Shalmanese

Mi goreng noodles from indomie... Those things are freaking addictive.

Overmixing allows the protein strands to tangle which will then constrict when cooked and causes a denser and drier product. Imagine a bunch of strings in a bowl, the more you play around with it, the more the strings will get tangled up with each other.

QFC in Ravenna used to have one in a special display case near the freezer aisle but I couldn't find it today. Still can't find any of the bags there, anyone know a source?

Pesticides are a massively overblown fear: cite I was more talking from a taste basis. Anyway, the "gross incompetence" comment was not meant to be an insult towards anyone. It's just it seems like you would need to be actively trying in order to burn a blonde roux. I can understand burning the roux for a gumbo but even the most cursory of stirring would stop a blonde roux from burning.

Organic butter is pretty much a waste of money if you're going to be clarifying it. You're cooking out all of the characteristics that make it specials so you might as well go with the cheapest kind.

I can't imagine how you can get burnt bits on a blonde roux except via gross incompetence and I'm having a hard time imagining how you could remove them. My advice would be to just start again, butter and flour are cheap and there really is no point in starting from a flawed base. Second, yes, roux left by itself will seperate out. It's only when you add a liquid that the flour gelatanizes and captures the fat into an emulsion.

I've talked about this before. The right way to view this is that vat grown meat:beef::margarine:butter. What gives meat and other food it's refined and complex flavor is the complexity of taste. To eat good beef is to taste everything the cow has eaten, every step the cow has walked and everything the cow's body has gone through. The artifical replacement for that product doesn't both to replicate all this complexity. Instead, it focuses on just the top 5 or 6 most prominent flavors to give the gist without the nuance. It may be possible to replicate all of those flavors in an artificial product, but it's not economic. The cheapest way to make the best butter tasting product is not to make better and better margarine, it's simply to make butter. So the future of vat grown meat is that it's going to appear in similar contexts to where margarine has replaced butter. Institutional food, food where the meat is not a prominent feature and food that seeks to cut costs. The steak will always be there.

I'd like a stick blender with a pepper grinder attachment.

I made pie completely by chance on pie day. Dover sole, shrimp, carrots, spinach and potato pie, all baked in a puff pastry crust. Yum!

Look up some classic recipes for Crepe Suzette. Some tips: Rub sugar over the orange peel to extract some orange oil. Add a shot of Triple Sec/Cointreu at the end and flame.

My first thought would be low fat mayo.

As I've said repeatedly, using chicken feet for body is an obsolete method. You can get high grade, powdered gelatine for much cheaper than chicken feet and it gives you much more control and versatility.

I just checked my bottle and it's the bug juice. I got it in December 2007 in San Francisco, some sketchy liquor store in the tenderloin. If you're in hunt of the old campari, maybe go to some liquor stores where the clientele aren't likely to be buying campari all that often.

I haven't seen any data on how different methods of salting affect taste but I've found as a general rule of thumb that 3% salt leads to about the right amount of seasoning. When I brine something, I use a 2 - 3% brine and whenever I need to salt something liquid without tasting (like a custard which needs to be baked), 3% is a good rule of thumb.

For everyday use, I know there was a Western Star cultured butter that is sold at Coles. Harris Farm market has Lurpak and a wide selection of european brands and the Ocello cheese stall at Fox Studios Farmers Market has imported butter from Italy which is pricy but good.

Anyone who regularly goes to the U-District farmers market, check out the new Vietmanese sandwich shop that just opened just south of 50th & The Ave. Excellent Bahn Mi for $3! The shop next door, a Burger & Seafood joint is also owned by the same family but I've not yet had a chance to try it.

I usually make my 5 spice powder with 6 spices since I add black pepper as well. I tend to make them slightly heavy on the cinnamon to give it a lighter, more floral note.

I put the breast skin side down in a cold pan on medium heat. Once the fat starts rendering, I continuously spoon the fat over the top of the breast until the interior is rare/medium rare. This method gives the skin more time to crisp.

my favourite way so far is sliced paper thin and then cooked shabu shabu style in some excellent broth.

I cook it on the bone. It's ridiculously easy to pick off the meat once cooked and the bones add flavor. I do like flouring it though for an crispy scrust.

It was an undergraduate class on learning how to do research. I assume it came from the students' pockets.

I'm eternally bored by the interminable wait between courses during tasting menus. Then again, my dining parters have reported feeling slightly rushed so it seems like very much a personal preference thing.

If you're using it to braise, the lamb meat is already going to be flavouring the stock. Just use a beef stock and you should be fine.

50 - 100 germs? pshaw.

What about extending this internationally? What European cities or SE Asian cities have a thriving cocktail culture? My first real bona fide cocktail experience was in Melbourne last year. A place called Polly in Fitzroy, deliberately non-descript on the outside but you walk in and it's like a Victorian Lounge. Beautifully made cocktails and obvious care an attention in everything they do. It wasn't until I read this thread that I realised how rare that seems. There are places in Sydney that also are quite respectable but tend to go with more the hip young urban vibe. edit: Here is a picture of Polly's: What a beautiful space!