Matt Seeber

amazon.com has the chefmate 4 gallon stockpot for $30. i just ordered one! thanks fat-guy! Chefmate Professional Stainless Steel Stockpot - 16 qt.

we had a nice chicken stock going in our steam kettle one afternoon with a sachet of peppercorns, bayleaf and thyme floating on top. an electrician that was working on the walk-in compressor took a look at the cheesecloth and alerted me that there was a dirty sock floating in my soup. in the most serious tone i could muster i told him that i was fully aware of the situation and that i had to wear that damned sock for a week before using it in the soup! he sorta cocked his head, shrugged and walked off...

monkfish liver is something not seen on many menus (i for one wouldn't mind seeing more of it). my understanding is that it's sorta hit and miss (not always readily available) in the fulton market. when it's very fresh, it has taste qualities of both liver and the ocean! while the asian preparations mentioned sound wonderful, i'd go for a more contemporary european style. a thin slice, quickly sautéed with candied quince and salad of some slightly bitter greens

elyse, this technique can be seen to serve two purposes: - air-dry the skin in order to obtain a very crispy, cooked end result. - similar to aged beef where the actual mass of the product is reduced, therefore tenderizing the meat and concentrating the flavors. everyone’s technique is different, but it usually involves dunking the bird for a very short time in a flavored cooking liquid in order to seize-up the skin.

exactly - then it's boiled in fat, not roasted

and be sure to get your face over that pot of boiling vinegar and take a deeeeeeeeep breath! *i'm kidding! kids don't try this at home - it'll get you high...

click here for no less than 9 pickled egg recipes! WORLD FAMOUS PICKLED EGG HOME PAGE

I notice recipes here and there that call for sautéing, roasting, searing (think meat or fish) or otherwise cooking on high heat with extra virgin olive oil (EVO). EVO is the first (cold) press of the olives. This raw state is where one can appreciate the subtleties of the olive and is what makes EVO so special. Heating the oil in a pan to the point of smoking is going to ruin it. There are of course exceptions (many), where cooking with olive oil is done. Making a soffrito comes to mind – the slow simmering of aromatic vegetables in EVO. The slow, gentle cooking or a porcini mushroom or sweating onions for a risotto. The important part of the technique is not letting the oil reach a temperature where it begins to smoke. Olive oil has a lower smoking point than vegetable or nut oils and burns very easily. It is possible that not everyone is on the same page when we talk about olive oil. What I mean to say, is that all are not extra virgin. After the first cold press, what’s left (and it’s considerable) is slightly heated and pressed again to extract more oil. The result is not extra virgin but a lesser grade of oil. This on the other hand would be acceptable to cook with and is indeed blended with other oils for just that purpose. The most expensive EVOs such as Laudemio should never be heated at all and used only in the raw state –right from the bottle. What types of oils do ya'll use for cooking at home?

err..... lee hanson is the chef at balthazer. edit, co-chef to be more specific

one of the essential components of a good cook, often overlooked! thanks for adding that in there mamster

Gina Depalma is the pastry chef at Babbo and last year received a James Beard nomination. It seems she's doing as awesome a job as ever!

juice oranges reduce to a syrup whisk in olive oil and emulsify add a drop of vinegar pinch of dried chili flakes don't get picky with ingredients your first time. over time try different chilis and vinegars. just wing it and have some fun.

for me, timers are good as reminders that something is in the works, lest i forget about it. for a doneness check, i'll go by taste, sight, smell, touch / feel (and an occasional guess) i do recall one new years eve with rack of veal for 100 people. i was using two timers and a meat thermometer (insurance)!

shermar, did you check out the risotto lesson on fat-guy.com?

or perhaps just the kind of detail that Patricia Wells got right and Matt Seeber botched (more likely).

suvir, your very welcome. it was my pleasure! to make the gaufrette, set the waffle cut on your bron mandoline and run the potato thru it. rotate the potato 90 degrees and slide it thru the waffle cut again. look at the slice of potato that comes out. if it's thin and flimsy, adjust the blade to cut thicker and try again. if the holes are not there and the chip is too thick, adjust the blade to cut thinner and try again. if you don't turn the potato 90 degrees after each slice, it won't be a gaufrette. the thickness of the potato varies with the amount of pressure applied by your hand, so make sure you're consistent. it doesn't hurt to check every few chips or so to make sure they're coming out the same thickness. don't try to blow thru the whole potato quickly - it's not a race. do it slowly and methodically and you will end up with a nicer product at the end.

i think the recipe from PW is pretty much the same as i described - although mine is less detailed. my post was from memory and i didn't read her recipe until just now... i did a kitchen trail there in the winter of '97 - great experience.

if i remember correctly, the eggs are removed from the shell and made into a custard base. the custard is poured back into the shell and when the time comes to pickup, it's floated in a pot of simmering water for a few minutes to warm until it's about half cooked (barely coagulated). it's topped with chive cream (crème fraiche i think?) and the maple syrup - as mentioned. does passard garnish that with caviar? ........ shaw??

suzanne, i think you're right on! i also like the technique of mixing flours and working the dough by hand. when making noodle dough (as opposed to a softer ravioli dough) i like to use less yolks and more whites in the recipe. this allows the rolled noodle to air dry before cooking and the end result is an al dente noodle.

in order to caramelize the onions, the sugars must brown. if the onions were stewing in a large amount of chicken fat you won't get that result. you didn't say if you had peeled the onions first - i would suggest it. roast them separate from the chicken and at a slightly higher temperature. you may need to finish them over a flame to acquire the color. at the last minute add a nut of butter, some fresh thyme and a tiny amount of the chicken fat.

meister brau

~~Rioja~~

cold pizza in the morning beats everything hands down!

i am not a big fan of "overly specific" recipes. certainly with regards to pastry (not my forte) they are necessary as things are much more specific. for the purposes of this topic i believe we are mostly referring to savory cooking. i did not learn how to cook by following a recipe. i learned by doing - over and over again and by making every mistake in the book. consequently when a cook comes to me and asks why things are done a certain way, i'll say i know because i tried it the other way... and it doesn't work. easy for me to say right? ya'll got full time jobs aside from cooking and can't spend as much time futzing around in the kitchen as i can... i'll give you that.....so, what's the point? to a certain extent, (and arguably) a recipe will not teach you how to cook! it will walk you through step 1, step 2, step 3 and so on and you'll end up with a half decent dish when you’re done - it will take you from point A to point B and that's about it. the recipe will not teach you the inherent properties of those ingredients with which you are working. nor will it teach you how to work with those ingredients in a context outside of that specific recipe. to REALLY learn how to cook you must taste and test and taste and experiment and taste (did i mention you have to taste it?) i think it's a mistake to have a recipe so specific that there is no room for interpretation - a recipe should never be gospel. much like music, there is always room for interpretation. just because you know the words to "can't buy me love" doesn't mean you can sing it!

practice, practice, practice! using thermometers are great for large cuts of meat such as a whole rib or leg of lamb. matter of fact, it's the only way to do it properly. however, if you're roasting individual portions of meat or poultry thermometers are not at all practical. when roasting, the juices inside are rushing away from the center of the meat. this is evident if you happen to slice a steak right from the oven without giving it time to rest. before you know it, your juicy steak is dry and the cutting board is soaking wet. if you poke a thermometer inside a small portion and then remove it, the same will happen. in professional kitchens, the cooks all test for doneness by touch! it doesn't happen overnight and certainly makes for stressful situations when someone gets it wrong! you'll be surprised, one day you'll be cooking along....and you'll just get it...