David Ross

The recipe has a medieval feel to me, so I usually toss in a bay leaf, and often a clove/a little cinnamon. Most of the recipes I've seen don't call for herbs or spices, and I'm not certain whether that is because it doesn't really need it, if done properly (the flavours are so depp and complex), or because it is something that has varied so much over time, it just seems wisest to leave it to the taste of the cooks. While looking through old cookbooks on Italian cuisine I found that most of the Bolognese recipes did not call for any herbs or spices, just salt and pepper. The main flavor elements in the old recipes appears to come from the main ingredients of meat and vegetables, layered with the flavor of wine and tomato. The pancetta seems to be the "unique" ingredient in the old-style Bolognese. When I start posting photos, you'll see that I add a bit of chicken liver in my Bolognese, and that added a very nice livery element to the sauce. My recipe didn't call for garlic, which I couldn't understand as I thought it probbably went into most Italian meat sauces. I added about three cloves of garlic. After hours of slow cooking, the sauce tasted like it needed something more so I added some dried basil and dried oregano which gave it a more balanced flavor.

Because of the reduction involved, it doesn't seem like making Bolognese sous vide would work out, while reducing just some of the ingredients is going give quite different results from reducing everything together. Might still make an interesting experiment, though. I'm not sure about gelatin, but using a thickener doesn't seem out of the question. As you'll see when I post my photos of my cooking process, my sauce was just too thin for my tastes and that was after about 1 1/2 hours of cooking. I added a slurry of about a tablespoon of Wondra Flour stirred into the Bolognese and it tightened up quite well.

I have to agree with you that it's an involved process. When I got everything together in the pot I thought, "gosh, that looks too soupy." My instinct told me I needed to simmer it low and slow for a few more hours than the recipe called for to both concentrate the flavors and thicken the sauce. It took time, but in the end, it had a deep, dark red hue and incredibly deep flavor.

The classical recipe I used was ground chuck and yes, pancetta. The recipe called for about 1 1/2 hours cooking and I stretched it to about 4 hours. I think everyone will be intrigued by the photos that I'll be posting.

Yes of course that qualifies for our Cook-Off discussion. I'll be showing a classic recipe which is somewhat similar to the quick version you describe, (which sounds wonderful, especially the idea of freezing it for later meals).

Welcome back to our eGullet Cook-off Series. Recent Cook-Offs challenged our skills with Grilled Chicken, Gratins, Shrimp & Grits and Savory-Filled Pastries. (Click here for the Cook-Off Index). Today we’ll be launching eGullet Cook-Off 57: Bolognese Sauce. We've discussed Bolognese in the past here, but let's revist this classic dish and get into the heart,(with lots of discussion and photos), of one of the most traditional of all Italian sauces. Bolognese Sauce, (often called “Ragu” Bolognese), dates back literally hundreds of years to the 5th century when the Romans were in power. Yet the historical records as to who actually created Bolognese Sauce are somewhat sketchy. Even more unclear is the question as to what is the “definitive” Bolognese Sauce. The argument over the ingredients that go into a Bolognese is probably as deep as the complex, rich flavors of this classic sauce. As with many legendary recipes, there are literally thousands of variations of Bolognese-the meat, the vegetables, the spices, the “tomato” element and the pasta are all points for heated discussion and that’s exactly why we’ve chosen Bolognese sauce for our latest Cook-off. Along the way, I’ll be sharing a few suggestions for Bolognese from a James Beard Award-Winning Chef known for his expertise in Italian cuisine. Start scribing your shopping list and assembling your ingredients and let's get in the kitchen and cook some Bolognese Sauce.

He ran out of time. The only reason he got any soup on the plate/in the cups was because he threw it at them as time expired. He had no time to lalde, clean, etc. Certainly he should have managed time better but that bit several of the contestants. And that's exactly my point. These people should absolutely go into this competition knowing that time management is critical. It's not an excuse to say you ran out of time. It's expected that you'll present your dish given the amount of time you have. If you can't handle that, then don't send in an audition tape. I'm willing to cut the guy some slack. After all, it was the first show and no one realistically cooks with a clock counting down the seconds. I guess I'll just be the odd one out on this part of our discussion. The time constraints they face on Top Chef are exactly the challenge they face everyday in a restaurant kitchen. If you're cooking for paying customers in the real world, the clock is always ticking down by the second. Don't for a moment think that anyone cooking in a Robuchon kitchen isn't aware of precisely the second the sauce goes over the fish to when the plates go out of the kitchen and the exact moment they must be placed in front of the customer.

He ran out of time. The only reason he got any soup on the plate/in the cups was because he threw it at them as time expired. He had no time to lalde, clean, etc. Certainly he should have managed time better but that bit several of the contestants. And that's exactly my point. These people should absolutely go into this competition knowing that time management is critical. It's not an excuse to say you ran out of time. It's expected that you'll present your dish given the amount of time you have. If you can't handle that, then don't send in an audition tape.

While the aforementioned James Bond Pig Butcher was incredibly rude and full of himself, what about the poor sap that splashed the soup on the plate--and still served it to the judges! Wow, you don't even have the sense to ladle the soup from the pot into the bowls, clean the bowls, then place them on the serving plates? That wouldn't have taken more than a few seconds and at least he would've given the judges the chance to taste his soup. Go. Go back to whence you came from my poor lad.

I agree with you. I rarely eat fast food burgers preferring the burgers I make at home to any other. However, I do like a Fatburger when I go to Las Vegas and I will eat a Wendy's or McDonald's in a pinch. I'll admit on this one I bit on the advertising spiel that Wendy's was throwing out. I know their burgers aren't great, but I wanted to challenge their advertising claims.

In order to entice more customers to their savory burgers, Wendy's has launched "Dave's Hot'n Juicy Cheeseburgers." Well, yesterday I tried the newest cheeseburger in Wendy's line-up and I shouldn't have been surprised that the results were less than delicious. I ordered a single cheeseburger and it wasn't "hot" off the grill as advertised. It was off the grill, but lukewarm. The bun wasn't "warm, fresh, toasted and flavored with real butter." It was the same limp, cold, untoaste bun that Wendy's has always served. Premium toppings? No, they were merely regular toppings-pickle, onion, tomato and a leaf of iceberg lettuce. I wasn't asked, (per the advertisements), what my "choice" of toppings was-crinkle-cut pickles, sweet red onions and thick tomato slices. The cheeseburger was presented retro style, wrapped in wax paper and put in a cute little open-top red box. All the glorious advertising promises are printed on the box. It was a standard Wendy's fast-food cheeseburger. Nothing new and nothing "Hot'n Juicy" about it. Is it worth complaining when you get a fast-food burger that falls short of the advertising claims?

And what about judges? What well-known Texas Chefs will be on the judging panel? I'm hoping they won't prop up Bourdain and Ripert in cowboy hats that are too small for their heads.

Well, with only couple of nights, there will always be a great meal that you will miss. You can't help it. So many good places in town.. I think Valentino is a good pick. If you want to venture out of there, I think you would like Sage at Aria. Ross and I ate there in 2010 when we were in town for Uncork'd. I don't recall any new wave frothy stuff there. Jeff is right, we had a wonderful experience at Sage. American cuisine at its finest and they have a good cocktail program. They actually have an absinthe cart! When we sat down we didn't see a tasting menu so we asked the waiter and they graciously obliged. During dinner Chef Shawn McClain came out to visit with us. To tell you the truth, I've eaten at Savoy and Gagnaire and I much prefer Sage. The French stuff at Savoy and Gagnaire is over-priced and really not the life-changing experience some say it is. You may want to look at the website of the restaurants at The Cosmopolitan. I hear good reviews off all their restaurants and I think if you call ahead and ask about a Tasting Menu they would oblige. Milos apparently has an affordable Greek seafood tasting menu. The best month to dine at Valentino is October when they have white truffles from Alba, but Chef Pellegrini does wonders with ingredients year-round.

Is it that time already? Another Top Chef? We haven't seen the end of this season's Top Chef Just Desserts and just around the corner, debuting on Wednesday, November 2, is Season 9-"Top Chef Texas." I've seen some of the promos on Bravo and as one would expect, they are playing up the angle of "everything is big in Texas." So what surprises and challenges do you think the Lone Star State will throw at the Chefs? A brisket challenge anyone?

I'm a buffet fanatic and have the girth to prove it. I ate at the Wicked Spoon buffet at the Cosmopolitan twice when I was in Las Vegas for a week in May. Very good for dinner, not quite as good at breakfast. At the Wicked Spoon there wasn't as good of a selection of breakfast breads and pastries as I find at Wynn, Bellagio or Paris buffets, but the uniqueness of the of dishes was better. The sweets at Wynn during the breakfast hour are superior to the other buffets. At dinner, again the unique dishes at the Wicked Spoon and the individual servings are a hit, but their sweets don't rival Wynn. Bellagio is large, vast and has a good meat station. The salads at both the Wynn and Bellagio buffet were better than the Wicked Spoon. Wynn usually has these delicious white anchovies on the salad station and the salmon lox they serve seems to be a better product than the other buffets. For photos of my experience at the Wicked Spoon, take a look at our report on Vegas Uncork'd 2010 here.

Thanks for the tip. They're drying on a wire rack over a cookie sheet, (covered with newspaper), as we speak.

Last month, Chef Michel Richard opened a Las Vegas outpost of his Washington, D.C., restaurant "Central." Central is a new-entry into the 24-hour "Coffee Shop" and Celebrity Chefs genres in Las Vegas. Billed as a "New American Bistro," (I'm always intrigued by this mention of "new" American cuisine given the fact the country was founded in 1776). One can order dishes like the Lobster Burger or the “La Quercia” Prosciutto Plate at 3am. That lobster on a bun will set you back $34.00 bucks, a high price for what has typically been known as coffee and toast cuisine. Only time will tell if the demographic that flocks to the over-priced rooms at Caesar's will make Central profitable. The reputation of Chef Richard no doubt gives the place an advantage, albeit with a Chef who will probably only visit the kitchen a few times a year. I haven't tried Central yet, but I hope to get there when I make a quick trip to Las Vegas in early November. Has anyone out there dined at Central Las Vegas? Here's a link to their website and menus.

Thank you so much for the tip. I hadn't thought about that. I'll get over there tommorrow morning and scoop up what I can!

This week when I was scanning the local grocery store newspaper inserts I came across this odd looking special on mushrooms- I sort of snickered at the thought of the people in the advertising department, (and possibly the produce buyer), who sadly mispelled the name of one of nature's most wonderful mushroom, the "Chanterelle." (Either the supermarket spelled it right or the French have gotten it wrong for centuries). But aside from the mis-spelling in the name, look closely at the price, $5.98 a pound. Really? And on closer inspection, "Save up to $4.00 a lb." Really, really? You mean that the full price of the fresh Chanterelles would only be $9.98 a pound? Heck, we can usually only get fresh Chanterelle's at one organic market or the Farmer's market and they usually run upwards of at least $20.00 a pound. And that's a good price. As you can imagine I raced to the store. I wasn't sure what to expect since I was so amazed that fresh Chanterelle's would be sold in a grocery store at that price point. I wasn't disappointed. I got just under two pounds for $10 bucks and change. A steal. The guy next to me was grabbing them out of the display as fast as I was. I told him I couldn't believe the price in the ad, (and the price on the tag at the market). He said it's been a good mushroom season locally and there are gobs of Chanterelle's in the woods. Have you ever come across Food Ads Gone Wild? Prices either so low, or so high, you just couldn't believe it? Have you ever been surprised that a premium cut of beef, a rare seafood or a wild mushroom was advertised in your local Newspaper?

This is a special salmon dish that is the essence of Fall. It's a dish I've made for close to twenty years and comes from the great American Chef Larry Forgione. Cedar-Plank Roast Salmon with Greens and Toasted Pumpkin Seed Vinaigrette-

Someone who must make their own summer sausage?

The store where I did the class is the only family-owned, independent cookware store in Spokane. We have a Williams-Sonoma, but as you can imagine, the products are the same in the Spokane store as the products in the Seattle, Boise and Portland stores. And Williams-Sonoma doesn't sell some of the unique products sold at the store where I teach. It's the only place in a metro area of nearly 500,000 that features products for serious cooks and bakers. Like a lot of television studios and small stores, a teaching kitchen isn't always up to the standards of a professional kitchen or a good home kitchen. Sometimes we have to rely on the generosity of a local appliance store to donate equipment--and it isn't always a top of the line, brand spanking new Viking professional oven. But I've always made do with what I have, be it the portable electric cooktop at KXLY-ABC or this setup in the store, (which is one of the nicest kitchens I've cooked in given all the demos, classes and shows I've done). The stove unit includes a microwave and oven with a convection feature. Unfortunately, the recent repairs to the broiler element didn't work as it took me about 30 minutes to get a char on the skins of the red peppers for the Rouille. Luckily, I had two roasted peppers that I had done ahead of time at home. The stovetop is gas, but I'm used to working on an electric range at home. I couldn't get the burners to turn on quickly, and once they did, the flame was either too low or too hot. I wasn't used to the "clicking" sound of the igniter, so that sort of threw me off worrying that the damn thing was a fuse waiting to blow. The top left burner spoke to the lower right burner so they both had to be turned on at the same time in order to work, another confusing curve ball thrown my way. I had the luxury of using a VitaMix, brand new Cuisinart Food Processor, Kitchen Aid Mixer, and both All-Clad and LeCreuset Pots. I had a virtual medicine cabinet full of herbs and spices to use, including a bottle of Spanish Saffron that was enough to flavor about 100 gallons of fish stock. And imagine cooking in a store that sells literally thousands of tools and gadgets. If you can imagine it, it's there for me to use in the kitchen, (albeit with the understanding I will do my best to inform the students as to the magic properties of LeCreuset. If we sell a few $350 pots after class we're doing well). A very good selection of salts and peppers was literally two steps behind my display kitchen. The owner of the store wrote me this morning and invited me back for another class in January. They are booked solid in November and December, so the Pork Loin with Litchee-Plum Conserve that I was waiting to do as a Holiday dish will have to wait. Apparently the focus of the classes in January is something "lighter" since we've all stuffed ourselves during the Holidays. Cooking "light" isn't really my forte, but I'm sure I'll come up with something interesting for my students. Here are some photos of the kitchen. It's set in a back corner of the store and you can see how we set up the chairs in front of the cooktop. Each seat is set with a clipboard and pen so that the students can take notes and follow along with the recipe. We can also set up things with seats at the counter so the students can interact in the cooking process. You'll see that we have two overhead television screens that are capturing overhead shots of what I'm doing in the kitchen.

For a French twist, scoop the flesh out of the roasted squash then puree in a food processor with some warm heavy cream. As suggested above, I like to add some curry at this stage. Then I strain it back into a stockpot and keep it over a low heat. I'll add some chicken or vegetable stock to keep it fairly thin and not as thick as a soup only using cream. Now for an indulgence, I like to add a few chunks of foie gras. It melts into the soup and gives a whisper of duck liver. The foie gras works well with the curry flavor. Another way to add flavor is to garnish the soup with a flavored oil like parsley oil or cilantro oil.

In spite of setting cheesecloth on fire, (over the flame of a testy gas cooktop I hadn't cooked on), a derelict broiler (that took 30 minutes to roast red peppers), spilling a bottle of olive oil over the front counter at the feet of a student, today's class went well. At least that's what my students said and wrote on their class critique. So I should add to my above post that when you teach for the first time in an unfamiliar kitchen, (despite years of experience), expect the unexpected. Pick yourself up, keep the dialogue running and you'll be perceived in a positive light. We all make mistakes in the kitchen, even the teacher. They liked the saffron flavors in the fish stock that was the base for the Cioppino. But they liked the "Rouille" the best-roasted red pepper, garlic mayonnaise. That was the hit dish today. I'll post photos of the kitchen and the store tommorrow.

Tommorrow I'm teaching my first class at a new venue for me, but a store that's been in town for many years. It's a local kitchen store that has a very dice demonstration kitchen. They sell everything from French cookery pots to local alderwood smoked salt. I have a class of 13 and I'll be doing Cioppino with Grilled Bread and Rouille. Most of the students will probably be at what I would say is the mid to advanced level of home cook. The store caters to pretty serious cooks and I'm sure the students will reflect that. I'll be doing the cooking and will have an assistant and the students are seated in a classroom type of format. They won't get involved in any cooking. I've cooked for years on television, cooking demos in stores, cooking demos at large food events and taught some classes. I've found that regardless of the forum, format or audience/students, planning and organizing is the key. When I cooked on PBS one of the constestants cooked a duck recipe she hadn't tested-either for timing or for doneness of the duck. It killed her. She bought a huge Magret duck breast that was as big as a turkey and she served it raw to the judges. She didn't plan, she didn't test, she didn't time. Had she done those three things, she might have been more successful. Whether it's cooking on television or cooking and teaching, it's critical to plan, plan, plan. That way it eases your stress level and your students have the best chance of enjoying themselves and most importantly-learning something. I start with my recipes. I go over them for about a month before my class. Then I break down the elements of each dish and assign an amount of time to do each task. Then I test the dish and timing to do any fine tuning. I rehearse and review the steps and write down notes on any questions that may come up, and I always anticipate questions about substitutions. "If I can't find fresh clams, can I substitute mussels." "What is the best store in town to buy seafood?" I have about an hour and a half for my class, so this is going to be the general outline- -Prepare saffron fish broth -Prepare rouille -Prepare Cioppino broth -Grill bread -Add shellfish to Cioppino -Add seafood to Cioppino -Spread rouille on bread -Serve bowls of Cioppino with Grilled Bread and Rouille Two last points that really help me-you have to have a constant dialogue with your students. You've got to learn to talk, and cook, at the same time. If you are too intense and go even 30 seconds with not saying something, )"we add the clams and mussels to the hot broth first and let them cook until the shells open") you'll lose your audience quick. They'll be disinterested and it's hard to get them back. Engage them, ask them questions, ask them if they've made the dish and tips they have. I think of it in terms of a tv show-the clicker is in their hands so if you aren't constantly talking, they'll zap you right away and go watch Bourdain. Depending on the setting, this time a retail store, I have an obligation to support the store and the products they sell, like the Le Creuset pots I'll be using. But it's a fine line between suggesting to your students in a subtle way about the virtues of Le Creuset as opposed to sounding like Ron Popeil. If you love cooking and are passionate about food, sharing and teaching others should come naturally.