Chris Amirault

Wow. SW US horno communal ovens seem modeled on many other communal ovens, used by home bakers who haven't access to an oven in their house. As someone who covets a (JW bread professor's) backyard brick oven, I really appreciate the appeal.... So, I googled "horno oven" and found lots of interesting links. Two thoughts occur as I read through them: 1. Size: Most of the contemporary examples I've read about (in these few minutes) have been pretty small indeed, and not quite communal. I'd think that going to scale (esp for any production for your business, Rob) would involve something larger, and not just the smaller ones made for the backyard crowd. 2. Management: It seems that someone (or some group) needs to oversee the use and maintenance of such an oven. I sniff in that the possibility of many committee meetings in which folks look around wondering who's going to devote 10-20 hours a week to the thing. But, seriously, I think that this is really cool.

If you vacuum-pack it, how long do you think it can last? And you'd put it in your fridge, yes?

I'll be fascinated to learn about this. Can there be such a thing that isn't, um, horrible? Or are we talking about an item that isn't really a souffle in the classic sense but a frozen dessert with a lot of air beaten into it?

Welcome, Camano Chef! Tell me about this mustard coating. Wet? Dry? I worry that the mustard would absorb the smoke and prevent a pellicle on the butt. Thoughts?

Always. I'm fond of fond.

Oddly, Only in RI doesn't sell sausages, from what I can tell. However, it looks like Portuguese Food Inc. sells Michael's for shipping -- superior to Gaspar's imo.

Have you tried fiddling around with essential oils?

eGullet Society members have been keen on scales for a long while, dating back to the Kitchen Scale Manifesto.

It really depends, I'm afraid, on things like cut, humidity, temperature, and so on. IIRC, most of the steaks shown in the photos age for between 25-45 days, give or take.

I read that and think, "Bitters...."

And if you use Clement Creole Shrubb instead of simple with Angostura orange bitters, you can doll it up by pulling one of those cherries out of the bittered brandy in which you've been steeping 'em and letting it sit at the bottom of the glass until, having enjoyed the remarkable libation you've made, you savor the genever-soaked stone fruit dessert.

I haven't been seeing a fat cap -- if that's the right word for layer of fat atop a brisket. I had one and kept it for sure. Do people usually trim it off?

Actually, you braise it in coconut milk and then create the curry base with coconut cream and the paste, retaining the cooking milk to use to moisten later if you'd like. (He first uses the technique I've learned from Chinese cooking in which you place the meat in cold water, bring it to a boil, rinse the meat, and toss the mucky cooking liquid.) The cooking milk is very beefy, and as a result you can create two very different curries: one with that meaty umami from the braising liquid, the other a cleaner, delicate curry which the slices of brisket carry. I agree with Susan: this is a fantastic technique and I use it myself all the time.

Can you say more about Durgin Park and Locke-Ober? I've heard little but bad about DP forever (literally), and Lydia Shire's supposed to have been turning L-O around.

Not me. But having read the website, I definitely want to party with that. I mean, it's "the best alcoholic beverage," and named Mandingo: what's not to love? Richard, what's the flavor like? Meanwhile: fiddling with the jerk, molé, and toast bitters these days. The last is a great addition to an Earl Grey MarTEAni (tea and toast, get it?), and a couple drops of the jerk or molé bitters take a Daiquiri or a Margarita in very different directions.

I just think about those old Italian guys who probably didn't have disinfectants and figure that they made crazy-good stuff in dripping caves and moldy basements and lived into their twilight years with lots of friends. And I also remember watching the master tending his cured sausage in Barcelona who simply wiped down every stick with olive oil, regardless of the color of its mold.

That's what I made, in fact, with some substitutions (Lemon Hart rums and a different tea). It's terrific.

Are you cooking it whole or do you cube the meat? ← Whole. There's something really great about a single piece of brisket. (Not a "whole brisket," though -- just a 5-6 lb piece.)

Not to belabor the point, but ice (that is to say, water) is always factored into ratios. It's the reason that bartenders make drinks from room-temperature booze. Knowing which drinks to let sit for how long before straining is one of the ways that a good bartender practices his craft.

Oh, and: what should I make with this stuff?

The braised brisket recipe that I've been using to great success the last few weeks has been a variation of the CI theme, but with a shot of Paula Wolfert's various braised beef techniques tossed in for good measure. Saute the S&P'ed beef in butter or lard or a combo until it's nicely caramelized. Add some chopped vegetables (roughly chopped onions first until browned, then some carrots and celery, then at the end some garlic), deglaze with stock and/or red wine, toss in the herbs you want (I've been using thyme and bay a lot, though a batch with rosemary worked well), and add water to make sure that your beef is covered. That's when I've been tossing in a couple of ounces of dried porcini mushrooms, too. I do this all in the same dutch oven and cover the beef with a parchment cartouche before I toss the package into a 250F oven for a few hours, testing all the while. When it's not-quite done, I pull the meat out of the liquid and blend the whole braised mess (sans the herbs) to create a thick sauce. Let everything cool overnight in the fridge and rewarm in a 350F oven in a shallow ovenproof dish (the Le Creuset oval au gratins are great for this) with as much meat and sauce as you want. I usually roast some root vegetables (potatoes, carrots, parsnips especially), onions, or shallots to go with it, but I serve those on the side. The beef penang recipe I've been using is from David Thompson's outstanding Thai Food, and he parboils the beef in boiling water, drains it, and only then braises the beef in coconut milk. When it's done, you slice it into relative thick slices, fry the paste you've been pounding for 45 minutes in cracked coconut cream, and then simmer the whole thing in some more coconut milk, kaffir lime leaves, fish sauce, and a few other things. It's sublime, really showing off the tender texture of the brisket in the silky curry sauce.

I just spent the better part of an afternoon talking with experts about beef (click here) and grass vs grain is just one element of the final product. Other factors include breed, program, aging, grade, and (as mentioned here) preparation. In addition, feed is a variable component of the program, which always starts with grass (all calves eat in the pasture at birth, I'm told) but can progress through a wide variety of feeding protocols. Pulling one variable out of so many doesn't really give you the whole picture. I had two terrific steaks at the event linked above: one was grass fed and one was grain fed. However, the other elements were major factors as well. That makes me a lot less apt to judge a given bite of beef based on one isolated factor -- especially when considering the possibility that, unless you're dealing with a trusted source, you got a bum steer.

Has anyone here actually done a taste test to determine whether bags, balls, and baskets have a noticeable effect on the product?

Where on the east coast are you? I might have a lead in the SE NE area (I'm in Providence RI).

Keep in mind that virtually any food store can carry Regan's. It ain't hooch, so it can be carried at your local grocery or gourmet food haunt.