Cookaholics Bulletin Board

Not your shallots Nance, the ones from the grocery store that seem quite strong to me.

Have you ever tried smoking your garlic? It is back in the store here again and I just bought some. 100% not overrated.

Mary

Don't kill me, but I'm actually considering getting this.

I can do my ribs sous vide, but still get a smokey flavor. This thing has actually gotten fairly good reviews.

Amy

Amy, people who love you are likely on the verge of staging an intervention. You could end up on A&E or TLC, wailing about how you couldn't help yourself

I'll fly to Telluride to assist them. And see that Sous Vide thingy works

Mary,

I believe that goji berries are actually mildly poisonous.

I know what you mean about the Mexican; I avoid Mexican food anywhere outside of North America (or indeed, outside the Southwest). The only really terrible meal I've ever had in Japan? "Mexican". They had "salsa" which I suspect was actually ketchup with a little chile powder in it.

As for shallots vs. onions and new garlic vs. old garlic, I certainly notice a difference. Maybe you just don't like allium that much so it all tastes the same (too strong) to you. Or maybe the shallots and green garlic in Switzerland aren't very good ...

Didn't Richard Blais use one of those?

Nancy
Check out this guys facebook group: Ail Fumé Smoked Garlic. It tells all about it. It is a cold smoked garlic so it is basically a head of garlic that is brown and smells very smoky/woodsy. The cloves look like normal fresh garlic but are infused with a nice smoky taste. Very yummy. And thank God the vodka was spared.

Josh
I like all garlic/onion stuff. Onions tend to be quite strong here, including shallots. There does seem to be 2 kinds of shallots though. The smaller ones seem quite pungent but sometimes we get French ones that are longer and bigger and there I do notice a difference. I think I am just not sure how to use the fresh garlic so maybe I am just missing something there. What we can't get are good sweet onions.

Amy
You are a mad women but you sure know how to live. Go for it.

Mary

Picking something up from crystal's thread:

Tarragon. I'm just not a huge fan of licorice flavors in my savory food. I can tolerate anise if used sparingly, but generally I save those flavors for sweet things. Maybe one day tarragon will grow on me like cilantro did. Now I can't get enough of that herb, which I used to consider vile.

There are two different kinds of tarragon; French and Russian. French tarragon is the more licorice tasting one. Russian tarragon, which is what I prefer, use and grow has an almost cinnamon flavor.

I do like licorice flavor on my savory foods. I'll toss fennel seed around like a madwoman whenever I see some pork. But I hate tarragon. Just do not like it. And that goes for cilantro, too. I adore coriander seed; can't abide the leaf.