NulloModo

Off course. And I'm not the one clamoring for fois gras in my freakin' grits. ← I don't think grits need fois gras, but I certainly wouldn't turn my nose up at fois gras infused grits were they offered.

I'd say what my favorites are, but honestly, I have no clue what I am eating at the sushi bar. I just get the sashimi special or go during the sushi buffet and try lots of stuff. I am particularly fond of the pink stuff that is most likely tuna or salmon, it has nice fat marbleing and a soft texture. The only one I'm not really fond of is a whitish fleshed fish with a medium-silver skin on top.

Hmm, lots of butter, lots of good cheese, some fresh herbs, maybe some chiles and tomato, melt it all together, and make a killer crab dip to scoop up with whatever you wish to scoop with.

Hehe, I don't find it funny in a derisive way, but I do find it funny in a 'wow, one has to appreciate that kind of anal-retentive attention to detail' kind of way. I guess it just comes from two different schools of thought on cooking. Some people like to plan out every detail, double-check every step, and make precise calculations with no room for error. Others just like to go in guns blazing, no plans, and throw stuff together until it turns into something else. Both methods have their merits, I just find the latter a whole lot more fun ;).

True, Juan may be a great chef in traditional cuisine for all I know, it just wasn't what I was thinking. I was imagining he vs. Stella in a weight-loss battle extraordinarie, Low-Call vs. Low-Carb and let the judger's taste-buds proclaim a victor.

The dubbing was done by Canadian expats. Much of it bore little relationship to anything that was said, some none, some was pretty spot on. ← In general I've found translators to have much more wit and sense of humor than original commentators ;). Perhaps ICA would be served well to be redubbed by aforementioned Canadians.

Overall, I put little to no faith in critics of any sort. I have seen music, movies, books, and restaurants completely trashed by critics that I have ended up loving. I have seen critics laud things I have hated. Critics share their opinions, but they are just that, the opinions of people who are paid to be opinionated, so sometimes I'm sure they are tempted to push the bounds of how opinionated they are. With regards to seasonality in restaurants: I think it is a load of bullshit. It is the quality of product that matters, not the time of year. If this restaurant can make a good insalata and get high quality tomatoes this time of year, then more power to them, in fact, it would convince me to go somewhere to get something I couldn't get anywhere else that time of year. If they make it with the crappy tomatoes I have seen at the grocery store lately (how was it that before I found eG I never found tomatoes any different in the summer vs. the winter?) then well, I guess the insalata wasn't that good, and it deserves to be bashed a bit. Restaurants do not exist to be political. They do not exist to further ideals about local harvests or produce. They exist to serve good food and serve the diner what the diner wants.

That actually sounds a lot like one of the methods for preparing Carnitas that was discussed in the monster carnitas thread...

Although neither of them are iron chefs, nor slated to be challengers, I think it would be lots of fun to see George Stella face off against Juan Carlos

Have you heard rumors of this? Apparently there is a pastry guy who also posts on eGullet who is going to be a challenger on one of the battles, but this in and of itself sounds bizarre to me. While it would be interesting to see some baking going on during one of the battles (no one ever seems to bake their own breads or etc for any of their dishes, it could be pulled off if it was timed just right), I can't imagine the need for an Iron Chef Pastry. The current Iron Chefs are more than competent at desserts, and can incorporate them into a full meal. A complete dessert battle, or even a series of them, would simply be dull and tedious.

But without the descriptive paragraphs how do you know at which speed you should be blending,or at what point to stop, or how finely to chop the carrots, etc? I suppose for someone who has made similar dishes many times it is easy to assume what needs to be done, but I've always love the descriptive paragraph recipe approach, it allows me to check out what I'm doing as I go along vs. what the author of the recipe expects to be happening, so if the two diverge too much I know something is amiss and I can take steps to fix it before the whole thing gets ruined.

I like reading slashdot, arstechnica, hardocp, all the random tech pages. I like to stay up on whats happening in the world of gadgetry and computer science, and really, I do enjoy the behind the scenes technical looks at microchips and all that. But, I don't want any of that anywhere near my cooking. Cooking is art, it is pleasure, it cerainly isn't science for me. There may be some science going on, but it would drain every ounce of pleasure from what I do if I actually thought about what was happenin on a molecular level as I sear meat. I am fine with collections of old wive's tales, myths, anecdotes, and anything like that, and in fact base cookign decisions on them often. However, you will never see me voluntarily get withing 100 feet of a Harold McGee book.

Sure they can stand alone, but they are even better with stuff. I prefer tobasco and lemon, but, I have never had a mignonette sauce. Oysters baked with lots of goodies like cheese, spinach, caviar, ham, or whatever else are great too. Things that can be enjoyable all on their lonesome are great, this tis true, but I am also a firm believer that most of the time, more is more.

Actually, I'd view the elitist as being the one who says that Fois Gras and Confit have no place in grits. Ingredients are made to be combined, as long as it tastes good, who cares if it is traditional or how the ingredient would normally be used? Grits have a history and a cultural identity I'm sure, but you can also throw all of that out and just use them for taste and texture, so that they become just like any other ingredient. Let's give this authenticity and knowing a food's roots business a break. As long as something tastes good, I don't care if it has 1 ingredient, or 100. The ingredients can come from my neighbors garden, or they can be flown in from all corners of the world. It can all be grown organically or it can come from a hot-house in minnessota. What matters is what happens when the dish hits the tongue, as long as it makes me smile, its a winner.

For baked goods, I'd opt for something more traditional and less silly. When I think baked goods, I think homey, traditional, and with a high class pedigree. So, Mission Baking Co. does seem to do the job very well. Generally deliberate misspellings such as 'Bakin' ' just annoy me and strike me as juvenile for a proper business, but that may just be me. Now, if you were going to be marketing your own line of hot sauce or salsa silly and juvenile would be the way to go, but for something like baked good, go the high-class route.

Hmm, I guess there used to be another McCormick around... the only one I am familiar with is the company that provides bottom shelf rotgut in just about every category of liquor...

Hmmm, chewy pork rinds sound really good, so I might try boiling these for several hours to soften them, then deep frying them. Perhaps I will pan-fry some with onions and peppers just to have a comparison.

I think if they wore latex gloves, constantly cleaned, and in general tried to stay neat, tidy, and sanitary it would take a lot of the fun atmosphere of the show away. Part of what makes ICA exciting to watch is how fast paced it is, how everything is flying everywhere all the time. Stopping to clean or wash hands just kills that momentum. Personally, I wouldn't think twice if offered a chance to chow down on some of the food that they prepare during the show. I assume that a chef's spoon or hands have touched my food when I sit down at a restaurant, and most home cooks use bare hands and occasionally double-dip. In the end it isn't a big deal.

Hmmm, well, actually, I do live in an apartment... but I have cooked lots of potent smelling things in the past and never had a complaint, the walls are thick, no one shares ventilation systems, and I have never been able to smell anything I was cooking,or anyone else has been cooking, from outside of the door. However, ummm, what exactly do they smell like?

When I was a kid - Grape Nuts, with tons of sugar added such that the milk almost became a creamy simply syrup... These days - Carbsense Apple Cinnamon Granola, topped with heavy cream. The taste and crunch are spot on for regular granola, it is made with lots of wholesome grains and proteins, plus has tons of fiber, and the addition of the heavy cream makes it very filling for even just the 1/2 Cup serving, all in all, a great healthy way to start your day and not leave you hungry till lunch.

As much as I like Flay, I also agree that Tsai won this one hands down, his dishes just looked tastier. I also loved this judging panel, Ted Allen should become a permanant judge, much more charisma and just as insightful, if not more insightful, comments than Staingarten. The Woman from the Asia Society was pretty good too. As for the chefs knowing the ingredient: it was mentioned up thread that they are told it will be a possibility of two different ingredients for the ICA show. It isn't incomprehensible that the chefs would have just prepared two complete and detailed menus with their sous-chefs and brought along all of the equipment they would need for either possibility before the show.

Hmm, well I like certain organ meats I have tried. I love liver and kidney meat, althtough I wasn't too wild about tripe, but that could've just been my preparation. Are Chitlins or organy or tripey?

I have recently started big frozen blocks of Chitlins for sale at Safeway. This has me wondering how these things taste. I realize they are popular in hardcore soul food, but I have never had them, not seen them on a menu anywhere. I googled around a bit and read several different recipes, some stewed, some fried, some both. General consensus seems to be that they need to be boiled for several hours in a couple changes of vinegar-water to tenderize and clean them, but from there it diverges. I am sure someone here has prepared Chitlins before, and knows the secret tips and tricks to make them the best they can be. So, if you know a wonderful method, please share. Also, if you can clue me in as to how these might taste when finished... that might be cool too.

I tend to bring my lunch most days. Since I have cafeteria duty I don't get to eat with the rest of the staff at my school. This is sort of a shame because I miss out on the building politics and all, but in some ways it is nice because I can eat my lunch in my classroom and get some quiet time, which after a day of elementary band lessons, is much needed. There are no rules about what you can or can't bring, and pretty much everyone uses the home-ec classroom for reheating or preparing meals, though usually it is just the microwaves.

Apparently with the original it was a choice between 5 secret ingredients, with ICA it is 2, from what I have heard. It would be a hell of a lot more fun if it was a total surprise though...