Topics include: Cooking (recipes, techniques & equipment); Beverages (appreciating & making your favorites); Food Philosophy, and various books, articles, blogs, and related discussions.
Darb wrote:... What a crime that here in the States, fish collars (or "wings") are invariably thrown out (or used for fish stock), rather than cooked and savored like they deserve.
Oh?
What about trout? Aren't those boiled (truite au bleu), simmered (truite en aspic), baked, grilled or cooked (en papillotte) with the heads still attached?
Except for smoked trout fillets, preparing the degutted but otherwise whole fish, head and all, is standard procedure in Belgium. And in all of Europe, if I'm not mistaken. I've had whole trout at home, in the Ardennes, in France, Luxemburg, Austria and Spain.
Plaice, sole, brill and small turbot are beheaded but served with the collars, at least in Belgium.
MidasKnight wrote:I don't want my meal staring back at me.
In French, when there are circles of melted fat floating over broth (=bouillon), we call them "les yeux(=eyes) du bouillon".
So whenever a Frenchman takes rather lean, but not altogether lean, broth (so that the fat floating over it is makes only a few circles, but not a larger shapeless area) he has his meal staring back at him. A good thing you are not a Frenchman, MK!
Here you can see two nice eyes staring back at you from the ladle near the handle! Looks a bit like a martian, won't you say? Disturbing, isn't it?
Human is as human does....Animals don't weep, Nine
« … En retirer la peau d’un geste délicat (après avoir gobé les joues), afin de mettre à nu la chair à peine rosée de la bête, exige un doigté comparable à celui qu’il faut pour déshabiller une vierge. Certes, les truites sont d’élevage par les temps qui courent et les vierges authentiques, trop peu nubiles pour qu’il soit permis de les effeuiller sans offenser les mœurs ; cela ne change rien aux données fondamentales de l’opération. »
EPS+Al: for a nation of such ethnic diversity, I personally find it the american aversion to head-on food to be more than a little ironic. Generally speaking, the only place you're likely to see fish with the hears still on tightly limited to the following: aquariums, fishing boats, and ethnic markets and "authentic" restaurants catering to china, central and south america. Oh, and head-on shrimp are common in louisiana. In general, as MK demonstrated, north americans tend to have an aversion to food "with a face" still on. People like me (who gleefully buck that aversion) are considered a bit eccentric, and stick out like sore thumbs in ethnic markets and the aforementioned restaurants.
Forgive me for having spoken about you in the 3rd person, MK. That was unintentionally impolite of me.
I was just making a sweeping generalization about our society, and your earlier comment (which many of my RL friends share and routinely echo) happened to be in the right place at the right time for being spotlit.
Tonight we'll have tacos (!) I doubt it will stare back at me, but the meat is from a bull I've bred. I imagine that is also somewhat extreme to the common american despite their fondness for burgers...
I have a large foil pouch of mixed veggies with w.wine sauce slow cooking in the grill. Woulda been nice if I had some cured sausage to slice into it too, but I didn't feel like making a special trip to the store for one item.
Dinner tonite (with plenty of leftovers) will be a pair of grilled porterhouses, a pair of strip-loin steaks rubbed with cracked pepper and black tea, and a pair of skirt steaks, fresh local corn on the cob, and a few slabs of leftover parm polenta.
Hello all. First day here. Darby, saw your link on Amazon cooking forum. Hopefully this forum does not have the small
band of mean girls that Amazon has. I look forward to some good cooking chat.
logrl wrote:Hello all. First day here. Darby, saw your link on Amazon cooking forum. Hopefully this forum does not have the small band of mean girls that Amazon has. I look forward to some good cooking chat.
Welcome aboard.
I haven't posted on Amazon much because it's overrun with so many trolls, and people who heap negative votes on each other for little or no provocation or intelligable reasons.
Thank you! Just to join it...I am having my fav tacos tonight...if I can wait that long. Trader Joe's Handmade tortillas. Very important to cook them in a cast iron (or other heavy skillet) with no oil on med high. They get all puffy and tender. Think Comal. Then, I make a lowfat crunchy slaw with packaged cabbage and carrots in the produce section (yes, I can be lazy). I put non-fat strained greek yogurt with low fat may and a little smoked paprika and lots of cilantro. Grilled sirloin steak or mahi or shrim (or all 3), sliced avocado from Costco (high quality and reasonable). Squeeze of lime. I usually have a nice arugula salad or something to go with it.
Not sure I am replying correctly to the person inquiring about the Mean Girls posts on Amazon. The link is to a thread that they themselves started. You have to have purchased from amazon to reply to posts.
The cooking chat in the other threads was fun until they started looking for someone to pick on. Life's too short.
I was looking forward to a new and different cooking forum. There aren't many people who post here? I like the Amazon forums because there was a lot of posting back and forth. Just didn't like the "we're out to get you" mentality of some of the contributors. Does anyone know of a similar forum that maybe has more going on than here?
In any case, there's quite a body of content here in the tap room that's amassed over the years, convering a wide variety of techniques and equipment, and I'm familiar with many cuisines from around the world, and I am here daily to answer questions. There's something to be said for continuity of contact, as well as quality and friendliness, over lower quality inputs from a wider number of people, many of the snarky.
Meanwhile, here's a food and wine genre ... 215 books at the moment, a fair number of them rated and reviewed.
Of course I see the body of content. More looking for the back and forth of cooking passions. Just doesn't seem
to be happening here. Not really looking for anyone to answer questions. I have had a personal chef biz and
have learned from my Greek Grandmother and Mom about what cooking truly is about. Love to hear
other's opinions. Do not see myself as an expert, but also don't need an experts advice. I will re-visit to see
if more people join in the conversation.
By golly you're right ! I've been at this for almost 8 years, without ever realizing I was completely devoid of culinary passion and give & take. And nobody told me ... not even my wife ! Oh, the burning humiliation.
Dinner tonite will be homemade linguini, with homemade pepate pesto. To me, just like spring begins with daffodils and ends with blueberries and strawberries, summer hasn't truly begun in ernest until I've made that all important first pesto.
Today's culinary tips (for pesto):
* As with spinach and cilantro, always rinse your basil prior to use, because even if came from an ultra-modern hydroponic greenhouse and appears free of grit, you can never be sure what (if anything) they may have sprayed it with while growing it, and due to it's fragility it's usually a safe bet it wasn't washed before packaging.
* Lightly toasted pumpkin seeds (pepate) are an excellent, colorful, nutritious, flavor-compatible, and significantly less expensive alternative to pignoli (pine nuts), and they have a longer shelf life too. They don't grind up quite as creamy, but they're a nice alternative ... as are freshly ground cashews. Just lightly toast the pepate in a pan until they begin to puff slightly and and lighten in color, and then shut off the heat and let them cool, while occasionally flipping them to avoid scorching (hardcore vegan-nutrition buffs will probably wish to skip the toasting step). The heat intensifies their flavor, and makes them easier to grind by driving off excess moisture. Next, grind them in a large mortar (or your food processor) into a fine meal, before continuing with your traditional pesto recipe.
* A little fresh lemon juice contains anti-oxidant ascorbic acid, which helps prevent browning. For those (like me) who have access to winemaking supplies, you can replace the lemon juice with a touch of ascorbic acid powder. A little CPEVO poured across the top of the container, or a pressed piece of plastic wrap, will protect the surface. Alternately, you can store the pesto in a freezer-grade ziplock bag and press out all the air before closing it each time.
