Chris Amirault

Are they just TVP shaped into disks? Most classic scallop dishes rely on the rich flavor and meaty, tender texture of the bivalves, for which TVP isn't exactly known. I wonder if steamed scallops with tofu and black beans would work....

It seems like a great idea to me. Were there any other ingredients besides bread, egg, salt, and pepper?

I made a Mai Tai tonight using the BarSmarts recipe: 2 oz aged rum (I used Inner Circle green and a teeny bit of Brugal anejo to get to 2 oz) 3/4 oz lime 3/4 curacao 1 t orgeat Was a bit too tart, so I added about a t of demerara, which rounded it out. Then I compared it to the Trader Vic version (from his Revised Bartenders Guide), and was confused once again to see VB's "1 lime" direction. Tonight, for example, I got over an ounce from one half of a small lime. Also confused to see Jeff Berry's translation of "1 lime" as "1 1/2 ounces", which would really make for a tart drink (though he includes the 1/4 oz rock candy syrup). In short, given that I'm not going to be using Inner Circle rum for the class and haven't figured out how to balance it, I'm a bit nervous about using it as the drink. More practice, clearly, is needed.

Thanks. I've never seen that twist before; when I do the slipknot at the top and then loop down like that, I have to thread the twine through the loop. This method allows you to keep your spool of twine uncut until you're done. Bravo!

I remembered that Thomas Keller wrote quite a bit about trussing and looked it up. First, he devotes a page to the subject, titled "The Importance of Trussing Chicken" from The French Laundry Cookbook: To Paul's point, he adds, "Even a perfectly roasted chicken will inevitably result in a breast that a litle less moist than one you would cook separately, which is why I always want a sauce with roast chicken." Then, in Bouchon, the trussing directions are a bit different: He then proceeds with his roasting method (hot oil in hot skillets, breast up, legs toward the back of the oven at 475F until thighs are 155F, baste, etc.), which is built to take advantage of the trussing by placing the thighs on the oiled skillet. I can't quite follow his directions consistently, to be honest, but the trick of using the skillet provides a well-shaped, well-cooked trussed bird.

In the spirit of Fat Guy's manufacturers' directions topic, I offer the suggestion that food packaging designers can, also, be bitten by the dumbbug. Here's my first bit of evidence, courtesy of Kate's butter, which comes in little tubs. The lids don't stay on, the foil "cap" (or whatever it's called) is useless, and then there's the measurements. Of course, that first tablespoon is impossible to pry out -- but, hey, at least it's volumetric and not metric, right? Surely you've got some design-challenged food packaging gripes to share....

Sharpened the knives the other day and came up with simple solutions to two problems I'd had with the EdgePro stone getting blocked by the blade table guide (for smaller knives) or the heel (for European-styled chef's knives). Here's a MAC paring knife that is too thin for the guide. I figured out a way to press the knife to the blade table so that it stays steady. Basically, I used the back end of the handle to secure the knife to the side of the unit, and then press down with my thumb to keep it flat: The chef's knife heel problem involved something a bit dangerous but not if you're careful. Using the weight of the knife to secure it to the blade table, I held the knife by the tip when I needed to sharpen the heel, pressing down by putting my thumb up a few inches on the tip:

Three days, iirc. Didn't squeeze at all when straining. It definitely is a step in the right direction for the reasons mentioned above, but I think I'm going to let the pineapple get a bit overripe next time.

Here are a few shots of the UP out of the box: It feels the way that classic Cuisinarts and KitchenAids feel: like it will outlast me by a few decades. As promised, I'm prepping corn for grinding tomorrow. Also excited to make dosa batter, rice noodles, curry pastes.... What else do people use theirs for?

Got an Ultra Pride and am getting ready for the first experiment. Here's the prep. Rinsed and picked-over corn: Following Kennedy's directions (which parallel Steve's above), here's the corn after a few minutes in the lime. Crappy photo, but you get a sense of that rich yellow color: After about 15-20 minutes, the corn looked like this: And the skin came off easily: Soaking overnight for a grind tomorrow.

Not a solution for leafy herbs like basil or parsley, but I prune, salt and store my sage every year, and I'm going to give it a try this year with some thyme as well.

Thanks! I just undid one of the ribs and retied it while the video camera was rolling: <object type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="400" height="300" data="http://www.flickr.com/apps/video/stewart.swf?v=71377" classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000"> <param name="flashvars" value="intl_lang=en-us&photo_secret=34fbf6b56b&photo_id=4001222827"></param> <param name="movie" value="http://www.flickr.com/apps/video/stewart.swf?v=71377"></param> <param name="bgcolor" value="#000000"></param> <param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" src="http://www.flickr.com/apps/video/stewart.swf?v=71377" bgcolor="#000000" allowfullscreen="true" flashvars="intl_lang=en-us&photo_secret=34fbf6b56b&photo_id=4001222827" height="300" width="400"></embed></object>

Leaded milk, no greens most of the year, lack of refrigeration: nostalgia often erases such blights on our food life, making things seem a lot rosier way back when than they were. Still, there are certain aspects of the good old days that were truly better. As I mention over here, the thing I miss the most is an actual butcher, none of which I'm aware of here in Providence. The last one I knew about, iconically called The Butcher Shop, is now a sandwich store with a few boutique meats in a much reduced case. If you could set the Way-Back Machine and grab something for nowadays, what would it be?

What is this "real butcher" of which you speak?

And, so, along those lines, I've been tinkering with this: 1 1/2 oz pineapple rum 1 1/2 Brugal anejo 1/2 oz demerara 3/4 oz lime dash pimento dram dash Angostura dash Herbsaint Makes me want to get a bottle of the Brugal Extra Viejo....

Overall savory, and so at breakfast. When I think of my favorite breakfasts, they are things like perfect egg sandwiches (cheese, fried egg, bacon, dark English muffin), pho, or really good corned beef hash. When I was thinking about my response to this topic, I realized that my most memorable set of breakfasts occured in Hua Hin and Chiang Mai, Thailand, with fried eggs, rice, and a side dish of some sort: The French toast I made this morning was great, and I had two pieces myself. Those two dishes? I could eat thirty of each.

Dished up the Turkish lamb stew with apples (granny smith and mutsu) I mentioned here: Served it over an apricot couscous that's the favorite of my daughters. This dish was outstanding in nearly every regard save one: the leg was the wrong cut. Too lean, it dried out over the long cooking. It makes me hellbent to find someone who can provide lamb shoulder for stews....

I went for it -- it's actually kinda fun to do, as I mention over here. Report back on the short ribs after dinner.

For the first many years of my cooking, I never trussed anything; my splayed birds and roasts waved their freak flag high. In the last few years, however, I admitted that this was avoidance and not intent, and started trying to learn what and when to truss. This butt crack was likely the final straw: So I poured over a bunch of books describing trussing techniques and am now at the point where I actually enjoy tying off a roast, chicken, or even a few short ribs for the fun of it: So I'm wondering who else is trussing or tying, how they're doing it, what they're doing it to or with. I'll admit that I often find the twine question tricky: cotton is often too thick, whereas linen is often too weak.

Article in the food issue of the NY Times Magazine about Jamie Oliver's little social engineering experiment, and the lead focuses on, well, read on:

Makes sense -- I'll give 'em enough rope.

And there's the logic for tomorrow.

I tried something along those lines once and learned the hard way that you want to tie those boned shanks so that they are uniform and stay more or less coherent when you braise them. Didn't use the bones for stock, though, which seems smart.

Nope. Rank the sweet stuff.

I'm thinking of making Dave's low-n-slow short ribs with the modification that Steven suggests here. However, I'm curious about one step in the prep: Is there a reason to tie them as Marlene does here? ETA that I tweaked a few things in Dave's rub, using some smoked black peppercorns, both ancho and Aleppo pepper, sumac instead of oregano for pungency, and a pinch of cinammon to boot.