bronihk

big bump here as I realize this topic has been sleepy for a bit... I'm trying to find out a little more about old beefs...specifically, how common it is to see 5-15 year old + cows/oxen on menus. I'm seeing, from this thread and from what I've read, that it's not a too rare thing in Galicia and have seen (in my limited research) that Magnus Nilsson has served beef from a 7 yr old dairy cow but, based on my own experience, have not seen it anywhere else. I know this is a Spain board and this may be off-topic here, but there seem to be a few of you who know quite a bit. Plus, I can't find the damn Men's Vogue article anywhere online anymore. I figure it had/has a lot of good info. Anyway, I'm super curious about this both as a person who's had experience raising steers and who loves meat (I'm in the USA). Thanks all.

thanks so much for the food saftey info...really helpful. we're going to use pink salt on this first try. another question (as we're getting ready to cure our pork belly for bacon): should I trim the skin off my belly before curing to bacon or after? thanks for any help..

so you're say with or without works (saftey-wise) but taste-wise it sounds like you go for the addition of pink salt. glad to finally clear up the nitrate-free thing. was always curious what that really meant. thanks so much for the help, michael. loving the book!

hey charcuterie fans, been reading this thread for a while, love it, finally got the book and am ready to start trying out some of the recipes...first of which is going to be bacon but i've got a quick question that hopefully someone here can answer (and if this had already been posted, sorry if i missed the response). What is the story with nitrite/nitrate-free bacon? I keep seeing it advertised at various places, with most people claiming it is somehow superior to ordinary bacon (http://tinyurl.com/f2uuq), either because it tastes better or is better for you. In 'Charcuterie', though the bacon recipe, based off the master dry cure, includes pink salt. In the section about pink salt, it says this is essential to avoid botulism poisoning. What's the story? Do these nitrateless bacon producers use a different ingredient to stymie the botulism spores? Do they use some fancy machine to botulism-test every belly that they cure? Basically what I'm getting at here is can I make some of my own bacon even while waiting for butcher-packer to deliver my pink salt? any help would be great...thanks!

The one time i went to jewel bako was about 3 and half years ago. i loved and and have been raving to my SO for ages but never actually gotten the chance to take him. We're finally going tonight so i decieded to check the boards, see what people were thinking as of late. Looks like there has been little to say and now i see the bruni review and am a bit worried. do people agree with his recent assesment? really dont want my good memory of the place to be ruined!

i third walnut oil. i like mine with champagne vinegar, good dijon, salt and pepper. my favorite dressing.

I've done pretty large birds (20lbs) the past 4 or 5 years and used a high-heat method which literally halves the cooking time and have always gotten really positive feedback from guests...last year it was brined and high-heat roasted. although better, not significantly so. what sort of luck have other people had with high-heat/shorter time?

visiting this topic again since not much has been posted since '04. i'm looking for good lunch places, $10 and under range, in the herald sqaure/penn station area for workday lunches (and in this case that means take-out or delivery). of specific interest would be things like: pho banh mi bento box French sandwich/bistro food Italian sandwich/bistro food cheeseburgers grilled cheese type stuff southern food california food fried chicken puerto rican-style roast chicken w/ rice and beans big udon-type bowls of noodles north african stew like with meatballs/spices, etc hard to scout out the tasty places and am new to working up here...any help is much appreciated.

been lurking and am so impressed with the thought process going into this. I'm very into the warm cookie idea and think not enough take-out places (or restaurants in general) offer them. in elemantary school we had a cookie line that served 3 hot cookies (for a buck, it was a while ago) in a bag for about 20 min a day...the line was incredibly long but so worth it. would love to have that option at a burger/shake place as a small, sweet ending to a great meal.

growing up in SF, CA and living on the east (NY) for several years, i have to agree with the open-faced camp. this is not to say i haven't had the closed-sandwich type, but i too consider that a 'grilled tuna salad sandwich'. last night i made a wonderful tuna melt a little differently than usual (i normally take a curry/cumin route). spanish olive oil packed tuna + scallions + mustard w. herbs de provence + dill + red pepper + lovage leaves (which i just discovered) on a hollowed out kaiser roll (more room for tuna!!) topped with cheddar and stuck under the broiler. i really loved the addition of lovage!!

this month's saveur magazine has a long article on peanuts and what to do with them should you have raw ones. althought they do roast and boil, there are a couple other ideas. go check it out for some ideas (personally i'd love to try roasting my own and turning it into peanut butter!).

i was planning on doing sandwiches but dont have a fryer so was just going to pan fry. does the milk soak make a big difference in the end result for this? think its worth it?

for some reason i thougth the season started in april...i may be totally off on that. bought mine for $4/each. i was acutally just informed that the cleaning process is basically just removing the head...this right?

going to resurrect this. i know its a little late in the season, but i have fresh softshell's today that i'd like to pan-fry up (trying to immitate a wonderful soft shell sandwich at once had at the farmer's market in SF). I'm getting a good sense of how to actually cook them but am a little lost on the cleaning process. if i missed the post, please let me know. if not, tips/procedure would be appreciated.

Whole Foods in NYC has frozen pizza dough that is totally fine. Made a great pizza with it the other day. i've also gone to pizza shops and just asked for a ball of dough. some will oblidge, some wont (a friend of mine actually went to about 5 places once before they actually gave her the dough). this also worked quite well. the only real problem is that i baked in a standard oven w/ a cookie sheet so there was no tasty brown-ness. this, though, was my fault not the dough's.

cheers to that! its so salty but i supposed thats what i love about it. yum.

weird...i just bought them at union sq whole foods for around $46/lb. this was last thursday, i believe. so expensive but really tasty.

i just started a little window sill herb garden in my aparment (inside, but lots of light) and am wondering about 'harvesting'. i have (greek) oregano, thyme, rosemary and parsley. should i be careful of taking too much off at one time? should i trim from certain areas of the plant (top, outside branches, etc)? i really am a bit clueless when it comes to the whole live-plant thing. help!

at the gas station on Kent right before you get onto the BQE at Flushing (williamsburg). they tend to have them there.

the egg/frisee/gorgonzola sandwhich is my favorite egg and cheese in the city. we make special trips just to gobble one up on saturdays. i must agree with other posters, though, that is is not at all an inviting place to eat. too cafeteria style and it was, to my taste, too cold the last couple times we went. would be very interested were one to open up further downtown!

my friend and i have done early walkins at the bar (early like 630 or 7) for dinner/drinks a few times. we always kind of laugh at ourselves for going given its tourity clientele and hype but secretly quite enjoy it.

one to try in the third catagory that isn't overwhelmed by toppings and i love is the spinach. i'm a sucker for ricotta pizzas...this is one of my favorites at fornino (and i've probaby had 7-8 pies there). i really like the rustica as well.

this sounds amazing (i am reiiterating here, sorry). can you post a recipe-like something for it?

truffle/egg toast at ino white pizza at sullivan st oysters and cured meats at marlow lobster roll at pearl croque monsiuer at pastis fish n' chips at schillers burger at jg melon egg sandwich at diner (the best ever) croissant bread pudding at cafe colonial paneer roll at kati roll dumplings at that place on allen (s. of delancy) ricotta gelatto al il laboritorio (sp?)

i might get totally slammed for this, but whenever i'm in italy i buy preserved truffles in olive oil (which tends to be cheap there) since i really can't afford the real thing here in the states and yes, although they do pale in comparison to the real thing, i still enjoy using my little jars of truffles in scrambled eggs (or egg sandwiches!), on grilled cheese, and on pasta. although this may not be everyone's bag but it works for me!