I am certain that, like me, there are many Serious Eaters who either spend a lot of time or live outside the States. I'm interested to hear what the traditional Christmas dinner where you live looks like. Okay, if your bound in the States but still practice the "old world" Christmas dinner traditions of your forefathers, you're included too.
Name the place and share the menu.
My second home is in the Czech Republic. Every family spends weeks preparing tons of delicate little cookies to share with guests and nibble on throughout the season. They make a braided sweet bread with almonds and raisins and whip up a homemade brew akin to our eggnog. For Christmas dinner it is breaded, fried carp steaks carved from a fish that has spent a couple of days swimming in the bathtub.The starter is a soup made from the fish's head and scraps that weren't carved into steaks. The side dish of note is a mayonnaise based potato salad. The non-fish lovers will eat a breaded pork steak with their potato salad and or a fried white, wine sausage that is curled into a tight coil.
So, what about the rest of you expats?

In my pantry, some spices hang around for a long time, others come and go in a hurry. Disregarding salt and pepper, name six that seem to run out rapidly because they are your "go to" choices when you're winging a recipe. Mine are;
Granulated garlic
Sweet paprika
Cumin
Cayenne
Italian seasoning
and Basil

We recently had guests from France who left food gifts on their departure and we don't know what, for sure, they are or how to use them. Can you help?
1. a 90gr jar of Rillettes de Canard,
2. a 150gr jar of Gesiers de Canard Confits
3. a large can, 700gr Confit de Canard (4/5 cuisses)
I'm sure these are expensive, gourmet items and I'd like to put them to their proper use and get the maximum enjoyment from them. Please, what have I got? How do I best use them?

Czken- 27, Fruit flies- 0
So the seasonal battle with those little fruit flies/knats has begun in my kitchen. I did some research with my search engine and came away with about twenty different battle plans with varying degrees of sophistication, hardware and where to wage the war. I didn't have any of the correct prescribed ingredients in right combination so I just winged it with this;
Put 2 TBS red wine vinegar, 2 TBS Chinese cooking wine and about 3 drops of liquid dish soap in an old tuna can and set it on the most infested corner of my kitchen counter. Over night the were 27 floaters and nothing left in the air!
Has your battle begun? How do you arm yourself? What has your success rate been? I'm pretty darn proud of myself and confident about the future...

There's been a lot of chatter about bacon so I've been wondering, "How's your bacon"? Crisp or a bit limp? Oven baked or skillet fried? Thin-sliced, thick or slab? Garnished with; maple, sugar, pepper, or..?
I buy slab bacon and slice it as I use it. I've baked it a couple of times when I had guests and loved the results and ease of preparation but 98% of the time mine is cooked crisp in a cast iron skillet. Invariably, I sprinkle it with fine ground pepper as soon as it leaves the skillet.
Yes, I save the drippings in a jar kept in the fridge and use it in my cooking. In my social circle, it is not at all unusual for bacon to be used raw as a lunch meat in sandwiches. That took some getting used to but now it is reasonably normal to me...
Uses? As a side to breakfast eggs and toast, garnish on baked potatoes, crumbled into a garden salad, wrapped around a grilled hot dog, draped over and under meatloaf as it cooks, ...
What about yours..?

Most of my life I've baked bread in a bread pan. Just as this year's heatwave began, I developed a new sourdough starter for myself (I'm a sourdough waffle addict). I've tried a couple of times lately to bake a loaf of bread (sourdough and other varieties) on a sheet rather than in a pan and each time the loaf tends to spread out and look more like Focaccia than the artisan-like loaf I hoped for. Any tricks, techniques or tips I could profit from? What would you say I am doing wrong and how do I correctly create a free-form loaf?

With great patience I awaited the message from the SE team regarding how to fix the log-in issues and re-entry to the seamless "Talk" mode.
...Followed the directions; cleared cache and cookies, and now everything is back to smooth sailing. Thanks SE.

I sometimes day dream about renovating an old home and running a B&B. I often try to envision what I might offer when the "breakfast" part rolls around. I'd like to think I'd be creative, generous and fancy but I usually fall to earth with the realization that putting on a daily morning performance in the kitchen would cease being fun very quickly. Tell me, first, what have you encountered as an offered breakfast in your travels and, secondly, if this were your dream, what would you realistically commit to when it was time to set the table?

I visit SE Talk a couple of times a day and always scroll to the bottom first and read/respond working my way up. I rarely click to "Older" posts unless I'm looking for responses to something I've written. How do you approach SE Talk posts; top to bottom or bottom to top? How often do you click "Older"? Do you revisit the "talk" you've posted to?

The summer comfort thread got me to thinking about how many ways I've eaten corn on the cob. My current thrill is a quick boil (saves having to fire up the barbie) and then slathering it with sour cream (born out of a lack of Mexican fresh cheese) and then sprinkled with coarse salt and fresh cracked pepper. I've been there with lime juice and chili powder, butter and salt and even the minimalist corn-only crowd. Love em all. What is your current jag of choice as far as COC is concerned?

Some weeks back I asked for help using up some masa harina. Since then I've been experimenting and have developed what I think is an interesting menu item for you to try.... When I get up in the morning I often get a craving for Juevos Rancheros but just as often don't have any tortillas on hand.
This morning I grated up a medium potato, mixed it with about 1/2 tsp. each of salt, pepper and onion powder, 1 tsp. cumin and about 2-3 TBS masa horina. I heated some oil in my cast iron skillet and spred the mix to about a 9" flattened circle. Once crisped on both sides, I assembled the dish as I would the "Rancharos" with egg, salsa, cheese and any other option that might strike your fancy.
I'm going to call this "Juevos Tolucanos" after the region I've learned to be the hub of native potato production in Mexico.

What do you think?

We're right at the end of a major renovation of our large pantry space and are finally putting things back into order. Much to my horror, have discovered that I have enough masa harina to start a Mexican restaurant! I know tortillas but how else can this ingredient be put to good use? I want to experiment with new recipes until I run out of present stock and have to buy more. Please help me on this odyssey.

Our recent examination of favored and least favored cookbooks got me thinking about my collection. I've admitted before that I love cookbooks with a regional theme. When traveling, and I've been to thirty different countries not to mention most parts of the States, I hunt down those cookbooks like others collect thimbles or silver spoon souvenirs. My prime motivation is to be able to go home and duplicate for friends and family some of the new dishes I'd encountered on the road. Am I the only one or are there others out there who behave similarly?

For the first time is several years, I will be home in my own kitchen at Easter. I'm already getting excited about the prospect of preparing my one and only leg of lamb for the year. It's been a long time so I'm looking for help (reipes to choose from) and maybe new ways to prepare the shank half of a previously frozen leg. What would you be serving to accompany it and how would you prepare them? This is one meal I love but have very limited knowledge in the "science" of getting it right. Thanks in advance...

We've considered our drink & cheesecake choices. Is it reasonable we come clean about how we drink coffee? Caffeinated or, black or, sweetened, how many cups in a day, affect your sleep?
I drink about 4 cups a day with no problem sleeping. Just a little low-fat milk and a packet of Splenda. For years it was condensed milk and two sugars but no more.
By the way, let's exclude all talk about designer lattes. That can get way out of hand. I should know, being a Seattle native.

A question every new household has to solve. Thankfully Best Foods mayo prevailed in ours! What about yours? Does the label matter to you?

Our one and only two week holiday to Israel. We'd like your advice on value restaurants and must try dishes in Jerusalem. Anyone ever have a good St. Peter's fish lunch around Galilee at a place that wasn't serving 300 tourists at one time? We're on a tight budget too.

Lately I've been a bit obsessed with coleslaw and cabbage in general. All too often, its mediocre at best in restaurants. I've made it myself many times, but would love some variations!!! So share with me: do you add any... More