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davidkeay

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Posts posted by davidkeay

  1. I butterfly the bird and cut partway through both sides of the joint between the thighs and the drumsticks as well as the joint between the wings and breast. I also pop the thigh out of the socket. This ensures that those stubborn areas cook properly when roasting hot and fast (Jacques Pépin.)

    I thoroughly dry the skin (Heston Blumenthal.)

    I preheat an appropriately sized cast iron skillet on medium high heat and the oven at 450 degrees.

    Toss the chicken in the skillet and into the oven to roast for 30-45 minutes (Jacques Pépin.)

    ~Martin

    I do the same, and am consistently happy with the results! I also like chopping the tips of the legs off (the stems, as Jacques Pepin calls them), which helps eliminate that tough extended tendon that shows up in the drumsticks.

  2. I couldn't agree more - these peanuts are fantastic. I also use them as an ingredient in some dishes, when I want some crunch from peanuts and a little sichuan flavor.

    I love these guys.. Salt peanuts with dried chiles and sichuan peppercorns.

    So good

  3. I buy the SHELLED pistachios at the local middle eastern store. They are always very fresh because the store has a rapid turnover because we have a significant population of middle eastern and north African residents who use a lot of nuts and dried fruits.

    The price is also right - actually less than the online sources of pistachios in the shell... These are raw and it is easy to roast and salt them to your taste.

    Oh, but half the fun is that you have to open each one! And it's a nice limiting factor... if they became even more mindless to eat, they'd be gone even faster.

    It's sad, since (here, at least), it's more economical to get them shelled... I weighed some unshelled pistachios recently, and then weighed the shells after, and found the shells were ~45% of the weight!

  4. I'm in the "different kinds of pizza are just different foods" camp... Di Faras is one thing, and neopolitan is another. My ideal neopolitan pie really shows off the way that pizza is fresh baked bread in ways that most pizzas don't.

    I don't find that keste moves me the way it moves some people though - my first neopolitan pie was at UPN in New York and it was an eye opening experience... everything since then has blurred together a bit. Keste didn't feel like it was anything above paulie gee's, forcella, or via tribunali (to name a few offhand I remember).

  5. Pretty much sums up my experience as well - an oversmashed steamed burger with too much bun!

    I'm with SylviaLovegren RE: their ingredients being good, but not loving the cooked food. I got a rotisserie chicken from the bowery whole foods a few days ago and it's been a slog to get through- not well seasoned, and plenty dry.

  6. Ended up trying this, and don't think I'd go back for the burger.

    At first they said they'd cook it medium rare, but then explained that they can't really go past medium well because of health regulations. They cook the burger on a griddle without smashing (and actually covered with a lid for a while), so you end up with a burger with far less crust than shake shack that's still mostly grey throughout. It reminded me of five guys, though I haven't had one there in a long time so I can't be quoted on that.

    The lettuce and tomato were both good- I remember thinking the tomato actually stood out. The roll was a little hard... toasted, but too think and hard for the patty.

    They get credit for it being just $4, but I doubt I'll be back. It did squarely have the feel of food cooked by a grocery store rather than a specialist!

  7. I went there last weekend and had the roast cauliflower, salt and pepper eggplant, giblets, and a tofu stir fry special (which felt out of place, but my friend got it).

    I was happy with everything- but especially enjoyed the eggplant. Nice and soft half inch slices of a narrow eggplant, lightly battered and perfectly fried.

    The tofu was also expertly fried, so after the experience with eggplant and weinoos experience with the fries, I'd say you can't go wrong with something fried here.

  8. Pretty interesting. I'll try to get one this weekend and report back!

    Is there actually anywhere to sit there? I don't remember seeing any space there, but I haven't spent much time in that end of the store (assuming it's near the buffet/prepared food area).

  9. To ensure it's chilled thoroughly is my guess.

    I assumed Fishy meant pre-cooking, in which case why would it matter if you chill it thoroughly? If you're deciding between stuffing, chilling overnight, then baking vs just stuffing and baking right away, the latter seems like it would always be better from a food safety perspective.

    I've always just assumed it was to help hold the shape, but I'm also curious to hear if there are other reasons.

  10. If anythings hot from the oven, I'll just get that untoasted. If nothing's that fresh, then I'll go for toasted!

    New Yorker here, partial to absolute bagels at 108 and broadway, who will toast for an extra 10 cents. I'm always annoyed by the H&H refusal to toast.

  11. Like TheTInCook and Kerry, this has me thinking about Jamaican beef patties!

    One of the earliest recipes I remember working with was the Jeff Smith Jamaican beef patty recipe when I was in elementary school (I think it was in his book 'Our Immigrant Ancestors'). I'll have to see if I can dig up a copy to participate in the thread! I wonder if he made sacrifices for ingredient availability... I don't remember scotch bonnets/habaneros being part of the recipe, but maybe we were also just working with what we had!

  12. Yep, 5 & diamond, bier international, and questans are all on Frederick Douglass. It sounds like 5 & Diamond had a lot of trouble pinning down a chef/menu, and I'm not sure what the current state is there.

    Have you tried Red Rooster? It's a little further north on lenox, and supposed to be worth a visit. I'm in manhattan valley, and have been far too lazy about exploring what new stuff harlem has to offer... I'm looking forward to hearing about peoples experiences.

    I got drinks at the speakeasy-styled place across from bier international a while back... the cocktails were just ok, I wasn't moved the way I am at a place like death & co. They were out of the infused tequila that was supposed to be in my first drink, and forgot the herbsaint in the sazerac my friend got (though the bartender did realize and come back to replace it).

  13. I could use some quick advice about the pastrami! I don't have any way to smoke it, so my plan was to skip that step. I failed to notice the fact that you're supposed to vacuum seal it with 1kg of the reserved brine. Since I'm not letting the meat smoke/cook with the spice rub on it, I'm afraid if I bag it with the brine it'll just fall off into the liquid. Right now, I'm leaning toward cooking it for a day without brine, then opening it up, adding some brine and letting it go for 2 more.

    Thoughts?

  14. Very interesting to see! I just built my first last week, and it a bit of a mess of wires since I opted not to try to fit it all together in a frame. I'm not happy with how well it works, so I'm going to look into upgrading soon!

  15. Thanks, catdaddy! That sandwich represents a huge 'aha moment' for me. I've always made fried egg sandwiches on toast or bread. One day I was grilling a cheese sandwich and realized that what I love about grilled cheese is the contrast of the crisp outside and the tender side next to the cheese. I thought it would be perfect for a fried egg sandwich and it was! I haven't made it any other way since. Why it took me 50 years to realize this, I have no idea!

    My new go-to method for toast (and as such for the bread that goes into my fried egg sandwiches) is to toast on one side! I just put two slices of bread in the same slot in the toaster. It started because I was making two toasted sandwiches at the same time, and didn't want to wait for two toast cycles!

    Of course, the difference is that I like to keep the tender side on the outside.

  16. That's all great stuff, thanks for the info! If there's one thing I'll take away from this, it's that I should remember to crack open Modernist Cuisine no matter what I want to know. Wikipedia is so 2009.

  17. Does anyone have experiences actually eating fish + worms? I just cooked some salmon sous vide at a pretty low temperature, and right after eating the last bite of fish found a work on my fork. Closer inspection of my plate revealed another worm there. They are short, maybe half an inch, thinner than a strand of angel hair pasta, and clear-ish.

    Now, I'm trying to figure out what I should do!

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