Dave Weinstein

That's the one, although I've since picked up copies of the earlier hardbound version as well.

I found three copies of the hardback locally in the space of a week at used bookstores... Even after giving some away, I'm comfortable with my stash.

My favorite Vietnamese cookbook is still The Classic Cuisine of Vietnam by Bach Ngo (in fact, as it is out of print, it is one of the ones I keep multiple copies of, just to make sure that if one book falls to pieces, I'm ok).

An excellent end to a redemptive season. If we're very lucky, Bravo will do its best to pretend the second season never happened.

After the comments about the breakfast challenge, I almost fell out of my chair when Padma praised Brian for having the burning sage. Burning dried sage smells rather much like another burning herb... Or so I've been told. Many years ago, and in another state.

It isn't a Cooking Show Leaving aside the fact that they've stated this in the blogs, or the fact that you can hear it if you call in to the after show (since you can listen to the live mikes even on commercial if you are next up), it should be clear based on what they do and don't show. If it were a cooking show, we'd see a lot more in depth coverage of cooking. It isn't about selecting the Best Chef If it were about selecting the best chef, the rules would be very different. For example, each challenge might be pass / fail / exceed. As is, you can do a horrific job, as long as someone does worse, and you can be brilliant unless everyone else is more so. It is Reality Television, with food-based Decisions All of the hallmarks of the form -- immunity, artificial or random team assignments, loser elimination, limited use of performance over time. This means that the best contestant may well be eliminated, whether by having a very bad night while everyone else doesn't, by being merely good if enough people were excellent that night, or by getting caught by someone elses immunity (either because they were second worst, or because they were paired with someone with immunity and the team failed the challenge). As evidence, does anyone really think the Ilan was the strongest chef in Season 2?

For some years now I've been using the Arbequina olive oil from Oliva Verde USA (buying it in cases, and slowly going through my 15 liters each time). Oliva Verde USA doesn't seem to exist anymore, and I'm running out. So now I'm soliciting recommendations for similar olive oils, especially if I can get them in the nice 5 liter cans.

I expected it to be Sara, consider me fooled by the edit. The prizes (and sometimes there aren't any) are provided by the guest judge, which is why they vary so wildly.

What was the milk you used? I'd expect that to have the primary impact on the flavor.

Duck breasts can also be used to make a quasi-bacon.

This weekend, I made the Strawberry-Sour Cream Ice Cream... sort of. There were no Strawberries that looked worth doing anything with, but I had some local Rainier cherries on hand, so I used just under a pound of those (14oz after removing the pits). Rather than Vodka, I used a tablespoon of Sonoma Valley Portworks Duet (Sherry with Hazelnut Essence), and I added a quarter cup of Valhrona dark chocolate that I had slivered. I'm very pleased with the results. I need to make a batch without sour cream to compare it to. --Dave

Simple Roast Beef: Bottom Round Roast (2-3 lbs, good fat cap) Red Wine Roasted Garlic Coarse Sea Salt (Hawaiian is ideal) Cooking instructions: Turn the oven on as high as it will go, and get it heating. A good 20 minutes at least. Tenderize the roast if you have a Jacquard tenderizer, otherwise don't worry. Rub the meat sides of the roast liberally with roasted garlic, and place in an oven safe pan such that the fat cap is on top. Add enough red wine to cover the bottom of the pan to 1/4" or so. Sprinkle the sea salt liberally on the fat cap. Once the oven is at temperature, flip it to broil, and put the roast in. Broil until the fat cap is starting to brown, and then turn off the oven. Let it cook in the cooling oven for an hour or so (do not open the oven early, you are cooking with retained heat). Since the oven is cooling, it won't hurt it if you forget and watch a movie or something. That's it. No problems, and it's pink all the way through, with a nice sear. If you want, use an in oven thermometer to keep an eye on the meat internal temperature. If you are using a larger roast, or your oven doesn't hold heat well, add a pizza stone to retain more heat.

The problem is that you may have two sets of guests (paying guests), both who have special occasions (and in fact, in the case that started this thread, it was birthday groups), and the choice is between asking a group that has finished its meal to move on, or asking the group that has arrived at the time of their reservation (for the same, specific seats) to wait. --Dave

It is only the lack of space (I have a small deck, that already houses a small table, various herbs, a Weber, and a work burner) that keeps me from trying to build a Mongolian BBQ based on a high power gas burner...

I haven't seen the complaint, but the one claim that looked interesting to me (speaking as someone who isn't a lawyer) was the claim for breach of trade secrets.

Get some honeycomb, and have the Roaring 40s with fresh honeycomb, it is an experience.

I made the pork rilletes out of the cookbook this week. The result was good, although a less strongly spiced than I would have liked. I ran into two problems, and one solution. The first problem was that the instructions called for slowly melting the fat -- since I was using chunks of fatback, they weren't melting any time soon, so I eventually just added the pork and bacon in. The second was that the meat wasn't ready, and it was getting quite late. The solution (and one I will use for the whole process the next time I make these) was to dump everything into my crockpot, set it on low, and go to sleep.

I'd move baking into a separate scale, but that's just me.

While not quite charcuterie, I used the sausage making techniques (spices, ice cold wine, paddling the meat to get a good bind) in making hamburgers for Memorial Day, and even though I didn't grind the meat myself, the difference was astounding. Home made burgers that neither turned into meatballs nor fell apart on the grill.

I didn't find the article anything other than fascinating. Memory is often triggered by scent. I haven't lived in (or even spent much time in) Manhattan in a very long time, but to this day the distinctive combination of the odor of good chinese food and diesel exhaust will bring me back to Chinatown in the 1970s and 1980s.

By pruning, you mean "find a place to put more shelves", right?

There was a big case in Chapel Hill a few years ago (the police even told the restaurant owner she had to let the dog stay, and she still ejected it). Leaving aside the legal issues (and the restaurant got into very big trouble over it), it also was a public relations nightmare. Edited to add reference: Scroll Down to the Herald-Sun Article

Cafe Ori (just on the Bellevue side of the Bellevue/Redmond border) is excellent and inexpensive, but bring cash. Jeem is great for Dim Sum, but I haven't had anything else there. And for Szechuan food, Szechuan Chef (a few miles down the road, also in Bellevue) is also outstanding.

Estrella Family Creamery Extraordinarily good cheeses (both hard and soft). Yes, this counts as an exception, but it's an exception I can drive to (and which is at the local farmer's market every Saturday)...

The Puget Sound Mycological Society meeting is tonight at 7:30. http://www.psms.org --Dave