paulraphael

I don't know if this counts ... but I was looking for a way to reheat a braise of berkshire pork shoulder, and found that the oven and the microwave tended to dry it out. So I improvised a quasi-sous vide method. I filled an oval enameled cast iron pot with water, heated it on the stove, and then moved it over to an electric hot plate. I adjusted the temp with a probe thermometer sitting in the water. I got it to stay between 145 and 150. I then put the meat in a ziplock bag, squeezed out as much air as possible, and tossed into the soup. The first time I did this it worked great. The second time I tried to hold it longer at temperature, and discovered the limits of the ziplock bag. There was enough air in there that the fats started to oxidize, giving the ends of the meat a gross white/gray color and a stale, warmed-over smell. But the insides were still moist and succulent.

I made a big dinner for my parents this weekend (delayed christmas present) ... I served two desserts simultaneously, because I have a hard time settling on just one, and I thought it would be fun to have two that played off each other. The first was a bowl of mixed, iced berries (raspberries, blackberries, blueberries), lightly sprinkled with sea salt, served in a pool of warm creme anglaise. The second was a dense, warm flourless chocolate torte, served with a chocolate butter sauce made with port wine. The course was preceded by a card printed with my all-time favorite line from Alain Ducasse: "Desserts are like mistresses: they are bad for you. So if you are having one, you may as well have two."

I wonder what the effects would be of cooking stock significantly below a simmer for the extraction part, not for reduction. Simmering and boiling are convenient markers, but I've learned from both braising and making coffee that they're not necesarily the best temps for the food. Has anyone tried a long extraction at 160 or 180 degrees?

Pierre Hermé says the secret to crisp bottoms of tart shells (especially when you have soggy contents, like fruit) is to lay down a thin layer of crumbs inside the shell. He always keeps crumbs from stale genoise, ladyfingers, or sugar cookies around. I haven't tried this yet, but I plan to.

I saw an interesting product at whole foods last winter ... it was high quality, powdered chocolate from south america. not cocoa--it was complete with sugar and cocoa butter, and ground in some way that kept it from glomming together. This, melted directly into hot water, hot milk, or some combination would be an excellent and easy starting point. Pierre Herme's chocolate dessert books has some great cocoa recipes. Nice as is, or use them as starting points. The only thing I don't like about using high end chocolate for this is the price. But there are many options ... Callebaut bought in bulk costs just a bit more than Baker's nasty chocolate, and around half what you'd pay for Valrhona. At any rate, it seems to me that using a finely chopped or ground chocolate instead of cocoa, and if you need it, using a finely ground sugar (not powdered) would get you well on the way to something that would disolve easily.

The book Crazy Quilt by John Train has a whole chapter of butchered menu translations. Most are English menus in foreign countries. The one that stuck in my mind was "Lao Sauce Water Cockroach." Mmmmm mmmm! http://www.amazon.com/Crazy-Quilt-Remarkab...75275343&sr=1-3 I'll post some more when I find my copy. I've also noticed some unfortunate items on local chinese menus, with Strange Flavor Chicken always topping the list. I wonder how much of that they sell?

Replacement Knob? I've never had a problem with the phenolic knob on my Creuset pot, but it obviously bugs some people. Has anyone just replaced it with something else? The lid has a simple hole in the top. Seems you could go to a hardware or cabinetry shop and have your pick of brass or aluminum or bronze knobs, with whatever finish you like. You could get a lion head, with a ring through his nose, if that's your style.

I'm serving a dinner this weekend wiith a few courses. The main course will be a braised berkshire pork shoulder, with a red wine, apple, and thyme based sauce. The preceding course will be a corn chowder with wild mushrooms, that's lightly enriched with cream. Any general thoughts on types of wine?

You can mix in some shortening to help with this (higher melting point) but I'm part of the anti-shortening crowd ... don't like to sacrifice real butter flavor, and hate the greasy mouthfeel that shortening gives. One of the keys to limiting spread with a butter-based cookie is just making sure the dough is as cold as possible when it goes in the oven. And forming it in a good, tall dollop on the baking sheet. make sure the sheet is completely cooled befor putting the dough on it, obviously.

I think it's great. I don't expect to agree with every detail of a comprehensive policy change. The fact is he's doing something, and the broad strokes of it are significant. Any time anyone responds to pressure (assuming that's a factor here) people resistant to change shout out "where do we draw the line! what's next! now we're on a slippery slope!" However, these arguments could easily be used against ANY change. I don't believe for a minute that a restauranteur supporting sustainable agriculture is going to somehow lead us toward a vegan police state.

Some things you could try (these work brilliantly in chocolate chip cookies; i haven't tried them in oatmeal) ... 1) use melted butter instead of creamed butter 2) use bread flour instead of ap 3) chill the dough for a long time before baking, and keep everything (the dough, the bowl, the scooper) cold between batches. 4) increase the proportion of brown sugar to white sugar 5) possibly add a small amount of additional liquid (1 TB or so milk).

I thought my mom's salad spinner was one of the best toys in the house. but now that i have my own kitchen, I just don't want a big, plastic, single-purpose thing adding to the clutter. Anything wrong with using towels?

Right, I bought "The Escoffier Cookbook" on ebay, not realizing it was abridged. I had to rebay it and get the unabridged "Guide Culinaire" ... this might be the short title of the one you mention. It claims to be the frist unabridged English translation. It's an interesting reference, but goes into precious little detail. Things like "prepare lamb as you would boar, lard thoroughly, roast several hours in front of medium fire, serve with turnips and sauce Niceoise." I made that up, but it's about as helpful as Msr. Escoffier likes to be.

Any comments on storing infused oil in the fridge? My understanding was that botulinum is innactive at refrigerator temps.

Almost always brown the butter. The rule should be against blackening it! Especially for things like pancakes ... the options are 1) use something with a higher smoke point but no buttery goodness; 2) use clarified butter (I'd rather reserve it for when I really need it, like higher sautéing temps); 3) let the butter brown. Seems like an easy choice to me. And besides, beurre noisette is delicious. For what it's worth, I also usually make clarified butter with a beurre noisette method (cooking the butter until the water's all evaporated, and the milk solids are brown, then skimming the scum). It's easier than the restaurant method when you're making small quantities. And again, it's delicious.

I get it. This is where we "out" ourselves as true phillistines. Ok, here goes: -eggs. i'm fine with them as ingredients (use them by the dozen when baking) but they gag me, both from taste and texture, by themselves. this is a real handicap at brunch. and omelettes LOOK so good, and are such a great idea. i wish i could enjoy them. -avocados -liver -tofu (my girlfriend is Taiwanese, so this has caused some friction) -kim chee (most of it has a smell that sets off my fight or flee instinct. but recently i had some ... labelled "lactic acid bacteria" kimchee ...yum! ... that i thought was delicious) -paté ... probably because of the liver -urchin and some take-it-or-leave-it delicacies (these don't gross me out, but I don't love them): -foie gras -caviar

I got this book a couple of weeks ago and I have to say I'm disappointed in it. The recipes look pretty good, but in a book title "all about ... " I expect to learn a lot about technique. Besides discussing every imaginable shape and color of pan, there's very little technique in this book. And some of what she describes does not follow the laws of physics, at least not the ones that govern the planet where I do most of my cooking. I've found much more detailed (and credible) advice on braising technique in Peterson's Sauce's cookbook, and in Harold McGhee's On Food and Cooking. Has anyone examined MgGhee's braising advice? Here's a summary, from memory: 1) Brown the meat as quickly as possible in a very hot pan. Go fast and hot to keep the layer of well-done meat as thin as possible 2) start the braise UNCOVERED in a cold oven. Set the thermostat to 200 degrees, and give the braise at least 2 hours to get warm in the center. The idea here is to give the meat a lot of time in the magic range between 120 and 140 degrees, where enzyme activity is most intense. This tenderizes and develops the flavor of the meat without drying. 3) turn the meat, cover it, and turn up the oven to 250 degrees. periodically turn the meat and check the temperature inside the pan. Do not let it get anywhere NEAR a boil. Meat will toughen and dry out if it gets above 180 degrees, no matter what its surrounding conditions. 160 degrees or a bit higher is ideal for slow cooking and breaking down the collagen. Aparently one of the signs of meat cooked like this is that it will remain a deep red in the middle, even though it's well done. It will also maintain much more moisture than meat that's been allowed to simmer. Any thoughts? I braised some berkshire pork shoulder this weekend, using methods like what Stevens advocates, and was not impressed. The results were dryer than I would have liked. I'm going to try the other half of the shoulder this weekend using the above method, and will report back.

I've been researching my favorite recipe, trying to find out where it comes from. The source seems to be Maida Heatter, who somewhere published this recipe: http://theoutdatedkitchen.blogspot.com/200...s-brownies.html My mom's version (which is what i've always made) uses a food processor. The butter is melted on the stove with sugar, and both are whisked together until thickened. This is added to chocolate that's been ground in the food processor. Everything is mixed in the processor, and one by one, the other ingredients are added, with the flour/salt/baking powder going in last and getting mixed mimimally. What's great about this recipe is partly the sour cream, which adds moistness and a barely perceptible tang, but also the gigantic proportion of chocolate. I have yet to find another recipe that has nearly as much. Before finding this (presumably) original version online, I've been working on refining the recipe and adapting it for use without a food processor. This weekend I melted the chocolate and butter together, and separately beat the eggs and sugar together. Everything was stirred together, with the flourf and salt going in last. I ommitted the baking powder, since beating the eggs and sugar incorporated a lot of air. I used callebaut bittersweet chocolate. The results were delicious, but very tender (not chewy like the original version). I assume the mixing method is responsible for the change in texture, but I wonder if using better chocolate (in the past I've often used baker's chocolate from the supermarket) could have anything to do with it. The good chocolate likely has more cocoa butter and less sugar. I'm going to try Maida's original assembly instructions next. I'd also like to experimentt with a bit less sugar and a bit more salt.

Cool, thanks. There may be a lot more wine in my future.

A fifth the price? Do any of the New Yorkers here know about decent wines in the el-cheapo range that are available here? Seems to me the $8 or so is the cheapest bottle I ever see.

There are similar concerns with both, in my experience. In neither case do you need a very good wine, because the subtleties that separate a good wine frome a merely ok one will be destroyed by heat. But in both cases, certain broad stroke qualities of the wine can make important differences. Body, acidity, and residual sugar are high on the list. This is why it can make a difference whether you use white or red, a riesling or a bordeaux, a chardonnay or a muscadet, etc.. It's also important with any red wine sauce to reduce the wine in the presence of protein, to help prevent the pigments from dropping out and the wine from becoming overly tannic. There are a few cases (like traditional dessert sabayons) where the subtletties of the wine are preserved. in these cases you have to be a bit more picky.

I got both my mom and my girlfriend Messermeister chef's knives. I chose these because they're excellent knives, and the handles work brilliantly for people with small hands. I also got them steels. For my mom, who seems to think learning new tricks is the source of excruciating pain, I had to trick her. The present included a certificate for a lesson in how to use the knife, and (in fine print) notice that I was going to dispose of 90% of the useless knives cluttering up her kitchen.

Be sure to go to kitchenaid.com and find the outlet store. The prices on factory refurb units are phenomenal (you can get their biggest, baddest mixer for under $250). There don't seem to be any special quality control issues with the refurbs, but they don't guarantee them to be cosmetically perfect. I've been considering getting one of these myself.

The exhaustive information on wine in Peterson's Sauces book corroborates this. He doesn't suggest that all wine is equal in cooking, but that the qualities that make a wine suitable for a particular sauce are often completely different than the ones that make it delicious to drink. According to Peterson, cooking will destroy light fruity flavors, many of the aromatic compounds, and almost all of a wine's subtlety. But it can be important to cook with a wine that has a lot of body, a lot of acidity (or very little), a lot of residual sugar (or very little), etc., depending on the application. I think there are some wines you'd choose not to cook with, for the same reasons you'd chose not to drink them. Some wines just taste terrible. I don't mean flabby, or unintneresting ... I mean terrible flavor. There's a chance that really assertive off tastes will survive cooking and wreak havoc with some sauces. 2 Buck Chuck wouldn't fit this category for most people, I suspect.

I assume the alcohol would be more than enough to prevent spoilage. I'm wondering about preserving the flavor. Many flavorful and aromatic agents can eventually react with oxygen, or with each other, and lower temperatures slow that process considerably. I just don't know how stable vanilla is in an extract solution.