One eGullet dish which was so alluring, enticing

[Gifted Gourmet]

Have you ever read something here at eGullet, and then perhaps seen a photograph of a single dish, and been impelled to make that yourself?

What was it that made you do so?

Why was it so damned attractive and what was the allure?

The ingredients? The preparation?

Did the picture arouse and inflame your culinary passions?

Those photographs really make the case for me ...

[loiosh]

Roasted cauliflower. The thread was so long, I figured it had to be good. Also, it's an unusual (to me) preparation of the ingredient. If I had made a photo, the Spanish sweet paprika I added would have made for a colourful image. (Oh, and it's very good with Jane's Krazy Mixed-Up Salt as well.)

[saltylicious]

Lovely Larb! Larb, larb, larb:wub:

Pork, beef, chickie, fish, chorizo, spam. all good!

Edited December 19, 2005 by saltylicious (log)

[Grub]

Have you ever read something here at eGullet, and then perhaps seen a photograph of a single dish, and been impelled to make that yourself?

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Happens all the time! That's really one of my favorite things about egullet. I've plucked several from Monica Bhide's Introduction to Indian food course, and also a Kung Pau Chicken dish -- all documented in the Dinner thread... Speaking of the Dinner thread, there are a lot of dishes there that I WISH I could make, but seriously doubt I could pull off.

Edit: Oops, if I have to pick ONE dish, it would definitely have to be Wazaa's Vindaloo recipe. BTW, the link goes to my thread (with pictures), but provides links to Wazaa's post and recipe...

Edited December 19, 2005 by Grub (log)

[Chufi]

Sometimes I really don't know what allures me! It happened just this weekend while I was reading the takikomi gohan thread on the Japan forum. I don't even like rice, but somehow the descriptions and the enthousiastic reviews presented me with what I described there as "that weird EGullet phenomenon: I find myself craving a dish I have never tasted before".

It's one of the reasons I spend so much time here: EGullet makes me curious about food in a way cookbooks seldom achieve. I think it's the directness, knowing somebody else just cooked this, what makes it so gripping.

Edited December 19, 2005 by Chufi (log)

[petite tête de chou]

If I absolutely must choose only one dish that would be Mayhaw Mans gumbo. I'd been curious about gumbo and what it was, what it tasted like, its history etc. The ingredients were either already on-hand or easy to locate. I live in a fairly rural community and it isn't easy to source "specialty"-anything, this includes andouille. It certainly was not as high quality as Brooks' but it did the job jes' fine.

Once I saw the pan that he was cooking it in I knew that he and I appreciated similiar things in life. I can tell alot about a person by their favorite pot or pan, it's a bit harder with utensils. So, I felt that his recipe would be very much on target with my tastebuds. And the step-by-step process with pictures was right up my "I'm-a-visual- person" alley. My hunches were correct. This is a really, really delicious dish. I especially loved the constant attention I paid to the roux. Like a fussy but loveable child you can't help indulging.

[docsconz]

One set that jumps immediately to mind is hzrt8w's Chinese home cooking tutorials. They are engaging in a way that single photo cannot be. They are amazing and translate extremely well into actually using them to cook from.

[daniellewiley]

FoodMan's Calzone were a "must-make" for me the moment I saw his photos in the Dinner thread. We've now had them twice, with slight variations on the fillings. I love these Calzone!

Wendy's Banana Cake is another favorite, and something I had to make soon after I read about it.

And one that I don't have a link for, but made just a day or two after I read about it was a breakfast that Daniel posted about in the Breakfast thread. It was mortadella, soppresata, spinach, eggs and mozzarella baked. Delicious! (I made it with just salami, but it was excellent nonetheless.)

[mochihead]

The marshmallow thread and the pate choux thread. <3

I love both of those creations and am always looking for new ways to make them and improve upon them. The photos and descriptions in both are to die for!

Oh, and anything to do with Torakris, because she always finds such amazing Japanese products!

[Tepee]

Mmmm......Sourdough Bread.

The fascination.

Then, the science explained.

Birth of natural leavened breads in my kitchen.

Indeed, the starter sent by Jack across half the world is happily thriving.

[Wendy DeBord]

I really got enthused over Chocolates with that showroom finish thread. Influenced by that thread I now regularly mold chocolates where as I used to just do it just occasionally.

[BarbaraY]

I haven't yet made Chufi's Almond cookies but I've got everything together to make them. I love almond pasty things.

[Tess]

Ling's Scarffenberger brownies

roasted cauliflower

yuzu cocktails (I made yuzu-infused vodka)

I yearn to make lots of the Japanese food described and pictured but often don't have the ingredients available. I did make maguro zuke recently and it was fabulous.

I've made or approximated too many things from the Weight Watchers thread to even list them. Jen sent me a recipe for corn pancakes that was wonderful.

[Gifted Gourmet]

PatrickS really got to me, big time, with this photograph of the shell of his choux pastry cream puff: pictured here

and I am making these with crème pâtissière for my guests on Sunday evening's Hanukkah candle lighting.

The last time I made cream puffs was in the 80's for an open house. My husband's rotund cousin who loves gourmet cooking, came in early and proceeded to devour the entire tray of cream puffs, leaving nothing for the later-arriving company.

After that horror, I refused to attempt these again .. until now! Thanks for the photo, Patrick!

[Patrick S]

^ Thanks Meliisa! I'm flattered.

The truth is I see something almost everyday on eGullet that makes me want to run to the kitchen, put on a long playlist of mp3s, grab eggs and butter and make things happen. One recent example is FoodMan's daquoise with coffee buttercream, but there are so many more.

Edited December 19, 2005 by Patrick S (log)

[lesfen]

Oh... Someone posted a picture of their GORGEOUS tomato pizza made with phyllo. I think it was Rachel Perlow. Anyway, it floored me and I think I made 12 of them before the summer tomato season was out.

[viaChgo]

roasted cauliflower.

The long thread, simplicity of preparation, the accolades...it's been a regular in our kitchen ever since!

[Ling]

PatrickS really got to me, big time, with this photograph of the shell of his choux pastry cream puff:  pictured here

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Same here. I want to make everything that PatrickS makes. Next up are macaroons!

There are quite a few pictures of the Tarte Grenobloise in the Pierre Herme thread, but the pictures that particularly appealed to me belong to kthull. I knew I had to make that tart after seeing THIS!!

Others include the banana cake recipe Wendy posted, and the butter cake from Sarah Phillips.

The other "best" recipes I've found this year (which I've since adapted), are the Frog Comisssary carrot cake, and the Peninsula Grill coconut cake. I wouldn't have tried these recipes without Egullet!

Edited December 19, 2005 by Ling (log)

[lesfen]

Also... Percyn posts have caused me to say things like, "you know... might be better with a nice over easy egg on it" and "ya know... putting salt on this Twix bar may be the smartest thing that I have ever done."

[andiesenji]

For me, it was the Carnitas thread Carnitas which starts way back in 2002.

I joined eG in April 2004 and found the thread soon after. I read it all the way through and when it popped up again and again, I thought I really, really have to do something about that leg of boar that is taking up so much space in my freezer.

So in late May I began the process and recorded my progress in the thread with text and photos.

I was hooked on eG from that point.

One night I sat down at the computer after a harrowing drive home that took me more than three hours because of a tanker wreck and fuel spill (I have a 70 mile commute-one way), opened eG and the first thread was the "Larb" thread. I started at the beginning and read through the entire thing, then had dreams about the stuff. I was off work the following day so gathered the ingredients and prepared a meal.

Other discussions that have prompted me to prepare something ASAP have been the Banana Bread thread, threads about eggs, cheese, tomatoes, breakfast and biscuits. Then there was the cornbread thing!!!

[kpurvis]

Duck fat vinaigrette. Suggested by someone whose name escapes me, when I started a post on making crayons from frozen duck fat. The very best way to dress a salad you're going to top with a comfitted duck leg.

[mizducky]

One set that jumps immediately to mind is hzrt8w's Chinese home cooking tutorials. They are engaging in a way that single photo cannot be. They are amazing and translate extremely well into actually using them to cook from.

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Ditto. Those tutorials have been the cause of several impromptu runs to the local 99 Ranch Market in search of some ingredient or other--"oh wow, so *that's* how you use such-and-so! Okay, time to experiment!"

Edited December 19, 2005 by mizducky (log)

[I_call_the_duck]

Oh, so many, but one that really stands out is Daniel's bacon toffee and bacon cake from his porkfest, Oink!

Edited to add: Haven't tried it yet, but it's high on my list.

Edited December 20, 2005 by I_call_the_duck (log)

[M.X.Hassett]

As others have said there are many recipes I have used. But my favorite part of eG is when there is a discussion of one recipe (Carbonara comes to mind) and it branches into the multitude of variations and tweeks different people have used. I also enjoy the commentary and insight offered into the history of some recipes, i.e. how it evolved from the "classic" or "authentic" recipe to the "modern" or "adapted" version and what caused these changes culture, sourcing, economics, etc...

[Gifted Gourmet]

Thanks for this, Matt, but I am so simple that I could never read through all of the in-depth information before hunger overtakes me ... one hot photograph can make me completely crazy enough to try the recipe immediately!