Eastgate

This phenomenon is familiar to all bench chemists, though you seldom see itin e kitchen. Chemists call is "knocking", and it's a real hazard. In this cad, it's a tribute to the clarity of your stock and the cleanness of your cooking vessel. The underlying science is a little were. As you know, liquids boil -- changing from fluid to vapor. It turns out that, of you heat a solution, it can run past te boiling point like Wiley Coyote running over a cliff, and not notice where it is. The vapor bubbles don't form right away, and then when they DO form, whoosh! Vapor bubbles like to form at scratches in your cookware, or at little suspended articles floating in the solution. Chemists -- who tend to like pristine Pyrex and dislike random particulates -- add a piece of ground glass called a "boiling chip" to avoid bumping. It's not common in the kitchen, but I've seen it once or twice on the stove, and more often in the microwave. A contrary case happens when you're making caramel or brittle and --oops!-- suddenly your lovely liquid caramel turns into a pot of brown sugar! Here, you had a supersaturated solution that didn't know it as supposed to crystallize, and if things had gone according to plan, you wouldn't have told it until it was too cold to do anything about it. But sometimes the sugar gets ahead of you and you get a pot of hot rock candy

I agree about the lardons; they improve the dish enormously. I also agree about the clafoutis, which is easy, reliable, and delicious. Don't miss the salt roasted potatoes, which are terrific for fingerlings. This is, after Kitchen Confidential, Bourdain's best book, It seems to be a restaurant book, or maybe a French cookbook, but it's really an exceptional book about effective shortcuts for familiar bistro food, He's got a very different set of trade-offs from what used to be conventional wisdom; for example, Julia dismissed Demi-glace but would never have left the bacon out of boeuf bourg.

Alain Passard served -- maybe he still serves -- a dessert at Arpege called "tomate confite aux douze saveurs" -- tomatoes braised in caramel and stuffed with fresh fruit and spices. I've been playing with the idea, which can be very tasty indeed! But is the original dish served hot? Or cold?

There are 10 (!) pages of discussion on Rochester ny. I'm surprised this has been so hard...

Good local food, primarily. Inspiration for my own cooking. Innovative places as well. In Chicago, for calibration: frontera/topology, publican/Avec, frank's franks, bongo room, violet hour, next would be a nice itinerary.

Previous query fell on deaf ears, but surely there's plenty of eGullet advice here! This is terra incognito to me, what do I want to eat or drink? And where?

I am surprised Canteen is not mentioned here.

I find myself with a few days at liberty between a conference in Eindhoveb and a conference in Koblenz. Current plans call for stops in Dusseldorf and Koeln, but I'm flexible. Where to go, and what to eat?

I had a very nice lunch at Allard about 18 months ago, and a fine shoulder of lamb for dinner about 3 years ago. My impression both times was that the food was solid, conventional bistro fare, prepared well and attentively. I like it a lot. But this is Paris, it's virtues are not unique, and you might be seeking other virtues in your limited time. IMHO, it's a solid bistro. I'd be very happy indeed to have it down my street. Where else are you going?

I'm a little dubious about how the mild acidity of a salad dressing could have any impact on the bladder at all, and suspect that something has gotten garbled here. Several suggestions above (wine, tomato, yogurt) are substituting acid for acid. If the issue is dietary acid, look to old diets for people with duodenal ulcers. Salt is a good way to mask inadequate acid, just as people use vinegar or lemon to cut down on salt. Another possibility might be bitterness. A bit of wasabi, or chipotle in adobo? Or maybe a dash of cocktail bitters?

A very nice idea. I'm thinking duck... Strawberries? Or perhaps blackberries?

A note to future readers: cream cheese is indispensable for cheesecake in the american sense, and is hard to source in Europe.

Craigie on main, journeyman, tw food, bergamot, and rendezvous are all terrific. Journeyman is the newest and least heralded of this set, but extremely fine. Just back from a delightful,skillful lamb sirloin at bergamot.

I've been to st. John's twice, and had two completely delightful meals. It's not a place that wears it's stars on it's sleeve. I'm also fond of Hix Oyster House nearby, which is unheralded but quite tasty, at least to my Yankee sensibility.

As it happens, I own a bottle of cherry herring that was purchased about 25 years ago; it's been opened but back of the shelf for ages. I'll roust it out and report. Your sling definitely looks oxidized. That's not the same thing as corked, of course. Not a good thing, though I've had an undeniably oxidized Sauternes that, while maybe not what it was, was still a very pleasant drink.

How about roux-thickened soups? Cream of broccoli, say, seems fairly common....

I've got no objection to the truffles; " smoke 'em if you got 'em". But I see no necessity. I like playing rich against rich; why not a potatoes dauphinoise? Or, mashed potatoes flavored with garlic and rosemary? If you're going to want truffle, how about going overboard and doing a frestanding truffled custard? Or, maybe a wild mushroom ragout? Yorkshire puddings can be lovely with lamb.

Gougeres Salsa cruda, tortilla chips bourbon pecans Home-smoked pastrami beef brisket, with half-time pumperknickel

I'm surprised Canteen has not gotten at least a nod.

Well, no one has been making corn tortillas for thousands of years , since corn isn't old enough.

Have you read ruhlman's TheSoul Of A Chef? It's a brillliant book, and also a thoughtful defense of culinarybschool.

I'd like advice on a different but related problem: using beef broth. I sometimes boil a pork shoulder for picadillo. That leaves me with a gallon or more of cooking liquid, infused with meat and onion. It's typically "heavily salted", but I suppose that could be dialed back and some salt added while shredding.... But what do I do with the liquid? Perhaps use it to make stock? But that would give you very porky pork stock, which might not be an entirely good thing.

Consider hot-smoking the duck breas over fruitvwood. If you like duck with sweet flavor (ast I do) baste the duck for the last 5 min with thyme-infused honey.

This strikes me as petty, and also inhospitable. This is a hospitality business; if the restaurant only serves friends and family, it's not a restaurant, is it? And if the restauranteur might berate you for something he thinks you wrote or said, how comfortable can you be? I also think it's unfair to Virbila, whom I have found on several occasions to be more than gracious, who is a remarkable writer, and who has a job to do. LA is lucky to have a fine and extensive food desk; the paper is famously troubled, and LA should be enjoying this era of food writing while it lasts. Finally, this puts the LA Times in a very awkward spot in reviewing the restaurant and, indeed, reviewing the management's future ventures. I very much doubt that her visage is really a mystery to those who really want to know; she's been on this beat for years, she's among the top food writers in the nation. She doesn't even use a pseudonym.

a) I accidentally bought some dark creme de cacao when I wanted to make 20th centuries. Do I: Close my eyes with I'm drinking Get some white cacao (whose?) and use the dark for ice cream Get some white cacao and use the dark for _____________ b) My first experiment with the 20th century adhered strictly to the classic ratio, and was MUCH too sweet. How far back do I dial the cacoa? I'm thinking of pulling back from ~1oz to ~5ml.... c) Is there a place for Bittermens' chocolate bitters in this drink? d) Do I want to swap out the Lillet for Cocchi Americano next time? Immediately? Sooner?