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jefferyc

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Posts posted by jefferyc

  1. 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.

  2. 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.

    Duck fat is "free" if you're willing to do a bit of work. Buy 2 whole ducks, carve out the breasts and the legs render the trimmings and roast all the bones in the oven until well browned. You should get about a pint of duck fat from the trimmings and bones combined. You can then make a stock out of the bones and confit the legs with the rendered duck fat. Once you use up the confitted legs, you have a pint of wonderful, aromatic duck fat to use for cooking. Due to the economics of the situation, 2 whole ducks actually end up costing less than 4 duck breasts and with just a couple of hours of work, you not only get the 4 breasts, you get 4 confit legs, a pint of duck fat, a wonderful duck noodle soup from the broth and a duck gizzard & crackling salad.

  3. 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???

    Has there been any talk of creative solutions to the ban?  Could a restaurant give foie gras away and avoid prosecution (and adjust prices on other items accordingly)?  Or perhaps consider charging a "cover" that happens to coincide with the price of the foie?

  4. Well someone turned Sam I am on to green eggs and ham.

    Serve it with some essence and and give it a BAM!

    I should add that the worst part about this whole Green Bacon Affair is that I really don't feel like I can share it with anyone -- and I have a lot of the stuff.

    I mean, I've eaten it a few times, it's quite delicious and I really doubt that it's unsafe but I just couldn't give it to anyone else without knowing with absolutely certainty that it really isn't harmful.  And I just cannot find enough information to get me past that point.

    =R=

  5. 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

    :smile:

    One thing I will note, is that if you watch the credits of the show, you will see a disclaimer type thing that sez something like, "Bravo TV Staff may have provided input regarding the judges choices."

    As my wife pointed out, it wouldn't be a finale without a villain.

    Tom's blog may have said Tiffani came in second in two challenges; but, the way the show was edited, it seemed more like she came in third in two.

    Too bad the scoring isn't more transparent.

  6. 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.

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

    DOH!!

    :shock:

    I hope I will never again...

    touch my hands to my face while or directly after working with peppers. It's very rare that I make that mistake, actually, but it's certainly not pleasant.

    Oh! Another! I will never again stand directly over a pan while cooking with many hot peppers and pastes made of peppers. I've only done that twice before, but each time was a good lesson.

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

    Chris, you bring up a very interesting point.  My KA is almost 25 years old (it was a wedding present) from back in the days when they only sold a 4 quart mixer.  Now, I'm not about ready to replace my mixer, but since I have two bowls, I'm tempted to grind into one bowl, divide the mixture in half (by weight) add the liquids (in halves) and do the primary bind in two steps.  I wonder if that wasn't part of my problem.  Too much stuff for the bowl (as well as not cold enough).

  9. 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.

  10. 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.

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

    IMHO, Thomas Keller is a very good chef but his ideas about blanching are pretty wrong and have influenced a whole generation of chefs after him to be excessively finicky about blanching. The amount of water has not much to do with recovery time. Your still sucking the same amount of heat out of the water that you need to put back in. Instead, the problem lies with a wimpy burner.

    What more water does is that minimises the temperature drop. As long as the temperature stays above 70C or so, your vegtables should be fine so theres no need to worry if the water is merely not boiling. If you are really worried, keep a probe thermometer in the water but I doubt a few florets are going to do anything much.

    However, if you want something easier, microwave steaming, to me, tends to produce just as flavourful vegtables for much less hassle. Just put 2 tsp of water with the vegetables in an airtight container and heat until tender.

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

    I believe it's supposed to be the best fat from the pig -- very creamy and light in color -- and can be used for making Lardo, which is essentially cured fat, Italian-style.

    =R=

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