Brad S

When I make meat loaf I use 2/3 ground chuck and 1/3 ground pork butt. Then I saute a fine dice of carrots,celery,leek and onion (season with S&P ) let cool. Then I add this to the meat with an egg or two (depending upon volume)some ketchup, A1 and lea & perrins. A bit of garlic powder and S&P. Then a little bit of breadcrumbs just enough to bind with the eggs, like said in another post, take care not to over work the meat. I then line a loaf pan with saran leaving enough to come over the edges and fill with the blend. I then tap the pan a few times to release the air pockets and settle the mix. Then I invert it onto a sheet pan removing the saran. This gives you a nice shape to work with. I don't glaze mine but my mom used to shmear ketchup over it. Tamerind paste thinned out a bit also works. I bake for about an hour at 350f until the internal temp is 165 degree's With this I serve generally a mushroom or onion gravy and country style mashed potatoes

These are an excellent all purpose saute pans When seasoned they work like a charm. If your pan buckles on you then the gauging is very bad. You simply can't work a restaurant line with cast iron as you can with carbon steel. Very light (very important when the saute station is buried) and the pot washers love em! Much easier to clean (when not seasoned ofcourse)

The browning is to create your "fond" on the bottom of your rondo, when deglazing with the red wine this will lift the fond out of the pores and melt it into the wine and then your reduction. You will not have crisp skin when this dish is finished braising,nor is it a pre requeset to the dish. Coq au Vin is a great teacher of classic French technique in searing and braising. Following the proven techniques of this dish will give you excellent results.

http://forums.egullet.org/ibf/index.php?s=...irloom+tomatoes http://forums.egullet.org/ibf/index.php?s=...irloom+tomatoes

I will Liza and thanks.

I got a lead today there looking for an Executive Chef and the manager wants to talk to me. I'm not familar with the restaurant and was hoping to get some honest unbiased feedback before I decide to contact the place.

Have any of you dined at London Lennie's in Queens? How was the food? Was the service professinal and knowelagable? Would you go again? and why. Also , if you would not return why? TIA

Believe what you like. I guess spending 23 years honing my craft doesn't mean anything anymore! Oh well, maybe I should be an lawyer, I should be able to bullshit my way onto a case.

Relax, As long as the sugar was well dissolved it won't turn to solution. It should be fine.

Silver oak is a very consistent well produced wine. Their Alexandra valley bottling in my favorite, Napa and Bonny's vineyard are also good. Also the Alexandra Valley Cab is estate bottled %100. It's hard to find out here in New England, but it's possible. Unfortunatly it's a highly allocated wine and is also snatched up by restaurants.

I use a little coconut milk in my recipe.

Blended with oven roasted yellow peppers and a bit of saffron and a splash of pernod and then pureed it's wonderful as a soup, or as FG said served with a light poached seafood. Also makes an excellent intermezzo with a touch of tarragon.

I...could...tell you,but then I'd have to kill you.....sorry Ouch!!! I use the grapes because of their own natural yeast,it helps to attract the wild yeast in the air. Fat guy, If your question is in regards to sour dough breads then I would have to say yes. Growing up in my grandfathers bakery I remember all the customers on Sunday mornings lining up for his breads. I made my first starter in 1968 at the bakery and haven't stop since (well maybe when I was a teen when I was interested in other types of fermantation) As for the medium you use to develope your starter (in my case grapes) doesn't add flavor it developes the fermantation process. Allowing the starch to convert to sugars for the yeast to eat and ofcourse gas up the whole shabange. I love Nancy Silvertons sourdoughs from LeBrea in Berkley. Also a key, which I don't have the luxury of at home is a wood fired stone or brick oven to create the perfect crust.

Olive oils are a bit like wine. Terrior dictates the flavor,as well as how it is produced and what grade it falls under. I know on this site there are a few whom import olive oil so i'm sure they can detail the differences better than I. I can comment on the different olive oils I use for different types of dishes (and yes,it does make a difference imo) For pasta I love bold,peppery and young olive oils Tuscan oils,but with some super tomatoes,fresh feta and some cured olives a full bodied Greek olive oil would be best. I use olive oils from liguria and provance that I find lighter and fruity to just add a background note. When dipping or infusing I like big EVOOs from Tuscany or Spain. That said, this is not wriiten in stone, like wine..enjoy what suits your taste

One of my favorite breads are sourdough based. Does anyone have one growing around the house? or restaurant? I use organic black grapes for mine.

Thank you Jimm, Duely noted. Like I said in my Bio....I am the worst speller on the internet However, put me in a kitchen and that's a different story. BTW, do you like to recipe?

Incredible! If you ever need a pair of hands to assist you, well just let me know

Last year I taught a cooking class at the Mystic cooking school in CT. It was an olive oil tasting/Greek foods cooked with these oils. I prepared a shrimp dish that was from a little restaurant on the Ionian islands. It was a sautee of shrimp (shell on) with garlic,lemon,oregano,tomato concasse,olive oil,parsley salt and pepper. This I then placed in a cassarole and topped with dry feta and broiled for a moment.

Sounds like a type of panzanella to me, Good stuff. Ever add anchovies?

This is an interesting question you ask. I think one of the wonderful things about Indian cuisine is how it slowly developes individual flavors,textures,aromas and colores leaving the final composition to the one eating the meal. Some heat to blend with something a little sweet to offset the sourness of something else. Rice being the vehicle that transports everything. I would love to sit at an authentic Indian meal just to expereance how it was meant to be savored. Haute indian sounds a bit funny to me, but whatever one might call it,perfectly executed food is indeed of a "higher"place.

simple topping for your brushettas Slivered "raw" artichokes with pecorino 24 baby chockes (turned and sliced thin) juice of 2 lemons EVOO to coat and cover S&P 1/4 # pecorino squeeze the juice from one of the lemons into some cold water to put the chocks in after turned. Then run them on a mandoline and squeeze the other lemon over them,season with S&P and toss with the olive oil. You ofcourse can build on this as you see fit.

That sounds great!

If it had in fact just been "plucked" from the sea you would need to wait for it to go through riga mortis before it could be enviserated and cooked. I don't think a 10/15 minuts cure would do the trick, however if the cooked on indirect heat that could also explain why the skin was crisp. I hope this helps a bit. Why not go out and purchase a couple snappers and try both methodes and see what you come up with. Good luck.

The skin was most likely briefly salt cured to remove it's moisture and harden the skin without effecting the raw flesh, I would at this point make a few slices through the skin and halfway done the flesh from just below the gills to the mid section to ensure even cooking. That's just my guess if it was not fried.

bagna cauda literally means "hot bath"it's a 16th century piedmontese dish that was traditionally eaten to celebrate the end of the grape harvest and the Novella wine production. Since piedmont is land locked,it's funny they would enjoy anchovies in this dish but in earlier times traders from the Ligurian coast would treck up to piedmont to trade salt and salted fish for vegetables and garlic from piedmont. Usally bagna cauda is a dip in a fornelletto, a little terra cotta bowl kept warm over a candle with assorted vegetable (cardoons, artichokes,peppers,fennel etc) the would dip some vegetable into the infused oil and hold in over a piece of bread as they brought it to there mouth. I have scambled an egg into the dip when most of it is gone and drizzle alittle white truffle oil. I make this troughout the fall and I recommend not using the finest evoo as the garlic and anchovies will over power it