erraticninja

watching new jersey right now. and he is at bobolink! my favorite travel show at my favorite cheese dairy! i have enjoyed jersey the most out of all the shows so far.

and that ridiculous song is the greatest annoyance i have with emeril. i think the guy has chops. but his stirring song, his "i don't know where you get your blank but where i get it, it don't come seasoned" are the things that annoy me the most. the bams suck. the ridiculous cheers every time he says gahhhh lic or something annoy me. but that hummy song. it drives me batty.

last night was a rerun here also. this for me wasn't bad because i missed all episodes other than the terrine one (sorry this show was up against lost and i recently lost my dvr... long bitter story anyway) so i actually got to see the wine one. and honestly... i could see yannick on his way out from that one... unless it was clever editing... his misunderstanding of wine was pretty horrifying... combine that with the disaster of a terrine. my prediction of the next one to go is the short young guy (i mean come on, seriously i am a wine newbie and i know enough not to combine wine with asparagus *AND* artichokes.) but i am going to chime in and say chef english is not bothering me horribly here, i like ming less here than i ever have but still not disliking him, and (this is going to sound like a suckup since he is in this forum but its not) i really like the way ruhlman comes across here. but my biggest complaint out of all of this is the one that has been repeated here way too much... this show is just too short. they have to do the reality show crap and the 'dramatic' cutting of someone. i understand that. but that seriously cuts into the cooking time. the thing i find interesting is since pbs doesn't air commercials that means this show is only 10 or maybe 15 minutes shorter than the average prime-time hourlong. which if i am wishing for another 30 uninterrupted minutes i must really enjoy this show.

someplace i am suprised to see no one post about is: http://jbox.com/SNACKS/ their prices average about 2.50 a box for pocky and pretz and other pocky like snacks. they have the limited edition flavors. they also have other food from japan like black black gum, lots of Ramune flavored stuff, pocari sweat, and other stuff. jlist/jbox has a better selection than most places, but if you live somewhere without a japanese market you could always try any store that sells anime. my local suncoast movie store in the mall has a few flavors (mostly strawberry, chocolate) of pocky.

not sure what equipment we are going to have as it is at f-i-l and his wives house and i have never cooked there so i haven't investigated the kitchen. i think i will email them and find out as all of these are good questions. the corn flan in question was "borrowed" from slkinsey on the thanksgiving sides and pies thread. here is the recipe "The roasted corn thing is simply a flan made with dried roasted corn: 4 cups roughly pureed roasted corn, 2 cups milk, 2 eggs, 1 egg yolk, salt + pinch smoked paprika... simmer corn and milk for 10 minutes, cool, mix in all other ingredients, put in individual ramekins and cook in hot water bath until set in 300F oven... makes four 6 oz ramekins... can reheat in warming oven before service. I turn one of these out onto the center of each plate." and thank you for the mashed potoatoes post. it was helpful and reminds me of the way the resturant i worked at long ago did it except they just held on a water bath. did not reincorporate the fat. i wonder how they held up?? maybe because they were stout and used sour cream, cream cheese, h & h, and butter?? this was a method i was talking about using but the thought of heating sour cream or cream cheese does not sound appetizing to me.

thanks for the insight so far. to dave: yeah i have been here long enough to know there is no such thing as a simple question. at the same time the people on this board have proven to be insightful and informative. so it's a fair balance i will probably be doing a combination of reaheating from cold or holding depending on the course. the main things i will need to hold/reheat are: appitizer course: roast corn flan (reheat) and mixed greens (collard, turnip, mustard) (hold) main course: grilled portobello mushroom cap (hold) mashed potatoes (hold) carmelized onions (hold) roasted sweet potoatoes and fennel (hold) gravy (hold) lemon thyme haricot verts (hold) thats pretty much it. as far as the hardiness/delicateness issue i have a mixture (by design) and you can see the challenge. so what temps and now the question has been brought up what things might i do to make some of these things more sturdy for the holding reheating. i think i designed this into the haricot verts dish for example as i plan on blanching them just to crisp tender stage so in the holding oven they will probably cook a little longer and that should work out. thanks for your help so far and thank you in advance for the additional help.

for thanksgiving i am making a large multi-course meal and want to do most of the stuff ahead of service and then reheat in a service oven. what temperature should i set that oven to?

for my menu i've been working on a plated tasting flight. i want it to be a combination of traditional flavors with non-traditional dishes. it looks like the following is my menu for now: an amuse bouche of a trio of autumn squash raviolis with a sage cream reduction. salad course of mixed baby salad greens topped with blue cheese, pears, praline pecans and a simple vinagarette. soup course of pumpkin soup with creme fraiche and toasted pepitas. warm appitizer of roasted corn flan with smoked cheddar cheese, braised greens, and sundried tomatoes. main course of either grilled portobello caps with cracked peppercorn gravy or smoked turkey breast with herbed apple syrup. served with sides of roasted sweet potatoes and fennel, mashed potatoes with carmelized onions, and lemon thyme haricot verts. cheese course of smoked cheddar cheese on biscuits with apple sage salsa and herbed apple syrup sorbet course of cranberry orange sorbet desert of either pumpkin creme brulee or calvados apple creme brulee and finish with pecan chocolate truffles and cofee. notes for all of the dishes as well as the menu have been worked out on the food section of my blog so far.my blog just because this menu has changed several times. if you are curious you can check it out.

that's great. I'm glad the quality didn't suffer when chef Juan left. I will have to add bordino's to my list of places to go out when we start eating at real resturants again (and not just doing takeaway as we have a 5 month old and we aren't ready to leave her at the gp's).

how long has it been since you've had bordino's. i know within the last two years (i'll have to ask when) the head chef and sous chef and a few others left bordino's. I am just wondering if the quality has gone down since then as I had moved away from fayetteville and now I am back but have not been to bordino's since moving back.

actually i live in fayetteville right now i like arsagas on gregg but I also love their block street location (the bakery. although I miss their old school block location above hugo's ) I have not tried jammin java yet. i have also tried the perk on wedington. not big on it but it is nw arks first cyber cafe i guess. and i think bentonville is a scary cult. but i will admit some stuff going up in rogers since i was away is kinda cool.

mine was same network different show. I used to **LOVE** great chefs of the ...that was the first time i saw cooking with presentation and creativity i think.

i always was kinda annoyed by martin yan. and if this rumor is true....then he goes onto the top of my list also beating out even surviour-rocco

what place in bentonville? I live in fayetteville and would love to know of a new interesting place. NW Arkansas (fayetteville, springdale, bentonville, rogers, eureka springs) definately has the best dining in the state from what i can tell. as far as the other states listed i have no experience but there are several places of note in arkansas. chef james is doing some great things. one of my latest faves is picasso's pizza. an unassuming strip mall pizza joint with a cia trained chef doing some interesting food (this is in fayetteville)

also just found out that Miles James latest (james at the mill's head chef who has won several awards apparantly) resturant has opened. It's called Ella in Carnal Hall Inn (on the University Campus) and it's northern italian. it's walk in only at 100 tables until sep 1. just letting you know about the newest place. should try to go and report back soon.