Food for Comfort

[bobover3 (imported)]

Pickles! Talk about pickles -

I was raised in NYC, and we didn't eat the dill pickles most Americans do. They seemed (still seem) too sweet and bland. Real traditional New York pickles are made in salt brine, flavored with garlic and other pungent herbs. They age, just like wine or cheese. New Pickles still have the dark green color and crunchy texture of cucumbers. They're relatively mild. As the pickles age, they get progressively paler, softer, and more salty/pungent, until they become Sour Pickles.

Most good delis here serve a mixture of New and Sour Pickles to accommodate all tastes. Sometimes, a Sour Pickle will go unused until it turns almost white, and becomes a burst of salt and garlic in your mouth. Besides pickled cucumbers, there are also pickled tomatoes - a special treat. These have chewy rinds with juicy centers. I know a great restaurant that puts four bowls on every table - pickled cucumbers, tomatoes, peppers, and cabbage (sauerkraut).

Of course, all these pickles have enough salt to make you keel over dead, but what a way to go. I still enjoy the occasional Sour as a guilty pleasure.

[bobover3 (imported)]

My father's closest friends were all Italian (even though we were Jewish), so we sometimes ate dinner in their homes. Back then, there were always women from the old country in Italian homes. These older women wore floor-length black dresses, spoke little or no English, and believed in the Evil Eye (you had to be careful not to look at them too long). Products of a pre-feminist culture, they saw nothing wrong with spending all day in the kitchen making wonderful foods for the men.

I remember my surprise when I saw two of the old women hand-rolling strands of spaghetti on a flour strewn table. I couldn't believe what I was seeing, but yes, they were making individual strands of spaghetti by hand, just as they must have done in Sicily. It was very different from store-bought - thick and chewy, and the strands of uneven diameter. The sauce, needless to say, was hand made, and simmered for many hours before eating. These were great meals, with many friends packed around a big table.

At Christmas, the women cooked all day, from dawn into the night. Friends and family would come in and out for visits, and there was always fresh food for them, no matter when they arrived. People would go for walks to burn off their last snack, and then come back for more. These were unforgettable meals. And the people were all skinny! I don't know how those old women felt about their lives, but I'm so grateful they were there.

[Dave (imported)]

Who is/are your favorite fried chicken sources? Please.



KFC use to be good when the Colonel was alive.

Moi

Never KFC - over spiced. The African American cook at the Fraternity house made fantastic fried chicken and a few tiny Kosher restaurants in downtown came close. Sadly, all closed in this day and age. I make my own now.

[Dave (imported)]

...

Back then, there were always women from the old country in Italian homes. These older women wore floor-length black dresses, spoke little or no English, and believed in the Evil Eye (you had to be careful not to look at them too long). Products of a pre-feminist culture, they saw nothing wrong with spending all day in the kitchen making wonderful foods for the men.

...

Still goes on today.

Families get toegether, the men go out and play cards or bocce ball or snything else that men do (smoke cigars, drink wine) and the women get together and gossip while cooking.

To cook truly Italian, you have to learn a fine dice and the women do this with a paring knife, slowly. This isn't restaurant fast, but the conversation and the fact that the families are together for an afternoon is more important.

On the wall of the main square in Bologna Italy is the "real recipe" of Bolognese meat sauce. Yet, every household has one or two women who know exactly the right recipe. It's never the same.

And that is the art of Italian food. The best ingredient s you can buy cooked as simply as possible. There is nothing expensive about tomato sauce with meatballs. Add a few onions and some seasonings and a couple cups of flour with an egg and that's pasta in red sauce. Get ground Beef, pork and veal and make meatballs with yesterday's stale bread and season well, and that's meatballs. Way to simple. Add wine bread and salad. That's it. Slice some cheese and salami, get some fresh fruit.

It is the fact that family gets together and enjoys each other.

[bobover3 (imported)]

Wonderful. My mouth is watering at the thought. Have you visited Bologna? I've never been to Europe and would love to go - for an eating tour, at least.

[Caith721 (imported)]

New Orleans-style Creole Pot Roast (http://www.nolacuisine.com/2005/10/25/r ... ris-gravy/)

with gravy. Served over rice, in a baked potato, or between bread.

Delicious and sleep-inducing.

[twaddler (imported)]

Avocados are my favorite. Can't find a good one 'round this time of year up over here.

Nutella is nature's shining crackrock otherwise though.

[Dave (imported)]

Wonderful. My mouth is watering at the thought. Have you visited Bologna? I've never been to Europe and would love to go - for an eating tour, at least.

No sadly, never been overseas. I don't travel well.

Mario Batali has a book that makes me drool

http://www.amazon.com/Babbo-Cookbook-Ma ... 303&sr=8-1

FEASTS for the eyes and the mouth,

and if you can cook,

Lydia has it...

http://www.amazon.com/Lidia-Cooks-Heart ... 380&sr=1-1

I gave both these at Christmas to a relative who is a line chef and he raved about them.

[bobover3 (imported)]

I don't travel well either. If only a team of assistants were there to carry me ...

I'm too lazy to cook much. I can steam fish or vegetables, but anything that takes more than 5 minutes leaves me out.

Babbo is one of the hot restaurants in NYC. I've never been, but I've read that it can take months to get a reservation.

Several years ago, I ate Thanksgiving dinner at The Gotham Bar & Grill, one of NYC's great restaurants, and probably the best I've ever been to. The meal included Wild Mushroom Soup, which was described as made from more than a dozen varieties of wild mushroom. When it arrived, I was indignant to see it in a very small cup, comparable to a demitasse cup. The spoon was miniature, only big enough to hold a tiny sip. Thinking I was being ripped off, I nonetheless tasted. What a shock! The tiny sip of soup filled my mouth with a deep, dark, rich, complex flavor of incredible intensity. I've never been so surprised and delighted by any food. I lingered over that wee cup of soup for almost a half hour. Chef Alfred Portale was right to serve so small a cup with so small a spoon. A normal bowl full would have overwhelmed. What a soup!

Babbo, or one of Batali's other restaurants, might be next.

[Riverwind (imported)]

Well I said earlier I love all food but I do have some comfort foods, in no order,

Sushi any and all,

Tamales, pork with green sauce,

Albondigas Soup, made a big pot today going back for more,

My mother-n-laws Tortillas, she does not make them anymore, so I have store bought and remember the 6 dozen she made every day,

Wavos Rancheros,

Eggs cooked anyway and every way,

Herring in wine sauce.

Kalamata Olives,

Blintz,

Bagels cream cheese and lox,

Avocado's plan with salt and pepper to Guacamole,

Biscuits and milk gravy with sausage or bacon mixed in,

Milk gravy over flank steak,

and

A grease bowling ally Hamburger with bacon and cheese.

Now I am hungry again, think I will have another bowl of Albondigas Soup. (Mexican meat ball soup)

I know, now I am going to need to make some Tamales too.

River