fiftydollars

Judy Rodgers makes a flawless caesar salad at the Zuni Cafe in San Francisco. She uses impossibly fresh produce, house-cured anchovies, and serves the salad moments after it is made (if you peek in the kitchen you can see a cook constantly making batches of the dressing). The croutons are tossed in the dressing, which results in a nice crisp/chewiness and makes me wonder why not everyone does this. Unfortunately, the salad is not made tableside, but the quality more than makes up for it.

Absolutely. There is nothing more tedious than scrubbing meat juices off of a metal roastnig rack. ← Speaking of racks... What is preferable; a flat rack or a v-style rack? Or is it more a matter of application?

It sucks that all-clad no longer has an aluminum-core roaster available.

Risotto is my favorite thing to do with dry porcinis. However, Mario Batali has a recipe where he grinds them into a powder and makes a paste that he uses on grilled rib-eyes... It's really good.

Oh! That sounds great! So do you just sub them for the shanks? Is it as simple as that?

Oh, I didn't mean it that way. I just know I am not responsible enough to take care of anything non-stick and a few roasts down the road I'd be eating it.

So if high school biology serves me right... it ends with "ase." That oughta narrow it down abit... tautomerase? transferase?

I was once pretty desperate to make some ice cream and the insert for my ice cream machine was not in the freezer so I decided to improvise. I filled my sink with ice and got out my largest stainless steel bowl. I spread rock salt over the ice, put the chilled custard into the stainless steel bowl, and proceeded to stir with a silicon spatula. Well it worked. The stuff started to freeze fairly quickly. It was a little difficult scraping the stuff off the sides because it tends to want to stick. It was also kind of difficult keeping any salt/salty ice from getting into the cream, but overall it wasn’t difficult at all and the results were decent. I won’t be trying it again soon, but if I ever have to again… I’ve made granitas and sorbets before by just stirring the mixture periodically as it freezes. I seem to recall the result was ok although it had larger ice crystals than you would get in an ice cream maker or another technique that keeps the mixture in constant motion as it freezes.

Admin: Threads merged. As I was making Christmas dinner I realized that my roasting pan really sucks. It is a very cheap all-stainless steel pan that somehow I acquired and have never bothered to think of replacing until now. So I have been looking at various offerings and can’t decide what to get. I first thought about getting the all-Clad roasting pan because I always thought it looked like a pretty damn good pan. But on Amazon’s reviews I read that it actually does not have an aluminum core so I am not really interested in another all-stainless steel roasting pan given this metal’s relatively poor cooking performance (According to Slkinsey’s EGCI course on understanding stove top cookware). I can also get an aluminum or anodized aluminum pan, but these are generally non-stick coated and I really want to avoid that and I don’t really like un-coated aluminum/anodized aluminum (aluminum because it is reactive and anodized because it is a bloody pain to clean). Should I look for a stainless steel pan with an aluminum core (or copper core)? A roaster is, of course, not exactly a piece of stove top cookware, but I assume the same characteristics that make for good stove top cookware would also make for a good roaster… is that a correct assumption? Williams Sonoma has an enameled cast-iron roaster from Le Creuset and it is on sale at a pretty good price. But is cast-iron a good metal for a roasting pan? It holds heat pretty well, but for roasting do I need a more responsive metal? I know clay and ceramic roasters are good, but I seem to think I would not be able to deglaze them on the stove top and I think I would like to be able to do that. Any comments on this? Thank you.

Plain old button mushrooms... I love all sorts of other mushrooms, but I am still impressed by how good these can be.

I also don't think everything needs to have sugar in it. As KarenS said, vinaigrette doesn't need any sugar. Marinara does not need any sugar in it... this is one of my all time biggest pissers ever. I just hate it.

I’m up for this. I suggest we start off with the aforementioned Bourdain/Les Halles recipe (cassoulet).

I totally agree, but this is Wylie Dufresne we're talking about so I'd still probably like to try these noodles.

Lutefisk, lutefisk Lufsa, lufsa We're the mighty Lutherans Yeah sure Ya betcha -overheard at a Pacific Lutheran University sporting event

I think the Tadich Grill serves up a solid cioppino.

Now see, I actually like the Moolate. Its just the name that is stupid. ← Yeah, I like it too... I also like the one with the brownies in it.

The MooLatte I offer as my first grievance.

Someone needs to slap that guy around for a while.

I just had to chime in to say this is a great thread!

I love achiote and there isn't anything else that tastes quite like it. Achiote is made by grinding annato seeds with garlic and spices to create a thick paste. Cochinita Pibil is a classic Mexican pork dish made with achiote. Militello's recipe shares key ingredients with this recipe(plantain, orange, 1tsp achiote)... to the point where he's pretty much just stolen the recipe. I wouldn't make this without achiote unless you are looking to try a recipe completely different than that which was intended.

I've been looking at reviews for whatever stand mixers I can find for under $400 (a reasonable going price for KA Pro 6qt models) and it doesn't look all that good for some of the other brands. I am particularly surprised at how poorly the Viking measures up according to reviews on this site and elsewhere. I am starting to lean toward a higher-end product in the event I have to replace my mixer. Maybe I'm not ready to shell out $1500 for the Hobart, but the Electrolux models I saw (7-8qt) are only $200 dollars or so more than a Kitchenaid. Andiesenji, are the Electrolux mixers on this site similar to what you have?

Yeah, the old ones are a higher quality product. But I think the new ones, with the larger bowls and more powerful motors, are better overall. The 4qt models they still sell, like the one Kitchenaid replaced for my sister, don't compare well with the old 4qt models. I was really surprised at how quickly her machine fell apart. Grant it I was mixing the dough at three times the speed they recommended, but I had been doing the same thing for years with a much older model and had never had any problem at all. I'm curious about the offerings from other manufacturers. Delonghi, Viking, Jenn-Air, and others make mixers of comparable size for around the same money. Of course Hobart sells a countertop stand mixer (N50), but I believe it is about 4 times the price of the top-of-the-line Kitchenaid. Anyway, I am wondering if it might be worth taking a look at one of those machines the next time I am looking for a mixer.

The folks at Scharffen Berger can explain this much better than I can. http://www.scharffenberger.com/faq.php I recommend you try their chocolates if they are available in your area or if you don't mind paying to have them shipped. This is great chocolate. Valhrona is another favorite of mine, which I buy at Trader Joe's near the check out stand for a decent price. I prefer bittersweet for eating and for baking. I use unsweetened sometimes too... I like it for covering fruit and candied ginger. The unsweetened chocolate contrasts really well. Although I found that using it for covering strawberries isn't that good.

I took to mixing bread dough on med-high speed on my sister’s brand-new kitchenaid one year… About 2 minutes into the kneading, metal shavings started to drop into my dough. It turns out that I had ignored the warning on the dough hook, which says not to use it on anything but speed 2. At the time the mixer I had at home was a very old kitchenaid I got second-hand so I had never been warned and luckily my old machine had no trouble kneading on any speed. Kitchenaid sent my sister a replacement without asking any questions. I imagine they would not have been as nice had the mixer not been only a month or so old.

I think you are thinking of a mignonnette. I believe it is simply finely diced shallots, cracked black pepper, and champagne vinegar. This is my absolute favorite thing to eat with raw oysters... well aside from plain oysters and oysters with a dash of lemon (meyer if you got it).