Jinmyo

Uh, what link? I don't see it.

You're very welcome. I rattled it off so quickly it was teeming with typos and seriously needed to be edited. (We also made some fabulous Croque Monsieurs in and on the inside of the doors of those ovens. Our sourdough and Black Russian breads (the latter with reduced coffe and vodka) breads were fun too. But: Back to eggs! O Adam Balic, I invoke thee. Pray come and tell us of the true egginess of eggs.

Decades ago, I was "head" baker at a small place. We rolled baguettes and croissant by hand. I and Kivo could roll 150 baguettes by hand in 20 minutes. Nice French oven. After several hours work, when dawn was coming over the Market, we timed it so that: We pulled the cheese croissant trays. When this side of the oven was empty we cracked four eggs into a melting wad of butter on the inside of the open oven door. Flipped them over. Salt. With a palette knife slid two each into a huge croissant split into its heart. Put the croissant down, close the door, open the other side, fill it with baguettes. Pick up the croissant and go and sit on the steps out front watching the farmers stalls being filled with red peppers. Best fried egg sandwiches I've ever had. (Edited by Jinmyo at 12:03 pm on Jan. 9, 2002) (Edited by Jinmyo at 9:22 pm on Jan. 9, 2002)

As to fried egg sandwiches, I always break the yolk. Use a soft sourdough bread, good butter, salt, black pepper. And sometimes add one or two of the following: fried pancetta; taramasalata; lox; Dijon mustard; extra old cheddar; provolone; radish sprouts; thinly sliced red onion. But basically, I love eggs any which way. While very bad restaurant eggs which asre greasy and torn are unacceptable I have to admit I still enjoy eating them. On the whole I prefer them over easy with whites still moist and trembling.

A "journalistic code of ethics or rules for restaurant critics"? Monsieur Fat Guy? Just exactly what triggers the ethics chip implanted when one takes the Vows and receives the Holy Expense Account? ron johnson, my sympathies. I would just not read her reviews. Or if I felt strongly enough, write to the editor and make my points clear.

I find it odd too. My vague recollection carries an implicarion of Southeast Asian foods. I've never been able to figure out food and wine pairings beyond the obvious (white goes better for people who prefer white, beer is great with chiles, more sake is a good thing). I would of course trust a sommelier who has discussed the specifics with the chef. Or macrosan of course.

That's a cogent point. Not advertised as such on the cover or flaps so not one expected by most readers. In any case, I'll enjoy watching the series when it's eventually shown on Food Network Canada. I would just like to see Mr. Bourdain do more on cooking that I can relate to. Like take the topic of offal and get to its guts. Or get together fellow professionals and wrangle out the best cut of steak anywhere and the best way to cook it. And sell it. What steak has meant, can mean, might mean. And so on. (Edited by Jinmyo at 5:49 pm on Jan. 7, 2002)

Fat Guy's method is more or less what I use when I'm making a steak to be served as a whole slab. Usually however, I carve it into thin slices and serve it with a dipping sauce. (Retaining a good proportion of fat, discarding anything too unseemly, hiding the bone to gnaw on later.) In this case I use a grilling pan. Rib steak has been marinating in olive oil, salt, pepper. When the grilling pan starts to smoke I lay the steak on its first side for about 45 seconds, the second side the same. Holding it with tongs, sear the fat, as much of the boneside as I can. Now another 45 seconds the first side, second side. Done. Let it rest for an hour in a bowl. Carve. Collect juices. Add sambal oelak or wasabi, fish sauce or shoyu. EDIT: Thought I'd add that I'm not concerned with a presentation side but rather with equally caramelized edges for the slices. (Edited by Jinmyo at 12:19 pm on Jan. 6, 2002)

Ted Turner is going to open a chain of bison burger restaurants called "Ted's Montana Grill". The first opens mid-January in Columbus, Ohio. It will feature 25 different kinds of bison burger. He plans to open a total of 10 this year. Turner has 14 ranches and 30,000 animals.

I don't know much about wine. Relatives in Normandy buy unlabelled bottles from local vintners and store them in their cellar. Hundreds and hundreds of bottles there, wine at lunch, wine at supper. So I grew used to wine when I was 7 or so. 40 and more years later I find I primarily drink sake. A while ago someone introduced me to Australian Shiraz (Banrock Station or something, probably undistinguished). I found I really liked its assertive cassis and tobacco flavours. A little later I heard or read some wine guy say that Shiraz or Syrah (I think he was talking about California Syrah) went well with Asian foods and that if you liked sake, you'd like Shiraz (Syrah). I found this very interesting as I find nothing in common in the flavours and textures of sake and Shiraz. Yet I like both. (I also like burgundies and some bordeaux. In fact, I've enjoyed a vin de table more often than not if the cheese was nice.) Does anyone have anything interesting to say about Shiraz (or Syrah) or even about why it might be that an assertive wine like Shiraz and subtle sake might appeal alike? (That wine guy must have known something...)

Fat Guy, you are definitely right about wines. Good point. It brings together a few things for me.

Ottawa is the capital of Canada. Canada is north of New York and is a different country than America. It is on the same continent. On a map, north is usually "up". Ottawa is the capital of this country up north. With that out of the way: If you ever come here, bring a cooler. There are no restaurants here that I have ever encountered worth eating at. Save for the late lamented Icho's run by Matuura-san, an elderly lady from Kyoto who was younger than I am now when I first met her. It started out as a sushi and tempura place. Both very very nicely done but you can't really make sushi let alone sashimi from frozen fish. Encouraged to do what she knew, she added soba soups to the lunch menu. Then koya tofu. Then Kyoto-style unagi. The place closed because the building was being refurbished and turned into a TV studio and she and her husband wanted to go home. That's it. That's all there was. There are some bistros and such you could spend 贄 at for a ฤ meal. There are a few hotel restaurants that think well of themselves because they have a wild mushroom soup or dibble a cranberry coulis on some dessicated piece of turkey. There's a place that does a nice Brazil nut vegetarian burger but it has changed owners 4 or 5 times since the original owners and the price has gone up but the frites have gotten worse. If you need to come here, bring a cooler. (If anyone has other views, pleeeaaase let me know.)

As my refrigerators (three in one kitchen, one in the other) can be quite cold, I'll set out a rib eye or one bone prime for at least two hours. Duck breast about one hour. Chicken at least half an hour in a marinade. Large shrimp with the shell on half an hour. I'm not looking for room temperature, just so that it doesn't feel chilled to the touch. Anything with bone in or shell on keeps cooler and warmer longer.

Spunjiz? We don't need no steenkin' spunjiz! So I just use dish clothes, those weird green scrubby pads I get in Chinatown which I throw out after a few days. Do they decompose? Is supermarket Polish sausage Polish? Probably not.

Bisurkey rations are up to 12 grams this week. Double plus good! We have never been at war with Eurasia. Eurasia has always been our friend in our fight against the tyrannical hordes of Oceania. Jif peanut butter is on sale in aisle two. There has never been an aisle one. Bisurkey rati...

Wow. Devestating review, Jay. Having now read the book I can't say I'm disappointed. I knew I wouldn't enjoy it as much as Confidential because weird food in locales and contexts I'll never encounter are only remotely interesting to me because the chance that I can somehow use this in my cooking and dining is remote. It was fun in the way that reading William Burroughs writing from within the Interzone of hash and just typing alot can be. Some nice lines, some grins. Put it down. Eh. So now it's time to start marinating the four giant shrimp in oil, cumin, chiles, and lime zest before grilling them with Shanghai bok choy. (Edited by Jinmyo at 8:52 pm on Jan. 4, 2002)

Game as presented in most restaurants and recipes seems to be almost always served with some kind of fruit based sauce to provide flavour. The meat itself lacks most of what I've grown accustomed to look for (and savour) in either grilled or braised beef, lamb, pork. I want the fat. I do, I do, I do. Bizurkey? Really? Hopefully a combination of ground meats rather than through gene splicing. ;) ----- Okay, I've just done a Google search. http://www.bisurkey.com Spelt bisurkey but pronounced bizurkey. (Edited by Jinmyo at 11:45 am on Jan. 3, 2002)

I've had bison burgers. Not to my taste. And "beefalo" "NY strips". Not to my taste either. But I'm usually game for game, although I find I'm usually not so into it after I've tried it 5 or 6 times. So what's bison like? I know, I know. But please try to describe it.

Sounds wonderful, Fat Guy. Me: grilled swordfish with grilled Shanghai bok choy, remoullade, roasted tomato soup with Chinese celery and pancetta, crostini with chevre and raw minced fennel. But for supper just old, dry sherry with Rouy, a good Camebert, Stilton and four other cheeses and toasted walnuts to roll the cheese in. Kind of a tradition. Watching Kenneth Branagh's "Much Ado About Nothing" on DVD. An ancient tradition.

All right, re: peanut butter. Toast black bread so it is seared on the outside but still soft. Butter (Normandy is always my preference) with cold butter so it is a bit uneven. To the edges of the toast, of course. Generous sweep of peanut butter (smooth). A few slices of a cheddar at least three years old. Add radish spouts, onion sprouts, or minced red or Spanish onion. Close sandwich. Press. Jelly? I don't think so.

Non-stick skillet at medium heat. Butter. Whisk the eggs but loosely. A dash of mineral water. Pepper. Pour into skillet. Toss around roughly with a rubber or wooden spatula. As they set, fold. Pour out onto toast with whatever mushrooms. Dash of porcini oil. Salt.

Anthony Bourdain, if that is you: I've enjoyed Confidential so much I've passed it around to many friends. While that's like coming in at 7 and ordering a salad and some warm water in terms of filling your coffers, it's still a measure of my enjoyment. Oh, yeah. Get Food Network Canada to run your new show. That'll be like someone coming in to use the washroom financially but, hey, when you gots to go...

Getting to number 1 would be a hubris Napoleon with a mortar of foie gras. Don't much care for fois gras. Although I like liverwurst with minced onions on toast with mustard and a Pilsner.

Saslove's in the Market Area in Ottawa carries Alberta beef in whole or half tenderloins. Also a great range of seasonal venison, bison and so on. As I was leaving the other day (with some bison burgers for a friend and a nice duck breast for myself) a Market vendor had set up a table outside and was hawking frozen red deer sausages and wild boar. So I bought a boar chop.

Just a few FNTV comments. I like Ming Tsai and have had several good ideas which turned out extremely well based on things he has thrown out. I am impressed by how much I have learned from Mario, including the "Eats Italy" show with the idiot side-kick. I was all set to despise Emeril until I saw his show all the way through for the first time. I thought that he was a good educator but had nothing to show me, have watched a few more shows here and there or parts of them. Eh. Sara Moulton cannot complete a sentence and I have never seen her produce anything I wanted to look at or smell let alone put in my mouth. I tune in and out to Flay. Occasionally there's something interesting. If the episode has Jackie Malouf shouting "Bobby!" it's off. "Good Eats" is great. Alton Brown's bizarre "Mr. Science/geekboy/Everyman/Knowitall" comedy is funny and fun. While I still object to the very idea of pressure-cooking stocks because this is the thick wedge of barbarism, if folk are inclined towards pancakes, listen to Alton. (Edited by Jinmyo at 9:05 pm on Dec. 24, 2001)