Chris Amirault

I think that the term contributes to the problem. It certainly isn't "deconstruction" in any literary theoretical sense (not sure what that would even be), but it also isn't anti-construction, in the pasta separated from sauce separated from egg example. Broken down into component elements, textures, flavors: yes. Broken down into the traditionally integrated ingredients and served next to each other: no. I could imagine a deconstructed carbonara using, say, "pasta" made from thin ribbons of pancetta or lardo, egg yolk that's been dehydrated, reformed into a block under pressure, and grated, garlic and Parmigiano-Reggiano pureed, allowed to gel, and crisped... you get the idea. The pork becomes the pasta, the egg the cheese, the garlic and cheese the crisp. Part of the pleasure of a deconstructed dish is that you're able to appreciate the conceptualization that lead to the dish, starting with analyzing something familiar and ending with something both reminiscent and new. Not sure that my example would be very pleasurable, but hopefully it's a useful example for this discussion.

Many updates. We realized that our dishes were getting stains from the exposed rust and had a cup melt on the exposed heating element all in one day, so we decided enough was enough. After much discussion, we agreed on the Kenmore above, so late Wednesday night I went to Sears with a batch of kitchen stuff -- biggest cutting board, Sur le Table roasting pan, a plate, a glass, etc. -- and drew many stares as I loaded 'em all into the dishwasher with ease. It's coming on Saturday. Earlier that day, I had worked with my dad to see if we could remove the old dishwasher. We got it out about halfway and it was stuck, so we called in a handyman who, for half the price of Sears, will remove the old one and install the new one. He was here yesterday to remove the old one, and I learned why we got stuck: the water feed travels through a semi-rigid copper pipe, and not one of those newer flexible steel encased hoses. We're replacing that connection mechanism when the dishwasher arrives tomorrow. Meanwhile, as I headed into the second hour of washing the dishes after dinner, I developed a keen sense of appreciation for this particular mechanical wonder. More soon!

I don't understand the implied critique ("a more rounded opinion"), nor do I understand how a drink's measurable stature addresses the question Kent is asking here.

Depends on what I'm cooking. Nearly every meal we eat in this house is cooked by me, so I have a lot of stuff on hand. I also live in a house, not a NYC apartment, with two full pantries, a full-size basement freezer, and storage for additional items I get on big sales like flats of San Marzano tomatoes. (No walk-in yet, sadly.) I often choose recipes based on what I want to use from that ingredient stock, instead of choosing a recipe and then getting ingredients for it. Last night's dinner was a perfect example: I braised a pork shoulder* Dominican-style, made rice* and beans*, and sauteed a cabbbage* with homemade chili sauce* and kecap manis -- all to use up the asterisked items. For those meals I usually wing or flip through a book to get ideas. I follow book recipes more precisely when I'm learning the basics of a cuisine or want to recreate a complicated dish or try a new technique. I tend to dive into something (currently Khmer cooking) whole-hog, and have a few other base cuisines (Chinese and Thai, e.g.), and for those I'll keep the larder full of the required items and tend to follow the recipes more slavishly. The nuances of David Thompson's Thai curry pastes, for example, often have me scurrying to the market to get one more item on a list, and I made a special trip for a Paula Wolfert lamb stew to get Aleppo chili pepper (glad I did, too).

The Chicago Tribune's got a list up of the 10 worst dining trends of the decade. David Chang makes a good point: "Bad trends were usually good trends. They just got watered down into a really bad, overdone trend." As you read the list, most fit that bill -- though "Media Whore" doesn't really seem to have an upside unless you are a suit at Food TV. What's your take on the list? What's missing? What shouldn't be on there?

Aki (of Alex & at Ideas in Food) sure likes it:

So what do people make of these use percentages? Is it what you expected? Not?

Good ideas. Of course, I may be handed a score sheet. Egads.

Heh. It's a fair cop. Now that's a name I could get behind.

Oh, I've accepted. And then I watched the video, in which ReddiWip makes a big appearance. So now I'm wondering what this little chapter of life will be like...

If I were to elbow up to the stick and ask for "one of those gourmet cocktails you're famous for making," I think that the vast majority of the bartenders making these cocktails would hit me on the head with a muddler. Especially if I made air quotes around "gourmet cocktails." Didn't there used to be a magazine with that title?

I've been asked to serve as a judge for a cocktail contest, the Iron 'Tender Competition at Twin Rivers Casino here in lovely RI. From the website: Don't ask what "secret ingredient" means, as I'm not sure yet. Meanwhile, that video makes me wonder if my particular palate will be useful at this event. Having said all that, I'm eager to hear stories about and approaches to judging cocktail events. What works? What doesn't? And if a drink "tastes exactly like Big Red gum," is that a good thing?

I think that you're going to have a hard time finding a phrase here that works. "Classic cocktails" can mean so many different things, from hard-n-fast Jerry Thomas recipes to drinks that follow Thomas's principles (Wondrich's Improved riffs, for example, or his Weeski) to drinks that use classic ratios with newly invented ingredients: Manhattans with fat-washed this, housemade that, and bitters-of-the-moment. Maybe the problem isn't the phrase but how to define it. In the course I'm teaching, I laid out a few principles that I consider crucial to "classic cocktails": enhance (don't hide) the spirit base layer and balance different flavors beware the sweet & befriend the sour & bitter technique serves the cocktail treat your ingredients with respect I think that if you look at the current offerings at PDT, VH, Teardrop Lounge, Death & Co., etc. etc. the drinks adhere to those principles. Interested to hear what others have to say on this matter.

Definitely to each his or her own. Also a China Moon fan, and I'm one of the people who encouraged Janet to buy the Flavor Bible.

Rose Garden on Rt 2 in Cranston is serving up some fine Khmer grub right now....

Don't the credits still include that line about the producers having some influence on the judges? Or is that gone?

They weren't nonsensical or misleading. They just didn't add up to anything useful related to restaurant review. If it had been a tweet -- "GABBA GABBA HEY! Now I wanna eat some sausage at DBGB." -- it's catchy, if obvious. As a multi-part framing device for your eagerly-awaited first NYT restaurant review, it doesn't do much.

The publication of Shirley Corriher's Bakewise was a major event in my household. I'm a mediocre baker, so I was eager to work on my basics; my wife plows through Pierre Herme, Rose Levy Beranbaum, and Dorie Greenspan books with glee and was eager to dive in. It was a bust that we really were hoping was a boom: bad design, poor writing, lousy recipes. We never use it but can't bring ourselves to throw it out. Does anyone else have any cookbooks that you were dying to get but were DOA?

I'm increasingly convinced that I need to up my fried rice game, as I'm filling a bento box each work morning. Great ideas in here already, but surely there are more!

The article is titled "Now I Wanna Eat Some Sausage," which references "Now I Wanna Sniff Some Glue" from the Ramones. Either Sifton is suggesting that Boulud's restaurant empire is like a Nazi stormtrooper assault and his food a cheap, brain-damaging high (maybe that's why she's smiling?), or the references (including the throw-away Talking Heads reference and the weird "rap precinct" line) don't add up. Review for Marea -- three stars -- is up. Perhaps this over-the-top metaphor thing is going to be his metier, and I find it entertaining, even though it's a hit-or-miss affair. Style is a strange thing, and restaurant reviews even stranger. I'd rather watch this awkward process of transformation than read anything Bruni wrote.

Dave, what's the recipe for the Both Indies Cocktail?

Obsessiveness and humor: I think he'd fit in well around here... Oh yes I would. From the "look inside," it seems the index starts at page 368. So it's about 375-80 pages?

Matthew, I don't have a go-to Mai Tai recipe, in part bc I usually fiddle around with whatever rum I have handy until I get what I want from it. I'm also dealing with some contributed products here and can't test things out until I have the samples (heart beats faster as he looks at the date). Having said that, I'm thinking that a Mai Tai is going to be the way to go, using Sippin' Safari ratios (i.e., cutting the lime down to 1 ounce). I'm greeting them with Wondrich's Mississippi Punch variation (to get some arrack in their bellies) and then having them make and test Daiquiris, so a Mai Tai is the next logical step, I think. I also want to showcase a particularly good batch of orgeat, and my mint has died yet, so....

There's no question it would work. It's a bit low on the current agenda, however (which includes more masa & pastes, rice noodles, garam masala, dosa batter, and chili sauce), but i'll add it to the list!

I think that Richard and I are pointing out that, along with asking these smart technique questions, you can also modify the type of tea. I'm drinking a Dian Hong Imperial Yunnan black tea from Norbu tea right now, and it's far less tannic (and far more rich and complex) than any store-bought black tea; seeing this topic made me think about using it in Erik's Swedish punsch recipe next time I make it. I'll bet that the House of Tea folks would gladly walk you through their Ceylon tea options to make a good match. And, since you just want tea and cinnamon, you could easily tailor it to your tastes. I can see I'm talking myself into this project....