KendallCollege

My father and I do two turkeys for thanksgiving. He fries one in Peanut oil. I roast one in the oven. I stuff 'er with 1 lime (cut in half), 1 bulb of garlic (top chopped off), 1 stick of mexican chorizo, a few sprigs of rosemary, and a few sprigs of sage. I line the bird with seared-oxtails (and alittle water) and place foil over them. I leave the the breasts exposed and baste OFTEN! 350F until done...

Rob Feenie is brilliant and his work speaks for itself. Its so sad that he had to get screwed by his associates, but he'll come out stronger. His next project WILL be incredible because success does not make a man wiser, mistakes do. His associates were the mistake. Cheers. TW -Chicago-

I cooked dinner for a vegetarian couple tonight. They wanted food that would fit with watching the Chicago Bear's game on TV. Here's the menu: "Cheers" Mimosa skewered orange/scallion/saffron/oregano "Bites" Nachos onion/cilantro/chile seed/queso fresco "Eats" Chile Relleno corn/tomato/cremini risotto stuffing "Sweets" Grilled Banana blueberry/fennel/apple/celery/lavender/sea salt The meal turned out really great. And then I served the dessert. It was awful. The grilled banana was delicious. It was great with the apple. The blueberry cut the richness of the banana. The lavender and sea salt created interesting nuances. I drizzled Door County, Wisconsin honey around the plate and it was delicious, too. But... The fennel and celery ruined the dish. It was gross. A flavor and textural nightmare.

I grew-up/lived in Sheboygan, WI (55 miles north) until 3 years ago. Milwaukee is like my 2nd home (although, I live in Chicago now). Please remember that Milwaukee's dining landscape isn't as modern as other restaurant-hubs. This advice should NOT sway your decisions. Its an amazing city to eat-around. There're some very, very talented chefs doing wonderful things, within Milwaukee's edible terrain! Here is my list of "best eats" for Milwaukee. 1. Sanford. www.sanfordrestaurant.com 2. Coquette Cafe. www. coquette cafe.com 3. Elliot's Bistro. http://www.elliotsbistro.com/ 4. Cubanitas. http://www.cubanitas.us/ 5. Tess. http://search.cityguide.aol.com/milwaukee/...ess/v-118131341 6. Roots. www.rootsmilwaukee.com 7. Cempazuchi. http://www.cempazuchi.com/ 8. Bacchus. http://www.bacchusmke.com/

I haven't posted here because I've never met a cocktail/liquor that I've liked. However, after watching that clip on YouTube, I need to say that: Toby...you're chingon. Cheers. Trev W.

I posted a wonderful review of Crust that same evening and it showed up. It is a new property so the "censor" might be off. I'd love to know what their criteria is for keeping/eliminating reviews. I can only hope that people understand that metromix isn't an accurate source. EGullet scores another point, eh?! Trev.

I was being a bit of a "smart-ass" when I posted the Metromix-bit. I fully understand the marketing behind the website. I knew why they were censoring my review. Business is business, afterall. I guess I'm disappointed because metromix is supposed to be a "source" for quality recreation in Chicago. I know where my loyalty is, but... How does it make our city look if a "vacationing" couple uses a metromix-approved property as their deciding factor for dinner? What happens if they choose Devon Seafood Grill without doing any homework? ::sigh:: Trev W.

rendered bacon/chicken fat in the freezer. roasted-garlic oil. roasted garlic salt (made with the carmelized cloves for the roasted garlic oil). spanish olive oil. nuoc mam. agave syrup. honey. malden's salt. spanish sea salt. maple syrup. kosher salt. porcini powder. sherry vinegar. aged, balsamic vinegar. grapeseed oil. toasted (black) peppercorns. toasted allspice. limes.

Whenever I do a Turkey, for Thanksgiving, I always line the bird (in the roasting-pan) with a whole/segmented/seasoned/seared oxtail and some chicken stock. I also like to do a mixed-braise of short-ribs and oxtails. A little chicken-stock. A little tomato-paste. Some marjoram. Juniper berries. Rosemary. All-spice. A ton of Garlic. Nuoc Mam (fish sauce). A few Bay Leaves.

I had dinner, this past sunday, at Devon Seafood Grill. The meal was SO AWFUL that I had to post the review on Chicago's Metromix. I posted the review, on Sunday night, and it didn't show-up on Monday. I figured there might've an error so I posted a second review. It didn't show up. I'd posted a review of the FANTASTIC lunch that I'd had, on Sunday, at Crust. That review appeared on Metromix. The Devon review never appeared. It seems suspicious, right? What do YOU think? Am I being censored? Trev.

my ratio is 1/2 tsp xanthan to 1 cup liquid. put the two ingredients in a bowl, buzz it with an immersion blender (or whisk) until it appears "thickened", strain, and use. cheers. trev.

instead of egg-whites...why not take "vegetarian" to the next level? VEGAN!!! an egg-white still comes from a creature, right? and you've got your mind set on a white canvas, right? why not start with thinly-sliced parsnips? blanch 'em/boil 'em. shock 'em. dry 'em. dip 'em in a liquid smoke/molasses syrup, season 'em, and dry 'em in the oven for a night or two. just a thought. cheers. trev

take butter out of the fridge and let it come to room temperature put a non-stick pan on the stove over a low flame. add the chorizo. let the chorizo give-up its fat. when a significant amout of fat has leaked out (the meat should by "dry" looking), pull the pan off of the stove. strain the fat through a chinois. add the fat to the butter and incorporate. when the butter is completely "orange", season with salt. place the chorizo butter in the fridge to cool. add a tbsp of chorizo butter to any hot pan and saute your heart away! cheers trev.

un-ripe mango? i peel 'em, chop 'em, and put 'em in a vacu-pak bag. i add candied lime zest, african bird pepper, and some chile powder. i put 'em in a 65 C water bath for 2 hours. yank 'em, puree 'em, chinois 'em, and add h2o/corn syrup for a smooth consistency. season with salt and sauce a grilled chicken breast/grilled duck breast/grilled squab breast/grilled pork tenderloin/grilled lamb loin. cheers. trev.

compound butter? my ZING to any veg is chorizo compound butter. my fiance is hispanic and always has one/two/three sticks of chorizo in our fridge. she never uses all of the sausages (she leaves the end-bits), so i render them to make chorizo butter. its one of my staples. chorizo has EVERYTHING that a good veg can benefit from. cheers. trev.

1st edition "Nouvelle Cuisine" by the Troisgros brothers or 1st edition "The French Menu Cookbook" by Richard Olney

I've tried something similar to what you're talking about. The application was a sauce that simmered slowly over a hardwood-charcoal grill. I made a "tent" (A-frame) shaped piece of aluminum that extended over the edges of the sauce-pot. I placed the pot at the coldest corner of the grill. The sauce was a simple chicken-stock reduction with a few extra aromatics. I placed two cornish hens at the opposite end of the grill and cooked them slowly over the wood. I left a 4-inch opening for the smoke to escape. The reduction took on some nice hardwood-charcoal smokiness. I finished the liquid with alittle soy-sauce and maple syrup. This would, in theory, be a smoked-liquid. Cheers. Trev.

This is my favorite subject. The "Gelee". I think that I've got a decent idea. Pair the Rosemary (in a "french-press" method) with dried (I know, a sin, but hear me out) Marjoram, and a couple of Juniper berries. Take your dry ingredients and put them into a bowl. Bring some water to a rolling boil, add a bid of muscovado (or turbinado) sugar to the water after its rolling, and let it dissolve. After you've got it incorporated, pour the water over the dry-ingredients. Let them "get to know each other" until you can smell everything. Using a fork, molest the day-lights out of the ingredients in the bowl. Let the liquor cool to room-temperature. Strain it until the liquor is clear of any sediment. Soak some gelatin sheets to soften. Put the liquor back on the fire until it is "letting out some steam". Remove the pot, incorporate some chlorophyll, and work it until its green (spinach would work, but thats an annoying process...yet it is, none-the-less, effective.). pull those sheets out of the water, squeeze 'em, and place them in a fresh bowl. once the liquid satisfies your "green" desire...pour it over the sheets while "swirling" the bowl until everybody is incorporated. strain one last time. pour liquor into your desired vessel...and shape accordingly. does that help? cheers. trev.

i should add, though, that one of my OTHER tests came out GREAT...(and it has to do with "butter", i don't know why i'm obsessed with it right now!!!) i've been playing around with separated buttermilk (buttermilk brought up to hot temperatures)...i've been using the liquid as a gelee, but i found a wonderful use for the solids. i took the "curd" (1/4 cups worth) and mixed it with cream (1 cup reduced into a half of a cup, be conservative with the cream...you might only need less than a 1/4 cup of the liquid), a pinch of salt, a touch of truffled-flour, and a whisper of truffle oil. let it cool down (or spoon the mixture into a ring-mold...and chill), cut out an attractive shape (pull out the reindeer mold for holiday-cookies, eh?!?), and wait until chilled. when its chilled... season and flour the "curd", add some fat (clarified butter) to a non-stick saute-pan, wait for the pan to get "hot", and add the "curd" puck. flip the disk when one side is golden-brown, and repeat for the other side. place the disk on some paper-towel and serve it with whatever you'd like!!! great test, great result, and a wonderful addition to a dish. cheers. trevor williams.

test-run #1...a big flop. the butter-balls sat for 2 days in the back of the freezer...it would've shattered under a hammer. i used sifted-flour, egg-wash, brioche crumbs, and fried in a 325 f deep-fryer. unfortunately, the butter found room to spill-out...5 attempts, 5 balls, 5 spills...5 round, empty brioche cases. but...i liked the of battering and freezing 3 times (see up-thread). i'm going to start that process tomorrow. i'm not going to give-up without a thorough-friggin'-fight. how else could butter be seared? any thoughts? cheers. trevor williams.

I'll stick with the straight-up balls of plugra butter that I've got sitting in the furthest-reaches of one of the freezers at work. If the test-run works, I'm going to try the compound butter idea that someone suggested up-threat. Imagine putting 2 or 3 fried nuggets on top of a nicely cooked piece of beef. The guest curiously presses a fork into one of the nuggets and an "ooze" spills-out over the meat. Instant sauce, instand seasoning-highlights, and instant fat-addition. I'm liking where this is headed. Keep on brainstorming, please!!! Cheers. Trev

I'd like to put everyone to this task. How can you sear butter to end up with a product that is carmelized/golden-brown on the outside and oozing on the inside? I've done my first test. Treat butter like mexican fried ice cream. Freeze a butter-ball solid, press flour and panko-crumbs into it, and deep-fry it. The finished product is a panko-ball with liquified butter inside. My only problem is that the dish is boring. It is what it is. Can anyone "raise the bar"?

I would use Agar Agar. Its heat stable, it can be whipped like gelatin (meringue without the egg), and its a derivative of algae. I've had great results with making hot foams out of Agar Agar. Cheers. Trev.

smoked salmon/egg salad/creme fraiche/red onion/caviar...maybe some toasted brioche.

I agree with you, Bryan. I saw the episode last week and it was a relief to watch "the home team". I, sadly, missed the Wylie episode. However, I can't wait to see the Homaro episode. I worked with the man, so I can only imagine what he pulls out of his nitro-hat. It was a shame to see Chef Blais lose. Cheers. Trev.