Jason Perlow

Tater Tots will be appearing in the Winter menus at El Bulli, Per Se, and ADNY shortly. Mark my words. The Tater Tot is one of the best inventions known to mankind. It's neither a French Fry nor a Croquette. Its a Tater Tot. It has the unique quality of being crunchy on the outside, but potatoey and coarse on the inside. When used in combination with mashed potatoes, it gives you two or three different textural elements for conveying the rich beef gravy.

B.B. in the casserole B.B. plated, with Zucchini Saute, Parsley Mashed Potatoes, and Tater tots (we couldnt make up our minds)

Chop em up, saute in lots of butter with salt and pepper. Eat them.

Inspired by the wonderful Boeuf Bourguignon we had at Tony's book party at Les Halles last week ("Perlow, you'd better stay close by and try it, that shit is fucking awesome") we had to try to make that recipe for ourselves. Rachel made it from the recipe in the book -- however inspired by Tony's culinary school stories in Kitchen Confidential we took a shortcut and cheated on the Demi Glace. Instead we used "Better than Bouillion" with water and the wine and reduced the hell out of it, it came out really good. Actually we haven't eaten it yet, its been sitting developing flavors in a big plastic container in the fridge this week. We did have some of the gravy over some Goya frozen french fries. Not anywhere close to the frites you get at Les Halles, but they went great with the kosher hot dogs we had as gussied up Disco Fries. Tonight we are going to have the beef for dinner with some mashed potatoes. Although, come to think of it, I'm leaning towards Tater Tots. To add to these despicable crimes, I will confess that as I didn't have an actual Burgundy in house, we used a California red blend with a medium tannin profile -- the Ca' Del Solo Big House Red 2002 from Bonny Doon. I had some really expensive Italians and some nice Spanish wines I could have used that had more tannins that might have worked better, but I wasn't cracking one open and sacrificing it to the French beef stew gods. I think what clinched the deal for me is that, not only does the bottle have a screwcap (which Rachel tried to get off with a conventional screwpull, hilarity ensuing) the label has a distinctive drawing of a well known California penal institution on it, which maked the wine seem right for going with a Tony Bourdain recipe. So between the demi glace shortcut and the American wine imposter, we really cocked up and thumbed a big one at those pesky frogs, but it came out tasty. Sorry Tony.

Actually, this evening, I washed off the gunk and drained the seeds, and tossed them in a mixture of olive oil, kosher salt, cajun spice mix, pepper, and a nice dose of smoked paprika. Baked them on a cookie sheet at 300 for about an hour, tossing them around every 20 minutes or so. They taste great.

So after carving out our Jack O' Lantern, we now have a windfall of pumpkin seeds. I know these are somehow eaten as a snack, but I am unsure of the preparation. Anyone got any good uses for these? Besides this? http://www.fabulousfoods.com/recipes/appet.../pumpseeds.html

Well, to be perfectly honest, its got to be in the type of oak barrels used (French Limousin or Troncais, versus American oak) how old the oak barrels are, and also the length of the aging process. A really good XO calvados is going to be aged for at least 15 years. I have a Coeur de Leon Calvados that is 25 and a 1963 vintage Calvados that was disgorged in the late 90s. The Laird's 12 is pretty close to a vintage calvados but not quite, it just doesn't have the years on it. The Normandy apples that are used to make cidre bouche and Calvados are also different.

You're pulling my leg, right? There's more than 1 species of celery? EDIT: Apprently, theres quite a few http://oregonstate.edu/Dept/NWREC/celery.html

Burger King has been losing a lot of ground for at least the last 2 years, maybe as much as 5.

John D. Taylor imported by Spirit of Hartford is the only one that I know of, Janet. And yes, its possible to synthesize your own, and I actually prefer the flavor of the homemade one.

I agree, for as much as we hate the place, they are making money hand over fist. I wouldn't change a thing if I was the current CEO. Now Burger King, thats another story. They are now in great danger of becoming #3 behind Wendys in terms of market position and profit, and they are losing more ground every day. They also are losing qualitative control over their franchises -- click here to read about how one of their major franchise owners went bankrupt and had to sell 226 restaurants. If I was CEO of Burger King, I would actually take an aggressive stance and implement some of the suggestions on this thread Holly has suggested for Mcdonalds -- simplified menu, better quality product, etc, to differentiate from Mcdonalds and Wendys.

Here's the link to the eG thread about Mo' Pho: http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=48049

There's about a 2 week lag in the NYT posting content on the web from the NJ section.

I havent seen the peice yet but if its a bowl of pho, yes, its my photo.

Why on earth would you want to eat blue crabs or New England lobster when you have dungies at your disposal? I'd rather "fake" a Lobster roll with Dungie meat. Or make New England Clam Chowder with your local clams.

Hiroyuki, next time, no sugar, but instead substitute some Lemon juice for the vinegar.

For the most part "White truffle oil" is an artificial product sold to unsuspecting buyers. Its almost never used in real restaurant or Italian cooking. HOWEVER, actual olive oil infused with white or black truffles is a real product, and so is white truffle and black truffle paste. But those are also expensive. EDIT: I've merged the topic as this question has come up before.

You suck, Shaw. I can't even afford to TIP at that place lately and you get all the free invites!

BTW, it is possible to be Dairy Intolerant and not be Lactose intolerant. Or it is possible to be both. I am for the most part intolerant to dairy products (it will either make my stomach upset, or in some cases depending on the product, cause me to have an allergic reaction to it which involves shortness of breath, sneezing, and coughing up phlegm) but it is because to of the high Casein content of certain cheeses and cow's milk -- although I have a mild lactose intolerance as well. However stuff like fresh Mozzarella cheese, which has a high amount of Casein and Lactose, can really make me sick if I eat it in quantities that are too large for my system to handle. This doesnt prevent me from eating ice cream and pizza though, I just usually suffer the consequences afterwards. Casein is the key ingredient in stuff like Elmer's glue. There are actually four varieties of Casein, which can affect you in different ways depending on the quantities of them. http://web.mit.edu/kevles/www/nomilk.html

They do a very strong breakfast and lunch business, and tend to do more evening business during the weekends.

I live in Atlanta, and I work at a restaurant that gives away quite a lot of stuff for free, aside from refills on sodas, actually. I kind of wish that we charged for extra sides of salad dressing and a few other things that routinely get wasted by customers who ask for them and then don't touch them. ← The American South is known for free refills on Iced Tea. Its a unique part of Southern culture and totally expected. Its not a given that in NY you will get free refills on anything.

I don't know about the original location (I'm gonna say no) but the franchise locations certainly do not.

Oh man, thats really technical stuff.

Okay, but when your typical Orthodox Jew buys milk, what do they buy? Surely not that stuff, right? I mean do most supermarket milks say OU D on them or Chof-K or do they not say anything at all, but is assumed to be ok? And I thought it was ok to drink Goats Milk and Sheeps Milk? Or is it just the blending of the different animals milk that is unkosher?

What's Chalov Yisroel milk?