Mallet

Awesome, I just made my reservation! I purposefully didn't read your post too carefully, though (didn't want to spoil the dishes ).

I've made it a few times. It's a very simple, but honest sausage (my gf would say bland). I wouldn't call it the best charcuterie bang for your buck, but I find it strangely addicting at the same time. It definitely benefits from aging beyond the minimum 2-3 weeks, so either make it in larger casings or vacuum-pack and let it sit in a fridge for a few weeks after the desired moisture level is reached.

Has anyone been since it opened? I will probably be in Ottawa next Saturday, so a visit to Atelier could be in the cards.

These knives from F.A Porsche seem pretty high quality (and look badass, an essential feature for a bachelor )

Here is the thread in question.

There are hunters and there are hunters. I totally respect those hunters who eat what they kill. Those who do so simply for sport, however,... ← Are you referring to "sport" as strictly trophy hunting, or would this include someone who gave away all the meat they harvested?

Define "nuisance". Why is it weird that seagulls should be protected to the same extent as, say, yellow warblers? Having said that, I too support the sale of carefully monitored wild meat. I see it as a tremendous culinary opportunity, and also a tool of development in remote areas. Personally I think a monetarily valuable hunt for wild meat is likely to be far less damaging to wildlife habitat than most current forestry practices, for example.

This is essentially correct Gulls are a nongame migratory bird (Full Act)

My copy arrived over the weekend, hopefully others will follow. It's a great book, and it will take me a while to read through and decide how I'm going to start using it!

I still don't have mine

I imagine the biggest difference will be between wild/domestic rather than male/female. Wild birds will typically have gotten a lot more exercise, and probably have eaten much less grain (i.e: corn). Somewhat tougher, but more flavorful. I personally find the difference between domestic and wild duck to be mind-boggling (although to be fair farmed ducks have undergone a lot more domestication: they don't look particularly like mallards). I've never had farmed pheasant, but wild stuff is great.

From Wikipedia

The FL cookbook would have you poach lobster meat in beurre monté for 5-6 min. At friend's house (no water bath available), I did basically the same thing by vacuum sealing lobster meat with butter and putting in a 180F water bath. It was awesome.

updates?

I find the idea of cutting the meat into strips very interesting: do you also cut the fat into strips as well or does that stay in chunks?

I used this technique to make lobster consommé for the FL's lobster consommé en gelée and it worked out beautifully with 0.5% gelatin (the lobster bodies presumably have little to no natural gelatin in them, which simplified things considerably). The yield was much higher than the yield given in the recipe book using a clarification raft, almost double. The stock was very clean and clear, so this is definitely my go-to method for clarification in the future!

An interesting (but still traditional) variation on the meat pie is a vegetable pie. Root vegetables (potatoes, turnips, carrots) are boiled together then put in a crust along with some of the cooking water and baked until the crust browns and the juices are reduced. I make mine with a chive-cream sauce. PS: Do you remember where the oyster from?

What sort of yield is typical with this method? I want to try and adapt this technique for use in some French Laundry recipes (no more constant skimming ), but need to know if I expect much less yield than with the usual skimming and straining...

I think one of the main reasons that Luke's gets attention is that it's one of the most creative restaurants in Kingston, for us residents it means we actually get to try something different every once in a while . I've definitely had some of my best meals in Kingston there, but the flipside is that sometimes you get flavour combinations that aren't particularly pleasant (once I had a particularly bad dessert which was a combination of parsnips, smoked banana ice cream, and smoked paprika with a mushy chocolate crepe on top). I don't know in what context you had the asparagus purée, but when we had it it was in combination with a rhubarb purée and lamb "popscicles". In that context I thought it made sense since you would dip the lamb in the various purées (or in combinations), which were also arranged on the plate for visual impact. The pairing of asparagus and rhubarb was also new to me, and both my partner and I enjoyed it thoroughly. To be sure, I wouldn't eat asparagus that way every day but at the same time I certainly don't want to pay for something I can easily make at home (the fact that it was cold is unfortunate, however). I haven't had the shrimp gnocchi, but it doesn't seem to be on the menu now: perhaps it was a failed experiment? On another note, we went to Aqua Terra for a meal about 2 weeks ago. While not earth shattering by any stretch, their prix-fixe menu is probably one of the best deals in the city and the wine list alone is worth the trip.

The French Laundry cookbook isn't as complicated as it seems, and you will be guaranteed to learn a lot. Bouchon is also quite good though, both have improved my cooking tremendously. Much simpler but good for thinking about whole menus is the Chez Panisse Menu Cookbook.

There's nothing in the article to suggest that relaxing current restrictions on GM crops will have any effect on yield, and it may indeed have substantial negative impacts. Is the time right? No.

I wonder if there will be any recipes in the book which will not be achievable with Foodsaver-type machines: in any case I can't wait to buy it!

I'm guessing that the people compressing fruit care about vacuum pressure...

Beef will definitely work for the parsley and bone marrow recipe. I've had relatively old beef marrowbones (3 weeks), with no off flavours that I could detect.

Just a heads-up that the dinner menu at Luke's! has been updated (menu here, pictures here). While still based in some of the flavour combinations from previous menus, the preparation and techniques are much more modern (some definite MG influences). I recently has dinner there and found everything superb (I had the rabbit: warning, it's huge!, and my girlfriend had the lamb). Highly recommended!