Chris Amirault

Society member Dr. Cocktail -- aka Ted Haigh -- though so highly of the drink that he mentions it in the subtitle of his indispensable book, Vintage Spirits and Forgotten Cocktails: from the Alamagoozlum Cocktail to the Zombie. The Dr.'s prescription: 1/2 egg white 2 oz genever gin 2 oz water 1 1/2 oz Jamaica rum 1 1/2 oz Chartreuse (green or yellow) 1 1/2 oz gomme syrup 1/2 oz orange curacao 1/2 oz Angostura (not an error) Shake, strain into three glasses. I think it best to drink one as a test before leaving the kitchen with two in hand, the official version for you and one for the partner.

I'd think that you could use them like any grain, as a side for something braised or roasted, say.

So what were the proteins, Chris? Mike? Both look pretty good...

Except that you'd lose your teeth from scurvy.

I'm increasingly convinced that this is true with most ingredients. Just as an experiment, I tried eating a few of those scallion roots -- the little white threads -- and found them to be sweet and scalliony. No big surprise, of course, but I've never thought to use them in/on anything. Ditto scraps. I'm sure that I throw away more chicken parts, mushroom ends, and the like than I'd care to admit. I'm doing a lot less of that right now simply by being mindful. ETA: And how about that fat cap on the lu? A T of that here and there will almost certainly be delicious.

When I looked at the larder earlier today, I saw a bunch of things that suggested a couple of Chinese dishes: First were some truly gnarly scallions. However, those, the few ribs of celery that were left, a hunk of homemade lop yuk that has been sitting in the fridge too long... well, that all adds up to Russell Wong's Naw Mai Fon in our house. Meanwhile, that plastic bottle contains lu shui, or Chinese master sauce that I've wanted to replenish. Whole chicken, some tofu sticks and dried mushrooms.... It's a plan. First up: the evening's cocktail. Had a bit of Martini & Rossi sweet vermouth left as well as a wizened lime, and I wanted to use both in the spirit of the Klatsch. That means an Oriental Cocktail per Society member Gary Regan's recipe from The Joy of Mixology: 1 1/2 oz rye 3/4 oz sweet vermouth 3/4 oz triple sec (Cointreau) 1/2 oz lime Shake, strain, enjoy. To the food. Do you often slice off and toss these fingertip knobs from a ginger root? I sure do -- but knowing that I might only have one piece of ginger all week, I peeled and roughly chopped them for the lu: Ditto the lop yuk. I usually toss the skin from them, but, given I was preparing the lu, I scored the skins and added them too: Diced the remaining lop yuk. Meanwhile, the rice was cooking (1 1/2 c sticky rice, 1 1/2 c medium grain Nishiki rice), and the mushrooms and tofu sticks were soaking: After I broke the chicken down, I browned the pieces in peanut oil in batches, sauteed the onion chunks briefly and removed them, then added the chicken back to the pan: Meanwhile, the lu had been coming along nicely. I had added some aromatics (star anise, cinnamon, szechuan peppercorn, nutmeg), the ginger, chicken back, rock sugar, stock, and soy: Strained the lu into the chicken pot: Here are the onion chunks, the tofu sticks cut into 1" pieces, and the halved mushrooms: After adding those, I got to work on the rice. Over medium heat, I sauteed the lop yuk dice: Once it was crisped, added the onion and celery, then the mushroom and scallion: Then added the rice and combined with a T or two of soy and shaoxing, with a t of sesame oil at the end: Meanwhile, the chicken was done: The meal was great, and of course the lu was renewed: Remarkably, I think that I used six things (the celery, scallions, ginger knobs, chicken/mushroom stock, lop yuk piece, and half onion) that I would ordinarily have tossed, and I used some other things (the chicken, tofu sticks, and rock sugar) that might well have gone six months without being used.

I found some mole paste in the back of the fridge, too, which would work ok with a preroasted turkey, plus rice & beans....

Didn't contribute to the pot luck because it was -- again -- Indian leftovers. Ditto lunch today: lentils with yogurt and the last scrapings of mint chutney. And now, call me Ahab. I present to you my great white protein: This is a factory-sealed whole turkey breast that went into the back of the freezer nearly two years ago. It looks me in the eye every time I open the freezer door, asking me whether I'm man enough to handle six pounds of rock-solid turkey breast. For months and months I have diverted my gaze, knowing fully well that a day would come when I would have to reckon with the multi-day defrosting and preparation of this behemoth. Well, that day has arrived, and it is defrosting in my refrigerator as I type. How shall I tackle this noble, injured (I see freezer burn), titanic beast? Smoke it? Mole? Soup? Larb?

I'll be following this topic with interest and participating whenever I can. I'm most interested in figuring out rice noodle dishes, which have always been my favorites at the (several) Cambodian places around town. Peter, what else in that book looks interesting?

Can anyone actually substantiate these claims about Ripert's alleged statement? Not conjecture based on third-hand information found on blogs with no rules about the public record or ethics, mind you.

Lunch was leftovers from an Indian meal I made last weekend, cucumber raita and the Andhra spiced eggplant from Mangoes and Curry Leaves by Alford & Duguid: I've looked at that all week and thought it was too small, or too watery, or too... something -- a habit I have with leftovers. Nope: it was real good.

That's a sage adage that can apply to many things. I just unpacked a Penzey's order and realized that I have some interesting things in there that rarely see the light of day (or kitchen stove). Penzey's often tosses in something free, too; I'm wondering about this "Shallot Salt" I just found....

So here's the stuff I pulled off the shelves last night for dinner. Of course, we also have a pantry with items in heavier rotation, and I spied that container of "risotto" rice. Who knows what I was thinking when I grabbed it -- "Maybe this won't be terrible..." -- hoping to save 70% off the usual carnaroli rice I buy. It isn't that good to begin with, and it had a slightly off nose, so I figured it was a good way to start my Klatsch meals. Make do. I wanted to gussy it up, of course, so I also pulled out some very good parmigiano reggiano, some homemade pancetta, and two bags of dried porcini mushrooms from the stash of dozens I got at Job Lot. I also discovered that a two-pound bag of carrots froze this week in the produce drawer, which is seriously going to put a crimp in our vegetable supply. Made the evening's drink, a Red Hook with some bourbon cherries: Onions, garlic, and celery sautéing: Add the rice: After straining off the mushroom liquid into the stock, I rinsed then chopped the mushrooms roughly, since they were splitting meat duty with the pancetta lardons and needed to make their presence known: Ditto the carrots and celery, which I sautéed pretty lightly in the pan where the pancetta had been rendering: Given the relative lack of protein, I didn't feel too bad when I dumped every drop of fat from the vegetable/pancetta pan into the risotto. Laying flavor, you know. Finished the risotto with the cheese and a bit of lemon for acidity, then plated: Very good overall, though the mediocre quality rice definitely detracted from the final dish. If the rest of the meals I make during this Klatsch are this good, I'll be happy.

I am most definitely in. Last night, after four nights in a row of evening meetings and the requisite pizza slice dinner, I settled into the next many days of cooking with what's here. And what would that be, you ask? Well, with trepidation, I show you the stockpile of a food hoarder. I come from a family that, on both sides, made it through the Depression with pride, and that meant fanatical frugality. My mom was raised in rural working class Maine, and she is the source of my obsessive thrift, box lot, and seconds shopping jones. Growing up in suburban Boston, we had a root cellar, an "expired but still good shelf," and we never let anything go bad in the fridge. I have the full-larder part down pat. The use it before you lose it... that I'm not so good at. This is the dry goods shelf in our basement. Some of the stuff is prepared every-day kid food (Goldfish, Progresso soups, cereal) but most of it is stuff I think I'll use someday. See those black and white tags? Those indicate food bought from Building 19. Their slogan is "Good Stuff Cheap!" but as far as I'm concerned it should be "Expired But Probably Not Toxic Stuff Cheap!" There's also a wide selection of goods purchased at other discount shops, most notably Ocean State Job Lot. Take a look at my freezer door and see if you can guess what brand of organic grains is usually available at Job Lot: Yep, that'd be Bob -- as well as Steve, about whose Rancho Gordo beans I got a little overexcited a while back. Further down the door, Pound of excellent lard in there, I notice.... Meanwhile, inside the freezer itself is a drawer filled with at least a year or two of charcuterie: There's pulled pork, duck ham, braised pork belly, god knows what else in there. The upper shelf contains Penzey's excess, some more dry goods (we get pantry moths every year), stock, pasta sauces, gumbo, pozole, mafe.... More in the upstairs freezer: Most of that stuff should be downstairs because, you know, that freezer is much more organized: A few months ago I decided that this was the perfect organizing principle for the freezer protein problem. Hasn't worked out so well. Turns out that you have to keep that list updated for it to work. Up next: last night's dinner.

A bit back, dividend asked: Marlene explained that she didn't get a gush at all. I've been experimenting with my FoodSaver V2830W a bit, specifically in re this liquid question, and I've definitely had a gusher or two. I mentioned above, I was putting up some stock the other day and took a shot to illustrate: There may be other methods out there for handling liquids, but this is the one I've currently found is the best. Basically, gravity helps to keep the liquid where you want it until the last moment, and forces air bubbles to rise to the bag's edge. Seal and cut the bags so that you'll have about 4" of room at the top. Stack fat books under your unit so that the height of the liquid in the bags you'll be using reaches the mouth of the machine (up to the line marking the last 4"). Fill the bag with liquid leaving that 4" at the top. Rest the bag in front of the machine and place bag edge into the machine, get as many air bubbles out as you can, and lock the bag into place. Using the normal and moist settings, turn on the machine, but have your finger on the seal button. As soon as you see moisture moving through the textured grid, press seal. It takes some practice -- or, at least, it did for me -- but now it's pretty straightforward. And, boy, is it nice to have flat, stackable 4c freezer bags of stock!

Um, that sounds a lot like what we old timers call a non-denial denial.

Do you use the VacuVin wine pump thingy?

I want 250 ml bottles of both PeM and CAF, personally. Working through 1l of CAF is a pleasant if ultimately disappointing race against time....

Ditto what Sam said about Carpano Antica. And, though some claim that Carpano is wrong to call it thus, many around here love Punt e Mes used as a sweet vermouth -- and it's about 40% cheaper than the Antica.

Perhaps it makes its own onion-fig jam, ras al hanout cashews, and mache sides.

Word. What's also bizarre about the cheese course -- aside from the basic issues like "this is a cooking competition," not "this is a bringing-things-to-room-temperature competition" -- is that you're stuck with whatever cheese you have in the walk-in. In what universe would plating whatever you find in there (with some fig-onion jam, ras al hanout cashews, mache, whatever) constitute a course in the best meal you've ever prepared?

Crunching through enrollment work, and decided that I'd break into a special packet of tea that Richard sent me: a Keemun Mao Feng "Hair Peak", a black tea from the Anhui Province of China, from The Cultured Cup. I saw in a few places on the internet that this tea is often brewed for longer periods without increased bitterness, and that sounds good to me. Using my ingenuiTEA set-up, I just brewed ~5g in ~400 ml of ~200F water for 7+ min. I have been thinking more and more that I'd like to learn and drink more of the teas that are at the base of the blended teas I'm more familiar with, such as English Breakfast. This is a great example: far superior to any blend in complexity and depth of flavor, this Keemun is outstanding. I can't pick up any floral notes at all; instead, I'm getting lots of smoky aroma and flavor with background sweetness (like an unrefined cane sugar juice) and absolutely no bitterness. What a great cup. Thanks, Richard!

Perhaps moreso than any season, this TC split the chefs into one group with more culinary creativity and talent in general, and another group that, whatever their impressions (Carla), could usually function in the weeds when the pressure was on. Slowly, most of the chefs that I thought had the occasional remotely interesting idea (Radhika, Jamie, Fabio, even Gene) couldn't execute something important in the clutch, prepared something weird or godawful, or otherwise choked. Meanwhile, someone who never stuck his neck out all contest stayed safe and won. Doesn't make for very compelling TV to watch all the interesting chefs go down in sequence.... As for Casey, I have to agree with one point: cheese course? Wha?

Please don't say that.... You (and this whole Klatsch, in which evening meetings all week have prevented me from participating) are violating one of my most sacred shopping oaths: "If it's cool and a good deal, buy it! You'll use it someday!"

It sounds like the outer crust was too moist. Did you let the exterior dry before frying?