Jinmyo

Schielke, moveth not thy fish. Leave it presentation side down in the pan for most of the cooking time, flipping gently near the end. Also, a truc from Thomas Keller: After drying the fish thoroughly, lightly but firmly scrape the skin with the back of your knife to remove moisture before putting it into the pan.

Domo arigato gozaimasu. Watashi wa Nihongo o sukoshi hana-shimasu and do many classical/sem-i-classical Japanese dishes but I'm not Nihonjin. Not much to explain as it's mainly a matter of timing. Some enoki poach gently in dashi and then are put into the cool coffee-dashi (1 part Nigerian roast to 4 parts dashi, gelatin sheets) in small bowls; the bowls go into the freezer while more enoki are poached; the bowls are removed and the hot enoki melt the still setting coffee-dashi; bowls returned to freezer for a few minutes; enoki are now warm instead of hot, coffee-dashi has set around the stems.

Cheap sushi is easy. Bad sushi is common and commonly expensive. Good sushi is very very hard. Excellent sushi is a miracle that brings tears.

coolranch, what is "pico"? Iyer?

Shiro miso-shiru (white miso soup) with lemon zest; toro sashimi; warm enoki mushroom set in cool "cappuccino" (gelatine-set coffee dashi); crispy smelt with gomasio; daikon thread salad with a fig vinaigrette; chicken liver pate on large basil leaves; soba-zushi (buckwheat noodles rolled in nori) with shoyu-wasabi dipping sauce; gohan (Japanese white rice).

Happy Adversary!

cabrales, from what I know (from television, reading, and speaking with a few people who've dined there) the flavours are certainly "non-authentic" but it's not just some ill-fitting "fusion" either. French technique, primarily American ingredients, pan-Asian influences and finishing. I don't think you'd like the cuisine. And I don't think it's subtle. But it is has nuances and a certain style.

Rochelle, catering is okay for some. But much of the fun of professional cooking is knowing your space and its shifting volumes as bodies move back and forth. Knowing where everything is. Knowing how many steps it takes to pick this up, turn and put it there, swing a hand up for that, put it here, reach over and flip that. Micoseconds in which events explode, align, shift, reintegrate, complete, drop away, renew.

Simon, it's just because you're you. tommy, just so, just so.

Send out for a pizza.

Stephen, apology accepted. I like brown rice too. But I'm particular about the rice in terms of texture and flavour. Ideology is tasteless and viewing food in terms of "nutritional components" is boring. Brown rice is too tasty to be sullied by anti-white rice rhetoric. And white rice has its place too. For example, one cannot seriously make sushi with brown rice or any Japanese kaiseki cuisine for that matter. Different grains for different uses. But while we're discussing nutritional values, if anyone hasn't tried spelt or some of the other "ancient grains", I'd recommend the investigation. Quinoa (too eensy for my purposes) for example is very high in protein.

What about them? What that does that have to do with what rice to cook with what dish? Which is all I'm talking about.

How about rice, vegetables grilled or roasted with EVOO, beef stroganoff?

How about Scottish beef? I have the impression that Argentinian beef isn't really aged.

As you can see from this chart, white rice is hardly like eating "empty calories". While much lower in fibre than brown, it also has four times less fat. Ha ha. Anyway, eating a range of grains (and other starches) is a sensible and delicious way of going about dietary considerations. But 5 cups a serving is just out of balance entirely.

southern girl, heh heh heh. ediot: Guess what I couldn't spell and win a bag of spelt.

bushey, just drop the sage leaves in the fat, pull them out. But you can tempura the buggers too and that's nice.

Sure, bushey. But do give the Lundberg short grain a go, please. It really is delicious. A bit of butter, a twist of pepper, a shot of tabasco in a bowlful will delight.

Oh, Jim, it's been such a long time since I've made these. Thanks for the reminder.

I thought I'd mention that brown rice is slightly healthier than white. But only very slightly. Unless the majority of every meal you eat is rice, the "health" benefits are minimal. I use different kinds of rice for different textures and flavours in the context of various kinds of meals. In many, brown rice just doesn't work as well as gohan (Japanese short or medium grain white), Thai rice, and so on. When I do use brown rice I use a short-grain rice from Lundberg farms which comes in an both organic and "evil agribusinness" kinds. Either are delicious with a rich, almost buttery and roasted flavour and a firm but not springy tooth. Long-grain brown rice is just food for penitents.

Shanghai wheat noodles with a garlic chive and Thai holy basil pesto; corncob soup (sautéed corn and Chinese celery in a stock of milk from the corncobs, coriander. lemongrass, lime); steamed amaranth leaves and snow pea greens with yuzu; roasted wild mushrooms with a shoyu-chile sauce; roast pork with crackling.

In terms of supermarkets, here in Canada the Loblaws chain has a huge number of in-house brand stuff called President's Choice that is of very high quality for the kinds of products they are. These include rice vinegar, EVOO, different kinds of rice, pastas, organic meats and cereals and so on. Well, they're not good enough for me to actually buy after an intial few tests but you know what I mean. The meat department has butchers behind a counter and they'll cut you a chop or roast as thick as you want. Even the cling-flimed meat in the little styrofoam trays is: beef, pork, chicken, turkey, veal, rabbit. In the frozen section there is duck, pheasant, quail, partridge...

Frittata are the garde manger team non pareil.

Jim, when I flip I often do so onto a wooden cutting board and serve it on it. Rustica doncha know.

Why? Do you think he sprinkled something on them from his pocket?