Shalmanese

In Australia, Olive Oil was labeled Extra Virgin, Virgin an Extra Light. The Extra Light oil had no real discernable olive flavour but was still high in polyunsaturated fats and had a decent smoke point.

Wow, what a great reply. It begs the question of where all the other 99% of the olive oil goes though because it's certainly not turning up on store shelves and it's not even turning up in processed foods.

Welcome to the wonderful world of behavioural economics. People actually are happier when faced with less choice but they think they would be happier faced with more. So if asked people to choose between 2 restaurants, all elese being equal, they'll choose the one with the larger menu. So if you want to bring people into your restaurant, then you need to expand your menu beyond what's actually good for making them happy once they're there.

I don't get that at all. I would assume that people are just going to defer to the person with the most kitchen experience who's bossy enough to take charge. I've always found for people that cooking tends to be one of the more self-concious things they do and they are willing to defer to a more experienced person very readily.

Is it really that much trouble to make a basic vinagrette? I've found the easiest thing is to use a clean glass jar. Just pour the respective ratios in, put on the lid and shake for 10 seconds. It literally takes less than a minute to make.

Nooo! I was just getting full swing into my yearly orange addiction. I live for the Winter California Navel Season, even when I was in Australia. What a bummer. I hope they have a better year next year.

Very conventional but lemon sorbet is fabulous, especially with great lemons. Lemon sorbet is where the quality of your lemons really shines through.

Every year or so, some organisation or other comes out with one of these reports and it's always the same methodology. Choose the fruits with the most conventional pesticide residue and tell people to buy the organic versions of those. What they're not asking is a) How harmful is the conventional pesticide residue anyway and how much organic pesticide residue is on that produce and how harmful is that? Personally, I think they're just a product of a slow news week and not to be trusted at all. Theres no academic rigour whatsoever in any of those studies.

I always went with this principle when I went out dining. I figure, if a chef is willing to put something daring on the menu, that usually means he believes in it and it's got a special place in his heart. Most of the time, I've been pleasantly suprised. A couple of times, the chef is clearly deluded and his pride and joy tastes horrible but those are the lumps. I don't think I've ever ordered steak at a restaurant for maybe 5 years now. If I'm going to a restaurant, I want interesting, exciting food. I can make a damn steak at home, I know what a steak will taste like, give me something new. Also, my perception has always been that steak is the token safe food to placate groups with fussy eaters. It's something they put on because they have to, not because they want to. I have been playing a game lately though of collecting overly florid names for what is essentially steak, potatos and gravy. Theres lots of "gaufrette potatoes" and "port reduction" blah blah but it's pretty much the same dish the world over.

Thats seriously cool Placebo. You know, I've walked past the beechers shops probably half a dozen times now but I don't think I've ever gone in. I didn't know an egulleter ran it though! Next time, I'll pop by and say hi.

Mine is still yet to arrive .

I was cooking today and the combination of bayleaves and dried thyme to me is very reminiscient of American food. It's a certain flavour profile that seems to appear very commonly in classic American dishes like chicken soup, chicken pot pie, shepards pie, stews, casseroles etc.

Roosevelt Whole Foods. Between the cheeses and wine.

As opposed to say, tapioca? This anti-science bias really grates me. The chemistry of canola oil is well understood. It's not toxic in any way. I think the US still isn't a signatory of the IOOC so the words "extra virgin" have no meaning. What's probably happening is some of the lower end manufacturers are putting EVOO on the label without changing the contents which allows them to sell more at a higher price.

So you believe that you're more of an expert than the food scientists that created the blends. You're probably right since you know your own palate but you represent the upper tip of the bell curve. Take this to it's logical conclusion. Why would you go to a restaurant to eat their clam chowder if you know you like yours with less celery? Blends represent an abdication of choice because you acknowledge that you lack the expertise to choose.

I thought that area was deserted after 5pm. I guess either Chinatown or the rocks. How late is late? Pancakes on the rocks is the default late night dining location and golden century in chinatown is open till 3am as well.

Seems simple enough to me. THe mushroom flavour is being leached into the soaking liquid. If you use both in the same dish, you should capture all of the flavour although it might be more volatile in the liquid which might lead to less flavour.

Potatoes, Onions, Asparagus, Bacon and Eggs, all topped with a little truffle salt. Oh my!

This has been said many times before but the reason why there seems to be no American Cuisine is because we're living inside of the culture. Ask a Chinese person what "Chinese Cuisine" is and they'll be similarly baffled. "Well, I suppose theres a lot of Cantonese food and Szechuan Food and I guess rice, soy sauce and tofu are fairly universal... but there really isn't a Chinese cuisine as such...". To the outsider, we lump the entire heterogeneous country into one giant cuisine with no regard to the regional differences and thats what other countries do to America as well. American cuisine to them is burgers and pizza and BBQ and ketchup and clam chowder and mashed potatos and corn and tacos and california rolls and fried chicken. It's only with a more intimate knowledge that such lumping breaks down.

Soybean is a legume which means Tofu should be included right? There should be some interesting things you can do with silken tofu.

Hrmm... that's odd because I definately remember seeing them somewhere recently. I'll keep an eye out for you.

I asked this question a while back but got no replies. A few months ago, I had the oppurtunity to empirically test it. I bought 2 chuck roasts which I broke down into stew meat. One of the roasts was noticably less marbled than the other. I used the same muscle in each roast and added them 50/50 into a cauliflower curry I was making. The meat with more marbling was noticably more juicy and tasty than the less marbled one. When you bit through it, the marbling pattern was still very much evident in the meat and you could taste the fat lubricating the fibres. One caveat though was that the meat was marinated overnight in a yogurt marinade and was not browned before cooking. Because of the marinade, the meat was done in less than an hour. I don't know how browning or extended braising would affect the picture but that's one data point for you. I wouldn't go out of my way to buy prime meat for braising unless you have $$$ up the wazoo but I usually try and pick the best marbled specimin from the display case and, since I'm reasonably friendly with the butcher, I sometimes ask him if he has better stuff out back if whats in the window looks a bit scraggly.

I actually prefer lime on my cauliflower and brocolli. The bitterness works really well to add another dimension. Use both the juice and the zest. One way of getting around the disagreeable texture is to puree them into a soup.

I'm evidently right next door to you. QFC does have coconut cream in the mixer section, above the ice cream but it's like $3 for a can half the size of what I can get at Uwajimaya for $1. Coconut cream doesn't go bad so I just picked up 5 cans at the ID which should last me for quite a while. I swear I've seen cocoa nibs somewhere before... PFI maybe? Or Trader Joes I think has some. Vya Vermouth I'm pretty sure you can get at the wine store on 65th and 20thish. If not, I'm sure they can order it in for you. (while you're there, pick up a bottle of Dog Point from NZ. It's one of the most amazing NZ Sav Blancs I've had at that price range and I've never seen it anywhere else in Seattle). Whole foods does have all butter pie dough but it's $11 for 2 measly sheets... crazy. Can I get pie dough at PFI as well or should I just resign myself to making my own?

Here's a recipe I made just the other day: Marinate some chicken thigh, leg and/or wing pieces in a mix of five spice powder and salt for at least 3 hours, preferably overnight. Sear the pieces in some hot oil until well browned. Toss in a big handful of diced spring onions, and about 1 tbsp of minced ginger and saute for 30 seconds. Add a big splash of dark soy and cook for 30 seconds and then deglaze the pan with a little chicken stock and add salt and five spice powder to taste. If the mushrooms are gritty, first soften in some boiling water and then add to the pot, if they're fine, add them to the pot dried. I prefer to add them dried as they soak up the braising stock and the flavour penetrates deeper. Simmer for 20 - 30 minutes and then add in some wide cellophane noodles or rice noodles. Cook for another 10 minutes until noodles are cooked to your desired consistency. Add a slurry of cornstarch and water to thicken. At the last second, stir in some fresh cilantro and the green parts of the spring onion. Serve over white rice. It's fairly simple and really really good.