Habeas Brulee

Nam Phuong did close down a few years ago. Does anyone know if it reopened elsewhere? I know that one of their co-owners was named Tom Bui, but haven't managed to hunt him down yet. Their pho was the best I've ever had, and I still haven't found another place I like in the city yet.

I'm in a similar position now for my wedding next summer. Do you know of any culinary schools in particular that do this sort of thing ever? (Or have any other suggestions, of course.) Thanks!

Darienne - I've been using 70% chocolate in making some of the chocolates from this book, adapting the recipes to dark chocolate as needed, and it works out great. Don't worry!

Does anyone know where I can buy jellyfish to cook with at home? Somewhere in Chinatown, I assume, but I haven't come across it yet.

I can't speak to French customs, but as a young professional in America who doesn't really drink, I tend to split the bill equally, unless someone dining with me has been ordering expensive alcohol, in which case we split it according to who ordered what, or they pay for the alcohol and we split the rest evenly. It's just that as a non-drinker, if I have to share the cost of people's alcohol all the time, it really won't ever just even out.

I love brown chicken stock - I agree, it's more golden than brown, and it's really the basic stock I make and keep on hand in my home freezer and use all the time. I just don't find white chicken stock to be as flavorful, and can't really think of any use for it where I wouldn't rather use either brown chicken stock or some different and otherwise flavorful stock instead.

How long did you cook the beef for, and what cut of meat was it? ← I've tried twice, actually - once with chuck, cooked for about 3 hours, and then with top round, cut into smaller pieces, cooked for less time, not sure exactly how long.

So, I tried making the beef rendang, and while the flavor was excellent, the texture of the meat was just too tough. I'm used to regular braising (with a parchment lid and a real lid keeping the steam in), and am not sure how dry braising is supposed to work to tenderize the meat. Any advice?

Paula Wolfert, Alice Medrich, and Dorie Greenspan.

It's been a few years since anyone replied to this thread, and I'm heading out for January Birthday Oysters with a friend on the 4th. So, where's the best place to eat raw oysters in the city in 2008?

These look great! Thank you for the inspiration.

The temperature was good, it stayed around 50-60 F, usually closer to 50. The humidity went as high as 80 a few nights, I think was the problem. I only have a simple humidifier, not a dehumidifier - so all it does is keep adding humidity, not adjust it to the right RH. A dehumidifier might be nice. An electronic one that maintains the correct humidity would be ideal.

Well, it was hanging out in the open in my living room, so checking it just involved a quick glance and adjusting/refilling the humidifier as needed. It's not like I have an enclosed box for curing, and I didn't fondle the meat every time I checked it (though I sure was tempted!).

It's time for Menu for Hope 4! Again, food bloggers are offering up a lot of tasty prizes, and you can buy raffle tickets, with all of the money going to the UN World Food Programme. The full list of prizes is here: http://www.chezpim.com/blogs/2007/12/menu-for-hope-4.html The FAQ is here: http://www.chezpim.com/blogs/2007/11/menu-for-hope-4.html And my contribution, a cooking class for two (something few of you eGulleters need, I suspect, but wouldn't it be fun to just cook together anyways? or send your wayward relatives my way so I can teach them to cook a better meal for you?), is here: http://habeasbrulee.com/2007/12/10/menu-fo...two-prize-ue31/

After about 12 days of hanging, I saw a little spot of mold appear on each of of my pancetta (where the shape was messy and there were crevices for it). So, I took it down, sliced off and discarded the ends, and cooked up some for eating. It smelled tasty, so I figured it was safe. Oh my god. This is better than bacon. This is better than anything. I never knew it could be this way. That said, I'm glad I checked in on it once or twice a day, so I caught the mold as soon as it started. I think the problem is that the humidity got a bit too high for a few nights near the end (with just a little vicks cool-air humidifier near the window where the pancetta was hanging, I didn't have much control). [Edited to add in the missing words 'bit' and 'high'.]

Oyster chowder! I use Jasper White's recipe, and it's just wonderful.

Benign neglect is right. I use my food blog to organize them, and my occasional round-up posts there for other's people's posted recipes, and I just plain ol' bookmark a lot. As for the cookbooks, I don't really worry too much, though I do occasionally write notes in the books if needed.

I don't have a recipe, but I do have a tip - infuse the ginger flavor into the liquid before pitching the yeast, but don't leave chunks of ginger in while it's brewing, because they'll inhibit the growth of your yeast.

I don't like Lindt's dark chocolate, either, though their milk isn't so bad for eating plain.

My first pancetta is curing in my fridge now. I've been stressing over where to hang it, since I don't have any sort of curing box or place to put one, and while Michael Ruhlman may hang his near his stove, I think I keep my kitchen way too warm for that. However, I just discovered that the vestibule of my garden apartment is hovering around 55 F and 65% humidity. From now on, people will just have to duck the meats when entering my apartment!

I actually prefer Ghirardelli to Guittard, personally. Though I stick with Scharffenberger as my default, because I can get it pretty cheaply at my local food co-op.

Peter, I'd be very interested in seeing your progress as you work your way through this pig.

More searching has led to me to a comment in an older thread by Paula Wolfert, where she wrote: I salted some of my skin and spread it out yesterday in the fridge for this, and I'll try confiting it tomorrow night.

That looks really gorgeous! What do tofu sticks taste like? Actually, more to the point, what's their texture like?

I have some pork skin sitting in my fridge, left over from setting up some pancetta to cure. I've never tried working with pork skin before - what can I do with it? Someone suggested chocolate covered pork rinds, but I don't even know how to make pork rinds. I tried searching the archives, with no luck. Can anyone explain how to make pork rinds, or link me to a good recipe? And in the interest of creating a good resource here for all eGulleters - What else can you do with pork skin? Let's bring together all inspiration, ideas, and recipes for cooking with pork skin, here in this thread as a single resource! Thank you, everyone!