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gfron1

eGullet Society staff emeritus
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Everything posted by gfron1

  1. I've let this thread percolate a bit having formerly lived in Indy and having formerly written an underground restaurant review site that was hailed as "the ultimate guide for the non-suit business lunch." I've now been gone almost 4 years and I'm sure much has changed. However, we are talking about Indianapolis, the crossroads of America (or one of them at least), the buckle of the Bible belt (or one of them at least), and a town that takes its greatest pride any basketball, race cars and corn. We're not talking about NYC or LA...this is a town that catches the wave after the break. And I offer that description with much love and fondness. There is actually some really great stuff happening in the food world in the Circle City. World class cuisine...probably not, but some wonderful stuff going on with regional foods, and numerous foods from around the world that keep popping up (the source for my guide). To this day my best Peruvian meal happened on the northside. The author's poor writing aside, I worked closely with the Indianapolis Star and sat on their food advisory panel, and was surrounded by people like myself...passionate, but untrained, well read, but not necessarily well experienced. So this review fits my time there (Note: I never wrote for them, just advised). The fact is that the food editor and staff could describe apple pie in a way that would make you cry (and not just from the poor writing). Its what they know - food from the heartland. I never knew a trained food writer during my time in the community, so this review, again, fits. I would suggest though that judging everybody by our own perfections and grandiosity, while fun, does not elevate the world of food writing. The majority of hoosiers, plain ol' got what the reviewer was saying. And that ain't nuthin' to shuck about! [Note: This response has been heavily edited to minimize the risk of poor spelling, grammer, or other inexcusable blabberings.]
  2. I can't wait! Thanks Kerry. (Funny, I was on track for making nougat and got off track too.)
  3. And for me...breasts are typically not my favorite meat. But, it depends on the breast. Years ago I lived on the frozen bags of breasts from Wal Mart because of their value, then I moved up to the super market fresh breast. Now I can't eat either of them, they feel unnaturally large, they're tough, flavorless. So I stick to organic/free range, where if I do my job right in cooking them, they turn our pretty darn tasty.
  4. This is why I started this thread! These are incredible looking cheeses - and I can't get a single one of them up here in the mountains. Thanks to everyone for posting for those of us who are fromagically challenged.
  5. Very nice Jhmal! I visited a friend on Friday who served it as well. Their modification was to whip up the eggs a bit before mixing them in. We found it to be a super dessert.
  6. What a great trick! Thanks for posting it.
  7. Those look great - especially the mice. I'm curious about the freeze dried bark - what are you going to do with that...and what does the freeze drying do to it?
  8. I'm still not 100% convinced it is pennywort. I did a google search for images and it certainly looks like the same family, but I didn't find any pictures that were identical to yours. Plus you said it was very bitter. Like many Asian drinks, the pennywort drink that I had was super super sugary, but I don't remember any bitterness. Surely there is an Egulleter with a PhD in pennywort cuisine!
  9. I am green deprived here in the desert but it reminded me of a drink I had a while back - pennywart. Now, let those with real markets give you the final answer!
  10. ahhh...but the 4th time is the charm! I either use Julia Child's or Pierre Herme's recipe (both Dorie Greenspan's books). And I'm at high elevation, and haven't had trouble, so maybe you're working with a more tempermental recipe.
  11. Miladyinsanity...don't avoid genoise! Its the base of so many great desserts, and once Jay Bassin left his response it did make a ton of sense how I had lost perspective. As is usual I was rushing to finish up this dessert and so normally I would cut my genoise into 1/4 - 1/2" slices, which then I would either BRUSH an infused simple syrup onto, or allow my filling to soak in a bit. My original question was fairly silly, but I it seemed to make sense when I was writing it. Soaking (to saturation) a thick layer of genoise would just result in a layer of glop which is fine on some tables, but it really would not be the effect that I wanted. A soaked (for taste and moistening) achieves that effect. So get out there and make a hundred genoises and see how versitile they can be.
  12. Thanks, that makes a lot of sense. I also just split my 9" cake in half instead of making thin slices, and so you are right, if I had fully soaked the cake it would have been a gloppy mess.
  13. Last night I made a pomegranate syrup soaked genoise, layered with peach pastry cream covered in peach bavaroise. It was really tasty, but the soaking wasn't complete, so I ended up with a marbled effect in the cake versus the deep red that I was going for. Plus, the cake was drier than what I wanted. I've had this problem many times before where I either added too much liquid and it seeps, or too little and its not fully soaked. Is there a method that helps to ensure success? Thanks
  14. I make mine with an old klunky 3 speed hand mixer, so give it a try.
  15. Yes, but not as fancy as you might think. Gold leaf is so delicate and wanting to stick to anything, that I took my not-so-moist ginger slivers and rolled them on the leaf.
  16. I'm glad I'm hungry for chocolate again...its been quite some time. Last night I made a Malaysian dinner for some friends, and finished with a chocolate-ginger cake. I made a basic chocolate genoise, cut into 5 thin layers, soaked each layer with ginger infused simple syrup, filled each layer with chocolate pastry cream and topped it all with ganache (73.5% El Rey) and candied ginger covered in gold leaf. It was good last night...better for breakfast...even better for lunch.
  17. It got a bit worse today. I was down in Deming and they got another good dump. Locals are saying this is the most rain in at least 40 years if not 100. Of course its a good/bad problem since we're normally in drought. It is very true that the majority of crops come from the Deming area (and also closer to Las Cruces), but many of the fields around Deming are underwater too.
  18. Here's an update from chile country. In SW New Mexico we've been getting record amounts of rain for the past month. One lifelong resident told me yesterday that no one in her family ever remembers getting this much rain. So, yesterday the levees surrounding Hatch broke and the town and many of the fields flooded. What was looking to be a great chile season a few weeks ago, is now looking to be a disaster. We've started seeing some fresh chiles coming out of the fields, but very few. It is still a bit early since the main harvest being in a few more weeks, but now with the fields flooded and saturated, the locals are thinking there won't be many chiles produced.
  19. Absolutely beautiful. Most of us who've posted in this thread stopped short of the white chocolate spray at the end. Thanks for doing it right!
  20. I have one of those plastic bowl scrapers (flat on one side, curved on the other)...works great for cleaning out bowls after making bread...or marshmallows.
  21. Daniel, I also greatly appreciate your post. I'm considering sharing it with my friends who own restaurants in our small town. I may have to convert it into a "things to do" v "things not to do" list, just to increase the likelihood of the ideas being positively received. We have a quirky resaurant (doesn't everyone though) that has solidly good food. On a good night, the meal might even be one of the best you'll ever have. The prime reason that we don't go more often is the service. When you enter you are often greeted by the owner/chef who is always unshaven, with a grungy ballcap, his chefs pants and then a formerly white t-shirt covered in pawprints from the days prep. Its almost as if he's presenting a canvas for our preview...as if to say, "Do not waste your time looking at my overcrowded menu. Just look at my nipple to see what is good today." The host or main server will then intercept and seat you. Now, this is our most expensive restaurant in town and it is the only white linen restaurant. As they walk you to your table the server will pull back the white plastic lawn chairs (I assume because they match the white table cloth). Now you're seated comfortably enough that you could be sitting in your backyard between games of badminton. The server is very prompt in welcoming you and saying, "I will be your server this evening. Please let me know if there is anything that I can do to make your dining experience more pleasant." Nice touch...uhhh...what's your name again? Oh that's right, you've been trained to never tell me your name until after the meal is complete and the check is delivered since "you're here to serve them, not be their friends." (an attempt to justify the ticket) Drinks are offered. There are so many stories here, I'll edit for the sake of brevity. My favorite is when they bring a bottle of spring water (nothing fancy, just Perrier or something of the sort) and present it on their forearm swaddled in a fine linen as if it were the baby Jesus, then "present" the bottle to the table for pouring. Or, how about when I order a heffeweizen which they bring to the table sharing their knowledge of how to pour the beer. Now I've been to Germany a few times, and never has my heffeweizen been ice cold...so, why not just put it on the table and I'll pour it myself later...oh, because you don't trust that I understand how to swirl the bottle...oh, never mind. The server then eloquently describes the specials (which are always too many to keep track of...but I'll let them slide on this since it could just be my short attention span). After your order is taken, the server is quick to explain that they adhere to the Slow Food Movement so the meal may take a while. I thought that Slow Food meant locally grown, fresh, etc...I stand corrected. It just means slow enough for you to sell me more alcohol. And here, we are talking haute cuisine...do not insult the chef by asking for variations. As if art mirrors life, the old joke is true here...a friend of mine went in to order a BLT, but seeing that they are a vegetarian, they asked for no B...No, the chef doesn't prepare it that way...you know the rest of the joke, but it really did happen here. Then the meal comes - again sometimes outstanding, sometimes just really good. It is now time for the chef to come out and share his artistry with us again...no, not the plate, but his t-shirt. If you're astute, you'll see the new splotches just above his belt line with your sauce. I'll just assume that his t-shirt is more sanitary than it looks since I see his finger swipes (ala Jackson Pollock) distinctly on his shirt. Our server then re-approaches (whatever his name was) and confirms that the meal is to "the table's satisfaction." Now I've been called a stump, a rock, many assorted farm animals, but I've never been called a table before, so I ask the table, "Table, are you satisfied?" The table screams back at me, "Not until you get your ass out of that plastic chair!" I tell the server that the meal is fine. We enjoy our meal with only a well timed visit from our nameless server. I know better than to ask for any sauce variations. Dinner is complete and the dishes are shooshed away (mostly from the left). The server returns and asks if, "We ate too much, or if we saved room for dessert?" Why do they ask it this way? Look, I'm a gluttonous pig and I did eat too much, but I do want some of your dessert too. I never get dessert because its not their thing...brownies and cookies only (maybe that's why they try and talk me out of it). Once finished, the check is quickly delivered and the server leaves (although I see him peering around the corner...gotcha! Kinda of like that creep who stalked me in college). The bill is now paid, the server returns only occassionally and doesn't rush us away - thanks. The server now tells us his name is Matt and that he hopes the table will return...I don't think the table is leaving, so odds are pretty good that it will return. So here is my math on this restaurant... $50 What I would be willing to pay for my food (less drinks) -$15 for having to look at a grungy t-shirt -$5 for the tacky plastic chairs -$5 for unnecessary pretention...whatever your name was again -$2 for erroneous beer handling advice -$5 for re-emmergence of the rorschot blot t-shirt +$1 for trying to talk me out of dessert +$5 for not rushing me out...must be part of the slow food movement philosophy Total value: $24 By the way...did I mention the restaurant is for sale.
  22. No problem - and please post pics when you make it...now the search will be for the best limoncello to go with the dessert.
  23. One of my chief complaints about any writings of Peru is that they tend to focus almost exclusively to the south. I did a climbing expedition a few years back that based out of Haurez and I had some great meals there. The food was, in many ways, different from that down south (and I don't remember ever seeing cuy on the menu). Being on a very tight budget, I focused on the Chifas and papas rellenos. However, when I returned to Lima I focused my eating in Miraflores....ahhh...I'll never forget my favorite heladoteria (sp?) on the square. I ate there 6 times in 3 days. The beginning of my trip was staying with locals in Lima, and every meal started with a soup, and ended in some gloppy potato and/or chicken dish - all had wonderful ajis. The other great memory was that they served lemongrass tea with every meal - very sweet!
  24. It should already be in RecipeGullet. Also, I shared one with the friends who told me about it originally. They said it was really good (the polite answer) and that my lemoncello was "more biting" than theirs (the honest answer). And, that the cake was a bit heavier than what they had - I can work on that one
  25. Patrick, I'll look forward to seeing what you create - actually photograph. I think it gets avoided because it isn't chocolate brown but I will make it again using cream. I also am looking forward to seeing how you photograph it. I wasn't motivated to play around too much since I already had blown the recipe. And not to be a broken record but those croquettes...Wow!
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