Qwerty

Yeah I'm sad to see George go. Ate there a few times, always had a pleasurable experience. Liked the food philosophy, simple, clean and good. I am, however, very much intersted in what Avner will do with a "bistro" type place.

I certainly undestand that notion...though I would argue that the jump from wood to gas is less than from wood/gas to sous vide. Maybe I just don't like the idea of the craft being taken out of what I do. I like to feel, smell, taste my food as it's cooking. I like the insticts of knowing when something is perfect...not "knowing" because a timer went off.

I think my main problem with it is that it just seems kind of souless. I mean, set a temp, set a time, and place the bag in the water and wait for the timer. I've seen it done in kitchens and, while the results were admitedly good, there seemed to be no energy and no, I don't know, "craft" in the process. Once you have the equipment, it seems like the expertise level is on par with microwaving something. Just no fun.

I always found duck stock to be really greasy, and a pain to make. Just my opinion. I love duck, don't get me wrong, but even the bones seem to carry a large amount of fat and grease on them. You could always fabricate the ducks, and braise the thighs and sear the breasts, then have duck 2 ways.

Opening delayed. Construction delays, very common. Pushed back a week to June 21st. A little dissapointing but its to be expected.

who's running the kitchen? ← His name is Kevin Maxey and he is the Chef de Cuisine. I THINK he used to work at Gramarcy with Coliccio, but I'm not 100% sure.

Anyone following the opening of Craft at the W Hotel? Gonna be HUGE.

Poor man's sous vide? Lol...again there is no point to do so. Poaching chicken breast is a poor thing to do anyways (unless sous vide), adds absolutely no flavor and IME tends to dry it out. Wouldn't even do it for chicken salad.

Personally, I take fingerlings, par-cook them in simmering water, let em cool a bit, cut em in half, and place them face down in duck fat, brown em nice, them flip and repeat on the skin side. Nice brown color, great flavor. Don't forget the kosher salt right out of the pan.

Something that is done in the pros kitchens a lot is to cover the grill grates with a alluminum sheet pan to kind of, I dunno, "reflect" the heat back onto the grates, making them significantly hotter, faster by retaining the heat. If you have a crappy gas grill with crappy wire grates, this prob. won't help. You can also obviously use a half-sheet pan if you have a smaller grill.

I don't think as of yet they have announced anything...I think that it might be a good idea to try and change the menu up a bit...got a little tired and old IMO.

If no one mentioned it yet there is a place called American Flatbread Company that do pretty damn good pizzas. Nice casual place, good local beer selection, and in my experience, good friendly service. Certainly a casual spot, but the wood oven pizza is great. Nice apple pie, FYI.

I will secong Craigie Street. I'm not a native of Boston/Cambridge but recently had the opportunity to eat at Craigie...food was really well-done and tight. Standards in that kitchen are extremely high and I can almost guarantee you that the meal will be stellar. It's a little off the beaten path, and insanely tiny, but its a great place with a cool hole-in-the-wall vibe. Don't miss it.

I like to score the breast, then render the breast fat out in a low heat pan. Remove most of the fat (leave just enough to cook the breast in the pan) Then sear the skin, flip and cook to a nice med-rare. I often use the duck fat to fry up some par-cooked red potatoes, with a generous sprinkling of kosher salt.

Here's how I would make it... 5 egg yolks 1 lb melted butter, warm but not too hot. Fresh lemon juice to taste Salt to taste, cayanne to taste 1 tbsp water, more to thin if necessary The thing that I think people do not do is they don't heat the yolks enough before beginning to incorporate the butter. I think a lot of people just put the yolks on the double boiler (not boiling water, just small bubbles lots of steam), whip them for a minute or two, and then start adding butter. The yolks will go through a pysical (and chemical) change...they will get noticeably thicker and pale a little bit in color. Whisk the yolks and a tablespoon of warm water over the double boiler, whisking vigorously and constantly, until the yolks thicken and pale a bit in color. SLOWLY start drizzling in the warm butter, off the heat, a few drops at a time, until the emulsion starts to form. Once the emulsion is started (you will know this has happened when the butter "dissapears" into the yolks), you may add the butter a little bit faster, like in a thin stream--just like adding oil to a vinaigrette. REMEMBER, that melted butter is seperated butter fat and solids. The "clarified" part and the solid milky white part. The clarified part will actually THICKEN the emulsion, while the milky white part will help to THIN the sauce (it contains mostly water). So you can use this to your advantage. If the sauce is too thin, then add more clarified part, if too thick, then add more milky part. Incorporate all the butter. If this process is taking too long, you may carefully add the mixture back to the double boiler to gently warm it...not too hot as it will break, but hollandaise should be WARM, not cold (part of the reason, IMO, to use warm melted whole butter). Once all the butter is incorporated, add lemon juice to taste, salt and cayanne to taste. Make sure there is a good balance. Just add a bit at a time, a bit at a time, and keep tasting it, until it is perfect. If needed, thin with a bit of warm water if it is too thick.

Just FYI--You can re-use duck fat for confit several times. As long as you are careful to keep it out of the danger zone for too long, you can strain it and re-use it many times. Some people think after a while the fat actually tastes better cause it becomes more flavored with the cure and seasonings and whatnots.