Thanks, ita.

Any testers looked at CI's cassoulet recipe? Are they INSANE?

Someone on my flist is making it, but she's doing some substitutions to cut down on the duck fat (not out though—apparently it adds something significant to the flavor). She's someone who I follow for her adventures in cooking, bee-keeping, and the like. I would never make it myself—it's all I can do to try baking cinnamon rolls.

I bake fish by putting it in an aluminum pocket with some wine, salt, and pepper. It usually comes out pretty well, without too much bad odor. Tiapela and other mild fish tend to work well with this. You could probably try it with salmon, too, although getting the right wine might be a little tricky.

The CI suggested recipe that I got suggests swapping 4 cups of canola oil for the duck fat. How can it possibly taste as good? I mean, if it's even close, skip killing the damned ducks. Bet it's not.

I think aluminium pockets will be the low-fuss way to go for me to get more fish into my diet. I know I have a Dover sole recipe around here from Deb Grabien that was pretty simple--a bit of breading and some lemon juice. I hope it survived my system crash, but now I'm doubtful.

Baked fish will smell less than fish cooked on my stovetop, right? I need some good recipes that don't stank up the apartment.

Salmon on a cedar plank (you can find reusuable ones at most decent grocery stores) also doesn't tend to smell too fishy baked in the oven since the smell of the cedar wood counteracts the fish.

Plus-- nom nom nom

I hear good things about cooking in foil packets.

I went to a friend's place for the first time last night, and holy shitballs. They owned a tiny apartment in a good neighborhood in Manhattan before, and traded it for an ENORMOUS three-bedroom in New Jersey. Holy crap that place was big. And her husband spent a lot of time on the decor, so it's really cool as well. Jealous. Makes we want to focus more on finding a husband with capital.

Salmon on a cedar plank (you can find reusuable ones at most decent grocery stores) also doesn't tend to smell too fishy baked in the oven since the smell of the cedar wood counteracts the fish.

I do it this way or in foil. Sometimes I just broil a fillet with some lemon slices and a touch of Mrs. Dash.

Can't copy paste until iphone 3.0 but the quick & dirty cassoulet is from Dan & Steve if you search on foodnetwork.com. It uses duck sausage instead of confit and is quite nummy if inauthentic.

This looks like it could be it. I don't think I could eat a whole serving, what with the bounty of sausage, but it does look good. I'll have to spend the next year or two trying to wrestle other people into position to order it for themselves. I need to practice puppy dog eyes. But I'm sure I'd come out more like the cat in that clip from Bolt.

So it's officially morning and I haven't slept yet. I wonder when I'll crumple. But I did blow the dust off some knowledge and gain some more, so it wasn't a lost night by any means.

That's the one. It makes a TON.

I'll still swing by.

Heh. I'd love to see you sometime soon. Do I need a cassoulet to tempt you?

WRT fish I seem to have a higher tolerance to fishy smell than to finding clever ways to cook it. Plus the kids prefer simple food preps. Our go-to fish dishes are steamed salmon with sea salt and pan-fried tilapia. Steaming contains the smell pretty well, frying NSM.