Burros)

Sidebar: Alternatives to Supermarket Beef

Mr. Hayward scours Maine for new (and old) ingredients for his restaurant, which is widely recognized as the leader of an unofficial movement to promote high-quality local food in a state usually known only for lobster. He is on the board of the Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association, which puts him in touch with people who produce noteworthy heirloom apples, splendid cheeses and foraged mushrooms.

The Chef: Sam Hayward (Nancy Harmon Jenkins)

Jook originated as poor people's food. In its most elemental form, it is a relatively small amount of rice — usually short grain, and sometimes mixed with a bit of glutinous rice — cooked with a large amount of water. It is then seasoned with ginger, scallions and whatever else is on hand.

The Minimalist: Jook (Mark Bittman)

This was the year, too, when screw tops became more than a curiosity on wine bottles. Half a dozen New Zealand wineries are now using screw tops, and several California wineries, including Murphy-Goode in Sonoma, are putting them on some wines. Bonny Doon Vineyard near Santa Cruz, which started using them for part of its production several years ago, announced early this year that it would use them for all its wines, including Le Cigare Volant, one of its top labels.

2003: A Very Good Year (Frank J. Prial)

By the time I moved into my second apartment, with a cat this time instead of roommates, Bailey's first cookbook, ''Country Weekends,'' had come out, and I learned that even large-scale entertaining could be relatively stress-free....Long before the nation became obsessed with all things regional and seasonal, he recommended simple dishes like fresh ripe figs for dessert and peaches dressed with lemon juice and cayenne pepper as a main-course accompaniment.

Luxury Amid Comfort (Julia Reed)

Recipes in Sunday's magazine:

1. Lee Bailey's Pasta With Golden Caviar

2. Mary Cantwell's Steak in Champagne

3. Lemonade Souffle

Discussing the trend with a friend the other day, Wolfgang Puck, the Los Angeles restaurateur who owns a fistful of restaurants in Vegas, none of them steakhouses, offered a theory. "You don't really need a chef," he said - meaning that you can get by with a run-of-the-mill, one-size-fits-all line cook who can slap a hunk of meat on a grill, instead of a highly trained, probably highly ambitious chef longing to quit and open his own place.

Steak: It's What's For Dinner....In Vegas, That Is (R.W. Apple, Jr.)

Bits And Pieces (Florence Fabricant)

But after the Dining section of The New York Times reported last year that CremaLita desserts had more fat and calories than advertised, Ms. Dykstra said, "it caught the interest of one of our senior lawyers, and we went to the Food and Drug Administration and they agreed to do the testing."
"We think we've got a pretty tight case," she said.

You Never Know Who's Watching...Or Reading (Marian Burros)

Grilled lamb chops, dark and gamy, are served as a kind of mixed grill, with dense, nearly black lamb sausages on the side, an intensely flavored cauliflower stew and mint. Pork shanks are no joke either, slow-cooked until they fall off the bone, and arranged with roasted calf's liver cut into plugs and wrapped with pancetta. A tart agrodolce sauce mercifully cuts into the richness of the dish.

'Cesca (William Grimes)

Click here for a discussion of 'Cesca.

The company stimulated my appetite. I went back to the bar for marinated anchovies..., wonderful on a plateful of fine, crisp bread crumbs, tiny rounds of chorizo and a small mesclun salad, altogether a winning blend of salty and smoky flavors and soft and crunchy textures. The tortilla..., a classic potato and onion omelet that was served cool, was full of flavor, and I liked a fillet of smoked mackerel..., though it was oddly paired with sweet muscat grapes, which threatened to overshadow the fish. But I did not care for pickled pigeon with a cold lentil salad....The dish was served too cold, and the meaty, gamy bird was overwhelmed by its harsh, vinegar-dominated pickling solution.

Bar Jamón (Eric Asimov)

"She'll be on the phone at 6 a.m. making appointments, while a hairdresser is doing her hair and her husband is eating breakfast," said Michael Amaral, a stylist who has orchestrated Ms. Gund's parties for eight years. "And then there are crates and canvases coming through all day long." Ms. Gund frequently lends from and rotates her collection, which includes rare and early works by Jasper Johns, Jackson Pollock, Roy Lichtenstein and Frank Stella. The kitchen is the staging area for art traffic as it comes and goes through the backdoor.

Where Art And Food Hold Hands (Julie V. Iovine)

New Rules Regarding The Sale Of Beef (David Stout)

Recipes in Wednesday's issue:

1. Goat Cheese Pudding With Poached Cranberries

2. Jook

B. Elsewhere in the Times...

Effective immediately, she said, the Agriculture Department will ban all sick, or "downer," cattle from the human food chain. She also announced bans on the use of small intestines and head and spinal tissue from older cattle for human consumption.

Under federal regulations, the ban will take effect in 60 days. But Dr. Mark McClellan, the commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, said responsible manufacturers should stop selling ephedra at once. "Everyone involved in marketing ephedra should be on notice that as soon as the rule becomes effective, we intend to shut you down," he said.

Ephedra Ban Coming Soon (David Stout)

Today, Parmalat, which has 36,000 employees in 30 countries, sought to assure its suppliers and customers, saying in a statement that the company was "conducting normal business operations." In recent days, Italian dairy farmers complained that they were owed more than 125 million euros, or about $157 million, for milk and other dairy products delivered to the company. Mr. Bondi has also been seeking to reassure investors both in Italy and abroad, though no details of the company's future financing plans have yet been disclosed.

The Rise And Fall Of Parmalat: Part The Third (John Tagliabue)

More rational agricultural trade policies would actually be a boon to many American farmers because their high-tech equipment and large, fertile acreage would make them winners in a more open competition. But there would be losers both here and abroad, and we visited some of them as well, to understand all sides of the story. Ronnie Hopper in Texas, Hubert Duez in France and Koushi Seiwa in northern Japan were all smart, gracious, hard-working farmers. But as appealing as they are as individuals, they have been given an unfair advantage by nostalgia-driven policies that are indefensible on economic, and even moral, grounds.

Business Editorial

The company, which is still the largest player in the diet food business with about 27 to 32 percent of the diet powder and shake market, is betting that the new campaign, products and promotions will help return the brand to healthy sales.

Calling All Dieters: Whoopi Goldberg To Slimfast's Rescue (Sherri Day)

Canada was the world's third-biggest beef exporter, after Australia and the United States, when foreign markets were shut off in May. A business that brought in 4.1 billion Canadian dollars ($3.13 billion) in 2002 earned nothing in the three months after the disease was found. Exports accounted for 60 percent of Canada's beef industry. Since then, the United States and some other countries have partially reopened their borders to Canadian beef.

No Mad Cows In Canada (Bernard Simon)

In Britain, nearly 200,000 cows were infected. Millions of people ate meat from those cows, including steaks, ribs, hamburger, neckbones, beef marrow and brains. Material from cows was used in a wide variety of items, including beauty products, polio vaccines and weightlifters' steroid substitutes. A lion in the Newquay zoo in England was found to have a form of the disease. Yet only about 150 Europeans have died of it. Early predictions of 100,000 to 200,000 British deaths did not come true.

Expert Assessment On Mad Cow Disease (Donald G. McNeil, Jr.)

Prions are thought to be misfolded versions of a normal protein that is abundant in the brain and spinal cord. Somehow, the theory goes, prions force normal proteins to misfold, setting off a destructive chain reaction in the brain. Prions may transmit disease between people or animals, or some people or animals may have an inherited genetic tendency to form prions. In other cases, the tendency to form prions may develop sporadically, for unknown reasons, in an individual with no family history.

Bovine Detective Work (Denise Grady)

The evidence shows that trying to focus on high-risk people has been only marginally successful over the years," said Dr. Michael Osterholm, a University of Minnesota epidemiologist. "Produce is emerging as an important cause of food-borne disease, and we have only a limited ability to affect conditions in those countries where it's coming from."

Call For Widespread Vaccination Against Hep A (Anahad O'Connor)

"I'm here seeing my parents for the holidays," she said, adding an eye roll. She said she preferred Bemelmans because the martinis are served with an extra miniature carafe of alcohol. "So you allow yourself the delusion that you're drinking one martini when you're actually drinking more like one and one-half martinis. Which, right now, is exactly what I need."

'Tis The Season....For A Martini (Alex Kuczynski)

Edited January 1, 2004 by SobaAddict70 (log)

SobaAddict70 · January 5, 2004

NYTimes Weekend Report

Friday, 2 January 2004 -- Sunday, 4 January 2004

A. Dining In/Dining Out Section and the Sunday Magazine

"We can make the veal any way you want: francese, marsala marinara, scallopini, Milanese, with tomatoes and arugula, with shiitake, " said Ramon Pallone, one of the owners. Prices for the specials are not mentioned, which might lead you to think that they are as reasonable as the printed menu, on which the top main course is grilled steak at $20. They are not. The Dover sole meunière special was $34.

Diner's Journal: Cantinella (Marian Burros)

Schrafft's was by then an institution of middle-class comfort. Its first ''store'' (as even the restaurants were called), offering candy and confections, opened in 1898 on Broadway, thanks to Frank G. Shattuck, who had been the top candy salesman for W.F. Schrafft & Sons. It lost money until his sister Jane was recruited from Syracuse to create a brief menu. ''It was a much more genteel time then,'' his great-grandson Frank M. Shattuck said. ''Everyone wore hats and hand-made suits. And if you were a lady, it was safe to sit at the soda fountain and drink gin from a teacup.''

A Redoubt of Middle-Class Food (Jonathan Reynolds)

Recipes in today's section:

1. Schrafft's Lobster Thermidor

2. Simmering Irish Stew With Dumplings

Restaurants: Where You Can Celebrate Tet

Sidebar: Wine Bargain of the Week

B. Travel

Here the yam is worshiped like something that fell from the sky, not yanked from the earth. The ungainly vegetables are stored in beautifully painted houses with pointy roofs. People whisper yam magic spells.

Yam Mojo (Jeffrey Gettleman)

C. Elsewhere in today's Times

The Atkins-inspired dishes include Tuscan spinach dip, sizzling chicken with broccoli and grilled chicken Caesar salad.
Consumer research at T.G.I. Friday's found that 19 percent of those who dine often at casual restaurants like Friday's are using the Atkins approach.

The Atkins Revenge (Julie Dunn)

Canada is investigating a complaint by McCain Foods Ltd., one of the country's largest food makers, that companies in the United States are selling frozen pizzas with self-rising crust at illegally low prices.

The Pizza Caper (Bloomberg News)

Mad cow poses a challenge to testers because it is so different from most diseases. Most infections are caused by bacteria and viruses. Tests for them can show the infectious agents themselves, or the immune system's reaction to them. But most scientists believe that mad cow disease is caused by agents that are far more elusive — misfolded proteins called prions.

Uncertainty In Mad Cow Solution (Sandra Blakeslee)

"We're purists," said Joseph Bavuso, a 40-year-old lawyer, and a charter member. "Myself, I'm looking mostly for high-quality meat, rare to medium-rare. The burger should be unadorned, too, so you can taste a balance between the char and the beef."

eGullet Burger Club's 15 Minutes Of Fame (Alan Feuer)

Click here to see what our Burger Club is all about and join in the discussion.

A new book, "Keep It Off: Use the Power of Self-Hypnosis to Lose Weight Now," sanely sidesteps the specifics of high protein, grapefruit, Zone, South Beach or any other diet and goes straight to the mind-over-matter struggle of all weight loss plans. This book's trenchant promise is that any diet works, as long as you can stay on it. Hmm.

The Can-Do Diet (Linda Lee)

The dining room is 21st-century diner style: industrial steel and gloss white, with a roll-up garage door that opens the restaurant to the street. Three flat-screen televisions electronically billboard the top of the bar. The menu is sun-dried, roasted and grilled. And the drinks list has a page of martinis, a page of specialty cocktails, 45 vodkas (including flavors), 18 tequilas and 7 single-barrel bourbons. It reads like a wine list.

H.K. (William L. Hamilton)

Click here to discuss this article.

Have a good week, folks.

Soba

SobaAddict70 · January 7, 2004

NYTimes Weekly Update

Wednesday, 7 January 2004

A. Dining In/Dining Out Section

We also sought out many of Washington's high-end artisanal wineries because we were curious about the best that Washington had to offer. Many of these bottles may be hard to come by, but they give an important idea of the potential of Washington wines.

Bordeaux-style Reds In Washington State (Eric Asimov)

Sidebar: If you go to the NYTimes Dining In/Dining Out web page, you can hear a presentation given by Eric Asimov, Amanda Hesser, Mark Golodetz (contributing editor of Wine Enthusiast) and David Gordon (wine director at Tribeca Grill) on red wines of Washington State. Click on the box marked "Wines of the Times" to begin the presentation.

The cabbage salad is really a version of a Vietnamese chicken salad that I love to keep in the refrigerator to pick at when the alternative might be a much less wholesome toasted bagel or piece of toast. The crunchiness of the cabbage remains, even when it's a day or so old, and the crab meat gives a sweet richness that positively sings within the lime-sharp acerbity of the dressing.

At My Table (Nigella Lawson)

Sherry comes from the area around Jerez (pronounced he-RETH, which is supposed to sound something like sherry), a town in southern Spain. It starts its life as white wine made from the palomino grape but for some mysterious reason produces a yeasty substance called flor, which gives it its unusual character. It is then "fortified" — its fermentation stopped by the addition of extra alcohol — so it is a little more potent than normal table wine.

How To Roast A Pig In Four Hours (Sam Sifton)

"It was like pig candy," he said. Mr. Lima, he said, had called the device "a chinee box."

Duck confit made shepherd's pie definitely worth ordering, the duck seasoning the mashed potatoes, a black chanterelle sauce pulling it all together. The crisp duck skin on top of the pie made it irresistible.

Jubilee 51 (Marian Burros)

Click here to discuss the review or contribute your experiences.

I loved the fried kutabi..., a thin pastry skin stuffed with meat. An Azerbaijani specialty, it was beautifully spiced, with ground pomegranate seeds, I was told, and had a lovely smoky flavor.

Pop's Pierogi (Eric Asimov)

Click here to discuss the review or contribute your experiences.

A product of Norway, it is made by boiling the whey left over from traditional cheese production. It is stirred and condensed over heat until reduced to one-quarter its original volume. The sugars in the lactose caramelize, and the cheese becomes thick enough to pour into rectangular molds.

Gjetost (Kay Rentschler)

Los Angeles is a town packed full of beautiful little culinary secrets. One of them is the Friday night dinner ride through Griffith Park, beginning at the Sunset Ranch at the base of the Hollywood sign in the Santa Monica Mountains. Although there are other stables that offer rides on the park's trails, the Sunset bills itself as the the only horse ranch in Hollywood.

The Griffith Park Ranch (Charlie LeDuff)

Recipe: TARTIFLETTE

Letters

Healthy McDonald's?!? (Sherri Day)

Recipes in today's issue:

1. Clams in Sherry Sauce

2. Gjetost Dessert Tartlets

3. Baked Ricotta

4. Roasted Cherry Tomatoes

5. Vietnamese Crab Coleslaw

B. Elsewhere in today's Times...

Carbohydrate counters, for example, are encouraged to eat a double order of scrambled eggs for breakfast, an option that the McDonald's Corporation says contains less than five grams of carbohydrates.

Parmalat, meanwhile, has hired two prominent bankruptcy lawyers, Martin Bienenstock and Marcia Goldstein of the law firm of Weil Gotshal & Manges.

The Rise and Fall of Parmalat: Epilogue (Reuters)

The Washington cow is the second mad cow case found in cattle born in Alberta. The first was on May 20, 2003, on a different farm, and led to a ban on Canadian beef exports. Canadian officials said the first animal most likely contracted the disease by eating contaminated feed. Officials said it was unlikely that these two Canadian-born cows had eaten the same infected feed.

Canadian Mad Cow Confirmation (Elizabeth Becker)

"The change is that Americans are eating more like the Japanese — seasonal ingredients, small plates, more fish and vegetables." Marcus Samuelsson of Aquavit, whose first new venture in years is Riingo, a Japanese-American experiment expected to open next week, said: "The New York chefs I know have always been obsessed with Japanese food. It's a challenge, because it's so different."

The Furikake Revolution (Julia Moskin)

Sidebar: Accompanying this article is an online audio presentation given by Julia Moskin, staff writer for the Dining In/Dining Out section of the New York Times. Click on the box marked "Beyond Sushi" to begin the presentation.

Click here to discuss this article.

Soba

Pan · January 14, 2004

NYTimes Weekly Update

Wednesday, January 14, 2004

A. In today's New York Times

FOR generations," said Nigel Elder, a former paratrooper in the British Army who now tends the vines at Martinborough Vineyard, "we exported our best produce. We didn't taste it, so we didn't know how good it was."
Well, that's not true anymore, and the evidence was there on the table: sweet, sensual scallops from Whitianga, a little fishing port on the Coromandel peninsula, so fresh they threatened to jump off the plate, showered with basil, coriander and lemon grass; unashamedly wild-tasting rack of lamb from Hawkes Bay, tender and rosy-red; three New Zealand cheeses, including Waimata Farmhouse Blue, a tangy, buttery delicacy that could readily stand comparison with Roquefort or Maytag; and luscious fig and Arataki honey ice cream.

The Other Down Under (R. W. Apple Jr.)

Ms. Planck started her job as director of Greenmarket last July. She was fired on Dec. 23.
To some, her dismissal came as no surprise. "There was a sense of distress in the community, and I think Nina created it," said Eugene Wyatt, the owner of Catskill Merino, a sheep farm, and a Greenmarket farmer. "It was a relief to have her gone."
To others it was yet more evidence of troubles that have long stalled Greenmarket's potential. "They didn't know who they hired: someone who was really ready to make changes," said Mary Cleaver, the owner of the Cleaver Company, a caterer that buys from Greenmarket farmers.

Apple Cart Upset: Who Runs Greenmarket? (Amanda Hesser)

Click here to discuss this story.

A major commercial lime industry will probably never return to the United States. But growers like Eric Christensen of Rising C Ranches in the San Joaquin Valley are prospering by raising exotic varieties.
"The ethnic population of this country has a craving for their homeland fruits, which they're not getting, and they're willing to pay," Mr. Christensen said recently over dinner.
He also focuses on mainstream markets, however, selling to stores in New York like Fairway and Gourmet Garage. To stay ahead of the curve, he experiments with varieties like the Rangpur lime, which looks like a tangerine and has a rich, distinctive flavor.

Latest Green Fashions Come in Many Styles (David Karp)

Click here to discuss New York-relevant aspects of this story.

And if you want to order limes directly from suppliers:

Sources: On the Exotic Side

I am more than willing to forgive Bread Tribeca for its bland soups, its charming but not always focused serving staff and the lack of spoons for its saltcellars — I hate to think how many fingers have taken a pinch or two — because most of the food is a pleasure.

Bread Tribeca (Marian Burros)

Click here to discuss the review or contribute your experiences.

Note: Post-script:

• The Restaurants column in the Dining section yesterday, reviewing Bread Tribeca, at 301 Church Street in Manhattan, carried an erroneous star rating. The critic assigned it two stars, not one.
The review also misstated the reservation telephone number. It is (212) 334-8282; for delivery orders, (212) 334-0200.

January 15, 2004 Corrections

I have always said that holidays are very dangerous," said Edward Serotta. Old Jewish women are always looking to stuff a nice Jewish bachelor like him. Still, Mr. Serotta, 54, takes his chances because holiday meals are essential to his work, documenting what remains of Jewish life in Central and Eastern Europe.

"Someone served me a piece of brisket the size of a telephone book with big boiled potatoes. It felt like home," he said. "Then I realized, it is the old country, and these were the recipes of my grandparents in Poland."
He vowed then to capture the family stories of these people. Three years later, he sold everything he owned and moved to Budapest. He has produced three books and four documentary films. His photographs are in the permanent collections of many American museums.

Brisket Was His Madeleine (Joan Nathan)

When the liquid was barely trembling, not even a real simmer, he slid the pot, with a loose cover of foil, into the wood-burning oven. "The Zen of braising is all about the courage required by patience," Mr. Hayward said. "You're looking for a breakdown of the connective tissue and a release of collagen to make the meat slippery, rich and moist. You want the tissues to liquefy without melting them away."
He paused a minute. "Braising is an art," he said.

The Chef: The Zen of Braising (Nancy Harmon Jenkins)

In this country, ribs tend to be summer food: we grill 'em. But in much of the rest of the world, they have been braised more often than not. When braising, of course, you sacrifice the crisp crust that is such a big part of the appeal of grilled meat.
But look at all you gain: flexibility in timing (you can braise far in advance), a cooking process that needs little attention, guaranteed tenderness and the ability to integrate vegetables of all types into the dish. Not to mention the fact that, to braise, you don't have to go outside.

The Minimalist: Spareribs, Unflamed (Mark Bittman)

Economists and others who should know are saying that the economy's upturn in recent months has bypassed the working class and particularly benefited the country's elite.
Recent sales figures for high-end Champagne and sparkling wines, the traditional celebratory beverages of the economically favored, tend to bear that out. As of October, French Champagne sales for the first nine months of last year were up 15 percent over the same period in 2002, industry analysts say. Top California sparkling wines, made by the traditional Champagne method, were doing even better. Roederer Estate was up 26 percent over 2002, Schramsberg 35 percent and Iron Horse 25 percent, according to The Wine Market Report, a trade publication.

Wine Talk: Giddy Times for Champagne Makers (Frank J. Prial)

Food Stuff (Florence Fabricant)

Nowadays, by my unscientific count, the East Village has more Italian restaurants than unemployed guitarists, surely a sign that the balance has changed. And yet Col Legno soldiers on, offering essentially the same Tuscan trattoria menu as it did when it was new, at prices that are not much different.

Col Legno (Eric Asimov)

Click here to discuss the review or contribute your experiences.

Letters

A Short-Order Revolutionary (Russell Shorto)

Recipes in today's issue:

1. Braised Lamb Shoulder

2. Chicken Paprika With Dumplings

3. Braised Spareribs With Cabbage

B. In the magazine (Published: January 11, 2004)

Tod Murphy, the man behind the breakfast, literally and figuratively, sits in a green vinyl booth in his 60-seat eatery, the Farmers Diner, on North Main Street in Barre, Vt., and deconstructs my meal. ''The potatoes come from Will Allen's farm over on the Connecticut River. We get our bread from a bakery in Northfield, and believe it or not the eggs come from a little egg farm right in downtown Stowe. Earl and Amy out in Strafford supplied the milk and butter, or rather their Guernseys did. And the bacon came from Andrew.'' Andrew is 15 years old, and in his first foray into hog farming he produced what your correspondent is ready to nominate the finest bacon on the planet.

C. Good Eating (Published: January 11, 2004)

Roads Less Traveled

Places covered: Bahia, Eight Mile Creek (**), Kabab King Diner, Lomzynianka, Madiba, Pamir, Tibetan Yak.

D. Diner's Journal (Published: January 9, 2004)

Don't judge Zona Rosa by its peanut-butter frozen tequila margaritas. Enough of them are likely to have the same impact brandy Alexanders had on a couple of my relatives at a wedding years ago: during the reception two women, both of a certain age, either decided to roll down a hill or couldn't help themselves.
The rest of the Nuevo Mexicano food at the restaurant is well conceived and savory.

Zona Rosa (Marian Burros)

Click here to discuss this informal review or contribute your experiences.

Pan · January 22, 2004

NYTimes Weekly Update

Thursday, January 22, 2004

A. In today's New York Times

To see if the premise lives up to the promise, I asked four companies — Ikea, Boffi, Expo Design Center and the Home Depot — how they would propose to renovate the kitchen of a friend, Lara Suarez, in NoLIta. Armed with a sheaf of photos and a rough floor plan, I gave each company the same guidelines: show me the best value, and tell me what it should look like.
What I found is that, during hourlong initial consultations, the designers provided by each company were more patient and courteous than I am as they explained the relative merits of things like drawer slides.

Room to Improve: The Ready-Mix Kitchen (Marco Pasanella)

B. In the Wednesday, January 21 New York Times

[C]ooking a fish on the bone — with its head and tail fin intact — is among the most rewarding ways to experience fish at home, producing a clarity of flavor and a texture unrivaled by the precut, disembodied fillet. Moreover, cooking a whole fish is a breeze, far easier than our usual Sunday pork shoulder and on a par with a typical Tuesday roast chicken.

When the Whole Is Greater Than Its Parts (Matt Lee and Ted Lee)

Two weeks and counting. On Feb. 4, some 100,000 square feet of marble floors will shine behind a facade of 90,000 square feet of glass, and more than 3,000 guests in formal attire will enter the soaring atrium of the Time Warner Center at Columbus Circle to celebrate its opening and the arrival of widely anticipated new restaurants on two floors.

Famous Chefs! Sumptuous Food! Luxuriant Settings! (Florence Fabricant)

Click here to discuss this article.

Rob Hurlbut, the president of Niman Ranch, said it best: "Bacon should be listed as an aphrodisiac."

For a B.A. in Bacon, They All Chewed the Fat (Linda Lee)

Sources: Where to Get B. for the B.L.T. (Linda Lee)

A lot of Upper East Siders like the idea of a wine bar and bistro for grown-ups. If this one were more reasonably priced, it would make a fine neighborhood restaurant. I think maybe the best way to enjoy Taste is to sit at the bar and try out some of the wines by the glass with some of the excellent potato chips.

Taste (Marian Burros)

Click here to discuss the review or contribute your experiences.

If you were to ask me to name the best wine region in the world, or the most underrated one, I'd have to think a long time. But if you were to ask for the most exciting wine region, I'd have an answer right away: Languedoc.

Wines of the Times (Eric Asimov)

Click here to discuss this article.

At My Table: In January, Comfort on the Stove or in a Bowl (Nigella Lawson, talking about soup)

Food Stuff (Florence Fabricant)

The Minimalist (Mark Bittman on Biriyani)

Click here to discuss this article.

Celebrating the Year of the Monkey With the Heat and Spice of Sichuan (Florence Fabricant)

Sichuan peppercorns are one of the staples mentioned in this article, and you can click here to discuss them.

The all-the-steak-you-want diet is no more. If the Atkins diet people are to be believed, it never was. But hundreds of thousands of adherents thought otherwise and reveled in their freedom to eat as much red meat as they liked.
They were shocked and more than a little upset to learn that for five years, according to officials of Atkins Nutritionals, the company set up by Dr. Robert C. Atkins to sell Atkins products and promote the diet, the company's nutritionists have been traveling the country, telling health professionals, but not dieters, to eat no more than 20 percent of their calories from saturated fat. The rest should come from polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fat, largely from vegetable oils and fish.

Eating Well: The Post-Atkins Low Carb Diet (Marian Burros)

Click here to discuss this article.

In too-perfect contrast to this fiery tableau is a sticky front door, which stays open almost every time someone passes in or out of the storefront restaurant.[...]
Though sorely tested, I kept my faith in Chanoodle. I had only to breathe deeply and inhale the wonderful, warming smell of freshly cooked rice, an aroma that does not get nearly enough credit. And, of course, I had only to eat, because this is the sort of food that can be good enough to cause a double take.

Chanoodle (Eric Asimov)

Click here to discuss the review or contribute your experiences.

Pairings (Amanda Hesser presents a Porcini and Barley Risotto recipe and recommends a pairing with Languedoc wine)

Black Tie Is Not Required (Florence Fabricant)

Other recipes in the January 21 issue:

1. Fennel-Roasted Red Snapper

2. Chinese-Style Steamed Black Sea Bass

3. Chicken Biriyani

4. Tom Yum Soup

5. Easy Pea Soup

6. Yellow Split Pea and Frankfurter Soup

7. Hot and Numbing Chicken Slices

8. Dry-Fried Green Beans

At slightly less than 60,000 square feet, the Whole Foods supermarket opening on Feb. 5 in the new Time Warner Center will be the largest supermarket in Manhattan. It will take up most of the space on the first lower-level concourse of the complex, reached by escalators just inside the main entrance on Columbus Circle.

Click here if you want to discuss samplings at Whole Foods stores, generally, and here if you want to discuss this new Whole Foods store and Whole Foods stores in New York.

C. In the magazine (Published: January 18, 2004)

Food: Hearth Strings (Jason Epstein; includes a recipe for Chicken Potpie)

It has become fashionable to bemoan the state of French cuisine in its natural habitat, particularly in Paris: its top chefs are said to have lost their creative edge, and its restaurants are deemed too expensive.
Hogwash. Paris is the best eating city in the world. Far from being the Fabulous Invalid, its restaurant scene is based on what may be the world's most solid bedrock of talented, well-trained chefs. The city has the best, the largest and the broadest selection of really good restaurants offering great price-quality ratios. The list of places where you can get a seriously good three-course French meal for $60 or under a person is nearly inexhaustible.

Choice Tables: Comfort Food at Comforting Prices in Paris (Jacqueline Friedrich)

Click here to discuss this article.

Pan · January 28, 2004

NYTimes Weekly Update

Wednesday, January 28, 2004

A. In today's New York Times

[M]ost people don't seem to worry about what experts say is a petri dish for food-borne illness: the home kitchen.
"Everybody is so acutely aware of mad cow disease," said Janet Anderson, a clinical associate professor of nutrition and food sciences at Utah State University, "but people aren't aware of the fact that they don't even wash their hands when they enter their kitchens, which is a much greater risk."
Professor Anderson filmed more than 100 people preparing dinner and found that only two did not cross-contaminate raw meat with fresh vegetables.

Squeaky Clean? Not Even Close (Amanda Hesser)

Tips: Wiping Up May Not Be Enough

Krug is a small Champagne house, producing less than 50,000 cases of wine a year. The Krugs would like to grow, "particularly in America, which was the biggest Krug market before Prohibition — but not at the expense of quality," Rémi Krug said.
"We could double our American sales," he added, "but not at the expense of quality."
"Often people say to us, `I remember the first time I had Krug.' I never want to hear anyone say, `Krug was not what I expected.' Our clients expect so much of us. We feel we have a commitment. This is very personal with us."

Wine Talk: They Make the Champagne of Champagnes (Frank J. Prial)

"Not too full now, or it may burst when you tie it off," the chef warned. When he judged the moment right, with the sausage perhaps three inches in diameter and two feet long, he fixed a forcepslike clamp at the open end to hold the stuffing in.
Finally, with all the care of a seamstress in a couture house, he made a network of half hitches down the length of the sausage, tied off the open end and finished with a loop from which it would hang in the aging cellar. To eliminate air pockets, he pricked it all over with a multipin gizmo.
The finished product, all pink and white, looked good enough to eat. But of course it wasn't ready yet; it still had to go through its "dripping phase," hanging for 72 hours at 80 degrees while shedding water, and then spend the next 120 days or so in the cellar.
Mr. Bertolli stroked the sausage like a man petting a beloved dog.

Sausage Aged for Three Generations (R.W. Apple, Jr.)

Click here to discuss this story.

For this weekend's Super Bowl[...]we asked a couple of chefs, one from the Carolinas and one from New England, to give us their favorite one-pot game-day recipes.
We got a couple of blockbusters in return. And if Sunday's game isn't half as good as this food, it will not matter much: contented diners will probably be happily asleep on the couch.

Sunday on the Couch With Chicken and Beans (Mark Bittman and Sam Sifton)

Food Stuff (Florence Fabricant)

This week, "A Taste of Texas on the Sidewalks of New York" was part of "Food Stuff," and you can discuss it here.

Before refrigeration, of course, cabbage needed to be preserved through the winter: sauerkraut was the result. It is a utilitarian product, but a delectable one, too.
"I'm fascinated with how sheer necessity came up with things that are absolutely delicious and that stay in our foodways for generations, long after the need has passed," Mr. Hayward said.

The Chef: A Forkful of History Wrapped in Kraut (Nancy Harmon Jenkins)

The Minimalist: Tunisia Talking (Mark Bittman)

Choi sum gai fan, stir-fried Chinese broccoli and chicken on rice, is a humble dish. But in the same way that a consistently sublime burger separates the classic diner from the common greasy spoon, the chicken-and-broccoli plate is a litmus test for budget restaurants in Hong Kong. If a chef cranks out a delicious plate, his other menu offerings are probably worth ordering.

Temptation: A Humble Dish Worth the Effort to Find (Brian Palmer)

Click here to discuss New York-relevant aspects of this article.

For the last 10 years, Karen Klein has had the most powerful people in New York at her fingertips. She has been responsible for setting up the seating charts at the Four Seasons restaurant.[...]
Ms. Klein's restaurant career began 18 years ago, when she was in acting school. "To me, the restaurant is like theater," she said, "every night is an opening night."

Time to Give Up Control of the Seats of Power (Florence Fabricant)

Click here to discuss this article.

Ever tasted a raindrop and wondered, Why doesn't someone bottle this stuff? Well, someone has and called it, aptly, Rain Water.

Into Each Life Some Rain Must Fall. Why Not Bottle It? (Nora Krug)

Trahana is the humblest of pastas, a descendant of an ancient recipe for preserving dairy and grains during lean winter months. Back then, cooks made a porridge out of hard cracked wheat and soured dairy, molded them into various shapes and dried them on rooftops. Mr. Botsacos replicates that rustic tradition in his oven.

Inside a Greek Meatball, a Secret From Antiquity (Dana Bowen)

The federal Fish and Wildlife Service is expected to rule this week on whether to protect beluga sturgeon under the Endangered Species Act, a move that would ban sales of beluga caviar in the United States.

U.S. to Rule on Beluga Caviar (Florence Fabricant)

Food Chain (Q&A about food and cooking by Denise Landis)