chef koo

something that i consider magic is the process of refreshing greens. no matter how many times i do this when those greens come out of that cold water from wilted to crisp it always amazes me.

well the thing about the buffet was that i've always heard about them. i know they're famous and all but my mind was somewhere else when i looked at a sign that said $10 all yopu can eat and thought to myself, "why would i spend $25 for a bufet when i can spend $10. after i finished eating and realized what i did i realized the regret i felt of my decision

i'ce been there once with some staff from the restaurant i work at. we all enjoyed it. couldn't reallly see anything to complain about. the food i would say is fairly simple, elegant. nice dining room. nice wines. the price is right for what you get. i'd say go and judge for yourself

i just got back from a road trip with some boddueis of mine. we drovedown the west coast to san fransico and then to vegas. so i tried all the major food stop of the Us. "in and out burger", "jack in the box", "izzy's. i had a choice between the french laundry and gambling in vegas and i went with the gambling which i kind of regret becasue with the money i won (i was up $200) i could've gone for dinner but no big deal. anyways. the one big theme my friends and i saw was the super cheap prime rib dinners. the cheapest being $5.99 for a prime rib and lobster dinner. it was every where. i was happy to have purchased it of course but i've never seen this meal so widely served and marketed in canada before. maybe i jsut missed it or something. but other than the fact that it's a good deal is there a reason prime rib dinners are all over?

i sue it quite frequently at the restaurant. it should have an odor but it shouldn't knock you out. basically use it to hold the shape of anything. a roled item, a roast that you do'nt want to faltten in the roasting process, or a soft item you want to give a crisp outside to.

it's leftovers right? if it was me i probably wouldn't care about the product. you can't expect left overs to be as good as the initial product most of the time. i'd just zap it in the microwave and let the crust be soft

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hehe. you'd like the beach house then. lots of hockey wives and lots of cougars.

yes color is a plus but when sauteeing in a pan the heat is direct and goes from the surface that's touching the pan to the centre of the vegetable. blanching cooks more evenly since water can reach every little spot in the vegetable. also it makes for quicker cooking time since the heat is completely surrounding the vegetable... and it makes it a brighter green

without going all out asian serve just plain boiled veg tossed in butter. just do what you would normally do with tuna that wasn't asian.

my intent was to see members opinions. in both of my answers i stated that i would like to try them both again so that my opinions are justified. but this shouldn't be a deathly contest with reputations and restaurants sucess' on the line. it should be fun

this is sort of a game. but it lacks a winer or loser. there's no prize and fun is debatable. but first name a restaurant that you think is over rated and why. you must have gone there for dinner and not base your answer on hear say. and then the same again except with a restaurant that is under rated. so to start off over rated: wild rice. i went there with a friend. i'm the kind of guy that won't complain. i can get the wrong food, have it completey cold and taste like crap and i omst likely won't say anything. so i ordered a bowl of soup with a black truffle broth and a green onion cake. can't quite remember the name but it was bland as hell. i may as well have drunk a glass of warm water. i didn't finish it. for my main i ordered a braised boar dish with a brown rice. it was so salty that even if i was starving i couldn't finish it even if i wanted to. so up to then i was pretty dissapointed. i hadn't finished anything. i thought i'd give em another try and ordered the spring rolls. they were soggy, greasy, and the filling inside must have been bound with flour or somethign because it had a dry starchy texture t it and it was also bland as hell. i'll probably try it again sometime in the future to make sure it wasn't just a bad night on their part. under rated: oritalia. i know they've changed chefs quite a bit but at their peak they were one of the top 60 restaurants in the world. and for good reason. their souffle's were made a la minute. their beef was sterling silver beef from alberta. sterling silver is the top 10% of the beef from alberta. sterling gold is the top 5%. the quality in the ingredients were amazing. i should know. i used to work there. but then something happened after i left. i heard alot of people talking about bad expiriences there. i've had dinner myself there alot and was rightly impressed with it. i guess after i left they must have changed things or something because everything i've heard was that oritalia was crap. who know. maybe it is now. it was a while since i've been there. last time i was there was about 2 years ago so alot could've changed. but if nothing has changed than i say this is definatley an under rated restaurant. i probably should go check it out just to make sure i don't lose face in front of my fellow society members

oooh and this one doens't have anything to do with method and i'm not sure what kind of potato you're using but don't use russets. they have zero flavour. personally i likt the yukon golds

another problem might be timing. how long are you leaving the doung on the parchment for? if it's for too long the cornmeal or flour or whatever you're using will soak up the moisture and become sticky again. also i don't like to use cormeal. i don't like the texture. i find semolina is a lot finer so you don't feel grains of cornmeal in your teeth. but that's beside the point. hope your next pizza is less troublesome

yah blanching is crucial. as is soaking. for me the perfect fry is over cooked. i don't like crisp on the outside. i like crunch. also when you add things like ketchup and vinegar and other moisture to your fries it soaks it up so it's nice to have a head start by over cooking it so it doesn't go as soggy. oh and the most important step... salt them right after they come out of the fat.

in japan bream is considerd to be the best fish. personally my favorite fish overall has to be cod.

i honestly hate people who give advice like that! here's some more. if you want your guac to not be bland add some salt and put a plastice straw in with it. to straw makes it more flavourful. sigh.

when i was at school one of my chef instructors was the chef at cafe de paris for a while. he like to remenice aabout how back then the clientel wouldn't shy away from pink meat. how kidneys weren't looked upon as unsophisticated and disgusting. he brags about how that place could make the best pomme frite in all of vancouver. but after he left all he heard were rumors that the food was "okay", and that the new chef had set the bar far lower than he would have ever expected. mind you my chef was a hardcore french born and raised chef. so when he says lower the bar he means it's just not quite as good as him. but i haven't tried it myself.

when it comes to texture one little tip i have that many don't consider is the whisking. when you temper your yolks with the cream, instead of vigorously whisking do it gentll. also using a rubber spatula works well too so it creates less bubbles. when you cook em do the foil thing and the longer cooking time as well. lemme know how it turns out... or did you already do what i just suggested? in that case can't be much help

think of things you would do with sweet potato and try it with plantains

only thing that would make me happy is a huge industrial hobart dish washer. all other things would be cool. but a dish wassher? damn that would be sweet

if you're gonna use clorophyll do'nt just extract it. it's a waste of food. jsut use the whole pureed product. personally i think it's a waste to do it just for the color. the natural color of a food can be a simple and noble thing. why try and "kick it up a notch" with wild and crazy colors that should belong? if you want the taste however than by all means go for it

technically you can use any grain, wehter it be wheat, barley rice or whatever. but i think to make it an actualy "risotto" you must, and i mean must use risotto. the term risotto hasbeen bastardized in north america as a marketing ploy. risotto is no longer a recipe. it's a method. on menus every whee you see barley risotto, wheat risotto, yam risotto, jasmine risotto. the one true risotto demands arborio

the naam?

alchemyst, this is all dependant on the individual personality of the chef. some chef's like to comprimise. some don't