reachej

molecular gastronomy n. in cooking, the study and application of chemistry, physics, and other scientific principles on its processes, preparation, and materials. Actually only a few who cook are knowingly involved in the application of the specific chemistry. I might argue that almost none are actually, truly involved in the study. As to who is and in which restaurant, I'll leave that to others to judge. I do agree that just using a few "chemicals" doesn't make for it. Afterall, many use corn starch.

It's expensive... It's fine dining, and well done at that. With all of the extras that have already been mentioned, everyone ends up with a tasting menu, three courses of which have been chosen by the customer. If they had just called it a tasting menu no one would have blinked an eye. Should they have to? I left after more than 2 hours and had more food than I really needed. The place is expensive (for food, I won't get into the wine), but far from overly so in the intended genre. It's great, the rest is just semantics.

Do tell, power tools are cool and a few hundred bucks is manageable...

Does anyone know of a way to make the humidity of a common refrigerator adjustable? Perhaps a small machine not unlike the one that you have in your bedroom, but with the ability to adjust the humidity to a specific pertentage? Other ideas?

Make no mistake, McDonald's is already everywhere even without the Drive-thru. As far as menu, there's a chicken sandwich to rival KFC, the king of fast food here. A wrap style thing as well with chicken or pork. A Big Mac remains very much a Big Mac. For better or for worse... EJ

Lay's has cucumber-lemon chips in China (and perhaps elsewhere, not sure) that are great. Also around are Peking duck, stir-fried crab and the like. EJ

So far as I know there's only one, that we designed. It replaces the syringe for most applications that involve drops of liquid and allows the possibility of much higher volumes. Perhaps you have some ideas for it? We've used it mostly into liquid nitrogen, but calcium chloride solutions have had other positive results. EJ

Here's a Shanghai entry; "The Drip Machine" EJ

Oh no, what if my 3 stars in NY don't mean the same thing in NY as if they would in Paris? And, what if perception is reality? What if I opened a pizza place and no one came for take-out slices? Oh, perception IS reality... Everyone is going to be just fine... Business is business

This one?

I like the first part of the thread where Bourdain "regretted" blurbing the book when in fact he didn't (original post mysteriouly deleted but still quoted in another). He had just gotten finished telling everyone to relax and how he enjoyed the book, a sentiment not mirrored in his NewYorkMetro quote. He never said what changed his mind. What did I miss? "My grapevine tells me"... What was all that about not posting heresay? Not disagreeing mind you, just not sure about the logic.

Mangosteen, no competition

Wow, thanks for the info, what a lot of work! I live and work in Shanghai. Having just recently figured out how to get Japanese products into China, I am looking for sources. Perhaps you could point me in the right direction? I'm interested in retail sources as well as wholesale restaurant purveyors. Any help would be much appreciated!

Who's the chef?

Try www.pagesjaunes.fr

Try adding the hot cream to the chocolate slowly while stirring as if making a mayonnaise, keeping the mixture thick at all times. This helps form the emulsion in a way that just pouring the cream over chocolate cannot. Using added sugar is good, invert sugar (Trimoline) is better as it will not crystallize the same way. The "grains" are really sugar crystals. The specifics of the cream can play a part but are rather insignificant compared to the actual process and overall recipe... as far as I've noticed.

Try starting with a ratio of 1:1 and adjust from there depending on the base.

I've heard rumors of Xin Jiang in Brooklyn, can anyone verify?

I've heard rumors of Xin Jiang in Brooklyn, can anyone verify?

There certainly are better jobs you can have if you are interested primarily in pay, benefits and hours. Then again, I can't imagine a good job that was taken primarily for those reasons. Better if your job is what you like to do anyway.

There is a recipe for Boudin Noir in the Ducasse book Grand Livre de Cuisine: Bistrots, Brasseries et Restaurants de Tradition if that helps. You can order from Marcel et Henri, if that helps.

Try filling it with coarse salt and leaving it on a burner until the grit loosens (hours). This is quite smoky though and if that's a problem do the same and leave it in a very high oven (many many hours).

Score around equator then microwave 2 min. or deep fry until skin loosens.