Classics we just. don't. get.

That chile colorado looks really good. Which variety/varieties of chiles do you recommend?

I'm not sure what varieties are used. Around here you just buy various brands of powdered chile (note the "e", not "i") in mild, med, hot, x-hot in cellophane bags. Premium chiles come from Hatch, NM or Chimayo, NM, but whatever brand should work. I rarely use the whole, dried red chiles (several types), because already powdered is soooo much easier. If your grocery store doesn't carry any, there are online NM sources.

Is this a hot sauce or a warm sauce?

If you mean physical temperature, it's served hot; if you mean taste heat, it depends on the red chile powder you use.

[Jenise]

Chiles are a weird world, aren't they. I have a big jar sold in Chef stores that just says "New Mexico Chile Powder". If buying whole chiles then one can usually purchase by variety, like ancho and guajillo (the latter is what I think most New Mexico red chiles are), but often the chiles are mixes or even sold, like my jar, by location. California chiles are the mildest.

Kale - leaves me cold. Gaack! Doesn't seem to matter what you do with it - make chips, shakes, salads. Who likes this stuff? Why?

None of those preparations sound appealing to me. But do you like other greens? Chard, kale, and spinach are our mainstays, but the local farmers grow a variety of escaroles, or slightly-rarer items like spigariello. Regardless, the common prep is sauteed in olive oil with salt and vinegar/citrus finish. What's not to like. (Unless of course you don't like greens)

mac and cheese. Let's see - how often would I like to indulge in a plate of over processed carbohydrate covered in melted 'cheese' that looks like molten Velveeta (thank you Yup - never. Thank you dyes Yellow #5 and #6 (banned in civilized countries but not in the US, or sad to say, Canada).

What you describe is industrial crap. You could find horrible versions of any dish. But the concept is glorious and it's hard for me to imagine someone not liking pasta with cheese. But hey, maybe you're that guy!

We eat a lot of greens -asparagus, chard, spinach, various lettuces, bok choy etc. Just not a fan of kale.

As for mac and cheese, I described the most common version. I am a huge cheese fan and will often make things like rigatoni del curato (with a 3 mushroom cream sauce with Reggiano and Pecorino as well as making hand made ravioli etc. I just don't have any time for the crap they try and pass off as pasta for the masses.

Mac and cheese being called a pasta dish is like likening a properly cooked and rested ribeye to a cube steak with mushroom soup 'gravy'.

As for mac and cheese, I described the most common version...

You and I must frequent different places!

Just kidding. Of course I know what you mean. But I so rarely come across that 'common' version in my life, that it is functionally irrelevant to me.

Other things I don't like includes taking decent cheese and dripping honey on it - whyyyy?????? More than once I have asked for a piece of cheese at the end of a restaurant meal only to have them bring me that miscegenation. Usually goes something like "Please remove this and bring me what I asked for" "But this is the way we serve cheese!" "Good for you. Now bring me what I asked for, unadulterated, please"

Especially if you are ending the meal with an older dry red, trying to taste it through honey is ludicrous

i

I have never encountered Such a thing, what on earth are they thinking. It sounds from your comment that it is reasonably common. Down here the most common thing is to have a fruit paste with cheese, but always served on the side not on the cheese.

Larry: re heat, I meant spiciness.

Kale is a little too tough for me. I'll take spinach every time, very occasionally chard. If served cold, I'll take lettuce, spinach, arugula, most of the fancy greens (e.g., mizuna).

Mac 'n' Cheese can be wonderful if you make it yourself. It's rare that it's good commercially: either they've gone for nice texture by using a lot of milk and bad cheese or they've gone for haughty cheese that doesn't melt well.

Deep-dish pizza is not really pizza -- I'm from NYC so you know my vision of pizza is triangular with a round end -- but it's a nice thing now and then.

Mega-burgers are indeed ridiculous. Although it looks like KFC wants to be the leader in this field... first they offer "The Double Down" (which is two breaded and fried chicken cutlets serving as the bread with bacon, cheese, and mayo sticking them together) and now they offer "The Donut Sandwich" (which is a cutlet served between two donuts).
https://www.chowhound.com/food-news/256 ... -together/

I am a little surprised at the reaction to cheese and honey here. It is a classic pairing as far back as the Romans:
https://www.beeculture.com/honey-and-cheese/
I've enjoyed fresh goat cheese with lavender honey, alpine and blue cheeses with wildflower honey. It offers a bit of contrast and counterpoint. (I also like damson paste with any firm cheese.)

I am a little surprised at the reaction to cheese and honey here. It is a classic pairing as far back as the Romans:
https://www.beeculture.com/honey-and-cheese/
I've enjoyed fresh goat cheese with lavender honey, alpine and blue cheeses with wildflower honey. It offers a bit of contrast and counterpoint. (I also like damson paste with any firm cheese.)

It doesn't offend me. Good honey makes most things taste better and the combination of fat, salt, and sweetness is obviously a winner. But, it does not help with wine. And, it's a detraction from really good cheese, which I would rather have than an overdone attempt at composing a cheeseboard.

[David M. Bueker]

I have ordered hundreds of cheese plates over the years. I have never received any cheese with honey pre-drizzled on top of it.

It doesn't offend me. Good honey makes most things taste better and the combination of fat, salt, and sweetness is obviously a winner. But, it does not help with wine. And, it's a detraction from really good cheese, which I would rather have than an overdone attempt at composing a cheeseboard.

With the traditional exception of serving aged cabrales cheese, one of the strongest of blues, with some quince jelly (and that is really more because it is a tradition, not because it makes it taste better) I have never had a cheese I would rather have honey on. When it happens, I always ask for a replacement. Maybe it is a 'thing' up here.

The restaurant world seems to go through various gimmicks. One I recall was sticking a large sprig of rosemary into a dish for service, whether or not rosemary was included in the preparation. At one of my wine lunches I gathered up all of these oversized sprigs and asked if they could be put in a bucket of water to take home with me as I was planting a garden. I think they got the point.

Another similar thing that I don't get is sorbets between the intermediate course and the main course. What earthly purpose is served by trotting out a sweet cloying sorbet right before you go into a tasting of the most serious wines of the evening?

I suggested that they investigate a non-sweet sorbet that actually would refresh the palate - I have used things like Early Gray tea as well as herbal sorbets without sugar (noting that a sorbet left unsweetened really is a granita, not a sorbet). I finally gave up and instructed them to never bring such a thing to my table again, as they didn't seem to get the sweet issue.

I have never had a cheese I would rather have honey on. When it happens, I always ask for a replacement. Maybe it is a 'thing' up here.

Properly served, the honey should come in a little dish so that you apply as much or as little as you wish. It is peculiar to have them do it.

Another similar thing that I don't get is sorbets between the intermediate course and the main course.

A palate cleanser should not be sweet. It should be a lemon ice, basically. They are mistaken to serve it sweetened.

The Japanese handle their sushi courses similarly... pickled ginger between fishes so you can taste each without the previous one influencing you.

I am in the camp of mint sauce haters - my parents always had it, and usually not even the savoury British version, but what was basically mint jelly. Yeuch!

I love my own mint sauce. I've only had mint jelly in restaurants and I hate it, its too sweet and has no bite.

Chiles are a weird world, aren't they.

I grow my own. First one I had which I've grown from seed every year since is 'Prairie Fire', it's a bush type that doesn't need support and can be grown in a pot. Good heat and flavour. Upright bullet shaped chillies, that start white, go through cream and orange to red. Only problem is the large amount of seeds they have, around 30.

I've grown a number of different varieties, some are too hot, some too mild (this is objective of course) some have too thick skins. Now am settling on 'Spike' as my favourite. It's a bush type, has upright thin chillies, go green to red. Maybe not quite as hot as Prairie Fire, but easy to chop with scissors and very productive. I had three red Spike chopped over my lunch today, from the freezer. One harvest will last all year in a freezer.

They're easy to grow, a window sill is all that is needed. If you find a chilli you like, save the seeds. Planting time is now (in northern hemisphere)

FWIW, I'm growing cayenne peppers in a pot, overwintering the plant in my house on cold nights. Right now it has white flowers preparing for its fruits. I'm curious to see how long I can keep it going.