Grub

I think you can draw some parallels between curry powder and chili powder or say, dry rub -- there might be perfectily acceptable commercial varieties out there, but that doesn't make it pointless to make your own. Also, commercial curry powders tend to vary quite a bit in taste, so if a recipe calls for some supposedly ubiquitous curry powder, the end result might be wildly different, depending on what particuarly commercial powder was used... Besides, making your own means you get to learn what goes into the mix, and that's always a good thing.

I've never been to Australia, so I don't know what to compare it to, but Applebee's is a fairly common sit-down restaurant chain here in the US. Do you have TGIF down under? It's kinda like that, except more family oriented, I guess.

First off, we need a link to this Connecticut-based features writer's article. Can't really comment on the level of viciousness without reading it... Secondly -- Bordain has slapped far worse labels on people than "bobbleheads" and he has named names. I'm not sure if integrity is the right word -- maybe it is -- but I sure as hell like the fact that someone can speak with such frankness in our day and age. Rayray's overexposed. If you become a fan, then maybe you can't get enough of someone -- or something -- but meh, nuff said... The baby/idiot talk gets on my nerves: "You're not gonna BELIEEEEEVE how EAAAASY this is!"(arms windmilling wildly) -- I'm sorry, I'm willing to watch this on the merit of your recipe and abilities alone, you don't need to sell it to me like I'm some 5-second attention span, lobotomized gerbil.

That's great, well done! I think someone else already might have mentioned this, but I realize that I left something out of the recipe I described: Dijon mustard... You don't need a lot, because it can overpower the sauce, but a little bit will really bring the flavors out, and round it out, I think.

I've done steak au poivre in both stainless and non-stick pans, and I'd say there's no question that stainless is the way to go. You WANT things to stick in the pan when you sear the steak -- that stuff brings a lot of good flavors to the sauce. With a non-stick pan, the only way you can get any of that good stuff into your sauce, is to scrape the browned bits off of the edges of the steak -- not a very efficient or sensible way to go. The method I use, is to cook the steaks in a stainless steel pan, and once done, put them on a plate and keep them warm in the oven. Then, with the same pan, deglace it with brandy (and put it on fire if you want) and scrape the sticky bits loose. Add beef stock and cream, and let reduce. Once that is done, the steaks will have released some jus while resting in the oven, so whisk that into the sauce. If I had to pick between non-stick and cast iron, I'd probably go with the latter.

Okay, I'll have another stab at it this week. Thanks a ton for all the feedback -- I'm really grateful for the constructive suggestions, and I do appologize if I seem a tad stubborn, in that I'm not following everyone's advice. I'll be using the same pastry recipe. I do agree with Shalmanese, that it is "...some kind of bastardised folded pie dough" -- but I want to give this technique/method another chance, since I obviously made a mistake in turning on the broiler. I will fold it a lot more, next time around though. The grated frozen butter method Chufi mentioned makes me think that you CAN make a good puff pastry dough in other ways, than the traditional method. Of course, if I screw it up again, I just might have to reconsider -- and have a look at that EG demo on puff pastry Ling pointed out. Oh and yeah, I'll try some vinegar and baking soda too -- thanks. I'll probably split the fillet horizontally and fill it with some cream cheese mixture -- smoked salmon, sauteéd shrimp, sliver-thinly sliced jalapenos, caramelized onions, something or other -- definitely no duxelles. We'll see.

Seeing as I'm the first to respond, I apologize if this suggestion might not be exactly the reply you hoped for -- but I can't help thinking of the the proverb about giving a man a fish, vs. teaching him how to fish... Why not teach them how to cut an onion? It really is a truly satisfying skill. Cleaning up a chef's knife is a lot easier and faster than a gadget. And once you've learned how to dice an onion, you can cut a lot of other stuff up too, that a dedicated onion-gadged won't do. And yeah, itt takes about 30 seconds to learn how to properly use a steel on your knife, to keep it sharp enough to easily cut through the skin of a tomato. As I said, sorry if this sounds negative -- I'm sure there might be some good gear out there that can do this very well...

Great feedback -- thanks guys. I realize that this "demo" isn't exactly the best way to teach someone how to cook a perfect Salmon en Croûte, but I figure it might inspire someone to do better, or at least warn someone of the potential pitfalls... But equally important, I hope to learn something, by taking notes and pictures (which is a pretty big hassle in the cooking process -- especially when dealing with baking and other things that gets your hands dirty, so you've gotta keep cleaning them in between taking pictures) -- and a big part of that is of course the feedback I get... Well, here's what I've learned, then: The duxelle was definitely a little too hearty. I've used spinach many times before, and have been very happy with that. But the seafood mousse, and the smoked salmon and cream cheese both sounds like excellent ideas -- I'll definitely try that out next time around. The pastry just wasn't as fluffy as store-bought puff pastry is, and I think that may be because I didn't fold it enough times. (I normally use supermarket puff pastry, but would like to be able to create something fairly similar by hand, if at all possible. I figure, if I can get it right, I can add flavors to the pastry itself, like I've done with some Jamaican Beef patties.) I'm a little ashamed and/or stupid to admit this, but the pastry recipe I used was actually for a galette that I made recently -- it wasn't actually a specific puff pastry recipe. So I'm gonna look that up. D'oh. Layering the "stuffing" in between the salmon seems like a very good idea, since it would allow me to use some pretty wet stuff, without worrying about making the pastry wrapping soggy. That's a keeper. If the egg wash is needed, for that beautiful, golden crust, then the egg was is definitely a must. I'll roll out the leftover dough and try cut out some decorative shapes -- should be fun. Thanks a bunch!

Salmon en croûte Now, please don't be gentle with me -- I'd really like some constructive criticism on this one. This isn't so much a demo, as it is a detailed insight into the cooking process of an amateur cook. If this text and these pictures display any positive aspects to my methods and thoughts, I'd be delighted to hear of it -- but if you can point out where I went wrong, and what I can do to improve it, I'd be sincerely grateful... Salmon is one of my favorite foods. And baking it in pastry has become one of my favorite methods of preparing it. I've used supermarket puff pastry, and I've used supermarket phyllo. But this time I wanted to try make my own pastry wrapping -- I made my own pastry dough for some Cornish pastry-like Jamaican Beef Patties, and it worked out really well. So, here I go... Ingredients: flour (cup and a half), salt (teaspoon), butter (one stick) and water (1/3-1/2 cup or so). Mix the flour and the salt: Chop up half of the butter (make sure it is cold -- it is important that the butter doesn't get a chance to melt): Grind it into the flour with your hands until the butter is separated into very small pieces, and the flour takes on an almost cornmeal-like texture: At this point, I place the bowl and the remaining butter in the freezer, to make sure it stays chilled. 10-15 minutes later, it's time to grind the remaining butter in -- but this time, I don't grind it nearly as fine: the lumps are almost the size of peas. This will make for some puffy, crispy crust. I give it another rest in the freezer before I continue on, by mixing in the water. I give it as much as is needed for the dough to start sticking together; about 1/3 to 1/2 a cup of cold water. Local humidity dictates how much you use -- I live in an almost desert-like climate, so if you're in Florida or Jamaica, adjust accordingly. Oh yeah, and I use a fork at this point -- no need to heat it up any further with my hands. Then, I roll it into a disk, and wrap it up in cling wrap, and leave it in the fridge until I'm ready to continue. This first stage can be done well in advance -- a day ahead is fine (I haven't tried doing it further in advance than that though). Notice the lumps of butter -- they will be squeezed into wide, flat shapes when I roll the dough out, and will provide lots of fluffiness. Normally, I top my salmon with spinach, and although I don't mean to join in on the current spinach hysteria, I figured it was as good a time as any, to try something else. I tried doing Ramsay's Beef Wellington, which uses duxelle, so I figured I try it with the salmon. I don't know anything about mushrooms except for Marcella Hazan's recommendation that you always use more than one type of mushrooms. So that's what I did. Oh yeah, and a duxelle is onions and mushrooms, as far as I'm aware -- no idea on ratios though. I sautéed it -- sorry about the out-of-focus picture... And gage it a whirl with the Evinrude. Then I spread it on a plate and chuck it in the freezer to chill it. The salmon is skinned, deboned and generally sorted out, and the wrapped-up dough from the day before is brought out. Flour is spread, and I'm ready to roll the dough out. As far as I can tell, things are going fairly well at this point, but I'm starting to worry that the dough will be too small to wrap around the salmon fillet. I can always roll it bigger, but it'll be thinner. Then I fold it. Being a computer nerd, my natural inclination would be to double it, and then double it etc., but this is apparently how puff pastry is folded -- folded into triple layers, repeatedly. I only repeated this folding process a few times though, and I think that might have been a mistake... Some dijon mustard, salt and pepper on the fillet: And the duxelle. For my tastes, this was a little too strong for the salmon. I'm thinking I need to figure out what else this duxelle stuff is used for, though, cause it's nice. Then I turn the fillet over onto the dough: And roll the dough up. My fears about the dough not being big enough is abated -- dough and fish alike is pretty pliable. I actually ended up with quite a bit of leftover dough at the ends. Edges trimmed and folded up -- this side is going to face downwards during cooking and serving, so if it looks a little messed up, no problem. So there's the soon-to-be beauty. I didn't notice this when I cooked it, but looking at the picture, the butter particles seem a little too small, or -- well, not flattened out enough. I'm thinking this is because I didn't repeat the folding-up process enough times. Normally, when I do a pastry-wrappes salmon fillet, I brush the puff pastry with an egg wash. This is supposed to ensure a lovely, golden crust. For some reason, I decided against this. I'd already used two eggs on a Hollandaise sauce, so I guess I figured yet another egg would be kinda extravagant or something, so I didn't. But after about 6 minutes, things looked really pale, so I decided to brush some butter on the thing. Eh, the turd-looking thing is just some leftover pastry that I decided to chuck in, at the last moment. I figured maybe I'd learn something, from how it cooked in the oven. Well so far, so good. Except -- there was no golden, beautiful, brown crispy crust developing. So I turned on the broiler. I mean, I'm checking this thing intermittently, fairly frequently -- prepping the salad, and getting my Hollandaise sauce going. Then -- AURGH! KATASTROF! I damned well burned it! It's not a deep burn. I scraped off the top, and the charring didn't affect the overall taste too much -- but yeah, it did affect it. I was not very happy at this point. Of course, the stupid breadstick-turd took on a good color: Well, here's the beast -- a couple of slices cut up, and the worst of the charring scraped off. I could probably have done a lot better, getting rid of the charred bits, but I was pretty frustrated at this point... And the final result, plated up with a Hollandaise sauce and a (sensibly dressed, for a change) salad with home-made garlic-rosemary croutons. I'd normally put the sauce on the plate and the main protein thingie on top of it -- you know, to show off the golden crust and whatnot. But I didn't have any golden crusts in this case, so I just ladled the goopy stuff on top of it... My Hollandaise sauce is normally much thinner, but I've seen some pictures of these almost custardy-like Hollandaise sauces, so I wanted to try that... And I succeeded. This was definitely one of the best I've ever made. It stayed intact on the dinner plates -- in spite of a slow pace -- but in the saucier on the stove, it broke completely. No leftover sauce for anyone -- unless you like grimy Hollandaise-flavored greasy, goopy apple sauce-y crap. Man, there's nothing quite as sad as a broken sauce. Well -- pastry, salmon, sauce, salad, croutons -- this could have been a really great meal, but it was only so-so. Any suggestions as to how to improve it would be most welcome.

You're right, the fine print does say that -- but it doesn't say why. Does anyone know why Californians are excluded?

Shepherd's Pie, Beef (or anything) Wellington, Chicken Kiev, Veal/Chicken Cordon Bleu, Pot au Feu, Quiche, Veal Scallopini or Saltimbocca, Swiss Steak -- these are all things that I've been cooking this last year or so... Doing salmon en croûte tomorrow -- and damnit, this time I'm doing my own puff pastry. Coq au Vin scheduled for Sunday. And I wanna do Blanquette de Veau at some point... This thread is giving me ideas... Love it.

Yes, indeed! Good eyes, both of you. ← This is what I love about egullet -- impressive... I didn't think it looked bad, either -- most stew-type meals look like that, you know? You'd have to plate it with garnishes and accoutrements galore to make it look gourmet-y

That is spectacular -- and you got it in a restaurant?! That is some truly messed-up looking stuff...

That's horrible... I mean, it's just a generally really bad thing to do, to use any kind of knife as a screwdriver. But to use the tools of a serious cook, that's, that's like -- it's like being Anne-Sophie Mutter, and your hubby using your Stradivarius to play raquetball with...

Great? Well, in some ways it made history in that IIRC it was one of the beers (in it's pasteurized "keg" beer form) that helped spur the creation of CAMRA. ← <- Lifetime CAMRA member. And yeah, Watney's Red Barrel did indeed spur on the revolution. Only time I ever saw the stuff was in a pizza chain in the US -- Roundtable or Lamp Post I think. I think that's damn funny: that it spurred the English on to demand proper beer, while being exiled to the provinces along with the rest of the fornicating-in-a-canoe "beers"...

Hey, you're on to something there! Potatoes + carrots + onions = the Dutch dish "Hutspot," which can be livened up further with parsnips and turnips. Some kale or cabbage, and smoked sausage or bacon for Stamppot... Hmm, anyone know if there's a link between the Dutch Stamppot and Irish Colcannon? They're awful similar...

Les rosbif -- three sauces and three hundred and sixty religions. Your father was a hamster and your mother smells of elderberries!~@

Helsinki is the only place I've been, where restaurants offer bear. It was extremely expensive, though, and our sales manager was too sober to to allow anyone order it. If egullet had existed at the time, and I'd known about such culinary oddities, I'd make sure the bastard had a few more Koskenkorvas before we headed out, and I could now have boasted of having eaten Yogi. Um. Okay, that didn't sound right at all.

I'm sorry I've got no answers -- just a question. But maybe it'll help get the thread going though... Is the classic pot au feu served first as a clear soup, consisting of the stock and veggies -- and then as a main course, consisting of the stock, veggies and the meat, plus boiled potatoes? Or, classic or not, has anyone ever had this dish served up in that manner? I tried making pot a feu a while ago and didn't do too well with; I called it pot au poo.

Well then -- what IS the real story? I'm pretty sure you can share it without violating any copyrights...

That is just about the most mouth-watering description of how to cook food, that I have ever read.

The instant stuff is perfectly fine, if that's what you're used to -- what you grew up with, I mean. You can get used to just about anything... I only make it from scratch now; it's been years since I used the mix. But instant and scratch-made are so different in texture, it's almost as if they are different foods altogether. The instant stuff almost has a porrige-like texture or something... Speaking of instant mixes and primitive cooking... Before I started taking cooking seriously, I used the instant mashed tater mix all the time... I only recognized two types of mixes: the ones that required milk, and the ones that didn't. I don't drink milk, so I never kept it around except if a recipe speficially required it as an ingredent -- then it would just be left to go bad. So whenever I came across a mix that didn't require milk, that was like SCORE! And I'd stock up big time. Oh man, those were bad days for my cooking... Hey that sounds like a pretty good idea. I'll have to try that.

The standup comic Ron White tells a story about a vegetarian friend of his who fell ill after eating a vegetarian soup that he suspected might have contained beef broth. "Your body rejects broth?" That, of course, is both funny -- yet obviously not funny. If it is sold as vegetarian, it should be so. And if you're not used to certain food stuffs, well, your body may take time to adapt to it. I've eaten fast food no more than half a dozen times in the last three or four years. I specifically remember the last time, but in general, the less I ate the stuff, my body clearly became increasingly unfamiliar with it, and had negative reactions to it. And I'm no vegan, or organic eating kinda guy. Omnivore, I am. Yet, I still cling to one nasty little habit -- gas station hotdogs. I know, that stuff just HAS to be worse than McD I'm sure. I mean, Quikie-Mart Hapoo nasty, horrible, vile hotdogs that have been rolling around for who knows how long. It's been a couple of years since I last had one, but the desire is still there. I'm sure I'll pick one of those nasty pieces of crap up every now and then -- until I catch ebola from one.

Fascinating -- never eaten, seen, or heard of this stuff before. The bread-like dough and salami makes me think "Italian," but since there is mention of links to British miners, I'm wondering if there could be some relation between this, and Cornish/Devon pastries? I'd like to try make some of this stuff... Not being a master baker or cooker, I know it isn't a good idea to change a recipe around on the first try -- but I can't help thinking that a slightly crispy crust would be better... Any thoughts?

Part of Gordon Ramsay's show "The F Word," features a segment where they investigate foods that are not commonly eaten in Britain, like goat and alligator... In one episode, they looked at camel milk, and touted it as having more calcium and more vitamin C than cow's milk -- while also having less fat. Oddly enough, the reporter had to travel to Germany to check it out, since it was illegal to import the stuff to the UK (they did not say why).