Chris Amirault

Very interesting! I have everything at home save the BT bitters, which I've never had. I've got Regan's, Angostura, and Fee's orange -- thoughts on a good substitute?

This in from Haven, a non-member (not yet!) who joined our event: Thanks again to all the participants. We raised $120 for the Society!

chefboy24, can you say more about your experiences with the two places? How often have you eaten there lately? Have you worked there or do you have inside knowledge about their management?

Can you say a bit more about what you mean by "good"? What exactly are you looking for in a school? What do you want to do while there and afterward?

It's probably worth keeping in mind that you're almost certainly walking into workplaces where the staff are living in fear of losing their jobs. All of the professional news sources have indicated that the industry is heading deeper into a serious contraction, and artisanal baked goods are just the sort of thing that consumers are foregoing as they cut back. Everyone here in Providence is getting worried, and in-house pastry chefs are among the first folks to go. (I have a good, skilled friend who just lost her job at one high-end place here in town, in fact.) I raise this not to suggest a change in plans but rather to urge a certain respectful, sensitive demeanor. If Philly is at all like Providence right now, saying that you want to do a stage until a spot opens up there or that you have someone at home bankrolling your stage would not be prudent. Stick to the work and craft: you'll do anything (clean or lift something; arrive early or stay late) to help out and that you want to learn out of a sense of respect and support for what people are doing, and so on. Good luck and please keep us posted here.

Seared off some beef short ribs and braised them in the master sauce; toward the end of the braise I added some halved fresh water chestnuts, quartered fresh black mushrooms, and 2" pieces of presoaked tofu sticks. It's resting in a vacuum-sealed package in the fridge overnight for a dinner party on Friday, so I haven't dug in, but, man, it's good.

I agree completely.

The Chinese market I frequent has fresh water chestnuts in: If you've only had the canned variety, you don't know the subtle, sweet flavor and wonderful texture of fresh water chestnuts. They are sold with the mud still on them; you wash them off and peel the brown skin and any discoloration. In my experience, you also throw out about 10-20% of them out because they're sickly grey inside. I made a pork dumpling filling tonight using six of the little buggers -- it was great -- and I'm eager to make a braised short rib dish with the rest tomorrow. I've wondered about making ice cream with them.... What else do people use them for?

Made a master sauce using the Tropp recipe as a base and with a few tweaks: No chicken or soy sauce pictured. It's fantastic. What do people use their sauces for? Braising, I know, but anything else?

It's a matter of preference. If you puree the fruit you get a watery product, I think, so I go with chunks that can then be used for other applications (pineapple upside-down cake, e.g.) since it's retained more juice.

Some of my notes so far, with simple lists taken directly from the book: Allspice: added anchovies to the list; my experience with Jansson's Temptation have convinced me that salt, onion, pepper, allspice, and anchovies are the perfect combination with potatoes. Almonds, honey, olive oil, orange. Apples and eggplant. Apricots, vanilla, and lavender. Arugula, pears, coriander vinaigrette. Basil and raspberries. Black bass, porcini, parsnips, chestnuts. (That's from David Pasternak at Esca.) Bay leaf, caramel. Black beans, lemon, sherry. Short ribs, cinnamon, molasses. (This weekend's braise.) Deglazing steak au poivre with rye. Beets, lime, coriander. Blueberries, cinnamon. Brussels sprouts, juniper, celery. Brussels sprouts, cranberry polenta, braised fennel. (That's from Thierry Rautureau, from Rover's in Seattle.) Brown butter vinaigrette. (Traci Des Jardins.) Roast cabbage. Cardamom and peas.

I still watch it every week with my older daughter, and I scream at the set when outraged. ("Radhika! Get out front!!" and "That's not frozen yogurt! It's cold soup!!" and... you get the idea.) But the sheer absence of interesting cooking ideas is stunning this year. If I see another seared scallop or sliced steak dish, I'm going to pitch a fit to Bravo.

I have been getting Landy and Baron D'Yllac VS for a while. Thanks to this topic I spotted the Chalfonte VSOP today for a mere $21. I really like the sidecar I'm drinking right now... ETA: the Brugal is a peculiar rum that grows on you. It ain't tame, I'll give it that.

Thanks to this post by bostonapothecary, I'm enjoying this terrific funky double Holland sour thing: 1 1/2 oz Batavia Arrack van Oosten 1 1/2 oz Genevieve 1 oz lemon juice 1/2 oz simple

They're just a savory choux pastry with cheese, and there are tons of choux recipes around. As for the items themselves, Ruth Reichl's gougeres recipe is in RecipeGullet. Click here for it! Gougeres don't keep, sadly.

This article in the Chicago Tribune is the source, I think:

If ever there were a book built for a simple, searchable database application, this is it. What are some of the surprising combinations that people have discovered?

Mine, too. From reading around (including in TFB), I think TFB is a wide expansion of the "Composing Flavors" and "Composing a Dish" chapters of CA.

It's a good point. We're talking about a practice that benefits the others you feed, that allows you to create better things from base rudiments, and that saves you money more often than not.

I'm close to making absurd pronouncements about The Flavor Bible by Page and Dornenburg. I got their What to Drink with What You Eat as a gift last month, devoured it, and immediately ordered the Bible. I haven't been disappointed. The book is a treasure trove of information for advanced cooks who want to think about flavor pairings that are both ordinary and extraordinary. I've been marking up the book with three marginal notes: an arrow for "good idea," an exclamation mark for "wow -- check this out," and a bunch of plus symbols for combinations that I could use in the kitchen. There's not a single recipe for the novice cook, but if you know how to handle your proteins, grains, and plants, you'll be overwhelmed by the sheer intensity of the possible ideas inside, many of which come from the best chefs of this generation. I'm averaging about three pages an hour because I'm constantly testing ideas against my mental palate -- a remarkable pleasure. Anyone else hooked?

Excellent point. I'm sadly doing without inexcusable disposal of perfectly good food that's gotten old.

So unassuming, the little strip mall facade behind which lurks Lucky Garden. And what a fantastic meal we had, yet again, for Lunar New Year on January 25. A baker's dozen of us circled the table and placed ourselves in the hands of Rose, our crack server, daughter of manager Sherri, and a member of the clan that runs the terrific North Providence institution. No shots of the group, I'm afraid; but here's most of the food lineup. Braised lamb with black mushrooms and tofu sheets, a big favorite at the table: Skin-on pork leg -- I think it's a lower hock and foot -- braised over lettuce, another big favorite: We had several people attending who hadn't had a lot of Chinese food, so we were sure to include a lot of basic classics like pea pod leaves, clams in black bean sauce, and har gow: Tofu-wrapped shrimp and chive rolls: Chicken feet: Char siu bao, perfect as always: And the hit of the meal, a steamed flounder that astonished all with its simplicity and intensity of flavor: We ended with a trio of desserts: egg custard tarts, a pineapple cake-let, and these amazing red bean coconut New Year cakes: We also had choi sum as a vegetable side, scallion pancakes, Shangai soup dumplings, some steamed vegetarian dumplings, fried taro root fritters with five spice pork and shrimp.... I may have missed something; hopefully another participant will chime in with more details I've missed! Thanks to all contributors to this great event; thanks to Lucky Garden for the astonishing meal!

Well, at Casa Amirault y Castañeda, we absolutely have to cut back for a variety of reasons. Unfortunately, I can't cut out cruises! We don't spend much on clothing, non-food hobbies, fine dining, nor on other likely candidates for the chopping block. With two kids in school and a parent off to get a masters in the fall, plus the constant expense of education, a mortgage, health insurance, plus a 100-year-old house that likes to make things go kablooey... well, a $40 bottle of arbequina olive oil is gonna get the axe. That's not to say that all food-related expenses are reduced to a minimum. Since I buy very little processed food, I like to get meat, fish, and produce from reputable (and thus pricier) grocers. We also have a small number of restaurants that we frequent, run by people who have known us for years, that can feed our family of 4 for under $10 per person, and there are nights that I simply have to step away from the stove and eat someone else's kim bop or polenta. But never more than once a week -- and I'm afraid we're looking at doing that less often.... edited to clarify -- ca

I'm a very big fan of the Whole Foods 365 Spanish oil for all applications.

... beverages served outside my house: coffee or tea that I don't brew myself; cocktails that I don't mix myself; wine that I don't pour myself....