karnesky

I disagree. I often make a double batch of the sauce & freeze one of those for later. It thaws & remelts well. Think other people have claimed it lasts a week in the fridge or two months in the freezer.

This was the first thing I cooked out of MCAH (as I wait for my replacement copies from amazon.ca). I made them according to directions, so did use salted mineral water. The consistent of the chickpeas was excellent. I found the dressing to be too tart & it didn't really stand out as a dish. The tuna confit, though: Gosh that was good. I've cooked halibut in a similar manner & will probably do more low temp olive oil fish dishes soon!I also made the Raspberry panna cotta, which was super-simple & led to the perfect texture and creamyness, without tasting any of the gelation agent. I thawed a couple bags of unsweetened raspberries for the puree. Ended up with left over cream, raspberries, and gelatin; I'll scale up to use up all the raspberries next time.

Memorial day dinner for me was: egg blossom red coleslaw, white coleslaw mac&cheese braised short ribs strawberry gazpacho I agree with the past poster that the egg blossom was more set than I'd want (or that was depicted). The fat didn't really permeate into the eggs much, but I think the plastic wrap was worth it for the presentation. The red coleslaw involved vacuum reduction. The reduction took much longer than 2 hrs & the amount of reduced juice was too much for the small amount of cabbage called for. Not sure what went wrong there. Of course, I had just setup the aspirator & so I fought various tubings collapsing or being unable to take the heat. The flavor was good & I like having pickled mustard seeds on hand. I had made the white coleslaw before, so no surprises. People were split on which they preferred. As has been said, the mac&cheese is great: almost everyone had seconds. I used the second half of a batch of cheese I froze a month ago. The first time we had it, we topped it with paprika and/or cayenne and/or hot sauce (just needs some color). This time was bacon. Short ribs were phenomenal: another where everyone had seconds. The microwave jerky came out a bit salty, but was fine in that dish. No garlic chips this time & I used pre-made tamarind paste. Everything else per recipe. Strawberry gazpacho was good. I don't have a pacojet, so I made the sour rhubarb sorbet with liquid nitrogen. AirGas now wants something like $6/liter for LN2 here (last Thanksgiving, it was only $1/liter), so I used the last few drops of LN2 that I had in the dewar. Everything froze, but they were basically dippin' dots.

I sent a request to our library here in Oakland. I ordered my own copy, but I like the idea of our library having one.I am not sure how the economics of library acquisitions work. I think Cory Doctorow had some sort of system for sponsors to give copies of one of his books to libraries that asked, but I also think that the SF library ends up selling every book they receive (new or old) at their fund raising sales. Anyone know if some libraries may have a system to allow for directed donations to influence purchasing decisions?

Just ate at Jang Mo Jib on Robson. Easily the best Korean restaraunt I've been to where I wasn't able to grill it over wood myself. The place was packed, there was appropriate K-pop playing & the service was GREAT. There was a waiting list, but we got seated immediately & they immediately took our order & had our food out. I'm not a fan of haemool paju (seafood pancake), but ordered one from multiple recommendations. Best one I've had. Bul Gul Gi was also good.

I'm in love with many of the restaraunts on Main--Lupita's, Lucky Platter, and Kuni's. Stained Glass Wine Bar and Chef's Station are both fine places. When I first moved out here, I liked Tommy Nevins quite a bit. But since then, I've had VERY poor service & refuse to return. "Weiner and Still Champion" used to be good for dogs & samosa, but they've changed ownership. D&D is good for your dog/gyro/fast food fix, but expensive.

Seconded! And they do have margaritas.

I ate at Kim Phung today. They served four of us two small plates of the fixings, which wasn't enough (even though there were pho newbies who didn't touch it). They, of course, refilled it. I've had better noodles & have definitely had more meat--I don't think I saw any tripe in my bowl, which disappointed me. The rare beef in the soup was good and the spicy broth was one of the best bases I've had.

I went to Galacos a few times when I was living in southern california. Nice little place--wonderful selection of both soda and beer. You're right that it isn't cheap, but most prices aren't unreasonable.

Kettle Classics used to include a small packet of hot sauce with their Cholula Potato Chips. The slightly wet, thick chips were great. I don't think they include it any more, but we have taken to sprinkling hot sauce on our chips.

As Dave implied, a lot of poultry is already put in nitrate. This is essentially a brining solution. Brining a "prebrined" or industrial bird can lead to some poor results. You need to wash the bird completely & use less salt in your brine. The best results are obtained with a fresh bird that is being subjected to a saline solution for the first time. Most brines should be washed off the bird. If your brined bird STILL tastes too salty, reduce the salt content of the brine and/or brining time to your taste. There is definitely a "sweet spot" of when it is tender and juicy, rather than a gelatenous salt lick.

Out of the bottle, I'll try nearly any tamarindo or ginger beer. It isn't carbonated (so I wouldn't call it "pop"), but fresh made horchata is always a treat.

I have the whole series & love it. I'm surprised to not see it more frequently suggested. Richard Olney & company did quite a wonderful job. If you don't mind giving up the shelf space or referring to multiple volumes, this is a great series to pick up from used book stores or ebay!

For those who are unfortunate enough not to have visited the Spice House, the smells are really under-reported in this thread. I was first drawn to the store when I could smell it from several blocks away on a particularly nice day in Evanston. I am very glad that when I do leave this city, I will be able to conveniently order the quality spices. Also, thank you so much for the Northwestern University discount! It has helped to make this poor student's cooking much more fun and tastier.

I love both of your books. I have a first edition of IJHFTF & noted a few minor errors. I noted that later editions seem to have some corrections. I was wondering if you could post your errata or give it to mikemenn so that "Early adopters" can know Smartypantses won't be able to gloat If you have any other embarrasing errors to get off your chest, feel free. Thanks!