ScoopKW
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Posts posted by ScoopKW
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Sashimi with a nice ponzu.
Roll it in sesame seeds and sear the tuna on a rocket engine.
Tuna tartar with some minced ginger and green onions and a little sesame, served on Japanese soup spoons.
There's a nice tuna 3-way. Pretty common stuff, though. Don't know if your guests will roll their eyes and say "ho hum" for something like that.
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Can anyone here clarify how easy it is to get a "service collar" for an animal? Is it very easy to just go anywhere and get one? Are there any fines for putting one on an animal that is not a service animal?
Pay a doctor to write a note saying that you have a condition that requires that your dog be with you 24 hours a day, and BAM! Your dog is now a service dog. No special training required on anyone's part.
I probably have a different opinion than many here because I've lived in tourist towns my entire life. I've seen WANTON abuse of the system by people who want to bring pets into a no-pets hotel. Some of the owners will flat-out tell you that if the hotel allowed animals, they wouldn't have to go through the trouble and expense of finding a doctor to write them a permission slip.
EDIT -- In my tourist town experience, for every legitimate service animal and for every "I dunno, COULD be an epilepsy dog" service animal, there are five owners who just want to bring their dogs into hotels and restaurants and supermarkets. And it's becoming more and more prevalent as more pet owners learn a doctor's note is their golden ticket out of kennel fees.
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Like others have said before, not all disabilities are apparent. Service dog can be a seeing eye dog, but it can also be for someone with emotional issues.
I think the crux of the "I can't stand the people who apparently abuse the system" argument are those who's "emotional issue" is that they can't bear to be separated from their pet for 15 freakin' minutes.
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It's actually a Vienna Lager. A Vienna Pilsner (were there such a style and in today's craft world you just might have created one) would be much more hoppy.
Sorry -- coffee hadn't kicked in yet. Vienna lager it is. But Dos Equis Amber is still a decent (not the best, but decent) example.
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I see a lot of this behavior. And while many of these dogs MIGHT be "seizure sensing," I cannot help but think many more are named "Mr. Woogums." The owner cannot bear to be separated from the miserable "piss over everything" yappy little cur and feels entitled to bring their dog EVERYWHERE.
(As can probably be gleaned from the above, I am NOT a dog lover. Many dogs are fine, but many MORE are spoiled to the point of being a nuisance and a health hazard to the people in the grocery stores. And what of the people who are allergic? Why should someone have to be miserable in an airplane so "Mr. Woogums" can take a joyride with their enabling owner?)
I'm waiting for the day that I'm on a plane and the service animal turns out to be a miniature horse. How do you keep a horse from "answering the call of nature" on a five-hour flight? Worst plane trip I've ever taken was a long-haul with a damned CAT. The cat started crapping at take off, and the whole plane reeked like a litterbox for seven and a half hours.
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Add to that a couple clever and highly-successful advertising campaigns for some non-craft beers (Dos Equis sales are skyrocketing and Corona is doing very well). So you have reasonably priced craft beers and better-advertised alternate lower-end beers both hammering away at the mega-brews.
Dos Equis Amber Lager isn't all that bad. It's a decent-enough example of a Vienna Pilsner.
Corona, OTOH, proves that Americans will buy ANYTHING.
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Notice that all of them are mass-produced "American Light Lagers."
If sales of Sierra Nevada, Anchor Steam or Samuel Adams were down 70%, I'd be worried.
But those eight beers? See if you can tell them apart in a blind taste test. The only differences will be things like "less carbonation" "more corn flavor," "do I detect hop flavor? perhaps, not sure."
The market is flooded with carbon-copy adjunct lagers. I'll bet 10 beers are dropped by their corporate parents in the next two years. (Meanwhile, Corona continues to do well. So we can't blame things on a "more-refined American palate.")
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One time I grabbed the wrong bottle making bananas foster and ended up pouring $20 worth of 30-year old Scotch in the pan. (I was busy, slightly buzzed, and not paying attention.) It was AMAZING. Butterscotch caramel and bananas. Who'd have thought?
(Please don't use the good stuff. Blended scotch will work just as well, and it won't make you cry for making such an expensive mistake.)
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http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/09/12/bourdain-to-get-his-own-line-of-books/
Looks like we'll be seeing lots of new material that while not written by Tony, carries the "Bourdain seal of approval."
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But it got me thinking about the best fats for various purposes, from spreading on bread to frying to garnishing finished dishes.
Is "mostly fat" acceptable?
If so, I pick beef marrow for spreading on bread.
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Betwen the burr grinder and the thirty dollar per shipment beans, I'm wondering if y'all noticed he is trying to save money?
Does anyone have any advice for those who don;t want to or can't mail order coffee every two weeks?
Yes, actually I do. Buy your coffee at Costco. I regularly get Rwandan coffee for $5/lb.
But I agree with everyone here -- a burr grinder is key. Whirly-blade grinders do not yield an even grind. I consider the Bodum Bistro to be the "entry level" grinder. There are cheaper grinders out there. But you get what you pay for.
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No. I refuse.
I buy what looks good and eat it. Most of my favorite markets are close enough to where I work that it isn't inconvenient or a waste of fuel.
If I wander past a REALLY nice looking sole (that has no smell whatsoever), that's what's for dinner. If you plan and list, where does the inspiration come from?
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I'm waiting too.... HURRY.
I find this fascinating, especially since I just returned from Vegas where I partook in the "buffet of buffets". NEVER AGAIN!!
For those who don't go to Las Vegas, the "Buffet of Buffets" is a Caesar's Entertainment pass that gives free access to the buffets at seven properties. Of those seven, three are pretty good, as far as buffets go -- Caesar's, Paris and Rio. The rest (like Imperial Palace) I wouldn't eat if you paid me.
I'm not a big buffet person. It's often not much more to go someplace where I don't have to wait in a line for an hour and get to eat what I order, cooked how I want it. The big problem with Las Vegas buffets is that they have to turn a profit. (EVERY department has to turn a profit. The tables don't subsidize the resort like they did when the mafia ran things.) And when a visitor is paying $45 for an all-day pass at seven restaurants, that gets tough.
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Fifty people? Crème brûlée. Simple beyond belief. Make ahead and fire it off with gusto with a blowtorch in front of an ooh-ing and ahh-ing crowd. I like Bananas Foster as well for a "ooh, ahh, yum" crowd-pleasing dessert.
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I'd rather have the whisperers than the ones shouting about their latest endoscopy.
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Canned snails is one of the best things that comes out of a can.
Sardines. I love 'em.
Canned chicken breast makes a nice salad in a pinch. (q.v. hurricane power outage thread)
Can't wait for winter. I am SO whipping up some snails, with my compound butter. (q.v. shallots thread)
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Didn't know the newspaper trick. It's unlikely I'll ever need it again, but I'll keep it in mind. I always just threw blocks of it into the freezer and fridge. It's certainly convenient -- since it goes straight to gas.
Blocks of frozen salt water last about 48 hours in plastic bags. (One bag. Multiple bags last FAR longer. I've gotten a week out of them in the past.) Then use the melt to flush the toilet. It's certainly cheaper than dry ice, but not renewable during an extended power outage.
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Freezing salt water in bread pans will work better than dry ice, which peters out too quick to be useful for more than a day.
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Today I left for work at 7 a.m. for my 8 a.m. shift.
Nothing went right. Got stuck in traffic behind an accident that luckily didn't involve me. Usually I arrive with half an hour to spare so I can pound a liter of black coffee in the EDR (employee dining room). Got to work four minutes late, which means I've added 1/2 point to my demerit total -- which up until this day was perfect. Oh well. Luckily nothing happens until I reach six points.
On the way to the kitchen where I work (there are dozens of kitchens, with hundreds of chefs, cooks and helpers working at any given time). I walk through a hallway as long as a football field, with hundreds of Alto-Shaams along the wall. Along the way, I see the rigging crews setting up stages for the conventions, and the country western concert scheduled later this week. The bakeshop is close to the dressing rooms, and you can often see celebrities filching muffins from the bakeshop queen marys. (10-20 queen marys plus at least 20 speed racks full of baked goods leave the bake shop every shift, three times a day, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.)
The day started traying up pepper-crusted maple bacon. How much bacon? One stacked pallet of 15-pound boxes. Roughly 600 standard baking trays of thick-cut bacon. Driving home, all I could smell was maple. I've washed my hands 20 times today. They still smell like maple. Maybe I'll make some pancakes tonight. Looked up at the clock and it was 1 p.m. The day is just FLYING by.
In the background, two cooks are arguing who was the best Mighty Morphin' Power Ranger. What decade is this, anyway?
I go grab some lunch in the EDR. I get a chili relleno, a tamale, and a couple pieces of chicken and wash that down with more coffee. A guy sits down next to me and says, "A meal fit for a king. [slaps his lap and whistles.] C'mere King. Here boy!"
Nothing good in the dessert display today, so I skip that. I don't need dessert anyway. A quick mile walk back to the kitchen.
The whole kitchen smells like beef. Cooks are searing off a few hundred NY Strips, and there's always a few hundred gallons of demi going at any given time. Our demi is from scratch. Makes a world of difference. We use it all over the place. It gets bagged in 5 gallon "chubs" on a machine that will take your fingers off if you're not careful. Worst day I had was when the machine nearly got me, and I ended up spilling 5 gallons of hot demi all over myself. I got it good from the kitchen that day.
But next it's sandwiches. 400 at a clip. Line up five stainless tables, slap plastic wrap on them, and then it's "Deal A Meal." One person throws slices of bread like playing cards onto the tables. Another follows with meat, then cheese, then garnish, then spread and top. Most people speak Spanish in the kitchen -- it's the lingua franca. Chinese cooks yell at Haitians in Spanish, because it's the language most people speak. Mexican "circus music" blares in the background. Sounds like a German oom-pah band on speed. But today the only thing coming in was the classic rock station. Thank God. I hate circus music. Could be worse. The night shift usually listens to Top 40. I didn't know who Katy Perry was before I started. Now I know the lyrics to "California Gurls" by heart. That's not something I'm particularly proud of, by the way.
The chefs are talking amongst themselves about possible sandwich combinations. I yell out "brie and proscuitto on sourdough."
"Mmmmmm... food cost!" is the reply. "Pepper jack and carmelized onions. Same as the rest, 400 count." (The chefs count EVERYTHING.)
Actually, we have a ton of sliced proscuitto in the walk-in. Literally, one ton. All pre-sliced and cryo'd. I can't even imagine the food cost. That will go to another kitchen and get used for a special of some sort. I imagine garmo (garde mange) will get that pork.
Finally it's quitting time. I say goodbye to the COD -- Chef on Duty. I change, and throw my checks and whites into the laundry chute. It will be clean and pressed when I come back. And then I drive home. As slow as the drive in was, it was the opposite on the way home. Didn't even see a red light. Made it home from the Strip in 15 minutes. Which is probably a personal best.
Next installment... sometime.
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True, but not NEARLY as much fun as a barbecue grill, 25 friends, and red wine. (One thing I learned in Florida was to buy a case of red prior to a storm. At room temperature, it tastes better than beer or vin blanc.) Any time this happened back home, it was time to unload the freezer and do a heavy-duty block party.
Of course, we were never standing in knee-deep water at the time, either.
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1) Anyone know what Keller is milling for his GF flour?
2) GF seems to me to be the latest media-hyped fad. Not to minimize celiac disease, but there surely cannot be that many people suffering from the condition.
We've lived through "fat is evil," "nitrites are evil," "cholesterol is evil," "caffeine is evil," "proteins are evil," "alcohol is evil," "carbohydrates are evil," "MSG is evil," and so on, ad nauseum.
You know what I think is evil? Shrill media harpies, shrieking fear from the rooftops.
The tests are inexpensive. Easy enough to find out for sure. Nothing like hearing, "I'm a gluten-free pescatarian who doesn't really like the taste of fish," to really make me want to stay home that evening.
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So..... am I to take it you won't be sending Valencia orange marmalade to random strangers on internet fora?
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A "divierta la boca," then...
How they keep store-bought pesto green
in Kitchen Consumer
Posted
+1 for blanching. After making the pesto, cover the top with some olive oil and freeze it solid. I've kept garden pesto green for months that way. I freeze it in small containers that are useful sizes for various applications.