"Last night I set about making a comfort food meal of cottage fries, an MR London broil, and a wedge salad."

Thought to mention that I'd never heard of a wedge salad nor a London broil (MR is for medium rare?) and had never made potatoes in that way. But I just tried it out and I thought it was definitely very good. The sauce for the London Broil I found called for balsamic vinegar with a bit of mustard.

I did end up broiling not pan-frying the meat . . . and served it with some half-caramelized onions . . .

I will add this to my list of dinners

"I noticed on De Buyer's website they offer numerous sizes but also are showing a pan they call a steak pan. I am deciding between the regular Mineral B at 12" or the steak pan at 11". The steak pan appears to have a lower flare. Anybody have any thought's on the choice? I'll probably flip a coin but thought it might be fun to see what you think. Invariably I'll learn something."

Months back I bought a Mafter CS pan. I struggled with the curing process and messed it up. Soon after I also got a similar de Buyer CS pan simply because I wanted to acquire one and assumed being 1mm more think it would be 'better'. The Mafter is 2mm thick, the DB 3mm thick.

I struggled to learn how best to cure the pans and, finally, got it figured out. I did use lye to return the pans to original metal after a couple of unsuccessful seasoning attempts. Live and learn ....

Definitely avoid the De Buyer pans with the epoxy-coated handle and the plastic/rubber insert as they can't go in the oven. I do have one with high sides (a country pan I think it is called) which I do like a great deal despite the plastic/rubber insert. But it can't go in the oven. So I could not cure it in the manner I describe below.

The DB with the stainless handle is the way to go. It is a nice pan certainly but the Mafter is also quite nice and the cooking surface a bit wider.

The trick to do a *proper seasoning* you ask? :-) Well . . .

Fully scrub all the wax coating off. Then apply a product called BuzzyWax (a blend of different oils) in an extremely light coat, nearly invisible. Place in the oven at high temperature upside down for 1 hour. Turn off the oven leaving the pan inside so it cools slowly.

Do this 3 times. The *science* here is that the oils at that temp bond in a unique way. It made sense to me and seems to have worked.

After various failures -- mostly far too thick of a patina on the surface of the pan -- this did the trick. After that I only used the pan for numerous times frying potatoes and such. Now it can be used for everything. But I always give it a bit of attention after cleaning and before hanging it up: applying a tiny bit of avocado oil and heating it up to smoke-point every once in a while.

This fellow's YouTube channel helped. [ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=waQEk... ] But I got the BuzzyWax recommendation from someone else originally.

Sorry for taking so long to respond. I read your comment a few days back but everything kept intervening. Making such dense meat dishes is a bit contrary to my historical culinary habits and preferences. I was not sure what I actually thought about this dish when done. Just a personal reaction. You know, pork fat.

Still, as some days passed, I came to enjoy eating this dish, but of course in smallish amounts. There is such a wide range of terrines, pâtés and other such dishes. I remember as a child eating chicken pie and my tastes I guess are similarly simple and basic. Chicken liver pâté is something I really like. I feel I am eating something really really nourishing. I feel much less so eating a fat-rich pork dish.

I am awaiting some terrine molds and want to make some of the lighter chicken, fish and also vegetable terrines, pâtés and mousselines. I think I ordered the very same Staub terrine dish that you had sold off! It cost $200 new but dropped in price $40.00 the next day. Such is on-line life . . . (There are used ones on eBay and I should have checked there first). Also ordered a porcelain terrine as well.

I'll bet that where you are you can get organic meats? I'd have felt better had I used them. So far, all I have access to is organic chicken and strangely enough goat.

Can't really think of any specific 'tips' really. Except perhaps to cut the recipe in half (if you have smaller terrines try them first). The dish produced quite a large amount and I gave a good part of it away.

The flavor definitely improved over some days and the consistency seems to become more dense.

Ah, now I see. The book that I have describes how to make it but does not include the step of including it as a component in a terrine or to use as a filling.

This is what I have been thinking of:

https://theconnoisseurclubsjihmct.wor...

This one interests me. I have never eaten, as far as I am aware, pork liver. I must admit it would seem strange to me to eat it. But I love chicken liver pâté -- which I now understand is not really the right term for it and a chicken liver terrine is, I guess, a more accurate term.

"Liver terrines are popular and easy to make and you can find them usually in your local grocery store. Pureed poultry, pork or veal livers are mixed with eggs, seasonings and a panada of cream and bread, then baked in a backfat or bacon-lined terrine. Although most liver puree easily in a food processor, a smoother finished product is achieved if the livers are forced through the drum sieve after you puree them."

I ordered a proper terrine since I plan to make these a project of the coming months.

This is also interesting. One can make smaller batches:

https://chefsimon.com/gourmets/chef-s...

I’ve thought about this in relation to the place I live. I think I mentioned this months back. The most notable produce available here is fruit. There are many strange and quite different varieties of fruit. If I were a pastry cook I think I could make some unusual things. But pastry does not interest me much (though I like to eat it from time to time).

Though there is some production of some vegetables in my region I think that the emphasis is on robust varieties, not necessarily the flavorful ones. Most of the variety of supermarket goods come here from Bogota and surrounding regions that are favorable to such production. And while it is fresh it is not other than the commercial type. I did locate a source for organically produced green vegetables. I do not understand why they don’t offer more variety. I’ll have to ask.

The local cuisine — I would say this is so for Colombian food generally — does not have much going for it. It is very very basic stuff. There is a village/pueblo I recently visited that produces goats. Know any notable goat recipes? ;-) (I do remember eating goat in Venezuela up in the Guajira).

When I wrote a few days back I did so without really thinking things through. In fact I have done a great deal since I undertook my *improve my cooking* project.

All the books people recommend I have gotten, and they have all been very good. I will look into yours as well.

You wrote: "Mr. Oldman says that the after about the sweet spot of $25, the price gets higher but the quality of the wine doesn't get higher and the correlation is weak."

Interesting bit of information re: the $25.00 mark.

I looked up your title: once it was millionaires but there are millions of them now, so it has been increased 1000 fold :-)

"How to Drink Like a Billionaire: Mastering Wine with Joie de Vivre"

I also came across this one: "Wine Folley's Master Guide":

https://winefolly.com/wine-folly-the-...

You wrote: "It would be interesting to hear if there are others - deep concentrated flavors, hopefully backed by Robert Parker's rankings, and within the 20-25 price range."

I signed up for a month to see what his recommendations are, and to learn. Of the Argentinian wines my local source has recommended I could find none that had been reviewed by him (or 'them' as it were). But my wine importer does sell Spanish, Italian and some French wines as well. The European wines are less attractive to local buyers because the dollar is quite strong now. I suspect wines of Argentina and Chile as being 'the better buys'.

But in fact I know next to nothing.

Here in Colombia though we are close to Chile and Argentina where there is a genuine wine growing culture (Colombia does not have the climate and they produce only sweet wines here) it is unfortunate that there is a 40% added tax on wine.

I am not much a judge of 'good wine' but I think I am learning. But I would say that of the wines I sample and like, they are as you say 'big flavor' varieties. Or that is my impression.

Those wines I like -- these are accessible, table-varieties of course -- run about $20.00 a bottle. My next undertaking will be to sample one or two that are significantly more costly. So to be able to judge the difference.

Yes, good to be here again. Thank you.

How interesting: Brugge. I wonder if you'd ever seen the film In Brugge. It is pretty funny, if a little degenerate.

I agree with what you are saying: one needs to have the examples of what to aim for. If one does not have that one would likely veer off into idiosyncratic territories. However, in my present circumstance access to fine French food (in somewhat rural Colombia!) is out of the question. I'll have to work from memory!

I think it is fair and non-arrogant if I say that I am a fairly good cook within my limitations, but very far from having anywhere the knowledge and art of a 'chef'. You'd have to sample my wares and let me know . . .

What interests me about the man's video course is simply that he provides an outline. I could justify it by saying the cost of his course is not much. Or that it supports a good cause.

One could, of one's own accord, choose to use it as a base to then refer to all the other resources -- in my case in books. And plenty of books I have. All those recommended here.

The last time I was here so many good resources were mentioned: James Peterson's 'Sauces'; Raymond Oliver's 'La Cuisine'; those Time/Life books Charlie mentioned 'The Good Cook Series' Foods of the World. Rachel Mamane's 'Mastering Stocks & Broths'. And the Cordon Blue volumes 'Cuisine Foundations'. All of them I have, all of them I have studied to some degree.

I guess I am seeking something that would function as an outline.

An interesting side-fact: I had never paid attention to wine throughout my entire existence. Never developed a taste for it. But as a result of conversations here I began to sample Argentinian and Chilean wines and found the inclusion of wine with meals to be completely delightful. There are a few very good resources for wine here, in Bogotá and in Cali: 'Vinos del Rio'. They have helped a great deal.

Hello there Charlie. I hope things are going well.

When the Covid-crisis hit many of my plans were derailed (a long story) at least for a time. I did make a good deal of progress in a general sense but now -- now that things have lightened up more -- I am wanting to reconnect with my former intentions.

I now have a good base in the books that were recommended by many in these pages and those that you recommended.

But I am curious if you know of a book that amounts to a solid French Cuisine Instruction Manual? What I really mean is a general guide for a course.

https://www.thefrenchcookingacademy.c...

This fellow offers courses that have a strong outline (YouTube based). Most of it is super-basic of course. It occurred to me that were I to enroll I could use it as a base around which to develop my own side-projects and amplifications. There are some people who have commented on it and say that if they now had the choice they would have done something like this rather than an expensive cooking school . . .

It is not that I haven't or that I couldn't self-direct -- this is my style really -- but rather that an outline could be of great use as it would provide a base to work from. And one could take it as slowly and methodically as one wished.