fiftydollars

Blech, blegh, yuck, etc... People who use these types of terms deserve a severe beating.

I love green tea! I also love making green tea sorbet and it's easy if you have an ice cream maker. Just make a double-strength brew of tea, sweeten to taste (and a little extra), cool, and freeze using your ice cream maker's instructions.

I'm sure everyone can agree that we're glad you got rid of that pervert...

I find that you don't have to freeze it solid to get thin slices. Just an hour in your average home freezer (-10 f or so) will make it solid enough to slice it as thinly as you could want. I'm pretty sure I couldn't slice a steak that's been frozen solid by hand and I am not so sure that my kitchenaid food processor ( http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=45446 ) could either... If you try it, let me know how that works.

Don't leave me in suspense! How much do they use?

What about a clarified butter crust? How'd that work? Without the water would it create pastry that is flaky like you get with shortening/lard?

Since you're planning to be just across the bay... you should check with: The Spanish Table (510) 548-1383 1814 San Pablo Ave, Berkeley, CA 94702 This store features all sorts of things paella. They also have a store in Seattle where I saw one that had to be at least 3 feet in diameter. Of course they also have your more typical sizes. ---------------------- Edited to add: It took me that long to write this thing?

I disagree. I'll take a tasty fully saturated fat like lard over a less tasty partially hydrogenated (trans) fat like shortening anyday and it can be argued that it's actually better for you...

I agree about the lard, but I would say that regular lard will taste inappropriately porky in your typical dessert pie dough. If you can get it, use leaf lard. This is rendered from the fat found around the kidneys of the pig and it works wonderfully for dessert pastry.

I agree that San Luis Obispo is a necessary stop. The food scene is not highfalutin, but it’s a great place that I happily called home and I visit friends there as often as I can. One of them cooks at the Mission Grill, which is for better or worse, on a good day, one of the best restaurants in town. If you happen to feel like sushi in San Luis Obispo, you might want to try Tsurugi’s in the historic creamery. The folks are friendly and mostly imported from Japan by the owner. For simple, cheap eats you can’t do much better than Firestone Grill on San Luis Obispo’s Higuera Street. They make a pretty good tri-tip sandwich, cobb salad, rib, hot dog, and a solid burger. The Mainstreet Grill in Cambria (a stone’s throw from Hearst Castle) is of the same pedigree and also features quality food at slightly lower prices. If you happen to be cruising along the coast on Highway 1 and come upon the sleepy town of Cayucos (just south of Cambria), Hoppe’s Garden Bistro is a must stop. Wilhelm Hoppe delivers what is arguably the region’s best food and certainly the best fine dining. As I recall, he often features a Chef’s tasting menu that includes a glass of wine with each course (local wines, of course). Just north of San Luis Obispo, in Templeton, there is AJ Spurs. It’s a pretty solid steak house although it doesn’t hold a candle to Jocko’s in Nipomo (more details below). In Pismo Beach, which should probably earn a stop on any tour of the area, the food scene can be a hit and miss affair. Splash Café, just a block or so from the pier, has a pretty good clam chowder served in a sourdough bread bowl, fish and chips, and other such faire. It probably won’t be the best of any of these items you’ve ever had, but the atmosphere is nice and on a sunny day the line of eager patrons goes out the door. As you drive through along highway 101 you will see a large statue of a Cowboy with an arrow sticking out of its chest. That’s when you know you’ve found McClintock’s. Dinner service is friendly and the servers perform various feats of high-water pouring, which always delights the customers. At dinner the food can be quite good, but I’ve had the misfortune of eating there for lunch and I don’t recommend it. The décor is a combination of Applebee’s style kitsch, with all sorts of crap adorning the walls, and an old west saloon/whorehouse. Overall the food is not nearly good enough to justify the time you would likely have to wait for it and the prices are definitely inexcusable. Jocko’s in Nipomo (a town roughly between San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara) easily wins my vote for best steak in California, but be sure to go for dinner because they don’t fire up the oak for lunch. Be ready to wait a while for a table on most nights. I can't say enough good things about Jocko's steaks. However, the sides are simple, the salads are iceberg, and the house wine (an inglenook I seem to recall) tastes of the large jug variety. The steaks more than make up for any shortcomings. In the same vicinity you can also find the legendary Far Western in Guadalupe. The Far Western is said to be the birth place of Santa Maria style tri-tip barbecue and would definitely deserve a spot on my tour.

I hate veggie, yummy, and, most of all, foodie. I also hate Rachel Ray, but that's another thread...

Jeff Smith taught me a whole lot about beans. He was a fantastic teacher. I miss him.

Beware the damp towel! I was pulling a cast-iron pan out of a 600 degree oven when I learned this lesson. It took a few seconds, after I had firmly grasped the pan and closed the oven door, for the steam to start cooking the flesh on my left hand. For safety reasons I resisted my impulse to drop the damned thing and it seemed like it took forever to set the thing on the stovetop. Luckily, once the blisters had healed, the incident did not result in a residual disability and I learned a very valuable lesson. Beware the damo towel!

My vote is for Jocko's in Nipomo, CA. There is nothing fancy about this place. The sides are simple. The salad is iceberg. But the steaks are absolutely outstanding. If you're ever in the area, it's quite easy to find. Just go east down the one main street in Nipomo until you find it on the left-hand side across from a church. Be sure to go for dinner, because they don't fire up the oak pit for lunch, and be ready to wait a while. This place is very popular.

If you want something that will not degrade under moderate or even extremely high temperatures, try motor oil... something light... perhaps a 5w-30. If you want your food to taste good... stick with olive oil. --------------------------------------------- Ok, my conscience requires that I edit this post. DO NOT, UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES, COOK FOOD WITH MOTOR OIL! I REPEAT... DO NOT COOK WITH MOTOR OIL!

I can't wait to go... Aqua was not the same without him. Manrique is a solid chef, and I certainly share his love of all things foie gras, but Mina is definitely more talented, better...ineffably better.

As a mole fanatic I find this extremely interesting.

I kind of agree. I have tasted/tested Morton's Kosher vs. Diamond Kosher head to head over and over again and I prefer Diamond Kosher every time. When compared with the kosher, regular mortons is a totally different product. Because of it's shape kosher is much less potent by volume. Does yellow prussiate of soda have a flavor discernible in the Morton's Kosher salt? Diamond Kosher, at least as the label would have me believe, does not have the yellow prussiate of soda that is added to Morton's as an anti-caking agent. The shapes are very different. Could this be the reason and not the Y.P.S?

Why not?

Is this a good thing?

Hello Mr. Batali, I am a huge fan. Over the years I have made dozens of your recipes and I have loved them all. One of my absolute favorites is your ragu, and lasagne, bolognese. I have a question about the browning of the meat after the sweating. After I sweat the vegetables I turn up the heat and proceed to brown the pancetta, veal, pork, and beef. However, I can never get the meat to actually brown at all. Even when I work in batches it just doesn't seem to brown. It usually just sort of stews in the moisture of the vegetables. Or else, the meat browns, but so do the vegetables. It always turns out delicious nonetheless, but I dream of a day when it will actually maillardize the way I think it's supposed to. What am I doing wrong? Despite my apparent inability to replicate your results this is always delicious and it is one of my favorite foods. Jorge Saavedra P.S. I love the zabaglione for your zampone fritto! I've only made the full dish once, but this delicious savory zabaglione has found its way onto many, many meals. Thank you!

Really? I did not know that. I almost always use honey instead of sugar. It looks like 'll have to do some testing...

Paul Sorvino! I am not sure where exactly I saw him cooking, but it was on some show on the Food Network a long, long time ago. Here's a link to some event where he combined singing and cooking to benefit the CIA. I imagine it was kind of like the scene in Goodfellas... with singing...sans prison. http://www.ciachef.edu/press/archives/2002/pr052802.html

For some reason I thought NulloModo was thinking about smoking a whole beef tenderloin... I really think that would be a bad idea... However, the strip loin is a whole different story. I've never tried it, but it sounds like it could be pretty good if you don't overcook (oversmoke?) it. I regularly smoke tri-tip and although it is quite lean, it definitely benefits from low, moist, smokey cooking. In a 200 degree smoker it can take up to four hours to get to around 135. The results are great. I suspect that a whole untrimmed bone-in loin would not only withstand smoking, but would turn out to be damned good.

Have you checked the selection at Tacoma Boys?