
russ parsons
participating member-
Posts
1,745 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Content Type
Profiles
Forums
Store
Help Articles
Everything posted by russ parsons
-
that reminded me of one of my favorite recipes from last year. i like granitas or ices as much as sorbets (depending on the flavor) and they have the added advantage of being made without any special equipment--just a pie plate in the freezer. Honeydew ice with blackberries and white Port Total time: 20 minutes, plus 2 to 3 hours freezing time Servings: 4 to 6 Note: I tried this with several different wines, trying to find the perfect complement. It works well with Muscat-based wines such as Moscato or Beaumes de Venise. But when I tried it with a good-quality white Port, such as the one made by Ramos Pinto (available at selected fine wine shops), I knew I'd found the perfect match. 1 (4- to 5-pound) honeydew melon 3 to 4 tablespoons sugar 1 pint blackberries, blueberries or raspberries 2 tablespoons white Port 1. Cut the melon in half and scoop out the seeds. Using a spoon, scoop out chunks of melon flesh, putting them in a food processor work bowl. Don't dig too deep -- the melon close to the peel has a strong cucumber flavor. 2. Puree the melon and stir in 2 tablespoons sugar. Taste and add one more tablespoon if necessary. Because chilling reduces flavor, the mixture should be very sweet. 3. Pour the puree into a 7- by 11-inch glass baking dish (or another dish that will hold the puree to a depth of three-fourths to 1 inch). Freeze the puree for 30 minutes. Remove the pan from the freezer and stir the puree with a fork, breaking up any chunks of ice. Repeat 4 or 5 times over 2 to 3 hours. Each time, the ice will be a little less liquid and will stick together more. When it is firm enough to hold a shape, it is done. 4. Try not to let the melon ice freeze solid. If it does, chop it into small pieces in the pan and grind it in the food processor.(The result will be lighter and fluffier and the flavor will not be as dense and luscious.) 5. Stir together the berries with 1 tablespoon sugar and the Port. Let the fruit mixture sit for 10 to 15 minutes. To serve, spoon the melon ice into martini or short wine glasses and spoon some of the berries with their liqueur over the top of each. (forgive me oh gods of copyright)
-
i'm sure there are people on this board with more experience of the restaurant than i have (and let me make it perfectly clear: nothing i say here should be read as a slam against chez panisse, it's excellent if, for me, something short of perfect). for me, it may be a matter of expectations. when i go to the restaurant, it's a big deal and while i've always been pleased, i'm rarely in love. to me, the food at the cafe and the restaurant are pretty much the same, in spirit and in execution. and, for me, the style of chez panisse seems to work better in a more casual atmosphere. there's a bustle to the cafe while the restaurant has a more reverent hush. and since what you're eating is, essentially, informal cafe food, the former works better for me.
-
not necessarily. it just makes shipping much more expensive and demanding. peaches like frog hollow's (and honey crisps) are picked nearly dead ripe directly into foam padded flats. they go through no sorting or boxing beyond what happens in the orchard. they they are shipped immediately. what happens to commercial peaches is something short of this. but that's why they cost 99 cents apound.
-
the cafe is an almost perfect restaurant (in fact, I like it much more than downstairs, where i only eat occasionally). when i fly north, i literally plan my jetblue departure/arrival into oakland so i can stop for lunch. very simple food, done perfectly. it's the kind of place that reminds you have how incredibly delicious a perfectly prepared green salad can be. wonderful setting. great prices. plan on about $150 for a blow-out lunch for two with a generous tip (three courses, including cheese, a couple glasses of champagne, a half-bottle of something good). they also have a daily set menu that's three courses for $25. it's also a very cool mix of people: it seems like almost every time i eat there there's one table that seems to be a student eating by his/her self, always the economy menu and deeply enjoying it.
-
busboy, is this the dual canister cuisinart that you later referred to, or a single canister model that they included a spare. if so, where did you get it? i'm on deadline and that sounds like jsut the thing.
-
this seems to be the opposite of my understanding. The surface of the roast is always much, much hotter than the center (depending on the size of hte roast and hte heat of the oven, of course). on the other hand, it seems to me that after being pulled from the oven, the surface and outer perimeter would cool at a much quicker rate than the center, resulting in more even doneness. this theory has the added advantage of fitting with practical experience: But think of a slice of prime rib: the surface will be browned (300-degrees plus), the outer perimeter will be medium to well (160 plus) while the center is still pink (130). Granted, cooking a smaller roast in a cooler oven will result in more even doneness, but there will still be a range. As for the "sealing in the juices", i'm not going to touch that can of worms, except to point out that, practically speaking again, if you slice the meat right out of the oven, you end up with a lot more juice on the board than if you let the meat rest.
-
a most convincing answer msduck. correct me if i'm summing it up incorrectly: 1) it allows the free juices within the meat to redistribute more evenly throughout. 2) it allows reserved heat in the meat to continue cooking to the desired doneness (sort of the equivalent of coasting to a stop, because you certainly can't slam on the breaks with a roast).
-
there are a lot of gulleters who know more about korean food than i do, but as a beginning fan, my favorite place is Yong Susan (8th and Vermont). they have a series of tasting menus, so the dinner is structured for you. and the food is very, very good. much more than the typical barbecue/panchan place (though there's certainly NOTHING wrong with that).
-
have you checked out knifeforums? those guys are mad dog. i'll bet they know.
-
As opposed to the smell? Or are you talking about situations where you can't sniff the fruit? ← good question. the smell will tell you when it's ripe. but that orange-ish cast tells you it had really high sugar (the two things are unrelated--ripeness is a physiological state that comes to all peaches [and the rest of us, come to think of it]; high sugar comes only from being grown the right way).
-
notice the orange-ish cast to the background. i've found that's the real key to getting the sweetest fruit.
-
several years ago i did a summer of pie crust, trying to conquer my longstanding fears. i made 3 or 4 every day, using food processor, kitchenaid and pastry cutter. i did find that finally the pastry cutter crusts always seemed to turn out lighter and flakier. kitchenaid was my second favorite. of course, this could just be me never mastering the timing on the food processor. my favorite crust these days is made in the kitchenaid. its the one from the bouchon book. you work the butter into half the amount of flour, then add the rest of the flour, then the ice water. this dough is a dream to work with. i'm not sure exactly why, but it always rolls out really easily and evenly and it has great flavor. i use it for both sweet and savory.
-
thanks guys, i'm glad you liked the story. honestly, tri-tip was something i'd never gotten around to cooking with and it was a real eye-opener. i did about a dozen of them in two weeks developing the recipe and i've cooked three of them on my own since then. i can't remember the last time that's happened. usually, once i'm finished with the research, i am thoroughly sated for a while. and jaymes is correct: there is no sauce (and very little seasoning). it is so different from most traditional barbecues that i really hesitated to call it that, but that's what they call it.
-
for the first salmon of the year, particularly a great fish, try this: lightly oil a baking sheet and put the salmon on it, lightly salted. heat the oven to 300, place the rack in the lower 1/3 and place a baking pan under it. Bring a pot of water to the boil. When the water is boiling, pour it into the baking pan. Put the baking sheet in the oven and close the door. cook for about 25 minutes (keep an eye, when you see collagen start to break on the surface, it's done). Remove it from the oven and using a pastry brush dipped in oil, fleck away any collagen. this (which i learned from paula wolfert) makes the most amazing, pure salmon you've ever had. the color hardly changes at all and the texture is simply melting. i usually serve it with a little bit of tarragon mayonnaise (on the side!) and a cucumber salad. blatant self-promotion: this recipe from "french fry" was included in best recipes of the year whatever year that was.
-
yeah, what he said. i think one of the reasons i'm so fond of my misono is because the handle feels just like my old wusthof. the blade, of course, is completely different. it really feels like cutting with a laser compared to the germans. i can use it to fine-mince garlic, something i always had to use a paring knife for in the past. i've beenusing gyutos for a year and about the only time i pull out my old wusthof is for something really heavy duty (the other day, i had to peel and chop a mess of garlic--something i usually do by slapping the clove hard with the side of the blade; that was the first time in ages i've used my wusthoff).
-
the shorthand is those are levels of sweetness, but i think "ripeness" may be a little more descriptive. riesling is still incredibly underrated in this country. this weekend i kicked off the summer dinner party season with a couple of bottles of 1991 spatlese. it was truly a remarkable wine, still fairly fresh, but with definite developed characteristics (old riesling to me smells like pine needles). i bought a bunch of this stuff last year from darrel corti (corti bros. in sacramento) and it was $21 a bottle. can you imagine that? edit: i almost forgot to add one of the very best things about this wine: 7.5% alcohol. you can drink it on a warm evening and not immediatley go to sleep (something that was distinctly NOT true of the '99 justin zin--15%--that i opened to go with the tri-tip).
-
FYI: Thomas Keller on 60 minutes [Merged Topic]
russ parsons replied to a topic in Food Media & Arts
that's probably part of it. certainly part of it is his ability as a leader. he is truly a great boss. unless you've been there, i don't think you can really understand how much almost everyone who works for him as completely bought into what they are doing. it's almost like a cult. they really believe that they are the best in the country, or at least that that's what is expected of them. those who don't buy in, don't last; it's just too much work if you're only there to get a line on a resume. it's easy to be cynical about it from a distance, but i guess i've drunk the koolaid too. i've been there (repeatedly) when thomas leads teh crew after service in breaking down the entire kitchen and scouring every station. he doesn't just retreat to his office. there is no one in that kitchen who works harder at even the most menial jobs. when a boss like that tells you he's disappointed in you, it's worse than anything gordon ramsay can dish out. -
FYI: Thomas Keller on 60 minutes [Merged Topic]
russ parsons replied to a topic in Food Media & Arts
i spent a couple days in the kitchen 7 or 8 years ago. thomas had a reputation as a shouter when he was at rakel, so i was interested in seeing how he operated. the only time i saw anything was when a line cook screwed something up and thomas went over to talk to him. it was very quiet, and thomas was just shaking his head, but the kid turned absolutely white as a ghost. as a print snob, i was really amazed and impressed that a tv report was able (and willing) to get so much in depth. -
i'd never argue with bob, who is a certified knife god, but i really have a hard time sorting those factors out and assigning them a weight. the blade is probably most important, since it does the cutting and has to be sharp. but thin or thick? carbon or stainless? french or german (or japanese imitating french)? balance is incredibly important and something i think most people don't pay enough attention to. a blade-heavy knife makes you feel like you're lifting weights all day. a handle-heavy knife makes you work too hard to do anything. the handle is probably the least important, at least until you find that one perfect one that is matched up with a great blade and great balance. when i was doing my piece on japanese knives, i found that pretty much all of them were extremely sharp and very well balanced. so given a virtual draw there, the handles became extremely important (also, the type of bolster).
-
Even better, "bunghole!" ←
-
it sounds from the original question like maybe speed and efficiency are important here ... with only one day. napa, being a wine monoculture, is probably easier that way. heck you can drive up 29 to calistoga and back down silverado in an hour (or maybe 3 during crush). i'd recommend stopping at sinskey on the silverado trail. they're friends, but the reason i'm recommending them is because of the great job they do matching food and wine and making the tasting room experience work that way. plus, with kids of their own, they may be a little more understanding of little ones pulling the bung plug out of a cask of reserve cabernet or something.
-
good suggestions all. in general, slo is not a center of fine dining, despite the great local products. on the other hand, if there is any way you can arrange to be in slo on a thursday night, by all means do it. the farmers market is a real treasure. old port inn is good, and has a history of supporting local wineries. i ate at windows and a couple of other spots when i was up there last year and they were pretty good. windows in particular has a great view. i always make a point of stopping at big sky cafe when i'm in slo, but it's probably more of a breakfast/lunch place.
-
That's an interesting point, but i'm not sure i completely agree--and the difference may be instructive. i think book and movie critics still tend to view themselves more as critics of the art rather than consumer representatives. and, as a result, i think you can make a pretty fair argument that they have pretty much written themselves out of the mainstream. when was the last time praise from a movie critic made much of a difference in the box office? the same with book critics. their role now seems to be writing for the smaller subset of movie and book fans who --for want of a more delicate term -- "think" about what they're doing (as opposed to those who simply enjoy ... and yes, i am a compulsive reader of mysteries and i thought "something about mary" was hilarious, so spare me the "elitist" garbage"). i suppose you could continue the analogy to food, but only if you are willing to broaden your concept of restaurant enough that it would take in fast food and places like dennys and carrows. if you keep the focus on more-or-less "fine dining", i'd argue that restaurant critics have done a pretty good job of straddling the two worlds.
-
i did try the kyocera and i have to say taht i didn't care for it at all. it wasn't terrifically sharp and it was really, really light. unless y ou're 5-2 and arthritic, probably not a good choice.
-
let me second russell's suggestions of New Concept. they're trying a pretty brave thing here: the first chinese restaurant i'm aware of in southern california that is actually promoting the chef (his name is on the menu) and allowing him to do some creative things. the dimsum, in particular, is just amazing. get your bachelor's at empress pavillion and ocean star (i still do love them), but then go to new concept and see what the next step is.