My CSA delivery this week included a bunch of anise hyssop. I've never used it before, so I'm not quite sure what to do with it. Most of the recipes that I find via google are either infused syrups or herbal teas, neither of which really seem all that interesting to me. The only thing I've come up with so far is to puree it with some olive oil, and freeze it. I'm still not sure what I would ultimately do with it, but at least that would preserve it.

Any thoughts?

I'm looking for a good mail order source for truffles, as well as other things like truffle salt, and (authentic) truffle oil. I've found plenty of sites that sell them, but am unsure about how reliable their quality might be. Anyone have any tips?

I have this idea in my head that I swear I saw a recipe for a long time ago, but the memory is fuzzy. Basically, the thing I'm thinking of is a paste made of dried fruits (prunes, dates, or figs, can't recall exactly) mixed with nuts (want to say hazelnuts or walnuts) and pressed into flat cakes. I seem to recall the recipe suggesting serving it as an accompaniment to a cheese plate, sort of like membrillo paste might be.

Any ideas?

I know the staff here does a great job squashing the cockroaches that are spam postings in talk, but unfortunately they seem to pretty consistently make it through to the rss feed, which is my preferred way of seeing new topics as they come through. And it seems to be getting worse lately. I know I don't post much (I'm not usually quick enough to post anything relevant that hasn't already been said better than I could), but the talk section is a great source of ideas and info, and I really hate having to sift though crappy advert spam in order to get the good stuff.

I don't know if there's currently some sort of filtering system implemented or planned to help with this, but I wanted to bring it to the attention of people in charge, in case there isn't. Thanks.

So I went out to look at my tiny garden this morning, and noticed an odd lumpy thing peeking out of the ground in the bed where I currently have radishes. I had potatoes there in the spring, so I thought maybe it was just one of those that I missed when I harvested. So I dug it out, and realized it was the wrong color - white-gray instead of brown. Smelled like a mushroom, but it was too firm, and had no stem. I took it inside and washed it off, then halved it. The outer white surface was very thing, and surrounded a uniform marbled black interior. Instantly my mind went to truffles. Having never eaten truffles, I can't be certain, but the aroma is like a very strong mushroom smell. Any idea whether this thing is a truffle? It clearly seems to be a wild mushroom, and could therefore be highly toxic, and I don't want to end up in the hospital (or the morgue) because I ate it. But I'm going to have a hard time tossing this thing in the garbage considering that it may be a truffle.

I've been making my own yogurt lately, but have yet to find a good brand to use as a starter culture. Usually, I end up with something much more watery than I would prefer. I believe I've tried Trader Joe's store brand, Greek Gods, and Stonyfield Farms, off the top of my head. Does anyone who makes homemade yogurt have any favorite brands that they use as a seed culture?

I was planning on making pizza for dinner tonight, and something occurred to me. I already put my stone on the lowest shelf of my electric oven in order to get it as close as possible to the heating coil. But I could put the stone directly on the coil, instead of on a rack just above it. The only potential problem I can foresee is that this might heat the stone unevenly, causing it to break. Since I use it for baking bread and pizza multiple times per week, I would prefer to avoid this. So I'm looking for advice - do the potential benefits outweigh the risks, or is this fairly certain to break the stone? If it makes any difference, this is a pampered chef model given to me several years ago, and is about 1/3" thick.

Has anyone heard anything about this year's Menu for Hope? I haven't seen any information about it for 08, and I seem to recall it being almost everywhere on food sites this time last December. I'm hoping it's currently being organized behind the scenes.

When I woke up and wandered into the kitchen this morning, I realized there was an open bottle of sauvignon blanc, with about a glass's worth of wine still in it from last night. It had been sitting out, unsealed, for the entire night. Now, I was planning on making a roasted pork loin for some friends tonight, and I thought, why not use the leftover wine as a basting liquid? However, I've heard conflicting advice on this subject.

On the one hand, the wine is going to be cooked, used to baste a garlic-rosemary pork loin, not in a sauce or anything, and thus will not be a major flavor component. And the alternative is to just pour it down the drain.

On the other hand, there's the "don't cook with a wine you wouldn't drink" rule; cooking concentrates the flavor of wine, so if the wine is no longer drinkable, it will hurt the dish more than help it.

What say you, Serious Eats community?

This past weekend I picked up a jar of extra virgin coconut oil at my local natural foods store. I read in Super Natural Cooking that it can be used as a replacement for butter, but there were no recipes to go on. Since it is extra virgin, I assume it should not be used for cooking, and only minimally heated in order to maintain the maximum amount of aroma and flavor. So before I just start randomly using it in place of butter, I thought I'd find out if anyone has a killer use for the stuff.