Jason Perlow

I am quite torn on this. The reason being, while I know that "Sweet and Sour Chicken" represents everything that is wrong with Chinese cuisine in america today, and how its one of those lunch special takeout dishes thats really given Cantonese regional cooking a bad rap... I like the dish. God I love it. When its done well, the crispy battered chicken nuggets, if flash fried to perfection and not too greasy, countered with a tangy-sweet and very vinegary dipping sauce, that is of the proper consistency just to coat the nuggets and not create a cloyingly sweet sticky mess, can be a great dish. Even though I know that its a complete bastardization of the original chinese banquet dish, I love it. When its bad though, oh boy is it bad. Cloyingly sweet, overly gloppy conistency, nuggets drenched in grease. Bad. very bad.

Its interesting that you say that tawa are always flat... because at a local Indian restaurant, Kinara, in NJ, they have a dish on the menu called "Chicken Tava" which they refer to as a wok/stirfry chicken dish. Do they use the Tawa in this dish, or is their some meaning to the alternate spelling with a V? PS: the Karahis are made by Le Creuset. And yes, I want one too.. http://www.lecreuset.co.uk/castiron/adventurous.asp It appears that they only have the Karahi in the UK catalog, not the US one: http://www.lecreuset.com/new/productguide_lc.php

I've tried the Pistol but I am more partial to the XO. Very expensive rum though, as far as street prices go. Internetwines has the XO for $37, which is a very good price on this rum. http://store.yahoo.com/randalls/rws19060.html

Avocadoes also go nice when cut into slices and floated into some chicken soup with some cilantro -- I've had chicken soup served that way at Mexican restaurants.

I can understand the necessity for lettuce on a burger and I often eat them that way myself, but sometimes, for variety, I like them this way -- and it requires that you have very good meat to do this -- prepare the burger plain, medium to med-rare with salt, and do not put anything else on it except for a smear of mayonaise on the bun mixed with finely chopped fresh (white) horseradish and a few drops of Worcestershire sauce. The juices from the burger mixed with the mayo/horseradish/worcestershire o make a unbeleivable "sauce" for the burger. I've had it this way a few times and its fantastic.

I'm glad to hear Casa Vasca has been maintaining its quality. We'd go there more if it wasnt for the fact that Tapas de Espana wasn's so close by.

jason, if you have the time and feel comfortable, how would you consider $30 of truffles, and $10 of foie gras, playing a part in a "burger," in any generally accepted sense of the word. considering the ingredients, replies in french would be greatly appreciated. for me, chop some meat, grill it, and enjoy. i rather like that, even with truffles. Truffles, sure. I hate foie gras though. (he laughs, knowingly that Cabrales and Plotnicki just said WHAT?!?)

second on the Negra Modelo. Phenomenal mexican dark beer.

Youre referring of course, to the Karahi: Karahi are thicker walled than the chinese wok and not as deep, and flat bottomed. But fundamentally are very similiar. They are used for making curry and stir fry dishes, and also for making certain kinds of indian flatbreads. There's also the Tawa (although I've also heard of this sometimes called a Kadai, and the Tawa being this circular griddle thing specifically for making flatbreads), which is deeper than a Karahi. Pretty much the same thing as a wok, but like the Karahi, thicker walled and also flat bottomed.

Some interesting remarks though on amazon from a customer who says the copper encapsulation coating on the Revere stuff comes off on high heat though.

But this is more along the lines of a chopped steak, not a burger. A burger I think implies that its a sandwich. Mind you, I love a good chopped steak, especially one at a good diner or a reputable steakhouse, with good fried onions and sauteed mushrooms. Sometimes with a mushroom gravy or steak sauce on the side. A chopped steak should be mostly if not entirely sirloin though.

I made a stir fry of firm tofu (marinated in soy with scallions and a malaysian chili/fried garlic paste) , cubed asian eggplant and sliced shrimp with basil and cilantro and a bit of oyster sauce added. Served over jasmine rice cooked in chicken broth, with garlic/chili sauteed dou miu (snow pea leaves) on the side. Spicy, but good.

Yeah, it's not much different from other spice mixtures I've seen. But it is Emeril. That said, nothing goes into hamburger meat. (I think salt changes the texture a bit, but only a 7.5 palate could tell.) Its rather sad that Emeril has such a negative connotation now. In the mid-90's I went to New Orleans a few times for various computer shows and had the pleasure of eating at Emerils. I even sat at the chef's table once, and the food WAS good. Some of the best I've had in that city. The man did have talent, and didnt get his reputation at his place and at Commanders Palace for nothing, you know. Its just that he's devolved into this way-out-there bombastic personality for Food TV and we barely get to see that side of him anymore. As to the quality of his restaurants nowadays, I have no idea.

I was referring to the spice itself, not for its specific use in burgers. I prefer my burger meat unspiced.

Oh jebus, awbrig. You shouldn't have admitted to using Essence. You're dead meat now. Fundamentally there is nothing wrong with the composition of Emeril's seasoning mixes. I'm partial to "Joe's Stuff" though, which is a creole/cajun spice mix that comes from New Orleans School of Cooking. Tony Chachere's and Zatarain's works well too. Joe's Stuff (click)

Rachel and I received some nice chocolate-covered strawberries as a Valentines Day gift from my brother and sister-in-law in Atlanta: The box, opened The box, closed They were very large, fresh as can be specimens with pretty good chocolate on them. They come from Shari's Berries (click)

Good lord, they have Starbucks in Europe now?

Mezze Rigatoni con Pancetta i Cipolla Verde Serves 2 as Main Dishor 4 as Appetizer. This is a variation on Mamster's Pasta Bible Pasta. 1 pkg Mezze Rigatoni Pasta 1 bunch of scallions (green onion) 2 T butter 1/2 bunch of Italian (flat leaf) Parsley 2 beaten eggs 1/2 c grated parmigiano reggiano cheese salt to taste pepper to taste 1/4 lb chopped pancetta Fill a stockpot with water and bring to boil. While pot is heating up, Cook and brown 1/4 lb of chopped Pancetta in the pan in its own juices for 5 minutes on medium heat, then add the chopped scallions and butter and cook for 12 minutes on low heat. Cook the pasta in boiling water (salted) for 8 minutes. Transfer contents of pan to a plastic or metal mixing bowl. Let cool until merely warm (5 minutes; the exact temperature isn't critical as long as it won't fry the eggs) and stir in the beaten eggs, a LOT of cracked pepper, parsley, and cheese. Toss with the pasta and then serve. Keywords: Appetizer, Dinner, Main Dish, Intermediate, Italian, Pasta, Pork ( RG170 )

Yeah, its good that we have removable grills, our curved woks sit very nicely in the Garland.

So, from reading the article, you're saying its a bad thing for me to run the 900CFM hood at full blast all the time? Mind you, I have a Garland with 6 burners, two of which can do 18,500BTU and the other 4 can do 15,000BTU and I usually have at least two going at once. And we cook bacon and pork a lot.

We have 3 steel woks, all bought in NYC's chinatown over the last 8 years, all of the curved bottom variety. We have a large one with twin U-shaped handles, 1 medium and one slightly smaller one. The big one we use for deep frying and fried rice and noodles that requries heavy chan work, the smaller ones get used for just about everything. Next to the cast iron skillets the woks are probably the most used pans in the entire kitchen, we use them for literally everything, not just asian food -- although we do eat a lot of asian food.

Its a great dish. Definitely gonna be a repeat one in this house.

I adapted Mamster's Pasta Bible Pasta recipe a bit and added pancetta and used beaten whole eggs in the sauce mixture instead of just egg yolks. Yum.

Ok, I adapted it: Mezze Rigatoni con Pancetta i Cipolla Verde In my adaption I cooked chopped pancetta in its own juices on medium heat for 5 minutes, then I reduced the heat and threw in the scallions for an addtional 12 minutes with half the quantity of butter added. I also used 2 beaten whole eggs in the cheese/parsley/scallion mixture instead of just the yolks. I used a 16oz bag of Mezze Rigatoni cause I couldnt find the other stuff. Yummy.

The Chefmate 16 quart Stockpot in Action.