ScoopKW
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Posts posted by ScoopKW
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And, seeing as New Year's is right around the corner -- Hoppin' John.
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I see Mr. Greweling brings his up to 320f. I'll try that next. It was easy enough to find his brittle recipe. And I'm sure it's a far sight better than mine.
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It's not "either or." Either we're completely blasé about microbes, or we act like Melvin Udall from "As Good as it Gets."
That isn't it. It's all about risk minimization as far as I'm concerned. Microbial risk is literally everywhere. We should do what we can to minimize risk.
We should insist:
1) That markets place the same anti-microbial wipes near the olive bar, and other places where the public has access to unpackaged food.
2) That signage be put up explaining the dangers of foodborne illness, and WHERE THE MICROBES COME FROM. Most people don't know they probably have staph on their hair follicles and E. coli under their nails.
Where I come from, if someone grabs food with their bare hands, that food is tossed out immediately. Anyone that grabs olives from the bar with their bare hands should be expected to purchase the contents of the entire container. Then the container should be cleaned and sanitized, and new product be placed in it. Same thing with sneezing children and "guide" dogs in markets. Positive reinforcement is obviously not working. Let's start charging shoppers for the food that they ruin.
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I've always used store-brand syrup. Is there a difference?
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Actually, that might be it. The valley is not flat. It's shaped like a lop-sided bowl. I live on the rim, at about 4,000 feet.
Perhaps I need to adjust my temperature because of that?
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I've made it four years in a row. It's always good. But I really want to knock it out of the park this year. I'm good about calibrating thermometers. And humidity isn't an issue here.
But I admit I've been using volume measures -- mainly because it's so hard to find decent recipes by weight, unless it's a production recipe that yields hundreds of pounds.
I'll try taking Lisa's recipe to hard crack and see how that goes.
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The only thing I ever want for Christmas is food.
When it comes to cooking, if I need it, I buy it. So any cooking-related Christmas gift will be either something I already have, or something I don't really need.
But I'll never be unhappy with a hunk of good cheese, a rasher of bacon, some smoked fish, and beer.
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I'll take samples -- after asking a clerk. And then I use tongs to drop the sample onto one of the plastic lids. THEN I grab the sample and eat it.
After what I've seen working the buffet line at a casino, nothing shocks me anymore. I've seen people touch their erupting-cold-sore mouth and then touch the tongs -- or the food. So now I have no problems asking for fresh tongs and spoons. "Hi, I'd like some items from the olive bar. May I have a clean spoon please?"
The people who dip their fingers into a public food source should be lined up against the grocery store back wall and shot. (OK. That's too strong.) But we need to call it when we see it. "You pig! Get your nasty staph-carrying fingers out of the food! I'll bet there's E. coli under your nails, too. You disgusting animal."
So, BeeZee, get your husband over to the computer and make him read the above.
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The title says it all. I make holiday brittle. But past years it's been just a little too chewy.
I bring the candy up to 310F, stir in baking soda, and turn out onto a silpat and then roll thin with a heavy marble roller.
Recipe is:
1 cup light corn syrup, 2 cups sugar, 1 cup water -- boil together five minutes. Add 2 cups pecans -- simmer 15 minutes. Add 4 tbl butter, 2 tsp vanilla, 2 tsp salt -- bring to hard crack. Stir in 2 tsp baking soda, immediately turn out and roll flat.
Any shocking errors here?
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Your friend should be concerned about the diameter of the gas pipe serving that "virtuoso cooker." 1/2" probably isn't enough energy. 3/4" might not even be enough, considering other draws on the gas.
If he's got a small pipe, the stove won't get enough gas, and it will be no better than a GE Throwaway. I'd be looking at the entire gas service line from the meter to the stove. Probably a pricey upgrade, but certainly something for your friend to think about now, while he's in the "ripping stuff out" phase.
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Google "Nellie and Joe's Key Lime Juice." That's as good as you're likely to find. There might be a local/national way to get that to your door.
I'd bring you some in December if it weren't for the stupid carry-on restrictions. (I don't check bags. I travel with a backpack that stows overhead.)
Key Limes are also called Mexican limes. They're smaller and rounder than a "normal" lime. Like all limes, they're ripe when they're yellow. The "green lime" thing was to differentiate them from lemons. That's why REAL Key Lime Pie is yellow. Not ever green. Green Key Lime Pie is an abomination.
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Cooking is a joy when everything necessary to make the dish is within arm's reach in a stainless steel bowl, ramekin, custard cup, whatever. Sauté this, add that, add a couple more things, done. Brown this meat, soften those veg, deglaze with that liquid, braise, done.
There is nothing worse than having to mince garlic or herbs on-the-fly because it was skipped over during the mise stage. Or not having enough of something because it wasn't measured out in advance. Or missing a key ingredient entirely.
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I am able to buy fresh goose at my local Whole Foods. Maybe yours has them, too.
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I simply do not understand the basis for his complaint.
Have you ever seen one of the "chew it twenty times, then wait at least one minute before taking another bite" eaters? That's what the article is about. There's the "slow food movement" and then there's the quacky "slow food movement" where adherents think chewing a minimum of 20 times will result in weight loss and better nutrition. (Through portion control and better digestion through massive mastication.)
My read on the whole thing is, once the food is on the plate, it has the same kilojoules of energy no matter how it is eaten. Taking an hour to eat a slice of pizza isn't going to magically make the pizza more healthy.
And since many people out there treat diet like a religion, these "slow food" people are one of the most annoying groups on the planet. It's not enough that they eat the way they do. They have to spend three hours at mealtime trying to convert anyone who will listen.
We're not talking about normal, "slow" eaters here. We're talking about "post office during the holidays on quaaludes" slow.
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I wouldn't want to be with one of these pretentious gits who count how many times they chew each piece of food. How is this supposedly "better?" Take all the fun out of eating by insisting that a person chew each morsel 20 times, and wait 30 seconds or more between bites. What a horribly prescribed and sterile way of eating. Besides, what if it takes this person an hour to eat a dish that should be served hot? Or cold?
Nor would I want to eat around one of the ravenous wolf-like shovel-it-in types, either.
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Friend, single adult male, great cook, entertains frequently.
That's the one I'm buying for. I know he doesn't own any All Clad.
I have about a $300.00 budget and would like to get him a piece he'll use a lot.
I'd rummage through his kitchen and see what he has first.
The two pans I cannot live without are my Falk 9.5" fry pan and 1.5 quart sauce pan. Either one would keep you under $300. I have several All-Clad pans. But when I reach for a pan for some serious work, it's usually a Falk Culinaire.
Heck, if you want, I'll shine up $300 worth of All-Clad copper pans and sell them to you. Should give you an idea about which is the better brand, if nothing else.
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Spent some time on Escoffier online. I really need to spend more time with the classics.
Near as I can tell, the departments are:
Saucier
Rôtisseur (with Grilladin and Friturier under this chef)
Poissonier
Entremetier (with Potager and Legumier under this chef)
Garde Manger
Tournant
Pâtissier (with Confiseur, Glacier, Décorateur, Boulanger reporting to this chef)
Boucher
Aboyeur (but that doesn't seem like a department, more like a position)
Communard (I can see this being a department in larger places. It certainly is at a Las Vegas resort.)
and of course, for Pulp Fiction fans, the garçon de cuisine (and for Mel Brooks fans, the garçon de pisse)
And we'll add Corndoggier to that as well.
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This burger is the new, standard burger. I had one shortly after they were introudcued. In the past, I always thought Wendy's was the best out of the major three players (McDonalds, Burger King, and Wendy's). After trying the "Hot n' Juicy", I still feel they are better than McDonalds and Burger King.
Dallas doesn't have Fatburger?
I know Fatburger isn't in the "big 3" or even the "big 10," it's still the standard by which all others should be judged. It is ALMOST as good as what I make at home. Now if someone would teach them how real pomme frite is made, all would be right with the burger world.
I wonder what Thomas Keller would think if I brought a Fatburger to Bouchon and ordered a $5 side of fries? (They have a corkage fee. Why not a "burgerage" fee as well.
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Isn't grillardin part of the classical brigade as well?
This is something we have fun with. A while ago, we served freaking CORN DOGS at the resort. That noise we heard all night was Escoffier spinning in his grave. So, we decided that we were the "corndoggieres" that night -- in Maurice Chevalier accents, of course.
"What are you cooking today?"
"Me, I eez ze corndoggiere!"
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I'm going to try not to get embroiled in the facile anti-tourist mud-slinging, and instead ask a simple question:
Do servers pay income tax on all of their tip earnings?
(I'm not talking about the official line here, I mean in reality.)
At the resort where I work, 99% of the transactions are via credit card. So there is a paper trail for all tips. Which means the servers pay taxes on everything.
What they do with any cash tips is up to their honest nature.
Here's the worst part -- the IRS (our version of Inland Revenue) taxes servers in part on a percentage of their gross receipts. So when someone stiffs the server because of their high moral standards, the government is still going to tax the server on money that he or she didn't even make. (They assume the guest left a cash tip even though paying with a credit card. And the server is taxed accordingly.) Talk about adding insult to injury.
So, if I have cash in my wallet, I always tip in cash. That way, I hope to make up for a non-tipping foreign (or tightwad domestic) visitor.
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Hi Scoop! I have been reading this with great interest. I'd never been to Vegas so I found your description fascinating.
But some last minute business travel has brought me to the Mirage this week! So now all of your fascinating intel suddenly has much more context for me. The scale here is absolutely amazing. The Mirage has probably 8(?) restaurants, some casual and some fine dining. Because I'm here for a conference I haven't had much time to visit anywhere else, though I had dinner last night at a local tapas place called Firefly.
I did have breakfast at the buffet this morning (my excuse is that I was running late!). It made me think of several questions I wanted to ask. Is there a difference between the staff that works in the main kitchen vs the buffet or restaurant kitchens? I saw some kitchen staff doing things behind the scenes in the buffet and I wondered if this was considered being on show and therefor regarded differently than regular kitchen duty.
I know you said that the fine dining is different and somewhat separate from the main staff. How separate? Does the main kitchen ever support them or is it held as a completely separate enterprise?
Quite a few of these mega hotel resorts seem to be owned by the same company. Are they each run as completely separate, or is there motion between the staff when hotels have the same parent company?
Thank you so much for this topic! So much fun.
There are more kitchens than you see. The Mirage has a bakeshop, a banquets kitchen, the "main" kitchen (which "cooks" the food for the buffet), an EDR kitchen, and probably others.
Fine dining is usually completely separate. Some of the fine-dining venues are part of the resort, and staffed by people like me. But there is no celebrity chef in charge of those places. They're just more upscale versions of regular casino restaurants. Usually they're staffed by master cooks.
Others -- particularly the ones with a "celebrity" name attached to it are as separate from the resort as Vatican City is from Italy. The fine dining workers must adhere to the resort's rules, but they're paid by Bobby Flay, Mario Batali, etc., and NOT by the resort. They do not want regular casino cooks in their kitchens. It's not even an option. But, casino cooks have first crack at any job openings, before the job is posted on monster.com and similar.
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SO you are saying that it was not legal what the owner did? How is that the customer's issue? As to $2.30/hr as I noted earlier - that is not the case in all states. In California it is minimum wage plus tips as I understand - so a blanket statement about the US is not valid.
OK, How about "in every state I've lived in." California notwithstanding, servers make squat for an hourly wage. And in California, the cost of living is usually so high that the minimum wage they're making isn't all that useful. I like to see people succeed. Subsistence living is not much of a life.
Scoop,if it's "busloads" of tourists, then there's a tour operator somewhere that needs a good talking to. Sometimes it's rooms division that "forgets" to negoatiate group tips for bus tours.
D.A.M.H.I.K.T.......
We try to tell them. They're willfully ignorant, and most don't care. They have the "I've got mine, Jack," mentality. Why should they care whether they make a restaurant full of servers and bartenders hustle for $2.30 an hour and no tips?
Justify it however you want. Servers do NOT want to see a busload of Canadians, Europeans, Asians or Australians pull in at the restaurant where they work. They're going to work hard and make next to nothing. But at least you're secure in the knowledge that you're not supporting an unjust wage system. So it's all good, right?
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Interesting to see the progressive increase in the expected tip %. From the tone of your writing you're putting the blame for the increase solely on non-tipping tourists. Seriously, I doubt if the non-tipping tourists make such a big dent in tips as to justify your claim. I'd say that domestic factors account for it more.
Of course. The cost of living has skyrocketed, but the servers hourly wage has hovered around $2.30 for as long as I've been in the business. My first gig was at a Moroccan restaurant (ersatz sommelier), and we drew no pay at all. It was tips or nothing. Not at all legal. But we all did OK, until the restaurant folded for playing fast and loose with the rules. I've got roughly 15 years in, and it's still $2.30. How the hell is ANYONE supposed to live on that?
But the fact that busloads of foreign tourists pull up to the tourist-town restaurants that I've worked at, leaving diddly-squat doesn't help either. Someone has to make up the difference. And it's sure as hell not Europeans and Canadians. (Except for the 15% or so who tip well.)
Coffee and Cancer
in Food Traditions & Culture
Posted
MDF treated plywood?
MDF and plywood are two entirely different things. But both come in sheet form. Often plywood is pressure treated -- with multi-quats that are found in a restaurant's sanitizer bucket -- to discourage pests.
MDF isn't treated, because it's almost as much glue as wood. Nothing wants to eat it.
Just avoid breathing the dust when working with it, and all is good.