zoramargolis

Christmas Eve: Shrimp tacos with fresh masa tortillas Pico de gallo and guacamole Pork and green chile tamales (we're, of course thrilled that the Bush family is also having tamales) Squash, chile and tomatillo tamal for Veggieteen Mole verde and red chile adobo Frijoles refritos Ensalada verde Sticky toffee pudding Tomorrow afternoon: Caviar Crab Bisque Charcoal-grilled Sunnyside Organics VA Kobe rib-eye steaks Haricots verts Garlic mash Epoisses, if we're up to it More sticky toffee pudding Monday: Breather, but since we are a multi-culti family, we are lighting Chanukah candles. We do not, however, celebrate Kwanzaa. I remember when Ron Karenga invented Kwanzaa. Sorry, but I don't care to celebrate a "traditional" holiday that was actually dreamed up by a UCLA professor. Tuesday night: crowd coming for Potato latkes Homemade applesauce Sour cream Charcoal-roasted Cornish game hens Melange of roasted root vegetables Salad and cheeses Wine-poached spiced Seckel pears Guiness Stout ginger cake, if I'm up to making it.

Bambu belongs to the same family that runs Chen's Gourmet, the Chinese takeout place a few doors up MacArthur. Chen's has been the neighborhood Chinese place for many, many years. Neither place is what you would call a destination restaurant, just someplace close by to get something when you don't feel like cooking. Yawn.

Guiness Stout Ginger Cake -- the recipe in _The Last Course_ by Claudia Fleming is a knockout. Amazing, intense ginger flavor and very moist. Some like it with whipped cream, some with vanilla ice cream.

Dunno. But if you called and asked, she'd probably make it for you--so you could compare it with your own, I presume.

Check the picnic recipe collection.

My daughter and seven of her closest girlfriends took over my kitchen to prepare a meal for themselves, and it seemed like the best thing to do was to leave the house and hope for the best. Jonathan and i walked up the street and went into BlackSalt. We found seats at the bar, greeted old friends on the staff and had a terrific small meal. I had a demitasse of lobster bisque which was creamy and full flavored with a bit of salty crunch of some mini croutons to balance the sweetness of the lobster. J had a half dozen oysters--Wellfleets, Malpeques and something else. They were fresh and briny. I followed that with a gorgeous piece of sable in a Thai curry broth enriched with coconut milk. The fish was crisped on the outside and perfectly cooked--delicate, white buttery flesh that melts in the mouth and tasted so fresh and clean. J had his perennial favorite fried whole belly clams. They really do fry right there. We shared a warm chocolate cake with Grand Marnier ice cream.

I have a friend named Dennis, who is a big fan of my Mexican food. He insists that if I were to find myself single again, I would have any number of male suitors who would court me just so they could eat my guacamole on a regular basis.

I have had the chicken, when the herb flavor is primarily tarragon. Other times, not. So I suspect he changes the brine recipe periodically. Here's my theory, though. Rather than simply immersing the bird in the brine--I THINK HE INJECTS IT. The flavor goes all the way to the bone in a way that I have only been able to achieve with injecting brine/marinade. Also, it's possible to inject a bird and airdry it over night, so you are getting both the deep flavor and the skin dry enough to get crisp in the oven.

At MacArthur, they can sometimes be really busy with phone and internet business and seem abrupt... Talk to Tom, the older guy who runs the Italian section. Or Steve. I don't find either of them pompous. There's also a younger guy who works in the Italian/Spanish section whose name I can't recall, but he has red hair, and he is also very friendly and helpful. If you live in the nabe, you're near me (I'm 2 blocks from MacArthur). Another place that has surprisingly good prices is Balducci (former Sutton Place Gourmet), and the new wine guy there who replaced Mike Dolinsky (who was a wine educator at heart) is nice and chatty. As long as you are on New Mexico Ave. you might as well go into Ace Beverage in the Foxhall Square building next door to Balducci, and see if Joe, who has been posting here a lot, is there.

As he has done with Addie's and Black's Bar and Kitchen, Jeff Black has turned over the day-to-day running of the kitchen at BlackSalt to a trusted chef he has trained and worked with for several years. Joey Zumpano is now the Executive Chef at BlackSalt, and Jeff is only an occasional presence in the kitchen. I had lunch there the day after Thanksgiving, and everything was as good as ever. Jeff has told me that right now he is focusing on the major renovation of Black's in Bethesda.

["Everyone knows food is the new sex," cracked Reichl] Great minds do think alike. Actually what I said was "food is what sex used to be"... A couple of weeks ago, Ruth Reichl was doing an online forum on e-gullet. A woman wrote that she didn't use her Gourmet Cookbook, because the pale yellow ink used for the recipe headings was too difficult for her middle-aged eyes to read. Ruth responded that the woman should send her name and address and she would send her a Third Edition, which has darker ink. That was always my complaint about the book--clearly it was a major error. The content is great, but the pale yellow ink in my copy makes it a major pain to use. So I PM'd Ruth Reichl, and basically said "Me too?" And also mentioned that I had been a fan of hers during her entire ten year tenure at the LA Times--a little shameless flattery never hurts, especially when it is true. The restaurant critic before her, Lois Dwan, was a very uninspired writer. Ruth was a total infusion of life into the Food Section of the LA Times. In any case, three days later, a Fedex delivery man brought me a copy of the Gourmet Cookbook, Third Edition, signed to me from Ruth Reichl. I thought that was an incredibly classy thing to do.

212/220-- Just rounding up. But I'll bet if you stuck a thermometer in a pot full of vegetables, wine, meat and salt, that it wouldn't come to a boil exactly at 212. However, I'm not going to bother to test that hypothesis. And as far as trusting me to take your temperature, fellas. All I can say is, unless it's over 100 degrees, you're going to school! Come to think of it, doesn't water boil at 100 degrees centigrade?

Two ingredient macaroons. I got this recipe from Susan Wallace, the pastry chef at BlackSalt. Large bag of sweetened coconut shreds Moisten with sweetened condensed milk just until it holds together (approx. 1/3 of a small can) Pack tightly into extra small ice cream scoop to form balls, lay out on parchment-lined baking sheet Bake in slow oven (250) for 10 or 15 minutes (or longer, until lightly browned, if you prefer toasted coconut flavor). Warning: addictive and very sweet.

Where do you live? There are a few really fine wine shops, like MacArthur Beverages in DC, Arrowine in Arlington, Rick's in Alexandria, The Vineyard in McLean where you will find really good, friendly and patient wine consultants who will help you choose good wines based on your preferences and your budget.

I've got an easy retro staple dish like that--I call it Mom's Retro Meatloaf, because I grew up eating it. My mother probably got the recipe off a soup can. 1 1/2 lbs. ground beef or ground turkey 1 large egg 1/3 cup cracker meal mixed with 1/3 cup milk to form a paste 1 can Campbell's Vegetarian Vegetable soup, undiluted Dash Worcestershire sauce Combine well, spread in small rectangular casserole. Sprinkle cracker crumbs on top. Bake for about 45 minutes in a 350 degree oven, or until firm in center. Drain off fat before serving. This is surprisingly tasty. We usually have it with ketchup mixed with a little hot sauce.

I presume that what you mean by this is that if you cook meat on the bone, it falls off and breaks up into chunks or shreds. My clinical diagnosis of this symptom is: too hot/too longitis. Cooking a stew or braise as Porcupine suggests above, for several hours at 375 degrees, is going to leave you with paradoxically dry, falling-apart meat. That's just too hot and too long IMO. Water boils at 220, and at 375, you've got a really vigorous boil going. You want to gently poach the meat for optimal texture. My recommended course of treatment is: Cook in a cast iron pot with a tight-fitting, heavy lid, enameled if possible. Don't completely submerge the meat, as suggested above. Bring pot up to gentle boil on stove top before putting in the oven. 2 hours at 275, or 3 hours at 240 is how I do oven braising. Remove roast, shanks or ribs, strain out veggies, spoon off all grease or chill cooking liquid overnight and remove solidified fat. Reduce liquid to make fabulous sauce. Briefly and gently reheat meat in in sauce before serving. See the receptionist to make a follow-up appointment, if needed. Dr. zora

In Mexico, they don't consider onion to be window dressing for guacamole. It is essential. Personally, I prefer guacamole with both onion and garlic.

I use Spanish EVO oil for most cooking needs--it has a less grassy, peppery quality than Italian oil. It's almost buttery. They were selling a nice everyday one in a big bottle real cheap at Trader Joe's for a while there, but as with many good things at TJ's, it was discontinued. I get my everyday Spanish OO at the A&H Fish Market in Bethesda. Right now, they are carrying a Hojiblanca oil that I really like, at $7.99 a liter. I have a slightly better grade of Spanish oil that I use for salad and bread dipping. Zoe brand Spanish oil, which is sold at Whole Foods is also a good everyday cooking oil. It's a bit more expensive-- around $10. For hot frying, I sometimes use grapeseed or peanut oil, which have a higher smoke point and more neutral flavor than olive oil.

A couple of weeks ago I made a Meyer lemon cheesecake with a gingersnap cookie crust, using Rose Levy Baranbaum's method/recipe. I took it to a school committee meeting, and everyone flipped out over it. Several East-coasters had never heard of Meyer lemons and were completely beguiled by the flavor.

The best thing for your friend to do is to buy a bottle of each and taste them to see if she likes either one. There are lots of good Spanish wines around $12 or less in the wine shops right now. If I am not mistaken, the Lan Crianza is a Rioja, which is made from tempranillo varietal, which can be very nice with food. 2000 was a very good year in Europe, and if it was stored properly (ie. not heat damaged) it is probably quite drinkable. Some Spanish wines are very tannic when first released, and aren't too enjoyable unless they've had lots of air or a couple of years to mellow out. Monastrell is one of my favorite grapes--it's called Mourvedre in France and Mataro in Australia. It's one of the grapes used primarily in blends in the Rhone Valley, but is often on its own in Spain. Other Spanish wines that might work for your friend, at $12 or less are: Celler de Capcanes 2003 Mas Donis Castano Hecula 2003 Panarroz 2004 Vinos Pinol Ludovicus 2004 Good luck!

Another opinion, possibly heretical, but here goes: Active posters, the ones who keep the scene lively, should get 1st shot at places, versus lurkers. Too many of the DR stalwarts were denied seats at the Ray's dinner IMHO. So I propose that the more blue blocks after your name, the higher up the list you go. Seems very fair to me--that way, shrimps and lurkers will have more incentive to get involved in the discussion.

"Hickory Smoked Bourbon Turkey with Cranberry-Orange Relish" I presume that this is a heritage Bourbon Red turkey, not one that has been injected with Rebel Yell or Wild Turkey 104 proof. Although, come to think of it, that could be quite interesting. Fade In: It's midnight, after the buffet. Laura comes down to the White House kitchen and finds W sillouetted in the light of the open refrigerator, sucking on the turkey carcass. He has that "deer in the headlights look" we know so well, as he meets her disapproving gaze. Laura: Oh, George. Not again. You promised me. W: This isn't what you think it is. I'm workin' on my "Clean Plate Initiative." It's hard work, but it's work that's worth workin' on. You made me wear that dang cumbersome under my tuxedo, and it cramped my style. A strong leader like me oughta examplify the values of the youth of Amur-ca, and the nucular family, and eatin' when you've got a lot on your plate is the right thing to do. Laura: We need to call your sponsor, George. W: Which one-- ol' Fake-Ticker Cheney or the new guy at Halliburton? Ol' whatsisname... Laura: Just put down the drumstick, George. It's over. Fade out.

1) Lots of connective tissue--I wouldn't marinate a steak for four days. 2) No vinegar or salt in the marinade--cooked red wine is not that acidic--goal is deep flavor not tenderizing. The long, slow oven braise takes care of tenderizing.

Try Randolph's on Lee Highway in Arlington (next door to Arrowine) or Patisserie Poupon on Wisconsin in upper Georgetown. They are the most authentic French bakeries, IMHO, and both use only butter to bake with.

I happened to glance at the latest Gourmet Magazine at the drugstore yesterday. It's their annual cookie issue, and may have some recipes of interest to holiday cookie bakers out there. According to Ruth Reichl's remarks, they've been testing the recipes all year. I certainly trust her discriminating palate. I don't think she would allow anything but winning recipes to go out there on her watch.