Jason Perlow

By the way, the classic Creme Brulee doesnt employ the use of a blowtorch and such a thick burnt layer that has to be "cracked". Old school creme brulee just has the thinnest of burnt sugar layers, and it doesnt necessarily cover the entire surface of the custard -- it is more of an accent. Our local patissier in NJ, Patisserie St. Michel, uses a hot iron to burn the top sugar layer onto the custard rather than the blowtorch, and produces the following result: as you can see the burned layer is in spots, and is essentially an accent flavor rather than the main feature. He also makes a really awesome pistachio creme brulee by mixing finely ground pistachios into the custard before baking: I really like this guy's creme brulee because the custard is baked into pastry shells (that have been blind baked), rather than in ramekins, so you can eat the whole thing.

Please join Peter Reinhart, bread expert, author and culinary instructor, for an exclusive eGullet Q&A the week of October 4. He’ll discuss his newest book, American Pie: My Search for the Perfect Pizza, as well as his other books and all things bread and yeast. As an added bonus, thanks to Ten Speed Press, three lucky participants will receive a copy of either American Pie, The Bread Bakers Apprentice, or Crust & Crumb in a drawing at the end of the week. Peter founded the award winning Brother Juniper's Bakery in Santa Rosa, California. He now holds the title of Chef on Assignment at Johnson and Wales University in Charlotte, North Carolina, having taught at the university’s Providence campus the previous four years. For five years previous to that, he was a full time instructor at the California Culinary Academy in San Francisco. Peter released his fifth book, The Bread Baker’s Apprentice, in November 2001. It won both the James Beard and IACP Cook Book of the Year awards, as well as the International Gourmand Award for Best Baking Book in the World. Click Here for the Peter Reinhart Q&A

Please join Peter Reinhart, bread expert, author and culinary instructor, for an exclusive eGullet Q&A the week of October 4. He’ll discuss his newest book, American Pie: My Search for the Perfect Pizza, as well as his other books and all things bread and yeast. As an added bonus, thanks to Ten Speed Press, three lucky participants will receive a copy of either American Pie, The Bread Bakers Apprentice, or Crust & Crumb in a drawing at the end of the week. Peter founded the award winning Brother Juniper's Bakery in Santa Rosa, California. He now holds the title of Chef on Assignment at Johnson and Wales University in Charlotte, North Carolina, having taught at the university’s Providence campus the previous four years. For five years previous to that, he was a full time instructor at the California Culinary Academy in San Francisco. Peter released his fifth book, The Bread Baker’s Apprentice, in November 2001. It won both the James Beard and IACP Cook Book of the Year awards, as well as the International Gourmand Award for Best Baking Book in the World. He is also the author of Bread Upon The Waters: A Pilgrimage Toward Self Discovery and Spiritual Truth; Crust and Crumb: Master Formulas For Serious Bread Bakers; Sacramental Magic In a Small Town Cafe: Recipes and Stories From Brother Juniper's Café; and Brother Juniper's Bread Book: Slow Rise As Method and Metaphor. He has been regularly interviewed on national television and radio including CNN, All Things Considered on National Public Radio, Here and Now and The Connection on WBUR (NPR); and he was a frequent guest on The Mike and Maty Show (ABC). In addition, Peter was one of the featured chef instructors on the PBS series Global Cuisine From The California Culinary Academy and Master Class from Johnson & Wales (began airing in April, 2002). Peter was a guest chef on The Mollie Katzen Cooking series, also on PBS, and was recently featured on "Follow That Pizza" with Gordon Elliott on TVFN. He was also interviewed and profiled in Pastry Arts Magazine and Spirit, the in-flight magazine of Southwest Airlines. He was the regular food commentator on One Union Station, on National Public Radio’s WRNI, as well as a guest commentator for the op-ed page of the Providence Journal. He is also on the Chefs Council of The Center for Culinary Development (CCD), a culinary think tank located in San Francisco, and is also a consulting product developer for The California Culinary Development Group (CCDG), in Tiburon, CA. As a bread expert, he won the 1996 James Beard Foundation's National Bread Competition for his "Wild Yeast Country Bread," featured in Crust and Crumb. That book was also the recipient of the James Beard Award as the Best Baking and Desserts Book of 1998. He was also the bread chapter author and editor for The New Joy of Cooking, released in the fall of 1997. Peter has also developed a line of frozen gourmet pizzas, calzones, toaster snacks, and bagels for Amy's Kitchen, the nation's largest producer of organic vegetarian frozen entrees. The pizzas were the overwhelming hit at the Natural Foods Product Show in Baltimore, MD, and entered the marketplace in December, 1996. Calzone and bagel production began in the spring of 1997. He recently developed a line of new pizza concepts for Amy's, including a wheat-free pizza, released in July 2003. He will soon be launching his own line of products. Plans include sauces, salad dressings, healthy baked products, and nutritional soft drinks.

Even VIPs eat at crappy restaurants. Some even eat at Riese food courts. I met Jamie Farr at a Nathans food court off Times Square once.

Pre-cooked saffron rice works really well as the binder for the trinity-beef mixture (although to be perfectly honest, and call me a heretic, I dont really think celery adds much, so we almost never use it, I'd rather use a combo of red and green bell pepper and more onion). It adds that extra something -- don't forget the Tabasco sauce and creole spice mix.

Wow Brooks, that sounds really good. Now I'm jonesing for some dirty rice stuffed peppers or tomatoes.

In NJ? Not bloody likely. If you find one, please let me know.

Ground beef and seasoned cooked rice with chopped up sauteed peppers and onions... sausage and tomato sauce and onions mixture

Unfavorites: Liver being cooked Tuna Salad being prepared -- the decanning, the mixing up with onions... blech. I hate tuna salad.

That sounds like a Cubanelle, at least in its physical desription. But they could have also been hungarian peppers, which can be quite hot. Its also possible to get hot Cubanelles if they are accidentally cross pollinated with a hot pepper, or if the plants underwent a lot of stress, which can produce higher capsaicin levels. The cross pollination thing can happen to any kind of sweet pepper that is grown in the same general area as hot peppers. I saw this happen in my own garden.

Thanks Jamie. Being completely unaware of the severity of the double dipping situation, I'll now be contacting my congressman to let them know about the threat this poses to US/Canadian relations.

We've had a few threads on it. http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=38170 http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?act=ST&f=38&t=26353 Here is an article on it from Wine Spectator http://www.winespectator.com/Wine/Main/Fea...97,1782,00.html

Jamon Iberico -- the much coveted cousin to Serrano that isn't yet legal to import into the States. Jambon Bayonne -- French Equivalent to Prosciutto Speck, also sometimes called Prosciutto Affumicato -- a smoked Prosciutto made in Austria, Germany and also Italy.

I'm really glad I'm not Canadian. I'm not sure if I could handle Thanksgiving so soon after the Jewish holidays. I mean come on, one huge carb and heartburn fest right after another. Not to mention more turkey.

Frankly I am very concerned about the adaptation aspect into a half hour format on network television, even one as risky as FOX. I think as a feature film or even a miniseries on cable it would be much better. There is just too much sex and adult language/humor I think to put on regular TV. And the fact that Tony is learning thru back channels and the same media we are about his own book becoming a TV property concerns me greatly. I hope they consult him at least.

Michael Liaskonis' menu at Le Bernardin in NYC is interesting -- he lists his desserts by primary flavor: http://www.egullet.com/shared/ml2.pdf

While the texture of felafel is important as is the bread, i think the spice mixture is also critical. I like a lot of cumin and a good amount of chile powder added to the mix.

Ugh. I guess I won't be going to Top Quality then. I hated Maxims for that same reason. Han ah Reum is primarily for Korean and Japanese goods and for exceptional produce and seafood. For Thai items you have to go to Udom's on main street in Hackensack (a few shops down from Wondee's thai restaurant). There's another Thai grocery called "Terri Lee" Terri Lee Foods, Inc. Chinese, Thai and Oriental Groceries 225 Maywood Avenue Maywood, NJ 07607 201-843-7919

For me its a tough call between Thailand or Japan. Although Singapore would be pretty cool too, for the sake of diversity of Asian cuisines. Then again the idea of having an unlimited budget in France sounds pretty damn compelling too.

On behalf of the management at eGullet, I'd like to welcome everyone to the Southern Food Culture forum. I'd like to start things off with one of my favorite things on the entire planet -- Pecan Pie. What makes Pecan Pie Southern? What are the most important variations? What are the essential ingredients to your pecan pie? What state has the distinction of making the best one? And what advancements have there been made to the Pecan Pie in the last decade or so? Any notable examples or known masters of the Pecan Pie?

As Rachel said, we haven't been there in a long time. Once John stopped giving it his personal attention, we noticed an immediate drop in food quality.

I can assure you, Patisserie St. Michel does not use shortening. Boatloads of butter.

http://www.manhattanspecial.com/products_i...fee_drinks.html Manhattan Special is perhaps one of my favorite soft drinks -- this Brooklyn NY company, in business since 1895, produces one of the finest coffee sodas in the entire industry. Like any quality soft drink company they only use cane sugar in their products. Their signature espresso soda is made out of pure coffee, carbonated water, cane sugar and some caramel coloring, thats it. While perusing their site I noticed they launched a new line of iced coffee drinks. Anyone try these yet?

I've never been to Top Quality. East West is an interesting store, its owned by a Chinese and a Filipino -- it carries a lot of Filipino goods. While the dry goods part of the store is fine -- and I frequently buy all kinds of snack foods and stuff from them -- I'm not crazy about the cleanliness aspect of the Fish market.

Han Ah Reum (also in Hackensack and Englewood) and Mitsuwa are the best Asian markets in all of Northern NJ. My second choice to these two would be Kam Man Foods in East Hanover -- although that is only because its not immediately near where I live and I would be visiting it a lot more if I lived in that area. All three of these are very clean and I would have no problems at all buying fish and meats from them.