zoramargolis

.

3) ah well, maybe i'll try em next time, although I'll probably need to get new leaves...I can't imagine fresh bay leaves keep more than a week or two in the fridge (although I'd certainly be interested to hear any opinions to the contrary).

Fresh bay leaves are true "European" bay. I find they keep for a month to six weeks in a plastic bag in the fridge. Or, if you have lots, you can dry them at room temp on a rack. Dried bay leaves are usually bay laurel, a common tree in Southern California. Bay laurel has a different flavor than European bay--one that is more traditional in Mexican food. I tend to use dry bay leaves in Mexican food, and European bay in stock, braises, etc.

I only filtered it through some cheesecloth, it's definitely not as clear-looking as it could be, but I don't mind. I'm hoping the fat sets up nicely on the surface so I can easily skim it off tomorrow.

When I want really clear stock, I filter through a wet muslin towel. Cheesecloth, even several layers, can let through a lot of fine sediment. The professional way to clarify stock is to pour egg whites into simmering stock and create a "raft" of egg white that attracts the sediment, and can be lifted out with the cooked egg white. A muslin towel is easier.

mixed greens with pear, blue cheese, cranberries, and balsamic viniagrette.

Can I make a suggestion to make this delicious salad even better? Toasted pecans, almonds or pine nuts. A little nutty crunch is da bomb!

The Silver Spring market had a pork vendor that I hadn't seen before. Cedarbrook Farms raises Tamworth pigs, a heritage breed, and they were offering ground pork, pig's feet, bacon, sausage, scrapple, and assorted other things. They will be at the Dupont Circle market starting tomorrow.

Cedarbrook Farms has been in the "winter market" at Dupont for a couple of years-- and the powers that be have made room for them a few times during this past summer, as well.

Also: Fabio Trabocchi will be at the Dupont Market next week, at 11 to do a cooking demonstration and book signing. Bernie didn't know what he was planning to prepare for the demo, but whatever it is, it's gotta be interesting!

Toigo had quinces again today. Mark says he has about 50 bushels left, so they'll probably make another appearance or two. I'm doing another batch of membrillo this week. Last week's batch turned out really well, and a lot of it got eaten. This is supposed to last for a few months!

Rustic Crust - is it in the freezer section?

No--with the pita breads and such.

Marinated fresh borlotti beans (from Eli's stand at Dupont Market)

fennel slaw

roasted balsamic-glazed cippolini onions

roasted asparagus

mixed olives

roasted beef meatballs

pizza made with Rustic Crust* sourdough bread base, fresh tomato marinara, mozzarella di bufala, mushrooms, basil and fresh chiles

2002 Di Majo Norante Ramitello

*bought at WF, first time I've used this. Consensus was this was better than french bread pizza and a zillion times better than Boboli.

Uhm, Zora... If you're still having problems "adjusting" to the color, I'd be glad to take the chocolate brown Le Creuset off your hands.

Oh, darlin'--the only way anyone could take that pot off my hands is if they were cold and dead. It's become a major piece of my culinary history. It may not match any of my other kitchen accoutrements, but it is in regular use and will continue to be. And, for the record, there is no larger meaning. Chocolate is my favorite food, too. The darker the better.

Do yourself a big favor and buy a set of wine stem and carafe cleaning brushes. They sell them at Sur la Table, Williams Sonoma and bigger wine shops. One big reason people break wine glasses while washing them, is trying to get their hand or a sponge down into the bowl of the glass. With the specially designed brush, you eliminate that problem. The other big one is knocking the glass against the spigot while rinsing. The brushes won't help you there, but sobriety and caution will. Also, don't stick your hand down into the bowl of the glass to dry it. Let them air dry upside down on a towel. I haven't broken a single glass since I got the brushes. And I like Spiegelau, too.

Heitz Cellar Treasure Angelica

Purchased on a trip to the old Heitz tasting shack wayyyyy back when, I think when I picked up my 1974 Martha's Vineyard at the wine shack in 1978 or so. The only indication of identity on the label is that it is of a bottleing of approximately 5200 bottles. It was put into my cellar and promptly forgotten only to be rediscovered last year in moving a substantial part of my collection from LA to DC. We opened it hoping that it would still be drinkable, or at least mostly harmless. It is an interesting wine to say the least. It was all molasses, coffee and other roasted notes. The wine was rich and sweet and pretty damn addictive to drink.

We had a good friend who bought Heitz Angelica by the case and gifted us with a Christmas bottle a couple of times during the early eighties, after we had tasted it at her home and fallen completely in love with it. We would dole it out by the thimble-full in order to make it last as long as possible.

When we were in Napa during the late eighties, we stopped at the Heitz tasting room looking for it and were told that they had stopped making it.

The only equivalent we have since found, in terms of depth and complexity and similar toasty, nutty, caramel, honey, orange peel flavors, are a couple of Australian stickies we like-- Yalumba Museum Muscat and Buller's Tokay and Muscat.

There is a special le creuest cleaner that does a good job of brining the interior back up to snuff.

I suspect that the "special cleaner", like the stuff consumers are urged to buy to clean tile grout (Tilex?) is simply some form of chlorine bleach. Clorox, or a cheaper supermarket brand of bleach, does a swell job, on stained enamel pots or tile grout, for pennies.

I tend to stick with necks and backs. You can get 5lbs for less than $5 at the Eastern Market.

If you can find feet use them as they will make you one heck of a gelatinous stock.

As for additions, I think it really depends on how you are going to use the stock. If you want a general all-purpose resource stick with the standard and add other flavors as needed with specific dishes.

If you are getting necks and backs from Eastern Market, the poultry stands sell chicken feet, too. I heartily endorse the above recommendations, although if I don't have backs, necks and feet, I just use whole birds. Throw your roasted chicken bones in there, too, but they aren't enough by themselves. If I want a really rich stock, like for matzo ball soup, I do it "double": For the liquid, I add white wine and commercial broth, like College Inn or Swanson, or, along with water, I add some "Better Than Bouillon" chicken base. With all of the fresh herbs and aromatic vegetables, there is no hint of these enhancements in the final product, the soup just has incredible depth of flavor. For a more "golden" color, use brown onions and leave the peel on.

Le Creuset comes with a lifetime guarantee. I've had the 5 quart for over 20 years and it shows very little wear and tear.

I've had a seven quart round, used frequently for 30 years and other than the white interior being a bit discolored, it's as good as new. Periodically, I soak the pan with a bleach solution to brighten it, and I need to do it again. RE the lifetime guarantee, I've heard that they will send you another handle, if it ever breaks. I haven't had any experience with that, but did get several brand new Calphalon pots when I sent that company 25 year old anodized saucepans that had worn out their coating inside.

Thanks for the good data, JG. I found that the Batali (persimmon colour only) was on sale for $59. So I figured, what the heck? Just put it on order. If it sucks, well, there's still time to ask the in-laws for the Le Creuset for Christmas.

I have looked at these products at Sur La Table, and they seem quite nice. Good and heavy and well finished. And $59 seems like a steal. One caveat. Be sure you like the color. Because if it is as good as advertised, you will be living with that color for the rest of your life. My 30 year-old Le Creuset is chocolate brown. It was a gift whose source was not revealed, so was not exchangeable. It's not that bad, but all of the Le Creusets I have since bought for myself are dark blue. I like blue. Not that crazy about brown. I suspect the "persimmon" color Batali pots are on sale because not that many people are drawn to that burnt orange color. I noticed that the Batali pots that are being sold exclusively at Crate and Barrel are red.

My first home-cooked meal as a married man:

Been too busy doing other things to cook, eh?

URL: http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,20623973-2,00.html

There's no accounting for taste

October 21, 2006 12:00am

THE US has banned Vegemite, even to the point of searching

Australians for jars of the spread when they enter the country.

The bizarre crackdown was prompted because Vegemite has been deemed

illegal under US food laws.

The great Aussie icon - faithfully carried around the world by

travellers from downunder - contains folate, which under a

technicality, America allows to be added only to breads and cereals.

Australian expatriates in the US said enforcement of the ban had been

gradually stepped up and was now ruining lifelong traditions of

Vegemite on toast for breakfast.

Kraft spokeswoman Joanna Scott said: "The (US) Food and Drug

Administration doesn't allow the import of Vegemite simply because

the recipe does have the addition of folic acid.''

The US was "a minor market'' for Vegemite, she said.

You serve membrillo with cheese, I guess? This is also very common in Portugal, where it's called marmelada. This interesting word comes from the Portuguese marmelo, which means quince. How the derivative English word "marmalade" came to mean not quince paste but a preserve of citrus rind is a mystery to me. I suspect the French.

Thanks for the etymology. Interesting. I serve it more specifically with sheep milk cheese, a particularly felicitous pairing. Manchego and membrillo are the traditional twosome, but it's really good with any salty sheep milk cheese.

I have gotten a couple of steaks and other pieces of meat from Trader Joes. They seem pretty tasty to me and reasonably priced. Has anyone else tried them? What about the Mclean Organic Butcher? Finally what about the meat case at Giant for the premium cuts, any comparisons to WF or the others? While I admit WF has fine product, the scottish blood in me boils at the prices.

To keep your Scottish blood nice and cool, you should probably stick to Trader Joe's and Costco for beef. And stay away from the Organic Butcher of McLean. His meat is grass-fed, locally raised and aged. It's very good, but it is REALLY, REALLY expensive.

Zora, I love membrillo but haven't tried to make it. Seems like it shouldn't be too difficult. Do you have a recipe? My Spanish cookbooks all talk about it but don't have recipes.

I don't have a recipe, per se, just a method. I peel, core and slice the quinces, just barely cover with water and add sugar--how much sugar? Like a simple syrup level of sweetness. Some lemon juice. And grated lemon peel-- a T. per two or three quince. I add more lemon zest later on. Then cook on low heat until the quince starts falling apart. Then puree, and reduce and thicken on low heat. This is tricky, it has to be done on low heat with frequent stirring so it doesn't burn. When it is very thick, I add some more grated lemon peel, and pour it into a parchment-lined baking dish and put it into a very slow oven (I use the convection fan, with the door propped open). When the top is firm, I put another piece of parchment on the top and flip it, put it back in the oven for a bit, then peel off the top parchment and let that side dry out. I like to slice membrillo very thin, so I like it to be quite dry with intense flavor. This means flipping it a couple of times to dehydrate it--mine ends up being sort of like thick fruit leather, but you could make it more jam-like with less dehydrating.

I'm not nearly as energetic as ferment everything is...

I dehydrated the last of the figs on my tree and used them to make fig salami--recipe fom a Joyce Goldstein book called _Enoteca_ that I found on the sale shelf at Politics and Prose.

This week, I'm going to make my annual batch of membrillo with the quinces I bought at the Dupont Market this morning.

I bought bartlett's there too--didn't see them at Toigo.

Toigo had quinces this morning. First time I can recall ever seeing them for sale at the market. Plus, he's got Comice pears. Harry and David's catalog calls them "Royal Riviera" and charges an arm and a leg for them. They need a week or so in a bag to ripen, but they are da bomb in the world of pears. I also got 2 quarts of almost-over-the-hill Italian plums for $4 there. I had to throw a few away, which were too far gone, but I made a big pot of gingered-plum compote, and may use that later in the week to make a plum crisp. The quince will become my annual batch of membrillo.

I always wonder who Mark's Duck House has on the payroll, I do not know of any other Virginia restaurant that so brazenly allows corkage.

MDH is one of Robert Parker's go-to restaurants, and he writes about it fairly frequently. The connection with him must be how it has developed a wine-friendly reputation.

Spicy ketchup?

Ketchup mixed with hot sauce...

I found fresh green olives for sale at Magruders in Chevy Chase. There was a recipe posted above the bin: Pour boiling water over olives, let sit for 24 hours. Drain and repeat. On day three, drain and cover with a 10% salt brine.

I followed that method (and read a few other recipes online). The olives are now in brine, where they will sit for a week. Then I'll change the brine and leave them for another week. If they need a third week, I'll make an herb-bine. Then, assuming they are no longer bitter, I'll marinate them with vinegar, olive oil, garlic, preserved lemon and fresh herbs.

Oh, and I cut a slit in each olive before putting them in the brine.

I'll keep you posted on how they turn out. I've done olives in a salt cure before, but this is my first experience doing a brine cure. It was fascinating how when I bought them, they were bright green, but after boiling water was poured on them, they turned "olive green" and the water turned brownish.

The reason I started getting them all the time was the price vs. strips and filets. And I actually came to prefer the flavor and texture over the more expensive strips and filets. But now they have been raised to the same price as strips and only a few dollars less than filets. I never noticed a "Trend" just prices going up so I assumed they must be trendy otherwise why would WF feel justified driving up the price. If it was just increases in beef prices or them arbitrarily jacking up prices than they would have gone up at the same rate as filets and strips. I wasn't really using them for fajitas or anything in particular just grilling and eating like a normal steak.

Flank steak used to be popular as "London Broil", marinated, broiled and sliced. That's just about the only steak I ever got at home when I was growing up, because it was inexpensive. Skirt steak was cheaper, but was looked down on as tough, low-quality meat that only poor people who couldn't afford something better would buy. (!)

When fajitas and stir-frying got really popular, flank steak was the beef cut recommended in all of the recipes. The demand soared and so did the price.

I use skirt steak for tacos al carbon. I haven't bought a flank steak in more than twenty years.

Has anyone been to the Costco at Pentagon City? You would not believe their cheese selection. In addtion to their normal cheeses they are now carrying "Artisinal" cheses from France, Italy and Spain. It is in a separate cooler in the same row as the wines close to the frozen items. I bought some brie, and two others (I am not at home so I don't have the names), that are incredible. Their prices are similar to what you would pay in Europe and you don't have to buy 10lbs to get the deal! (Normal sizes) I just hope this isn't a seasonal thing!

I have been getting the Garafolo Bufala Mozzarella there since this summer, which is amazingly delicious and cheap ($9.99 for four balls in a tub) compared to other places. There have been a shifting small variety of bloomy rind, triple-cream and washed-rind cheeses in addition to the perennially available aged gouda, goat gouda, manchego, comte, grana padano, reggiano, P'tit Basque and others. At Costco it's possible to find some really good stuff at great prices, if you are a savvy shopper.

Personally I was amazed at the number of folks that enjoyed it. I was lucky to be able to find a recipe that kept with the SPiced hAM theme. I wonder if Rocks got any in his doggie bag. I would have loved to hear his unknowing review.

I loved it. Spam is, after all, a populist terrine. With all that bacon, pork fat, chicken liver, pistachios and brandy--you could have had bits of Ballpark Franks in there and equalled the deliciousness. Whoever made up Rocks' leftover plate may have taken him some, but I scored what was left during the cleanup. We had the last of it yesterday for lunch. Brp. Delicious.

How do they differ? Let me count the ways

They differ in the depth and breadth and height

Of taste terrines achieve, when resting out of sight

The spice and fatback melding, finding ideal grace.

Their feel -- one farce, one burger-ground

Contrast; terrines with fowl, and nuts and foie

Oh, joyous texture! for diners like moi;

In meatloaf there’s a sameness found

Drear meatloaf comes from feedlot cow

Convectioned quickly by hurried hands

Terrines are made of game and pork and fowl

And slow-cooked, as tradition demands,

Perfection built of breats and innards and jowl

No meatloaf achieves, not even my mom’s

!!!

Bravo!