Jinmyo

no bones. Bones. Pick 'em up by the bone and bite right through the ring of fat. Try it and tell me I'm wrong.

Very nice, tommy. I am finding that pork chops (loin, bone in) are becoming more and more a favourite of mine.

There are many ways of doing Hua Diao Fu Gui Ji. Scald the chicken in boiling water for a minute, and then simmer for about 15 minutes. Let it cool in the water, remove it, quarter it, rub it with salt and some grain alcohol. Let it sit like this for 2 hours, refrigerated. Mix a lot of Shaoxing wine or sherry, about half that of the water the chicken cooked in, half that again of white wine, a few dashes of fish sauce, and a bit of grain alcohol. Put in slivered ginger, chopped Chinese parsley and scallions, salt, white pepper. Marinate the chicken for at least 24 hours, refrigerated. Remove chicken from marinade, serve.

Please excuse me, but I think so. Many of my dishes are "Italianesque". But I do quite a bit of shojin-ryori and kaiseki Japanese meals as well as regional Chinese dishes. Tofu and olive oil let alone tomatoes do not play together. One can cram the stuff into the mouth, chew, and swallow. But there's nothing playful in it. Tofu has nothing to do with most of the other product used in Italian cuisines. Some of the herbs can work, but... ediot: I find that tofu doesn't really work in Southeast Asian dishes because it has never really been used extensively. I remember trying some coriander leaf in miso shiru once. Gah.

I can imagine a customer asking, "could you make that for me but leave out the hazelnuts?" I can but I cannot imagine the seasoning being entirely redone for one customer. And the loss of the hazelnut profile would probably make the rest of the dish meaningless.

In the Mario Batali interview online thread I posted, the interview indicates that Mario takes Babbo very seriously and is there most days. In terms of noise, how was the music?

Sp K, thank you. I like to serve food that can be picked up when possible. And always avoid people needing to use a knife for anything. Fingers, hashi, spoons, forks.

Sp K, that's very very interesting. I'm not fond of soft-shell crabs really but this sounds delicious.

"Differently living" is the most polite form.

Toby, what is smothered chicken? What is a walla walla onion?

lizziee, ice water and careful fingers. And if they do break and ooze from the shell, just pour them into a martini glass. Top with butter or creme fraiche, a bit of roe or caviar or fresh grated parmesan. Eat immediately. Or they're quite nice at room temperature if the yolks are molten enough. Or dump them into a bowl, add some fresh mayo, capers, crumbled bacon or brunoise of pancetta, some Dijon and s&p. Spread on crostini or use as a dip. If you have some cooked, peeled lobster tail, this makes a nice arrangement with the tail on some coddled egg with some microgreens and a few roasted baby or fingerling potatoes.' There's never a problem.

lizziee, but they were worth it, I'm sure. I love ouef au mollet. With toast, as part of a salad, with slices of ribeye, whatever. Delicious. It's a skill worth pursuing.

I made panini (pressed grilled sandwiches) of several varities: thinly sliced roast pork with a pepper crust with porcini paste; tallegio and prosciutto; provolone and tomato concasee with basil; Monterey jack with chipotle/adobo puree; Stilton with bacon. Served with tomato and red pepper broth (roast, puree, strain many times, white wine and so on) and frites with fresh avacado mayo, full sour kosher dills and black Sicilian olives.

cabrales, did you have anything with this? Did you use salt?

Chris, welcome to eGullet.

I like how Steve sums up yet threatens elaboration.

"When did eGullet become so grandious?"

No need. In fact there's a lot of fat.

Start at 450 for the first twenty minutes. Then 375, ten minutes a pound.

Similiar to cabrales' question concerning the favourite dish: what is your favourite dish to make as such? Would it be appropriate to the cuisine at Blue Hill? If it isn't, why not? Also, what is your favourite truc?

Ha ha. Basildog waved at me. Much fun. edit: Very very nice place. Nice blue carpets and upper walls. Well laid tables. Wonderful looking wholemeal bread with sage and... Oh. I forget. Anyway, this is great. Thanks again, Basildog. I hope you get your site up soon.

Liver congee? I've never had that. But now that you mention it, a chicken liver congee would be splendid. Or slices of monkfish liver.

Uh. Raw rice in an incense bowl, barley husks in cushions. That's it.

I was first taught to do this with a dice of onions in olive oil in a fairly full 12" skillet. I advise anyone learning this to use a piece of toast and then work up to dry beans.