jefferyc

Mine was penne w/ vodka sauce. The trick is to get all your Mise done well before the date..just leave some of the sexy things (I.E. flaming w/congac) for when shes there. Cold soup..done the day before mark off the app. Rissoto half done in the morning..Bingo a starch ready in 15. Par boiled peas or green beans while the rissoto's on in the morning..finish in a saute w/butter an garlic for 5 mins...ect. ect ect.

Add heavy cream to a coffee filter and let the whey drain for several hours to make your own.

Remember that campells soup is a concentrate and uses huge amounts of salt to get the flavor. I think you could approach the same thing using highly reduced home made chicken stock while keeping the salt level more reasoable.

I like to do what I call a 4 duck weekend once in a while. Buy 4 whole ducks, 8 confit legs and thighs, 8 breasts (that can also be confited) , a bunch of fat, a gallon of stock (add two trotters) and some pate`. Good eating for months for the two of us.

I may have read this too fast but I'm suprised no one has mentioned Matchbox. It's down town near the verison center. I think it's second only to 2 Amy's.

I had a high school civics teacher tell us that if you want to have a kegger don't sell the beer, sell the cups. Maybe an $80 chinett plate that just happens to have a terrine of foie gras sitting on it???

Well someone turned Sam I am on to green eggs and ham. Serve it with some essence and and give it a BAM!

I think this is the worst part of reality shows like this. Project runway, another Bravo production, was the same way. Note to Bravo: Get the producers out of the kitchen and let us watch good cooking for a change. Producers: get your drama kicks from that dusty novel you have that you can't seem to get published. END OF RANT

I'm a huge fan of Mr. Ruhlman's books but I'll wait until the trade paperback version comes out. I've worn out 2 copies of search and soul and would rather replace a worn out paperback than hardback.

This jumped in my mind first too. Also Rumaki's: Water chestnuts or chicken livers wrapped in bacon, glazed with tariaki and broiled. Yum

The new ATK does somthing very similar to this but uses cheap Barollo wine. I've found two keys to success. The most important is the cut. For long cooking you need lots of connective tissue to ensure the cut is not dry. I've tried a buch of cuts and found that my favorites are from the chuck. The second is a good (not great) quality very hearty red wine. More that 20 bucks is a waste, but less than 10 will often dissapoint you. I keep 7-10 dollar wines on hand for cooking most of the time but for this dish I'll go out and get better quality.

Try getting intimate with the one you love in this situation. I was cut off for a MONTH!!!! DOH!!

Ratio of water to bones and time are the two most important variables here. I use 10-15 lbs for a gallon of stock. I also throw in a couple of lbs. of veal bones to up the collegen.

This is exactly what I do. Bind in two batches and combine by hand at the end.

I will never again use pure soy sauce mixed with pure fish sauce as a base for General Tso's chicken. It was so salty it seemed to suck every bit of moisture out of your body. On the plus side my fiance said it helped water weight gains for a day.

I just started making sausages at home. I've been working with pork, beef, and smoked turkey. I find they're a very versitile ingredient of any meal using inexpensive components. My last effort was smoked turkey,dried cranberry, and sage sausage.

Zest them all first, put the zest in vodka for a month, add some simple syrup and you have lemoncello. A very tasty drink.

The biggest issue is that you want the veg to be in water with a large reserve of energy for the shortest time possible. (I almost said hottest but as we all know 212 at sea level is as far as you go). I just blanch to set the color, they're still crispy when they come out of the boil. Then chill. Then finish up sauted in butter w/garlic or anchovies ar any thing else that comes to mind.

Thomas Keller is not the only one. Just about every book I have from Beard to Peterson expresses this.

ATK did a review of a bunch of pepper mills and the magnum plus came out on top. I love it. Huge reservoir, and the output is fantastic.

Look up leaf lard, made from the fat around the kidneys.

Yes, fat from the back of the pig. Sausages yes but it can be rendered to make a great fat to cook with.

Neiman Ranch sells it.

Thanks for the replies. I'll try it again next weekend and see how it goes. Oh BTW I really enjoy e-gullet.

I tried the turkey sausage w/dried cherries and it seemed to me the fat/protien ratio was too high. When I tried to cook some for testing it seemed broken to me. I have a couple of questions. Have you all found it difficult to keep a sausge from brealing when the fat content is high? Will a longer spin in the mixer help? I'll try this again next week and post the results.