adegiulio

I'm with you 100%. My favorite meat in the world is elk. I just don't hunt (not to mention we dont have many elk over here)

Geez, I hate to sound simplistic, but yeah, marbling is the number one thing that I think affects whether or not I will like the steak. Marbling affects flavor, tenderness, and juiciness. From what I have read (and tasted) it is really difficult to get marbling from grass fed cattle. While aging will help with flavor and tenderness, it still wont surpass what you can get with grain fed beef. I'm sure someone will refute this, and say that they have had grass fed beef with great marbling. By the way, second to marbling is dry-aging. That funkiness makes a steak great. I still enjoy that ultra beefy, metallic twang of grass fed, but just not more than grain fed.

Our local store has some fresh olives. Having never tasted one, I popped one in my mouth. Needless to say, I won't make that mistake again. I'm going to take my revenge by curing a bunch, in several different ways. It seems like a smart thing to do, so that I can find out which method I prefer. I'll report back when they are all done. See you in a few months

We haven't been since the turn of the century. Back then, I would say things were much better than you describe them. Of course, we haven't been back for a reason, that being what you mentioned...There are plenty of other restaurants, with new ones everyday. Osteria del Circo just wasnt special enough to warrant visits to. Now that we live 1 1/2 hours away instead of 30 minutes, we try to make each trip to the city count even more. Looks like we won't be back to OdC till the turn of the next century.

Chicken Pot Pie... I'm so embarrassed.

...Power of Hospitality in Business" I started reading this today. It's the story of his entry into the restaurant business and outlines what he thinks is important. It starts off slow, but now it is starting to get interesting... Anyone else read it or have any comments?

I don't doubt that raw chicken tastes good...it's the texture that freaks me out...

Yeah, they do it differently over there. I drink mine black, and I find it is in between regular coffee and espresso in terms of strength. Served in smaller cups too. I love it, but then again I love most everything they do in Paris... Don't even get me started on French yogurt...man that stuff is good...

That's the place. My friend calls it a "mini Dean and Deluca" 40 West, in my opinion, is horrible. I will not be back. Hope you experience there was better...

The same friend who introduced me to Baba Louie's also introduced me to a terrific specialty shop in Great Barrington called Rubiner's. If you haven't been, you should go. Right now.

I wish we had some hen of the woods at our farmers market in Rhineeck. We have one guy there sellling oyster mushrooms, but I could really go for a roasted Hen... We were also in Hudson yesterday, at Baba Louie's. Love that greek salad, and their pizzas are very tasty too. Last night must have been baby night, as it seemed every table (ours included) had a baby sitting at it...

I ate horse in Quebec and it was really fantastic. It was served in a peppercorn sauce. The meat was tender but had a bit of chew, and the connective tissue was surprisingly easy to eat. It wasn't a braised piece of meat, it was seared, so I was surprised that the connective stuff was so palatable. I don't understand why people eat meat but get crazy about eating horse. What makes a cow any more "slaughterable" than a horse? I think they are both beautiful, tasty animals. ← How about dog? ← Is your question an effort to trip up my logic? You expect me to say that I would never eat a dog since they are cute and cuddly, and that some people feel the same way about horses? ← Your logic about horses and cows seems like it can also be applied to dogs, so I'm wondering if you eat dog too. ← If dog were available and legal in the US, I would eat it. I just wouldn't eat MY dogs.

I ate horse in Quebec and it was really fantastic. It was served in a peppercorn sauce. The meat was tender but had a bit of chew, and the connective tissue was surprisingly easy to eat. It wasn't a braised piece of meat, it was seared, so I was surprised that the connective stuff was so palatable. I don't understand why people eat meat but get crazy about eating horse. What makes a cow any more "slaughterable" than a horse? I think they are both beautiful, tasty animals. ← How about dog? ← Is your question an effort to trip up my logic? You expect me to say that I would never eat a dog since they are cute and cuddly, and that some people feel the same way about horses?

I ate horse in Quebec and it was really fantastic. It was served in a peppercorn sauce. The meat was tender but had a bit of chew, and the connective tissue was surprisingly easy to eat. It wasn't a braised piece of meat, it was seared, so I was surprised that the connective stuff was so palatable. I don't understand why people eat meat but get crazy about eating horse. What makes a cow any more "slaughterable" than a horse? I think they are both beautiful, tasty animals.

Hey Rosie, any idea what happened at Zarole? We obviously havent been there in a while, but it seemed pretty popular when we were around them parts..

You'd have to be pretty small to ride one of them... Mmm, rabbit saddle with braised rabbit leg...thats a darn tasty combo

I believe that cut of beef is called the "deckle". Whatever it's called, it sure is tasty. My favorite steak is the NY Strip. My favorite meat in the whole world is an elk rib chop., medium rare.

Yes they do if you think it's okay to cook filet mignons well-done. ← Q.E.D. ← Geez Tommy, I had to look that one up!

I hear you loud and clear. As I am not an expert in shrimping either, I wouldn't bet my house on this issue. However, this retailer is one of the few good guys out there, and I tend to trust what he puts out. He is also quite adept at sourcing, so I think if anyone in this area would have a hard to find, perishable item, it would be this place. But, again, I wouldn't bet my house on it...

Your first post gives the impression that your objection was to some sort of cross-contamination issue. Obviously, a bit of breading on your scallop is undesirable if you don't want your scallops breaded, but from a cross-contamination perspective, it should be the least of your worries.

I'm not sure what you mean by "fresh" here. The Gulf shrimp was certainly frozen if it made it all the way up north. It might have been frozen onboard the boat. The only way to get fresh shrimp is to live in an area where day shrimpers work. I'm pretty sure that any boats that stay out longer than a day will be freezing their catch. They may put some on ice the last day, but that would have to be sold in the area. I paid $4.50 a pound last week for beautiful, head-on fresh shrimp at my local farmers market. The truly fresh shrimp are a wonder, and I bought them directly from the family that caught the shrimp. ← The shrimp were labeled fresh. All other shrimp (as well as some tuna) were labeled previously frozen. I brought home some fresh shrimp from New Smyrna when I visited my dad a few years ago. If I can get it up north, I'm sure some company can do the same...

You are exactly right, they do suggest using peanut oil. It is for that reason that made me look at Sam's club for it. True, in our local supermarket it is sold in small bottles and is quite expensive. In this case, it is purely marketing at work.

Wouldn't that be more down to the difference between fresh & frozen shrimp than wild vs. farmed? I think you need to do more taste tests, burdensome though that may be. ← Good point, I suppose it could be one or the other, or a mix of both factors. Someone else asked about the price. The shrimp were 21-25s and cost 9.99 a pound, very reasonable for the quality. Honestly, they could have been 15.99 and I would still buy them over the frozen farmed stuff...

I just bought 35 lbs of pure peanut oil from Sams Club for 27 bucks. At 7.7 pounds per gallon, that's 5.94 a GALLON. That's not expensive at all. Of course, the container is huge and unwieldy, but pouring it into a smaller container and leaving the rest in the garage is simple enough...

Our local farm market grocery store has been carrying fresh Gulf Shrimp lately. Yesterday we did a simple test. Fresh shrimp vs. the stuff you can buy frozen in bags. Both were served as shrimp cocktail... The result: it wasn't even close. The fresh Gulf shrimp had the taste and texture I remember all shrimp having years ago. The frozen bugs had that translucent mealy texture and just about zero flavor. The lesson: From now on its fresh wild shrimp or nothing...