BryanZ

I was wondering where Sneakeater had disappeared to and wish him a quick recovery so that he may unleash his usual flurry of posts and meal reviews. I have to get back to Upstairs? Has the menu changed at all or is it fundamentally the same dishes?

I'm looking at picking up a smaller second bath to keep at a different temperature than my main one. The one I'm looking at is 10x6x3(deep). This would be more for individual servings of steaks, fish fillets, eggs, etc. Is this too small, especially with a depth of only 3"? Does anyone have any experience with American Dade Tek-Pro? I'd love to hear insights.

Awesome.

Thank you, gaya. I was waiting for someone to chime on that. If amuses are meant to show off the creativity of the chef and excite the diner for more Gilt definitely succeeds in that category.

That looks just fine. Just wipe the edge of the plate and you're golden. And, in my opinion, if it tasted good and looked like that its not all that regrettable.

I hang my head in shame. Honestly, it just tasted so off and strange that I HAD to post it here. It was regrettable in that I regret ever having eating it.

Props. That's a mighty combination right there. My post-drinking, second-dinner last night was just a couple burgers and a hotdog. Weak in comparison to that creation.

My first post in this infamous thread is not something I directly created. It was, however, one of the worst things I've eaten in quite some time. But first, the back story for those who may be interested... I was talking to my father in his office when my mother yells to me from the kitchen. I walk in, look at the stove, and see a perfectly good duck breast cooking in a skillet with no seasoning and no scoring of the skin side to help render out the fat. My mother asks me if the "duck confit is done." Clearly duck breast is not duck leg confit. Something has gone terribly wrong. The other day I had given my mother the overview of the confiting process and how I enjoy using pre-cooked legs as the ultimate conveience food, as they simply need to be heated in the pan and require no further seasoning. I've been doing this for years, but then again my mother has only been eating my food, not cooking it. I digress. Anyway, my mother somehow mistook the raw duck breast sitting in the fridge for duck confit and cooked it as if she was reheating a vaccum-sealed leg of confit. What makes this even more puzzling is that she noted the specific expiration date on the package, but not the product label or the shape of the cut of meat. After salvaging the duck breast during the last few minutes of cooking, I notice a pile of shredded iceberg lettuce and julliened red peppers, two of my least favorite produce items. My mother had planned on cleaning out the fridge using these items and the duck "confit" that was actually now a duck breast. Realizing this would soon be the salad from hell, I figured why not send it there in truly horrid glory. So in addition to the aforementioned items, in went the following random items: 1 Japanese cucumber, 1 over-ripe peach, red onion, 1 over-ripe tomato, 2 ears of corn from a week ago, and Asian bean sprouts. The resulting creation was something so horrible that I want to wipe it from my memory forever. Nothing about it was bad in that all the ingredients were still viable, but it just felt and tasted so wrong.

It's all in the wrist. Crossing your fingers sometimes helps, too.

Does Alinea have a mailing list, either snail or electronic?

Mitsuwa has it, for sure. It is very expensive though. It only comes in fairly large pieces that aren't less than $15-20. If you can find some other use for it other than serving a meal or two of sushi, I'd love to hear it.

Cool idea, but you're probably going to have a hard time making the cherry stay inside the gelled wine. I'd LOVE to see pictures though.

Rough. I was just talking about going to this place last night, hoping that it hadn't closed or anything. I guess people just weren't ready for the food.

That's a very unfortunate turn of events, especially if you had said you wanted to do the Tour beforehand. I, too, would love to hear their side of the story and if this is common.

That lobster video is so bad ass. How much is an omakase style meal at this place?

I was there today, had a nice lunch, and bought a bunch of stuff. There was no yakisoba, though. Now that the interior is entirely complete, I find the dining areas especially attractive. All the seating for the Japanese-cum-American cafe seems like a waste of space though. Since it was right after the holiday weekend, not all of the bakery and seafood items were available, but what I got was very good. I forgot to buy uni though, the primary reason I came out there, so I'm rather upset at myself for that.

Had an extra soft shell crab that needed to be cooked, so I tempura-ed it. Topped it with some grated daikon and really good ponzu, not seen in this picture. Not exactly traditional but tasty all the same.

The steaks could in fact be imported from Australia. I believe Snake River has a branch out there that has some pure bred Wagyu cows. I read this somewhere, perhaps on another thread, but can't be certain. If this is the case, it's creative menu writing to be sure.

Yes, especially with the smaller spheres, timing is very important. Within even 1/2 hour they're more gel-like than liquid-like. The gelling process does not stop upon rinsing, a fact you must keep in mind when preparing accompanying dishes.

Last post for the night here, I promise. I played with a fruit caviar today, canteloupe. I had planned on making this before discovering that this is one of Adria's signature. Shot down twice today for originality, rough. Anyway, poached salmon with canteloupe caviar Obviously I chose canteloupe because it looks a lot like salmon caviar. They tasted good on their own, okay with the salmon itself, but very good floating around in the poaching liquid. The combination of the salty broth, licorice from the fennel, and subtle bursts of sweetness was quite pleasing.

I swear to god, I had the EXACT same idea. Damn. I thought I was being creative. I'm not sure what you're asking in terms of the xanthan gum. It's a basic hydrocolloid that's a powerful and relatively tasteless thickener. In my experience it works at a wide range of temperatures from below room to boiling. Again, I'm not sure what'd you need a thermomixer for. Perhaps you're thinking of application I'm not, but I sure as hell don't have one.

So I was rustling through a random drawer in my kitchen and came across the remains of a Ron Popeil marinade injector (you know the kind that came with the Showtime oven in the late 1990s or something). Well, the needle was nowhere to be found, but the plastic syringe part makes a great extruder for thin noodles or very small caviar pellets.

There's a link on page one of this thread to the texturas site and a blog entry that gives some basic ratios and "cooking" times. I've found that I've had to significantly increase the time in the alginate bath to prevent large orbs from rupturing. The citrate is needed when the pH of the solution you're alginate-ing is less than 4. Therefore, acidic fruits and the like don't work easily. Spheres are best heated in barely simmering water or a water bath. ETA: see the previous post for the links

I'm not entirely sure. I took about 1% by weight of the meat I was cooking and just moistened it with water until it "looked right." It worked, and I think the slurry method is easier and ensures better coverage than the dry sprinkle.

The restaurant's full name is Keo Ku Jang, I believe.