Best On-Line Food Sites.

[The empressof all]

For me it's http://www.igourmet.com/index.asp --I just posted a link on the Cheese thread but they also are great for many international and unusual products as well.

I can spend hours (and a huge chunk of change) just browsing and learning. They have never disappointed me in quality and service.

Where do you go on-line to get those hard to find items?

[unhappycamper]

1. Penzey's is the only place to buy spices

http://www.penzeys.com/cgi-bin/penzeys/shophome.html

[wryter2000]

2. Love Penzey's

How I wanted to win the "Get a Penzey's in your city" contest.

[Lisa0825]

3. For recipes meeting specific criteria, Recipe Zaar

Not a site to buy from, but my favorite recipe site

www.recipezaar.com

[The empressof all]

4. I Gourmet.

Sorry I never identified the original link was to I Gourmet. Great source.

[Shakespeare]

5. I'm partial to epicurious.com

The tips I get in the "reviews" section of the recipes have been absolutely priceless--they're (usually) a goldmine of information.

My all-time favorite recipes I've snagged from that site are for tiramisu, bread pudding and a to-DIE-for ancho chile cream sauce (multiple mexican food uses, but especially good with enchiladas).

edit to include my faves:

Bread pudding w/warm bourbon sauce (not all bread pudding recipes were created equal, and this is the best I've found). I use Orowheat cinnamon swirl bread without raisins--'cause I don't like raisins--and occasionally use dark rum for the sauce instead of bourbon. And I always double the sauce recipe. For whatever reason, that Orowheat bread makes an especially great bread pudding (it's a little brioche-y, and that may be why).

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/recipe_views/views/102163?epiSearchPage=http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/find/results?search=bread+pudding&x=13&y=6

The ancho chile cream sauce is part of this recipe for wild mushroom enchiladas--it has TONS of great uses in mexican food, and it's easy to make.

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/recipe_views/views/4097?epiSearchPage=http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/find/results?search=mushroom+enchiladas

And finally, a four-star tiramisu recipe. I always use the tip from the reviews section to add some dissolved gelatin to the cheese mixture, so it's never, ever watery. This looks and tastes SO impressive. One important note: the recipe calls for cream cheese, presumably because it's easier to find than mascarpone, but you MUST use mascarpone cheese for this recipe. It's just not tiramisu otherwise.

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/recipe_views/views/1420?epiSearchPage=http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/find/results?threshold=4350&pageSize=10&resultOffset=11&sort=0&search=tiramisu

[supernova]

6. A Southern Season... have to brag

about my local gourmet emporium! :D

They do terrific baskets and will ship anywhere.

They have just about everything you could want. If they don't have it, they know where to get it: Huge cheese counter, fresh breads, deli-takeout, all kinds of stuff from every where. A candy counter as big as the cheese department, with hundreds of different chocolate bars and hand-made candies.

They have a section devoted to NC products too, giving local gourmets and artisans a boost.

Most of the time I go in there slack-jawed. :wow: The variety is staggering. A part of me weeps at the excess too, because I know a lot of people on the planet go hungry.

They used to be in this cramped, small place in a strip mall in Chapel Hill, not much bigger than your average restaurant. Stuff was crammed floor to ceiling. Be carful you don't knock something off the shelf going by. :-)

When a local department store left the mall, SS moved it. More room, more activity. They expanded their wine dept and they now have cooking school and wine-tastings. The wine-tastings are a fun, cheap Friday afternoon activity. I want to try cooking school next.

http://www.southernseason.com/

[Stinky The Clown]

7. Wow, that looks like quite a place!

I lived in Durham in 1972 and 1973, on the southwestern edge of the city, just off Chapel Hill Blvd(?). Chapel Hill was the only place that even remotely had a better than sleepy feel to it. Back then, the drive to Chapel Hill was through farmland. No commercial stuff at all except maybe a gas station and a convenience store. I bet its all grown up now.

That store looks like a rival for the best any city could offer.

[The empressof all]

8. It's a great place to visit

We have great grocery stores here in the Seattle Area but Southern Season gives them a run for their money. I visited once and was very impressed.