Fat Guy

Isn't "Broasted" a trademark? At least, that's what Broaster Foods says. "Broaster® and Broasted® are registered trademarks of The Broaster Company, Beloit, Wisconsin. All rights reserved." http://www.broaster.com/whatisgbc.htm

Fifi, I'm a big advocate of beef stock, which is not used much by professional chefs but is nonetheless a great ingredient. Beef bones are cheap and plentiful and make a rich, flavorful stock -- more flavorful than veal stock. For the kind of advanced amateur home cooking many of us on eGullet do, having beef and chicken stocks on hand should get you anywhere you want to go.

Interesting to see such an outpouring of support for KFC. I see KFC as being at the bottom of the pecking order of the major fried chicken chains. Church's and Roy Rogers are substantially better, in my opinion -- better quality chicken (KFC's chicken is pretty lame) and a more reliable batter -- and Popeye's and Bojangle's are way, way out in front as far as I'm concerned.

This reaction strikes me as wildly disproportionate to the few very minor factual errors -- most of which have been corrected promptly -- that have occurred in the Times dining section of late. I also think it's quite difficult for us as outsiders to know what the role of the dining editor is. For example, I doubt Sam Sifton has the authority to remove and replace dining-section writers at will, and I bet he is only one of many people participating in the decision about who will be the restaurant reviewer.

Interesting. Do you have any idea why this is?

How do they actually make yogurt in a commercial setting? Do they make it in the individual containers, or do they make it in a big vat and then pipe it in?

That recipe should go over well as Passover food, but be forewarned it will be somewhat heavy and sweet and will no doubt be combined with a lot of other heavy and sweet food. You might want to do something that's more classically braised and savory, such as a brisket braised in veal stock and red wine, with a sauce made from the braising liquid, served with slow-roasted onions. Or something like that. Also, when cooking for a Passover meal, assume approximately 4 standard gentile portions per 1 Jew.

Having become entirely contemptuous towards all those little jars, I decided to take matters into my own hands and make a gallon of yogurt all at once. Here's what I did: - Brought a gallon of milk up to 205-degrees (F) in a stockpot, stirring occasionally - Let it cool to the mark on the yogurt-machine thermometer accessory where it says to add culture (I forgot to measure the actual temperature at this point) - Took four empty 1-quart commercial plastic yogurt containers and added a tablespoon of yogurt to each - Added a little milk to each and stirred the yogurt into the milk - Filled each container with milk - Placed all four containers in a large straight-sided saute pan and filled the pan with warm water - Left the whole contraption on the stovetop while we had a day of baking and cooking, which maintained a temperature reading of 100-110 degrees in the water bath for most of the day - Put the yogurt in the refrigerator after 10 hours - Tasted this morning The best results I've had yet, and I won't have to make yogurt again for a week. I think, next time, instead of the water bath, I'll try a heating pad. I know we have one around somewhere.

WTF is a jigger?

Midtown, in terms of its bistro/brasserie explosion, arguably is the new Tribeca and SoHo. But I agree Mix was destined to have a hard time finding a target audience. Of course, the critics could have helped by explaining the restaurant instead of condemning it, but why bother when the place is such an easy target? Visionary, creative endeavors require the cooperation of several constituencies in order to succeed, and Mix appealed neither to the food media nor to Ducasse's current audience of luxury-oriented, older diners. Not to mention the endemic service problems. I'm sure the restaurant will have a better chance of success if it goes more in the club/lounge direction.

I'm going shopping tomorrow. What else do I need to buy?

You don't need to worry about any of the English cheeses you'd be likely to bring back, and customs inspectors aren't geared up even to care about cheeses coming in from the UK, but you should in any case make certain you have the exact information about each cheese at hand in the event you get questioned by a customs inspector. Because most of the cheddars and such are cut from large wheels, they won't have label information, so you should write down the brand and how long it has been aged. This should do the trick even in a worst-case scenario. At Paxton & Whitfield, of course, you will also have access to a huge array of soft, young French cheeses. These are the real problems. Unpasteurized cheeses that have been aged less than 60 days are forbidden, and under the current guidelines ALL soft French unpasteurized cheese of ANY age are forbidden. Not that most customs inspectors will know this or care.

Ducasse and Chodorow have another restaurant together (and I would have to check if the other Mix restaurant, which I've heard is in progress, is a Chodorow venture). There would be no way for Ducasse to treat it as a one-off. The pressure to stay in the relationship and present a unified front would, even under the circumstances described in Sam's post, be tremendous. In addition, though Ducasse is fanatical about control of his three fine-dining restaurants, he is more flexible about his relationships with his other restaurant properties and groups such as Spoon, Mix, BoulangEpicier, Bar & Boeuf, etc. Many reports I've heard have indicated, for example, that the Spoon in Paris (not with Chodorow) and the Spoon in London (with Chodorow) are completely different animals in terms of their quality levels.

You don't have to take the 7 train. You can take the LIRR to Woodside. On weekends it's only $2.50 under the CityTicket program. The outdoor area at the restaurant is quite nice and can be used for a private function. One wonders how that little kitchen would handle a banquet, though.

Asia de Cuba, Tuscan, Hudson Cafeteria, and a whole bunch of others in several cities, including the London branch of Ducasse's Spoon group.

The quality of the food going forward will demonstrate just how "in charge" of the kitchen Mr. Ducasse is, as well as the nature of that authority (for example does it extend to purchasing and staffing, or is it only a menu function?). Let us hope he and his new team will work to keep those of us who have become loyal Mix customers on account of the style of food being offered there now. However, it is extremely difficult to take at face value the statement that "Mr. Ducasse did not agree with the way Doug was managing the kitchen and the team." In any event, a public statement of that nature -- even if 100% true and subject to no ambiguity -- is hardly a way to treat someone who has demonstrated fierce loyalty to an organization for 4+ years (what of the September article in the New York Times, 1800+ words about how Psaltis is "Ducasse's New Protégé"?). While Doug is telling reporters that "he remains loyal to the Ducasse organization and is actively discussing his next steps with Ducasse," it seems that Ducasse's publicist is saying this is all Doug's fault. Somewhere in the organization, there appears to have been a failure to communicate.

Yeah but those of us who live in NY have no issue buying clothes and batteries on Sunday. As of a year or so ago, we can actually go to wine shops on Sunday too, but most of them still aren't open on Sunday because no wine shop can be open more than 6 days a week so most of them choose Sunday to close. I was at Fairway this morning and noticed they had Angostura Bitters, so I bought some. Now would someone please tell me what bitters are? Also got me some lemons.

59th Street Bridge, take Queens Blvd., follow the subway tracks as they bend left from Queens Blvd. onto Roosevelt Ave., follow Roosevelt to 62nd Street and make a left, then make your first right onto 39th Ave. (before you make this right, you can stop at the bodega on 62nd for beer), at that point look for parking -- Sripraphai will be a couple of blocks ahead on the left side of 39th Ave. (6415 39th Ave.) but you should park wherever you can.

Cool. I actually have some Lillet around, but will have to acquire or borrow some Pernod. Tomorrow is Sunday, which will limit my options, so I'll revisit this on Monday.

I haven't tried it, but it sounds auspicious.

My current hypothesis is that, for me, there must be a better spirit for this particular cocktail than gin, rum, or vodka. What are some other candidates? Gin had the firepower to be in the drink, but the specific aromatics were unappealing to me. Would a flavored/infused vodka perhaps be the answer? Are there any close relatives of gin, but without those particular additives? I don't want to lose the club soda, because I feel it adds a highly desirable effervesence to the drink.

Marrow bones are great for stock, but they certainly will burn before knuckle bones. I still think, assuming you roasted these two batches of bones back-to-back, that it could have a lot to do with the time and temperature considerations. You're already doing quite a long roast. But if you roast starting with a cold oven at 400 degrees for 90 minutes, you'll really only be roasting at full blast for about 60 minutes because the first 30 minutes will be occupied by the oven getting fully up to temperature, retaining heat in its walls, and otherwise creating a real roasting environment. If you then immediately put another batch in that same oven for the same amount of time, it will cook at full blast for all that time so you'll effectively cook it almost 50% more.

Hi KT, and welcome. My initial suspicion is that you roasted the second batch of bones for too long at too high a temperature, and they burned. This can easily happen if you do back-to-back roasting, because by the second batch your oven is really going to be cranking so an equivalent time and temperature-setting can cook the second batch much more than the first. If indeed the bones burned, the stock is going to taste bitter and I don't know of any way to repair that. In the end, though, you need to trust your tastebuds and nose. There's no harm in finishing the stock, tasting it at that point, and then making the final decision.

I am so fucked up right now, it's hard for me to deliver coherent commentary. But here's what Ellen and I think after a couple of these gimlet-fizz things: so far, ideal proportions are eluding me -- and my theory is it may be impossible to get this right with vodka as the propellant. I think there's just too much liquid in the thing: fresh lime juice, Rose's, club soda, and some melt-off from the ice. It dilutes the vodka down to a really weak level, and if you add more vodka it just tastes too harsh. Likewise, if you reduce the amount of real lime or fake lime or club soda, you can't taste those ingredients.

Okay, I'm off to make another vodka-gimlet-fizz and to watch Sopranos on HBO On Demand. Will report back later.