paulraphael

Apparently Thomas Keller requires his cooks to weigh everything for this reason, right down to the mirepoix.

cool, i'll try it. what's better ... above or below boiling temp?

I have precious little deep frying experience. I could try to fry (would need to do on stove top), but would prefer to use an oven (or even microwave ... I heard about an Indian recipe that uses one for plantain chips). Any thoughts on the best way to proceed?

Many restaurants and bars that see a lot of tourist traffic (like in hotels) solve the tip problem by adding a service charge to all checks. But then the shoe is on the other foot ... since so many patrons fail to read the menu, they often double tip by mistake. In this situtaion it's up to the good will of the server to point the service charge, preferably up front. I think this is a pretty good system overall. When I complained to my friend that it removed your right to pay less for bad service, she said that it doesn't. You're not obligated to pay the 18% (or whatever) service charge. You could always pay less. In this case you're making a clear statement: you know what the expected charge is and you're deliberately paying less. You're not just someone who's absent-minded or who doesn't understand the system. At the same time it impresses upon the diner that a tip is not, in fact a "gratuity" ... it's a charge for service. It's separate, it's flexible, but it's part of the cost of the meal.

So, if you're making something with nuts or chips folded in at the end, do you change to the original beater?

And if you make it with clarified butter, the hydration will be low, making it firmer. BUT, clarified butter hollandaise doesn't taste very good. My inclination would be to use whole butter, and seek out advice from a hydrocolloid guru, on how to build it on a foam that's thicker and more stable than sabayon. And please let us know if you come up with something cool.

And why might your dad have chosen not to tip? If he's actually unhappy with the service, than the waiter in the street would be giving him a chance to say so. If he truly doesn't understand tipping, then he's getting a chance to make things right. And if he's just an asshole, then what education, exactly, does he have to offer? ← They would receive an education as to who is the greater asshole: an 89 year-old man that is a guest in their establishment, and has been told all his life that tipping is VOLUNTARY and does not expect to be coerced or bullied into leaving one, and who was told all his life that 10% is appropriate and believes it still to be. Or some jerk that has run out into the street to tell him it's not. ← First, the response I described was typically to a patron who didn't tip at all. In big cities that's often caused by a visitor who simply doesn't know the custom. The response is phrased as a genuine question: "was there a problem with the service?" And second, I think anyone, regardless of age, who makes a habit of tipping 10% based on it being "voluntary," or on it having been appropriate in a bygone era, is a bigger asshole than any waiter I know. The jerk running into the street is just trying to get paid for the job they do (as your dad most likely expected to get paid for whatever job he did all his life).

Yes, and I realize that I'm being a whiney little ingrate. I just sometimes go crazy when I see what seems like obvious unrealized potential. I don't go off on rants about bad movies--but a good movie that would have been ingenius if only the director had _______ ... can send me off on a tirade. This is that kind of thing. In the mean time, I'm sure I'll get a ton of use and inspiration out of the book just as it is.

And why might your dad have chosen not to tip? If he's actually unhappy with the service, than the waiter in the street would be giving him a chance to say so. If he truly doesn't understand tipping, then he's getting a chance to make things right. And if he's just an asshole, then what education, exactly, does he have to offer?

A friend of mine was a waitress here in NYC. A problem in cosmopolitan cities in the U.S. is that some foreign tourists just don't get the whole tip thing. If a customer shorted one of the waitresses at the restaurant, they'd assume this was the case. One of the other waitstaff would follow them onto the street, and ask sincerely if there was any trouble with the meal. If the patron said no, the waiter would explain, "oh, I was worried that there was a problem. Perhaps you didn't know, but in the U.S. servers get paid by tip, and if it's less than X% we assume you were dissatisfied. We want to make sure everything's ok." Usually this would result in the patron returning, leaving a real tip, and thanking the staff for the education.

Well, whatever KA says, the beaterblade will not actually harm your mixer. So if your mixer requires warranty service for any reason, there's no need for you to mention that you used the thing. It should be a non-issue.

I get it, and appreciate the book on that level. But see potential for it to go a step farther ... to look at what's been generalized from flavor chemistry and act as a resource for people who want to take the next steps. It could be done in a small way, even with a single chapter. Something to act as a bridge to newer ways of thinking about flavor combinations.

I just came up with a recipe for lamb rubbed in lapsang souchong tea ... will be serving it at a dinner soon, with a bit more lapsang steeped briefly into a lamb coulis-based sauce. The layered smokiness is delicious. And I've had interesting (but not completely successful) results using earl grey tea in dessert sauces ... for the best attempt i infused it into a creme anglaise and served with a pear tart. Of course there are bajillions of dessert recipes using green tea and coffee. You may have to serve a half dozen desserts (I can help you get rid of them).

I don't know, but I've been told, that syneresis (weeping) can be prevented by replacing 0.1 to 0.2% of the agar with locust bean gum. resistance to acids may be improved by adding glycerol.

Here's a thread on Pernigotti. It's become my favorite. I like it more than Valrhonna (though I use valrhonna chocolates more than any other). Haven't tried Droste. Some posts in the thread refer to Pernigotti as natural, but I'm 99% sure it's dutch processed. Even though it doesn't say so on the package.

I recently got the book. It seems interesting, and like a potentially useful reference. But I think it falls short in the area of theory. There isn't much about why certain flavors work together. And because of this, there's really little in the way of a conceptual framework to help you come up with interesting combinations that no one's thought of before. Keep in mind the author's methodology was to interview lots of chefs about what they like to put with what. That's great ... but the result is basically a retrospective: "Here's what's been done." Hints of what's possible exist in books by Harold McGee and Hervé This, where they discuss actual aromatic compounds present in certain foods. Some classic combinations can be understood, in small part, in terms of overlapping ingredients (on the molecuar level). Kind of like matching a tie to a shirt (both patterns include the same green ... kind of like two foods that both contain diacetyl or vanillin). Also on the theory front, I find it annoying that a contemporary book called The Flavor Bible still adheres to the nearly 100 year-old model of flavor, stating that tongue is sensitive only to five basic tastes. Over the last decades, this model has basically been shredded.

I tried to make it clear that my comments on proportions weren't about simple preferences, like "I want more ice cream." They were about the effectiveness of the dessert. The cake depended on soaking syrup for the intended consistency and flavor, and there wasn't enough of it. Result was a cake dry to the point of being unpleasant. My comment about the creme fraiche was closer to an esthetic judgement, but was still based on effectiveness of the dessert. The creme was presented as a sauce, for the purpose of moistening the dessert. And as with many '80s and '90s style "smear a dab of sauce on the perimeter of the plate" presentations, it wasn't usefull as such. And this was a dessert that needed additional moistening to be edible. And I had other issues with how well conceived the desserts were ... unlike my other gripes, this is a matter of pure opinion, but is also one more directly relevent to how much I might like the cookbook. A reasonable question, but my intent wasn't to review the restaurant--only to express why I've lost enthusiasm for trying the recipes. I tried to make it clear that my problems at the restaurant might have had nothing to do with the recipes themselves. But they still arowsed my warriness. And again, i look forward to reading any positive reviews in this thread ... they could easily encourage me dive back into the book.

I wouldn't assume that the stone is too crude. Are you happy with the results you get on your cleaver? The ceramic rod is actually a cruder approach, because it takes off metal like a medium grit stone, but is more difficult than stones when it comes to keeping your bevel angle constant. If the stone you have works but doesn't give as high a level of polish as you'd like, then you can supplement it with a finer grit waterstone. The cermic rod can be good for touch ups between real sharpenings ... just be sure to use a VERY light touch. maybe one or two swipes with barely perceptible pressure on each side. Nothing like what you see french chefs doing on tv.

That's a dismissal of the whole endeavor of criticism. Who cares if I liked it or not if I don't give reasons? I tried to give as much context and detail as possible, so readers would realize that I'm expressing something besides a stylistic preference ("don't like weird stuff!") or something so personal as to be irrelevent ("kumquats are gross!"). I have enough experience with desserts to see what the intensions were behind the ones we had. I understood what flavors and textures they were going for with date cake. I understood why creme fraiche and the other components were there. My sense of the dessert having failed is based largely on it falling short of its own implicit goals.

It gets even more complcated than that. I talked to a high end rancher in the northwest who said he only produces choice beef, because of the feed type and schedule. I thought this was curious, because I've seen his beef on the menus of some upper end restaurants. What happens if a carcass gets graded prime? He said it gets dumped in with the "commodity" meat, along with the carcasses that only meet the Select grade. In other words, they don't get sold under his brand, they get piled in with the cheap meat that goes to discount grocery stores. I asked him WTF??? He said only a small percentage of his carcasses grade prime, and it just costs too much to stop the line and officially change the grade. Also, for some bureaucratic reason, he can't label things "choice or higher," which is an option in some cases. So the moral of that story is, you might get lucky with ungraded meat at the supermarket. And I'm buying from someone who isn't as hamstrung by bizarre constraints.

I think it was more than just holding. There were issues with the proportions of the components, and their flavor/texture relationships to each other. I still don't know if these were dud recipes or if they were just poorly executed by the staff.

Every year I say I'm going to start gardening. I have a garden ... over 400 square feet of outdoor patio, filled with containers, that most new yorkers would kill for. And since my green-thumbed housemate left, it's been slowly returning to nature, except for the two strawberry plants that come back magically (but in worse shape) every season. I just have no idea what to do. What I need is a gardening support group. Anyone else interested in this? I'd probably want to start small. Herbs, and maybe some tomatoes.

Depending on the rat's diet, what falls out of his butt could absolutely be labelled organic. Don't be fooled into thinking organic = good. Looking at the issue from another perspective, a label like "70% organic" isn't 100% useless. it means that a chunk of your dollar goes to organic farms, which might be a cause you like to support.

I put the recipe for my plain flourless chocolate cake here on recipe gullet. I haven't tried making a lava version, but if you're willing to experiment, I can tell you what I'd do, and maybe you can let me know how it went? First, you'd want to divide into small ramekins. Then prepare ganache, about an ounce per person. My instinct is to use about 1:2 chocolate to cream, and to refrigerate it until firm. But I'd also take a look at the Michael Bras recipe referenced earlier in the thread, which includes water, and freezing. I would pour the mix into the ramekins and plop a round scoop of the refrigerated ganache into the middle of each one. I would dispense with the immersed cheesecake style baking of my recipe if doing a melted center. I think just putting it in a 300 to 325 oven until only the center jiggles would work. Personally, I've always made it without a melted center because I've had so many lava cakes at restaurants that the novelty wore off. What I really get into is a cake with an amazing melting texture.

Well, I didn't mean to imply that there was spoiled cream involved, or bugs running around on the plate. But I stand by my appraisal of "terrible," having eaten a lot of good desserts, including ones at similarly experimental spots. We also specifically ordered the two recommended by the house. I'm betting you wouldn't have liked them. The one that stands out most was a warm date cake soaked in rum syrup with creme fraiche, rhubarb, and kumquats. If it had just been a country style date cake in soaking syrup, and made well, it would have been great. But there were two problems: it was made poorly, and then the attempts to make it more interesting took it nowhere. Worst problem was that the cake depended on soaking syrup for moistness, but there was about 1/4 the amount of syrup required for this, all of it pooled at the bottom. So save for a couple of good bites, the cake was as dry as an old shoe. Then there were the secondary components: creme fraiche (a good, conservative choice ... but such a tiny smear on the edge of the plate that it was useless); rhubarb (tasty, but very similar in texture and even flavor to the two or three moist bites of the cake); and kumquat (the only part that was interesting and that worked). This is the kind of thing I'm talking about. The other dessert we had (also recommended by the staff) was better but only a little. You can see how I'm left wondering if the problem was with the recipe or the execution. The recipe might have been written with these proportions, or it might not have. I haven't been bold enough to try recipes from the book, because I don't want to spend an afternoon of my life only to end up with such a disappointment on my plate. Instead I've been playing it safe, thumbing through the book looking for general ideas to play with. And I'll be following this thread closely, looking to see if there are recipes people love.