jsmeeker

a large, deep dish ceramic/stonewear pie plate. a little mini kitchen torch a silicon pastry brush an interesting, thin, double ended spatula.

can anyone tell me more about using a manual Vacuvin (the wine saver thing) with these bags? Does it attach directly, or is there some sort of adapter. It would be nice to try out the bags without even needing to buy the electric vacuum pump.

still a big Triscuit fan. I should try making some my self. I think BBA has a recipe. Ought to look it up.

Cook's Tour has a lot more food content (as a percentage of the whole) than NR. Maybe NR being on the Travel Channel is part of the reason for having a lot of travel content that really has little to do with food. I caught some last night, too. Not sure when the episode I saw was shot, but Tony looked noticeably younger, too.

Still not seeing any one stir. Shaking really hard with really small ice seems to be the norm at bars. Makes for a weak Manhattan. Although I will say that not having the capability to shake is about as wrong. Shaking IS proper procedure for many cocktails. Is Father's Office simply not going to prepare those? Or will they prepare them as incorrectly as other places prepare things that should be stirried?

Abacus Chef de Cuisine and Top Chef season 3 contestant Tre Wilcox will be leaving Abacus to pursue other interests. http://eats.beloblog.com/archives/2007/12/tre_speaks.html Can't wait to see what he does when he gets into a new restaurant. Probably, his own place. I think he would be great on TV, too.

What do you get for $125? Transportation?

Hmmm... I guess because I have been on a cocktail kick lately, I would have almost the opposite view. Glasses seem too big. But a cocktail is not a glass of water or soda or iced tea. Mason jars?? They just feel "weird" when I bring them to my lips.

I caught it too. Not sure if it was just a joke of if it was for real.. I think it was just a joke. I can't recall Tony making any snarky remark about how GREEN it was outside while they were shooting this. Would have thought there would have been some sort of reference. Also a little interesting that he went with the traditional big breasted turkey as opposed to the heritage breed. ( that right there could be an interesting discussion)

thanks for the tips, guys.

Bummer.. I never got a chance to go.. I'll be back in L.A. January 7th.. Not sure if it will still be there? Or even if it was, I may still not have time to go.

I am going to a friend's place for a little holiday gathering, and I was thinking of bringing chopped chicken liver. I won't have time to make it myself, so i was planning on picking it up from a local deli. What should I serve with it? I think those tiny pieces of rye bread or whatever are common, aren't they? Any other accompaniment? Chopped onion? chopped hard boiled egg? It would nice to be able to put together a platter or something.

This is pretty fascinating. It seems like a good deal of this discussion on sugars, stablizers, etc. have a lot to do with who you are and how you will use the product. The way someone like Bryan would use it at home may different than the way restaurant would. It seems like at home, you could simply "pacotize" enough for the people you want to serve, then return the canister to the deep freeze for another day. No worry about needing the "pacotized" ice cream or sorbet to hold for several hours during a dinner service where you jsut don't have time to pacotize to order.

Bryan, Can you provide more detail on the actual bases? For example, if you wanted to make vanilla ice cream with it, is it as simple as making a regular, normal ice cream base that you would typically freeze in a convention ice cream machine, but instead you simply pour the base into the special container, then freeze it solid in a regular freezer?

Just got back from another trip to Las Vegas. My second this year. This time around, I dined at two of the 1 star places. L'Atelier and Daniel Boulud. It was my second visit to L'Atelier and my first to DB. In previous trips, I've also dined at Wing Lei (back in July), Michael Mina, and Picasso. I suppose these are the only Michelin starred places I have dined at, since I haven't been to NYC in years, and am not sure of what's on the list in San Fran and L.A. So, it is hard for me to compare the Vegas places to other starred places. But I do think that Vegas is a little unique. Everything from a room full of art by Picasso, overlooking a lake with fountains dancing to music to a "counter service" place that peers out to slot machines and black jack tables. If the idea for Michelin stars is to rate within their type, then I think Vegas restaurants are a unique type that can only exist in one place. Even if Guy Savoy or Joel Rubochon competes on an even plane with places in NYC and Paris, it's STILL in Las Vegas. You still have a long walk through a huge casino resort hotel to get through the doors. Truly, a unique and interesting experience at many levels.

I too like Ace Mart, but I don't think they have the fancy plates you are looking for. Still, if you need other basic stuff, it's a great place to shop. Very helpful staff.

Interesting... I've been there twice, now. Once shortly after it opened (reported on that earlier in this thread) and another time a few months ago. (IIRC, in August or early September). That most recent visit wasn't as favorable as the first. First off, the place was dead. Maybe it's only busy on weekends now? I was there on a weekday. Also, the food didn't seem to be as good. We ordered differnt things than last time, but overall we were a lot less impressed on the second go around. Off night, maybe??

nice to see this thread bumped up. I'm flying to Las Vegas on Thursday. I was there earlier this year (around the Fourth of July) and had some god meals (duck tasting at Wing Lei, a nice dinner at Bouchon, breakfast at Bouchon, lunch at Lotus of Siam, a visit to Jean Phillipe Patisserie) Just today, I made a reso for L'Atelier for Saturday night. I've dined there once before (summer 2006) and am looking forward to returning. Seems like the that place still delivers the goods. Also, going to Daniel Boulud. I hope it's good.

I would guess that a lot of sushi eaters have no clue. Of those that do, there are probably many that don't care as long as it still shows up on the menu at their local sushi joint.

I made their pie dough for a Turkey Day pie.. Turned out well. I really amy liking this method.. May very well become my standard pie dough.

I've seen it. I got a good chuckle over it.

This sounds like an interesting program. Thanks for the heads up.

I just watched it. I'm a little bummed Tre didn't win, but he had a strong showing. Congrats to Tiffani. Top Chef 3 is the only season i have seen, so I wasn't familiar with her. But she is obviously a talented chef.

And it would help if you were actually aiming for the right temperature. He said to heat the chocolate to between 94 and 98 degrees F. I don't know of any chocolate that would be tempered at those temperature! ← I think his method attempts to melt chocolate while keeping it IN temper, elininating the need to bring it up to a certain temperature, then back down, etc. I have no clue if that is really possible or not. at what temp does typical chocoalte lose it's temper? is it ANY temp that causes it to change to a liquid state? Still, it's something interesting to think about.

The sticker on my little bag does say SaltWorks. But there is no ingredients list.