Chris Amirault

Food & Wine has decided to turn into People. Just got an emailer saying, "Julia Louis Dreyfus turns 50 today. To wish the former Seinfeld star a happy birthday, we suggest 10 foods that served as props in the classic show's madcap plots." Click here for Ten "Seinfeld-Inspired Dishes." No sign of "garbage-can buffet."

Jacquin's R&R! You've convinced me that I finally need to buy a bottle of that packy staple. To go with my green tea, of course. Only when sick.

Did that exact thing over the holidays and it was fantastic.

Let's chart our frittering here. I have some pieces remaining that I think I'm going to cook and mash, somehow, tomorrow night.

Absolutely. Here's a question: does a gratin require cheese? Is Jansson's Temptation a gratin?

Nick, what's "wattle"?

Hojicha.

Bamboo skewer or, if I'm doing a lot, my trusty sausage poker every time. So does anyone know what actually happens?

Been there, done that. Hot air guns don't get hot enough.

So what was technically difficult about these things? The croissants, for me, were difficult bc I was hyperconscious about temperature, not overworking the dough, rolling to proper thickness -- and had to repeat this process several times, knowing that one botch would kill them.

I'll be interesting to see what people think about it after having it a while. I used their salmon-smoking recipe to good effect over the holidays, and I liked both method and seasoning. However, the method produces about four times more seasoned curing salt than you need. Makes me wonder if the conversion from industrial/professional production recipes to smaller ones will have similar flaws.

Snow day today, so I decided to make a quick and simple daube (eG Cook-Off here). Last night, I dumped the three pounds of cubed chuck into a bowl with some aromatics and a bottle of gifted red wine. This morning I went through the rest of the preparations, browning the meat, preparing some porcinis, grabbing tomatoes from the fridge, mirepoix, etc. Then I reached for the parchment paper to make a cartouche. Folding the rectagular paper in halves and cutting a radius-sized piece of pie: Snip off the point and unfold: Crumple under warm water and place on the surface of your braise: We've talked a bit about cartouches before (click for a discussion in the ossobuco Cook-Off), and the cartouche-plus-lid approach is taught at FCI. But we've never really gotten down to brass tacks about it. What's the science here? What's lore? Is a cartouche a substitute for a lid, and, if so, why use both? Are all of these steps -- folding, cutting, drilling a hole, moistening -- necessary? Does it matter what temperature at which you're cooking? (Lower amounts of moisture are released below the boiling point, in particular.)

I think that they make that vermouth on tap, don't they?

So, basic guidelines include keep the leaves dry. Having no access to Victorian tea-drying screens, I'm at a loss as to how to do that. Google isn't helping. Thoughts? As for number of infusions, is it roughly related to green/oolong/black? Age?

WIthout question, my first attempts at croissants -- in a small college apartment kitchen with no special equipment (like marble) in July. I'll be interested to read others' responses, especially to learn what we think "technically difficult" means for each of us.

Great report, Mitch. I love it there; it's one of the great places in a great city. Did you try the housemade vermouth there? It went great with the food, and the freshly made vermouth around Barcelona is really something....

I'd go with two pretty different bottles, then, and pray there are no artichokes on the table. A flowery reisling on the one hand and a flinty pinot gris/grigio on the other?

I'm trying to figure out how to figure out the appropriate number of tea infusions based on prior infusions, time, exposure to air, and who knows what else. Take today. I put a few leaves of Norbu Ruby Black Tea into the pot this morning and made a nice brew. I'm now about to make the second pot: it has been only four hours; I left the leaves in the pot wet and covered (though air gets in through the spout). But then what? Tomorrow morning? There's a storm on the way: Thursday? Covered? Uncovered? Exposure to light? Sound? And please don't say "trial and error." Surely there's some guidance that's less hit-or-miss out there!

You should what? Where does that "coffee at home" notion come from? I've never heard of it, and given that caffeine is the gas of office life, it's illogical to boot.

Salmon prepared in what manner? That would have quite an impact....

Wow. I just watched one restaurant switch hands and go through its first nine months, and I'm now watching another try to get going amidst all of the delays and frustrations.... EdwardJ, you nailed it.

Gotta get back to the store. Plowed through the grapefruits, which were excellent, and now are busy realizing that these tangelos aren't grapefruit. Or even decent tangelos.

Unless they've got great access, send them in search of stuff you can find: a Del Maguey mezcal, Chichicapa or Minero, I'd suggest.

I remembered that there were quite a few salt cod recipes in Colman Andrews's Catalan Cuisine -- a must-have cookbook on sale at Amazon for a mere $10! -- so I made the recipe that allowed me to use things on hand and that seemed most appealing to the family: Salt Cod with Garlic & Paprika "On the Tin." Mine was on an enameled cast iron Le Creuset au gratin pan, btw. Dredge the (desalinated, skinned, boned) salt cod in flour and sauté until brown; remove to drain on paper towels while you sauté some garlic and ground tomato in some of the oil. Add sweet paprika (I added a little smoked too), salt, pepper, and white wine; reduce to a thick sauce. Pour over the fish in a skillet or other oven-proof shallow metal baking dish. 400F for 10-15 minutes until cooked through. It was excellent, both right out of the oven and at room temp just now. Served it with, of all things, Janson's Temptation, which was a very good pairing, latitude be damned.

Andie, what's the difference between those Sunbeam T-X models and their AT-W model?