Chris Amirault

More fodder for the NYC aesthetic debate here, with the iconic Chodorow getting lots of attention. Another great Sifton one-liner: "Mr. Chodorow isn’t in this racket to spill soup." I'm really enjoying Sifton's writing. Paragraphs like this pack a ton of descriptive information into a tight space with skill and wit:

I wouldn't say that they go "bad," but they definitely get old. In particular, the flavors dull and the nose becomes muted. Someone more enlightened than I am can explain why, but you can easily test the what yourself. The next time that you buy a new bottle of Angostura bitters, on the way home stop by a hotel, a dive bar, or any other place where their bottle is likely to be old enough to drink. If you crack open the new bottle and put it side-to-side with the old one, you'll immediately notice that the new one is pumping out aromatics while the old one is pretty flat. The same is true on your tongue: that new bottle will be extremely complex, long, and spicy, whereas the old one will have lost much of its nuance and power.

I made Manhattans at the first of my cocktail classes recently, and they were a revelation for most of the people there. To your brief list of problems in my students' past I'd add industrial "maraschino" cherries, ancient vermouth and bitters, and wet ice.

Looks interesting! Can you share the recipe?

Wrapping up tonight: any additions?

Most expensive bottle I have is Marteau absinthe. So, I made a Gasper, with 1 oz Plymouth, 1 oz of the Marteau, and some simple. Never has a cocktail had a better name. Love it, but the inhaler is next on hand just in case.

You can separate it by letting it cool in the fridge; the fat will rise to the top and solidify. Then, if you heat it gently to a bit more than 212F/100C, any additional water content will cook off and you'll be left with just the fat.

I save it in a jar in the fridge and toss it if it's moldy, but it usually doesn't get moldy if I've cooked off the moisture. It keeps indefinitely there; when I've frozen air-tight packets of various fats, they seem to last forever.

Those interested in kaffir lime trees can also click here.

Have you or has anyone (Blumenthal?) prepped the potatoes for this method using sous vide? Then you could par-cook them, cool them in ice water, and refrigerate for finishing later when you're making your big holiday roast beast.

I'll be interested to see what others say, as I think that's a great question. There are certain things for which it's not a crucial matter -- soaking beans that you'll later cook, for example. But I've been making fresh masa a lot lately and the "overnight" soak in lime requires more attention. Usually, I take "overnight" to mean 12-14 hours, only because I usually prepare things for their overnight journey in the early evening and get back to them in the morning. I've been soaking the corn, for example, for 12 hours. However, I'd judge a dough rise by volume as well. Of course, figuring out precisely what "doubled in volume" means isn't an exact science either!

1. Buy blanched almonds.

Great ideas -- the empanadas and mini-pizzas in particular. Protein = good. What else?

Not sure, but the flavors you're describing -- pine, vegetal, smoke -- are elements in the bottle I have as well. Perhaps you just don't like the style? BTW, I found a bottle of Del Maguey San Luis Del Rio for $35 and grabbed it. This stuff is amazing.

Off to cut the tree this morning, and I realized that I've never quite figured out the best food for trimming the tree. Criteria: Kid-friendly (12 & 4 1/2 here); Not messy; Ideally, made by all, but made by me is fine; Substantive but snackable. I've gone with popcorn, cheese cubes, clementines, and Goldfish crackers in the past, none of which really meets all of the criteria. Eager to hear back!

Do you shake 'em around or leave 'em still through the cooking? When I made the batch last night, I realized I forgot to add a step. Like most things roasted at high heat, the potatoes finish cooking outside of the oven. I pulled them when they were just this side of done, and by service they were perfect. And then they disappeared.

Along the chemical line, if he's into charcuterie, get some curing salts, Bactoferm, casings, that sort of stuff from Butcher & Packer.

It's a matter of degrees. Saying "You have to add a course" seems like a reasonable twist. IMO, forcing a bad sous chef on you while you add a fourth course -- all in six hours -- is absurd. Compare to "Project Runway." Finalists have weeks to design and prepare a line. The tweaks are all relatively minor and don't compromise the quality of the final product. This show didn't merely "challenge" the chefs in the last episode; it prevented the chefs from doing what they were told to do, which is "make the best meal of your life." There was no way any of them could have done that.

When it's roasting season, I often find myself at the store grabbing a whole chicken, some green vegetables (asparagus and broccoli rabe today), and a few nice looking potatoes to roast (baby yukon golds). As these are one of the most celebrated items in my toolkit, I thought I'd share my technique -- and see if others have any additional tips. Those in the UK have their own take on the matter of roasted potatoes. Our own maggiethecat explores the complexities of this tradition in her McArthur's Law and Roast Potatoes, and you can read Heston Blumenthal's method by clicking here. However, I've got a method that avoids the parboiling entirely and turns out great spuds. I roast at a high temperature (450-500F), and I place the pan (usually a large Le Creuset frying pan) into the oven during preheating so that it gets very hot. If I have whole potatoes, I cut them into equivalent ~2" chunks; if I have small ones, I don't cut them, as contact between the crispy skin and the hot pan is a critical part of the result. However, having learned the hard way, I poke each one a few times with a wooden skewer. The next step is key: I put the potatoes into a bowl and cover them with way more olive oil than you think I should use. I also season them very liberally with salt and pepper. I toss everything to coat and wait for the oven to warm up. I've been extremely flexible regarding the fat: I regularly use olive oil but have used duck fat, schmaltz, lard, and ghee as well. Why the very hot oven -- way over the smoke point -- doesn't produce smoke is beyond me, but it doesn't; opinions on that science are welcome. You can also see if you want to add other seasonings like garlic cloves, rosemary, curry powder, smoked paprika, whole shallots, and so on. You also need to determine when you'll add those items: rosemary, garlic, and shallots can withstand the intense heat for the full 40-60 minutes, whereas other ingredients may well burn and should be added halfway through the cooking. When you're ready to go, quickly dump the potatoes into the pan and scrape everything from that bowl into it. It will crackle and sputter intensely -- be careful. Then shake the pan vigorously to distribute the ingredients, and get it back in the oven. Set your timer to go off every 5-10 minutes and shake shake shake when it does; start testing them with a pinch (if you have asbestos fingers) or a fork. I've learned that it's pretty hard to overcook these guys if you're checking regularly, and the range of cooking varies for different potatoes based on variety, age, size, and so on. When they're done, dump everything into a bowl (again, scrape that oil out) and you can hold it for a while as you finish other items, they stay searingly hot for a long time. Does anyone else use this method? What other potato roasting methods are out there? What are the additional components you like to add?

I've had some success at WF working with the Meat Team Leaders (their title, not mine), who have more leeway with corporate than they have had in the past, and you should be able to buy bellies as an additional item on whatever invoice the local store places up the chain. That will mean, however, that you'll have to live with some issues. You'll be buying the product from whomever supplies their pork (Niman and Coleman here), and that means accepting their terms: skin on or off, size of delivery box, and so on. In addition, the team leaders have to wait until specialty orders can be filled, which can take time, up to six weeks for me. When it arrives, you may well have to accept responsibility for purchasing the entire box of bellies. That's usually been three full bellies of ~15 lbs each, and I've had to pay ~$3/lb: that's close to $150 per box. I've addressed these issues by creating "pork belly futures" (which you can do here on eG Forums; PM me if you're interested) that folks buy into ahead of time; when the box arrives, I distribute the bellies to the partners and myself. Ultimately, I gave up and started getting excellent skin-on New Hampshire pork from an area Asian grocer, who gets it every Thursday for his pork-fiending customers. But there's no reason that Whole Foods can't do it.

IMO, this has been, by far, the best season for those of us who care about food and cooking (instead of personal drama and drunken brawls), and the right four chefs were in the finals. Up to last night, it was all making sense. The knife draw, the surprise box, the moms, the short prep time, cutting Kevin off at the knees on camera, the additional course: what a pathetic, insulting sham. It's as if the original producers were shot and stuffed into wine barrels and the producers of a third-rate game show were flown in as subs. In particular, forcing these three outstanding chefs to work with random sous chefs -- from a group including some of the worst contestants in the show's history -- flushed the show's integrity down the drain. I'm happy that Mike V earned the win. I would have been happy had any of the final four won. But I'm pissed I wasted an hour watching that finale.

Thanks for sort of clarifying. I think. Glad it's the last class....

I thought that, too, but learned when I was trying to find uses for bitters that tasting things while they're in a possible application was often far more instructive. For example, Adam's Boker's bitters really work wonders in most gin drinks, but are less successful with rye and bourbon drinks. It's hard to pick that up in a fairly neutral medium like soda. Both, maybe, is the way to go...

Given that selection, I'd do a 1:1 or 2:1 Martini with an earthy gin like Plymouth and avoiding big vermouths like Vya. No twist: better to pick up the aromatic qualities.

Uh, side effects such as...?