townsend

Kaiseki by Yoshihiro Murata, available on alibris.com

when you decide what you want, look at alibris dot com for good prices....its where I get all my old and out of print books....

So the question is how does one get good? Work in the best place that will have you (that suits your culinary desires). If they pay you or not, will you get closer to your goal? Yes. If you insist on being Worth It, you have to prove it. If you can prove it, you shouldn't be seeking an intern/extern/stage, but should throw down with the big boys. Will you work more or less hard based on your pay? You better not, because in the end, you work only for yourself. If you invest poorly in yourself, you are the one who will suffer. Be careful where you intern/extern, make sure you will be able to move and see. This is more abt to happen in a privately owned kitchen. Union shops are tough if you want to spend extra time learning outside of your normal job reqs. Peeling carrots at "Haute Five Star Shop" for $1X.XX hr. won't help, especially after day one at your next job and your new employer wants to see what you can do. If you are pompous, sloppy, arrogant, less than helpful, or not interested in being the best, why would anyone who is busy making their bones on the line try to help you? Good luck with your search and only work with good people!

paulraphael- I wouldn't stop what you started. Brown chicken stock done well is really good. (like the feet idea, BTW) I have used a much reduced version with fresh thyme and oven dried tomato (whole petal, no seeds) with roasted Halibut to much success. If you are not using the liver, make a liver butter and add to the sauce after it is off the heat and slightly cooled. Good with fresh splash of oloroso sherry.

Break the carcass into breast bone and back bone, then split each one in half. For a small amount of bones (2-4 birds) you can saute the bones, or for more (10 pounds of carcasses) you can roast them in the oven. To make a thick reduced jus you need quite a bit of bones, they offer little gelatin. But it is worth it for flavor; mushrooms, mire poix, fresh tomato, aromatic herbs, deglaze with maderia...mmm She is probably referring to the oft seen practice of over-roasting whole carcasses in the oven until they smell of roasted bone. Your stock will then be bitter, and quite disappointing. If you don't break the carcass down into pieces, it will also require more liquid to cover than it can flavor (called flooding your stock).

Salt as you go. Salting lightly in the beginning, and as you continue, you can get your flavors developing (that is called seasoning). The chronic oversalting is probably due to adding salt to un-seasoned food at the end, which doesn't add to flavor development and may not even be fully dissolved/distributed. What may seem like a heavy hand at the table, probabaly results from the taste-add salt-taste-plate treatment food gets before it hits the table. How long does it take kosher salt (always used in commercial kitchens worth their salt) to dissolve? Some chefs use salt water in varying concentrations to season their food. The impact is relatively immediate for changing the taste of a liquid, or emulsion. Finishing salt is also a culprit. Good fleur-de-sel is good, but expensive. I like large grey salt that is somewhat broken into smaller grains for its impurities, which add complexity. But it's not like salt on a pretzel, it shouldn't be more than 5-7 grains. I use it on sliced meat or fish, where seasoning cannot reach, and sparingly....

Godshall's (sp?) in the RTM. They have whole rabbits, squab, and quail on a regular basis.

Also check out Blue Hubbard and Grey Hubbard squash...they make great soups. Shadybrook Farms, Yardley, Exit 49 off 95N.

I know the food is under the supervision of an experienced, quality culinarian. I look forward to crisp food executed with good technique after they get up and running.

No bastion here, I pay the rent just like the next guy, one guest at a time. I just don't do it by systematically homogenizing the culinary landscape of America.

Chains don't just celebrate their mediocrity, they are defined by it. The food in chain restaurants like PF's is kept on the menu not because it is interesting, but drives the most sales dollars. So the dishes that sell the most (ie are most recognizeable, contain certain buzzwords, or trigger the sugar/fried food Pavlovian response) are the ones that remain on the menu. A national chain by design winds up giving the majority what they want, while continuing to marginalize the unfamiliar foods that make a particular culture's cuisine unique. Think of it like this; the same way big agriculture is producing homogenized produce designed to be uniform, easily shipped, have long shelf life, and make money, but not for taste (to the exclusion of heirloom varieties that have unique properties), national restaurant chains are doing to dining, except we are the produce.

adey73, He used a fish tank aerator, which makes small, slow rate bubbles, with plastic tubes inserted into a tall cylinder. He made beet juice bubbles at the demo; I'd have to check my notes for the ratios...

I don't understand. Snackbar is doing seven courses of interesting food. Snackbar is offering the opportunity to bring wine to their establishment for a SPECIAL EVENT (unlike the other places who have no corkage nights to build business on SLOW nights). If you are going to enjoy the experience, shouldn't you bring 5 or so different wines? Corkage for a six-top would be $120. A tasting of any quality is going to run $65-$85 a head to match each course. In any other restaurant that is capable of doing a tasting of this length, quality, and ambition, the markup on wine would make this discussion moot. Bring what you like, bring your friends, bring wine with no markup, just bring $20 so they can continue to provide Philadelphia with unique forward-looking food.

mrbigjas/Diann, If you have anything specific in mind, let me know via PM. I would be happy to make space in the courtyard or inside and cook up some good happy hour food! Townsend Wentz Twenty21

Congrats J-Mac!! Nice work! Tod