David Ross

Before I watched "Rocco's Dinner Party" I sensed my comments and the discussion of Mr. DeSpirito's latest foray in front of the cameras would probably end up in our "Worst Cooking Show Ever," topic. Then I watched it. It would be too kind to the other recipients of title of "Worst Cooking Show Ever" to share the discussion with "Rocco's Dinner Party."

Thank you, sometimes I surprise myself!

Tonight, a Chinese-style treatment of Copper River Salmon. We've had, and continue, to have a very productive 2011 Copper River Salmon season in the Pacific Northwest. (Read about it here). I marinated the salmon in soy, ginger, garlic and some "Crisp" chili oil with Soy Protein. Not sure where the "Crispy" element comes in, but that's what it said on the bottle. It was mildly spicy and didn't overpower the salmon. Steamed for about 11 minutes to a nice medium-rare. Steamed Copper River Salmon with "Crisp" Chili Oil-

Tonight I went with a "Steamed Chinese Dishes" theme. Steamed Copper River Salmon with "Crisp" Chili Oil and Soy- And the medium-rare Salmon- (Read our discussion of the 2011 Copper River Salmon season here).

We shouldn't forget that steaming is also a delicious treatment of Copper River Salmon-retaining the moisture that is naturally a part of this special fish. Steamed Copper River Salmon with "Crisp" Chili Oil with Soy- Perfect medium-rare- I worried that the salmon would be overpowered by the spicy heat of the chili oil, but I was pleasantly surprised-the chili oil was somewhat mild yet had just a kick to it so it didn't destroy the salmon. I marinated the salmon with some ginger, garlic, soy sauce and the chili oil. I'm not really sure where the "crisp" comes in, (that's what it says on the bottle), but I assume they "toast" or crisp the chili flakes before putting them in the oil.

Thanks, the fish is such a simple dish. My Asian market sells frozen Riverbarb already cleaned and scored. I dust it with potato flour and deep-fry in 375 canola oil for 3-4 minutes. Then just stir the garlic and ginger into the oils, pour over the fish and drizzle some black vinegar around the fish. The flesh is white and delicate, like a rainbow trout, yet the flavor is delicate and buttery. Delicious.

Lordy, Lordy. Now I have an idea for a breakfast

Doing some Chinese cookery this weekend. (Also posted in the Chinese Eats at Home topic here). Last night, Deep-Fried Riverbarb, (a delicate white fish), with a sauce of Garlic, Ginger, Sesame Oil, Chili Oil and Chinese Black Vinegar- Beef Chow Fun- (Sorry the noodles are buried under the beef). I used flank steak for this dish, and cut the steak in half, then sliced into thin strips. I typically "velvet" meat in a mixture of cornstarch, liquid and egg white, but I've read some recipes that also call for a bit of baking soda. The mixture for the beef included baking soda, cornstarch, soy sauce and Chinese rice wine-no egg white. That bit of baking soda must have caused some sort of reaction because this was the most tender stir-fried beef I've ever had. The sauce is simply mashed fermented black beans, Chinese rice wine and some oyster sauce. I added some shredded carrots, green onions and baby bok choy for a vegetable element.

Deep-Fried Riverbarb with a sauce of Ginger, Garlic, Sesame Oil, Chili Oil and Black Vinegar- Beef Chow Fun- (Sorry the noodles are buried under the beef). I typically "velvet" meat in a mixture of cornstarch, liquid and egg white, but I've read some recipes that also call for a bit of baking soda. The mixture for the beef included baking soda, cornstarch, soy sauce and Chinese rice wine-no egg white. That bit of baking soda must have caused some sort of reaction because this was the most tender stir-fried beef I've ever had.

I chose the downtown Embassy Suites. Got a good rate online and I like the fact their rooms have small kitchenette's and fridges. In mapping it out it's within walking distance of a lot of things downtown. The bigger question for me is what to cook for Saturday!

I'll be there on Sunday and Sunday evening-flying home on Monday.

Chairs too close to tables with no room to comfortably expand the space between the diner and the table. This is especially egregious at restaurants where you are seated at a booth. I'm probably the exception due to my rotund figure, but I swear I've been in high-end steakhouses where the staff seem to think the booths are the "choice" of sophisticated diners--only to find that there is barely enough room for a waif to slip comfortably into the booth and not have her mid-section knocking the butter plate off the table.

And the bar at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel has the best view of the Strip and wonderful cocktails to boot.

Yes, it's delicious made into a gravlax. I made some last year using Aquavit as the liquor. I served the Copper River Salmon Gravlax with some dill creme fraiche and little Gougere's (cheese puffs).

Yes, they all return to the Copper River to spawn so whether it's a Sockeye, Chinook (King) or one of the other species of Pacific Salmon it all falls under the term Copper River. I prefer the Sockeye as I think it has the most oil in the flesh.

That looks absolutely delicious. Another idea for rhubarb-a Rhubarb Upside Down Cake.

No mutton this year?

I haven't gotten to it yet, but one of the dishes on my "in the coming weeks I need to cook" list is Sauteed Spring Lettuce with English Peas.

That's a great idea-and one I'm going to try. I have fair success rolling things up with plastic wrap, so I can see a number of applications where gauze would work when rolling up meat or seafood. Thanks for the tip!

Recently I bought a nice side of Copper River Salmon. I didn't realize until I got home that the fish wasn't fully cleaned-it still had a number of bones running through the middle of the filet. I hadn't used them in years, but I remembered I had bought two tweezers specifically for the job of pulling small bones out of fish, (I just had to find them in the kitchen tool drawer). But it got me to thinking about all the other uses for these small tweezers that are designed to be used in the bathroom, not the kitchen. When I was in Las Vegas attending Vegas Uncork'd 2011 here, I saw first-hand how Professional Chefs used tweezers to delicately garnish dishes with herbs and fresh flowers. When I dined at the private table at e' by Jose Andres, any number of small personal grooming tools were employed by the Chefs as they presented us with "Modernist" dishes-tweezers, eye droppers, small scissors and clippers. Do you use tweezers in the kitchen? Are there other little tools found in the cosmetics and drug department at the supermarket that I should include in my kitchen tool drawer?

It's delicious cooked in little crocks using a basic pie filling recipe-then top each individual crock with a basic streusel topping. For about the last 30 seconds of baking, turn on the broiler to crisp the top.

Well, 12 minutes into the premier show tonight and I think I have to eat some words I spoke months ago-I thought until tonight "Bitchin Kitchen" was the worst food program on television. Ugh.

Thank you for pointing out the importance of food safety when purchasing seafood to be used for Sashimi or Crudo at home. But I have to wonder, what does freezing do to the structure of the proteins in raw fish? Do small ice crystals form within the meat, watering it down when thawed? Is Sashimi cut from a frozen/thawed fish going to have the same pure flavor as Sashimi cut from a fresh fish? Right now we are in the closing days of a 12-day sport-fishing season for Spring Halibut in the Puget Sound region. A lady I work with has gone out twice with her husband and they've been catching their limits with fish running in the 30-60lb. range. It's normal for the halibut to have what we call "sea worms" in their innards, but it's simply a matter of cutting them out. There is no harm to the pristine, clean, white fillets of the halibut, and it is delicious raw and thinly sliced. I'm not definitively saying that one can eat raw halibut that had worms in its gut, I'm just saying it's never harmed me or the folks I know who catch it fresh.

Wow. I never realized the burst of garlicky, onion flavor that would come from this little flower. Each flower has about 10 little florets and I used a couple of them to dress some fresh Copper River Salmon, in a Crudo dish along with applewood-smoked black pepper and preserved lemon oil.

Well, how could I resist not using some fresh Copper River Salmon in a simple crudo dish with preserved lemon oil, applewood-smoked black pepper and fresh Chive Blossoms?