paulraphael

... and preferably downtown. I'm planning a birthday dinner next saturday, and the guest list has swelled to about 12. Landmarc couldn't take us at one table. Otto insists on a special group tasting menu for parties of 12 or more, which might not be to everyone's liking. And I don't know what will happen if people bale. Any recommendations? I'd better make the reservation today ...

The other threads on digital scales are a few years old. I figure info on anything electronic has an expiration date. So. ny old darkroom scale has done a pretty good job weighing chocolate and butter, but is limited to 300 grams. I'd like something that can handle 5kg or so, is simple, easy to clean, works with any bowl, and has whatever kitchen features people think are useful (all I've ever used is Tare, but maybe there's something else I don't know about?) People seem to like My Weigh scales (in spite of the name). Thoughts?

Yeah, I know I'd use it, but not all that fast. And it's more $$$ than I want to have tied up in chocolate investments! Anyone in the NYC area want to split 5kg of Cluizel Los Anacones? We can meet in a hotel room with a laboratory balance to divide it. No guns, no wires

I can agree with that, no problem. I go ice climbing every weekend I can, which from a survival standpoint is arguably less clever than eating tuna every day. But I worry that people are making poor evaluations of the risk when they make casual comparisons between mercury and donuts. If you've seriously evaluated the risks, then no should bully you for your decision.

I don't have a good feeling about braising a hanger. Like most steaks it's lean and doesn't have much collagen. This is a recipe for a seriously dried out piece of meat.

Comparing this to things like cholesterol or saturated fats is to wildly miss the point. We're talking about mercury levels of over 1 part per million. This is legitemately scary. It's not about a minor risk of unpleasant illness, like eColi, or health effects that can be easily managed through reasonable diet, like saturated fats. This is a neurotoxin that accumulates in the body. longterm effects can be devastating. Is anyone talking about where the mercury is coming from, and what could be done about it? In the mean time, maybe a little hysteria will help curb the overfishing of large tuna species.

Not trying to hijack the thread, but I'd need some better storage than I have now before investing in a 5kg block. Someone in another thread suggested freezing it. Is this legit?

Fugu, I'm sorry if I came of as calling you lazy; it wasn't my intent. I was just taking your word for it that many restaurant kitchens do it the way you described (with clarified butter) for the reasons you described (convenience).

If a kitchen is using the sauce as a blank canvas (in other words, to be seasoned with liquid flavorings, as with bearnaise family sauces) then I agree with you that clarified butter is the best option. I've already said so. But if we're talking about straight hollandaise, and it's being used for reasons you described earlier ... "For practical reasons, the professional kitchens I've worked in, always use clarrified butter. Line stations always have clarrified butter containers constantly fed throughout service" ... then it sounds like the priority is on convenience, not flavor or texture.

Seems more likely that using clarified butter is the lazy way, based on Fugu's post. The decision in at least some commercial kitchens seems to be based on convenience: they happen to have a ton of clarified butter at the ready. If flavor or texture is your priority (and if you're not adding addtional liquid, as you would for a bearnaise family sauce) then there's no reason I can imagine for using clarified butter.

Amazing, Pam, thanks. I just checked icaviar, and can barely believe they have cluizel chocolate for $10/lb. Not that I have a good excuse for buying a 5kg block of anything, but I'm looking for one.

I don't have Careme's cookbook ... Escoffier says to use softened or melted whole butter.

Well, you could argue that there are times to use clarified butter and times not to. Clarified butter doesn't taste as good as whole butter. And it has no water content, so the sauce will be denser (more like mayo). For a normal hollandaise most would consider this a flaw. But if you're making a hollandaise family sauce with a liquid infusion (like bearnaise) then you pretty much have to use clarified butter, or the sauce will be too runny. Another option is melted whole butter. This won't form as stable an emulsion as solid whole butter that's whisked in, but it will give you the airiest texture, because you don't have to work it as hard (which deflates the sabayon). Melted whole butter gives you better flavor than clarified. And solid whole butter does work well, if you use good technique (forget the double boiler and throw it together fast on medium to medium-high heat). You'll have the most stable foam this way.

I believe you can get a depth of flavor from melted chocolate that you can't get from cocoa. Some of the best, high end cocoa powders can let you come close, but for some reason they're not the same. There are also texture differences. Cocoa powder works like a starch and builds structure in a way that chocolate doesn't, so cocoa brownies tend to be chewy. I spent several months developing brownie recipes, with the goal of maximizing chocolate and minimizing everything else. In the end what worked best was to use primarily melted chocolate, but to substitute cocoa for some of the flour. This works well, because chocolate is a tenderizing ingredient (because of the cocoa butter), and dark chocolates tend to require more structure building ingredients to keep the brownies from falling apart. Using a bit of cocoa helps minimize the amount of inert ingredients (like flour) and still get the structure you need.

I've found some recipes that finish the toast in the pan, and some that finish in the oven. What are the pros/cons of each? I'd rather have it crisp than puddinglike.

I'd like to start making French toast on weekday mornings, for the traditional reason: an endless bounty of stale bread. But I'm not crazy things that taste stronggly of eggs. Are there any basic recipes for French toast that don't taste much more eggy than pancakes or crepes? I'm looking for a basic template that's versatile and will have good texture, and that can easily be modified for different flavors. I'm new to this ... last time I French toast was probably when my mom made it. Thoughts?

I haven't experimented with MSG, but often look for natural sources of glutamate to boost that savory feeling (the day that I can say "umami" without cracking up is on it's way, but it's not here yet!) For example, when I make beef/veal stock, I throw in a few tomatoes ... not enough to add the flavor of tomatoes, but enough that by the time stock is reduced to any kind of glace, it will contribute that little extra something. like the meatiness you get from a sun dried tomato. Similarly a lot of people use anchovie paste, or seaweed. There are foods that seem to contribute much more glutamate than they do any distinct flavor.

It's true ... I ate at a tapas type place in NYC that specialized in Italian cured meats. The menu had dozens of small plates, with all the names of the meats (and cheeses and other regional preparations) in Italian. We wanted to know what the choices meant, so the waiter had to give us a ten minute lecture on the menu! At least he treated it like part of the job, and seemed enthusiastic about teaching us what it all meant. But I wonder what the place gained (besides an air of pretentiousness) by not just putting explanations on the menu.

Supposedly coming out this year. Anyone know anything?

Seems like all pans marketed to consumers say this. It's been discussed here before ... consensus is that it's nonsense, just to protect them from whatever liability they're imagining. Your all clad will be perfectly happy sitting on much more heat than what a typical home stove could ever put out. I have a pro roasting pan (made out of the same clad metals as A.C.) is rated to go right under a commercial broiler, or into a 640 degree oven.

18-8 and 18-10 seem equally non-magnetic. I believe slkinsey's right about them using type 400 (martensitic) stainless steel on the outside of pans to make them work with induction. It seems as if there's sometimes a visible difference between the two. Especially noticeable in flatware. 18-8 has a harder shine to it, kind of like chrome. 18-10 has a slightly softer, warmer looking luster. Of course i could be imagining this. It might also apply to some alloys and not others ... there are many different steels that can be called either 18-8 or 18-10. In theory, the higher nickel content should make 18-10 more resistant to corosion, but who knows if there's any practical benefit for cookware.

Yeah, a lot of casual cooks seem scared of heat. It might help people to watch at restaurants with open kitchens, or to cook with friends who have pro style stoves. I have a pretty average home stove ... this means that cranked all the way up, the flame is really only on medium! When guests have asked why the stove is turned up so high, I have to explain that my stove doesn't go high at all; I'm just doing the best I can. Anyone with a home style stove who's sautéing or trying to sear meat at anything but the highest setting just hasn't yet learned how to cook. Hot ovens also scare people. I've had friends ask for my roast chicken recipe, and when I get to the part about the 500 degree oven, they typically change the subject. Do they think the house will burn down?

This sounds just like a comparison between conventional and free range chicken. The free range is tastier but firmer and less tender. The first time I had one I didn't like it! And I've heard that's pretty common. Jacques Pepin wrote about finding a free range bird back when they were hard to get in this country; he cooked it at home and had a French friend over for dinner. He and his friend raved about the bird and how it reminded him of chicken growing up. But his daughters didn't like it. It was unfamiliar. They wanted the soft texture of purdue, or whatever they grew up with.

maybe this would look too nasty, but what about blondies died brick red (using whatever they use for red velvet cake)?

Clarified butter is one approach, but not the only one, and not always the most desireable. Anyone who wants to learn hollandaise well enough to improvise should consider learning all the basic methods (whole solid butter, whole melted butter, and clarified butter). Each gives a different result; each is appropriate in different situations.