Kouign Aman

Here's a stab at it, tho I'll happily defer to an official type SSB, and learn something in the process: Doubling time of many nasty bacteria (among them E.coli) is ~ 15-18 min under ideal conditions (30C). So wash em away and keep the bioburden count low. Also, if you keep changing the water, the meat will thaw faster, since its making the water colder as they sit together. Now granted your cold water never gets that toasty warm, so your SIL has a point - the meat is probably safe if left for longer, but it will thaw more slowly, which negates the whole point of the process. Still, even if you go longer than 30 min, for bioburden reasons it would be good to change the water regularly. double, then double then double again ..... the bacteria count goes up fast once it starts going up. Much easier to keep it low.

Happy dance! It IS your blog. More Happydance!

Wow. That was a fun trip. Thanks!

A coworker once ordered "cucarachas" instead of "chicharones". Granted, wrong romance language....

I thought about this overnight, and woke up thinking: caramel mousse not pineapple mousse. Keep the sticky sweet carmelizedpineapple bits in it. Make the pan not too deep as the mousse shouldnt overpower the dessert. But, since you've got that delicious icecream, it could become a jellyroll topped icecream bombe.... I think the flying ideas on this thread are similar to Ling's consulting a dozen or more cookbooks for inspiration.

Water baths -At work I routinely run a Lauda at 62C for 25 hours. If its covered (with its own lid or foil) its ok for water level. Uncovered drops alarmingly in a couple hours. The cover also helps it maintain even temp, and use less power so the equipment will last longer. Lauda covers come in flat or peaked shape. Since you are working with a complete immersion process, the cheaper flat one would work fine. And of course, to repeat myself, a sheet of foil works well too. We run them at 42C for ~5 days with about a 1" depth loss to evaporation, tho we do cover them for about half that time. re burning the house down, does your water bath have an 'over temp' setting? If so, it should turn itself off if it reaches that temp. That might ease concerns about a fire.

Grilled or roasted vegetables (must include ripe bellpeppers or onions for a bit of sweet), crispy crusty roll (toasted optional), feta cheese with kalamata olives chopped in as the spread. Eat at room temp or warmer.

A coworker raved about the Bishop's Lodge brunch. Is he onto something or nuts? (He's very fond of buffet brunches). I enjoyed my meal (and those served to my 3 companions) at Jacquelina's in Taos. 1541 Paseo Del Pueblo Sur Taos, NM 87571

POST RECIPES! PLEEEEEEASE! Where did you get the mold for the jello/mac brain?

Me too. That's a key piece of info. And one that is getting over looked in this discussion. Soysauce may be "high" in glutamates, but soysauce is still >95% water (v/v). A tsp of msg is all msg. I've tasted it neat. It tasted "like meat", was the best description I could come up with. Now I know the term "umami". Fads and misunderstandings occur. Many people get fashed about salt intake, when only some are susceptible to it. If your Dr has linked your high blood pressure to dietary salt intake, the fact that I eat 10x as much sodium as you and have lower than normal bloodpressure is not relevant. Your biochemistry is different than mine. Ditto MSG. It wouldnt surprise me at all if some people have a threshhold level below which they have no reaction and above which they have a reaction to it. It also wouldnt surprise me if many other people dont have this reaction, but claim to or think they do.

I like the thought of the jelly roll slices being arranged in a pan, so that the final product has them on top, referencing the pineapple rings of the original. How about: carmelizing canned pineapple (the sort in its own juice), since fresh is not at its best, then using that in the mousse? Munched up, it would give the flavor, and the chewy fruity bits. Might be necessary to add some butter & brown sugar to the carmelizing process, if the pineapple doesnt have enough sugar on its own. This would be with as tart a pineapple mousse as you could manage to create, so there is lots of contrast between the very sweet carmelized bits and the main filling. Use Trader Joe's sour Morello cherries for an accent - perhaps the very inner part of the roll filling could be a sour cherry mousse, (that first tight little circle in the center of the spiral), then the rest be the carmelized pineapple mousse. Fill the lined pan with more of the pineapple mousse. The carmelly cake for the bottom layer, to seal it all in. I have no idea how one would successfully unmold such a thing!

I'd forgotten about bread and dripping...now I'm jonesing.

The munchkin took each of her noodles last night and twirled it about in circles like a rhythmic gymnast (with running commentary) before consuming it.

"There's a hole in my bucket, dear Jaymes, dear Jaymes, there's a hole in my bucket, dear Jaymes, a hole!" "With what shall I mend it, Dear Jaymes??" "with silica gel, dear Kouign Aman...." All that work, just to pull a bucket of sea water up for seasoning!

Bourdain, D'A may sell foie duck by-products now, but duck raised other ways is also delicious, and probably cheaper to produce. So if foie production is banned, its quite possible it will not be the end of that business. The duck products will be available, probably at the same price, but also quite probably at lower cost to the producer, therefer higher profit margin. You give no credit to the owner's ingenuity while at the same time you list all the ways they've bolstered their business model by providing unique and hard to get items, all things duck etc. Is your 30% number 30% of their total sales, or 30% of their profits? Your subsequent posts have clouded what I thought was a clear answer at the bottom of page 1. Aside from the economics for D'Artagnan, I would prefer the proposed ban be defeated. Its silly in a country that okays large egg-factories etc. <editted to remove COPS jargon>

Not that I think they should, but they already do on the large 5 gallon plastic buckets, complete with a silhouette of small child with head in bucket containing water. And remember "This bag is not a toy" and "Silica gel - do not eat". I was hoping this thread was an epic battle between the advocates of sea salt, kosher salt, red salt, smoked salt etc. Doesnt matter what the gov does re salt, we'll just end up adding it table side (soy sauce, anyone?)

Fountain Cafe, PortTownsend, Anchovy Pasta...............:dreamy:

Yup, 30% be a lot. Ouch.

If they are the premier supplier for many items french, european, hard-to-get and all parts duck as you say above, they will perhaps not go out of business, no?They just need to charge a bit more for the other duck parts, to make up the lost foie revenue. Any idea what % of the company's profit is due to foie sales, vs all the other products together?

White bread, butter, sugar sandwich. Slice hotdogs nearly in half, insert slice of cheeze. Wrap in pillsbury cresent roll dough. Cook til crescent dough is done. Eat with French's mustard. Why is a bacon butty lowclass but a watercress sandwich at the opposite end of the culture scale? One involves a highly prepared meat product, the other features a weed....

Having been the customer in the described situation..... I had two different experiences that day. In the first shop, they did not carry the wine I was seeking, but I was offered a short list of 'other good white wines'. Because I had a particular flavor profile in mind, and was shy, I thanked the clerk politely and left. The next shop did not have the wine either. I expect they had ~ 100% inventory overlap with the first shop. BUT I left with a bottle of wine and a certain confidence in it because. Because the clerk asked me what I had liked about the wine I was seeking. Which led me to believe that when he recommended a wine, it would be similar enough to meet my wishes. (and it was, tho distinctly different from the wine of search). Im guessing the two clerks were equally knowledgeable about their wines, but one of them knew how to get key information from a customer, and thus was able to make a sale.

So much cool stuff, and those vacuum glasses might just be the coolest of the cool! (tho I'd like to try that Violet Femme too). Thank you for providing vicarious tourism and feeding at a high level. <edit to add> - Several bloggers have spice drawers and I think its such a workable idea compared to the spice cabinet: easy visibility for all contents vs digging thru the dark hidden corners.... I also think it says something to priorities that one can dedicate a rare and valuable drawer to such things. (drawers usually being rare when compared to shelf availability).

Similar sinks show up in lots of laboratories, so perhaps there's a new angle to search in future (call your local lab, ask for facilities, get name of contractor who built the place, call them, etc.... or maybe just look in the VWR or Fisher Scientific catalogs). They take infinite abuse!

You got the best of the two. The ollalieberry is a parent of the boysenberry (along with the blackberry), which was carefully bred by Mr Knott of Knott's Berry Farm, to be the best pie berry there is. I think he did a fine job! 'Course, that doesnt mean "the folks" dont make good eating!

Damn that sounds soooooo good! On the fire & ice front, I think warm tomato soup would go well with the stoli too, referencing the bloody mary, of course.