Shalmanese

NE? SW? NW? SE?

I picked one up today at the Ravenna QFC. I saw the starter kits but didn't see any extra bags for sale.

Why not poach them in olive oil? Put the scallops in a ziplock bag, add enough oil to cover completely and submerge in barely simmering water. Personally, this seems kind of affected, I don't see enough differences between the salts that I would want to feature them in dishes.

Doesn't a whole tuna weigh several hundred pounds? That seems a touch impractical just to enjoy some otoro. OTOH, if you do decide to do this, make sure you get the side that isn't touching the ice. I've heard there's a significant price difference between the two sides of the Tuna.

Yeah, I just started rolling up my menus and typing them with a little bow and I like the effect. It's like a little gift at the start of the meal and there's a sense of anticipation when you unwrap it. The scallops were some U4 sea scallops I got from Whole Foods, expensive but worth it.

Blanquette is what I was going to suggest. That is one of our favorite new dishes, but sadly we have to sub for veal since I can't find anyone that has anything but veal chops or cutlets. ← I third the Blanquette. although I wouldn't reccomend any recipe that has carrots of green beans in it. I think Bourdain said it right that part of the appeal of eating this dish is that it's utterly monochromatic and you have to fight the urge to sprinkle some parsley or add any form of contrast. It's a great dish when done right.

Ceviche of Turbot & Mango. Some mint, sambal and black sesame for accent notes. Five Spice Crusted Scallop, Parsnip-Ginger Puree, Fiery Herb Sauce, Sesame. The Herb Sauce was Szechuan Pepper and Chilli infused oil, scallions, cilantro and rice vinegar. Definitely going into my permanent repertoire. Each scallop was 1/4 of a lb! The texture and flavour contrasts made this my favourite dish of the night. Also, this was my first time to bust out those awesome plates I got in Taiwan. Ravioli of Duck Confit, Edamame, Chives and Truffled Potatoes, Lemongrass & Coriander scented Duck Comsomme. This was the dish I was most excited about conceptually but the least certain about. I didn't have a clue whether those flavours would all work together but it ended up really coming together as a coherent whole. Not as pretty presentation wise but it tasted great. Nice and meaty and satisfying. Pineapple-Lemongrass Zabligione. The moscato we were drinking was Saracco, lovely intense pear and candy notes, my favourite wine in the whole world. Paired with my favourite dessert in the whole world... Bliss.

I'm pretty much always on high, the more the better. For getting water boiling, for stir frying. Sauteeing and searing is the only thing that makes me carefully modulate the heat.

Surprise! Surely the winner must be Thuderbolt Chili. The ingredients are: 4-5 strips of bacon Lots of black pepper shakes 1 package ground beef 1/2-1 lb. frozen turkey 2 onions 1 bell pepper 1 fennel 1-2 carrots 1/2 eggplant 2/3 tsp. curry powder 2 Tbsp. crushed red pepper 1-2 Tbsp. dried rosemary 1-2 Tbsp. adobo seasoning 5-7 garlic cloves 3 Tbsp. fig jam 1/2 cup yellow mustard 1-2 Tbsp. Thai chili sauce 1-2 Tbsp. hungarian paprika 1/2 cup barbecue sauce 1/3 jar of pickles (with juice!) 1 Poblano chili 1/4 cup brown sugar 1 tsp. cinnamon 2 Tbsp. salt 1/3 cup spaghetti sauce 1/2 pint of beer 1/2-1 cup rice 1 handful of baby arugula 2/3 cup cherry tomatoes 1 small package of crushed pork rinds 1 handful of cilantro unlimited pepper jack cheese 1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper 1 can kidney beans 1 can pinto beans You can see a video of it being made if you go here and scroll across to the orange liquid being poured into the pot.

It's actually between 41st and 42nd. Just north of Chapel on the Ave.

I swear I've asked this question on here before but for the life of me, I can't seem to find the thread. Those lamb skewers they sell that are ubiquitous around Beijing, what are the spices that they use for that? I've tried searching for it but there are scant few mentions of recipes. There's definately Chile and Cumin but I have no idea what else is in there.

Whenever I poach or en papillote fish, I always remove the skin, salt it, heat up 2 cast iron pans and then sandwich the skin between them to make a crispy skin cracker. It packs a dose of browned flavour and provides a nice textural contrast to the tender fish.

It should work if you first wet the plates and then microwave until they're completely dry.

Was wandering down the Ave recently and saw one of the boarded up stores with "Samurai Ramen, coming soon" for all of you who are craving a ramen fix but don't want to head all the way down to the ID. Edible food on the Ave? Could it be? Fingers very tightly crossed!

Slate Review

I've made my signature Vegemite-Parmesan Cheesecake 3 times now and I'm still constantly surprised by how good it is. Everyone who eats it is surprised by how much they like it, even people who swear they hate vegemite. Something about the fat and sugar in the base morphs it into a subtle, nutty flavour.

Rather conveniently, IME, in the hottest your oven will go, cornish game hens are cooked through at the same time as when the skin reaches a mahogany brown. I used to use a thermometer but the process is so reliable I never bother now.

the watery substance is concentrated, heavily salted duck broth. You can use it in soups as long as you adjust the seasoning. The best way to remove it is to chill the fat in a jar upside down and then scrape it all off. Make sure you get all of it as it accelerates rancidity in the fat. The best way to ensure it's all gone is to heat up the fat again until any remaining liquid is driven off.

Having had to switch the other way around, here's what I use: an oz is 30gm/30mL a pound is half a kg a pint is half a litre a quart is a litre a gallon is 4 litres 50C is fish, 60C is meat, 70C is poultry 150C is a low oven, 200C is a medium oven, 250C is a hot oven

I have to say, when I first visited your website, that picture of the chocolate tempering kinda looks like, um... something else.

Given that virtually all truffle oils are almost completely synthetic, I'm having trouble seeing how they could be non-kosher.

I don't know about him but I've been lusting after one of those no-contact infrared thermometers (egullet friendly link). It's looks like something incredibly geeky and just fun to play around with yet just expensive enough that I really couldn't justify buying it for myself. IOW, a perfect gift for someone. Everyone I know who's gotten one of those spends a solid week taking the temperature of everything around them: clouds, TV screens, walls, cats... Ostensibly, it could also be used to ensure that your grill is at the right temperature before cooking.

Stuff is in season when it: a) tastes the best b) is the cheapest

Lets say we have a poor person living on $1000 a year and a rich person living on $1,000,000 a year. The real problem is how much more acreage in food does a rich person eat compared to a poor person? They maybe eat quite a bit more meat, maybe eats some more relatively calorically worthless fruits and vegetables, and probably buy organic or other low yield crops, lets call it 10x more for the sake of the argument. How much more fuel does a rich person consume? Even a middle class American is going to be travelling significantly in their cars not to mention plane flights as well as buying globalised goods and energy hungry consumer goods. A rich person could easily consume 100 - 500x the amount of fuel compared to a poor person. So far this hasn't been too much of a problem because the two systems were decoupled. By and large, we could feed the world because a rich person just isn't physically capable of consuming 100x the food resources of a poor person. But what happens when the two systems become coupled? At what oil price is this rich person going to stop driving to work or going on holidays or buying cherries from Chile? $5 a gallon? $20 a gallon? even a 10 times increase in price is still not going to significantly affect his lifestyle. Now what happens to the poor person when the price of bread rises from $1 a loaf to $5 a loaf? The poor person's $5 loaf is in direct competition with the rich person's $5000 plane ticket. Who do you think can afford to not blink and ante up? Previously, the world has by and large worked because we never had to deal with such a question because we've managed to keep the two systems decoupled. Now that they're becoming coupled, we're going to have to face up to this and figure out just where our priorities lie. This entire thing reminds me of whole 3rd world phamaceutical issue. Drug companies price drugs far outside the economic reach of 3rd world countries, not because they're evil, but because it's impossible to decouple the 3rd world market from the 1st world market and any cheap drugs are just going to get smuggled and sold on the black market. So you have poor 3rd world patients who are priced out of the market because of the radical inequity in wealth. We can by and large ignore the issue because it's been with us for so long it's the status quo but what happens when the same thing happens to food that happened to drugs? I don't think it's something we'll be able to ignore.

If you have a good relationship with a local seafood place (or a chinese restaurant), have you considered asking if you can rent part of their lobster pound for the day? Just stick em in when you get em and then take em out right before the dinner. Just make sure you make them in some way and everyone knows what's going on.