bleachboy
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Posts posted by bleachboy
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This thing sounds pretty good to me. As it is, one of my main guilty pleasures is getting popcorn chicken and mashed potatoes with gravy and dipping the chicken into the potatoes and gravy. This thing sounds like that, except with corn (I'm cool with that) and cheese (WTF?).
I'll probably eat one at some point, but minus the cheese.
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Well, I came in here to present my insightful observation that Cheesecake Factory is the reigning king of the long wait. I've been beaten to the punch!
Admittedly, I've only eaten at a Cheesecake Factory once, and that was for a quick hangover lunch in Las Vegas, but the Nashville Cheesecake Factory -- admittedly, relatively new -- regularly has a 2 hour wait, and sometimes a 2.5 hour wait. Within walking distance are two good local restaurants, either of which could probably seat you immediately, and one of which would offer outstandingly good cuisine (the other's a bistro -- that's where you go if you wanted a burger and a rich dessert to begin with).
Why do you think people are willing to wait two hours for Cheesecake Factory? I would be very hard pressed to agree to wait two hours for freakin' Robuchon.
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I love Gourmet's cover art. Heck, I subscribe mostly so I can get the copies without all the blurb text. My wife scored a bunch of old backissues that the public library was going to throw away, and it's nice to see that really the cover art hasn't changed much over the years -- just beautiful, close-up photographs of gorgeous food.
I think Ms. Dickerman is a victim of the iPod-style "make everything white, safety orange, and lime green" design style that's currently in vogue. I like that style, too, but everything doesn't have to be "light and bright" to be attractive.
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I'm a fan of the Char-Griller Smokin' Pro, especially if you're just starting out. It's the same model that Klink uses in his excellent eGCI course, and I got mine for about $150 at Lowe's. It's essentially the pared down basic oil barrel shaped smoker without frills. Once you master it, you'll be ready to move up to a fancier unit.
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The "two burner" aspect that Fat Guy mentioned pretty much dooms induction for me. When I take my beautiful roasted meat out of the oven, I want to have the ability to go two-burner with the roasting pan to make a jus/sauce. If induction won't do that, I don't want induction.
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Dear Chef Achatz,
What about the flops? I enjoyed my last visit to Alinea immensely (and am eager for my next visit!) but the last course, a wafer of dried tarragon something-or-other ("Eet ees vafehrr theen!" we joked with the servers, and one did a spot-on impersonation right back at us), was not to my liking at all, and about three of my dinner companions agreed that it was, well, too tarragon-ny.
How frequently do you rotate in-and-out dishes that don't prove to be successful?
Thanks,
Don Moore
Nashville, TN
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I like to make "fromage fort" out of my leftover cheese fragments. It has a thick, pasty consistency that might work and would certainly be tasty with hollandaise, etc.
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We also buy Hunt's Tomato Paste in the 6lb + cans. It's very cheap that way.
Make everything in big batches, and can it.
I'm with ya there. My marinara and meat sauce recipes both call for 106 ounce cans of whole tomatoes, and I usually double them. One and two-cup portions of sauce in the freezer make for great "fast food".
But... what do you do with 6 pounds of tomato paste!? I use it in my tomato sauces too, usually sauteed with some onions and garlic (I think that helps sweeten up the paste). Do you have something special you do with the leftovers? Even an 18oz can seems like too much to me.
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For what it's worth, just got back from the store and, yep, I'll be damned. Tomato puree. It wasn't easy to find, though -- Krogers had it way on the bottom shelf in a one-can-wide column.
The ingredients on it, by the way, are listed as "Tomato puree (water, tomato paste), salt, citric acid". So it's basically just diluted tomato paste with some salt and citric acid (to restore acidity lost in the paste-making process, maybe?) it seems.
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It is its own product...
You just blew my mind. I absolutely swear I have never seen this before. I am going to scour the grocery stores of Nashville today until I find some of this tomato puree.
Thanks!
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I'm not sure why the word "whole" was chosen, but I have always understood "whole foods" (as in the "whole foods movement") to mean "natural foods".
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I swear I'm not stupid! However, I frequently run across the ingredient "tomato puree" in recipes.
Maybe I'm looking in the wrong place, but I've never seen a can of anything labeled "tomato puree" in any local grocery store.
Does "tomato puree" mean the stuff labeled "tomato sauce"?
Does "tomato puree" mean to buy a can of whole tomatoes and puree them?
Does "tomato puree" mean to puree fresh tomatoes?
Has anybody else ever asked themselves this question, or am I all alone?
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Another tip, by the way, for a new freezer owner:
Go to a restaurant supply and buy a ton of those 1 and 2 cup Chinese take-out soup containers with lids. They sell them in sleeves of 25, usually, and you can buy 100 of each for under $20. They are fantastic for when you make big batches of stock, soup, stew, sauce, etc. They stack nicely. They are relatively cheap plastic, though, so don't overfill them or they will crack.
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Awww, he's cute!
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I think it's one of those things that makes the back of the house one of the most uniques places in the world. Where else would "Pittsburgh style" relate to "Black and Blue" relate to extra rare?
You really hit a nerve with this one. I have utter contempt for people order a steak "Pittsburgh" with a temperature i.e. mid rare, medium. I think they just want to sound cool.
You're both wrong. "Pittsburgh style" or "black and blue" doesn't mean "extra rare", it means "burned to crap on the outside and rare as possible on the inside." Big difference. A really good steak place will put the steak directly on the coals to achieve this. Another good way is between two ridiculously hot cast iron skillets.
It's not pretentious, it's a way of ordering that indicates how the diner would like it cooked. If you can't do it, as a waiter, just say so. Don't write down "extra rare" and sneer at the customer. If I ask for "black and blue" or "Pittsburgh style" (FWIW, Pittsburgh is a little more done in the center; it is indeed closer to medium rare) and you send it back "extra rare", I'm not going to eat it; I'm going to send it back and ask for my steak medium-rare, as you didn't accomplish what I ask for.
Don't blame your own ignorance on diners' arrogance. Maybe you should ask the diner, "What do you mean, sir?" We'd be happy to explain to you what we want.
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Older women told the company that it's so easy to make that even young kitchen novices or the family's worst cooks can't mess it up, said Jennifer Hartley, a senior brand manager at Campbell.
This year I cooked an elaborate Christmas Eve banquet for my friends.
The next day, I went out to my parents' house for Christmas, and helped cook most of the dishes, though none of the recipes were my own. My mom is a "Southern Living" chef, meaning most of her recipes mostly involve stuff from cans.
My little sister made the green bean casserole. I don't know if she was trying to dress the dish up or what, but instead of drained canned green beans (which the recipe calls for) she used frozen snap peas or something. And by "frozen" I mean she apparently dumped a couple 1" x 1" x 6" blocks of frozen peas into the casserole, poured the mushroom soup on top, dressed with French's™ Original French Fried Onions, and cooked it. It was really bad. How about following the recipe next time, m'kay?
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In order:
1. Alinea (Chicago, IL)
2. Capitol Grille (Nashville, TN)
3. La Petite Grocery (New Orleans, LA)
4. Blackbird (Chicago, IL)
5. Alex (Las Vegas, NV)
6. Citronelle (Washington DC)
7. Wing Lei (Las Vegas, NV) (all-duck tasting menu)
8. Coop's Place (New Orleans, LA)
9. Topolobampo (Chicago, IL)
10. Corduroy (Washington, DC)
11. Goodson's Cafe (Tomball, TX)
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Just spectacular, Chufi! Thanks for the report and all the wonderful photos!
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Sometimes when I make french fries at home, I use Cooks Illustrated's suggestion, which is to just add a few tablespoons of lard (or duck/goose fat) to a normal frying oil (I usually use canola or just plain "vegetable oil"). It really doesn't take much to add an extra note of flavor.
I'd suggest filling your frying receptacle with the oil of your choice, then adding maybe 1/4 cup each of lard and butter. I don't think you can go wrong that way.
That said, I have also deep-fried in 100% animal fat with good results, so I think you can go as crazy as you like with the lard. I might go easy on the butter, though, as it seems like it would have the tendency to burn and give your doughballs a bitter taste.
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I'll add a third voice in support of the navy blazer.
I have a nice Zegna "traveller" blazer for this purpose. It's wrinkle-proof enough to be wadded up into a duffel bag and pretty much straightens out if you just hang it in the bathroom and take a steamy shower, plus it has a load of pockets, and the wallet pocket has a difficult-to-open zipper that seems to be pretty effective (my pocket has not yet been picked).
It was fairly pricey, but it's like a dependable friend. Paired with a white shirt and some smart slacks, I can go from a hot dog stand to a starred restaurant without seeming out of place.
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Gin's "after scents" are pretty nasty when oozing through every pore. I used to kick the ex out of bed when he smelled like that. It was nauseating.
The wife does that to me to this day! A handful of martinis and "You reek of gin!!"Hey, I thought it was an aphrodisiac!
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I have a Bamix and I love it to death. It's the kind of kitchen tool you sort of have to train yourself to use, though -- when I first got it, I used it maybe once in the first year, then started to remember to use it and now I use it constantly.
I do still use my Cuisinart, and if you can possibly spare the space I'd recommend keeping both around, but my IB has been used for much more than pureeing soups and the like -- I use it every time I make an emulsion sauce. I use it for chopping and grinding (there's a little attachment included for this) and it works like a dream.
Buy one, you'll be glad you did. I love the Bamix, but the Braun (get the $60 one, not the $25 one) gets rave reviews as well -- just gave one to my sister for Christmas, in fact, purchased from amazon.com.
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My wife made one for our Christmas Eve banquet. It was really stunning to look at and delicious to eat.
She basically followed the recipe from The Cake Bible as far as I know. It was a chocolate sheet cake with whipped cream in the middle and a chocolate ganache on the outside. She used a cut off end to make a little "stump" on the side, and decorated it with meringue mushrooms and sprigs of rosemary coated in raw sugar and red hots. Obviously the rosemary sprigs were just a garnish and discarded during serving.
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Thanks for the sound advice, y'all!
So I suppose I'll just be roasting again (after removing the quills with a pair of pliers), with maybe some herbs and aromatic vegetables in the cavity, but no stuffing.
Is there an opinion on brining? I believe I'll probably brine the goose, probably for 5 hours or so.
The goose fat rendered beautifully and yielded about three cups of pure fat from my goose, so roasted potatoes with goose fat are a certainty.
I also got about a gallon of goose stock from the carcass. I'll be reducing that today and will probably make a sauce of some sort with it, probably port or red wine based.
Will probably also make glazed carrots and some sort of apple something, to bridge between the goose and the supplemental ham.
Tomatillos: The Topic
in Cooking
Posted
I'd go with a salsa verde. Here's a recipe from Epicurious that looks pretty standard, though I would omit the whipping cream and probably wouldn't bother roasting the pepper.
It's a delicious salsa that can be eaten with chips or used as a condiment for just about anything, plus it's super-easy to make.