kjohn

They can't seem to settle on a name, what is this, the John Mellencamp of restaurants? The whole concept seems to be dreadful, on par with a Britney Spears restaurant.

I don't know much about the Vegas outposts of these restaurants but I can say that as much as I like Robuchon, Guy Savoy was responsible for the best meal I've had in my life thus far.

Love Mariage Freres - their The Rouge Bourbon is my favorite, the bouquet and the flavor are non-pareil.

L'Express on Park Ave S. is pretty good.

Sure next time you're in town I'll buy you a drink @ Pegu. So I tried the fizz in a bottle. Fan-tas-TICK! It was light and fluffy, like the Cucumber foam on the Pimms Pony @ WD-50. It went a little like this... 12 Oz. Plymouth gin @ Oz. Plymouth Sloe gin 7.5 Oz lemon juice 7.5 oz. simple 3 egg whites Combinr all ingrediants in Container. Charge with CO2. Carfully spray into rocks glass full of ice. let settle, top with more frothy goodness. No garnish to distract from the cotton candy pinkness. ← Great technique! Why hasn't it ever occurred to me before! Love your book BTW. I received it as a Christmas gift from my gf years ago. It's how I learned to make drinks.

With the Cosmopolitans and the Aviation, when you make them at home and follow a precise recipe, you usually end up with something that packs more of a punch. How serious your crowd is about cocktails (not very from the sound of things) will determine what they have a taste for. Most people like things on the sweeter and weaker side. Most of the Cosmopolitans I've had out are like pink lemonade, but the ones I make at home tend to have a harder edge to them. Next time you have a party, plan a set cocktail menu. Offer 2-3 choices and people will tend to try things. Choose enough variation so that multiple tastes can be accomodated. For example, you could do a martini style drink and a highball-style drink to accomodate different tastes for cocktail strength. Whether they like what they try - well, that's another story.

The pink outer layer is the smoke ring. It's supposed to be there. It's got all the nitrate-goodness. ← What I was trying to get across was that the smoke ring wasn't that deep in the meet. I think that either they aren't smoking it long enough or switch to less meaty ribs. For example, the ribs at Blue Smoke are pink almost all the way through, but are less meaty than Max's.

I ate at Max's back in February, and it was great. By great, I mean a lot better than I expected. I had chicken and ribs. The chicken was great, with a very good smoke flavor. The ribs were similarly well-smoked. I thought I had it made. However, I went back this weekend. I had the ribs again. Smoke wasn't absent, but it was clear that it hadn't penetrated the ribs very deeply. The outer layer was pink, but about a half-inch in, the pork was white. These were very meaty ribs, so I assume they just weren't cooked long enough. The sides seem to be excellent, especially the cheese grits. Didn't try the collard greens, though. Based on my two experiences, I wouldn't say that Max is just plain bad, but it seems to be very inconsistent. On the other hand, it's a pleasant place to eat, so I would probably risk it and go back anyway.

I made my first sourdough bread today. I was inspired by the number of threads here related to sourdough baking. The loaf came out very well. It's a little on the denser side as I haven't quite figured out the 'big bubbles' technique yet. Nevertheless, it makes a great sandwich bread and is tasty enough to be eaten out of hand. I'm very satisfied and I'm looking forward to trying some variations in technique and recipe. Thanks to everybody here for the great information.

Do you use baking soda for the rise?

I boil if it's a leafy green I'm working with. I steam almost everything else. As for the microwave, it's actually a great way to steam vegetables. My father bought a microwave steamer when I was a kid and I've been partial to steaming vegetables ever since.

I think the deal-breaker here for me would be whether the flour is discernable in the finished curd, either by taste or by mouth-feel. What's your take on that? ← I've done this many times and there is no discernable flour flavor or mouthfeel. We're talking about a small amount of flour and it is cooked with the milk. You can even back off the flour a bit more and it still has a lot of thickening power.

It sounds like you overworked the dough or didn't allow sufficient rest time. If you develop too much gluten, things get spongy.

But the beer companies do that already. There are a lot of those flavored malt liquor beverages. But your point is taken. I have my own beliefs about the causes of the 'obesity epidemic,' based on my observations on how people eat. The two things I see as particularly bad news is the amount of soda consumption and the amount of fried potato consumption. If every meal is washed down with a coke and accompanied by french fries, we're talking about a lot of extra calories being consumed. Part of the problem is the horrible quality of vegetables available in most areas of the United States. People aren't choosing to eat healthy because it simply isn't appealing to eat that way. If the vegetables and fish available to you are of low quality, you are going to get something processed.

Too bad about the chocolate shop, I liked that place.