Tonyy13

Well, I had to get in the fun here. All of you guys are doing the fresh sausages and dealing with smoking, but I have seen very little air drying and aging of sausage, so I wanted to chime in. I got the book as a self-Christmas present, as none of my immediate family or close friends knew what I really wanted. I must say, that I couldn't wait to get back from my vacation to the school so that I could get ripping into the material. My interest was primarily air-dried sausages, as I have taught, and continue to do so, classes on fresh sausages, pates, and terrine, but have (and don't really know ANY chefs) that have any extensive experience with air drying sausages and whole sub-primals other than salmon fillets or duck breasts. Working at the school gives me the luxury of having professional grinders and sausage stuffers at my disposal, but becuase of the lack of teaching about air curing, I had to order culture and Cure #2 as well as Dextrose from Butcher-Packer. I found the website to be very easy to use, but found the Bactoferm quite expensive. The first goal was to make Sopprosatta and Finocchiona, a fennel flavored sausage that I bought when i was in Boston at Formaggio Kitchen, an awesome cheese and specialty shop over in Cambridge. My first problem was where to age the meat. Here in Florida, we have wild temperature changes, which I knew would work against me, and the humidity gets out of control in the summer, so my solution was to hijack a friends extra fridge that he had stashed in his garage. We turned it off, cleaned it down with bleach water, bought a small fan (Wal-Mart $7) and, and installed a hygrometer (Home Depot, $17). We took out all of the drawers and racks, except for the top tier. Hygrometer, Top Line is Time, Second Line is Temp, and Bottom Line is Humidity % After about a week of drying, we also installed a simple lighting timer for the fan, becuase the fan motor was creating too much heat in the drying box. We set it up to be on all day, running for 15 minutes, and stopping for 30 minutes. We found that this kept the fridge at the right temp, while keeping air curculating. Timer So, I made the first batch of Sopprasatta per the book, with the exception of the Bactoferm. I tend to agree with jmolinari when it comes to the cost/shipping and the use. I found another Incredible Awesome Site with Formulas and Info about Air Curing and Fresh Sausage which listed the starter culture weight as .2g, as opposed to 20g (100X with weight!!!!!) I used 2 grams (10X the online source) in the recipe, and from what I can tell, has worked fine. I also did not have access to any wine, so I didn't put in what the book called for either. I stuffed them in beef middles, which were available at the school, and they looked great, although, the beef casings were a little bit funky smelling!! Next, I did the finocchionna, using the formula from the above online source. No problems, and I put them in hog casings. I incubated the two sausages at room temp for about 14 hours, and hung them to dry in our souped up fridge. I also got a gift of some pork jowels from a chef friend at the school who had some leftover from their class, so I figured that I would make some guanciale (anyone know the correct pronunciation? I can't seem to find an official pronunciation anywhere...). I got a great recipe from our friend Mr. Mario Batali found here, and everything seemed to turn out ok. Can't wait for Carbonara with fresh spring peas!!! After about 10 days of drying, with tinkering along the way, we have ended up with sausages that have started to grow a nice looking white mold, although we have encountered some small green mold spots. Using Rhulman's suggestion, we wiped the sausages with a clean rag soaked in a heavy salt brine, with good effect. We have been checking on the sausages and guanciale every two days, tinkering with keeping the fridge clean, and wiping any colored or furry mold off of the sausage, and checking for casing hardeing or rips. Overall, minor problems, and for the first time out, I am very happy with the results up to date. Yesterday, I made another batch of sopprasatta and stuffed it into a large collagen casing that was soaked for about 20 minutes, and also a batch of chorizo, which had recipe problems in the book. The recipe called for no fat back (I added 12 oz. of fat to the mixture), and didn't call for an incubation period even though it called for the Bactoferm (I incubated both types at the same time). Today in class, while my kiddies were figuring out the anatomy of a chicken, I was cold smoking my chorizo for about 4 hours. Went to my friends house tonight, and hung them both, did some maintenance on the fridge (clean and brine wipedown) and figured I could take some pics to share with all. Fridge with Fan Setup The whole kit and kaboodle for now... Aforementioned Chorizo Post Smoke (Student: "Chef, Whatcha doing?" Me: "Smoking some Chorizo." Student: "Chef, you are gonna need some bigger papers for that...") Aforementioned large Sopprasatta in large collagen casing. Finocchionna (had some green fuzzies the other day, so had to wipe down. White mold is a little bit behind the first batch of small sopprasatta) Good mold formation on origional smaller sopprasatta... Guanciale, cured but not smoked pork jowel. If you smoke prior to drying, becomes pork jowel bacon, something we were lucky enough to find at a local supermarket. A few notes on the book and the author: I have found the book to be an extremely good portal into the world of charcuterie. However, that being said, there were definately shortcommings for someone who was trying to really understand the process fully. When I recieved my collagen casings, I had to search elsewhere to find whether or not it was edible or if I had to soak it (No and Yes respectively). I mentioned my problems with the Bactoferm amounts and Chorizo fat ommision uppost. The resources regarding curing salts etc. was very good and concise, so I was happy about that. Overall, like I said, this book is wonderfull for getting me started, but I would have never done this properly or effectively without doing a little bit more digging around in cyberspace. I did want to say one thing about Mr. Rhulman though. I emailed him with a few questions via his website, and he replied to me within 48 hours, appologizing to me for it taking so long. It is refreshing to have someone of such stature within the industry to be so accessible, and I applaud him for that. The individual help he gave me signified that he continues to be a grounded person who is dedicated to the furthering of our great industry.

Hey guys, long time since I have visited, I have been super busy, sorry. Here is the newest dessert that I have come up wiht, it is a warm lemon curd tart with homemade vanilla marshmellows. Enjoy your cooking!!

For all who care to know, Jesse is a former roomate of mine, and he is bustin my chops. It's an inside joke.

Bill, I hear ya about our hours man, I agree, they are a little bit challenging. We seat from 6:30 - 7:30, so if you can get in at that point, we would love to have you. We are exploring opening up about a half an hour earlier, but it seems that we stop seating a little bit too early for your tastes, rather than not being open early enough. We do recommend reservations, it helps me give more info to my students, and the more info they have, the better off they are. You can call the school at (407)313-8792, and ask to speak with Carolyn, Brian, or Tyler, they are the FOH instructors, and they will get you all squared away. Hope to see you in Bill, as well as other from EG...

Hey guys, I wanted to drop a line and let you all know that I am headed back instructing in the restaurant Machon at the Orlando Culinary Academy, and would love to see any EGers who are local, or are in Orlando on vacation, come in and experience what we are doing with the kids. I am pretty excited, we should behaving lots of fun with the food that we are going to be doing. Here is the menu... Appetizers Pacific and Atlantic Oyster Selection Three Oysters, Roasted Lemon Granite, and Maldon Sea Salt Mushroom Tasting Warm Mushroom Consommé, Black Truffle Breadstick, Sautéed Forest Mushroom Salad, Duxelle Crostini with Crème Fraiche and Chive Perfect Heirloom Tomato Salad Pecorino, Haricot Vert, Fava Beans, and Cucumber in a Spiced Tomato Water Warmed PEI Mussels Featuring Vietnamese Pho Broth, Cilantro, Scallion, Bean Sprouts, Thai Basil Entrees Poached Grouper Cheeks Beluga Lentils, Slab Bacon Lardons, Balsamic, White Wine Nage Grilled Brined Turkey Tenderloin With Crispy Parmigiano Risotto Cake, Braised Parmigiano, and Pea Tendril Salad Whole Wheat Penne Pasta (Vegetarian) Oven Roasted Cherry Tomatoes, Fava Beans, Fennel, Ricotta Salata Add Seared Scallops if Desired Grilled Skirt Steak Chive Potato Gnocchi, Hand Picked Chanterelle Mushrooms, Roasted Baby Beets, Chive, Crispy Celery Leaf Desserts Frozen Chocolate and Hazelnut Mousse Nutella, Praline Noisette, and Shaved Hazelnuts Roasted Peach Tart with Frangipane and Milk Sorbet Vanilla Pot de Crème with Passion Fruit, and Whipped Cream Cheese Humboldt Fog Goat Cheese, Roasted Green and Red Grapes, Fennel Crisp, 25 Year Balsamico If you come in, make sure that you mention that you saw us on Egullet, I would love to know when I have a gourmande in the house!!!!!

Since my father is not a member here, and probably couldn't figure out the whole typing thing even if he was, I will share a story of his. One night after my mom had a hard days work, we grabbed something quick for dinner. Well, when my dad got home, he decided that he wanted some corn on the cob from the farmer down the street from us (that I used to pick corn for... "Tony, why didn't you bring home any corn?", "I didn't know you wanted any". .. "Well, duuuhhhhh, it's corn season."... "Sorry Dad." I was 12. ) So, he put the water on to boil, about two inches, and took off for what should have been about a four minute round trip. Well, as he tells it, he got to the farm stand, and there was no corn, but the farmer who was friendly got to talking to my father. They talked for about fifteen minutes, and my father decided to go intown to the grocery store to get corn, about another ten minutes, which should probably still get him home ok. Well, when he got into the local grocery, they too, were plum out of corn. So, he decided to go 12 miles out of his way to feed his craving, to a farm that was owned by a family friend. He got to the new farm, and they started asking him some questions about their boiler. Well, he helps them out, shows them what nobs to turn and where to drain some water every now and then, gets the corn, and starts the trek home. Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Me and my brother and mother are in our basement watching tv (it's a finished basement). All of a sudden, we start smelling this vinyl like metalic burning aroma . We can't figure out where it is coming from, and then we see the smoke. A nasty blue smoke like you have never seen. A cancer-causing, lingering, color-the-walls smoke. We go running upstairs, just to see my dad walk in and pull the pot off of the heat. He holds it up by the handle to reveal what has transformed from a pot to a cylinder with a handle. He had completely melted the bottom of the pot away, ruined the stove, and the smell, oh the smell. To this day, when dad has a hankering for corn, we make sure that he has the corn in hand and peeled before he starts a pot of water on for it.

I have actually done a dessert where we roasted the pitted (with an apple corer or paring knife so that they looked even more like a doughnut- they had a hole in the middle!!) peaches, and then spooned some Amaretto rice pudding with salty almond brittle on top of the rice pudding. Served slightly warm, it was delicious. Have also used them savory as well, stuffing them in the same fashion with cous cous and risotto.

I actually won't be demo-ing anythign at all really, more of a lecture on how to stock a perfect pantry with ingredients that are shelf stable, provide a variety, as well as being nutrititious for all three meal periods. I would love to see any and all EGers there, so swing in if you can....

I actually got signed up to teach one of the demos tommorow, so I would love to see some fellow E'Gers there to see what we are up to. It should be fun, I will be teaching about how to cook creatively with shelf-stable foods. Breakfast lunch and dinner. Should be fun, hope to have some of you turn out!!

go for the chefs table if you can. Call them up, let them know of the occasion, and see if you can wiggle your way in. BTW, Congrats on your anniversary. Here's to many more!!

I took a course in college at Johnson and Wales called Food in Film and Literature. The objective of the class was to determine the significance of food in movies and books. The criteria that we used were if food (or anything that had to do with food or the consumption of food, i.e. burping, stomach aches, using the restroom) was removed from teh film, did that have a significant impact on the outcome or plot of the movie? Were any characters directly linked to food or eating? When food was present, what events happened, and what effect did the food have on the scene? My final project was on the movie Dumb and Dumber. It was my job to determine whether or not it was a food film according to the criteria above. After watchign the movie 6 times in a row with my group (a feat, let me tell you, all in a row, all at once, all day on a Saturday), we found that there were over 400 references to food in the movie. Food was used to set the tone for the two main characters idiocy (think back to the movie: "Let's throw another shrimp on the Barbie" and "Footlong, who's got the footlong?"). We determined that the movie was in fact, a food film based upon the fact that when the thug Joe Mentalino ("Mental") catches up to Lloyd and Harry, he intends to kill them and retrieve his breifcase full of money, but they feed him a burger filled with hot peppers, enflaming his ulcer, and finally, feeding him rat poison which they believe is his medicine. If the man had not eaten the burger, he would have killed them, and consequently, the movie would have ended, and therefore, drastically changed the plot of the movie. And who can forget the other great food scenes in the movie? Think back once again; the laxative scene, the benefit dinner, "Kick his ass, Seabass", boilermakers, and the beer bottle incident. In fact, with these criteria, there aren't many movies that aren't considered food movies. We discussed Pulp Fiction ("Royalle with Cheese" talk) and determined that it too, was a food movie becuase whenever something of impact or killing was to happen, someone in teh scene was eating or at a restaurant. We discussed that Brad Pitt is almost ALWAYS eating in every scene he is in, in almost every movie he has made in the last 10 years (Oceans 11 and 12 were not out at the time, but those are definately food films if you ask me). So, while not food themed, in fact, by definition according to a handfull of professors out there who are way smarter than me, they are food films. As for me, I hate the movie dumb and dumber now. Too bad, it was pretty funny a long time ago....

THIS WEEK it was crispy chicken skin... just the skin, and then I roasted a shoulder of pork, the whole thing, and ate the crispy skin and some of the underfat happened to be coming off with it, so I had no choice, right? Being chubby is so underrated....

Another thing I think that should be mentioned is the pasteurized or ultra-pasteurized. We used to use just old plain pasteurized, and it would whip much nicer, holding the peaks better, for longer, and look less chunky, much smoother. The down side was that the expiratoin date was like two weeks from purchase point. With the ultra pasteurized, the cream would whip quickly, but it would also "break" quickly, look chunky, and would not be as overall enjoyable. However, the expo date was like two months from purchase date. Thought it would be usefull.

Anyone happen to get a copy of this on VHS? I would love to borrow it. Email me if you get it. I wish I could get an email notification any time anyone posted anything about Keller at EG, I missed this post, and henceforth, the program. It sucks to be me I guess....

Glad to see that a fellow Empire allum is doing well. Having known Champe, and eaten his food several times, it is no suprise that hiis food is doing well. He is very smarth, and very good at what he does. It would not supirse me to see that he wins Food and Wine Top Ten Best New, James Beard Best Young Chef, and James Beard Best Chef NE in the near future. Keep up the good work Champe!!

There was my food science instructor at Johnson and Wales in Providence, Paula Figoni, who has written several books, who told me first that warmer water would in fact, freeze quicker than cooler water. It had something to do with the convection of the water, and the lack of water bubbles in the final product. I guess the air that seperates the molecules of water having less cooling power than the other frozen molecules of water, and in fact, almost insulating the water molecules next to it. The warmer water freezes more clean and clear, making it freeze quicker. Who knows, I sure as heck don't, but I do know that my blast freezer is awesome, no matter whether or not you put in warm or cold product!!!!!

I am all about Jelly Belly's, but I am going to stir the pot with this one. I hate, absolutely hate, the buttered popcorn flavor. It is vile. I want to vomit just thinking about it. Same with the tutti frutti. I do however, love both cappucino, root beer, cream soda, and all of the sour varieties. Anyone ever notice that the watermellon are green on the outside, and red in the middle? I love that.

I actually did dry ribs last week, and I cooked them overnight in a very low home oven, as low as it could go, and they came out wonderful. The problem you're going to have with a hot oven, is that the connective tissue won't break down that well, and probably will be a little bit more tough. I like my ribs pulling away from teh bone, and even though that means that they are techinaclly overcooked according to competition standards, I don't care. You just need to make a rub to put on them before hand, usually something like paprika, cayenne, garlic powder, onion powder, kosher salt, black pepper, I like to add some curry powder to mine, some tomato powder if you can get it, and a little bit of brown sugar. Let them sit for about 7 hours, and then into an oven for 12-14 hours as low as you can go. I like to pull mine, let them rest, and finish them on the grill to get some charr on them. Good luck!!

Did anyone catch what she said on the video about what it is exactly made with? Sugar and What? Looked like 10X sugar he was dusting it with... and what did they roll into the middle?

Hell's Kitchen. RKN was great too though. A little bit more realistic GR. Remember when he puked? And when he argued with that idiot at the bar? And when he told that guy he was an idiot when he put pommegranite in the risotto? Genuine, authentic, even toned down a little bit. chef, I also agree with the pro kitchen thread... it would be interesting.... I always thought that a show where the cameras would be following a commis doing a stage in a different kitchen eveyr week would be very insightful.

Woa, this week was crazy. People expelling solid mass via the male urethra, someone calling GR an asshole, I mean, what more could you ask for? Jeff is an idiot. He needed to go week 1. I found myself yelling at Jeff via television (that is two uses of the latin via in the first paragraph... I am feeling supremely educated and skilled after watching the show.... In college, I took a management course specifically meant for people who were workign in the kitchen. It labeled people into 4 different catagories: Peacock (fragile, but loves to show off what they do good, almost ornameltal in their sucesses, very quick to fall when you bring up their failures), an Eagle (A born leader, someone who is strong, and soars above the rest, but is an easy target as someone who usually flies above solo, and therefore, usually does whatever is possible to avoid making a fool of himself becuase they will take the heat alone [sound familiar? Sounds like people who work and act like GR, they are motivated by being a leader, and work better when they are embarassed becuase they do whatever it takes to not be embarassed in front of the group..... I happen to fall into this category]), a black bear (silent, but very strong and resilliant, but need to be poked and prodded every now and again becuase they tend to go off on their own), and then there was one other animal that fit a description, but I wasn't paying attention in class, I was busy soaring over th etree tops... Point is, some of us are motivated by this type of situation. Whiel GR is over the top sometimes, I can understand what he is doing. If you think this type of training fails to get the best from some people, than you need to watch a Discovery Channel thing on Basic Training for Militaries around the world. When was the last time you saw a drill sergent really encouraging a recruit over that wall that is just too high? Never. Why? Because they are training them to react to a situation, to assess a problem, and to react to it with the correct action without having to think about it, using valuable time, and in turn, probably making the situation worse (sounds like a pro kitchen to me...). They are expected to preform a task over and over, time after time, with exactly the same result... a desireable trait in a line cook. Here comes the storm....

Both of them should have gone though. Ramsey is brilliant. The guy who came up with the design for that fire sign that has turned the stucco behind the letters black, is not. All I kept thinking when Dingleberry looked at the girl who threw him under the bus the previous week and said, "Hey there, looking good J.Lo" becuse she was dressed for dinner, was that I was waiting for her to turn to him and say "Thanks, Cholesterol High". Didn't happen though. THAT would have made for good tv.

I too was actually in Athens this last week, sorry I missed you gaf, but we stopped by 5 & 10 to see how the menu looked, and it looked great. Unfortunately, due to my low budget at the time, we were unable to eat in the restaurant, even though they are now offering a very inexpensive prixe fix menu for $20 a head (3 courses from a choice of 2 set menus). The menu looked great, and while I thought that some of the dishes were a stretch, I was interested enough in them to want to order them, but not so turned off by the addition of a few extra ingredients that it made me not want to try them. He is pushign the envalope wiht ingredients that we all love. Boiled peanut Beurre Blanc? I am telling you, NO ONE is doing that. Hugh's food is so very clean, every time that I have had dinner there (3 times now, not bad for an out-of-towner) the food has been super concise with very clean flavors. It is kind of a neighborhood restaurant, and while i have neve rdined at Danko's, I am sure that is is more relaxed, with the staff, both FOH and BOH showing off their body art along with their culinary knowledge. Last time I dined, Hugh sent out a huge piece of foie ballantine, I think he knew that I was a foodie or a chef because of the way that we orderd (one of almost every appetizer, shared through the table, and 3 entrees for the two of us to split). Sometimes, the kitchen's cooking is a little bit off, see above review, overcooked salmon, and that foie was underseasoned on the inside, but other than that, it is an awesome experience. I was dissapointed when I first posted that not many viewed the link, I really want to give this guy the credit he deserves. He is a normal guy, no sort of hype in him at all, I saw him at the bank last week, and was too embarassed to say hello, he is just great though. They have a great piece of art on the wall too, where the artits has taken several ties and sewn them together to form a circle, kind of like a multi-colored black eyed susan pattern, it looks really cool. C'mon EG'ers in the Athens or Atlanta area, you guys have to get to see this guy, one of the best in the region. I travel 7 hours from Orlando to eat there, you guys need to make sure you check it out!!

Anyone go to the Zellwood corn festival this year in FLA? I am not exactly sure 100% of where it was, but I have heard that it is as big as the Plant city Strawberry festival, but is actually has somethign to do with corn at this festival (the strawberry festival was bad). Anyway, I would love to hear if anyone enjoyed this years, I was out of town last weekend, and wasn't able to go. The best corn I have ever tasted btw, was supposedly Zellwood corn.

Yah, in America, you can't get the bone in kind, although, it is a pain in teh ass if you do get it in. Bone out is the only way to get it here, but if you can somehow get a bone on the black market, it should do the trick. If you can't find that, try getting an unsmoked hock bone. If you can.