David Ross

I think the allure of Prime Rib is that something so primal, so basic, so simple to roast, is yet so delicious. For me, probably one of the holy grails of cookery is a thick slab of prime rib for a holiday dinner. One should really save up your pocket of pence to purchase a real 'Prime' Rib Roast. I am lucky to have a local butcher, Egger's Meats on the South Hill in Spokane, who always has prime grade available fresh. And take a close look at the price, yes, $14.99 a pound for prime grade. Don't believe me? Then look at the marbling in the next photos, it is prime of course. Choice grade for the holidays is not something we consider. You may remember that I wrote about the subject of "Supermarket Steaks vs. Ye Olde Butcher Shoppe" in the cookking forum earlier this year. The prime grade ribeye steak from Egger's Meats was the clear winner in the taste/cooking test I posted. And so it was proven again with my Prime Rib Roast: I was very close to purchasing a prime grade roast through one of the top mail order butchers. But I was dismayed at the price: $29.99 per pound, without shipping, for a prime grade roast from Lobel's. Secondly, I like to ask my butcher to personally cut the roast for me and that of course isn't an option with Lobel's. I doubt a butcher would take specific instructions, successfully, over the phone. I had the pleasure of watching a scene from the past-my butcher hauled out a whole prime rib and cut it to my specs right there on a big wooden slab-including my request for an extra thick layer of fat. And here is the beauty of the Washington State cattle industry in all of its glory: I roasted the beef in a 450 oven for 15 minutes, then turned the heat down to 325 and roasted to an internal temperature of 124. I let the roast sit for about 10 minutes. A bit more on the rare side for my tastes, but with this grade of quality beef, I could have eaten the beast raw and been satisfied. I'll adjust the cooking time and temperature a bit in the future. I had been drooling over Marlene's gravy photos in the "Dinner" forum, and then I saw chef Anne Willan cooking a rib roast with Martha Stewart on television. Ms. Willan said that in her home county in England they served the "Sunday Roast" with gravy, never jus. So after I pulled the roast from the oven I set in making a good gravy with more fat than my Mother would ever have allowed, along with a good douse of Maker's Mark Brandy. And here we are-"Prime Rib," Roasted Potatoes, Horseradish, Bourbon Gravy: By the way, the tasty shards I cut off the end of the roast and ate before bed were even better than the beef on the plate!

Prime Rib on Friday night, roast potatoes, horseradish and rather than the normal jus, I made gravy. Marlene's delicious gravy photos have been tempting me for weeks, and then last week I saw Anne Willan appear on a segment on television cooking a huge prime rib with Martha Stewart. Ms. Willan said that the British prefer gravy with their roast so off I went. I deglazed the roasting pan with a good swig of Maker's Mark Bourbon. The roast ended up a bit rare for my tastes, a minor argument. I'll post more photos of the roast, raw and then cooked, over in the Prime Rib discussion:

Your photos are delicious! I love using peppermint candy as a theme in Holiday Desserts. Here are a couple, both using Tillamook Dairy Peppermint Candy Ice Cream. Great cows, lots of lush pasture, peppermint candy=wonderful ice cream. Chocolate Brownie, Peppermint Candy Ice Cream, Dark Chocolate Sauce: Profiterole, Peppermint Candy Ice Cream, Chocolate Sauce, silly and ridiculous 'sprinkles' but at the same time fun and silly for the Holidays:

I couldnt' stand it-hadn't made a fruitcake in at least 3 years-and since the ca. 2004 edition is now gone, I decided that it was time to get another batch setting to soak to be debuted ca. 2010 or so. I guess fruitcake is sort of like fine wine-what the winemaker bottles in the Fall of 2007 isn't what he'll open for Christmas Dinner 2007. The 2007 vintage will need a few years to properly age and for the flavors of the wine to develop. And so it goes with fruitcake. I choose December as the month for putting up fruitcake because of the nostalgia of the whole affair-but more practically because I can't find dried pineapple and candied citron in the market in July. This year I used a recipe out of a 1983 magazine titled "Holiday Cooking." I can't find any reference in the magazine that it was a part of say the Good Housekeeping or Pillsbury series of holiday specialty magazines. It was just one of those holiday magazines at the checkout stand at the market that tempts you to buy it-sort of like that urge that I gotta have the current issue of the National Enquirer. Why it comes over me I do not know. I added some Molasses and a pint of Guiness to the recipe. There was enough batter for two fruitcakes, and a gallon baggy of the leftover dough that I put in the freezer. Here are the two freshly baked fruitcakes: And ready for a nice, dreamy sleep in a blanket soaked in brandy, two little fellows that we will eat in three years:

Yes, sadly, she's getting her just desserts-wads of cash and scandalous tabloid headlines about the antics of her husband. And no, sorry, that doesn't count for anything in my book. She's aggravating. 30 Minute Meals and $40 a Day are good concepts-she dumbs it way, way down. Another host, I might watch.

I want Santa to bring me this for Christmas!! David, I love how you used a bit of the crab bisque to garnish the smoked halibut. When I first looked at your photos, I thought, "How did he do all of this in one weekend?" but then as I studied the photos again (and again, drool), I realized that the dishes have shared components. Very creative and inspiring! And BTW Ce'nedra, I like to leave out the vermicelli so that I can eat more rolls. Yours look great. I wish that I could get nice, fresh bean sprouts around here. There is not a huge demand, so the ones in the market aren't always good. Nothing worse than old sprouts! ← Thank you very much. I often use a garnish to tell you that the garnish is an element in the main dish-aka crab salad garnishing crab bisque. The crab bisque can also be used as a sauce for pasta. Think fettucine tossed in crab bisque, dungeness crab and a snow shower of parmesan. Try it and you'll REALLY want that for Christmas!

Least Favorite-Rachel Ray. "Guy's, where's the Ritz Crackers.....Guy's." Enough said.

I liked the holiday show better than the regular Top Chef competition shows because it focused more on the food and cooking rather than the personality conflicts and dramatic elements we've come to expect on Top Chef. Sure, there was some pale drama thrown in-lost yeast, dry turkey and Marcel's use of high school grammar, but for the most part I liked the creativity and execution behind the dishes. I think all the chefs are creative and talented. But now the chefs venture out into the world of restaurant cooking-a world I see as far different than the world of reality show cooking. My advice applies to both worlds-keep your dishes simple, don't 'fussy-up' a dish with irrelevant ingredients and garnishes, use the best products for each dish and remember you're now serving customers who are paying for your food, listen to what your customers tell you. The customer is a different type of judge than Judge Padma, Judge Ted Allen or Judge Tom Collichio.

While the Turkey Noodle Bake was good this past week, I like to splurge a bit around the holidays-thus, a few photos of weekend dishes: Pork Pate (store-bought), Buttered Crouton, Huckleberry Compote- (from this year's crop of huckleberries, I always have this compote on hand). I visited my local seafood store to get some first of the season crabs for a cooking segment I did on one of our local tv stations. We did Dungeness Crab Cakes. The season annually starts on December 1. But as you probably heard, we had terrible rains in the Northwest last week and it upset the first crab boats getting out to sea. But I was lucky as I got some of the first crabs caught after the storms passed and the boats could get out. While I was at the market a man came in and bought $961.00 worth of fresh Dungeness Crabs! He said he was buying them for his 'holiday party for his employees.' I wish I worked for him! Dungeness Crab Bisque, Buttered Crouton, Crab Salad- While I was at the fish market I spotted some wonderful smoked halibut. I thought it would go well with the Salt Cod/Potato Cake. I usually serve the salt cod and mashed potato cake with roasted cod, but the smokiness of the halibut was a nice complement to the rich, salty cod cake. Thankfully the green herb vinaigrette (parsley, cilantro, olive oil, apple cider vinegar), was a much needed element to cut through the salty, rich flavors of the other parts of the dish. Smoked Halibut, Salt Cod-Potato Cake, Crab Bisque, Green Herb Vinaigrette- I had never poached a pear in ice wine before-I always stuck with the standard pears poached in red wine. But the sweet flavor and apricot scent of this ice wine was perfect for bringing out the sweetness and delicate scent of the pears. Bosc Pear Poached in Ice Wine, Chestnut Creme Anglaise, Toasted Walnuts, Hazelnut Cookies Dipped in Chocolate-

One of the unique ingredients in the Turkey Noodle Bake are the noodles. We usually use thick egg noodles in this type of casserole. The Good Housekeeping recipe calls for 'thin noodles.' I use little egg noodles that you can find in the Jewish section of the grocery store. The noodles are usually used for chicken soup, but they are really delicious in this casserole.

I know that I tend to post food that is a bit 'fancy'-but trust me, I love simple food just as much as the more complicated stuff. And that means a good casserole on a weeknight: Turkey Noodle Bake from the Good Housekeeping Cookbook, circa 1950:

You're seeing some candied green cherries. The Great Northern recipe calls for currants, candied cherries, candied mixed fruit and candied pineapple. The recipe calls for both walnuts and almonds. I think next time I use this recipe I'll add some molasses for extra sweetness and to get the cake really dark in color. My Father's Aunt Pearl, the baker of his WWII fruitcake, was of Scottish heritage as was your Grandmother! We trace our ancestry back to the mid 1600's in Scotland. They eventually landed in New England and made their way to Missouri in the early 1800's. From there they came by wagon train over the Oregon Trail, settling in Southern Oregon. I suppose that Scottish background and Pioneer spirit taught Aunt Pearl the value of using dried fruits and probably a good measure of Scotch Whiskey to create her wonderful fruitcakes. On my Mother's side of the family, her Aunt Bertie was the fruitcake baker. Don't you love those old-fashioned names? Pearl and Bertie-the fruitcake bakers. Aunt Bertie and my Grandfather Ralph were of Russian descent. Their 'American' last name was 'Pink,' but we think it was short for a longer name like Pinkowski. We are not sure, but we think their parents left Russia in the mid-1850's and eventually settled in Twin Falls in Southern Idaho. Their Father, my Great-Grandfather Max Pink, owned a large company that processed sheep pelts and wool. Idaho was once the home to some of America's largest flocks of sheep. Aunt Bertie was a wonderful Jewish cook. And while she specialized in fried chicken and watermelon rind pickles, it was her fruitcake that stirs loving memories of her kitchen. She was a teetotaler, but that didn't stop her from sending my Grandfather to the liquor store every year to buy her booze for the fruitcake. I am quite sure that what she didn't spill into the fruitcake spilled into a glass by her bed. I think Aunt Bertie shared the same sensibility and pioneer spirit that Aunt Pearl had when it came to baking fruitcake-using simple, preserved fruits and nuts to create a delicious Christmas cake.

What was the best dish you had at a restaurant in 2007? While the setting ranked #1 on my 2007 list-Guy Savoy at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas-and the event certainly ranked at the top-the one-year anniversary of Savoy at Caesar's-and the guest list memorable-Chef Savoy in the kitchens, Frank Savoy in the dining room-it was one simple little bite that garnered my #1 ranking. One wonders how 4 pure ingredients can give one such pleasure- Foie Gras, Black Truffle, Buttered Brioche. This decadent little delight was served on silver skewers as we sipped vintage Rose' while awaiting the call to dinner. When I dream, I dream of that succulent nibble.

Sorry, I should have been more clear on my earlier post-I buy the regular Foster Farms chickens and they work just fine in the rotisserie. I don't buy Tyson chickens-overprocessed and they don't give good results. Foster Farms produces chickens here in Washington State. They sell a couple of types of chickens in my market-one is the basic chicken, the other is labeled as free-range/organic. The basic chicken is about a dollar per pound cheaper than the free-range/organic. Because the basic chicken gives me good results in the rotisserie, I don't spend the extra money to buy the free-range/organic bird. As far as brining, I don't go to the trouble for a chicken that I'll be cooking on the rotisserie. I'm not a fan of the brining technique in general, whether it's to add moisture OR flavor. I just want basic roasted chicken flavor and the rotisserie gives that result by what you can call "a self-basting prophecy." Hope that answers the questions better.

Sorry, the only 'thermometer' I use is my finger and the value of having roasted a lot of chickens on my rotisserie so I sense somehow when it is done-yet still juicy. I know the food safety folks want our chicken to be around 165. I don't know if my rotisserie chickens are 165 or not, but they are always done yet still juicy in both the dark and white meat. I don't let the chicken sit for very long before carving, maybe 5-10 minutes but not 20. I like the chicken to still be pretty hot when I carve it, and if I let it rest 20 minutes or more it cools down too far for my tastes. I'll sacrifice a bit of juice running out by carving it at 5 minutes after it comes off the rotisserie spit if I can have hot chicken meat. The roaster chickens I buy are usually in the 4-5 1/2 lb. range. I do try to buy Foster Farms chickens from Washington where I live. Not the organic, free-range, but not a mass-produced Tyson chicken. The Tyson chickens often have small cuts in the breast skin from over-processing. And those small slits in the skin will dry out the breast meat during roasting. I don't think you need to brine the chicken ahead of time for added flavor. The mere art of rotisserie cooking with its self-basting should be enough to produce a flavorful bird.

The drip pan is just like a small broiler pan. I rub the chicken with olive oil and then season it. As the chicken rotates, the olive oil, rub seasonings and natural chicken juice and fat, continually baste the bird. I find the trick to getting a deep-golden bird is to roast it for about 1 1/2 hours. The instructions on the unit will tell you to roast a chicken for about an hour. Unfortunately, I find that will result in a chicken with pale skin. So going a bit longer gives a golden, crisp skin and yet the meat is still moist. It's that self-basting that makes the meat so moist. I get plenty of juice, and browned bits, dripping into the drip pan. But to make the chicken jus, or gravy, I'll add a bit of additional chicken stock to the pan drippings, maybe boil that down to concentrate the flavor, then strain it. That's the sauce you see in the photo. Thanks.

My Tarte Tatin is a combination of my own pastry recipe combined with a recipe for the apples out of the Saveur Cooks Authentic French Cookbook. You cook the apples down on day one, let the apple cool overnight which brings the apple and caramel together, then you layer on the pastry and do the final baking on day two. Apples 2 sticks unsalted butter, cut into pieces 10-12 Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored and cut in half 1 ½ cups granulated sugar Pastry 2 1/3 cups all purpose flour 1/3 cup cake flour 1 tbsp. superfine granulated sugar ½ tsp. salt 1 stick unsalted butter, chilled, cut into pieces ½ cup Crisco shortening, chilled, cut into pieces ½ cup ice water Heat oven to 400°. Heat a 10-12" round and 2-3" deep heavy ovenproof non-stick skillet over medium heat. Add butter to skillet and melt. Add sugar to skillet and stir with butter until sugar is melted. Remove from heat and arrange apples side by side in skillet. Place skillet in oven and let cook for 1 hour or until apples are soft and puffy. Remove skillet from oven and let cool to room temperature. Cover skillet with foil and refrigerate overnight. This lets the apples cool down into the caramelized sugar. To make the pastry, combine flour, cake flour, sugar and salt in a large bowl and stir to mix. Using a pastry cutter, cut in butter and Crisco into small pea size bits. Mix in enough ice water with a fork until the pastry comes together. Form pastry into a ball and cover completely with plastic wrap. Refrigerate pastry for at least one hour before using. To complete the Tarte Tatin, heat oven to 350°. Take the the skillet and the pastry from the refrigerator. Roll out the pastry to 1/8" thickness. Gently place the pastry over the apples in the skillet. Trim edge of pastry so that about ½" overhangs skillet. Press in edges of pastry to inside of skillet. Bake skillet in oven just until pastry is golden, about 20 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool for 10 minutes. To unmold the Tarte Tatin, place a plate over the top of skillet and carefully turn over the skillet. The Tarte Tatin should easily invert onto the plate. Cut into wedges and serve warm with a scoop of Vanilla Ice Cream.

I love gooseberries-a fruit that isn't used enough. Can you give details on the recipe?

An experiment that seemed to work out pretty good-Large shrimp that I marinated in Smith and Wollensky steak sauce. I had chilled the leftover roasted squash risotto from dinner the other night, cut it in rounds, then sauteed it in olive oil for a 'risotto cake.' The base is just spinach sauteed in olive oil and then a slug of apple cider vinegar.

Hopefully these photos will convince you to buy the Ron Popeil 'Set it and Forget it' Rotisserie. It is quite simply a fantastic contraption. It will give you incredibly juicy, tender chicken. I also use it for game hens, pork ribs and prime rib. It is well worth the price. It's a bit odd to think that the man who sold spray-on hair in a can could also invent such a wonderful piece of cookery equipment-but it works great. The second photo is the chicken plated with swiss chard with bacon, mashed potatoes and chicken jus.

Tonight I started with a Salmon Bisque. I used a recipe I got off the internet and not my own recipe. Didn't turn out to my liking so I decided not to post the photo. I plan on using my own recipe to make a lobster version of my shrimp bisque for the holidays. I'll post that one for you. But the main, oh man was it delicious-Roasted Squab with Huckleberry-Balsamic Glaze served with a Roasted Squash Risotto. I added a small amount of ricotta salata along with the parmesan and that extra tangy-salty bite from the ricotta really punched up the flavors. Do you ever make a dish at home and you just say "damn that is good!" As good as you might have in a restaurant? This was one for the must-have-again file.

I wasn't able to make the trip at the last minute due to some family obligations and our other dining companion-John Curtas aka The Dining Advocate and KNPR restaurant reporter, was suffering from some sort of bug he picked up while on a dining trip to Hong Kong. Alas, we were unable to be there, but we are girding up for the next trip. Great photos and reviews and when we do meet in Las Vegas, I'll definately be going to the places we had planned on.

From what I see in the pictures it looks like you have 'Salt Pork'-basically a cut of pork brined and cured in salt yet still basically raw meat. That's basically how most bacon is cured before smoking. The cut of pork and how it's cured can determine whether it's called bacon, pancetta, prosciutto or salt pork-but in today's food world the lines between what cured pork is called can get fuzzy. I would recommend you soak the cut in some water for about 30 minutes to leech out some of the salt. Then chop it up and use it in your Fall soups and stews. You can use it raw right in the soup or saute it first so it renders some fat and gets brown and crispy. You are right in realizing that what you have isn't the same type of pork belly that we've been talking about in this thread. The pork belly I use is raw, unbrined, uncured, cut right off the hog and sold in my Asian grocery store. The fat makes it tender and juicy and gives us that beautiful crispy outer skin. Any type of curing of the pork belly would probably not give those same results. You can certainly store whatever meat you don't use right now. But I would wrap it tightly or shrink wrap it using a foodsaver type of machine/bag. I wouldn't let it go longer than a week in the refrigerator. Even though it's salted and cured, the meat can go bad-sort of like strips of bacon we leave in the fridge for a couple of weeks-starts to smell a bit off. Let us know how it goes for you.

My Mother ONLY makes creamed onions for Christmas dinner-NEVER for Thanksgiving. She says that "the Pilgrims didn't eat creamed onions" and that is why she doesn't serve them on Thanksgiving. I don't know what history book told her that Pilgrims didn't eat creamed onions, but she's made them for around 55 years for Christmas dinner. She still makes them and they are delicious and taste exactly the same every year. While I use small pearl onions when I make creamed onions, Mother only uses medium size yellow onions. I actually prefer the bigger onions because I think they have more taste than the pearl onions. She peels the onions and then boils them a short time. She makes a basic white sauce with butter, flour and whole milk. She's always seasoned the onions with salt and nutmeg and in recent years she got a bit chi-chi and started adding white pepper-not something housewives used in the 1950's. She doesn't add any cheese. She combines the onions with the white sauce and puts it in a glass bowl and bakes the onions until the sauce is hot and bubbling. The glass bowl fits in a silver outer serving bowl and when the onions are ready, they are brought to the table in that glorious serving dish.

Williams-Sonoma used to sell a dried foccacia stuffing mix with Herbes de Provence. It made the best stuffing I've ever had. Unfortunately, they no longer offer it. My guess is it was probably not real popular or they had problems with their supplier. It was privately labeled for Williams-Sonoma, so I don't have a supplier I can go direct to. I can always make my own foccacia and then cube it and dry it for stuffing-but I'd rather find a company who makes it and offers it for sale online. Any ideas?