robyn

That's good to know because even here in Seattle, I went looking for duck breasts and could only find frozen. Same with rabbit. I was wondering how it would be, and so passed on buying it. I would probably buy fresh by mail order and freeze them myself (just because I like to keep track of stuff that's frozen). Note that anything like this has to be shipped overnight fedex - so I'm not sure it matters whether the merchant is close to you or far away (e.g., I order cheese directly from France - I don't see any reason to buy French cheese from a store in New York). I suspect there are a reasonable number of internet sellers who offer good duck breasts. Robyn

There's an article in today's New York Times which discusses how a chef cooks a particular Asian dish. In it - you will see why your kitchen - no matter how high-end - is no match for wok cooking in an Asian restaurant (although I have read of home kitchens - particularly in high end housing developments with lots of Asian buyers - which almost duplicate restaurant conditions). In addition - you probably don't use enough salt (have you ever noticed that you gain 2 pounds in water weight after eating most Asian food?). By the way - I love a rice cooker (or the microwave) for rice. And a digital thermometer takes the fear out of roasting large hunks of meat. Robyn

What goes wrong? I don't make jello that often - just when my husband or I have to prep for a colonoscopy - but I find that following the directions on the box usually does the trick. Robyn robyn- i follow the directions on the package to the letter but i invented jigglers before the company did. i even had johnnybird - the obsessive-compulsive past the border on neurotic teetering on psychotic engineer watch me fix it and it still came out wrong. now this is from someone who used to make lemon charlotte at work all the time so go figure.... What's a jiggler? (I thought all Jello was supposed to jiggle - at least that's what the commercials say.). Robyn

You're welcome. However *I* have to thank the D'Artagnan company. I'm sure people in large sophisticated cities have always had access to duck breasts - but D'Artagnan has brought them to smaller places (like where I live). And - if you can't find their products where you live - you can always order off their website. I have dealt with the company before - and found that the website service was very good. By the way - I froze these breasts in their original plastic packaging (since they're not always available where I live) and defrosted them about 2 months later with no problem. Robyn

For what it's worth - The New York Times reported today (in an article about the American Food Revolution conference) that one of the chefs in attendance had spent $1400 for dinner at Tom Aikens for a party of 5. Didn't mention what kind of wines the party had. Is this about what one can expect to spend there for dinner these days? Robyn

According to Zagat - Incognico is run by Nico Landenis' daughter Natasha Robinson. It got good marks for a "bargain" pre-theater menu. It's a clever name . The Ivy really isn't our kind of place. If I wanted to see celebrities - I'd just book a couple of days at the Four Seasons in Beverly Hills and hang around the bar and swimming pool. At least my business is appreciated there - I don't suspect it would be at the Ivy. What kinds of places are east@west and Sheekeys (restaurant - pub)? Thanks for your help. Robyn

I'm planning our eating for our trip to London end of May. I think I have the major bases covered (although I haven't made all the reservations because I can't book more than a month in advance for some). We're going to 2 shows - Phantom of the Opera (ok - I'm the only person in the world who has never seen it) on Friday evening at Her Majesty's Theater - Haymarket. Any ideas for a casual fun place to eat/drink (light eat/heavy drink ) after? Doesn't have to be a sit-down place either. A pub would be fine. Note that it's my husband's birthday that day. He really likes beer. Especially Guinness. The other is Jerry Springer at the Opera - Cambridge Theater on Earlham Street. Saturday matinee. Any ideas for a lunch near there for 2 people with hangovers ? Will be spending one afternoon at the Saatchi and other places in that general area (County Hall). Any ideas for lunch? Note that in terms of lunches - I'm looking for casual - light - but good. Could even be a place that serves salads and sandwiches - or a high tea. Any ethnicity. If there's a decent place nearby for dim sum - that would be nice - but it's certainly not essential. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks. Robyn

I made the second duck breast last night (fell asleep before I got close to the kitchen Sunday). Followed your suggestions - lots more scores and cut the breast in half. The fat did pour off (tons of it) - and the pieces wound up much more evenly cooked (not medium on the ends - almost raw on the inside). Much better result than my first try. Note that the port sauce thickened up a bit second time around. Didn't really make a difference though. It was excellent both nights. Robyn

Has anyone been to Sketch in the last couple of months? How was it? I'm making reservations for our trip in May now - and am filling up my dancecard. Robyn

Too . . . much . . . information!!!! Guess I'm somewhat defensive about why I'm making jello . Robyn

I am very sorry to say that I don't. It is a very reasonable question, but the Per Se fire has been a much-discussed topic, and I can't recall where I saw the comment. It's an important question. Accusing a builder of violating building codes is no small matter. By the way - if there was insurance (e.g., fire and business interruption) to cover all the losses - and a third party was thought to be at fault for causing the losses - the lawsuit would most probably be a subrogation case brought by the insurer (and the insured could join in to recover any losses - like deductibles - not covered by insurance). By the way - I'm not aware of any codes - at least here in Florida - which absolutely prohibit wood inside the walls in a commercial kitchen (sometimes you need things like wood studs to provide support for things hung from walls). However you have to have insulating material between heat sources like stoves and what's in the walls that has very high fire ratings (e.g., the material can be subjected to very high heat/fire for a pretty long time). As with most alleged construction defects cases where a lot of people were involved in the construction - I suspect this won't be a cut and dry matter. Robyn P.S. I'm sure that New York - like Florida - also has rules which govern fire ratings in multi-story construction (certain walls in high rise buildings have to have higher fire ratings than walls in low rise buildings).

Forgot to mention it - but my pea plants had flowers - and now I have peas (sugar snap peas). My husband and I are eating them off the vine while we're gardening. I doubt that any will make it to the kitchen . Kind of lucked out this year. No late frost - and spring has been relatively cool until now. Robyn

What goes wrong? I don't make jello that often - just when my husband or I have to prep for a colonoscopy - but I find that following the directions on the box usually does the trick. Robyn

This was beautiful. Thank you. When I cooked the first breast - I kept pouring off the fat while I was cooking. I wonder if that made the fat burn instead of brown. I will try leaving the fat in the pan tonight while I'm rendering and see what happens. By the way - for those people who have less time or energy to cook than you do (I spent 5 hours gardening today and will be lucky if I don't fall asleep face down in the duck fat ) - they can do something like your salad with some romaine or spring mix - drained Del Monte red grapefruit sections from a jar - toasted walnuts or pine nuts - and Brianna's blush wine vinaigrette dressing. I will have to try your recipe (which I'm sure is a lot better) one night when I am full of energy! Robyn

Thanks for the tip about saving the fat. I've never cooked with duck fat before. Robyn

It was a magret - and I did score it - but not as close as 1/8" apart for the scores. Tonight I'll cut the breast in half - do the closer scoring - and see what happens. The sauce is very easy. Take 2 tbps. vegetable oil (I used canola) and saute 1 medium chopped onion and 1 medium granny smith apple - unpeeled, cored and chopped - and 2 chopped garlic cloves. Until onion is golden - not brown. Add 1 bottle of ruby port. There were only 2 kinds of ruby port in my local liquor store (lots of tawny ports - but only 2 ruby) - and I used Grahams (not vintage or anything - just the $12 bottle - 10% off on geezer wine day ). Reduce the heat to medium and simmer until mixture is reduced to 2 cups - about 30 minutes. Strain the mixture (I used a spoon to mush the solids in the strainer to get out the juices) - return the liquid to the saucepan and discard the solids. Add 1 cup chicken stock and simmer. The recipe said to simmer until the liquid is reduced to 3/4 cup - about 15 minutes. After 15 minutes of simmer - I had much more than 3/4 cup - and it wasn't saucy - so I simmered for 5 minutes more. It was somewhat saucy then so I stopped. I will simmer my leftover sauce more tonight and see what happens. Whether it's better or worse. Add 1/3 cup dried currants (I've never cooked with currants before - I used the grocery store Sunmaid and they were pretty good). That's it. I liked the sauce. I think it would go well with other dark meat game birds - foie gras - stuff like that. Sweet - but not too sweet. Robyn

Sometimes it takes me a while... But I made the duck breast last night. I followed a combination of suggestions. What I found was that when I was trying to render the fat with the skin side down on medium heat - the breast was cooking too fast compared to how much fat was being rendered off. So I turned up the heat. Got more fat off - but wound up with slightly charred fat on top. I finished off the breast in the oven at 350. This was a fairly large D'Artagnan breast (about a pound). The ends were done long before the middle. So I sliced off the pieces on the ends - and put the middle back into the oven for some additional time to get it up to speed. The protracted cooking wasn't a problem for the particular recipe I was using. A duck breast salad (duck breast sliced thinly and fanned on plate around lightly dressed mesclun and toasted walnuts) with cheese toasts and a port-currant sauce. It's supposed to be a Charlie Trotter recipe (I don't know - I cut it out of a magazine and it's been in my recipe box for years). And the duck really turned out great. Rare not raw. Very tasty. Even the little bit of char on the fat tasted good . I guess if I were serving part of a duck breast in a whole piece (and I wouldn't be serving a pound to each person - more like a half or a third of a pound) - it would make sense to cut such a large breast in half or thirds *before* cooking to avoid the problem of the well done ends and the raw middle. Does that make sense? Any other ideas? By the way - thanks for all the help. My husband won't make me wait another 20 years to cook duck. I'm going to try the same recipe again tomorrow night - since I have a lot of extra port-currant sauce (that sauce took a whole bottle of port! - but it was delicious) and another breast in the freezer. Robyn

Just a follow-up. Made matzo brei tonight with some leftover matzo. I think what I was doing wrong all along was not soaking the matzo for a bit in a colander with some really hot water first. Did that - pressed out the water. Scrambled it up with some onions and eggs. Delicious as is. Even better with sour cream and strawberries . Thanks for all the recipes and hints. Robyn

Also just a note about pesto. I make batches of it - and seal them in olive oil - and keep them in the refrigerator for several months. Sometimes the batches will get a little mold on the top - which you can scrape off with a knife. But - if you are using fresh garlic (I don't - I just use basil, cheese, pine nuts and oilive oil) - don't try to store pesto like this. Use it fairly soon after you make it. The garlic in oil is a great way to grow some very nasty anaerobic bacteria which can make you very very sick. Robyn

OK - you take a fillet of salmon - skin on bottom - and cut it into equal size servings (mine are usually about 7-8 ounces - relatively thick). Brush a good dose of olive oil on the bottom and top of the salmon. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Place salmon on tin foil (I use the precut squares). Cover top of salmon with grape (or cherry) tomatoes cut in half. Cover tomatoes with basil leaves (I usually use about 5-6 big leaves per salmon piece). Cover salmon with another sheet of precut foil and "make a packet" - leaving some room for air to expand. Bake in 500 degree oven. I cook for 17 minutes and get a "medium" salmon (not half raw - not dried out). Adjust the cooking time depending on your portion size and "doneness" preference. Slit open packet and serve (watch out when you cut - a lot of hot steam comes out). I like to serve this with a dill sauce (half mayo, half sour cream, some lemon juice and lots of dill - fresh or otherwise) - some plain couscous - and a plain green veggie like peas (frozen). It's about the best looking meal I can put on the table in 30 minutes. Robyn

I think you've drawn an apt comparison. I don't go to the opera - but I do go to the theater. In New York - London - Toronto (the 3 major English speaking theater cities in the world). And - I use the critics in the major papers to help me choose which productions to go to. I also use the reviews to decide which art exhibitions to attend (I will sometimes travel to a particular city just to attend a particular exhibition). Similarly - to bring up a totally unrelated area - I will use someone like Walter Mossberg in the WSJ to help me make choices when it comes to technology. It is obvious that in recent years - in large part due to the internet - that there are many more opinions available to consumers of all things - whether they're restaurants, opera, theater, hotels or MP3 players. Most of these are amateur opinions - the kind you find in Epinions. Sometimes the reviewers have talent - sometimes not. But the one thing the major media had over the amateur opinions was the supposed expertise of the reviewers right out of the gate. But - if the credentials of the reviewers in the major media are basically the same as those of the amateurs - well why should we give more weight to the major media? To take it a step further - why should we pay the major media to get opinions we can get for free elsewhere? Now I know the New York Times is free on the internet (except for the crossword puzzle). But I happen to get home delivery - which happens to cost me a lot here. I do it mostly for the comprehensive news coverage - and because I like to read the paper at the dining room table - and not on the computer. But I suppose there mightl come a day when even the news coverage is just the work of a bunch of talented amateurs - and not worth paying money for. Raises interesting questions about the future of newspapers. By the way - I haven't spent hours looking - but I really haven't been able to find too much that Bruni has written on food (he did discuss the food he got on the campaign trail in writing his book on the Bush presidential campaign - Molly Ivins mentioned it in her review of his book). Can anyone point me to any restaurant reviews he's written? Robyn

How is the position of King of France better than than of King of Andorra. My guess is that it pays better and that you get to eat in better restaurants. But that's just my prejudice. I've never eaten in Jacksonville. I just meant how is the position different in terms of credentials. Robyn

I'll go you one step further . I am not concerned with whether restaurant critics are good or great writers. I don't need a lot of adjectives. I just want a person whose experience I trust to tell me whether the food's good. Robyn

Affirmative action? Huh? Whatever. But what is your advice to Mr. Bruni, as the New York Times's new restaurant critic? If in fact he is more or less an amateur - even a talented one - when it comes to food - I'd advise him to study a lot - take advantage of all of his contacts in the food business to learn - and to get up to speed - very fast. Robyn

I don't have a credentials fetish at all. I'm just trying to find out what - if any - the credentials are for this job. Apparently - best I can tell from the messages here - there are none. If the credentials for the job were X, Y or Z - I might consider the reviewer in a certain light. If there are no credentials - then I'll just have to consider the reviewer in terms of whether or not he writes well - and judge restaurants for myself if and when I get to them. I am not really comfortable with football analogies - since I don't know much about football (other than following my local team a little). But I were the coach or the owner - I'd draft a player with the best proven skills at a particular position if I needed immediate performance in that position in the next season. And a player with the most potential if I weren't as interested in next year's record as what might happen with the team 3-5 years down the road (I think our local team has drafted players in the latter category after getting rid of many established players due to salary cap problems - at least that's the way I understand it). But I don't think the NY Giants hired the former Jacksonville coach for his potential. They want him to deliver - immediately - if not sooner. Can I relate this to restaurant reviews? Maybe. You have a slew of extraordinarily big deal expensive restaurants opening in the AOL TW center now. Do I want to rely on a rookie with a big expense account (even a rookie who has potential) to review these restaurants to decide whether to eat at them? On my part - no. I want the coach with experience to help me decide. I think what this comes down to is what do you expect from a restaurant review? Do you want a good literary experience - i.e., a person who writes well (that seemed to be the inclination with some of the people mentioned for the position)? Or do you want someone whose taste and experience you're familiar with to tell you whether a particular restaurant is bad, good or excellent? Worth the money or not? IOW - do you want to read what someone is writing about restaurants you go to anyway (or would never consider going to for a variety of reasons - including the fact that you don't live in New York) - or someone who you can use as a guide in terms of advising you which restaurants to go to? This is no small issue when you're talking about spending over $500 for a meal. Would you spend $500+ on an MP3 player on the basis of a review written by me (I'm enthusiastic - I write well - but I really don't know much about MP3 players)? I *used* to use the NYT reviews as a guide to help me decide which restaurants to go to when I went to New York. You apparently don't live in New York either. What do you use the NYT reviews for? Note that I don't use the Jacksonville reviews for anything other than to inform me that a new restaurant has opened. Whether or not they're well written - they're basically "puff pieces" (like many restaurant articles - in Jacksonville and bigger deal cities - I have never seen a lousy restaurant review in - for example - Town & Country). If I want to read articles/books about food in general (not for purposes of making decisions) - there are a lot more fun things to read than restaurant reviews. Robyn