@CatBoy - Thanks - I never even thought of the Brooklyn Historical Society, and I should have! I will ask them!

@fatitalianbroad - I'm fascinated! What was the book's rationale @ the need to boil macaroni for so long? (And - btw - did they term it "pasta" or "macaroni" ?)

Just ran across this thread in early April - When Tropicana first changed its packaging, I wrote to them complaining @ the change. Not even the caps were different colors in the new design, plus the "version ID" was in done really small type. They sent me a coupon ($4.50 on Tropicana - not bad), and thanked me for being a loyal Tropicana customer - which I am, actually, because they have a low-acid variety which works best @ my stomach.. Then, at the end of March, I received ANOTHER coupon, along w/ a letter that said that they had received such grief from their loyal customers, that they were reverting to the old designs and colors. So kudos to them: they apparently DO listen to their customers!

@gala_silverstar - finally, finally, recipes for this "elusive pie." Thanks to all!!

And now I know why I could find NO hits @ Google, etc: I turned on the closed-caption viewer and used the spelling that came up @ it. Nuh-uh.

@whatseatingme - If you don't know Jeffrey Steingarten, you don't watch Iron Chef (Food Network). He frequently acts as a member of a 3-judge panel @ the show. Some viewers find his critiques well-founded, but he's also been known to disagree disagreeably w/ other panel judges during the show. (His background includes being a lawyer as well as a food critic and book writer.)

Regarding the problem you cite, why not tell the waiter that you'd appreciate having all of the orders timed to be served together?

@soozm32 - I think the aka for your eggplant rolls is Eggplant Rollatini. When I was youing, my grandfather was in charge of "pressing the eggplant." This was considered an essential step @ preparing eggplant dishes, to drive out the evil that resided within. No joke. In the basement, next to the furnace, he kept a giant rectangular stone - probably 12"x12"x6" thick. (And it was a HEAVY sucker - I could never pick it up as a youngster!)

He would begin by carefully peeling the eggplant, and then slicing the thing lengthwise. He'd try to make each of the slices about 1/4" thick. That done, he'd stack them inside a towel and flip the ends up, effectively wrapping the top, bottom and sides (ends stayed open). He folded a second towel. That went onto a giant plate he kept for this purpose. The eggplant package was placed onto the folded towel, and the plate went onto the counter. Finally the giant stone was placed squarely atop the towel wrapping. And there it sat, for at least a few hours.

Did I mention that this entire process would take place in the basement? Only after the eggplant had been "drained" of the evil, would the sliced veggie be brought upstairs into the kitchen, for my mother to prepare.

I don't do anything so elaborate. When I'm going to use sliced eggplant, I do begin by removing the skin (hate the taste), and slicing it lengthwise. I like cooking w/ the 1/4" thickness, so I do that. Then I drop the slices into cold water into which I've sprinkled both salt, and a bit of lemon juice. The slices float, so I try to mix them up with each succeeding slice. I leave them in there for only a few minutes after I've finished all of the slicing. Then I pat them dry and lay them on paper towels.

If I'm frying them, I drop them in an egg bath before putting them into the frying pan. If I'm not frying them, I line a cookie sheet w/ parchment paper, and then brush each slice (both sides) w/ olive oil and sprinkle lightly w/ salt. Then they go into a 375F oven for 15 minutes or so. then I flip 'em, and put them back for another 10 to 15 minutes.

After that step - frying or baking - they're ready for whatever recipe I'm planning. (Personal favorite: eggplant lasagna!)

Well, I use a pan in the oven as my "skillet." After scrubbing the skins clean, I nuke them for 4 to 8 minutes, depending @ the # and size of the spuds. Then I let them cool a bit while I work @ other dishes. When I cut them up, I try for semi-triangle shapes. Then I dump them into a large plastic bag w/ a couple of tbsp of olive oil. Next I dump them into a pan large enough so all of the pieces are @ a single layer. I like using a Corningware pan, because I can crank up the heat w/out much worry @ burning them. I sprinkle a bit of salt, onion powder and garlic powder (one of the few uses I have for such powders), and finally shower a bit of oregano flakes. THen it's into the oven for 15-30 minutes @ 400F. I use a metal spatula to flip them after the time runs out, and gauge how much more time they'll need to finish cooking. (And once they've reached this point, I can set them aside while other dishes finish cooking.) When they're done, tHey come out w/ a nice crisp crust that "pops" when you bite 'em. Yummy.

*WAY!* And I've found that if you mash the little critters to a paste, they make an incredible "butter" for a nice, juicy steak!!

*WAY* @ octopus, squid, and now scungilli [conch]. I have to admit that I had never had scungilli until I visited my mother last month. She ordered it one night when we went out for dinner, and offered me some. Though it's apparently very easy to cook these things to a rubbery consistency, I found these - which had been added to a tomato sauce, which was then served over linguini - quite delicate and tasty. (Very slow and gentle reheating works well too - like a microwave power level 2 - but anything fast tends to rubberize them as well.)

I couldn't have been older than 2 or 3, when my mother began letting me help her @ the kitchen. This was during the early '50s, and we didn't have a television yet. (GASP!!) I was only tasked w/ very simple things -stirring, sifting and the like - but it kept me occupied where she could keep an eye on me. Whenever we went to my grandmother's apartment for Sunday dinner, my cousin's family would go as well - they lived in the apartment next to hers. So we'd all be there, myself and two cousins, all of us rugrats. Well, it would be a typical Italian meal, w/ three million courses. Every time, Nana would whip up a large batch of homemade macaroni or ravioli. Either way, the three of us would be involved, forming the pieces of macaroni - individually by hand, of course - or sealing the ravioli.

Now, for making ravioli, my mother had really neat a wood thingie that let you seal an entire side at once. It was about 6" long, and maybe 2" wide. One side - the back - was smooth, but the other side had a series of grooves that ran along the entire length. After sprinkling the "working" side w/ a bit of flour, you pressed the thing into the completed piece of ravioli to create the seal.

But Nana didn't have one of those handy little things. So my cousins Angela and Lynne and I got stuck using the "alternate" method: pressing the tines of a fork into the completed ravioli to make the seal. But we had to be careful, because it was very easy to puncture the ravioli pouch. It was also very easy to push down too hard, and create a ribboned edge @ a piece of ravioli.

Now, so far I've talked @ Nana and my mother. But I would be remiss if I did not mention my father. My father left most of the cooking to my mother, but in the evening if he got a yen for something from his childhood, he'd be @ the stove. It was very interesting to watch him, because his cooking style was so different from either my mother's style, or Nana's style. (Nana was his mother, btw.) And he could create unique spins @ different recipes, seemingly effortlessly. What his style had in common w/ Nana's was the fact that he "knew" the recipes so he didn't have them written down, and the fact that he didn't really "measure" things much. Instead, he eyed amounts as he added them to the mix, or he'd put a small amount in the palm of his hand before adding it. (Those were usually salt, pepper and other spices.)

By the time I was 6 or 7, I was allowed to make pudding @ my own - hey, no "instant" stuff back @ the '50s, I had to cook the stuff! By 10 or 11, I could prepare an entire dinner. (And it tasted good, too!) I've been cooking ever since.

I also have to mention that when my children were small, it always drove them nuts watching me cook, because my wife uses recipes and measures things precisely, while I sort of feel my way to knowing when to add what, and how much of it. So I guess I synthesized Nana's and my mother's knowledge w/ my father's use-the-force way of doing things.

@gumbolicious - You're absolutely right, Weaver battered chicken WAS all @ the batter, not the chicken! It was sooooo tasty! How to describe it adequately @cowprintrabbit? By today's standards, the batter was rather plain - most of today's battered chicken is incredibly overspiced, IMHO - but the weaver batter was... light golden in color. And it *looked* like a batter coating, mostly smooth, the exterior sloping and rounded. While thick on the chicken, it seemed to allow you to pull it off the chicken in very large pieces. And yes, gumbolicious, it definitely gave your mouth a sweetish aftertaste.

Revisiting this thread made me remember something else. It's not my confession, actually, it's something our friend Vince would relate @ graduation parties and the like. It seems that when he was @ college, to keep himself awake in giant lecture hall-type classes, he'd bring a large jar of instant coffee granules, and snack on them - dry and crunchy - throughout the lecture. (He was also working full-time @ the night shift @ a GM plant.) At one of the lectures, the girl sitting next to him put out her hand. Now, obviously, Vince would tell us, she had no clue as to what he was eating out of the jar, but he seemed to be enjoying himself. So, despite misgivings, and not wanting to appear selfish, he offered her the jar. She stuck her hand in, pulled out a fistful of granules, and popped them into her mouth. A few seconds later, choking, she spit them out, gave Vince an "I'll-kill-you-later" look, and ran out of the hall.

Every night I crave some sushi, but I sigh and eat a [large] bowl of twigs-and-bark-10g-of-fiber cereal instead. (And sometimes I make some sushi for lunch the next day...)

Are you looking for info that repeats the bio data, or something else? Maybe someone could come up w/ a bunch of questions to be answered?