paulraphael

I've done George Perrier's method a few times and since have done several variations on it. Basically a poach in court bouillion and then roast at high temperature. It makes the best turkey I've ever had. No issues at all with the skin--my birds have been crisp, with mahogany brown coloring. I think about 90% of the cooking happens in the poaching. The high roasting just brings the meat up a few degrees, and does a killer job on browning the skin. One of the keys to this method is keeping the poach low ... ideally well below a simmer. If you just see ripples on the surface of the water, that's ideal. The other key is getting the bird out of the stockpot without dropping it back in and sending yourself and any helpers to the emergency room. I have some suggestions on this topic, including this one: don't pick up a 16lb bird by the trussing, the way Mr. Perrier tells you to.

This is my pancake essay from a similar thread. Includes a link to a more complex (but insanely delicious) recipe.

That's more than double the baking powder you need for that amount of flour. That could easily be a source of bitterness. Otherwise, that's such an unusual recipe that I can't say much helpful about it.

I've used those speckled things in a pinch, but I don't like the way enameled surface behaves for deglazing pan drippings. For one thing, they often don't stick, so they float away with the fat. But worse, when they do stick, they're camouflaged by the speckled surface, so it's hard to tell browned from burnt. And worse than that, the thin metal/dark surface captures a lot of radiant heat, so it's much more likely that your pan drippings will burn before the meat is cooked. I'm a big fan of light colored metal and heavy gauges for these reasons.

by creamy, do you mean perfectly smooth (sugar completely disolved in the butter), or did the sugar still give a grainy texture to the butter?

weight is better than volume, but these cookie recipes just don't require much precision. You can have a lot of slop with any given ingredient and still get a decent cookie. People have been making these things for decades without scales, so i doubt the problem here is measurement. Unless she flat out made a mistake and doubled something or left something out!

It's hard to say what went wrong, but it's possible that the bad batch got overmixed during the creaming stage. That often leads to flat cookies. it's also possible (but unlikely) that the flour got overmixed. And even though the recipe doesn't call for it, most cc cookies are improved by chilling for several hours before baking. especially ones like these that use all butter ... and i don't know why anyone makes cookies that don't use all butter

I'd take a closer look at the mixing method. Could you describe how you mixed, including the final consistency of any creamed butter/sugar, and the temperature of the dough before it went into the oven? Did you chill the dough at all before baking? It does look like a lot of sugar, but I don't see major problems there besides them being too sweet. The baking soda should provide plenty of leavening. It reacts with the acidic molasses in the brown sugar.

ahhh ... that explains it.

If you go this route than I think the best choices are unclad aluminum commercial pans. Many are available in the best shape (low sides) and the best color (dull metal). Like some of these. I do like the option of using the the roasting pan on the stovetop for certain kinds of browning tasks. It's a bit of a luxury but has come in handy. For this kind of thing having a conductive pan with stainless interior has been great.

This is the pan I mentioned earlier in the thread. It's turned out to be the best roasting pan I've ever used (for large things ... a turkey, a pair of chickens, stock bones, etc.). You can ignore the 7-ply marketing buzzwords. Here's what's great about it: 1) low sides. this improves air circulation and keeps the sides from blocking radiant heat. you get better browning. 3) the right color. dull-finish, light colored metal absorbs just the right amount of radiant heat to properly brown foods on the bottom without burning them 3) stainless interior. Ideal for deglazing and making pan sauces (that web link says it's nonstick, but that's a printing mistake) 4) useable on the stovetop for pan sauces. The clad construction gives very even heat distibution. I've even used it as a gridde for some tasks, where having higher sides than a regular griddle were helpful. 5) oven safe to 640°. my oven doesn't go that high, but I wish it did! And a couple of downsides: 1) pricey 2) high tech looking handles can get in the way, and don't seem to offer any advantages. For smaller roasting pans I use 10" or 12" stainless lined skillets or saute pans. They work perfectly, although the long handle on the 12" pans can be a nuissance. I can see the utility of a medium sized, rectangular roasting pan built like the Viking, but I don't have one. Incidentally, for anyone squeamish about Viking because of their dismal record on appliances, rest assured that they don't actually make their cookware. It's made by Demeyere of Belgium.

Ha! that's THE question.

I've only eaten there once. If I had been a Michelin reviewer, they wouldn't have even been in the running for a star. Bad night, maybe. But it's all I have to go on. Bruni's review didn't correspond at all to my experience.

Not that I can remember.

I've been brushing up on food saftey, and am alarmed by the USDA's rules for cooking temperatures. Their idea of "rare" beef is 140 degrees. Their idea of minimually safe poultry is something I don't ever want to see on my plate. Are these guidelines unrelated to the rules of local and state health departments? If not, how do restaurants get away with cooking food that's cooked properly from a gastronomic perspective rather than an official one? And are there special rules for raw food like sahimi and carpaccio?

I don't know what the salt is for. I'd be afraid it would lead to pitting of the metal. I also don't know what the 12 hour wait would be for. Seasoning isn't magic ... you're just trying to bind a layer of polymerized oils to the porous surface of the steel. I think you did yourself a favor using safflower oil last time. The more unsaturated the oil is, the more quickly and easily it will polymerize. I'd be inclined to rub a very light coat of oil (safflower, sunflower, cannola or something similar) and put it in a 400 degree oven until the oil solidifies. you could then repeat with a couple of other very light coats. No need to let the pan cool all the way. Alternatively, if you're lazy and plan to use the pan a lot, just let it happen naturally. Because of the surface structure of spun steel, it tends to build up seasoning faster than cast iron (but the finish is a bit less durable).

I like to do at least a few courses or small dishes. That lets me experiment with new projects (in my house, dinner guest=guinea pig), and then ease any anxieties with some standbyes that are more reliable. And I keep in mind who's coming. Not based on adventurousness--my neighborhood is enough to filter out the unadventurous--but on food preferences. If my mom is coming, there will be a fennel dish. She's a sucker for it. If my godmother is coming, there won't be any olive oil. If my girlfriend is coming, there will be lots and lots of meat. The biggest decision is whether the evening will be more about food or about hanging out. If the former, I'll resign myself to spending more of the meal in the kitchen, doing sauté and pan sauces and a la minute preparations that I think are fun. If the latter, I'll do braises, soups, or stews ... as many things as possible that can be prepared in advance, so I can act like a guest at the party instead of a staff member.

I think the issue here is cheap-ass pans, not rivets in general. Some of the best pans made have riveted handles (there are restaurants in Europe using copper pans w/ rivited iron handles that are decades old). I have cookware that I've been using since 1991 that has never had a rivet issue. But I agree with you on the warping and the oxidation. Warping is an issue on any non-sandwiched aluminum pan. You can warp the bejeezus out of anodized cookware (I've had to straighten mine with a hammer a few times). I do have a 20qt, plain aluminum stock pot. No problems at all with it. Cheap, performs well, and isn't used with highly acid ingredients for the kinds of high heat cooking that causes warping.

Ha! I have the opposite problem ... people who only have nonstick pans. I find them useless for 99% of the cooking I do. My biggest issue with people's cookware isn't the quality. I think it's possible to cook on crappy pans (it's just more work). I'm just often thwarted by the lack of a pan that can be used at all for what I want to do. For example, a pan that can go in the oven, and on the stove, and that can be deglazed, and that's about the right size for a chicken. I'd have trouble getting though most days without such a thing, but I rarely encounter a friend's or family member's kitchen that has on. Examples would be any kind of frying pan or small, short-sided roasting pan made out of aluminum, lined copper, clad metal of any kind with stainless on the inside, etc.. But what I find instead is nonstick nonsense, pans with plastic handles that can't go in the oven, roasting pans that are too thin to go on the stove, or that are made out of glass or ceramic ... So in this case the lack of the simplest, most useful pan possible forces me to compromise the quality of the simplest, most delicious meal possible (a roasted chicken with a pan sauce). Other examples abound! Happy note: a friend just convinced me to cook at her house by buying the pan I told her to get. $17 online, and everyone will be happy.

Probably the most effective way to reduce your aluminum intake is to stop eating leafy green vegetables. Let us know if you think it's a good idea!

I think you might find some real differences between "foodies" who do a lot of fine dining as a passion, and serious amateur cooks who study and practice and push themselves and create recipes based on a personal vision. Most of the professional cooks work at a very low level ... because most of the restaurants out there serve food at a low level. For every French Laundry there are thousands of Denny's, burger shacks, taco joints, diners, etc. etc. And each is staffed with professional cooks. Some of them may know an aweful lot about food and be able to prepare meals at a much higher level than what they do day in and day out. But not all of them. For many it's a blue collar job; they do what they're told and that's it. They will most likely have more polished and efficient production skills than anyone who isn't cooking 60 hours a week, but would you really assume that they're better cooks than any of the passionate amateurs who labor with food out of love?

Yeah, I realize that's the flipside to all my pissing and moaning. Talk about humbling ... check out this article from 2001 on small restaurant kitchens in NYC: http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html...kitchens&st=cse

I gave my mom a knife for christmas a few years ago. I also gave her a lesson in how to use it. But the real present was hidden in the fine print of the card, and she didn't like it: a promise to throw out all the knives currently clogging her knife drawer.

I'm constantly amazed that the smartest, most capable, self-sufficient, resourceful people I know live their lives with kitchens that seem to have been stocked by a roomfull of monkeys at computers, typing randomly and furiously on the Williams Sonoma website. There are typically dozens and dozens of pans, mostly nonstick and in bizarre shapes, none of them oven safe. If there's one decent pan it's under a mounain of useless ones. Every inch of counterspace is occupied by salad spinners, salad shooters, cookbooks, magazines, microwaves, t.v. sets, decorative knicknacks. There's a garlic press but no tongs. A George Foreman grill but no wooden spatula. A giant refrigerator, but a cutting board the size of a cocktail napkin. And the knives. I know you already know about the knives. But I'll continue: they are either from the salvation army, or they are a complete set of the department store's most expensive German or Japanese brand. In either case they have been in the sink and drawers and the dishwasher enough that that they are no sharper than the wooden spoons. You know the whole story. But I like cooking at other people's kitchens. So the question is, do people think it's rude or pretentious if you show up with a knife roll? I don't mean a giant tool kit full of everything. But I've taken to bringing a few knives, a whisk, tongs, a thermometer, a spatula, etc., all in a roll that can slip into a backpack or messenger bag. I'd hide it from them if I could. But I want cooking to be fun, and value my sanity.

I actually think the guy is just clueless. They buy the cookies from some bakery. I'm probably the only customer who noticed. He said he told the bakery about the problem (when I brought it up last week), and seems to think his responsibility ends there. The did not seem at all the managerial type. He just does what he's told and has no interest in the big picture. That's really the root of the problem.