johnsmith45678

Shrug, dunno............ Maybe you're not using enough of the flavor ingredients, or not bringing them to a boil............

As America's Test Kitchen explains it, salt denatures the proteins somewhat, allowing them to hold additional water. Brining is about increasing the water (and whatever flavors it contains I'd think) in meat.

Yeah, I wonder if veal is now raised the same way in the US too. We got the same "veal is cruel" media blitz a while ago.

How does the use of cell phones interfere with the preparation of risotto? Is it because the kitchen staff has to stop what they're doing so they can beat the hell out of the offender?

- 'Nawlins probably. Just 'cuzz. I really enjoyed visiting there (pre-Katrina).

What specifically that's food-related at those places? I've been to south Texas and Key West, so that's probably Tex-Mex in general, and I dunno -- conches?

- I know people who would visit Jack Daniels if they were anywhere near the area.

If you created a non-restaurant travel itineray of locations that would be of interest to traveling foodies (gack, I can't believe I used that term! ;P ), what would you put on it? In the US, western Europe, or hell anywhere. I can't think of many: - Napa Valley - Wine regions of France - Maybe some historic sites like those shown on Feasting on Asphalt (Duncan Hines, KFC, etc.) - Maybe some cooking schools, like CIA - Maybe the James Beard House (I've never been there) - Maybe Maine for the lobsters - Maybe large-scale food growing/harvesting operations (like that shellfish farm in Washington shown on Dirty Jobs) What else? In my own locale of Colorado, I can't think of much: - Our small-time wine industry by Grand Junction - Farms on the plains (really nothing to see, except maybe for some farmers markets) - Coors and Budweiser (oh, and there are quite a few microbrews in Fort Collins; but none are terribly exciting to visit) - Maybe AppleJack which claims to be "the largest wine, beer and spirits store in the country" - If you're in the area, Savory Spice Shop, which has a ton of different herbs, spices, etc. at great prices.

Then in the latest episode, GR goes into his own backyard and finds a bunch of snails, which he collects and eats! And they were large and apparently choice! WTF? All the free good food over there! The lastest episode was really good. I've never known a chef who wasn't a complete psycho that didn't suffer some remorse over the killing of animals for food.

...donkey, donor, commis (actually haven't heard that term since Boiling Point), ...

Aren't Andrew Dice Clay's nursery rhymes considered both? I know a lot of people got a kick out of The Aristocrats when otherwise squeaky-clean, wholesome, family-friendly Bob Saget told the joke! And for additional humor and mockery of the swearing-averse, there's Ned Flanders!

I thought the last episode with Keith, Virginia, and Heather was boring as hell.

Sure it's censorship, and a federal judged ruled that eliminating potty language is illegal, for re-selling movies anyway. ← That case is about copyright violation, not censorship. ← Yup -- notice my use of the word "and." And I stand by my assertion that removing "potty language" is also censorship.

Sure it's censorship, and a federal judged ruled that eliminating potty language is illegal, for re-selling movies anyway.

Actually, school kids use profanity to sound like adults. Adults who use kiddie terms all the time haven't grown up. School kids, in my experience, used profanity to shock the rest of us. The rest of us whose hands, they hoped, would immediately fly to open shocked mouths. And to demonstrate how brave and unafraid of the established authority they were. What wild rebels! What unconstricted, unrestrained, unafraid explorers into this vast, old-fashioned prudish landscape! Get into trouble? Ha ha! Not me! Look, I'll say it again! I'm not afraid! Fuck! Fuck fuck fuck! And like I said, I don't think the reasons change that much. Okay, not at all. ← And the kids who never swore (all two of them) were the ideal little teachers' pets, doing exactly as they were told. And when they became adults, they continued to live in their happy little insulated worlds (if reality never intervened).

Actually, school kids use profanity to sound like adults. Adults who use kiddie terms all the time haven't grown up.

In four flavors: up, down, strange and charm. ← Six! Top and bottom too.

I think profanity is appropriate if it fits the context -- like when the shit is hitting the fan. But people who swear over mundane things annoy me (they're just using them for added effect), as do people who use faux swear words (frick, frak (popular with BSG nerds), etc.) in certain situations when a "colorful metaphor" would be more fitting. BTW, I thought the Les Halles cookbook was kind of ridiculous, but kind of funny too.

(Dude, I'm hungry and bored -- let's try deep-frying this!)

Hmm, about $10 USD (plus shipping) for 50, or about $1.73 for a sharpie and 60 yards of masking tape (at 2" per label that's 1080 labels!). $0.20 vs. $0.009 each. Still, the timestrips are kinda neat...

No. I think it'd really pale in comparison to Kitchen Confidential. ← Does the fact that it's written by someone with a front-of-house perspective make it any fresher? ← Yeah, it'd be a different perspective, and I think I read through a lot of stories on Waiter Rant a long time ago. But having been a busboy for a stint and having worked closely with the waitstaff, I think the kitchen is where most of the true fun and horror is had.

Yeah, I was about to post that link -- it has a lot of info about his restaurants. I don't think it's common for restaurants in London to be closed on Saturday -- I remember reading somewhere that GR's financial backers thought he was crazy for wanting to be closed on Saturday (Sunday too IIRC), but I think GR said he does it so he can spend the time with his family.

Here's what's in Wikipedia: If it was my first time (which it would be) at a GR restaurant, I'd pick the first.

No. I think it'd really pale in comparison to Kitchen Confidential.