BonfireCuisine

I heard in Louisiana that Nutrias are every where and they remove then like rats because they ruin the dykes and water ways. I never thought of eating them - then again I've never had possum either and I've heard that they eat them there. Jason

(sorry for the length) Nice thread which got me to thinking about my apprenticeship and how I pour wine now – wine pouring was taught to me like this: If the bottle was bought you’re supposed to pour a 6 oz pour for 4.5 glasses of wine per bottle. The idea is that, two glasses of wine is served. Then as the 3 round is poured, there isn’t enough and it gives the option (supposedly desire) to the guest to either get another single glass or bottle of wine. If it was wine by the glass, I was told to pour 5oz so that we get 5 glasses per bottle. This gets the restaurant 5 glasses per bottle of wine. Now flights are supposed to be 1.5oz pours, which is supposed to get you 14 glasses per bottle which is supposed to equal 5 full glasses of wine per bottle. Or another way to look at it is, the flight is to equal one glass of wine divided by 3 (a flight being 3 sample glasses) thus equaling 5 – 5oz pours. Of course for the restaurant ordering a flight is more money for the restaurant then if ordering wine by the glass. Let’s do the math…(from the last flight I had at this wine bar near where I live) the flight is $9 (the higher cost is because you’re getting a sample of 3 different wines) and if you do 3 flights it’s $27, now if you take 3 full glasses of each wine (normally) the single glass would be $6 to $8 which basically costs you $24. Yes - your results will vary but this ratio is what you use to figure out what kind of sales you’re supposed to make per bottle based on how it’s served. Now Pam and Mark got me thinking about the less then 5oz pours. When I order wine by the glass I never really pay attention to the kind of pour I would get. Up until now, I never really even thought about it. So with my trusty scale in hand I started playing with different wine glasses and pours. So that got me thinking, I have some of those 8oz wine glasses (those cheap-o ones that you buy at the supermarket) and I poured 4oz into it. I then took my nice 20oz wine glass and put 5oz into it. When you look at it, it appears you are getting more wine in the 8oz glass then you do in the 20oz wine glass. So like Mark said, restaurants are getting more glasses out of the bottle of wine. Now I’m not harping on restaurants, I’m more harping on myself for not paying attention to the type of pour I’m getting. Thanks Pam and Mark for putting this bug in my ear, I haven’t read the other thread on waiter over pours but I’ll read it now. Jason

iamthestretch - thanks, I guess its slightly better then what we originally thought. So I can't seem to find where I read it but someone said that this series is actually a year or two old and is being reran in America. Is this true?

Being hispanic myself - I never really looked into the word "spic" but it appears to be the same all over the place From -> http://www.everything2.com/index.pl?node_id=58071 Spic Though the origins of slang words can hardly ever be correctly pinpointed, it is possible that the word "spic", as an insult for those of Hispanic ethnicity, originated as either: An amalgamation of the word "Hispanic" or The pronounciation of the word "speak" with a Spanish accent, where the vowels sound different. The ea sound in "speak" falls closest to the Spanish vowel i, which follows only the short pronunciation of such letter in English (as in the word "spic"). The word "speak", being used often in such simple sentences as "I don't speak English", may have been mispronounced enough times by Spanish speakers as to be converted into the derogatory word "spic" by English speakers.

I use to live in Denver but I'd say I'm with "The Matt" on "El Mercadito at 31st and Federal always had good Mexican food." - I beleive it's still there, I'll have to ask my parents (they still live there, I've moved to Washington State) - Great Menudo (no really it's what its supposed to taste like - not all just tripe) Jason

I have so much respect for him although I don't think I'd just stand there and go "yes Gordon", I mean it's like "what the bloody hell, a blue plaster, in this type of restaurant, what you couldn't stop by the [something] and get a f**king white plaster (btw it's a bandaid for us Americans). He was brutal - I mean most people would have told him to F off in no incertain terms. I can't wait for Hells Kitchen on Fox talk about pressure. Bobby Flake could only wish he was as good as Gordon. I will admit that Gordon was a bit over the top for the type of mistakes that were made maybe it's a British thing (don't know never been there I could be wrong) - I mean he was really brutal. There was a time when he was blasting this guy because the guy didn't check the air conditioning and he was like "what you couldn't stop eating your cheese balls to f**king check the [something British for air conditoning]". On one hand it was hilarious but on the other I could feel for those other cooks. I've worked for some Europeing chefs who were pretty brutal - didn't tell me to F off but where hot when I didn't tourney the potatoes just right. I'd like to purchase the videos and the series before this from him on BBC. Anyone know how to do this? Jason

My hobby is photography – (To quote someone on PhotoSig where I post my photos) “In very general terms, you can take photos of whatever you want from a public place, including people. Since you took the photo, you own the copyright. However, what you can do with that photo varies. You can sell it for editorial use without a release. That usually means newspapers, magazines, tabloids, etc. If you want to use it for commercial purposes (advertising, stock, product, etc.) then you will need a release from the person first.” (google under model release) But taking photos inside of a restaurant at say the buffet – is a gray area. I think someone on the thread say “it all depends on the person that is confronting you”, it’ not really illegal to take pictures – sort of. I would bet it has a lot to do with copyright/trade mark stuff. I’ve taken some pictures of people at a fair, most times no one says anything to me – only once have I had someone ask me not to. If you are really interested in a larger thread on this, check out www.photosig.com on their forum section. It comes up every month and of course there are long debates about what is legal and not – any way back to food. So I thought I’ve heard everything about food – even tasted deep friend twinkees (strange flavor but good) but I’ve never heard of “Fried Mac n Cheese” – what is it?

Got a link to the recipe - I'll try it out, who knows might be good.

Skate - love it when I can get it fresh. My grandmother made it best when we went to France when I was young. Flour dusted, sauted in butter with garlic, capers and lemon - remove the skate and add more butter to make a sauce and pour over skate. - ah of course it had grandmother's love on it so it was of course better. I've made it here in the states and I've found a good "fresh" fish monger, I did (gasp) try the frozen ones from the asian (no offense) markets but they never really smelled all that good once thawed and I even went to a respectable market (long debate about what makes a respectable market avoided). The thing about skate (2 cents for today) is when it's good it's really good but when it's bad it's almost worse then spoiled miso.. Jason

My favorite quotes from others on this board that I'd say I can relate to as being a foodie. My quotes - 1. Your friends at work tell you that you take food way to seriously 2. You actually have a mandolin and use it 3. You work 12 hours at a stressful desk job and then come home to make food for friends and it's relaxing 4. You live in America and you actually know who Gordon Ramsay is Jason

From a guys point of view – I never went to “college” in the sense of living in a dorm; it was more college classes followed up by being an apprentice at a top restaurant. I did however live in a house with 9 other guys going to college that didn’t do the dorm thing. The guys normally took care of themselves most times but I ended up being the cook for everyone when I got home late at night. You know they did the dinner thing on their own (top ramen, nachos, bottled spaghetti sauce and unfortunately fast food) but as soon as I was home – I’m hungry and so they got to be my test subjects so as my experience grew so did the quality of the food. Although when I was practicing for a competition – I did hear a few times “not salmon again” hehe. We didn’t have a professional kitchen but the kitchen was top of the line from the 1950’s :) - but at least it worked. Personally I think my culinary skills improved by living there because I had to “make due” with the equipment and utensils. So when I had the right stuff, it was far easier to be more creative when you have more to work with because back then you just had to make due to get the same results. Jason

Top soda that I grew up with was BigRed Soda http://www.sodapopstop.com/products/detail.cfm?link=92 It tasted differed based on the container it was in. The tall neck bottle was better then the can which was better then the plastic bottle. I kind of tastes like liquid bubble with an extra burst of carbonation (think 16 year old burbs). Of course there are others but this is the one I'll grab over anything else if available. Jason