BuckyE's Profile
Old fashioned chewy dense bagels in Baltimore?
Are there any? Goldberg's, although nice, are not what I'm looking for. Old fashioned bagels, as in: chewy, you could hardly bite them apart. Dense, not fluffy. Thicker crust, more crunchy.
All the bagels just seem weak and uninteresting. May be a wild goose chase!
Thanks!
Bucky Edgett
What are/were "aloes"?
Dear JMF,
I'm corresponding with some folks who might be able to provide contemporary documentation on "aloes," which they claim were indeed the aloes-wood, as you claim. Neato!
Would you care to share your documentation with us, or is it a secret?
Yours,
Bucky
What Food Trend are You So Sick Of?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ucNYLsjKaTQ
Douglas Adams' take on an at least similar idea, from "The Restaurant at the End of the Universe," copyright 1980.
What Food Trend are You So Sick Of?
Is macaroni & cheese a trend? Interesting.
The gluey problem comes, I think, from most people using a milk or cream sauce in it. That's a mistake. But it, by association with a bisque, probably suggests the lobster.
See http://lovebunnies.luckypro.biz/01_stuff/01_recipes/macncheese.html for a good recipe. Use a heavy baking dish/casserole to get the bottom crust. No thin aluminum foil things! A pan of this at the pot luck never goes begging.
What are/were "aloes"?
Dear JMF,
Short answer: as yet no actual reference to pods being used. I'm out of my depth here!
Picture of a seed pod of A. hirta"
https://sites.google.com/a/gaharu.biz/www/species-of-agarwood-or-gaharu
A mention of the "little tents" seed pods of some kind of "aloe/agar-wood" species without a species ID:
http://aromatherapy.homestead.com/Spiritual-Significance-of-Aloes.html
This text is cribbed on several different sites, without any elucidation or references.
Post's list of ingredients isn't exactly the same as Scott's. Post omits orange rind and coffe beans, and substitutes granulated for lump sugar. Their descriptions of the making differ slightly.
But you're right, "aloes" is common to both. Intriguing!
I'm pretty much stumped. The Internet is letting me down! I think we need someone down at Tulane with access to period original source documents to research exactly what "aloes" would have been.
What are/were "aloes"?
Ha ha! I may be on to something. Beginning to suspect JMF and I are correct, AND incorrect. This is a tangled web, but a certain strand may be emerging.
Aquilaria malaccensis is the tree whose fungus-infected heartwood produces the incredibly expensive and now technically illegal Oud resin perfume. The tree is known colloquially as Agarwood, Aloewood, Eaglewood and Lign-aloes.
However, there is ANOTHER tree, Aquilaria agallocha which is ALSO called Lign-aloes. It is much more common. It has seed pods that are supposedly fragrant.
So I'm wondering if the much less expensive pods of the latter were once sold as spice? THAT would explian the reference to "4" of them. Hmmm?
What are/were "aloes"?
Sloe gin? Are the berries only for color? Don't think I've ever tried sloe gin!
Emily Post's column lists aloes, as well. Difficult to believe two people would have had the same mistake, unless of course she or someone was copying Natalie Scott without really knowing what was being described.
Okay, we need some deeper research into "aloes" in old time recipes. I'm not coming up with much!
Vaux le Vicomte candlelight supper
Loie and I are intrigued by the idea. Does anyone know if the food is good? Thanks!
What are/were "aloes"?
Dear Wyogal,
I've only posted it once. But a thread with an association of sloes and coffee would be interesting!
What are/were "aloes"?
Dear JMF,
Yes, thanks, I read about the aloe incense. ..."myrhh and aloes..." is a Biblical quotation; came up in thousands of hits during my Google searching.
But it can't be the solution to my mystery. Natalie Scott's recipe specifically calls for "4 aloes." Not 4 drops of aloe, or 4 somethings of aloe, just "4 aloes."
Many of her and Mandy's recipes are a bit lax on quantities. Some of them are positively sloppy! So if Ms. Scott specified 4 of something, that something has to have been something that comes as discreet items. Sloes are berries, of which one could obtain 4. The aloewood spice might have come in discreet units or pieces or items or nuggets. But really, "4 sloes" just makes so much more sense as a measure than does "4 aloe(wood)s."
I'm looking for sloes! Thanks again.
What are/were "aloes"?
Drongo, you're a genius! Sloe Gin Fizz is a signature New Orleans cocktail. The original recipe MUST have called for sloes. Yes! Chowhound comes through again. It doesn't seem that Google has digitized any early editions of either Mandy or 200 Years, and at $50 bucks used I have to pass. So no way at the moment to check when the mistake occured.
But I'm sure you've cracked the case. Thanks Immensely!
What are/were "aloes"?
I'm pretty sue I'm NOT talking about aloe vera.
Natalie Scott's 200 Years of New Orleans Cooking has a recipe for Cafe Brulot that calls for 4 aloes:
"...
4 all-spice
2 cloves
8 lumps of sugar
6 parched whole coffee beans
4 aloes
..."
It seems they should be some kind of spice/flavoring/I have no idea. I've googled to no avail. It might be possible she was talking about chunks or leaves of aloe vera, but that just doesn't seem likely to me.
Any thoughts on this obscure topic would be greatly appreciated!
Bucky Edgett
Worst meal in years (locals schmocals)
Hello, Maureen! This is a fun thread. The last paragraph ("fine crystal") is my favorite. Loie likes to have lunch at the Enoteca Capranica. I have no idea if it's on anyone's list of good places in Rome, but we just like sitting there and having the service and the --by me, always tasty-- food. Costs an arm and a leg, but once every few years, what the heck!
Bucky Edgett
Where to get cured ham?
Garvick's country ham. 5252 Band Hall Hill Rd; Westminster, MD 21158; (410) 848-0067
If that is still a good phone number. Call and ask Nevin for one of his country hams.
T-Day Postmortem: the good, the bad, and the ugly
It's worked for me, sort of. But I used several raw white potatoes, sliced. Not a whole one, and not a baking potato. Reduced the saltiness of a broth made from country ham. Didn't **eliminate** the salt, but did reduce it.
Things I ate/drank in college that I will never eat again
Adding this to the list strictly for historical atmosphere, as I assume no one would even think of recreating it...
Sharing the half gallon of Cribari that had been used in the --ahem-- water pipe for several months. First semester sophomore year, fall 1970, Brown University, Providence, RI.
***Kids, don't try this at home!***
Things I ate/drank in college that I will never eat again
"PGA Punch." (Pure Grain Alcohol, sold as such.) Hosts provide the case of fiths of PGA. Guests bring the mixers: any kind of fruit juice, mixers, soda pop, you name it. Dump all the mixers in a semi-clean trash can and start pouring in fifths of PGA. See how long it takes the drunken fools to dare each other into adding the whole case of PGA to the punch, and what truly idiotic fools will still drink it.
Quintessential New Orleans
OK, I get it. We'll make that a possible lunch or cocktails stop.
Galatoire's Friday Lunch
So, if the Ancient and Honourable Institution of Friday Lunch has degenerated at Galatoires, who still upholds it?
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Galatoire's Restaurant
209 Bourbon St., New Orleans, LA 70130
Weekday lunch near Laura and Oak Alley
Oh, and P.S.: We'll be renting a house in the Faubourg, so no concierge. Unless I'm one!
Weekday lunch near Laura and Oak Alley
Ah, this is great. All the recommendations are greatly appreciated. I have to google the --to me-- new houses. Now we might just have lunch and supper along the River.
Weekday lunch near Laura and Oak Alley
Second week of next April, I think, is the date of our next New Orleans visit. Last time, we had a car and did some driving out. We might like to rent one for a day or two this time, and pop out to Vacherie, is it, to see the Laura and Oak Alley plantations. Loie and I have been to Laura and I think it was Nottaway, but not Oak Alley. Our friends have been to none. None of us has been to St. Joseph.
Any advice on routes, other things to see, and **especially** where to stop for lunch and possibly supper would be greatly appreciated. Any type venues for meals acceptable, from shacks to ritzy. Having no idea what's available, I'm open on this one!
Galatoire's Friday Lunch
Well, then what's the recommended routine? Please speak to us tourists who want to be respectful of the fine traditions, and join the fun, but don't have the experience necessary to judge between, or even know, the various possibilities.
We'd like to try this coming April, but have always heard it's pretty much impossible for anyone other than regulars to get seated downstairs for Friday Lunch. So any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Quintessential New Orleans
Now that's an interesting recommendation. I seem to remember Tujagues having set price meals. And a very short menu. Why at the bar?
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Tujague's
823 Decatur Street, New Orleans, LA 70116
Quintessential New Orleans
That was our impression last time we were there. But OK, Galatoire's and Antoine's; a po-boy lunch or two; Casamento's I want to try; all for research purposes. Everything else is lagniappe, right?
And of course cajun in New Orleans is a bit off, but that would be extra for fun. I don't think we'll be down long enough to get out to Lafayette.
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Casamento's Restaurant
4330 Magazine St, New Orleans, LA 70115
Galatoire's Restaurant
209 Bourbon St., New Orleans, LA 70130
Quintessential New Orleans
Thanks to you all! I'd never use the word penultimate in a chowhound discussion. Heck, I don't even know how to *spell* penultimate.
Here's another kind of related question. If, purely for research purposes, we wanted to eat the kind of New Orleans typical meals people ate an hundred years ago, would that be possible? I imagine Galatoire's comes close to being almost unchanged from the ancient days. Any others?
Note again, that experience isn't by any means the **only** we want to have. But it would be interesting to experience some New Orleans food history.
Quintessential New Orleans
Loie and I have been to New Orleans twice. We've eaten at most of the old time places, and a few of the new ones. (It's been about five years since we were last there.) We are going again, with friends this time, in April 2010. I'd like to help our friends sample the most traditional New Orleans meals, from breakfast through the wee hours.
Note this question is not necessarily about the *best* eating, although certainly we want good eating. We can try all kinds of more modern, contemporary places if we like, and probably will. Just now, I'm asking specifically about the meals, dishes and atmosphere that are unique to, and characteristic of, old time traditional New Orleans. Of course I've been reading, both here and elsewhere, a lot. But I'd like any thoughts y'all might have about what's *currently* the best representation of classic New Orleans.
We'll be there Monday afternoon through Saturday afternoon, so will have plenty of opportunities. Will probably rent a house in the western edge of the Faubourge. Perhaps one day we'll try and drive out to see some plantations. Certainly walk around the Garden District, and go across to Algiers. Don't at all mind using public transportation. So, opportunities are rampant, right?
Thanks for any thoughts you might have!
Nice supper in Rome, September 2009?
Excuse my poor typing, please. I guess the image of a pig wearing the Colosseum for a hat, and a cow wearing St. Peter's dome just gets me all confused.
More great suggestions! Now we have four very fine choices. Enough for several suppers and a lunch or two! Thank you all. This is exactly what I'd been hoping for.
Nice supper in Rome, September 2009?
Oh, and it would be great fun to spot a celebrity. Although I'm so out of the loop of contemporary culture I probably wouldn't recognize anyone! Maybe some other diners would point discreetly?
