Shalmanese
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Posts posted by Shalmanese
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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.
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Frozen chunks of onion confit, frozen beef demi glace and a good bottle of red wine can get you from in the door to warm, comforting soup in 20 minutes. Just toss in a shot of sherry vinegar at the end for that extra kick.
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Chicken under a brick is a fantastic, quick way to get succulent chicken. Spatchcock a bird and press it flat skin side down into a cold pan, put some heavy weights on top (I use 2 cast iron pans and some tins of tomatos). Then, put it over medium heat for 10 or so minutes until the skin is crisp and brown. Take it out, drain off most of the fat, then put in in a hot oven for another 10 minutes or so and take it out when the thigh reaches temp. The chicken comes out beautifully and it's much easier to carve as well.
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I score them, put them in non-stick pan over medium low heat and let the fat gently render out. As it is cooking, I continuously spoon the hot fat over the duck breast until the top is cooked and the inside is medium-rare. Perfect duck breasts, every time, without having to use the oven.
It pairs very well with leek & caraway seed.
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So? Corn syrup is so highly refined that it's chemically equivilant no matter where it comes from. There is no concievable way for your body to distinguish GM and non GM corn syrup.
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What about a mini-beef pie? everybody loves pie!
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What about a bottle of aged balsamic? It's the ultimate splurge ingredient IMHO and it has the added benifit that it never goes bad so he doesn't feel obligated to use it right away but can save it for special occasions.
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Uh... the heat of the boiling milk alone is not enough to set the custard. You need to put it in a double boiler over steaming water and cook it until the custard firms up.
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If you can get sushi rice in Shanghai, that would work better than chinese rice. Not as good as arborio, but tolerable.
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I found the one recipe at the top of the results, but I was hoping for one that doesn't require pork skin. They don't have that at our local supermarket. :-/
You could sub in some good pork stock with powdered gelatin added. You want it to be about the consistency of medium jello. I don't know off the top of my head how much gelatin that would be but experiment a bit and you should get it.
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2 1/2 pounds of meat from 25 pounds of clams? That seems surprisingly low yield to me.
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I brine and then poach the breasts in 65C salted water until they come up to temp and the use them in salads, sandwiches and other preparations where you just want some meaty filler.
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Would a super premium icecream be a waste in a milkshake? If so, what grade and how much butterfat and overturn should I look for?
Should I still look for wax paper cups or would styrofoam be O.K. I know I can find a plain styrofoam cup at my local GFS.
Thanks for your input.
I haven't seen your books or done the sums but be careful that you don't either end up with a $5 milkshake with nobody buying it (Unless you put bourbon in it or something) or a $1 milkshake with no margins and you going out of business. I think it's admirable that you want to make the best milkshake possible but is it really feasible financially for the area that you are in?
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Soup: Miso soup with mushrooms (maybe the straw variety), soft tofu and some thinly-diced scallions. Well, it's not Western but it is non-Chinese. Western soups are usually very thick -- the ones I like anyway, e.g. gumbo, chowder -- and may be unsuitable to the Chinese palate. Is it possible to get miso paste in Shanghai?
The Chinese have thier own version of fermented soybean paste called "dajiang" paste IIRC.
Salad: Salad with black fig vinaigrette. The black fig vinegar I will bring with me. I usually add cheese to my salads but I'll have to exclude that. Other than the greens what else should I add? Maybe some cherry tomatoes? Do they have those in Shanghai?Many asians have a strong aversion to raw vegtables. I would be very careful about doing this one.
Appetizer/small entree: Crab cakes. I developed a recipe for a Japanese take on it, the primary difference being the use of wakame seaweed. Depending on ingredient availability I will probably make a more Western version. I do plan on using some kind of seaweed though.Sounds good.
Entree: Wild mushroom risotto. No cheese, low oil, Chinese rice, and a large packet of dried mushrooms that I will bring with me.Chinese rice will not make a risotto. You need a high starch, short grain rice like arborio. Better to bring your own.
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It seems to me that chinese love mushrooms of all kinds so maybe you could bring in some dried american mushrooms and make a wild mushroom risotto or something. Not too alien but an interesting enough flavour to be something memorable.
I would go with a creme caramel or something similar for dessert. Egg based desserts are already familiar in Chinese cooking. I think many of you are underestimating how culinarily unadventerous a person who has eated chinese food all thier lives can be. I wouldn't go too far out there.
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I think there are some which imply it by saying:
Risotto*
*Note: This dish will take at least 20 minutes to cook
It's quite possible that they're making it from scratch then or they might just start making it 15 minutes after it's ordered to give the impression of making it from scratch.
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I'm not an expert but I believe this is a personal choice. Finishing with a slightly rougher stone creates micro-serrations in the blade which makes it "grippier" and better able to cut through fibrous matter like meat. Polishing it very smooth makes it better at slicing things like vegtables cleanly.
It all depends on what your using it for.
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I'd say if it was the oysters you'd probabaly be writing your posts from the toilet seat right now.
They can be nasty little buggers.
I'm not claiming it was food poisoning. Allergy has always seemed like the most likely explaination. But as I said in the original review, the oysters had a strong tang of iodine to them. I'm thinking they might of had some chemical or other in it in particularly high quantities that we were allergic to.
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Oh btw: Currently, my hypothesis was that it was the oysters. I've had oysters a couple of times before but not Sydney Rock Oysters as far as I'm aware.
Either that or the yabby. Which I've also had before in Victoria but not in Sydney.
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umm, symptoms you have described are exactly those of an allergic reaction. Sounds very much like a shellfish/seafood reaction.
Trust me, if you were food poisoned, you'd know it.
(exploding from both ends).
PS. yes, that is me in OCAU 8+)
Yeah, active poster, Sydney location. That really narrowed down the field
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Hrmm... I dunno. I wasn't expecting free food or anything. A simple apology would have been nice. It was mainly their complete and utter denial which I thought to be in poor form.
If I was to look from the viewpoint of the bloke who took your call, I honestly don't know how I would have dealt with it.
It's tricky. You don't want to admit liability in case the diner decides to take legal action. On the other hand, you do want to know just in case there is a food handling, food quality and/or allergy problem to deal with.
With the benefit of spending a few minutes thinking about it (and hoping for an ideal world without lawyers
), I probably would have taken down your details and said that I'd speak to the chef....and made sure that the chef got back to you.Oh, we went there in person.
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Now, thats fine. I understand restaurants sometimes make mistakes and you can never account for anything. But the response from the restaurant was simply unacceptable. The person we spoke to denied that the meal could have had anything to do with it and was bodering on hostile. He seemed offended that we would even imply that such a thing could have happened.
I'm sorry to hear that.
How would you have liked them to have handled your complaint?
Hrmm... I dunno. I wasn't expecting free food or anything. A simple apology would have been nice. It was mainly their complete and utter denial which I thought to be in poor form.
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I feel like the point has been made and we should leave this poor guy alone.
While this is a pretty damning topic......, and one which will always create a lot of heated controversy. It does seem a little unfair that Interlude and Robin is getting singled out and used as the prime example, when so many restaurants I've seen and worked with down here in Melbourne do exactly the same sort of thing as discussed in the original accusations.
PJ
Care to name any names?
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I really do not like to do this but I feel in all fairness that I have to amend my review. After the dinner, me, my brother and my mother all broke out into a perculiar rash. Small bumps would appear on our arms and legs which were intensely itchy and has persisted until today (almost 5 days later). Now, we're pretty sure it was caused by that meal because a) the 3 of us had not had anything together since 48 hours before that meal. b) I hadn't even had anything to eat for 24 hours before that. c) the symptoms were remarkably consistent.
Now, thats fine. I understand restaurants sometimes make mistakes and you can never account for anything. But the response from the restaurant was simply unacceptable. The person we spoke to denied that the meal could have had anything to do with it and was bodering on hostile. He seemed offended that we would even imply that such a thing could have happened.
As a result, I simply can't in good faith reccomend anyone dine there. The food is good but there are plenty of places with good food in Sydney. Spend your money elsewhere.
Mint chocolates
in Pastry & Baking
Posted
Did you press on the mint leaves when you were straining? According to some, this is where the slightly bitter, vegetal taste comes from.