Suzanne F

Stephanyb -- does it work if you leave the skin on, or do you have to peel them? In any case, BRILLIANT!!!

Not even French??? I guarantee, if you try the one in The Way to Cook, you'll have an alternative.

And if you do NOT have a good feel/sight of what is half in a particular pot, it's okay to do a little playing with water until you get a sense of it. Measure how much you put in; pour out what you think is about half (back into the measuring cup if you like) and just keep going back and forth until you can consistently come close. Now, of course you won't always start with the same amount of liquid, but this will help you develop a visual sense of what half looks like against the whole amount. (If you're really worried about getting it right, use a dipstick; but you'll be fine with your own instincts -- especially, as Jinmyo says, because you will SEE and HEAR when it's right.)

But when you do osso buco, it really helps to tie them up. The meat gets sooooooooo soft that otherwise the pieces just fall apart when you even breathe. Don't you just LOVE cold weather????

Dave the Cook, I've got nothing to add. You got it right! (I mean on the Granton edge; I know nothing about guitars.)

Don't forget to include: Time fish left distributor Time fish arrived at restaurant Temperature of transport interior Packing type (directly on ice -- flaked, crushed, etc. -- or in protective wrapping Temperature of fish upon receipt Amount of time fish sat in kitchen [temperature of kitchen] before being moved to storage ------------------------------------- I could add even more, but I haven't done receiving in over a year. Yes, I actually had to record all of these, except the last one. Would I ever put ANY of these on the menu? Only one: species. The rest is just too twee.

Hi, my name is Suzanne and I'm a knife addict. I am constantly searching for the knife that is perfect for me. I've got F.Dick from school (which I HATE); Sabatier carbon steel and stainless from 30 years ago; Wusthof; Henkels; Global; Forschner; Sanelli (a granton-edge slicer that's dynamite!); Granton (a granton-edge slicer that is not all that great); Fürie; KitchenAid; and Messermeister. Which is "best?" It depends! -- on what I need to do with it. I love my 10-inch Messermeister: it's heavy, it rocks (literally; on its edge), and because the bolster is short I can sharpen it all the way from the tip to the heel. And it has an edge similar to Global. But for work other than chopping, the others all have advantages (and disadvantages). Globals have a great edge, but they are the most uncomfortable for me to hold. Fürie is solid and sanitary, but loses its edge quickly. And so on. In other words, what's best is what works best for you and is most comfortable for you to use. Fat Guy: a few years ago there was a piece in the PCD catalogue about which is correct. Unfortunately, I don't remember what they said. If I still have it somewhere, I'll post what they said.

With all due respect: in order to be considered "great" or "brilliant" or even "excellent," yes, a chef must be an artist. An artist in the kitchen can see, smell, taste, hear, and feel things even the best craftsman (= cook) can't. There's absolutely nothing wrong with "excellent" execution. A craftsman can execute a design brilliantly, but it takes that extra artistic vision to come up with the design. The chef who moves food beyond good to "OH!" needs that vision. And as a professional cook, I'd rather work for an artist, as long as s/he is a capable teacher as well. Because it keeps me learning, and keeps my job interesting. No matter how consistent one might get, it is BORING to make the same (perfect) dish over and over.

Discovering a flavor combination that no one else has found before (provided it works, of course) is of the utmost importance. But it had better look good, too, if you want people to try it. "Can progress or innovation be made ... at the expense...?" Yes, but then it's merely invention for the sake of show, and not progress. Flash, but nothing that adds to good food and its creation. When I read about Heston Blumenthal, Paul Liebrandt, and even Adria, I get very nervous. Because I fear that they are going in that direction. But I've no direct experience with their food, so that's only my opinion. "Is it acceptable to progress in skill ... if there is no impact on flavor or presentation?" NO. What's the point of just being a better technician? That's for us line cooks, not for chefs whose responsibility it is to create and teach.

No, not really Do you get a good sear on the meat, and deglaze the pan before you continue cooking? That will help get that lovely brown caramelization on the meat and into the "fond" (the juices from the meat that form the base of the sauce). Do you reduce the sauce -- even if it's just by cooking the dish uncovered -- so that the wine gets concentrated? That will darken it some. And one more question: might you be using too much wine? Believe it or not, that IS possible! If that's the case, you might not be able to cook it down enough without overcooking everything else. Hope this helps! Looks are SO important

Miracle Whip, eh? Never had it that I was aware of, so maybe ... Guess I'll get some next time at the store and check. Thanks!

All the advice people have already given is excellent: keep your fridge COLD; wrap your produce in paper (towels work fine) as a buffer between veg and plastic bag (and change the paper every few days when it looks too wet; you can let it dry and reuse it); keep herbs and some veg in "vases" of water, but cover loosely with a plastic bag so they don't dry out; and try to buy the freshest possible stuff. Mushrooms: NEVER keep them in plastic; paper bag!! Or if you buy them in little boxes, put a piece of paper towel on top of them before re-covering with plastic wrap. Remember that vegetables are still sort of alive: they breathe out moisture. It's the collection of moisture that speeds the rotting. Meats are difficult -- can't keep them raw for that long (unless they're cured, like bacon or dry sausage). If you really can only shop every 2 weeks, you might have to consider freezing. Or make more vegetarian mains near the end of the period . Or cook ahead and wrap really well -- as in the blanquette advice.

Mmmmm -- potato salad! Always start with yukon golds or red-skin new potatoes. YES, waxy is better! Slice for French- or German-style, chunk for American. Cook until just tender -- that's the hard part. (The instructions in Julia's The Way to Cook never work for me; I find 6 minutes is too short.) Drain. For American, let the cubes cool to room temp; French and German, mix the potatoes with the other ingredients and then let cool (German need not cool at all). I like to add the onion flavor in different ways, again depending on ethnicity: chopped scallions/green onions for American; shallots for French; and sautéed Spanish onions for German (cooked in the bacon fat). Other additions: American: Mayonnaise; mustard; yogurt, to lighten the mayo; diced celery (or a little celery seed); sweet pickle relish or chopped sour pickles; chopped parsley. French: I pretty much follow the recipe in The Way to Cook -- but I'll add a lot more chopped herbs, whatever I have available. German: much like everyone else's: crumbled cooked bacon and its fat, the aforementioned cooked onions, a little sugar along with the salt and pepper (lots of pepper), and vinegar (Balsamic is a great idea!). When I was little, a German deli in our neighborhood made a very simple, very delicious potato salad, with a creamy white dressing and chopped parsley only. I wish I could find out how they made the dressing: it was a little sweet, a little tart, and pure white -- not mayo, but ????? BTW: Blue Smoke has one of the best potato salads I've ever eaten; theirs has sour pickle, onion, and egg.

I was quite surprised to see you say: Sorry, but this is wrong, wrong, WRONG. This must have been your first "professional" catering gig, no? There is a great deal of prep work to catering, not just making the food, but casing the premises and determining what you need to bring in the way of equipment and help. I realize you did this as a favor to a friend, but there are still professional standards to keep up. What if there had been NOTHING there? What if the setup would not have allowed you to refrigerate anything -- would you have been willing to risk food-borne illness for your client? You should have checked before, and known what was or was not available to you. I'm not trying to be mean or excessively harsh, truly. But catering is not a game for amateurs. If you do it at all, do it right. Know what the site is like, know what you have to bring, know what your staffing will be (you shuold never have to rely on civilians to do much of the work for you) and TAKE CHARGE. If you are going to play at being a professional, you'd better know the rules.

How often DO you shop? How much do you buy at one time? How many people do you cook for? What are your cooking and eating habits (how much at any given time; how many different kinds of dishes)? How do you store your raw food (what containers/wrapping)? And: what are your criteria for food going bad? It may be that your food is still okay, just not by what you expect. Please don't be put off by all these questions. It will help us to analyze the situation. Food is good! and should be!!

But Suvir, you are not a hypocrite, and that is what matters. Because of your background and your sensibilities, you are a vegetarian almost all the time. When you must -- because work and occasional adventure related to work make it a "must" -- you stray from the straight and narrow. But you return easily to your beliefs. You are not at all like someone who proclaims, "I am a vegetarian" but frequently eats fish or chicken. Those other things taste wonderful. How could someone who really cares about food NOT "love" them, once they taste them? But you do not eat them regularly and then say, "Oh, but really I am a vegetarian." So please, do not beat yourself.

Something similar to Jinmyo's: Cut the livers apart and remove any dark spots, veins, or other gunk. Saute some sliced onion and mushrooms until golden (in fat of your choice; butter, chicken, duck, goose, olive oil all work). Add the livers and cook a couple of minutes until firm on the outside but still squishy inside. Add a large splash of wine (your choice) and a little chicken stock. Turn up heat and reduce liquid, finish cooking livers. Lower heat and stir in some sour cream. Season with Salt and pepper. If desired, stir in some chopped fresh dill or parsley or both. Serve over noodles or mashed potatoes.

"The market measure who has good taste and who doesn't." Huh? Oh, wait, you're saying that good taste is measured by money -- how much one "earns" for convincing people that they look marvelous, be it in well-made, well-fitting clothes, in faux-upperclass-twit-sporting outfits, or in an expensive collection of underwear and rags? I repeat: do they all have "good" taste? If you had a daughter, whose clothes would you prefer she wear on her way to the market or her office -- assuming she worked in some field other than fashion? Oh, but she wouldn't be a worker bee, would she now? Not YOUR child. (sorry, but the whole business of fashion gives me hives.) Please continue your argument with the architects and conductors. I can't wait to see what you can say.

... If good taste is subjective, why would good taste be a qualification of people who work in the fashion industry? Or of architects? Or of orchestra condutors? If the standard was merely subjective then anyone could do those jobs. But it's a fact that hardly anyone can do those jobs. Isn't that empirical proof that taste is objective? Sorry Steve: it's not some platonic ideal of "good taste" that gets folks work in those -- or other -- fields. It is merely having taste that co-incides with that of the people who control the hiring. That is where the subjectivity comes in. Also sharing the business "vision" that the hirers have. In fact, the latter qualification may be the more important one; why else do so many chefs get fired after the less-than-glowing reviews come out? And to get back to "the fashion industry" -- can you honestly state that you think, say, Vivienne Westwood and Ralph Lauren and Coco Chanel share the same good taste? Or architecture: Philip Johnson (the self-proclaimed whore) and Frank Lloyd Wright and Stanford White? Music: Skitch Henderson and Gustav Mahler and Pierre Boulez? Dare you?

Out of ketchup. Okay?

I thought you're some kind of techie, o man of mystery. But then, what do I know?

According to The Food Lover's Companion (second edition), herbs are and spices are Favorite herb: lemon thyme Favorite spice: allspice berries edited to close the damn tags

Awright, so maybe it's not nurture, then. How about nature? People take vocational tests to determine if they prefer working with people, things, or data. What if all those WSJ readers are data-types, and have never developed a sense of "how food-thing works" or "how food makes people feel good?" Yeah, yeah, tommy's a data-type, but not exclusively (otherwise he wouldn't have so many posts )

Sorry I wasn't clear. I was sure that you do "blanch in oil" and not in water. But of course. I can't imagine why one would pre-cook in water, for frites Sigh. Where are those smug scientific bastards when we need them?

Pre-cooking the potatoes before frying probably has something to do with "setting" the starch. I mean by that cooking it enough so that it doesn't come loose and stick to the pan. Think about the difference between making risotto and making fried rice: with risotto, you want the surface starch to mix with the liquid; that's how you get that creaminess. For fried rice, though, you want to have a "shell" of cooked starch on the rice grains so that they do NOT stick together; so cold cooked rice is better to use. And Wilfrid, that's actually what you do when you blanch frites in oil. Cooking the outside starch, so that the inside has its starch and moisture sealed in. Thus the proper flakiness of the inside of a good frite.