scott123

Are you really 'thirding' what docsconz says about the sugar myth? From what I hear him say, sugar is okay but only within the context of a mitigating protein, fat or fiber rich environment. The angel food cake you mention is none of the above.

And yes, I too, like Toliver's idea I actually did some spritzing of my ribs today. I got a little paranoid and went with 275 which I think might be a little high. The texture was not as succulent as I would have liked. My biggest error, though was cooking them too long after the final glazing. I lost a lot of the sweetness/fruity note in my sauce. Next time, though, thanks to you guys, I think I'll be ready.

Phifly04 and Dave, do you put the ribs right into a 225 degree oven? Doesn't 225 prolong the time in the bacterial 'danger' zone a bit? Dave, I'm very curious about your chilling technique. Does this allow the ribs to be grilled without being overcooked or is it because a chilled rack is less likely to fall apart when handled?

Or to be more specific, braise and glaze. Use pork stock as the liquid medium, and then just before serving, glaze with more of your sauce. I have to say, though, that Toliver's suggestion is brilliant. ← Glaze with more of the sauce? Does that mean braising using my sauce AND the pork stock?

Pork spare ribs

Instead of the usual BBQ goal of maximizing the flavor of the pork/smoke, my goal for the spare rib recipe I'm working on is maximizing the flavor of the sauce. Besides sauce, I'm also looking for a fall off the bone tenderness (another BBQ faux pas, I know). Pre-boiling tends to make tender ribs, but at the same time it seems to boil away a lot of the flavor from the overnight marination. I guess what I'm looking for is fall off the bone meat without a boil before hand. Done, for the most part, in an oven. The tricky part here is that my marinade/basting sauce uses costly ingredients so I can't use much of it. It's also sweet, so if I use it at the beginning the sugar burns off and the flavor cooks away. The meat needs some moisture for the duration of cooking or it'll end up like jerky. Do I baste it with water? Do I baste it with a watered down version of the sauce? Do I wrap it in parchment? What temp is the best for long slow roasting? I want a very slight smokiness/char to the final product, so I'll be finishing it on the grill. The lion's share of the cooking, though will occur in the oven.

From what I understand hot chili powder and red chili powder are two different animals. You may wish to seek out the milder red kashmiri variety.

Contact the chocolate manufacturer for tempering temperatures. I have found these links on tempering to be educational: http://www.vantagehouse.com/customer/tempering_how_to.htm http://www.scharffenberger.com/library/tempering.htm http://www.chocolatier-electro.com/english/whatis2.htm

P.S. I just finished making/eating the best saag of my entire life! Wow is it good! Suresh, I basically followed your ingredients along with adding some dried methi leaves and some extra coriander powder (per Bhasin's instructions). All I can say is WOW! I had been thinking about adding fresh chilis for quite some time now. Having both of you mention them was just enough to push me over the edge. They make a huge difference. Since I've only wisened up to the wonders of sauteed spices in the last year or so, I'm pretty sure the last time I made saag it was with unsauteed cumin. I'm sure the sauteeing of the spices made a massive difference as well. Next time, I'm adding tomatoes/paste with a fresh dhania garnish Fry up a few cubes of paneer and saag paneer, here I come! Thank you thank you thank you!

Suresh, up until now, I've been taking some fairly complicated approaches to saag. The simplicity of your ingredients might just be what I'm looking for. Even if it isn't a perfect replica of what I'm used to, I'm sure it will be a welcome addition to my repetoire. Thank you. Bhasin, the second version looks like it could be it. The first one reminds me of another restaurant I frequent, so I'm ecstatic to have that breakdown as well. I am exceedingly grateful to you for taking the time to type those out. Your "restaurant style basic onion gravy" intrigues me. Would you expound on that a bit? And the fresh dhania, would that be added to the spinach and cooked or added at the end as a garnish? Btw, I took a moment and looked at the menu for the Delhi Club. Everything looks wonderful. The Delhi Pista Korma looks especially spectacular.

Billowing Capsaicin Cloud!

Read label squint... hmmmmm... formidable. Sounds like something that takes many years to master

Those are great! Although don't forget your exclamation points. Combination names are always barked at the opponent, and quite forcefully at that Suzanne, rent Iron Monkey. That's one of my favorites. The arch villian uses a move called "Poisoned Buddha Palm." His kung fu is very strong.

You know how in kung fu movies, during fight sequences, the combatants will jump in the air and call out the name of their combination? I can't seem to come up with anything specific at the moment, but they're along the lines of Iron tiger fist! or Eagle Claw! Or something to that effect. Most of the names have a similar meter to them (triplets? pentuplets?). Sometimes they can be quite obscure and creative. As a lark, what food related combos can we come up with? Crispy Bacon Palm! Steaming weiner kick! Moussaka Wedge! Raft Clarifying Broth! These are just off the top of my head.

Economics, I think, has played a HUGE role, at least here in U.S. What are our two biggest crops? What's margarine made out of? Do you really think it's a coincidence that butter's gotten a bad rap? Why do you think our food pyramid looks the way it does? It's not about consumer health, it's about dollars in someone's pockets. Vive le Beurre!

Canned pumpkin is superior. It has a more intense pumpkin flavor and a darker color. Fresh small edible pumpkins just don't make pumpkin pies/bread that are pumpkiny enough. At least not in my experience.

Amen Melissa! *putting my hands together* Let osprey... Say it, don't osprey it? Speaking of unclean birds/raptors... a few years back I was sitting on a park bench in the village (probably stoned ) watching in fascination as 4 pigeons ate a styrofoam container of fried chicken. Are pigeons kosher?

One carrion per customer... *groaning* oh man, that is just horrendous

I have probably 40 saag recipes and not one seems anywhere near the saag I get at my local Indian Buffet. My taste buds are only getting me so far in my quest to ascertain the ingredients. Here's a breakdown of what I know so far: Definite ingredients Ghee or Butter Spinach - probably canned (or cooked forever) Salt Ginger Garlic Highly probable ingredients Mustard Greens - since my Indian grocer carries them I'm guessing the restaurant adds them. They might be omitted due to cost, though. Cream Maybe Some form of sweetener - sugar, jaggery, honey Green chilis or dried peppers? Onions - they aren't visible but they might be pureed Cumin - roasted Coriander - no matter how much I cook with coriander, I still can't quite detect it in foods Urad dal - little white cereal-like specs (cream of wheat comes to mind) Tomato - not visible but in many recipes Garam Masala Wild guesses Green peppers - some restaurants defile their saag with undercooked chunks of green pepper but not my place. If it is in it, it's well pureed/well cooked. Cooked coriander/cilantro - I normally only add cilantro raw as a garnish. Is it possible these restaurants are cooking it? All of the dishes in the buffet have a common flavor that I can't seem to nail down. I've been thinking lately that it's cooked cilantro. Dried fenugreek leaves - fenugreek leaves are great in my butter chicken but for some reason they seem out of place in my saag. Is kasoori methi that ubiquitious of a buffet ingredient? Besan - the second possibility for the 'common flavor' - as a thickener perhaps? I know it's in the butter chicken gravy and I'm pretty sure it's in both the kofta meatballs and the gravy. Mustard oil - if mustard oil were used, it would have to be tempered, correct? And if it's tempered, it's usually poured over the top of the saag, right? I've never had tempered oil on top of my saag in restaurant. Could be 'in' it, though. MSG - Umami is coming from somewhere other than the salt. The 'common flavor' I describe seems to have a strong umami note to it, almost like white wine in French cooking. My best description of this mysterious 'common ingredient' is 'salt-like' but not salt and not MSG. Definitely not Asafoetida Coconut milk For those familiar with it, this restaurant is typical of the New Jersey Indian buffet. The saag I had in London was a completely different animal. Any ideas on what might be in or not in restaurant saag are more than welcome. I've been floundering for 10+ years trying to recreate this stuff and I'd like to find some direction.

Believe it or not, maltitol is in the middle range of the sugar alcohols when it comes to 'laxation threshold.' Both mannitol and lactitol rank higher and in lactitol's case, quite a bit so. Lactitol is lethal when it comes to intestines. I think a big part of maltitol's misplace stigma is it's ubiquitous use by candy makers. If lactitol were used as frequently, people's perception of malitol would skyrocket due to the vast difference between the two.

I haven't seen the schnitzel thread, but if you leave the meat uncovered in your fridge, it helps to: A. Put it on a paper towel B. Flip it after half of the duration has passed. I do this with all my steaks. It's my own kind of 'dry' aging. Jeffrey Steingarten talks about doing it with a fan for weeks, but I do mine for just a day or two. I'm very happy with the browning I get.

Whey low will give you the best results. That is, if you believe it to be a sugar 'substitute,' which I don't. Nutrasweet (aspartame) loses it's sweetening ability at high temperatures. It should be fine at this temp, though. The vast majority of stevia brands I've come across are pretty foul. I still have my fingers crossed that a decent brand exists, but I'm not holding my breath. There are some that like the licorice-like aftertaste. I do not. Splenda will change the texture a bit. Think sweet tasting hollandaise. Splenda might work in conjuction with some texture giving sweetener (like a sugar alcohol) or even sugar itself. Maybe half splenda, half sugar might work. Remember though, that when combining sweeteners a synergistic boost usually occurs, requiring an adjustment to the recipe, otherwise it might end up being too sweet.

I've had Calandra's bread a few times and find it pales in comparison to Verrilli's bakery in Morristown. Just make sure you get there early in the day. The bread used to come out of the oven around 11:00, but I think they're baking earlier now. And don't go on the weekends. Jyoti, rt. 46, fairfield does butter chicken better than anyone else. But stay away from the saag.

Fanny Farmer... LaVarrenne... fascinating. Thanks!

Would you go as far as to say that the many chefs/cookbooks that prescribe the 'one roux fits all' philosophy are culinarily shortsighted?