Holly Moore

Suspect you'll do good in the Amish portion of the Reading Terminal Market, too, if you get to Philadelphia.

Yup. What upsets me is that all these great advances in Oreos has happened over the past year starting about the same time that, per my doctor, I really shouldn't be eating them.

I'd have a hard time picking between lamb shank and prime rib.

How's this for red. Actual color. Stains the buns a bit.

Alas I think it's Allentown PA, but there may be one closer in Jersey.

Sigh - it's a sad thing, isn't it Those things that are the best are often immoral, fattening, or both! One out of two ain't bad. Fortunately I'm just concerned with my diet.

Chocolate Fudge Royale: Sugar, milk, semi-sweet chocolate, butter, mazetta, walnuts, sucrovert, pure vanilla. Mazetta = invert sugar, corn syrup, egg white. Sucrovert = glycerine, aqueous extract of invertase from yeast and sodium citrate) Enjoy

Fudge, like hand squeezed lemonade and black forrest cake, is one of those things I always try and am always disappointed. But as this fudge rated a capitalized and bold face AWESOME and as it is made by genuine monks I had to order some in. Just arrived and, yep, it's AWESOME. Alas, as it's also way off my diet, I'm giving most of it away,

Pulling out my notes from Food Prep 220 (see first cookbook thread): Egg whites contain hydrogen sulfide. Egg yolks contain iron. Hydrogen sulfide and iron form Ferrous Sulfide which turns the yolk green where yolk touches white. The longer the egg is cooked the more green Ferrous Sulfide is formed. Also from the notes, the fresher the egg the less likely that ferrous sulfide will form.

My first cookbook was the collection of handouts (recipes, food descriptions and techniques) from the Lab Portion of the advanced cooking course - Food Prep 220 - at the Cornell Hotel School. I use it often but usually not for recipes (although there are some great ones; my favorites being their version of German Potato Pancakes and the marinade and technique for Cornell Barbecue Chicken). I use it nowadays mostly for research - very indepth info on such varied subjects as potatoes (floaters and sinkers, varieties, etc.), cold food garnishes, cuts of meat, making roses with an Arrow Thermo tube, deboning a chicken and such. It's especially neat because it has my scrawlings (notes) along side (such as a drawing of the layers of a wheat kernel - endosperm, germ and bran from the inside out). If only I remembered 10% of this stuff I'd be dangerous. Hmmm. Wonder if all this is copyrighted?

For the fun of it I ordered Sweet and Sour Pork for lunch the last (alas and only) time I was in Hong Kong. It was incredibly good, unlike any version I had in the US, though I haven't ordered it that much here since I put away my childish things. As I remember it the sauce was much thinner, the vegetables much more crisp, and the over all dish truly sweet and sour as opposed to sweet and sweeter still.

This is the risk, though I can only think of one time that I had a problem with what a chef sent me from the kitchen. It was at a Philadelphia restaurant that I won't name. Let's just say the food was exceedingly fresh - that all manner of beast and fowl has walked its "Green Mile" in that restaurant's basement. Alas, no more. A disgruntled employee ratted out the chef to the health inspector. One evening the chef sent me a very special appetizer, a plate of sauteed lamb's brain's. A half hour before the brains had been conceiving as much original thought as a lamb is capable of. A rare delicacy for sure. I have had occasion to consume all manner of animal from stem to stern. The one organ that I just can not abide is the brain. I think it's the texture, the mouthfeel. But I tried. I took a bite and immediately knew it would be the last. The waiter happened to be a good friend. He slipped it back to the dishwasher when the chef wasn't looking. Not that good a friend though. I doubled his tip that evening to insure his silence. All that said, I agree with Bux and others. It is great when I'm in a restaurant where I'm comfortable requesting the chef to suggest my menu. But then again, if the chef has designed that day’s tasting menus, hasn't he done that already?

Thats funny because I'd hope that if the chef was saving the best for himself then he should be home letting someone else run the kitchen. Seriously. Not what I suggested. I didn't say he was saving the best for himself. Rather I was thinking that while at the market that morning something caught his eye, that he fancied for his dinner that night, but did not want to put on the menu.

I think this thread has been mostly about food, not wine. In terms of food, that which is being held back is not necessarily better than what is on the menu. It is just different. It may be not as good. One never knows unless one samples the menu too. I'm intrigued by the "held back" concept. I'm not sure a chef brings in items just in case someone asks for something that is not on the menu. I'm guessing what is "held back" is left over from the previous meal, intended for the next day's meal, a treat the chef picked up for his dinner or a gift or sample from a purveyor. My suspicion is it's probably yesterday's or tomorrow's. My hope is that you're not depriving the chef of his intended dinner.

I'm assuming then that you had ordered off the menu at these places before and therefore know how that restaurant's chef prepares the various dishes on the menu. Otherwise you may not have eaten better, just different. My problem is the assumption that, especially in the finest restaurants, what the chef has offered on the menu is not as good as it gets for that chef and that restaurant. If one is merely ordering off-menu because one assumes better is possible, than that is a slap at the integrity of the chef and the menu, insinuating that the restaurant is not already offering it's best.

I go into a fine restaurant expecting to get it's best without the need of any additional prompting or challenging from me. I would expect nothing less from Le Bec-Fin or many of the other restaurants listed in the Journal article. At Le Bec-Fin I would only request something different if there was an item on the menu I shouldn't eat for health reasons. At lesser restaurants I might request an added ingredient such having my schnitzel Holsteined. But that's giving the restaurant a specific, reasonable request that shouldn't screw up their production all that much.

Elvse- You omitted the rest of my posting Actually I think we are in agreement. But the Journal article states the request to be an unspecific "something special for me."

Phrased that way it's a naive request, one you'd expect from someone who doesn't dine out often at fine restaurants but wants to impress his/her date. As the Church Lady would opine, "My aren't we special." Be curious to learn what the cooperating chef's actually prepared as "something special just for us." Last night's special, perhaps? A much more reasonable approach would be to request a favorite dish that's not on the menu but that the menu or the cuisine indicates is probably possible or, perhaps, a dish for which the chef is noted.

I stand by my assertation that a few leaves of iceburg and only iceburg lettuce below the pattie sops up the beef juices quite nicely and wonderfully wilts the iceburg lettuce. Nope. Maggie's right. Why on earth would you take iceberg lettuce, whose sole virtue is its crispness, and put in on a burger where it wilts? That's just wrong. Nope. Holly's right. It's how the lettuce is wilted. It's the synergy between the grease/juices and the lettuce.

I stand by my assertation that a few leaves of iceburg and only iceburg lettuce below the pattie sops up the beef juices quite nicely and wonderfully wilts the iceburg lettuce. I quite agree that romaine, bib, butter, radiccho and similar eye candy have no place on burgers.

The original McDonald's formula (don't know what it is nowadays) was 80 percent chuck and 20% flank, which is close to brisket. Chuck for fat content/juiciness, flank for flavor.

You've got to start with good ground beef. That rules out the junk sold in supermarkets - sloppy, watery, low quality beef no matter what they promise. In Philadelphia I get mine at the Chef's market. Certified Angus, about 15 percent fat content. Actually I prefer 18-20% but haven't found that here-abouts. Yes to cast iron - nice and hot before the burger goes on. I've never tried the "red blood cell" technique - I just hand form the patty - use my Pelouze portion scale to keep it at 4 - 5 ounces. I'm not one for 8 - 10 oz megaburgers. Can't consistently cook them and too cumbersome to eat. Rather have a couple of 4 oz burgers. I use a restaurant caliber spatula - sturdy thickness, sharpish edge. If I'm using a griddle instead of a frying pan, I take the Steak and Shake approach - make a ball, throw it on the griddle, and flatten it out with the spatula. Probably doesn't change the end product, but it's fun and showy when one has an audience. I'll either use french style dinner rolls or Metropolitan whole grain, whole wheat bread. I like it better untoasted. Some iceburg lettuce too. Something about the synergy betwen hamburger grease and iceberg lettuce. Jersey tomatoes in season, not tomatoes out of season, and a sharp, non-vidalia onion. The cheese needs to have a kick - very aged cheddar or a strong bleu. Maybe some mustard. I've still got some factory mustard (formulated for sardines) from Raye's mustard mill in Eastport, Maine. And e-coli be damned. Never more than a true medium rare.

What is with you; are a shop designer or something, why must the genetive apostrophe always be left out of shop names? It makes my blood boil! I know what you mean. I feel the same about the missing apostrophe in Toms River NJ. To cheer you up, perhaps - while my business's name does not require an apostrophe it is properly punctuated: Can Do!

I am curious. Is there a British equivalent (a national or empire-wide chain) to Starbuck's for tea? Should there be?