Bueno

Viva, sugar will cut the saltiness. Add a tablespoon of superfine sugar (so it dissolves properly), shake vigorously. Try the following day. If still too salty, repeat.

Thank you very much, Brenda - I appreciate that!

L'Atelier and Bouchon are two dramatically different price points that I can't really allow myself to compare. Of course L'Atelier offers a far more spectacular experience. But if you just want a delicious sandwich or pastry, clearly Bouchon would be your choice. In my view, they're two restaurants that can't really be reasonably compared. One serves one purpose, the other serves a completely different purpose; each wonderful depending on what YOUR purpose is in-line with.

My parents' place conditioned me to expect dinner at 5pm. I've managed to recondition for 6:30, but I can't go any later without wanting to kill someone. In France, typical dinner hour is 10pm and by that time I believe I'd be on my fourth victim -- especially if I was actually IN France having to wait that long for dinner.

All-beef. Lightly toasty/still soft, lightly buttered bun (a la for a lobster roll). Kimchi and pickles. This is all.

I suppose that for me anyhow, Katz's is in a league of its own. It doesn't taste like anything else in NYC. Same for Carnegie, though I prefer Katz's. I meant to infer that I don't think they really conform to anything typical. But if what you're looking for is a more solid and straightforward rub that tastes less muddled and more refined, than my recipe might be what you're after. I've tried to recreate Katz's flavour and its pretty close, but as I suggest above, still distinguishable from Katz's. Personally, I don't believe ginger belongs, and I feel the absence of allspice generally lends to a more "NYC" style as well. 5 tablespoons kosher salt 4 tablespoons paprika 3 tablespoons coriander seeds 3 tablespoons brown sugar 2 tablespoons black peppercorns 2 tablespoons yellow mustard seeds 1 tablespoon white peppercorns 8 cloves garlic, minced Combine coriander seeds, peppercorns and mustard seeds in a spice grinder. Grind coarsely. Add in remaining ingredients and mix well. Rub is now ready to use. It may be stored refrigerated in an airtight container. One of the key points, I've found, is to REALLY rub the mixture into the meat. I mean really go hardcore. I find this contributes more than anything to getting the flavour I'm pretty sure you're after.

Brothers over for dinner last night and they requested big and sloppy burgers, so I willingly obliged. Black Angus Doubles with American Cheese baby!

This is one of the best BLOGs yet, in my opinion. Thank you for participating johnnyd! Though, I do wish for more food photos to go along with the phenomenal contextual photos for the food.

Carnegie, Katz's, etc. have proprietary blends. That's what makes them stand out. If everyone's corned beef tasted the same (or in this case, as good as) Katz's, I'd imagine Katz's would be out of business. That's like asking: does anyone have a recipe for Coca Cola?

But there was no additional fat added, so how would this be any worse than ramen any other way? In fact, it might be better for you losing the super-salty broth it's usually eaten in.

My apologies; I meant to say salame as opposed to sausages -- I certainly agree with you when it comes to sausage!

It's what's inside the Casamilk® bar! In all seriousness, would it not fit with the thinking that they're using it for their own sausages?

Just wanted to further Mr. Delicious's point that all the soda marinades result in sublte flavour. If you wanna bump it up a bit, reduce it down, stir in fresh herbs, and use it as a glaze while you're grilling. Which I tend to always do, and it's always very tasty. Two sweet? Add lime juice.

This is the method I use, and I've found it to work best. I've had success especially with chicken and grapefruit flavoured sodas, root beer and pork, and coke with lime for flank/hanger steak (lovely as fajitas).

Thoughts and prayers, Chef. Best wishes on a successful and swift recovery. I look forward to seeing you back on top immediately.

Well I suppose the ones I've actually see with my own eyes could just do it very casually, as that seems to be possible for some. But definitely once! And of course I know plenty of experienced diners that have palates that are out of this world, not to mention wine gurus, that smoke like chimneys and argue that it doesn't seem to effect them at all. My argument, if it is one, is that they've probably smoked before they even knew what fine dining was. Therefore, they trained palates that were already smokers. Had they not have been smokers, imagine how refined those palates could be. Possible super-tasters held back by smoking. Whatever, I'm sure it ain't a big deal anyway.

More than a few that I am familiar with specifically wish to not have that information public, which I understand. One especially is passionate about that. Ramsay, Batali, Palmer, Burke, and I've been told Tournodel and Ripert, but I'm not sure.

Younger chefs in today's kitchen smoke far less. Kitchens run by old-school-ish chefs smoke more. It's a direct reflection of smoking in society in general. You'd be surprised to learn how many of what we regard as the most precise and refined palates in the country also are laden with smoke regularly. Doesn't SEEM to have much of an effect that I can detect -- though I just find nasty on a hygenic level.

Lovely, lovely thread. Thank you for posting!

s_sevilla: awesome taste. Some more of my own: Prosciutto, gruyere, sorrel Corn, green onion, pancetta, olive oil, manchego Tomato, watermelon, feta, olive oil, oregano Bresaola, watercress, roquefort Pesto, lamb sausage, mint, goats cheese

Canned in olive oil anchovy fillets are great on pizza, and I think everyone should give them a shot, definitely. I like to stick to the Mozza mentality when it comes to pizza. Less is more, quality ingredients, prepared with care. Their menu, for example: Margherita with mozzarella, tomato & basil Tomato, extra virgin olive oil & Sicilian oregano Salumi salame ,wild spinach & cacio di Roma Fennel sausage, panna & red onion Funghi misti, fontina, taleggio & thyme Gorgonzola dolce, fingerling potatoes, radicchio & rosemary Coach farm goat cheese, leeks, scallions & bacon Smoked paprika salame, mozzarella, tomato & fresno chiles White anchovy, tomato & hot chiles Egg, guanciale, asparagus, onion & parmigiano Rapini, cherry tomatoes & anchovy Bianco with fontina, mozzarella, sottocenere & sage Squash blossoms, burrata & tomato Prosciutto di Parma, rucola, tomato & mozzarella Littleneck clams, oregano, parmigiano & pecorino Lardo with rosemary If you want 40 topping MEATSTRAVANZOID DELUXE-O-RAMA CHEESEFEST pizza, I'd suggest Dominos.

Who said this was a perfect ending? This is progress! I ask again: is it not better than only being offered hot dogs, or not? CLEARLY it is far from perfection, but it's moving in a positive direction. How could that be considered anything but good? Rome wasn't built in a day. Less than perfect does not equal bad. If it did, we'd all be some very horrible people living very horrible lives on a horrible planet.

This is not good news? So you're saying that only having hot dogs available to us previously was better? Any progress is exactly that: PROGRESS. Oh my gosh, Christmas is here! We're financially stable and happy, though. We could be so much richer and happier.

Maybe in relation to what you feel you're capable of (and we don't know that yet -- you possibly don't know that yet), but to people that live outside your world (ie. us) please take our collective word for it when we say that your food not only is creative, but it's beautiful and skillfully prepared with an adept hand. I'm sure it tastes lovely as well. Experimenting is fun, and it breeds growth - but you've got a lot to be proud of. So while you wait to feel inspired again (and it'll happen), rest easy in the fact that what you've already achieved is more than some will ever manage.

Just to quickly interject; I've never heard of "cracknel", did you mean pork "cracklin' / crackling" or is "cracknel" an actual term used to describe it?