Joisey

--By the way, you know youre from CIA if you spend half your life DEFENDING it against J&W. -- Funny, in the 15 years I've been out I've never once had J&W come up in conversation about serious cooking schools.

I like doing this with Duck, because it's so versatile. Had a 3 way duck item on a past menu: Seared Breast, Confit, Five Spice Duck Springroll, Sweet Potato/Brussel Sprout Hash cooked in Duck fat, Duck Jus Lie. Since I started on the charcuterie kick, I might throw some house made duck sausage or a duck galantine in the mix. Foie Gras lends itself well to multiple prep/same dish plates, too.

Use it in a sauce with Parisienne Gnocchi.

I made an awesome Duck consomme with a carcass from Thanksgiving. I'd go that route with the goose.

I guess I'm one of the few people that wasn't affected adversely by Olestra, and was kind of pissed when they stopped using it...I loved the Olestra Doritos (with those and switching to diet soda I lost 30 pounds with no effort). I remember when the whole "anal leakage" thing became public and they started putting warnings on the products. Jay Leno was reading the Pringles label one night and quipped, "when you're done you might want to save the can". Funniest thing he ever said.

I've been a chef for 15 years and this is the first time I've ever dealt with them on a stalk too. I'm guessing once you cut them off, you would treat them as you would bagged.

--On a different note, I'm curious how others will be incorporating charcuterie into their Thanksgiving meals.-- Boning & Tying Cornish Game Hens, stuffing with a Pheasant-Apricot sausage.

On a past menu, I had a sweet potato-gorgonzola gratin that was out of this world. Personally I don't always trust potatoes to be starchy enough to thicken the sauce, so I go the bechamel route.

Completely OT, but when I was a kid I used to grow carrots in our backyard just because a certain butterfly (Black Swallowtail) would lay their eggs on the leaves. I always had a roomful of jars filled with carrot tops and happy caterpillars. It's a cool little experiment if you have kids, and the end result is gorgeous. As far as cooking, I think that they would make a nice addition to flavor stocks, not sure how tasty they would be eaten as themselves.

We already own a couple of Kitchenaids, which are great. However, having used them professionally, if I had to spend the money I would definitely get a Robotcoupe. The Hobart of food processors, I have no doubt that these things will get passed down to the next generation.

1) Sound technique and good flavor 2) Hitting different parts of the palate 3) Texture contrast 4) Avoid cliche at all costs 5) Feasible to produce?

I just started going through this thread (though I've had the book for a while now) and I have to say that the stuff you guys are producing is unbelievable. I've been mostly playing with the terrine side of the book, but I'm going to jump into the cured meat part this winter. I notice that people are having a hard time keeping their temps down for cold smoking. I did a search and found a guy with an ingenous solution using a charcoal lighter and a garbage can, based on a technique Jacques Pepin used with an old refrigerator. The fridge idea was my moment of inspiration. With the availability of cheap fridges on Craigslist, do you think it's feasible to hook up a dryer tube from your smoker to one of those half size (or even full size) fridges and use THAT as your cold box? Do you think that the smoke residue would have a negative effect on the operation of the fridge? You could obviously keep your temperature way down. I also am toying with the idea of a large coleman cooler with a similar hose hookup, using ice packs to keep things cool. Any thoughts on these ideas?

Paul...sometimes when making Dark Roux, once you start getting some color you can pop the pan in the oven to finish it. It still will need attention but the oven is more forgiving than an open flame.

Dark Roux, when done correctly, is a labor of time and love. If you use it a lot, there is an advantage to having it on hand. Professionally, it makes a lot of sense to making a big batch of Roux. You have to make it once, you might as well eliminate the need to make it a few more times down the line. For home use? Ehh, I can't imagine someone using that much roux that you'd need to have it on hand as opposed to making it each time.

Claudia..thanks for the story, and that TIP, bitch shirt is insanely cool. You could make a mint selling those things.

--Would you have questioned the novice critic's credentials if the review had been a rave? -- If she was raving about my "Tomato Raisins', then yes, probably. Good reviews can make you scratch your head as much as bad ones. My first review here in Portland the critic gave me a B+, which is a pretty solid grade from him. However, the review itself was so pedestrian and on the fence that I think you could have changed the letter grade to a C and the person reading it wouldn't have noticed the difference.

Let your Roux come to room temperature then temper some of the hot liquid into it before slowly adding the slurry back to the main pot. Never just drop the chunk of Roux in and whisk, you'll get lumps.

Claudia..what did Rachel Ray say about her?

If you piss people off enough to write, then you're doing your job. Writing about food in a critical matter is extremely subjective, like being a movie critic. As long as you know what you're talking about from a technical standpoint, then your opinion has credibility. If I were in your shoes, I'd find good hate mail interesting, especially the articulate, well composed variety. Of course, I'd be more apt to fire back at the Foie Gras protester, but that's just me.

I make the Parisienne style of Gnocchi a lot for specials and his recipe and technique is good. The only modification I made for mine was using a star tip instead of a straight tip when piping. It gives the finished product nice little ridges that hold a sauce beautifully.

--And Grill Bitch...is quite a good looking woman. I guess with a name like that I was thinking Margaret Thatcher meets Janet Reno, but I'm impressed. -- As a classmate of hers at CIA way back when, I can attest that she looks fabulous, not a whole lot has changed. I always liked Beth, she was tough but funny and a good study group partner (those endless 3x5 cards). Glad to see she's doing well for herself.

Of all the great, renowned chefs and recipes available at your very fingertips, you guys choose to try and duplicate the stuff Alton Brown makes on his show? That's like using McGee as a cookbook rather than a scientific reference, only McGee is less annoying.

--Sadly, I can't think of a single local brewery that has good food as well, which is strange. -- Widmer's Gasthaus.

I think I'm noticing the fat in the bain marie because I'm using one of those "drop side" molds that are more appropriate for pate en croute..the fat is obviously leaking from the wrapped pate into the water bath. I've got a real mold on order, I guess when it comes I'll know for sure.

That's a great story, the "Flipper Arm" part made me laugh out loud. When I was working in Atlantic City for Trump, I did a food show. Harrahs had a booth next to us and there was a young kid in a wheelchair, in chef whites. We were busy setting up and didn't think much of it. When they had their equipment set up and they were ready to start their prep, his chair suddenly started changing (the best comparison I can use is one of those "Transformer" toys that we had as kids). He went from the sitting position to a full supported upright one, and from somewhere a cutting board with a full knife holder had swung around in front of him. It was really great to see, another lesson about wills and ways (and some cool technology thrown into the mix).