et alors

I've been buying this and that on the racks lately, and have been impressed by Fine Cooking. The only magazines *period* I subscribe to are New Yorker and Cook's Illustrated. So you get I love Cook's. I adore the use of illustrations. I'm mad at saveur because so many of there recipes haven't turned out for me, and I'm an excellent home cook with or without a recipe. The rest have been uniformly disappointing. I was interested in this thread because I'm looking for good ore food magazines as well-- it seems like the best way to stay seasonal. You can't subscribe to them (I think) but the edible series of local zines are terrific. I pick up Edible San Francisco every chance I get.

The bullsh*t that goes around formats is so unreasonable and annoying it's not surprising good people turn to pirating. Try itunes, then turn to isohunt. For krikey sake, you bought it, why can't you play it? What is wrong with these old media twits?

Mixed feelings on this one. Of course we in California are spoiled with local goodness, and have no excuse for eating out of county much less out of country. That said, too many people use weather as an excuse for not trying. Build greenhouses; they do it in France, Spain, Italy... . Try to eat in season, it can be done even in the boring months. Try harder; if you don't then global warming may make it very easy to grow strawberries in February in Chicago. :\ I've grown very fond of Hubert Keller as well. The production values on that show are grim, though.

...that bouche de noel was embarrassing. Looking forward to the Top Chefers showing their style!

found a whole wiki of them http://wiki.foodhacking.com/index.php?title=Main_Page

I eat eggs every morning, and have done so for about four years of going on and off the South Beach Diet (the only diet where a dinner of seared lamb chops and green beans in a shallot butter sauce is considered strict, and I lose weight on it. And yes, my cholesterol is fine.) I love eggs, and I am the queen of the scramble, but I'm getting bored. I've cooked them poached, fried, and hard boiled. I made Benedict with my own hollandaise (not as hard as I feared, but I had Pepin's technique to guide me) I recently did shirred eggs and oefs en meurette and then created a hybrid of the two. I mention this to show I don't care how time consuming and silly the effort might be for breakfast (or dinner). I'm celebrating eggs in all their glory! What is the best way you have ever cooked eggs? What is your eggy triumph?

I reconstituted fried mushrooms in cream, and used that with a bit of parmesan as a sauce for shirred eggs. But I knew my dried mushrooms were really clean. My husband who is french taught me how to make mushrooms taste great-- and guess what, it was dry frying (plus fat at the end to finish them.) The great thing about that is you can really wash them properly, and all it does is add a tiny bit of time to cooking. I was reading Cook's Illustrated, and they did their usual tried 6 million ways to cook mushrooms to discover the best, and guess what: dry fry them and finish with a pat of butter. Be happy!

Not a recipe, but a way to save money-- I buy salmon bones and scrape the meat off the bones with a spoon when I make salmon cakes. It comes off easily, and tastes the same as a pricey filet.

I think I'm looking for a ceasar-salad type story. It's a funny thing, I don't know why I'm obsessed but when I see something that codified, I figure that had to be an ur-popper: someone must have either invented or codified it. But maybe not, maybe it was evolution. :\

This was revealed (unintentionally?) on the original Iron Chef America, Making of . They spotlighted the food buyer, Jill Novat who buys the Iron Chef's special ingredients. There is one scene in which the shopper is buying lotus root from Morimoto's shopping list, and says that might be a clue to the secret ingredient. Iron Chef is WWF with food. I've never understood why people act surprised when the curtain goes up, except for that reason.

It's a fun topic: now that we have enough data, annoyances can now be categorized * overused/misused (organic, molten) * abbreviations/diminutives (veggies, yummo) * invented words (gravylious, foodie) * hyperbole (authentic, world's best) * pretentious/obscure (unctuous) Flavor profile I found delightful until I heard it 15 times every single top chef show. And I am fond of "food porn" when used accurately. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/193363318...id=W2BSNZ9TV7JN

Unfortunately I wrote that, at the end of some fairly extensive reading. I hoped it might inspire someone to correct me. See, you can't trust wikipedia. That data came from a chowhound speculation. I can't believe no one knows who thought, "hey I like chili rellenos, but I'm in America and I bet cream cheese would fly."

To me barnyard is bad wine. I believe it is caused by a wild yeast. I send it back. ← Brettanomyces is a non-spore forming genus of yeast in the family Saccharomycetaceae, and is often colloquially referred to as "Brett". ... I love the horse $hit... but that's my preference... ← I never really understood what "barnyard" meant until I was tasting Moulin a Vents in Beaujolais... I have decided I don't care for it. Hay, wood, dirt, even sweaty horse okay, but I draw the line at $hit. Or something primal in me does, and says "that ain't for eating, dollface."

I am curious about Rouille, if anyone has insight. Wikipedia seems to think it's breadcrumb-based, rather than mayo based. And when I've made it from a Provence-born chef I knew's recipe, it was made by blending in roasted ball peppers to fresh aoili.

mine are the usual-- vinaigrettes, bread, stocks, etc... but marrying a French man has opened my eyes. Not only did he make all our salad dressing, he did't understand why I would buy mayonnaise. He whips it up! It kinda blew my mind the first time I saw it. Of course, now that I mention it, elsewhere on Egullet... http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=69129

I have been googling, yahooing and wikipedia-ing and less I can learn, the more I want to know. Where did they come from? They are so canonic now, they must have come from somewhere...

dear god ← Clearly there is no god.

I have no problem with the winner, except I'd like to see more Besh *too.* He's a fun competitor, and he and Simon are a blast both. Actually, almost all of them are. Unhappy moment: Tracy getting the boot in the first round. She had a bad day, the wrong day, because otherwise I think she, like Simon, would have aced the rest of the challenges. Plus a chick who could cook would be nice. Cora keeps losing despite the endless lowering of her competition: it's embarrassing for all of us, and screams tokenism. I think all the current Iron Chefs should have to hold their own to keep their spots. Maybe an annual re-earning of the title? If your win/lose ration gets bad, you are thrown into the pot? BTW, if anyone thinks Flay shouldn't be there, they should watch the Iron Chef where he gets electrocuted. I may not like his cuisine (I hate southwestern) I give him points for moxie and creativity. Finally, it was funny seeing how happy all the chefs were to be there: it was clear they all had played along at home.

When I was waiting tables, 10% was for bad service but you got everything at least, and a penny if you were shockingly served. A penny says, I didn't forget: you sucked. The problem is, you are a regular and a tip is also a bribe for future good service. :\ It's always good to leave a note for the waiter, or as you did, let the manager know. It's impossible to improve unless you get feedback. a note/complaint with a "decent" tip-- as you did-- says "you messed up, but I have hopes for the future."

I find Monterey area a bit of a dining challenge, despite all the money floating around. I have grown to love Fifi's, in Pacific Grove. Unpretentious French, and the lady proprietress and awesome and flamboyant. She gave us her rabbit in mustard recipe written in French, on a doily (my husband is French, so that was the correct language choice.)

I want to second Hog Island's tiny place in the Ferry building-- it has a bar and a few tables. There are a ton of other terrific little bar/takeout places in the Ferry building, you could wander around and pick what suited your fancy, and if it's takeout, you can usually sit on the tables out back and look at the bay.

Manresa is fantastic, but French Laundry is a life changing experience. Despite Michelin's opinion, it's like matching a two star against a three star. But you know what? Life is short, do both. Really, your credit card can take it. How many Starbucks lattes do you need? Try coffee once in a while. ;-) If you're really going to pick, do FL. and stay at Burgundy house. It's very authentic, and you can stagger home... plus it's in a sexier area than Manresa .. the wine country in fall is gorgeous. And if you stay a second day, you can swing by ad hoc. Which is merely terrific. http://www.eleganthack.com/archives/burgandy_house.php

I have a birthday coming up on Monday, and the plan is to dine in San Francisco. I have a two year old, and she needs to be taken for little walks, so a place like Delfina is out. My parents don't want to spend a ton of cash. But I'm not quite ready to roll over and do denny's or even dish (not they should be considered comparable). Ame, zuppa and oola look oh la la, but I don't want the patrons frowning because she need to get up a lot (she doesn't scream or throw things, and she's got trois gros under her belt, but admittedly then she was 6 months old and could be passed around like a football.) Can the e-gulleters find a place that can match mama's passion for surprising cuisine and a two year old's restlessness? Or will this mama be doomed to eating at palomino? HEEEEELLLLLLPPPPPPPPP

A little bird, a mocking bird perhaps, that Jacques makes an appearance there somewhere. ← Yes, here are the deets http://www.rickbayless.com/tv/season5/twochefs.html

I don't think anyone's mentioned Casey's amazing decency of admitted her best dish was 100% Howie. It hurt her, but at the same time I really admired her. Nothing wrong with Dale that being forbidden to work with chillies and their derivatives wouldn't fix. I'm hyper sensitive-- I eat them and I get blisters. I suspect Dale is utterly immune, as his blunders seem to all involve them. I'm bummed about his loss for sheer drama reasons.. a cinderella story is more affecting than the obviously best chef winning. As for Hung: a little part of me wished he'd kicked ass by doing the food he did all along, rather than give in to the bullying by the judges. That said, perhaps he did find a new style of cuisine that will take him to the next level. We've never seen that on top chef. A finally note.. I have never seen a group of contestants work together so well to the very end. Casey used dale's lobster bits for stock, they planned courses together. I kept thinking how delighted Ramsey would be if these folks every graced Hell's Kitchen. Overall a good season about COOKING which I loved.