gfron1

I am in the process (again) of giving up on Saveur. Food and Wine I tried to like again but can't get into it. The only magazine that I still devour when it arrives (although not really in the same category) is Art of Eating.

well then I revert to my old degrees and ask, what are folks bringing to the table that might have this in their past? Any kitchen person who asked me this would make me avoid their restaurant like the plague. Just saying, to me this not normal thought processes - it dances with clinical deviant behavior whether on the side of performing the deed or fretting about it. EDITED TO ADD: Before this drifts OT let me put it this way - if its never happened to you the there's no need for you to think about it. If its happened to you once and you see no reason for it, then there's no need for you to think about it. If its happened to you repeatedly, you might want to look at what you might be doing that is leading to someone reacting in such an abnormal manner.

This is such an odd topic to me. Are we really that paranoid? I don't treat staff poorly and it never crosses my mind that they are intentionally trying to screw with my food. I think some folks might need to go to trust building workshops.

Outside of Waiting I've never known this to really happen. Maybe it does, but I'm more concerned with the staff that don't wash their hands after cleaning or going to the toliet, then touching my food. And I could care less what they call me as long as I have a better job and life than they do. Which I do.

We're in the season of rejections. This is par for the course apparently. My agent sent the proposal to some 20 publishers and so naturally many are not the right fit. I keep saying to her after each rejection, "Tell me when I need to be nervous." Here's her latest email for the good of the cause (edited to protect the innocent):

You just have to use the secret password!

I just got on Justin for doing his job too well - I was busy, and I'm really hideous right now (bad burn on my head) but I totally would have come out to say hi. You needed to use the code word "egullet" and I would have dropped everything. I am soooo sorry. BUT, I'm glad the rest of the experience was good.

Today we did our Greek program and made vasilopita with the kids. Worked on fractions, why certain countries put their word accents in different places, various traditions of king cakes around the world, basic baking skills at high altitude and kitchen hygiene. Third graders. Fun day.

Well, let me put it this way. I haven't thought about this topic in a while either, so either my servers are screening and explaining better or the note has deterred.

Okay, how about cow udder? I had street tacos of udder. In Spanish the woman kept saying it was placenta but I'm sure that's not the case, and I know it wasn't just stomach. When I eat street tacos and don't know some of the words (after many years of Spanish study and use) I order anything I don't know.

Definitely try again. Last summer a farmer brought me nearly 30 pounds of it and I served my customers for nearly 2 months. Everyone loved it. I used it in a huitlacoche butternut soup.

That's what we're all saying. It seems early but we've been in the 70s for a few weeks already, and we've had great moisture this season. I'm heading out every morning this week to different spots to see what I can find.

Hellz yeah! We never have spring morels, but I had a guy just bring me 1.75# of these beauties!

Its no rooster testicle, but I served python for a themed dinner to celebrate the final Harry Potter movie.

Rattlesnake tastes like whatever sauce you put on it...kinda like chicken. And yes, balut. Hands down.

Lest you think I've forgotten this idea...first things first. Here's my black label bonbon collection - whisky.

If you have access to the current issue of the Art of Eating, you'll find a great story from Mandela's authorized biographer about South African food. Might be useful, certainly interesting.

These are my show chocolate for a special dinner I'm doing at Los Poblanos in ABQ this Friday before the Southwest Chocolate & Coffee Fest. The base is Melissa Coppel's recipe from her winning bonbon last year that she taught us at the eG Chocolate and Confections workshop in Vegas. Yogurt ganache, a thin crisp of granola set in white chocolate and passionfruit pate de fruit in the tip. My morning prep guy is an artist who does a lot of airbrushing so he helped with the spray. Gut shot from a damaged one

So I'm working on one of these right now. The recipe came from our Jean Marie Auboine workshop back in May and this is Melissa Coppel's championship recipe with my variation - downsized for 90 molds: 160 g Various purees (I used apricot, meyer lemon and passionfruit) 35 g Water 13 g Sugar 3 g Pectin NH 50 g Sugar Combine purees, water and first sugar - cook to 50ºC Whisk pectin and second sugar, add to mixture at 50º, and bring to boil, boil 2 min. Spread and cool Ready to pipe, or if too thick add a bit of juice.

What yeti said and thin with its own puree if necessary

It may be a thing of beauty but it won't work for the menu I have planned. And I've thought about the overcook. I'm going to lower my temp and time because the pcs are so small.

I'll tell you when I eat it. I skinned it last night, but left it on for the confit. I can tell you that it was more delicate than anything I've plucked to date - ripped a couple of guys in my haste.

Martin - what did you do with the meat besides the breast? Seems like not much there.

This morning I headed down to the store and started plucking. I perfected my technique as the process went along. Pull the wings back and cross them over each other behind the bird's back. This completely reveals the breast. The base of your thumb and the tip of your middle hold the wings back while the pinky pulls the feet down toward the tail. The breast is ready for plucking. Then start pulling against the grain and the feathers come out very easily - much easier than chicken and infinitely easier than duck. This is one bird's worth of feathers...you should have seen the pile after 55. My goal was the breast. I was sending the carcasses to a game rehab center for feed for its carnivores. I did clean one completely just for the heck of it. My plan is to use this bounty at a guest chef dinner this coming Friday in ABQ. I am preparing the breast confit with a freshly made 5-Spice powder salt mix. So, there you go.

WARNING: GRAPHIC PHOTOS And down comes the hatchet His buddies were unphased. We met just before dusk because they were easier to catch And on to the ground to flop a bit before I put them in the cooler. We kept track of where we were in the process (and the final cost) by counting heads Many of you know that I'm not just out slaughtering animals. Over the years I developed a deep relationship with both the animals that I use as food and the wilderness that I forage for my restaurant. I often spend a little bit of time being present with whatever will become my food, sometimes in meditation, sometimes in prayer, sometimes in conversation. My first chicken slaughter was really sad to me. Pigeons, not so much. They showed no response. In fact, they seemed very calm. So pigeons were not an emotional experience so much as a job. With chickens we used the slaughter cones which keep them from flopping around. Here, Bob would just toss them on the ground to flop. Unlike chickens, however, the pigeons don't have the mass to damage the meat in their flopping. The cooler filled with each chop and so did the head count The cooler became very full That was last night. My new found butcher friend said I could let the pigeons sit in my walk-in overnight before processing. So I did, but first I cooked the hoisin pigeon breasts for my dinner - still warm from the carcass.