impervious to the blandishments of the cocktail shaker ...
brown liquors neat if of best quality or else on the rocks with
a splash.

some days that too is what I want.

Like last night. We had our staff Christmas party at the small room
off the lounge at the Explorer where you attended that redneck
wedding reception. For pre-dinner drinks I started off with a

With Tony what's-his-name.

Guinness and then downed a number of Jamesons, on the rocks, with
a very small splash.

In our old age, a number is two or three, whereas
it once might have been six or eight. And I find
that the splashes get bigger over time.

My broker makes a creamy spiced rum punch which I haven't tasted but
is popular with the set who also like Baileys and eggnog. This year
for the after party he jiggered his secret recipe with a dollop of
Fireball and it was well received by the others.

Actually, I like dairy punches on occasion,
same as I like white coffee when it's cold
outside and I've had a few too many flights.

A short philosophical piece on recent food trends ...
Is there such a thing as too much (flavor)

There's a difference, too, between too much flavor and too many
flavors.

There are some concoctions where simple is best but occasionally a
complex dish with multiple but compatible flavours just sings.
Consider some curry dishes.

A good curry will have its flavors meld
into greater than the sum of its parts, an
uberflavor if you will. It's far too easy,
though, t combine things that don't make
sense, yet still some people will consider
any dissonance a manifestation of genius
or at least a heightened imagination. There
are those (myself) who maintain that if we
don't understand something, it's likely to
be worthless; but counterbalancing us are
the people who think that if they don't
understand something it must be great.

To All: New thread ... Agree or disagree?

Nah, disagree, that's not a new thread at all
- people have been fussing about gilded lilies
since time immemorial.

True. I meant a new thread for the week, in this echo.

I sort of figured that.

Here's a basic, simple chicken recipe where the quality of the
chicken is paramount ...

I occasionally even omit garlic when
cooking a really good chicken. Salt and
pepper and a sprig of thyme, plenty. The
less superb the bird, the more of the
following are needed - garlic, soy, sherry,
lemon, vegetables in the cavity.

Title: Zuni Cafe's Perfect Roast Chicken

I get Zuni Cafe and Coyote Cafe mixed up
sometimes. I think I went to the former with
Lilli and the latter with Carol Bryant. And
there's Chez Panisse, which I've been to only
with my friend Fisher and his wife and only
while woefully stoned.

3 lb Free range chicken
2 cl garlic
1 sprig Marjoram
(Chicken should be yellow; not pale white!)

The color really is irrelevant. You may recall
the old Perdue ads where the original Frank
bragged about using marigold petals in his
feed to make his poultry yellow. It would be
more fun to give them cirrhosis, though. I
wonder why nobody ever made chicken foie gras?

... Combining flesh and smoke is basically never a bad idea.

Ain't it the truth.

---------- Recipe via Meal-Master (tm) v8.01

Title: Chicken Fricassee (Huhnerfrikassee)
Categories: Poultry, German
Yield: 4 servings

1 Stewing chicken 1/3 c Butter
Cold water 1/4 c All purpose flour
Salt pn Ground nutmeg
1 Leek 1 ts Worcestershire sauce
1 Celery stalk Dry white wine, German
1 Carrot 1 ts Lemon juice
1 Whole clove 1 sm Can of peas, drained
1 Bay leaf 1 Egg yolk
1 sm Onion, cut in half 6 tb Whipping cream
1 sm Can button mushrooms,drained

Cut chicken into pieces. Place chicken in a deep saucepan; cover with
cold
water. Add salt, leek, celery, carrot, whole clove, bay leaf and onion.
Bring to boil; reduce heat. Simmer 1 to 2 hours, depending on size and
tenderness of chicken. When joints linking thigh portions to main body
move
easily and seem flexable, chicken will be done. Remove chicken from
cooking
liquid; cool slightly. Remove skin and fat; cut flesh from bones in large
pieces. Strain liquid. Cut mushrooms into thin slices. Sautee in a small
amount of butter in a medium skillet. Melt butter in a large skillet.
Stir
in flour. Cook, stirring constantly, until light golden brown, about 3
minutes. Add a small amount of hot cooking liquid and season with salt,
nutmeg, Worcestershire sauce, wine and lemon juice. Place chicken pieces,
sauteed mushrooms and peas in sauce; warm gently over low heat. When all
ingredients are hot, turn off heat. Let stand 3 to 4 minutes. Before
serving, blend egg yolk and whipping cream in a small bowl. Stir egg yolk
mixture into sauce to make it smooth and rich. Serve hot with rice.
Source unrecorded

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