paulraphael

A friend of mine who worked for years as a waitress understood what shockingly few waters ever figure out: most problems will be forgiven if the wait staff acknowledges them. When she gets slammed and gets behind schedule, she just checks in with the tables. Acknowledges things are slow, lets them know she hasn't forgotten about them, and conservatively estimates the time. All the tension and bad feelings evaporate when she does this. If there's a complaint about the food, she takes the customer's side and puts the wheels in motion to find a resolution. Real basic stuff ... I'd think anyone who's eaten at a restaurant would figure this out. So when I get crappy service without acknowledgement, I'm less inclined to start making up excuses like "maybe they're understaffed." If they are, why haven't I been told what to expect? Why hasn't anyone even acknowledged the problem? The obliviousness and lack of communication is a worse offense than mistakes and slow service.

For me, the most important quality in a roasting pan is its ability to conduct heat through the bottom at a rate that lets the drippings brown without burning in the time it takes the food to cook. Of course, this is a pretty wide window, but some materials do better than others. It seems to be a factor of conductivity and also surface finish. Dark exteriors absorb radiant heat and tend to burn the fond. Thin pans conduct heat quickly and tend to burn as well. Ceramic pans often conduct too slowly and produce inadequate browining. This is where I've found the stainless clad aluminum to do well. It also performs well on the stove when you're deglazing. The two clad roasting pans I've owned conducted so evenly, they were useable as griddles over two burners.

Yes. I hate the thought of nonstick roasting pans. Half the reason I roast is to get those pan drippings. And if you deglaze the pan, cleanup is always easy. I've used every imaginable roasting pan, and have sadly found that the best performing ones are expensive. And hard to find. I like aluminum clad in stainless steel, and there are fewer roasting pans available in this material than there used to be. I also like low sides ... I prefer to use a bed of vegetables to a rack, and high sides inhibit airflow. The only pan I've found that fits all my criteria is by Viking (made by Demyere, I think). Clad pans with higher sides are made made by kitchenaid, bourgeat, and maybe one or two others.

Oh, yeah, if you're talking about commercial baking the economics are different. At home there's no expectation of profit, just some fuzzy sense of the value of indulgence.

It's one of those cases where getting something that's 20% better might cost twice as much. How much $$$ is too much comes down to personal taste and personal bank accounts.

I almost fell over the first time I bit into some Cluizel. My heart has always belonged to Valrhona, but, the Los Ancones (sp?) bar that I had was like nothing else. If I were richer, I'd bake with it. As it is, Valrhona is about my upper limit for what to put in cakes and terrines. Much of the time I go cheaper, with bulk chocolate from Callebaut, El Rey, or something similar. There is a pronounced difference between these and the Valrhona, so I have little doubt there'd be a noticeble difference with the Cluizel. Only question is how much you're willing to pay for it. edited to add: I haven't tried Callebaut's single origin chocolates, only their basic unsweetened, and 70% and 60-something percent bittersweets.

It doesn't have to be tedious. The trick is to become sensitive to the consistency of the sauce, so you know when to take it off the heat. When you figure this out, there's no need to do it over low heat. I do it over medium or meidium-high heat, and it never takes more than a couple of minutes, and I've never had it curdle. I likee to stir the saucepan with a flat wood or bamboo spatula. Whatever you use, make sure it gets all the way into the corners, and make sure you're constantly stirring/scraping the bottom and the corners. This is where sauce is likely to curldle if it sits still too long. Watch the waves that the sauce makes. In the beginning it will slosh quickly like a thin liquid. As it reaches the right temp (around 165 degrees) it will suddenly make larger, slower waves. You may even see the bottom of the pan appearing and vanishing. If you're still not sure, run your finger across the back of the spatula. It should draw a line through a thick coating of sauce, and the line shouldn't drip over. When you're sure it's thickened, keep stirring over the heat for 15 seconds, and then pull the pan completely off the burner. Keep stirring off the heat for an additional 30 seconds. These final steps help insure that it will be throughly thickened, but not overcooked. A responsive pan helps. I'm also partial to slope-sided saucepans for this, since they make it easier to get into the corners.

Barbara Kafka has always given me good guidence on roasting with a lot of heat. I haven't used her turkey recipe, but it's here on her site, in all its 500° glory: http://www.bkafka.com/Recipes/roastturkey.html

I made pumpkin puree this fall (found some nice sugar pumpkins and cheese pumpkins at a farmer's stand) and really overachieved ... there's a gallon of the stuff in my freezer. I've been making pumpkin pancakes, but each batch uses half a cup A cake sounds like a fine idea. I've found a handful of recipes, and they all use vegetable or seed oils. Is there any reason not to use butter? Butter plus Pumpkin sounds like a more delicious combination to me.

Most of my friends have confessed to not actually liking turkey. The reason is that they perceive it as dry and usually flavorless. The flavorlesness probably comes from buying the cheapest factory birds possible, but the dry part is from not understanding how to cook poultry. There are a lot of methods that work, but if your method doesn't consider the lower cooking temperature of the light meat vs. the dark meat, the bird is doomed to mediocrity. The same goes for chicken, but being smaller, a chicken is a bit more forgiving. Cooking times are long enough with turkey that you have the opportunity to REALLY dry out the breasts. The 19th century french methods often relied on barding the white meat with fat or bacon for part off the roasting process to protect it from the heat. I find foil to be a simple substitute. I generally fold a piece in thirds, like a business letter, but with the two outer sections only overlapping for an inch or two (added protection for the part of the bird closest to the top of the oven). This stays on for about a third of the total roasting time. It allows you to roast longer and with higher heat, allowing a dark, crisp skin without raising the breast meat above 155 or 160 or so. I've never deep fried a bird ... not sure if an equivalent method would work for that.

for a 16lb turkey, I poach for 90 minutes, with the stock just below a simmer. Filling a 20qt stock pot halfway is just about right. You can make the bouillion in the stock pot right before putting in the bird. It takes about 2 hours.

The best method I've used is based on George Perrier's recipe: poaching the turkey in court bouillon, and then roasting at high temperature. Perrier roasts at medium high temps, with the bird tented in foil much of the time. I get better results by poaching longer, then doing away with the tent. I roast at 500 degrees with a doubled piece of foil over the breast meat for about half the time (and some foil to protect the ends of the drumsticks from scorching). The result is crisp, mahogany-brown skin, and juicy, perfectly cooked meat (both light and dark). Only special gear is a big stock pot. Removing the bird from the hot liquid is a bit of a trick; Perrier advocates picking it up by the truss, which seems borderline suicidal to me. I put a smaller stock pot in the sink, and pour off the court bouillon, and then slide the bird into the roasting pan. Big mits and another pair of hands can be helpful. The poaching liquid forms the base for the next year's first batch of poultry stock.

The first thing i ever baked all by myself was a pound cake, while my girlfriend was out of town. I got halfway through mixing all the ingredients when I rememebered we'd lent our electric mixer to a friend. All I could find was one of those hand-cranked egg beaters. The batter was too thick to churn with that relic. Necessity being the mother of invention (or mother of something), I found inspiration in a hacksaw and an electric drill. I cut the handle off of the egg beater's crank, and inserted the remaining stub into the chuck of the drill. Voila: a two-handed, half-horsepower, Rube Goldberg-style electric mixer. It whined and bucked and splattered and tried to wrestle itself out of my hands. But I held on. By the time the batter was smooth, the room smelled like smoke, and the little plastic gears of the egg beater were ground down to nothing. The cake turned out ok! Would have been great, but the plastic gear shards didn't do much for the texture.

They're made of pine?? doesn't sound like a good idea to me. Someone who knows more about wood should chime in, but my sense is that pine is way too soft, has a grain structure that's too open, and would be too absorbent and dimensionally unstable.

I probably exaggerated ... just looked online and it seems the standard thickness is 1-1/2". still pretty fat! The buliding supply place that cut it for me warned that there would be burn marks on the side from all the friction from the radial saw. I'm finding a number of places that sell the material unfinished, in sections 25 inches x 8 feet, for under $200.

Standard butcher block countertops are around 2 inches thick ... warping isn't an issue (hasn't been for me anyhow). I forget what I paid, but it was probably 1/4 to 1/2 the price of a butcher block from the usual channels. I had a sander already, but it would have still been economical to get one (or borrow one) if I didn't.

I find a butcher block-sized cutting board to be indispensible. It's my main work surface that gets used for everything from chopping vegetables to rolling out dough. The smaller cutting board is for raw meat and poultry only. An excellent, cheap way to get big block is to buy a section of rock maple butcher block counter top. Just go to someone who sells it and have them cut it to what length you want. Depth is limited to standard countertop depth, but that's still a good size. I haven't seen end grain versions of this, but maybe it exists. When you get it home, put on a dust mask and grab a palm sander. About five minutes of minor effort will remove all the urethane finish. You can then put a couple of coats of oil on it. I've read a lot about oil on butcher blocks ... most recommendations are against using cooking oil, on the grounds that it becomes rancid. In my own experience, this just isn't true. I've oiled three cutting boards with olive oil since I've owned them--15 years, 12 years, and 10 years respectively. None has developed a rancid odor ever. In fact, after the oil soaks in, they don't even smell like olive oil. The level of protection seems reasonable; none of these boards has warped appreciably or split. I would be interested in hearing about anyone's experience with polymerizing oils (linseed oil or tung oil), which would presumably create a true protective finish.

One of my favorite passages in Julia Cameron's "The Artist's Way" goes something like this: Q: If I start now, do you know how old I'll be when I'm finally proficient at baking/painting/dancing/playing piano? A: Yes. Exactly as old as you'll be if you don't. So get moving.

We made the pilgrimage to Patsy's in Harlem last night. It was very good. The crust was thin, but thankfully not "paper thin," as they advertise it. It had a delicate, crackly crispness on the bottom, and was feathery light in the middle. The edges were puffed and chewy. Compared with Una Pizza Napolitana, the crust was a bit thinner and more crisp. The flavor of the bread was primarily char, which was strong enough to overpower any subtle bread flavors. The Napoletana crust had a more subltle char and prominent nutty, sourdough-like flavors. The toppings at Napoletana were better quality. I like the Patsy's style very much, but it's still a bit floppy for my tastes. I prefer the crisp bottom to offer some support for the pizza when you hold it. The crust is also delicate enough that it turns soft and almost soggy within ten minutes. Definitely worth the trip. Next stops will be Arturo's and DiFara.

I'd like it if you could spray them directly onto your plate, fully cooked. science marches on ...

I've always used clarified butter. Works great at high or medium heat. The beef fat idea is an interesting one; I'd be inclined to render it first into tallow, so you won't have any of the parts in the pan that might burn and cause off flavors. I agree with doing all the cooking in the pan at high heat, and allowing the meat to cook through to rare while resting. But when I'm cooking for myself or close friends, I always want rare. I can see how finishing in the oven could be a valuable step for restaurants, where they need to prepare steaks at different levels of doneness. They can brown them all the same on the stove, and just have oven times dialed in for different cuts and different results.

Has anyone used the Misono Swedish steel (carbon) knives, or the molybdenum steel (stainless)? They make a reasonably priced pairing knife in both these lines. I've seen it suggested that stainless is a good option with pairing knives, considering how acidic many of the fruits and things are that you cut with them. Not sure how big a deal this is. The stainless series is on the soft side for Japanese knives.

cool, i didn't know this existed. i only knew about rolls and full sheet. this is worth a field trip.

Great news. Looks like I have a few field trips ahead.

I personally don't need three chef's knives. I could get by with one, and no other knives at all. But I wanted to try one of the Japanese knives that everyone's been drooling over, and that meant a second chef's knife. It's not going to be a replacement, but a complement, because it's much more light duty than the heavy german knife. It will also be nice to have two for when I'm cooking with my girlfriend. The only other knives I have are a bread knife (I like crusty bread), a slicing knife (gets used maybe every other month), a pairing knife (used fairly often), and a couple of cheap utility knives (used for carving up chickens, cutting string and parchment, etc.) I don't even feel the need to have four top quality knives. I want top quality chef's knives and at least a good quality pairing knife. The others get used so infrequently that I don't care about their edge retention or anyting. As long as they're comfortable and can take a sharp edge they're fine with me. The challenge was a block that could take the 2 chef's knives, and a 12" steel, and that DIDN'T have a dozen more slots than I'll ever use. I finally settled on this one: http://www.metrokitchen.com/product/WU-7267-1? it's a little bit short for a 12" steel, but i plan to replace the rubber feet on the bottom with taller ones to make room.