soupkitten's Profile
Best Hero/Sub Sandwiches in MSP (Not Counting Subway and other chains)
really? i had a terrible meal there and vowed never to return. otoh i didn't have a sub, i had pasta! what am i missing?
Favorable review of new Olive Garden in Grand Forks, ND
follow-up :)
http://www.grandforksherald.com/event/article/id/234262/group/homepage/
Cincinnati chili has no kidney beans?
who is discrediting anything? i am saying that cinci chili has a totally different ethnic/regional origin than the pre-columbian origin of mexi-tex chili. that it is a different dish. that the "rules" of other traditional american chilis do not apply to cinci chili because it's essentially a greek stew. whatever cinci-chili is called, i am calling on people to acknowledge and respect the cultural origin of the dish-- which will never happen as long as people keep piling the expectations of other regional american chilis on a dish that is greek.
my hope is that if people can see cinci chili as a greek-american heritage dish, that it won't be seen so much as some abhorrent stepchild in the chili family. that people can learn to enjoy cinci chili on its own terms and not constantly measure it against their preferred bowl of red/green/white/what have you. that people can get off their high horses in their rush to diss cinci chili/ohio/midwesterners/white people/yankees/what have you and say... you know, this cinnamon flavor with the cheese is kind of nice.
can you, or someone please explain to me why some folks want to sweep the greek origin of this dish under the rug, as if cinci-chili dropped out of the sky, into skyline... or walked a long road from amarillo to come to rest in ohio, and without spreading any variations of itself along that interstate highway? that doesn't make much sense to me.
Little Round Pickled Fruits -- ID Help?
do you think it could be a gooseberry?
http://www.cookatease.com/nellikkai-urugai-gooseberry-pickle
note: there are i think a couple hundred varieties of gooseberry, different colors and many w spots
Genuine Home-Baked Cakes
1 pm would be about break-time for someone working "baker's hours," starting work at 4-5 am, i should think!
Cincinnati chili has no kidney beans?
you just described the mongolian lamb dish i ate last week. it isn't helpful to call the mongolian dish "chili" just because on the surface it may resemble a dish that might be more familiar to an american audience. it isn't helpful to call a cantonese-american beef-broccoli, or a classic bolognese "chili."
yet this is exactly what happened in the case of cinci-chili. it's a greek dish. understanding that it is greek, and NOT a dish of mexi-tex ethnic and regional origin is key to "getting" what the dish really is. all of the misunderstanding and angst running through this whole thread--about beans, beef chunks, "proper" cooking/boiling meat, cinnamon/mediterranean spices and herbs, and dried-powdered vs. fresh chile peppers disappear when one can separate the origin and history of mex-tex chili and cinci-chili.
the nomenclature of cinci-chili needn't get people so hot. "chili" was coined by the american dining audience who were familiar with american regional chilis--not by the greek ethnic cooks who made the dish. the composition and spicing of cinci-chili does not reflect at all on mex-tex regional or ethnic groups (who are justifiably proud and invested in their own chili traditions)-- however the attempt to sanitize/americanize the greek dish by naming it "chili" has resulted in all of this needless controversy.
it is important for one to realize, when ordering a coney dog or a 5-way bowl, that what one will get is a different item than a chili dog in houston or a bowl of chili in new mexico... just as it's important to "get" that if one orders a philly cheesesteak, one isn't going to wind up with an 8-oz slab of beef loin and a wedge of cheddar on a plate.
Gluten-free adventures with rice flour?
you can make some decent wet-recipe/quickbread-type baked goods & muffins using a straight 1:1 wheat flour-rice flour substitution.
making gf bread is the real trick, isn't it? ;-P
Recipes for Greens
great thread w awesome looking recipes btw! here are a few suggestions:
west african: saute onion in veg oil, add optional bell peppers and celery. add diced sweet potato. add collards cut into square pieces or ribbons. add salt and bere bere spice. add fresh or canned tomatoes. cook until sweet potatoes are just soft and melange is stewlike. add optional but recommended peanuts. serve as side dish, or over rice, cassava, polenta, or other starch for vegan meal.
greek (can also be made w leftover/cooked greens):
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/11/dining/greek-style-dinner-pie-with-leftover-greens-recipe.html?partner=rssnyt&emc=rss
japanese: steam or blanch curly kale, drain. heat 1/4 cup sesame oil in pan. add some garlic and cook for a little bit, not browning the garlic. add 1/4 cup tamari carefully to the hot pan and immediately dress the kale w the hot dressing. can eat hot as side or cold as a salad.
tuscan: in evoo, saute onion and garlic. add cavolo nero/dino kale strips, stir to wilt. add cooked white beans. can add a little tomato/sardines/dried red chiles if you want. serve w polenta, pasta, or rice, or w crostini. this is also good w butternut squash or broccolini.
Asian Market: Beverages
omg i used to work at a bar across the street from an east asian grocery, everyone on staff would each drink 2-3 cans of that mr. brown's stuff per shift! it was our "energy drink" before red bull and others really blew up in the marketplace. thanks for the flashback.
Cincinnati chili has no kidney beans?
i think you're joking ;-P
but on the chance that you aren't-- are you saying cinci-chili is *not* basically a greek stew, or that it does *not* have origins in cincinnati greek-american diners?
spam in CHOW stories/comments
to: mods
"gfhdfgjg" is leaving spam-poo in the comment sections of all your stories.
have a nice day
ethnic markets
i do like to go to a middle eastern market for olive oils, and never buy this item at the regular super if i can help it. i get our regular sicilian evoo in liter tins through a restaurant distributor, but i like to have a few other kinds on hand as well.
Where's the beef?
are you intentionally hitting the sysco-tavern circuit? have you tried the grass-fed beef places? i am assuming that since you spent $17.50 plus downtown tax or whatever ridiculous price ike's currently charges for a sysco burger, that price is not an issue in the great burger quest...
"Hitting" on the Waitress (server) Is it OK?
the op does not work with the server.... he is a customer! this is like a client coming on to her/his lawyer or someone going into a gas station and hitting on the person behind the counter, etc. potentially very awkward, certainly inappropriate, annoying and disruptive for other customers, ticks off the boss.... etc.
and yes, for all we know the server is indeed dating a co-worker, and the op is proposing coming on to her in front of her significant other and the rest of their work group/peers. this goes on all the time in hospitality, too.
Best restaurant in the Madison, WI area for woman with walker
oops! thanks for that info on sardine!
Trish, i hope whatever you choose, you report back.... i'd like to take another trip to Madison sometime soon :)
Cincinnati chili has no kidney beans?
cinci chili is not really chili. it's a greek-american pasta sauce. all this talk about how to make good chili is sort of beside the point...
this thread is like people debating how to make the best hamburger, and going off on how to best dice the ham......
ignore the nomenclature, please. cinci chili is not chili, it generally contains no chiles, the rules for other chili recipes do not apply because cinci chili is not chili, it is only *named* chili-- but it is its own thing.
Any Julia Child recipes for ethnic, mexican or italian food?
i suppose scandinavian doesn't qualify as "ethnic," per the op (where's Thew when you need him?)
but here is julia's take on gravlax:
http://www.food.com/recipe/julia-childs-traditional-gravlax-119184
even in this ^ recipe, julia replaced the more "authentic" aquavit/vodka w cognac!
You know you're a foodie ("food nerd", "chow-der", etc.) when.....
today i typed "mpr" into google.
my browser suggested "compressed watermelon."
Is it safe to eat the wild onion/garlic chives in my yard?
ramps usually have rosy-pink bulbs, & the op describes white ones.
love ramps, though. hurray, it's spring!
"Hitting" on the Waitress (server) Is it OK?
well, i disagree w Joe, but he's right on topic, per op... on a "Not About Food" topic.
i also don't think Joe wrote his post to be intentionally offensive (which is different than saying folks necessarily aren't, or shouldn't be, offended)... it's clear that many folks in the thread think that servers are "fair game." the power dynamic is a little problematic for me and maybe others who have ever worked in a service role.
i also think many people are socialized so that their viewpoint is: bars or lively night spots are FOR "picking up" potential dates/flings, therefore any person (including staff) inside such an establishment should be "available," and any personal interaction within these establishments (including friendly service/conversation) is "flirting." add a couple of beers, and someone who wouldn't think of hitting on a librarian or hotel concierge or lawyer or copy center clerk or whomever while s/he is at work, is suddenly leering at the service staff.
from my own perspective as a bartender, pretty much any dude who hit on me while i was working got a reflexive "no." i probably would have answered several of them differently if circumstances had been different and i hadn't been working, but they were sort of automatically jerkwads for... hitting on me while i was working, so no redemption there.
one of my regulars when i was 23 yrs old was a biker guy in his 40's, who was missing his front teeth. every day he would ask, conversationally: "can we have thex?" every day i would reply in the negative. he wasn't such a bad guy, i actually remember him fondly... but cocktail servers and bar staff actually pretty much get hit on constantly because people see them as *accessible/available.* chances are that would-be don juan's "best ever" pick-up line is something the server has heard and rebuffed a hundred times, and flirtatious attention paid, will not be flattering to her/him, it will be annoying.
~ What are ingredients that are best to buy (semi)-prepared rather than whole to save time and effort ~
agreed, and agreed! demi glace was just literally the first thing that jumped to my mind wrt "time & effort" in the op.
ETA: actually, i believe what i actually muttered under my breath was "de-mi-fook-ing-glace"... but regular old demi glace takes a lot of time and effort, too ;-P
~ What are ingredients that are best to buy (semi)-prepared rather than whole to save time and effort ~
i think Sunshine is in france. i could see french cheesemongers being pretty serious about all things fromage ;-P
Sausage making
you can absolutely make fresh sausages, with or without casings, and cooked or hot-smoked sausages.
the more low-tech your equipment, the more important it is to keep everything super cold. keep all your grinder parts in the freezer or chill them in a tub of ice water before you start, it will make everything much easier! the other tip i have for you is that when you are done grinding your sausage, when it is time to clean that sucker, run some dried-out plain white bread through the grinder-- it will clean out all the meaty chunks for you so that you can easily finish cleaning the grinder.
i just wanted to mention that salt (regular salt, not curing salt w nitrates) DOES have an important role in sausage making, if your sausages are 4% by weight salt it will result in a safe food product. salt dehydrates bacteria and makes a sausage an inhospitable growing environment, yes? i am just sayin because your op does not specifically mention salt along w herbs and spices, and i have seen some novice sausage makers overlook the salt or try to get a little cute w doing a "low-sodium" batch and they wind up w a failed product, one that immediately spoils, or a food that is not safe and could make someone sick if they ate it. so i hope i am not being a jerk when i give you this friendly reminder about the salt.
do you have a library card? ruhlman's book on charcuterie is a good reference, though i like john kowalski's "the art of charcuterie" better.
"Hitting" on the Waitress (server) Is it OK?
um, yeah. something to bear in mind is that there is often a camera trained on the server's station/credit card machine, and if the server's boss/mgr sees her giving a customer her phone # -- or behavior that looks like she is picking up or even *soliciting*... she could be shitcanned for it. don't get the sever backed into a corner where she can't be a professional no matter what, and she could even lose her livelihood... fook's sake. if she has self-respect, she won't date a person who doesn't treat her with respect.
the op stated that he's got a good chance of encountering the server when she's not at work, like--not at her place of employment, not under the eyes of her supervisors or co-workers.... fantastic! that way he can freely walk up to her, re-introduce himself and start talking food/restaurants, yay. going off of her general warmth/enthusiasm during the convo, he can easily segue into "hey i didn't want to be 'that guy' who tries to ask you out while you're working... but would you be interested in trying that new festival of food trucks thing with me?"
there are at least 12 very good reasons that a server, any server, will say "no" to a customer, any customer, who hits on her/him while s/he is working. ask the lady out when she's *not* working and you will help your own chances exponentially.
Best restaurant in the Madison, WI area for woman with walker
i recommended graze restaurant in this thread:
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/838327
if "fancy" is the goal i think l'etoile would be a great choice. it is a lovely restaurant right on the capital square (you should ask for a table w a good view), the chef is a 2012 james beard finalist (best chef midwest)... great food, refined service.
graze and l'etoile share an entryway. i am racking my brain to remember if there were steps to get in... i believe there were steps, but also an accessibility ramp. i am not from madison area, so i regret i don't have tons of other suggestions. you might look at graze's menu to see if it appeals, although it is much less formal than l'etoile, we enjoyed a great farm-to-table style meal there.
another well-regarded french/french style restaurant in madison is sardine
http://www.sardinemadison.com/dinner_horsdoeuvres.php
i liked the chefs' other restaurant/breakfast place, marigold kitchen, *very* much
Food Network & Cooking Channel 2012 Season Upfront Announcement
okay, i am actually quite close to calling myself a r. mooking fan, but imma let you slide, because i agree w you that any/all materials produced by mo rocca should be banished from the earth, and be returned and henceforth consigned to the sixth circle of hipster hell from whence they came. jeepers creepers that guy is irritating.
Novice Baker - lard or butter
for what you are doing i would use butter, although i'm sure there are some family recipes calling for lard...
try making a pie pastry/tart shell recipe using butter, and compare w same recipe using lard to note the differences.
in general:
lard is better for some handheld pastries, mexican breakfast pastries, etc
butter for most "danish"/northern european, middle eastern pastries.
leaf lard is a premium lard that comes from around the kidney area of the pig. most lard on the market is rendered lard, and it's cheaper because each pig yields so much of it. leaf lard can actually be hard to find, but i would rec querying your local board to see if you can get some to try.
