Live Q&As

Ah, yes, you must be referring to Sheppard Mansion. David Hagedorn wrote about it last year.

Great place to eat on a chilly night. Went last winter.

Sleep easy. Pickles are one of the foods that are quite safe, because they're high in acid and therefore inhospitable to botulism.  (Canned foods with pH below 4.6 are in that category.)  In the UK, they don't even bother with a water bath for pickles.  

Of course. There will always be health concerns when dealing with nearly raw fish. This is when you must trust your chef to follow proper handling procedures and trust the fishmongers to do that same thing.  It's all about keeping fish at the right temperature from water to plate.

If you're the type who doesn't trust a restaurant or fishmonger, I'd recommend staying away from seviche. At least the kind of seviche that's only cured for a short period.

I love gingery things with beer -- sometimes there's even beer in the recipe.  Gingerbread's perfect, although it's not exactly summery.  

This Chocolate Coconut Porter Cake is made with beer, and we love it.  For pairing, you might want to think about simple desserts that use crushed pretzels and/or chocolate peanut butter: we've got a butterscotch pretzel pudding and pretzel wands in our Recipe Finder. Check 'em out!

It's not really about the recipes. It's about the handling of the fish. Do you have a fishmonger you trust? If so, you're halfway there. The FDA has many good tips on how to purchase good seafood.

Once you have a fresh, quality fish, you can prepare your own seviche at home. Just make sure to keep the fish cool during the preparation. Add ice cubes to the marinade if you're in doubt.

Then enjoy.

You can come to your own conclusions about why, but the first thought that came to my mind was something with marmalade, a la Paddington Bear. Hey, we even have a "Harry Potter"-inspired recipe for Butterbeer. A few more suggestions here from the Kitchn. There are so many possibilities out there -- I can see where you'd be struggling where to start!

Chatters, other suggestions?

Don't cry for me! OK, go ahead and cry, if they are tears of happiness/hunger. Honestly, IMO the best way to cut down on the calories would be to make it an open-faced sandwich. That is, lose one of the pieces of bread. Turn it into bruschetta, and broil it so the cheese melts on top. If you did that, you could cut down on the cheese some, too, without any problems. I tried testing this with half that much cheese, but in a grilled sandwich it just doesn't work. No goo, you know?

As for the sodium, well, after I read this piece recently, I stopped worrying about it so much.

But I like to make my own kimchi, and I use 1 tablespoon of salt for what ends up being 4 cups -- plus 2 teaspoons each of oyster sauce and fish sauce, both of which contain lots of sodium. But  much of the initial salt gets drained out along with the liquid I have you squeeze out of the cabbage before combining it with all the good stuff that leads to kimchi.

Cheese has sodium in it, too, as does bread. So you'd lower the sodium, too, if you did my open-faced strategy.

You are very brave. And yes, your advice is noted.

Much appreciated.

Dave says:

 

Your favorite wine store can order this wine from The Country Vintner, which currently has it in stock. They can call Matthew Tucker at 800-365-9463 to place the order. He tells me these stores have carried previous vintages of this wine: Wine Source in Baltimore, Wine Cellars of Annapolis, Wishing Well in Easton, State Line up north, either of the Bin stores (Baltimore or Annapolis), Decanter Fine Wine in Columbia and Finewine.com in Gaithersburg.  

I get rather distressed when readers tell me their retailers won't pick up the phone and call the wholesalers listed in my review. Simple customer service. They would rather you go to another store to spend your money. Then they complain to me that I recommend wines they don't have, even though the recommendation brings thirsty customers into their store.

 

I would say that there is no chance of that.  Pigs are too big, and too expensive to feed, to be pets.  I know it's going to be hard to slaughter them, but we are absolutely committed to doing just that.  It's going to be a hard day, though.

I'm glad 4H is so involved.  And, if I do write more of a how-to-get-started piece, I will certainly mention it.  Thanks for bringing it to my attention.

I'm sure Bonnie will address this more directly, but I wanted to add more on thoughts about this, in regards to today's seviche article. 

Personally, I had many questions about how to plate it. Do I use all the marinade on the finished plate? Half of it? None of it? Do I squeeze fresh lime juice to accompany the fish? (None of these questions, of course, begins to cover the Great Garnish Debate, which is another topic with seviche.) Ultimately, I learned that "cooked" seviche should be served with an equal about of marinade or tigre de leche. So if you have 6 ounces of fish, you should include 6 ounces of liquid.

We could tackle that, sure. Do you mean for looks,  or the right way to present certain dishes, such as seviche?

Hmm. Search as two words: This link gets you to 33 recipes (some of which are for dishes that use corn bread, and some, admittedly, don't have any corn bread in them). Try either the bacon cheddar kind or this Indian corn bread (you can pop it in the oven).  (In truth, a box of Jiffy Corn Bread Mix is always good to have on hand. I add fresh kernels and use buttermilk.)

Why thank you!  Although it's only fair to point out that there is another outstanding food writer named Tamar -- Tamar Adler.  You might enjoy her, too.  But definitely please keep reading me ...

By snappy, I assume you mean fast. This Tomato Watermelon Salad is about as quick as you can get. And here's the similarly named Watermelon and Tomato Salad.

Our database has a few other recipes too.

Most of us here lucked out, but I know Stephanie Sedgwick, our Nourish columnist, was unhappy to have to toss a lot of prepped meals and stocks and sauces. Normally my house does lose power, and I fill a cooler with ice or dry ice and save the meats and frozen tomato sauce.

RIP demiglace, for it is a labor. :(

We're thinking of keeping a power outage guide on our homepage. What info would you like to see, other than this?

Our power was out for four days. We had to throw away several dozen eggs from my husband's grandparents' farm. It was almost enough to make me weep.

I didn't have a whole lot of other stuff I felt compelled to grab and save, but the first day without power when I figured we'd be OK for a while (ha!) if I only opened the fridge once for snacks, I grabbed salsa and this amazing pistachio cream I recently bought at Eataly.

When we lose power, I just keep the freezer door closed and hope.  We have 2 freezers in the basement, and I figure I've got at least 24 hours, maybe 48, before I have to worry.  But I'm Type B.

Here's the only way I know how to do it: Boil shelled pistachios, saltwater to cover and smashed garlic cloves in a saucepan until the water evaporates. (Watch near the end so the nuts don't burn.) Then spread the nuts in a single layer on a baking sheet and bake at 250 degrees, stirring every once in a while, until they're light golden. They should be infused with a nice salt and garlic buzz. Not sure how much salt and garlic to use; experiment and see how much suits your taste. Other chatters? Any experience with this?

Fully endorse! Sure, brine first, but make sure the skin's nice and dry so it'll crisp up.  Best to use a chicken that's not so huge (4 lbs max). Medium-high heat (450) will be fine; yes, turn the bird a few times so it cooks evenly. Remember this method cooks the bird much faster. You'll want to use kitchen shears to cut along both sides of the backbone; remove that thing and save it for making stock.  Turn the bird skin side up; use the heels of your hands to press down/flatten the bird esp in the breast area. You might want to use a sharp knife to make slits at the thigh/drumstick joint for even cooking as well. Report back.

You gotta use some good condiments. That's the trick. And you can make them yourself. The sandwich I scarfed down before logging onto the chat was this: two slices multigrain bread, thick sliced garden tomato, handful of massaged kale (which I'm sure will prompt people to ask another question!), fontina cheese, sliced hard-cooked egg, and ... poblano tapenade. The latter is a recipe I'm testing for my next cookbook, and it's killer. 

The point is, put something pungent on that sandwich -- a pickle, some kimchi (like in today's Grilled Kimcheese), or at least some lemon juice and olive oil (like in today's Ricotta, Zucchini and Radicchio Sandwich). One of my favorite on-the-fly condiments consists of peppadews (those sweet-sour-spicy beauties) chopped up and mixed with a little mayo.

I am partial to caramelized onions. I'd put them on almost any sandwich, assuming I don't just eat them on their own first.

      I just returned from a trip to the Finger Lakes in upstate NY where I had an amazing Italian meal in a small town called Hammonsport. Here is why I tell you that: they  whisper-grilled thick rounds of zucchini, which made me reconsider how I grill a) zucchini and b) vegetables. There was no char, no grill marks, just an absolute lovely tenderness flavored with a light charcoal taste. 

      I absolutely love grilled zucchini. Generally, I prefer them as thick rounds or long planks, because I really like the flavor of the zucchini itself. But, yes, you can stuff them and grill them. Here is one idea: Remove the pulp so that you have about a 1/4 inch shell. Chop up the pulp and cook over medium heat with some olive oil and diced onion in a pan. Add a little garlic. When soft, add some bread crumbs and dried oregano, a little crushed dried red pepper , and a sprinkling of salt. Cook until blended, about a minute or two. Remove from the heat. Stir in some shredded mozzarella cheese. Spoon the mixture into your zuchini shells. Top with some grated Parmesan. Then grill them, covered, over medium heat for about 8 minutes. Serve with a nice white for a light summer meal. 

Although we don't have recipes just for garlic scapes, we do have a couple of recipes that suggest scapes as a substitute for another ingredient. They are Potato and Feathery Green Salad and Ginger-White Bean Salad. The scapes will be great with those. The bean salad looks particularly refreshing right now:

Since it's useful to have ingredients at room temperature for a lot of baking, just scoop out what you need and put it on the counter.  The only reason to defrost in the fridge is to inhibit the growth of micro-organisms, and there shouldn't be any dangerous ones in flour.  As for nuts, it's sheerly a matter of taste.  Toasting them gives them a nice crispness, but you may not care, or even notice, in some baked goods.  Try it both ways, and see which you prefer.

I use flour for making pie crust straight from the freezer; for lots of pastry recipes you'll want all the ingredients chilled. I think it's best to to toast nuts just about all the time for baking recipes, as it releases their oils (flavor). Even if the recipe doesn't call for it, you could do it. For some cookie recipes, I remember an "up your game" tip from my pal chef Susan Callahan, where she not only toasts the nuts, but does so in a bit of butter. Awesome, remarkable difference in the cookies we tested.

The experts at the USDA’s Meat and Poultry Hotline say:

If raw or cooked food is thawed in the refrigerator, it is safe to refreeze it without cooking or heating, although there may be a loss of quality due to the moisture lost through defrosting. After cooking raw foods which were previously frozen, it is safe to freeze the cooked foods. And if previously cooked foods are thawed in the refrigerator, you may refreeze the unused portion. If you purchase previously frozen meat, poultry or fish at a retail store, you can refreeze if it has been handled properly.

Here's a little more info.

I think rustic bread freezes very well, actually -- but it's best in bigger pieces. So whole loaves work well, which doesn't help you very much, does it? But also, halves work well. Just make sure to tightly wrap in plastic wrap and then in foil. You don't want air getting to any of that bread, particularly the exposed cut side. Then toast it, of course.

The other thing you can do is look for smaller loaves, of course. Some of the bakers at farmers markets sell those, which is nice for us single folks. In that same vein, given the whole-loaf idea, you could buy rustic rolls and freeze those individually. They thaw out very nicely, and make for good sandwiches.

Well, I may catch heck for this, but I think saying the pan is nonstick is a little bit of an exaggeration, especially when you compare it to modern nonstick pans. Don't expect that, without oil, an egg will slide across the cast-iron pan like it's a skater on ice or anything. Once it's nicely seasoned, the finish will be a rich, black color, and by keeping it up and using a little oil it will be pretty nonstick, indeed. But you know, I don't want it to be completely nonstick, because then things don't brown as well.

I don't personally have such a recipe. But check out chef Douglas Rodriguez's "The Great Ceviche Book," which includes a great many recipes, some of which wander far from traditional Peruvian seviche.

Thanks!  I will pass your good wishes on to my pigs.

You may be out of luck on that one.  Given the lack of demand, and what would probably be a low price, it doesn't make financial sense for a farmer to get an old bird slaughtered at a USDA facility.  If you want authentic coq for your vin, you can find live roosters on Craigslist if you're willing to do the job yourself.  It's not that difficult, honest.

Yeah, that seems to be a popular inspiration. Thanks!

Very interesting. I can't recall seeing a shrimp seviche recipe that calls exclusively for cooking the shellfish in the citrus juice. The ones I've seen call for parboiling or pre-cooking the shrimp.

Whose recipe did you use?

I've had a glass shrimp seviche at Roberta's.  So good. Bet Maine shrimp would work well.

I'll give you the run-down in November, when we bring them to slaughter.  I think the short answer is that you can raise them for about what you'd pay a local farmer for them -- at least that's what I'm hoping.  It's not a money-saver unless you raise enough to have economies of scale.  

Amen to that. We love our local markets. In my lunch bag today, I have blueberries, canteloupe, a peach and several plums I picked up. Makes it so easy to get your recommended fruit and veggie servings.

See my previous answer on the relative nonstick-ability of cast iron. Before I saw your question, I made the egg comparison, too! Do your eggs stick badly, or just a little? If you're cleaning/maintaining correctly, I think it's just a matter of time -- the skillet will get more and more seasoned over the years. 

I think it's quite a leap to go from "not aware of 4H" to lazy and uneducated.  It may surprise you to learn that there are many, many resources other than 4H to learn about keeping livestock.  

And, for the record, the ducks were healthy, apparently happy, and quite delicious.  I just didn't take to their personalities.  There are just some kinds of personalities that are hard to warm up to.

Most of those things will be fine, according to this chart. But, yeah, certainly use your judgment. If you're really worried, or obviously if it smells or looks bad, just toss it!

That is not only an excellent suggestion, but the best typo of the day.  We all want a past with uncooked tomato sauce.  (I make mine with olive oil, garlic, tomato, basil, and salt.)

Word.

Sigh. How can I miss someone I never met? The spaghetti carbonara and vinaigrette are still in my repertoire.

Look at it another way.  Pansy had a better life than most pigs on this planet.  And, if we eat meat, that is what we should strive for, I think.

I really like Cooking Light's "How to Cook Vegetables," out a couple of years ago.

It's not hard! Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Melt some solid vegetable shortening (like Crisco; some folks use lard) and brush an even coating of it to the inside and outside of the cookware; I don't put it on the part that touches the stove burner, though. Then put the pan/wok into your oven upside down, with a baking sheet below them lined in foil so the grease doesn't mess up the bottom of the oven. Bake for an hour or even longer, then turn off the oven and let the pans cool. If they don't seem quite seasoned to you, just repeat the process. The first time you use them again, cook something like sausage or bacon, or saute something in butter, which will help build up the seasoning.

It's half fiction and half lie. ;-) Seriously, ingredients follow. I love a little dipotassium phosphate in my morning coffee, don't you?

Ingredients: Skim Milk, Corn Syrup, Cream*, Contains less than 0.5% of the following: Carrageenan, Sodium Citrate, Dipotassium Phosphate, Mono and Diglycerides*, Vitamin A Palmitate, Color Added (Ingredient not in regular half & half).

* Adds a trivial amount of fat

The "Food Lover's Companion" says it contains half the calories of regular half-and-half and wice the sodium.

I have found that parchment packets make for a more dramatic presentation, in that they're a little translucent and when you slit them open you get the full steam effect at the table; kinda nicer than foil packets on a dinner plate, as well.  Even though it's paper, I have better luck keeping the cooking juices in. Go figure.  The foil works equally well in the oven.

    Not much, really. Seems like you are doing everything right. Eventually, most grills rust. Once rust begins, it's just a matter of time before you are playing "Taps" and moving on to the next one. 

     You can scrub yours clean - which, granted, harms the seasoning, but you can re-season - then oil. But if the rust is settling in, well...

     The best thing to do is start over, either with this one - as mentioned, scrub clean, then oil, for one last chance - or with a new one. 

      Always clean the grates with a hard-bristle brush when the grill is still warm. Along with doing what you already do - removing the ash,wiping with oil, that helps keep the rust at bay. 

The National Center for Home Food Preservation says:

For best quality, it is recommended that all home-canned foods be used within a year. Most homemade jams and jellies that use a tested recipe, and have been processed in a canner for the recommended time, should retain best quality and flavor for up to that one year recommended time. All home-canned foods should be stored in a cool, dark, dry place, between 50-70°F. Over extended periods of time, however, changes in color, flavor, texture and nutrient content of home-canned jams and jellies is inevitable. A typical full-sugar fruit jam or jelly should be safe to eat if the jar seal remains intact and the product shows no visible signs of spoilage from molds or yeasts. 

 

Additional reading about processing jams and jellies and storing home-canned foods:

http://www.uga.edu/nchfp/how/general/storing_canned_foods.html

http://www.uga.edu/nchfp/how/general/how_canning_preserves_foods.html

http://www.uga.edu/nchfp/publications/uga/uga_processing_j_j.pdf 

 

Some jams and jellies may have a shorter shelf life than others for optimum quality. For example, lighter-colored jams and jellies may noticeably darken faster than others and not remain appealing for a whole year. Though this is not a safety concern, it may reduce the visual appeal of the product for many people. The type of fruit used will also affect other quality characteristics over time. 

 

Reduced sugar jams and jellies may deteriorate in color and texture more quickly as they lack the full preservative effects of the sugar. Some fruits may darken more quickly with less sugar present. Flavor changes that occur over time become more evident if they are usually otherwise masked by the sugar. 

 

Freezer/refrigerator jams and jellies are a distinct category of products that have to be stored in the refrigerator (usually up to 3 weeks) or frozen for up to a year. 

 

It is always a good practice to carefully examine all home-canned jars of food for signs of spoilage prior to opening and eating. If there is any mold on a jar of jam or jelly, or signs of other spoilage, discard the entire contents of the jar or container. Follow the links below for additional reading on testing jar seals when you first process jams and jellies and then identifying spoiled foods in storage:

http://www.uga.edu/nchfp/how/general/cooling_jars_test_seals.html

http://www.uga.edu/nchfp/how/general/identify_handle_spoiled_canned_food.html

We'll see what we can do!

Great ideas, all. Indeed, I'm a Sriracha fan, too (who isn't?). It's a great addition to the Kimcheese... I'll have to try that pom molasses/caramelized onion idea; sounds up my alley, and I have both...

It's true. Factory farming keeps costs low for livestock.  It also keeps livestock miserable.  That's the trade-off, and I don't think we should be making it.  

Buttermilk tends to have a long shelf life, usually weeks, because of its acid content. So it depends on what else is in your dressing. Homemade mayo, for example? If so, your shelf life is quite limited, probably a week.

Pesto can hold for several weeks, if kept in the fridge.

Depends a little what the pestos' made of...it helps to keeo the surface covered with a thin layer of olive oil.

You can do a whole heckuva lot with/in them, it's true. My favorite skillet is a carbon steel number from France, kind of like a deeper-than-usual crepe pan, which also requires seasoning. The perfect size for me. Use it for SO much.

I understand your point, though I think there's more nuance here.

Some sickness is probably a result of poor kitchen practices at home, where cross-contamination can occur. It's really important to keep proteins and greens separate when cooking. Clean thoroughly. Wash your hands frequently.

Well, our database returns 13 results for desserts with cornmeal in them. I'd say Cornmeal Halva With Hazelnuts sounds pretty intriguing.

Hmm. This is a stumper! The only thing I can quickly find is a reference in a Russ Parsons (buddy of mine, LA Times food editor) piece from WAAAAY back that's about chipotles, and in one section, he writes, "Smoked chilies are also found farther south in Guatemala, where they are called chile de Coban or chile zambo." Could that help? Maybe the closest you'd get is a chipotle! (Depending on how you're using it, you might want to seek out the dried version, not the kind packed in adobo sauce in jars.)

Hey, if it was too much for you, definitely try cutting back. But the amount doesn't sound too outrageous to me. I've regularly made recipes with that amount, or more, of fish sauce.

    Well, you've stumped me. I don't know about this shaving charcoal into salt thing. 

      There is something called charcoal salt, with which I'm familiar. Black Hawaiian Sea Salt or Black Lava Salt is a type of sea salt that evaporates naturally from lava flows. It's sort of like smoked salt, except dark in color. Very strong flavor, but, used judiciously, pretty cool on grilled fish.

We're not sure exactly how much meat we'll get.  Probably in the vicinity of 150 pounds of cuts.  And only one of the pigs is destined for our freezer, the other two, we're raising for friends.  I'll have a better answer for you in November!

Clarification -- that's 150 pounds per pig, not total.

Seems like people recommend diffusers, although if your cast-iron skillet is smooth on the bottom and you don't smack it on the stovetop, it should be okay.

Are you eating lots of carbs or fruit in the morning?

Nope. Rice noodles I see at 61 (medium), spaghetti at 41 (low).

   Oh my gosh! Just unpiled a couple of boxes of wine from there. I especially like the Rieselings from Konstantin Frank.

   Might be a little sweet for the zuchini dish, though. You might go with a Sauvignon Blanc.

It depends on the stylebook of the publication who is writing about the subject. The Post's (much to the chagrin of some people, possibly myself included) spells it with an s. Also litchee, but that's another story.

Well, this is the debate of the week here at the Food section. Many have taken us to task for our spelling of seviche. 

The dish has been spelled many different ways in print -- ceviche, cebiche, seviche, etc. -- and frankly, I'm not expert enough to say which is correct. But I think I've just assigned myself a blog post to get to the bottom of this.

My favorite way to use scapes, by far -- and I've tried everything you list, and more! -- is to roast them. They become fabulously tender, with crispy edges. Takes away all their fibrousness, which has always been what bothered me about them. Although I do like them in other ways, this is now my go-to. They kinda look like Chinese long beans, too, which is awesome.

I've had decent, not great, seviche at Coste Verde in Arlington.  But really, the best seviche I've had recently was at La Canela in Rockville. (I know that doesn't help you, but I thought they deserved a plug.)

I'll check with my colleague at Northern Virginia magazine, Stefanie Gans, and get her take on NoVa seviche.

I first became interested in food when reading Rex Stout's "Nero Wolfe" books! His chef, Fritz, was a major character, and the descriptions of his food were mouthwatering.

I can't answer for Jim, but I'd like to suggest Ports Cafe in Geneva -- terrific.

  Union Block Italian Bistro in Hammondsport. Everything we ate there (and we ate a lot, finishing, btw, with a fantastic locally-made pinot noir ice cream float, with Prosecco replacing the root beer) was excellent. 

Did you see this part?

Freezer/refrigerator jams and jellies are a distinct category of products that have to be stored in the refrigerator (usually up to 3 weeks) or frozen for up to a year. 

Maybe one of the links here will have an answer if not.

I'm looking at info that says "split pit" is a disorder that can be cause by improper irrigation or fertilization or any number of things. The peaches are safe to eat, though you might get pieces of pit in your teeth! And for some reason, peaches with split pits don't keep as well. This extension office paper explains the phenomenon.

How about Dad's Microwave Bread-and-Butter Pickles?