Shalmanese

If you can't get an easy source for chicken feet, just amp up the stock with some powdered gelatin. Gelatin DOES add to the mouthfeel of a stock, making it feel fuller and more rounded.

And what I want to know is, why shouldn't every tomato be like this? That is just what a tomato should be. No more, no less. ← Heh, when I was reading that, I was thinking... "But, thats how my tomatos ALREADY taste!".

At-Kens huh?

Well, I could certainly imagine being able to play around a bit with tableside cooking... if you could work out the liability issues with people getting burnt.

Oddly enough, I've never added white sugar to my vinagrettes but I've done brown sugar, caramel, honey, maple syrup, fruit purees and juices, balsamic reduction, onion confit and all manner of sweet things to my vinagrettes.

I've heard that wine is the best soaking liquid for saffron. The alcohol releases a few more of the alcohol soluble flavours. Then again, it could just be bullshit.

T minus 12 hours until my alinea dinner. I'm sooo excited.

If yoy lay one wok on top of another, both woks shouldnt take up significantly more storage space than a single 16".

I don't usually cook carrots but I've fallen in love with Thomas Keller's carrot soup. Glaze 3 large carrots in 1 1/2 cups of carrot juice, 1 tbsp of butter and 1 tbsp of honey and a pinch of curry powder. Then, add 1 cup of carrot juice, 1 cup of heavy cream and puree. Delicious

I wouldn't get your hopes up

For those of you who are daunted by the proscriptions that you MUST have an absolutely A+ quality, home-made stock (and, you really do), then you might want to experiment with Miso Based Risotto. For me, it's a wonderful alternative when I don't have frozen chicken stock on hand.

Sure. £100 Baked Beans: Heirloom beans, Kurobata pork smoked with organic applewood, Danish Smoked Salt... and truffles! $200 Hot Dog: 100% Wagyu Sausage, artisinal sourdough loaf, heirloom tomato relish... and truffles! €500 Beer: Organic, Artisinal hops, Hand threshed barley, Water from pure norwegian springs... and truffles! ¥100,000 Chocolate Truffle: Single Estate chocolate, organic, Madagascar, hand picked vanilla, Pesticide free, artisinal sugar... all enrobing a massive truffle.

I love it. The recipes aren't fantastic but the non-recipe articles are always meticulously researched and presented in a clear fashion. The horizontal reciple diagrams are interesting as well and I'd like to see them pop up in other places.

Whats with the towel around it's head?

What? The butt half has far more yield. The shank half is primarily bone and connective tissue. The butt half has a lot more meat.

PS: I've made the discovery that a large spoonful of onion confit is the perfect foil to balance the acidity in a tomato sauce.

I guess the key here is to make sure the ice is cold, far colder than 0C/32F. That way, it can cool down the chocolate without melting the ice. I wonder if you could mix chocolate with liquid nitrogen or dry ice to create other interesting effects? Has anyone tried?

Ha! I love how you artfully arranged it so it looks like the newspaper is saying "Melon".

So have all the shows been translated into english? Any chance of a... *whips out calculator*... 100 DVD set coming out?

I'm mildly toying with a 21 course tasting menu for 21 people for my 21st birthday. Seeing your inspirational work tammy has made this seem slightly less crazy.

I would eat that.

What? How do you brown salt? Salt is a rock!

How many 3 star restaurants are in the Bay Area? French Laundry is obviously a shoe in. Chez Panisse, probably. What others are there? Is Gary Danko a 3 star?

Did you press on the mint leaves when you were straining? According to some, this is where the slightly bitter, vegetal taste comes from.

For the metrically challenged, google can convert between a myriad of units very easily. Just type "30C in F" into the search box and, voila, your answer appears.