paulraphael

I think the rondeau actually IS a popular pan. The name just isn't so popular. Most people who have one call it something else, if they call it anything at all. Mine is an old calphalon ... 5qt with 4" or so sides. I don't remember what the company called it in the catalog. Nothing Frenchy sounding.

If you could only have one pan, I think the rondeau would be it. You can sauté, braise, make sauce, make soup, roast (ok, not so well), poach, blanch, make pasta ... I've never owned a straight-sided sauté pan. For most of its uses I like either a slope-sided fry pan or a rondeau.

This is correct, as far as I know. I'm interested in the stuff mostly for developing my own recipes, so the differences aren't too important. I'd rather go with the generic version that won't be different from batch to batch or brand to brand.

Bulkfoods.com sounds like a score. I'm going to check out their shipping prices, thanks. Dextrose=glucose powder.

I mean one that will sell in quantities of 1 or 2 kg, for prices that make sense for sugar, not contraband! Oddly the cake and baking supply store in NYC has never heard of dextrose. The best source I've found so far sells it online as a nutritional supplement. I'm still annoyed I can't find it in the city.

Simple. Cutlery that's supposed to be sharp never goes in the dishwasher (or the sink) under any circumstances. If you have family members or guests who like to "help" and who can't grasp this, then you need to lock the knives out of harm's way. Knives that are flatware you can treat just like your forks and spoons. Put them in any way you like.

I put the container I'm mixing it into on a scale, and drizzle it in like honey. It's still messy and annoying, but manageble. When I find I good source of powdered glucose/dextrose, I'm going to try subsituting it.

I said water in oil, yes? chocolate sauce on the other hand ...

I recommend letting the outside get brown and nasty, so people know you actually cook! If that's not welcome advice, you can use BKF with impunity. It will not scratch stainless steel; the abrasives are too soft. If you've scratched pans while using it, the culprit is probably the scrub sponge. "heavy duty" scrub sponges will scratch anything. "All surface" versions are gentler, but I've still seen scratches after digging in hard. Either use the soft side of the sponge (which will require more elbow grease) or get something like a Dobie pad (my favorite for pans). I've never had the dobie/bkf combination scratch a stainless pan, but it scours effectively. Bon Ami is another cleaner that works well. It's dirt cheap and easier to find than BKF. It doesn't have oxalic acid, so it won't remove oxidative "heat taint." But for scouring off food and polymerized oil, it seems to work just as well. No worries about scratches.

Just keep a straight face and say that's great, but you worked at a seven star restaurant.

Understanding emulsions will help demystify many things in the kitchen. Here are some of the basics: Emulsions in cooking are mixtures of oil and water, which do not disolve in each other. Their tendency is to separate, with the lighter oil floating on top. When emulsified, the oil and water combine in a way that appears to be homogenous, but still retains many of the individual characteristics of the oil and the water. The process is assisted by a third component (which we call an emulsifier) that helps keep the emulsion from separating (breaking). One of the components in an emulsion is in what we call the continuous phase; the other is in the dispersed phase. If you incorporate oil into the water (as in a mayonnaise) water is the continuous phase. This means that the water molecules can move around freely and touch each other, but the oil molecules are segregated into small droplets, separated from one another by water molecules, with the assistance of the emulsifier. The emulsifier in the case of a mayonaise is traditionally egg yolk, but it can be garlic, shallot, mustard, or any of a number of foods or refined ingredients that help keep the dispersed molecules from finding each other, glomming together, and separating. For an emulsifier, we look for an ingredient that has a kind of tensioactive molecule that attracts both oils and water. There are actually a number of different ways emulsifiers work, but the details are unimportant. When water is the continuous phase, we call the emulsion an oil-in-water emulsion. Like mayonaise. This is the reason it isn't greasy; the oil is in the dispersed phase so all the oil moleculse are surrounded by water. This explains the mixing method: you take the lemon juice (water based) and yolk (emulsifier, and another source of water) and then gradually whisk in the oil. Even though the recipes call for significantly more oil than water, the water remains the continuous phase, with the oil broken up into segregated droplets within the water. Other oil-in-water emulsion include hollandaise and bearnaise sauces, cream, milk, beurre blanc, and beurre monté (melted, unbroken butter). Water-in-oil emulsions include butter, chocolate, traditional vinnaigrettes (although non traditional ones are often made oil-in-water).

i've thought about trying something like that ... maybe a huge cast iron griddle. makes a lot of sense.

Here's the recipe that I've been using. It requires kneading, but very little, and can be done by hand, mixer, or food processor. The autolyse and wet mixing stage are more important to the gluten development than the length or type of mechanical kneading. Fermentation is retarded in the fridge for one to several days; final rising happens at room temp in a few hours before baking the pies. There's salt in the dough. There are enough toppingless bites in a pizza that I feel this is important. Like Sam's recipe, this one is 70% hydration. Actually a bit higher. This is important not just for gluten and flavor development, but for keeping the crust from drying and toughening in the long baking times required by a home oven. My oven only goes to 550 degrees; many only go to 500. A wood-fired pizza oven hits its stride above 800 degrees and bakes the pies in less than half the time, so there's less tendency for the crust to dry out.

yeah, that fresh, bright red color. once you get spoiled by that, all the other ground meat just looks ... gray.

... is that what you meant?

You don't need any vanilla at all. Just mix up your base of choice without flavoring. I'd cut back a bit on the sugar, since sugar (along with alcohol) softens the ice cream, and since the liqueur probably has some sugar of its own. you can also substitute fructose for regular sugar, which will give you more sweetness with even less sugar. What's the alcohol content of the Raki? That's important. For 80 proof booze, I start with 2 or 3 TB per quart. If that doesn't get enough flavor, I'll flame some of the booze, add that, and then top off with a bit of unflamed booze (to taste). It takes a bit of experimenting to get a flavor right.

I've played around a bit with blends of meat. It seems best to be familiar with the categories of cut, so you can make up your mind when you see what's actually available from the market or butcher. Right now my favorite mix is probably 2/3 chuck and 1/3 brisket (point cut). I adjust the mix based on how fatty the meat is. If the brisket is well marbled, I might go closer to 50/50. My goal is generally 15% fat, but if the burgers will be grilled, or if there are bad people coming over who want the burgers cooked past medium, I may go as high as 20%. I cut the meat into strips and chill just to the point of ice crystals forming. I season it BEFORE grinding. This mixes in the seasoning without overworking the meat. I like to add between 1/2% and 1% salt by weight. And some pepper ... maybe as much as the salt. Grind once with 1/8" disk. Genlty form into patties and cook soon ... preferably right after patties have warmed up to 60° or so. Last week I tried to substitute short rib for the brisket. It was expensive (you pay for all that bone), but based on my love of short rib I thought this would be the holy hand-grenade of burger blends. It was strangely bland, though. Not sure why. Some other blends that have worked well include skirt steak, top sirloin, and flank. Chuck always works well. If you can get a well marbled chuck eye, that may be the most flavorful. edit: if you salt before grinding as i described, be sure to wash the grinder as soon as possible to keep the metal from corroding.

It's usually local or regional. Different places tend to get their stars from different organizations. If you care about these things, then you have to look into it place by place ... the standards and the star systems don't correspond. In Europe stars mean michelin. In the U.S., michelin has only recently started reviewing, and only in a few cities. They have yet to make much of an impression on the diners in those cities, as far as I can see. In New York, our 800 lb. gorilla is the Times. They use a 4-star scale, unlike michelin's 3. If you live here for a while, you get to know what the stars mean (or are supposed to mean).

Fresh, in season tomatoes, when they're good, are SO good with nothing done to them. I hesitate to use them in anything that's cooked more than a little bit. If you're simmering for a long time, you're essentially doing the same thing that canning does. When I've made sauces with excellent fresh tomatoes, I've favored styles like concasse ... French for "crushed." Tomatoes peeled and seeded, very coarsely chopped, and warmed in a pan with some cooked aromatics. Cook the tomatoes as little as possible, and season as little as possible. They don't need much.

I discovered this a while back and replaced mine with the cuisipro spoons. They're pretty accurate (not perfect, but as close as is reasonable for volume measures). And the design is excellent. They're narrow enough to fit in small jars, and can be set down on the counter without spilling their contents.

I've had a cuisinart BRK-200 (the model with convection, but no rotisserie) for close to six months now. Here's a quick review: -It's a good toaster; better than any that I've had, but not as good as commercial quality dedicated toasters. Can make several slices at a time. Only drawback is that it's slow. -It's a great broiler. This is what I use it for most. Hot sandwiches, reheating things that need to be kept crisp, gratins, etc. etc. -For both toasting and broiling, it's vital to keep the door open a crack. If you don't, the oven will develop hot spots and cook unevenly. Toast will be dried out and blotchy. -The oven (conventional and convection) is disappointing. The thermostat is innacurate, and completely non-linnear (It's fairly accurate below 300 degrees; above 400 degrees it runs over 50 degrees hot). I wanted to use this thing for cakes and tarts, and find it useless for this. Too hard to calibrate. I assumed I got a lemon, and had cuisinart replace it. New oven had the same problem. In short: great broiler, good toaster, useless oven.

Bowtie pasta with olive oil, sweet italian sausage, crimini mushrooms, garlic, ramp leaves, fresh parm, and a bit of white wine. Yesterday I put this together in the time it took to boil water and cook the pasta. I make variations on this depending on what's in the fridge. At its most basic it's just pasta tossed with olive oil and a bit of parm (and black pepper). The version I made sounds a bit like overkill, but is mostly pasta. The solid ingredients flavor the oil and provide texture. The wine was just a splash to deglaze the saute pan and add some acidity. Stupid easy.

I found a new contender Roberta's just a ten minute walk from where I live ... amazing since there's little else here besides bodegas that push forties and wonder bread. Pies are imperfect (erred on the overcooked side, not the more typical undercooked ... so the crust on most of ours was a bit dried out and overwhelmed by char). But no more imperfect than anything else I've had in town. Great toppings, great menu overall, and great prices. Be warned, Manhattanites, that the East Williamsburg industrial park requires a journey across rivers and comfort zones alike.

AFAIK, in Italy prosciutto always means the same cut: the hindquarters. In other places ham is more loosely defined (Jambon Royale is a shoulder cut, for instance). As far as preparation, I'd be surprised if all prosciutto cotto were the same. It's made in different regions in Italy ... ones that don't agree on many other culinary definitions.

I've bought lamb from a great farm that sells both conventional and organic lamb. I've asked the farmer his opinion on the difference; he says, "the price." Basically, organic certification is expensive. He's only been able to get a portion of his land certified. The lamb that grazes there is labeled organic, and he passes the cost of the process on to the consumer. But there's no actual difference between the plots of land or the way the animals are raised. In other words, just as there are farms that sell poor quality food that's certified organic, there are others that sell top quality, fundamentally organic food that's not certified at all.