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Ooh me, me!!! Uaaahhh hhheeeeeemmmm... Step 1: Hold your non dominate hand out, palm up, yet relaxed (with me so far?). Step 2:With the finger, or fingers of your dominate hand (the fingers that will be doing the actual touching of the meat), press on the fatty area at the base of your non dominate thumb. Thats rare. Step 3: Still working with your non dominate hand, touch your index finger to your thumb, repeat step 2-now and your have medium rare. Catching on? Next move to the middle finger-medium. Ring finger-medium well. Pinky, you guessed it-well done. I hope I have expained that well enough to understand, its late and I had a long day at work.

Set a trap!!!

Wow that looks like a nice piece of machinery!!! And you sound like you are a very proud owner. Grinding chicken and fowl bones is an elementary gardemanger practice, the bones actually help to clarify a stock (as for making consomme). I want to see a machine that can handle veal knuckles!!!!

Pick from just about 50 good recipes but whatever you do, serve them with corn on the cob--- you have to get your hands dirty with the lobster, might as well eat a vegetable that is just as messy and goes well with butter (in any form).

How big are the bones that you use for the stock? I have seen some veal bones that would be like a wrench if I tried to put them in a grinder. I am curious how this method worked out for you. Please respond

If every chef felt the way fryguy feels about cooking then this culinary world would be a better and more efficient place. I love the passion in his words.

It sounds as though you are being too hard on yourself. What you want is something that resembles melted chocolate, but dark, almost black. Don't stop skimming, there will always be impurities in the glace and the double boiler idea will work if you have enough time to invest. I wouldn't use the glace in the same way as you would use a demi because the flavor is a little more unrefined. I brush it on grilled steaks to add a nice sheen and depth of meaty flavor.

The Bread Builders by Allen Scot and Danielle Wang is another great atrisan bread book. In my opinion, as long as your oven can get as hot as you want it and can hold your bread, don't beat yourself up about it, good bread comes from good dough, consentrate on that.

Absolutely, I have never seen shaped boule's made in the way you described; although I'm going to try it to see what possible advantage it might have. And going back to my first post; be careful when you are pulling the dough, remember it is alive. Break the shaping into three stages with a five-ten minute rest/bench between each so you don't have those blisters on top (they are torn gluten which cannot trap the air/gas when it expands in the oven). I was told the dough should be "as smooth as a baby's bottom". Let me know how that works for you. -oh yeah, and pardon the pun in my first post (taught vs taut), I had a couple of drinks and was feeling a little froggy.

Shaping is your problem. The gluten needs to taught-almost persuaded into shape gently.

What is your recipe for the brine?

I learned something new today, thank you. Does the end result have a salty flavor?

Thank you for that insight into your definition of koshering. The Food Lover's Companion defines Kosher as: Food that conforms to strict Jewish biblical laws pertaining not only to the type of food that may be eaten, but to the kinds of food that can be combined at one meal (for example, meat and dairy products may not be mixed). In order to meet kosher standards and receive the kosher seal, food must be prepared under a rabbi's supervision. In addistion to the kinds of animals considered kosher (pigs and rabbits are amog the nonkosher group), the laws also decree that animals be fed organically grown food and killed in the most humane manner possible. The word "kosher" is a derivation of the Hebrew Kasher, meaning "proper" or "pure."

The bread looks like the dough was slightly overproofed. The wrinkles on the sides give me that impression. The crumb structure looks great (dough development), the crust could loose the blisters. Try cool proofing instead of retarding.

As you can tell, a fortune of books are available and loved by cooks and chefs. I'll never forget my first cookbook and I always refer back to it. The New Professional Chef (CIA) textbook. I also enjoy Cook Wise and The French Laundry Cookbook.

Take it out at 122 f. With carry-over and resting you sould be really happy. The great part about that is, if you or your guests want it a little more done (after it has been sliced) cook it some more. I've never been able to find an "uncooker"

Interesting idea. Alas, my turkey was kosher so I think brining would be overkill -- Turkey saltlick. In my experience "kosher" doesn't mean salted. It is food that has been blessed, and is fit to eat during passover. Brinning allows for moisture (in the form of water) to be absorbed by the proteins in the food while it is being soaked. Of coarse you need to monitor the time it soakes to ensure that the osmosis doesn't reverse and result in a saltlick.

A little hint, if you brine the thing first, you can almost forget about it in the oven and it will still have a good bit of moisture in it when you pull it out.

Try cold smoking.

My vote is for "Ajo Blanco" or white Gazspacho. You can make it look nice by garnishing with some of the ingredients that go into the soup, and peeled, seedless grapes.

Thai lettuce wraps of beef and chicken with a chashew sauce. Healthy and easy.

If you are stuffing raw squid then you need to make sure you bring the internal temp of the stuffing to 160 degrees, to ensure it is safe to eat. In school we were told "2 minutes or 2 hours". So cook them in a 325 degree oven, just swimming in what ever liquid you want, covered tightly with a lid, for 2 hours. It helps to saute them lightly before you braise them to seal in the juices.

Did anyone catch the food networks show about Morimoto's new restaurant in Philly? The show was called "Morimoto Raw" and the emphasis was on the finest raw ingredients simply prepared. The biggest seller of opening night to everyone's surprise was the fluke carpaccio. This supports the idea of ingredients over manipulation.

That article really makes me think. My wife tells me that I am "black and white" when it comes to a lot of issues, food being the biggest one. As a young chef, it has been really frustrating to witness good restaurants get by with ordering food (mostly produce) from all parts of the world, put every ingredient that arrived that day on a plate, and sell it for a big price. Therefore I would lean more toward the idea of procuring (sp) the finest, local ingredients and unbasterdising (is that a word?) them. Chef's hold a certain responsibility to the dining public to search for the best raw ingredients and relay its natural flavor to the plate, then to the palate. Call it laziness, or lack of passion, or lack of training; either way, the mix-jumble-mess of food that some chef's offer makes me long for a fresh strawberry, dipped in sour cream and then brown sugar.

I think that a lot of it has to do with your expetations of a particular place. Of coarse, at a five star restaurant, you will expect to have your every request fullfilled. But, a mom and pop place will blow you away if they get your order correct.