Rachel Perlow

Huh? No. Hash browns, yes, are shredded potatoes (maybe with onions) cooked in oil. Latkes have other ingredients and have a creamier, gooier texture. To me anyway.

Also, I know there's an argument for an all potato latke, maybe with a little onion, but no matzo meal, eggs, etc. I disagree. They just taste like hash browns that way.

Yes, they actually are better if you reheat them. I make them kind of thick, then cook them just until everything is golden brown. Sometimes, this means the potato on the inside is a little undercooked. So, I make a lot ahead (the recipe above produced around 4.5 dozen "5 to a pan" latkes) and refrigerate (for the next day or three) or freeze (for enjoyment in the coming weeks/months, freeze in freezer bags in the amount you would want to reheat at one time) the rest. To reheat, preheat oven to 450 F. Lay the latkes out in a single layer on a cookie sheet. Put in oven, they are sizzling hot in about 10 minutes. Line the serving plate with a paper towel to absorb some of the remaining grease. Serve with apple sauce and/or sour cream.

Reply: My apologies, I can't spell worth crap! That's OK. I misspell on the eG Forums all the time. I just wanted to point it out to you to make sure it wouldn't be misspelled on your menu!

Reply: Well, I take a loaf of bread, Slice the crust off all four sides of the loaf, then cut it into long blocks. I then inject the blocks with a milk chocolate syrup then dip the block of bread into the french toast batter, then grill as usual. ← Hmm, you might want to mention that it has a chocolate filling. Some people are allergic or don't like chocolate. Also, the more you explain on your menu, the less questions people will ask, saving you time to do the cooking!

It doesn't hurt to have a little bit of kitchen mess, you want people to see it in action, so they can picture themselves in the kitchen. If your dishwasher is of the quiet variety, have it running, so they can hear it for themselves (point it out to the realtor, and let her point it out to the customers). If it isn't quiet, for heaven's sakes, make sure it is OFF. If you've already sterilized the kitchen, make a pot of fragrant herbal tea, coffee, or have some apple pie spices bubbling on the stove. Oh, and if you're home during the showings, stay out of the way. Let the realtor lead the tour, you hide. You want people to imagine themselves in the house, not that they are visiting someone else's home.

Recipe? What recipe? I haven't looked at a recipe for latkes in many years. I just put in stuff until it looks right.

Do you expect to have a large kosher contingent? Your food truck is obviously not kosher as you are serving cheese & meat together, so why the emphasis on kosher (parve) buns? It makes sense for the all beef hot dog, but I don't think it's necessary to have a beef polish sausage served on a parve bun. If it's a polish sausage, just make it pork. IMO, don't make the russian dressing for the reuben automatically on the side. Part of the essense of the reuben sandwich is the melding to melted swiss, kraut and russian dressing. If someone asks for it on the side, accomodate them, but no need to make it de rigeur. (Also, notice the spelling of reuben.) You're spelling kaiser roll incorrectly. "City blocks: Three French toasted blocks topped... " Blocks of what? "Genoa" ham? I think of genoa as being salami, ham is usually "Virginia" around here.

Hmm, have you ever made tempura? You've got that deep fryer, so I'm trying to think of things you can make with it! :)

Hmm, make your stock in a regular stock pot, reduce it, pour into small canning jars. Then follow the instructions that came with the pressure cooker to can them properly. Then teach me how to do it.

I hate to disappoint you, Marlene, but real southern fried chicken is not made in a deep fryer, but in a cast iron skillet or dutch oven. It is shallow fried, not deep fried. However, I am not an expert on this, having only fried (bone in) chicken a couple times in my life. So, I'm sure an expert will pipe in soon. Not too worry about using the deep fryer, though: make some french fries to go with the chicken (although mashed & gravy is more traditional).

Re: the fried catfish dish. This is from the all-Thai menu (no english on it). We had been discussing it with Tom (Wandee's husband), and he mentioned it and I ordered it. I think it is probably a very good representation of a Thai classic, however, I wouldn't recommend it unless you like proteins fried to the point where it is all crunch and no moisture left in the fish. The salad part is wonderful though, and you can order it atop your choice of fried fish filet. I've had this before and it is excellent (which is why Jason recommended it in the Quickbite).

OK, the 'rents are back. We got some alae salt, maui onion flavored and honey roasted mac nuts, poha jam (we had a little tasting of it at their house and couldn't decide what it tasted like, which is a good thing to me, as it tastes like a poha!), and tuberose soap (very strong scent). Thanks for all your suggestions everyone!

I could see using a mold if no one was going to eat the croquembouche, but if they are, doesn't it look wrong when they get to the center cone? Wouldn't it be like actually serving a display cake with styrofoam inside?

They can last overnight in all that oil? I always do them to be served immediately ... takes very little time actually ... and I think that way they taste much better ... ← Huh? No, they get drained, cooled or frozen. Then reheated on a sheet pan in a very hot oven.

Jason wanted me to post my "recipe" for these (like I measured anything!): 7 pounds potato (5 lbs russet, plus the ~2 lbs of yukon gold that were hanging around the pantry), grated 1 large raw onion, grated 1 large onion, sliced and cooked in schmaltz until golden 1 package matzo ball mix (don't ask, we couldn't find the matzo meal, at first, so this got added, then I found the matzo meal, so...) 1/2 cup matzo meal, maybe more, a cup? 6 eggs 1 Tbs salt 1 tsp ground black pepper For frying: 1 cup peanut oil, 1 cup corn oil (or all corn and all peanut), 1 cup schmatz, melted and combined. If you use all peanut, the latkes taste like boardwalk fries. If you use all schmalz, they're way too, um, chickeny. If I had to use all one oil, I'd go with the corn, it's the most neutral. Grate the onion and potato, I use a FP w/a medium grater set in it. This fills my FP about 3 times. When dumping out the last batch of potato, leave in about 1/2 a FP bowl's worth, add back all the large scraps of potato that didn't get grated right, take out the grater disc and put in the regular FP blade. Grind this remaining potatoes by plusing several times until almost finely ground. Add this to the grated potatoes. Oh, you should be dumping them into a very large colander in a very large bowl. While you've been grating & grinding potatoes, that sliced onion should have been getting golden on the stove. Drain them and allow to cool. If there isn't any black specks in the oil, it can be added to the frying oil. If there are, dump it. Go to the sink with the bowl, it should have been draining for a while by now. Lift up the colander and pour out the water carefully, try to keep the white potato starch in the bowl. Put the pototo & raw onion in the bowl, add the cooked onion, matzo meal, seasoning and eggs. Use your hands to mix evenly. Heat the pans, add about 1/2 cup oil mixture. Drop the batter about 1/4 cup at time, flattening the pancakes. Cook until brown on both sides. I don't worry too much about cooking all the way through (if they are thick), because I usually cook them ahead and reheat in a hot oven on a sheet pan. They always come out perfect that way.

Did you try to hire a local cook as suggested above?

If you would like the "slices of baguette" for the goat cheese and meatloaf to be crunchy, they can be done ahead of time as well. Slice the baguette thinly (on the bias looks pretty, but straight across is a more dainty portion), around 1/3 inch thick. Brush or spray the slices with olive oil, and toast in the oven at 325 F, checking/turning every 10 minutes until they are completely hard and dry (but not browned), should take about 25 minutes total. If you like, rub with cut garlic cloves. I wouldn't normally think to make these oven baked croutons more than a day ahead, but I made some about two weeks ago and just had the last few pieces today with lunch (topped with tuna salad), and they were just as crunchy. They were stored in a plastic bag, but I bet an airtight container would be better. Uses: as bruscetta for topping with marinated diced tomato or bean salad; cheese; or as the croutons in French onion soup (which is why I originally made them).

The best part of that particular baked potato was the skin. After par-baking in the microwave (so shoot me) (set the auto-potato to "less" so they don't get over-cooked), I rubbed the skin with some salt and goose fat I scored from the chef at Les Halles. They were then finished in the toaster oven at 450 for about 15 minutes. I had made 4 potatoes because they were on the small side. The skin on the first potato was crispy & crunchy. However, I left the seconds in the toaster oven on "keep warm" ~150F, convection. The skin on those got soft within the next 10-15 minutes. Is there any way to keep the skin crunchy w/out over cooking the potato? (Hmm, I have to make more chili, that was my last batch from the freezer.) Do you know how to split a baked potato best for topping? I worked at Byers restaurant when I was in high school, when the stuffed baked potato was just making its mall restaurant debut. (Actually, Byers was pretty good, way better than most mall food court places. It was like a gourmet cafeteria. There was a bakery up front with croissants and other pastries & breads (we baked from thawed frozen sent to us from up-chain somewhere). The leftover breads were made into croutons for the soups and salads. There was a salad bar and sandwich bar, but it was behind glass, so the customer worked with a prep person to customize their lunch.) We had these huge potatoes. You make an X with the tines of a fork, then push the potato with your fingers, from the long ends, in. This opens and semi-crushes the flesh, so you get all those nice nooks and crannies (to borrow a phrase) for the butter and other toppings.

They aren't doing wings anymore? Finks had good wings. Perhaps he'll include them as part of a Superbowl party package?

Two words: Self Cleaning ← Don't they make self cleaning gas ovens?

If your second oven in the baking area is electric, then why bother with the added expense of the dual fuel range? You may as well go all gas over there.

For those that were intrigued by the goose description, here's the recipe: Reprinted with permission. Good luck making it, I'll get mine at Les Halles!

Borgatti's pasta is excellent. The egg noodles are $1.20/lb, the spinach is $3.30. We bought 2 lbs each and they automatically wrap it in 1 lb bundles. I put them straight into the freezer, and cooked pretty much from frozen (the package sat on the counter waiting for the water to boil). I don't think it took any longer than 2 minutes to cook, even from frozen, so make sure your sauce and strainer are ready to go before the noodles hit the water. Cheap, great texture and mmm. As a comparison, I checked Fresh Direct's prices. Egg and Spinach Noodles (angel hair, linguini or fettuccini) are both $2.69/lb. So the Spinach pasta price is more at Borgatti's. But, Jason commented last night that you can really taste the spinach in their pasta. Also, you can select wider widths of pasta. The cut of the pasta pictured above is #2, which is like a very wide fettuccini. We got the egg pasta in #1, which is even wider, more like tagliatelli.

The menu that Jason scanned is the takeout menu. I noticed a few items were left off of it, such as the catfish and shrimp. Perhaps the steak and prime rib were too, but I don't recall if they were on the in-house menu or not.