AAQuesada

FYI: Daniel Rogov passed away in 2011 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Rogov

for everyday beans or frijoles de la olla the mark of a good cook is your bean liquor. I don't use anything but beans, water and green onion (salt towards the end) because that's how mom does it. You can put a tablespoon or two of corn oil in at the end and reduce the bean liquor if you want. Truly this style beans will be better the next day. Not that it lasted that long growing up, this was the classic after school snack with some sour cream and extra salt with a corn tortilla and butter Yum.

Is your bowl really Alu??? Most kitchen bowls are cheap, thin and non reactive stainless steal. If it really is Alu the lemon could have reacted to it and given it an off taste.

I personally wouldn't sub duck fat or schmaltz for Lard. Totally different flavor, don't over think it just use any shortening/fat that is solid at room temp. Keep in mind that this REALLY is not a big deal. You won't lack for flavor. Once you start cooking you can ask about specific recipe subs, but really Mexican food does not depend on Lard so much that is cant be replaced, especially if you aren't eating pork anyway.

Just use the same amount of any fat solid at room temp. Don't worry about flavor loss, just jump in the deep end and cook!

I wouldn't use olive oil in Mexican cook as a replacement for lard. Use coconut oil or shortening in place of lard. Corn oil is a good general purpose oil. Not eating pork or using lard is not a major stumbling block to enjoying Mexican cuisine. They eat lots of fish, shrimp, chicken, veggies ect...

Just to bring up another issue, most likely there is some pectin now in that syrup for candying oranges. How will that change boiling up to softball?

Parm rinds are great if you are doing a risotto or an Italian soup where that flavor is desirable but certainly not if you want a general stock that is versatile

Hi Rancho Gordo! So what did you end up doing with it? I recently found some at the Santa Monica Farmers Market, grown by Colman family Farms and was told by a Oaxacan accuaintance that they use it for Atole and call it Maizono. Am going to play around with it, but wanted to see if anyone has Ideas.

Charcuteria- the Spanish chacuterie book has a recipe, but you do need a temp/humidity controlled chamber to do it.

Thanks so much! Really interesting and similar to what Dominique Ansel does based on the Cronut recipe published in advance of his new book

Hopefully his book will have both measurements!

That is really interesting! how much butter to milk? Do you feel it impacted the flavor/mouth feel in a positive way? I would be curious to see a formula for your modern version (finishing with gelatin) if you are not not breaking any vows of silence It really sounds useful

Fennel pollen has a very sweet, strong fennel flavor. I like it quite a bit. personally I like fresh sage in my breakfast patties, but sounds like you are going for for of a mild italian sausage.. My local korean market has a really nice coarse ground pork that is great for stuff like that. Maybe you can find something similar. Oh and btw, If you decide to use orange zest I highly recommend drying your own. Take the zest off with a peeler and dry in the microwave on low power (in between some paper towels) 15 seconds at a time. until you have your desired dryness. Then blitz in the coffee grinder. Incredible for dried spice blends or ratatoille, pork braises ect...

When I lived in Japan I was all about the bulldog brand tonkatsu sauce. I don't know that you really gain much from making this from scratch esp if you are using ketchup as a base but YMMV and all that. That being said IIRC there was a recipe in Art Culinaire recently for tonkatsu (as part of something fancy) I can see if I can find it if you are interested.

That is awesome! How did you get it to crackle like that?!

It's interesting, the math and chemistry are def tough. I have tried hard to forget most of my chem and math knowledge! lol, but it is fun to stretch myself mentally and get out of your own food universe. Think of it as continuing education. On another note, it certainly helps to speak spanish! I thought todays translation of Joan Roca was particularly mediocre

That is soo wrong. you should call it 'VanGogh's ear' as a warning! Sounds yummy

That is a great looking book! Thank you so much for bringing it to our attention. There are lots of books on regional Mexican home style food, but very little (in english) on Modern Mexican fine dining influence by modern spanish and european technique. I will add a link to a short bio on the other chef you mentioned! http://www.starchefs.com/cook/chefs/bio/enrique-olvera

2nd 'Food for Fifty'

Don't ignore iced tea preparations as well and even work with a bartender/consultant to develop some creative mixed drinks (no alcohol) featuring your teas. Cold tea prep and even tea cocktails give you something that you can serve quickly and batch in advance; in addition to being a 'signature' of your shop

I use left over pickle juice (esp if it is spicy) to make Curtido pickled cabbage condiment/sauce from El Salvador. Traditionally a topping on pupusa's, but great on all sorts of stuff

Funny you mention that because I use felchlin discs for my chocolate chip cookies. It just depends on what effect you are going for.

Genius. LOL!! I can top that I worked at a restaurant that served a brand of relish called "hommade"

From a drinkers perspective, personally I order a Perfect Manhattan when the bar i'm at doesnt have a good rye.. IMO the white vermouth cuts down on the sweetness when paired with bourbon. What Bourbon? maybe not so fancy but I like Basil Hayden