Chris Amirault

Excellent idea. I've eaten at the restaurant several times before, and it's right down the hill from my school. Your time suggestion is particularly smart. My first question was "Barback?" Sigh. I asked for "bartender," and got nixed.

I'm tickled, and a little nervous, to have been asked to be the guest bartender for the 2011 Share Our Strength fundraiser in Providence on June 12. This event is part of the Tasteful Pursuit series, which will bring Jonathan Waxman to our little burg of Providence and feature several local chefs of note. Needless to say, I want this to be boffo, and while I'm already pondering drink choices, I'm also starting to think through the logistical challenges of guest bartending, with someone else's bar layout, glasses, ice, rail.... I know that some aspects will be similar to doing a cocktail workshop, which we've discussed at length before. But I'm sure that many things will be quite different -- not the least being the need to produce ~70-100 drinks in an hour's time. I'm just beginning to formulate my list of questions. So, while I chew on this pencil eraser, can you get me started? What to do? What not to do? What to bring? What to leave behind?

Of course! The perforated bottom plate is just the thing!

Just finished a round of MC cooking, with the tenderloin brine -- lots of substitutions thanks to a lack of juniper berries -- pork ribs, and pastrami getting attention. Ribs for Friday night, pastrami for Saturday night (though I may save it and serve spaghetti & meatballs instead!), and the tenderloins for Sunday night. The pastrami brine is so aromatic that I passed the opened brining bag around, holding it below the noses of various family members. We all agree that it's what heaven will smell like.

I've never seen cardamom leaves either....

Tell me about it. That fat bastard Santa still hasn't brought me the Combi I asked for on his lap last December.

I must say, I agree with lancastermike on this one. Like most TV cooks, she is both about image and food, and like most people who have to generate astonishing amounts of content for her various media outlets, she probably takes shortcuts and makes dumb decisions. But she's quite open about those gaffes, and she has been adamant in her career that she's not a chef. I think that the haters don't like her cutesy "Yummo" thing, but, if you can get by that, I can't see why she generates so much agita. Perhaps she's a symbol of something or other.....

Over in the Cooking with Modernist Cuisine topic, Anna N raised a great point about cooking with a book assuming a professional audience: Seemed like a great topic to me. I can think of a few other aspects that might challenge: weight-based measurements instead of volume; production-sized pans, sheets, containers, ovens, and so on; a team of dishwashers and line cooks to do all the grunt prep and clean-up. What other adjustments do you make when you pick up one of the professional cookbooks?

That's a really good point about yields: I have been thinking more about grams per serving then I have ever before in the past!* Question for those who have played around with Activa. I'm thinking of slicing pancetta very thin and then wrapping it around the brined pork tenderloin. Can I use the Activa with a cured product just as well as with non-cured meat? I'm assuming so since, after all, there's still protein in there. *ETA: I started a topic based on Anna's post here.

No argument here. We keep a roll of tape atop the fridge for the kiddos' artworks. I'll add another gripe: it seems to dent really easily, probably because the stainless steel veneer is not very thick. Within a week of delivery, our fridge got a dent that's been there for years.

Thankfully, only US denizens are likely familiar with the spooky Ms. Dean.

Agreed with Michaela. The more I get to know actual chefs, the less any stereotypes -- from Boyardee to Bourdain -- make any sense at all.

I believe you. It's a bit dicey for the others at dinner -- my mom and I love snails -- and I'm having a hard time finding quality canned snails. But, soon....

A gambas is what, exactly?

Nutter Butter cookies.

All right, I've gotta figure this out for this weekend. I'm thinking about using the existing racks as a shelf for ramekins. Pix and results to follow.

Oooh. I think you may be onto something there, Jaymes.

I have about one hundred post-it notes stuck in the KM and the various volumes, and every few days, especially before weekends, I snoop through to see what tweaks my interest. I'm also constantly refilling the larder with things like bacon, and each time I do that I review the book to see if I can learn anything new. (The answer, 100% of the time, has been yes.) The menu above involved a more focused project with a limited range of ingredients, though.

As with most holidays that involve food in some way or another, I'm cooking for mother's day. (I'll be charting the developments over here.) What are y'all doing?

Had to nix a few things after running it by Central Office, so it's much simpler now: asparagus royale (4-94) with shaved blackstrap ham juniper brined pork tenderloin (5-36) sweet potato fondant (4-39) salted apple caramel purée (5-20) herb spaetzle Doing the shopping and prep list now.

As I mentioned above, I'm making a Mothers' Day dinner that needs to account for quite a few dietary restrictions, and I'm hoping to use MC for quite a bit of it. Here's what I've got so far, with MC recipes marked: champagne cocktails with rhubarb syrup (3-291), lemon, & Cointreau asparagus royale (4-94) with shaved blackstrap ham sous vide braised snails (5-243) on carrot purée (3-292) juniper brined pork tenderloin (5-36) sweet potato fondant (4-39) salted apple caramel purée (5-20) herb spaetzle If anyone has experience with any of these dishes, please let me know. One note: I can't do the leek wrap on the pork tenderloin, so I think I'll cook it SV, wrap it in bacon that I've sealed with Activa, and sear it off just before service.

Atty variation: 1 1/2 oz (Plymouth) gin 1 1/2 oz Cocchi Americano dash (R&W) Creme de Violette dash (Luxardo) Maraschino dash (Leopold) absinthe Stir; strain; lemon twist. Splendid. Whenever I have it in the house, I wonder why I don't always have the Cocchi in the house....

So you'd say (1) do the steps in the order shown in the main volume and (2) 365F until it's at 190F internally?

Both!

Well, at Whole Foods they have preprogrammed tare settings for these containers, since they are the ones that the store uses. So you put 'em on the cashier's scale, who subtracts the weight of the container, and off you go.