Fat Guy

I think the show has a 1.8 or so, which is not as good as Extreme Makeover: Home Edition but is better than the eG Forums. It hovers around 80, at least whenever I check the ratings (which isn't often). I'm glad the show has kept laying the food references on heavily. Some of them are surprisingly clever, though many are not.

The Modern is, I imagine, the next serious candidate for four stars. I don't think Jean Georges, Le Bernardin and Daniel are necessarily at risk. They held four stars while ADNY had three before, and more likely than not they'll do it again. The hostility that exists towards ADNY just doesn't exist with respect to Jean Georges, Le Bernardin and Daniel. Also, one has to allow for the possibility of cyclical ratings. Daniel is accustomed to playing that game: he gets three stars, he gets four, he gets three again, he gets four again. The restaurant stays the same while the critics go through their on-the-job training and take their power trips, and eventually the rating stabilizes. The chances of ADNY getting four stars in a year or so are rather high -- at some point the sheer weight of reality starts to press pretty heavily on a critic, especially as he becomes more experienced and less inclined to base reviews on petty considerations. Ducasse's restaurants are constantly being demoted and promoted, mostly as gestures and not because they have actually changed.

Last night's episode surely represents the first time the words "bouquet garni" (spoken by Kirk) have ever been spoken on a top-rated prime-time show.

But Ted, there are a few people besides DocSconz who have their points about every restaurant in the world. By that standard no restaurant would be able to get four stars -- and certainly not Per Se (given that there were something like 700 courses involved, I probably experienced more inconsistency in one meal at Per Se than everybody on this thread put together has experienced at Ducasse). If you pull together enough people you will find some who have had inconsistent or even bad experiences at every New York four-star restaurant and every European three-star restaurant. Inconsistency as such is not a revelation -- it is in the nature of being. The issue is the tolerable level of inconsistency. What the review describes -- a little bit of miscommunication with a sommelier; an over- or under-cooked piece of meat on occasion -- does not amount to the level of inconsistency that justifies a three-star rating for what is clearly one of the best handful of restaurants in the United States, and one of the two best in New York by a clear margin over the other restaurants that currently define the four-star category.

It's unfortunate that the review frames itself in terms of agenda-driven issues like "vanity" and price. When a review concludes "But beneath an unfettered pageant is an uneven performance, a wow that wavers, a spell less binding than a restaurant with this much vanity can possibly wish it to be," it casts doubt on everything else that is said therein -- it gives the impression that the verdict is not really about inconsistency. The recounting of the incident with the sommelier is excruciating and petty. The litany of prices is calculated to incite. The charges of vanity are false. And "a wow that wavers"? People who live in glass houses . . .

Mine is the professional Mauviel 2.5mm with iron handle. When I've compared that piece to the equivalent Bourgeat piece, however, I've noticed that the Bourgeat seems to be deeper with a more pleasing curvature, it has a beefier handle and rivets, and the angle of the handle gives better leverage. It just looks and feels, to me, like a better piece of equipment.

I have some Mauviel and have played with SLK's Falk stuff. I've also messed around with a lot of Bourgeat copper. For me the choice would be between Bourgeat and Falk -- the Mauviel just doesn't look and feel as though it's in the same league. [edited to add]In SLK's cookware Q&A he notes at least once and maybe 30 times that the metal used by all three manufacturers is the same. Nonetheless, I like the Bourgeat and Falk better from shape, handle, rivet, etc., standpoints -- and I can't shake the feeling that the Mauviel is somehow less serious, though I couldn't prove it.

Well that made things easy. The Tupperware custom kitchen planning storage chart that Mamster refers to in his piece can be found online here. It appears to answer all my questions.

A standard American supermarket five-pound bag of flour: how much volume does it occupy? How about a five-pound bag of granulated white sugar? A one-pound box of brown sugar? A ten-ounce can of baking powder? Yes, I'm in the market for plastic storage containers. And of course they don't say "I'm the size of a five-pound bag of flour." Instead, they're labeled, for example, "2 1/2 quarts." So what sizes do I need for the above items?

Reading this discussion is sort of like watching while one person asks "Why does McDonald's put Special Sauce on the Big Mac but ketchup on the Quarter Pounder?" and everybody else responds "Special Sauce sucks!" It's true. Special Sauce sucks. Nonetheless, some people -- say, subscribers to McDonald's Magazine -- might want to know why they put it on the Big Mac but not on the Quarter Pounder.

Jackal10's discussion of deep-frying techniques for potatoes in the eGCI potato primer explains both the methods and theories behind great fries. I think you will find that following his instructions is a foolproof method for producing fries that will be better than 99.9 percent of the fries to be found in the world. Since I recently made 15 batches of fries, let me also just throw out some casual observations. I relied on Jack's information as well as some guidelines from the Idaho Potato Commission targeted at foodservice providers. The thing I like about those guidelines is that they offer a table of times and temperatures based on size of cut, and they also give you some idea of how to calculate portions (just triple all their numbers to calculate a normal eGullet Society member's portion). 1. I used the 1/4" setting on the mandoline. This to me is an excellent size for fries -- not too thin, not too thick. Russet potatoes are very reliable. 2. When you're making any significant quantity of fries, soaking is not a nuisance -- it's survival. Otherwise your raw potatoes will start turning brown from exposure to air. And what is soaking but putting stuff in a bowl of cold water? It's just not that hard. 3. Drying is extremely easy if you use a salad spinner. You can dry enough fries for ten people in about three minutes. 4. Selection of fat is something that can be discussed forever, but I am currently favoring corn oil. I think you'll also be happy with peanut oil or "vegetable oil." What I would strongly recommend you avoid is canola oil, which every time I have tried it imparts a rancid, almost "fishy" taste. Things get really interesting when you start mixing in animal fats, like beef tallow or duck fat. 5. Nobody in a home-kitchen setting is using enough oil or a serious enough frying device to maintain temperatures when potatoes are added to the oil. The last time I did this, with three liters of oil, I was seeing drops in temperature of 50+ degrees F from relatively small batches of fries -- anything larger than a handful caused major drops. Rebounds were in some cases so slow that the fries were done before the temperature recovered. So you have to do some testing in order to figure out the real frying temperature you're going to get: cook in small batches, and get your oil hotter than it needs to be.

Metro area Costcos are now selling Eli's bread. The multigrain health loaf and raisin pecan loaf are $2.99 each.

Fifi, in traditional stockmaking the one stock where sweating is called for is fish stock. My understanding is that sweating is essentially an accelerator: by coating the fish skeletons with fat and sweating them you release flavor without browning. Since fish stock cooks relatively quickly, this step helps assure that you get more flavor out of the bones. There are some advocates of sweating chicken for chicken stock -- I believe Cook's Illustrated offers the method in its The Best Recipe series -- but it's not something I've ever bothered with. I think if you sweat you can reduce the overall simmering time and have a flavorful stock sooner, but to me that's a false saving of time because sweating requires active attention whereas simmering can happen unattended -- I don't care how long my stock takes; what I look to minimize is the time I need to spend dealing with it. Also, if you're looking for a super-aromatic stock, you're probably going to get more out of roasting than sweating. Matonski, that photo was just for demonstration purposes. Normally you would roast all the bones.

This is reminiscent of the time the same thing happened to Zagat, when galleys of the 2000 Boston survey were mailed to the Boston Herald and the paper’s restaurant reviewer noticed that one write-up was of a restaurant that had not yet opened. Though I haven't seen The Perfectionist, does it really claim that Loiseau's suicide was on account of his losing a Michelin star? I thought that claim had been debunked repeatedly, not least because he didn't lose a Michelin star.

The Modern's fine-dining area also has outdoor access, so once the weather turns nice there will be increased seating capacity and outdoor dining.

I had lunch today at "The Bar Room" at The Modern. I'll get back to that in a moment, but let me also just walk through all the new dining facilities at MOMA. On the street level, there is The Modern. The restaurant is laid out in similar fashion to Gramercy Tavern in the sense that there is a casual front dining area (The Bar Room) and a more formal dining space in the back. The Modern has its own entrance on 53rd Street, just east of the main museum entrance. You do not have to enter the museum to enter The Modern. The Bar Room, as mentioned above, has a menu of plates that fall somewhere in between appetizer and entree size. One plate would be enough for a light lunch; three would make a substantial dinner. The fine dining restaurant (just "The Modern") is behind The Bar Room and overlooks the sculpture garden. Both areas are done in Danish Modern style -- most everything, from the furniture to the tableware, comes from Denmark. The Bar Room is currently open for business and open to anybody -- again, you do not have to enter the museum to enter the restaurant (though there is an additional entrance off the museum lobby). The fine dining restaurant is in friends-and-family previews right now, and the designated opening date is currently holding at February 7. Both areas serve modern European-influenced cuisine, and the wine program is ambitious: beverage director Stephane Colling (who came over from Alain Ducasse at the Essex House, and before that was at Au Crocodile in Strasbourg and Michel Roux’s The Waterside Inn in Bray, England) told me they are opening with 650 selections and are planning to double that number rapidly. The Modern also has private dining spaces, with movable walls, that can accommodate groups of various sizes for events. These spaces overlook the sculpture garden and are to the east of the main restaurant. There are also two restaurants within the museum proper: Cafe 2 and Terrace 5. The numbers indicate what floors they are on. Cafe 2 is a very nicely implemented adaptation of the cafeteria format: you line up and order from the counter, but waiters bring your food to you at the tables -- you don't carry a tray. The emphasis is on Roman-style food: salumi, panini, pastas and salads made to order. This is a pretty high capacity operation, they were moving people through the line efficiently and there is plenty of space. Terrace 5 is a small cafe (full waiter service as in they take your order and bring you food, not counter-plus-waiter service as in Cafe 2) with a great aerial view of the garden. There are sweets (various pastries and chocolates) and savory items (cheeses, sandwiches) available. Starry Night is right out front. Both Cafe 2 and Terrace 5 have wine, as well as espresso. As for the meal in The Bar Room at The Modern, it was outstanding. I would not call this food "casual" at all. It is haute cuisine -- not Michelin three-star elaborately composed haute cuisine, but a lot more serious than anything I had imagined. We tried eight of the savory dishes and three of the desserts, all of which (actually there were a couple I didn't taste -- I think I only hit six of the savory dishes and all of the desserts) were impressive. Gabriel Kreuther is not messing around. Highlights were the best tarte flambee I've had since I was in Alsace -- and I don't think I had any better ones in Alsace (where Kreuther is from); a pate that I believe was designated as "liverwurst" but was not at all liverwurst-like (although it did have some liver in it, certainly, because it had just a bit of wonderful livery unctuousness); the chorizo ravioli accompanying the wild mushroom soup; and the potato and marrow cassolette. The beignets were the standout dessert, although the hazelnut dacquoise was also very well made (it's just not a dessert I favor, but it was technically very good). Service was superb, though we were VIPed out the wazoo -- still, a restaurant at this stage of development is impressive just for being able to pull off VIP treatment. I've been through a lot of Danny Meyer openings, and although one visit to a half open restaurant is only one visit to a half open restaurant this one gives every indication -- in terms of service and food quality -- of being his strongest opening yet.

Usually on the second shelf from the bottom.

Anything in a can has been cooked. That's how you can stuff. Canned black olives are cooked. I was asked a specific question about jarred green versus canned black olives in the specific context of New York pizzerias. My answer was: “Olives don’t come to us in edible form straight from the tree. They have to be processed. Black and green olives (which can be the same olives—the color is how they end up, not necessarily how they grow) are processed differently. Green olives are for the most part intended to be eaten raw. They are cured not cooked. This is, I believe, why they don’t typically appear on pizzas. Canned black olives are literally cooked, like most anything else in a can. If you canned green olives, it would cook them, and that’s not what you want for a cured olive meant to be eaten raw. If you tried to cook black olives in jars (the processing is done in the actual vessel in which the olives are sold), you’d break a lot of jars.” Here's a reference confirming most of my factual statements in context. I assure you I also held forth on why canned black olives suck and why I only buy olives from the bins at Fairway, etc. The quotes used were the ones on the narrower question.

I probably should have noted above that the only one of the five-for-a-dollar dumpling places where I have had inferior dumplings even under optimal circumstances (busy time, fresh from the wok) is the Fried Dumpling branch on Mosco Street.

By all means, use them all. This is what the stockpot is for!

I believe you're referring to the "egg cake lady" at the corner of Mott and Mosco Streets, technically the Hong Kong Egg Cake Company.

A red lobster is actually every color but red. When we see red, we are actually seeing the red wavelengths of light reflecting off the shell of the lobster. The red lobster is in fact, yellow and blue. ← But that's how we define the color of an object. An object that reflects only the red wavelengths of the visible spectrum is known as "red."

My suggestion would be to stop cooking now. But what you have in the fridge, make another batch, with no salt, and combine the two to finish. This is the only way I have ever managed to salvage an oversalted soup or stew.

How were they?

Nathan, did you say that the temperature control on a water bath is more accurate than on a Rational steam oven? If so, can you explain why? I was under the (mis)impression that the steam oven provides the most accurate and precise temperature control for sous vide cookery.