Sartain

My family (2 seniors, 4 adults, 2 kids, 12 and 6) are heading to NOLA next week for a week long stay. I've got our eating planned for the week while we are in town, but we are also going to Oak Alley for an overnight stay Thursday. While they have a restaurant on-site, it closes at 3. So, all you good folks in the know, where should we eat that night? I appreciate your suggestions!

I forget where I heard it, but neither Bistro 7 nor Osteria is participating.

I think my family got tired of hearing about what everybody else was cooking out of this book. For my birthday they got me the Bradley Digital Smoker. For the inaugral run, I decided on the Carolina-Style Smoked Barbecue (p. 92-93). Instead of just the salt and pepper in the recipe, I used a rub of salt, black pepper, garlic powder, paprika, and cayenne pepper. The shoulder I had was about 7.5 pounds, so I smoked it for 4 hrs 20 mins instead of the 3 called for in the recipe. Here's the shoulder about to go into the smoker. I used mostly the apple brisquettes, with a couple of hickory thrown in. After 3.5 hours, when I added more water to the water bowl. I had set the temp to 220, but it was a mighty windy day with the first sign of a chill, so the temperature varied up and down about 10 degrees. Not too bad though. Out of the smoker, ready for the oven. In the meantime, the barbecue sauce. The yellow streaks came from the dry mustard going in. Out of the oven 4 hours later, pulling it to serve. The end product, stirred together with the sauce. We had this with potato rolls that we picked up from the Amish at the farmers market. By this time we had been waiting for it all day long and smelling the nice smells of the smoke and the pork, so I completely forgot to take pictures! It was might scrumptious - the meat was smoky and tender and the rub gave it a kick that made you sit up and take notice. The sauce was tangy with a little sweet, striking a good balance with the unctuous porkiness of it all. I have a feeling I'll be working through the smoked foods sections of the book soon.

Made my first batch from David's book yesterday - the Fig ice cream. The flavor was solid, although a bit more "milky" than "fruity." Maybe it was the figs. Next time I might boost the fig amount and/or up the lemon juice called for. Also, the recipe does not call for straining the fig puree, so the texture is seedy. I will try straining next time. Regardless, I loved it. Purple and figgy is how I like my summers!

In HK, try Sun Sing Tea House, which has branches in Tsim Sha Tsui in Kowloon and Causeway Bay in Hong Kong. They offer quality teas, teaware and tastings. The staff are very helpful and knowledgeable about all kinds of tea, brew methods, etc. Check out the site to see an example of what they offer (there are lots more in the shops than on the site) and prices (anywhere from $6-7US to $36-21 for 75g depending on the tea). For a more traditional feel, try Ying Kee Tea House, which was founded in 1881 in Guangzhou and moved to HK in the 50's. It has branches all over HK. Hope this helps. Happy tea hunting.

Sartain here. Thanks to all who gave suggestions to my SO. She happened to use my login on the couple of days that I didn't check egullet. We had a great dinner at Snackbar tonight. I was caught without my camera. She had the heirloom tomatoes with garlic dressing, and the chicken breast with brown butter mashed potatoes. I had the octopus and the pork belly. The pork belly was more fatty than I've had it there before, but still, crispy skin and fragrant porkiness - who could ask for more on a birthday? We finished the meal by sharing the whipped chocolate pudding with mango puree and coffee, the tres leches cake and the ginger creme brulee. The cake and the creme brulee were tremendous. IMHO the whipped chocolate pudding a bit off-balance: somehow I wanted more tartness and sweetness of the mango to contrast with the deep chocolate (in flavor; in texture the pudding was more panna cotta than pudding) and the tannic dark roast coffee. Again, thanks for helping her out. EG comes through for me (vicariously) again!

Thank you all, these are great. She wanted to go to M - but they closed the restaurant....

Where should we go in Philly? New, great food, the bolder/more inventive the better.... She has her finger on the pulse. But, I'd rather have cherrios. HELP! Thanks!

Spent 3 hours milling about at Bonnie Slotnick's tremendous bookstore this weekend and came home with: Jane Grigson's Fruit Book Jane Grigson's English Food Craig Claiborne's An Herb and Spice Cookbook Louis Szathmary's The Chef's Secret Cook Book Andre Soltner's The Lutece Cook Book Arno Schmidt's Notes from the Chef's Desk Farm Journal's Complete Pie Cook Book John Drury's Rare and Well Done Escoffier's Basic Elements of Fine Cookery and for pure nostalgia (it was the first American restaurant my parents took me to) The Russian Tea Room Cook Book Other recent additions: David Leibowitz's The Perfect Scoop The Spoon Cookbook El Bulli 1998 - 2002 Raising the Bar Au Pied de Cochon So that's another 13!

I flipped through Memories of a Cuban Kitchen and liked it. Do you guys have any additional recommendations? I'm trying to put together a cogent menu for a dinner in about two weeks. Thanks in advance!

For me, watching someone (Jen, the pastry chef from Hazelton, Pa) retrieve spaghetti from the garbage and trying to use it for service is the new low. She kept repeating defensively that she had washed it - "212 kills the bacteria" - like that helps. Seriously, the only explanation at that point is "I totally lost my head" because, "washed" or not, food out of the garbage is Just. Plain. Disgusting.

Copper pots are sold, but the ones used for service will be picked up after the restaurant closes.

I was thinking about a very thin layer of a fruit-based sauce. A gel, or even something with almost a crunch to it. Something that could be used with foie gras in a layered effect like a mille feuille.

I'm trying to find information on how to make a solid disk of a sauce. Something akin to Paul Liebrandt's passion fruit (I believe) sauce disk that he made on the FoodNetwork Miami challenge, if anyone has seen it. Any recipes, texts, general pointers would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, Steph

You should wear a hat. But what is interesting to me is why you think you should not have to. If you make your cooks wear them, then presumably you know why they should (containing hair). Why do you think you should be exempt?

Merci beaucoup to all for the quick French lesson. rue Cler is one of my must-visit spots during the one day I'm in Paris, so I'll definitely make it there! Steph

I am going to France next week for the first time in 13 years. Last time I was there I had just graduated college with no food sense whatsoever. This time I'm hoping to bring back some cheese and (permissible) foie / pate. Stupid question about the cheese: do you have to specifically request the cryovac packaging from the Fromagerie? If so, can any one enlighten me to the appropriate French phrase? Thanks in advance. Steph

I've gotten both salt pork and fat back from Dutch Country Meats.

Great news indeed! We'll see who is going to be open, but just the thought of not being limited to Whole Paycheck or Superfresh is putting a big grin on my face. (limited because by the time I get up on Sundays, the Italian Market is winding down)

Coming to the topic late and with just a slightly off-topic question: was the restaurant serving cat - as in domesticated cats? Or was it serving civets? If the later, I thought that China had banned consumption of civets after SARS? Maybe that was just temporary...

Pie. An absolute, unwaivering vote for pie. I've been known to mark years with pie: the summer of 1999 was the summer of white peach pies, the summer of 2001 was nectarine and blueberry. But truth be told, custard, peach, even peanut butter, I love them all. Have your cake and eat it too. I'll take the pie.

I was half hoping that Rachel, Virginia and Mirabel would figure out Sara's antics and get together and boot her, but really, Tom needed to go and Virginia has screwed up every service since day 1. I look forward to Sara being booted. It will be sweet to see her picture go up in flames. Oh, Rachel. WTF's with the egg white glaze???

Ron and Abra: Thanks for the reassurance. I'm going to follow Ron's advice and hot smoke it to 150 - just as soon as this incessant rain takes a break! Sartain

Going back to bacon for a second... Just how much liquid is it supposed to pull out? I am only at the bacon stage of the Charcuterie experience and well, my pork belly has been in the fridge for 11 days. I have been monitoring its progress every couple of days and only a very small amount of liquid has been produced. I felt the belly hasn't sufficiently firmed up by day 7 so I left it in for another few days, but by now the texture hasn't firmed up much more, and still, only a very small amount of liquid is coming off. What to do? Scrap this and start over? Use this belly for another application?

Expecting from Amazon today: The Talisman Italian Cookbook Heat Dishing with Style Chef for All Seasons My Life in France The Encyclopedia of Cajun and Creole Cuisine All told, I've added an even 200 to my shelves since Dec. 2004. Is this an addiction yet? Nah...