Chris Amirault

Add five for me: the Time-Life books The Great West and Foods of India Ken Hom's Fragrant Harbor Taste: The New Chinese Cooking of Hong Kong Merle Ellis's Cutting Up in the Kitchen Thomas Keller's Bouchon.

Can you tell us a bit more about what you mean by BBQ? That would help with suggestions.

So I need to figure out this drying box/curing chamber business before I get grindin' and stuffin'. From the book and the posts here, I've come up with some basics: block light keep it humid (65-75%), with a pan of salty water, say cool (55F) enclosed but with air circulation I need to do this in some rudimentary way, I think. Don't say old fridge because I'm not going to have one of those in enough time, and there's no room in the basement, which is the only sufficiently cool spot. Any ideas? I was thinking about going to Home Despot and getting some big box of some kind and inverting it, so that the "cover" is on the ground and the links are hanging from a rack on the base of the "bottom".... Also, I have a couple of other questions. Can someone help me understand the enclosed with circulation issue? What does that mean functionally? Drill holes in the sides? Open it now and then? A fan? Taking over my own fridge is a possibility short-term, but is it too cold? Thanks in advance, and apologies if I've missed something in this gargantuan topic! edited to clarify -- ca

Until I had one, in my previous rental apartment, I didn't get it either, in fact I thought they looked stupid. But I found it to be extremely functional and convenient. Most of us don't otherwise get such a long expanse of countertop, which makes a lot of tasks easier. My favorite perk of having an island was for rolling out pasta--because of the 90 angles, you can attach the the pasta maker so that it faces you directly (a peninsula would do the same thing), which might not sound like much but it made it that much more of a pleasure. Finally, it made it possible for me to work at the stove with helpers/guests around but not under my feet. So I'm finding it hard think about spending a lot of money for a complete reno and NOT having one. ← To the good points here about extra counter space, etc., I'd add that the rolling island (which is what we have) adds a lot of flexibility, particularly in a kitchen that often has two adults in it.

A couple of people PMed me about the changes we've made, so I thought I'd post before and after pix here. Before: As you can see, the floating island, while wonderful, didn't have a place in the room, so it, well, floated all over the place. We also had a big bookshelf in the kitchen that we moved into the hall just outside (it just fit into the space between the kitchen door frame and the stairs). Finally, there was a kitchen table whose main function was to hold up the shelving system -- and cut down on square footage, of course. We got rid of the table and put the shelving unit onto the wall: And we added the side board and pot rack, and we moved the knife rack to the unpainted section of wall that had been hidden by the bookshelf (ahem): We also added two Whirlpool appliances (range/oven and fridge). Here's the fridge: Note also the Ikea laundry rack in the upper right corner of the photo; that's our pasta and sausage drying rack. Simple, pretty cheap changes that have dramatically improved our happiness in the kitchen. Hell, we can even keep that Hobart out on the floating island!

Ellen can certainly speak for herself, but this misrepresents her point, at least in my reading. Here's the key phrase: I think she was simply pointing out the fact that many people -- the majority of humans on earth, probably -- haven't the means to make judgments about food quality, broadly defined, their primary criterion in deciding what to eat. It's not a comment about the idle leisure class; it's a fact about global food consumption, which for many is for sustenance, not pleasure. As for the question at hand, I like tejon's ""strangely obsessed."

Thanks, everyone, for the propers. Susan, I changed only one thing in the recipe: I used up some red wine that had been getting sour on the fridge door instead of using vinegar as the recipe indicates. As for temperatures, keeping in mind that the temperature threshhold is listed in the book at 40F, they were at 43F after the grind, below 35F (around 33F if I remember correctly -- and, perhaps troublingly, it is a good bet that I am doing so) at the start of the paddling; 37F after the paddling. Then I stopped worrying about the temperature, assuming that the emulsion had set. You can get the full description by clicking the pink snapback box at the end of this quotation: I'm not McGee, but the evidence in that photo (and in my mouth) is pretty compelling. The crucial matter for sausage emulsion, like other emulsions, seems to be the temperature of the ingredients at the time you are attempting to create the emulsion (paddling), and not before (grinding) or after (stuffing). As someone who doesn't want a non-air-conditioned kitchen to prevent sausage-making now that grilling season is here in force, I find that pretty good news. One more thing: my package from Butcher & Packer just arrived with hog casings, some dextrose, and -- very excitingly -- some bactoferm F-RM-52. I think I have to commit now to a curing chamber of some sort....

Holly, you're so gauche. Use the cookie fork, man.

Though I certainly don't sit in judgment of those who do, I never use jarred pasta sauce. When reading this thread I realized why: it takes my huge pasta pot filled with heavily salted water longer to heat up than it takes for me to make a sauce. So I'm confused. How are those of you who are making pasta with sauce cooking your pasta?

For reading, I put myself in the author's hands. For use, as long as there's an extremely detailed index in the back, I'm happy to entertain any organizational strategy. But a lousy index means I'll rarely use the book no matter how cool its structure.

Rendering is heating fat-laden animal components over relatively low heat so that they release the fat in a form that can still be used for cooking, baking, and so on. If you heat the fat too high (past its smoke point), then the fat browns and loses the properties that allow you to cook with it.

For dinner tonight, I roasted the hot Italian sausages I mentioned up-topic: I really feel like this sausage has demonstrated the absurd differences between the over-cooked, poorly made ones I've been used to and the well-cooked, homemade ones I'm starting to make. This photo helps to show a bit of what I mean: I followed the Charcuterie recipe almost exactly, and with careful cooking (roasted at 425F to an internal temp of 150F) produced really great links. This roasting method worked really well, too; the skins popped, the sausages were evenly heated, and there was almost no oil residue in the pan when I took them out of the oven. I mean, I'm just blown away by the fact that there is almost no fat loss on the plate following a cut! From all this, I conclude: cold cold cold before the primary bind.

Simple risotto (chicken stock, onion, little garlic, butter and olive oil, S&P, thyme, parm. reg.) as a side to a fine artichoke, some balsamic-stewed red bell peppers, and a hot homemade Italian sausage:

Folks, a few managers have conferred, and this topic -- which was only tangientially about food to begin with -- has run its course. If there are food-related issues concerning Ratner's brunch that you'd like to bring up elsewhere, please do so!

Same problem with fat content here, especially with the Niman Ranch butts, which seems trimmed a bit too much. Elie, that terrine looks fantastic. Can you tell me what size your terrine mold is? Cups, s'il vous plait!

Tamales for sure -- and around our house, meatball-rolling is definitely a collective activity, particularly with my eight-year-old daughter and her pals.

Tracey, thanks! How'd you find that out? I'm intrigued.

It seems possible, even likely, that the restaurant fries the empanadas to accommodate local tastes. That could, of course, also be the reason for the Italian stuff.

I'm just pointing out that the post suggests that popularity and quality have a relationship. And I'm sincerely interested to know what you think is good at Brickway.

A few folks have been talking about Bolivian food over in the South America forum, and I just posted this review of Bolivian Restaurant on Chalkstone Ave in that topic.

I just had dinner this past week at Bolivian Restaurant here in Providence, and thought I'd report on what I had there to get some feedback. I ordered heavily in the appetizer section because I had my two kids with me and because I was hoping to be able to try a few different things. I also had read that the place had massive main dish servings and didn't want to go home with too many bags of leftovers. We started with three different empanadas, which were similar only in that they were stuffed pastries that had been fried. The queso was a longer rectangular pastry stuffed with a layer of cheese and sprinkled with powdered sugar. The other two empanadas were savory; the pollo was pretty tasty, but the chargue was fantastic, a mix of dried beef, chopped hard-boiled egg, kalamata olives, and a few other things. The dried beef was a central component in a dish called masaco that I really liked. Plaintains were mashed into the beef with little else, I think. It reminded me of mofongo but had shreds of been instead of chicharrones. We also got a mani soup that was very simple: a chicken/peanut base with a piece of chicken, some vegetables, and some potato sticks on top. After asking for a few things that they didn't have on hand, we got the chicharron plate, with unseasoned, deep fried pork ribs, a large potato that had been boiled and then deep fried, and about two cups worth of mote (which was, indeed, similar to the Mexican hominy I've had). I washed everything down with a chica de main (sp?), which was a wonderful peanut drink with a bit of cinnamon and sugar in it. I felt like it tasted of both roasted and raw peanuts, but I can't be sure about that. One thing that I didn't expect was to find a bunch of Italian mains and desserts on the menu: parmesana de pollo, tiramisu, and so on. Is there a reason for this that anyone can explain? It's possible that the restaurant's location (in one of several neighborhoods that have been home to Italian-American folks here in Providence) may explain it, but I thought I'd ask! We'll be back to try a few more things -- and will travel across the street to the other Bolivian place, Rodeo Restaurant -- soon.

Great ideas! I used it today to slice a slab of homemade bacon into uniform thick strips. Then a pal of mine who teaches at Johnson and Wales came by and suggested I think about very thin slices of orange for pastries.

So is McDonalds. What exactly do you like to order at Brickway, menton1?

Actually, it's not spinning; that's just cheese residue! And I have no idea how old it is; I shot that close photo of the information plate in case someone else had an answer to that.

On Friday, April 28, at 9:32 am, Chris Amirault welcomed into his loving home this magnificent vintage Hobart Meat Slicer, weighing in at well over fifty pounds. Hobart was adopted thanks to the fine folks at craigslist for $100, and he's in good working order. Here's a few photos of the little bugger: That's the turkey breast I brined and roasted, sliced nice and thin. This beast is fantastic. I took it apart -- it's all screws and grease and metal, so I could figure it out more or less -- cleaned it, sharpened the blade, and it's working like a charm. Plus it's absolutely beautiful, don't cha think? So... what to do with it? I'm planning on curing ham, bresaola, and who knows what, smoking turkey, roasting beef, the usual and I'll slice 'em up with this baby. I'm also thinking about carpaccio at home, something I've craved but never managed to pull off for obvious reasons. What else is there to try? And does anyone know of any things I should be doing to keep it in good shape other than keeping it clean and sharp? Finally, I'd love to hear about other people's slicers. What do you do with them? Where do you store them? What do you use them for?