Shalmanese

Mmm... The location may change but there are certain universal truths and one of them is it pays to be friends with your butcher. I was at QFC today and they had Choice Sirloin for $4 a lb but the stuff on the display looked rather sorry. I noticed the butcher behind the counter was one I had a 5 minute conversation with about the rain the other day so I asked him if he had some nicer stuff out back. He pulled out some of the sirloin cap which he said was the best bit and I snagged the most marbled bit of that I could find. Came home and made this with it: Sirloin Cap Steak with Italian Spices on a bed of Wilted Spinach with a Baked Potato, Brussel Sprouts a la Megan Blocker all topped off with a Brandy & Blue Cheese Sauce and lots of Chives. edit: blurry bite shot Yum!

Eh, the ceramic on your plate is going to do far more damage to the knife blade than the dishwasher. Sure, the handle could be a problem but if you're going to insist on washing them by hand to take care of them, then you might as well get some wooden plates to go along with it. Then again, washing by hand takes 30 seconds so so what?

I used to see them all the time at the dedicated organic butcher. I think most supermarkets just dont have the shelf space to run two different ranges of wings like they do breasts. In all likelyhood, they just get mixed in with the non-free range and sold.

What sort of texture do you want? it seems to me that once a sauce becomes solid, it becomes a gel or a colloid or something else. What exactly do you want to get out of a solid sauce?

This happens to be the reason I prefer Australian Lamb. It actually tastes lamby.

I guess it depends on how much steak you eat. I eat steak maybe 2 - 3 times a year. Definately not justified getting a $300 set of knives for that.

So wait, you're going to do 5 corn desserts which ALSO reflect the 5 themes right?

Just place chilled scoops on a silpat or something similar and drizzle caramel ribbons over it. You won't get quite the same effect but, IMHO, it actually looks cooler and is MUCH easier to do.

I've been making do with a boning knife all along. I don't serve steak for more than 1 so I never need one, my boning knife is always sharp, the handle, heft and angle of my knife works perfectly and I can justify getting a very high quality knife because I use it for far more than just steak.

IOW, you want a brulee like crust on your ice-cream is that correct? It seems to me an alternative way would be to first make a caramel and then cool it in thin sheets and put it in a blender/food processor to process to a reasonably fine powder. Then, coat the outside of the ice-cream with the caramel powder and run a blowtorch over it to briefly melt and reform the crust. If you need a thicker crust, roll, melt and then roll again while the ball is still warm, then chill in the freezer and melt it again once the ice-cream has had a chance to cool and repeat as many times as neccesary until you've reached your desired thickness. The other idea that comes to mind is to mak your ice-cream in regular shapes such as cylinders and then to cool caramel on sheets until it is malleable and workable and manually construct the outer shell. This is all a lot of work though, if you just want the carmel flavour, just sub ordinary white sugar for caramel in the ice-cream base.

Oh man, I think it's safe to say you totally blew us all away with that. Very, very well done. I hope you get the recipes up onto recipegullet soon. I know I took far too long with mine as it's so daunting but this is something that needs to be shared. Looking very forward to the next one. So far, each person has managed to go seriously above and beyond the call of dute to produce something very cool.

I actually find the Trader Joe's Extra Virgin to be a very good product for it's price. Fresh, green, a hint of pepper and a nice assertive finish. Nothing exceptional but it holds it's own in salads and soups.

Despite eating as well as I ever have in my life, I've managed to lose over 10lbs in the times that I've been in Seattle so, to celebrate, I decided to have a nice, indulgent, over the top breakfast: Pan Roasted Potatos, Sauteed Onions, Asparagus, Eggs and Bacon all fried in Bacon Fat. And because no breakfast shot is complete without gratuitous egg porn:

Awesome. So looking forward to how this one turns out. This has so much potential!

I miss the olive oil we were getting in Australia. $10 AUD ($8USD) for a 750 mL bottle and it was peppry, green and intense. Wen't to a fancy olive oil store in the city a few weeks back and they were selling oils of no particular distinction for $40 USD per liter and up. Although I have to say the Trader Joes Extra Virgin is a very nice product for the price although their Organic Range is pretty ordinary.

Why not buy both, taste them and give us your thoughts. It's spring in Australia now so if you can get the fresh stuff, it should be milder tasting and more tender now that it would be in april say, not that theres much of a difference either way. Australian lamb has more food miles on it if you care for that sort of thing. As an Australian, I would say go for Australian lamb but I'm biased.

I agree, I found them to be extremely ordinary.

I was wondering whether to put chocolate in or not but after I tasted the end result, I felt it would work better pure. I could definately see chocolate working there so feel free to experiment.

I have some confit aging in the fridge from 2 weeks ago. I want to crack them out to make a cassoulet for thanksgiving (so 5 weeks ageing total) but I'm wondering if they have aged enough as it is or should I let them sit for a while longer and do cassoulet later in the year?

There used to be a guy at the Fox Studios farmers market who had an excellent belgian 70% coveture. It was only $10 for 500 grams and the flavour was out of this world. Much better than Valrhona. I don't know where he went to but I miss him .

Oh wow, teacup cream puffs with a tea marshmallow and a tiny drizzle of intense lemon syrup (you would have to use lemon extract). I could so see that. It's more of an single bite amuse than a full plated dessert though so I don't know how you could extend that.

Dubai seems like a good bet for getting a plum stage. Theres an abundance of money and a shortage of classically trained, french talent there so your skills would be highly in demand. I know Gordon Ramsey just started a place there so that might be worth trying. Contact The Chefs Office who posts on this board. I saw a couple of postings he had a few months back for Dubai positions. He might be able to set you up with something good.

Damn, I would have loved to play but all my books are in a storage box in Sydney . I miss them so much .

Why not make a tea cream puff and then gently steep some tea in some cream and whip it for the filling? Nice and light and you should get an even tea flavour throughout. Are there classic things that are paired with southern sweet tea?

Big Chinese Cleaver, Wooden Chopping Board. Just give it a solid whack down the middle and it will split in half. Then you can attend to the more delicate work. It's lots of fun