gfweb

Kenji Alt is great at this stuff.

Costco has great pork shoulder usually. Mostly usable meat. Good price.

I've been following and pondering. It seems to me that it is not the high end that is over-priced, but the low-end restaurants. To use a US example, I can have a mediocre dinner for two with drinks and vile wine at Ruby Tuesday (a low-end chain with some pretentions) for about $90. Dinner at an average top line place in Philadelphia would be $200 to 250ish (assuming that we didn't go nuts on wines). The $90 spent on Ruby T would be just a waste. Crappy food, served by a knucklehead, no memories of the meal...why am I eating here? The $250 meal would be just the opposite and way more than 3-4 times better. So why are so many patrons pouring money into crummy restaurants?

Corn is pretty ratty looking in SE Penna.

Or gamma ray. Safe as well.

RE the unsatisfactory chicken breast texture post sous vide ..I've found that more than just a pinch of salt gives a slightly rubbery texture.

This makes Xray sterilization look like the way to go. It is safe.

What do you like in West Chester?

What sad thing if you live near West Chester. Now what will I do? http://westchesterdish.com/2012/07/say-it-isnt-so-gilmores-restaurant-closes-after-11-years/

The sad state of omelets and scrambled eggs is a national scandal. Neither can be made properly on a flat top. I have a couple select diners in SE PA that still know how to do it. Its not that hard to do it right, but like the Reuben its hard to find a place that cares enough.

Is liquid smoke a condiment?

Thanks. Those links are great, as is your answer. A lot of those recipes in Khymos seem only use xanthan gum without another hydrocolloid...or is there enough hydrocolloid in the food to be the second one required for gelling?

I'm thinking mainly as a thickener. My questions are... Must you heat it to get a gel? How hot? Can the thickened sauce be reheated? How long is a xanthan sauce stable? For example, could I thicken a BBQ sauce with it and just keep it in a squeeze bottle for weeks? Will it thicken any aqueous liquid? How much fat can there be in the liquid. I'll probably think of more questions. Thanks!

I've looked on the wiki and in multiple posts but can't find any real instructions as to how to use it.

I'd seriously consider the cost of a culinary school. Lots of schools are getting sued by students for overpromising. Prowl around on google to check it out. here's one of many... http://blogs.laweekly.com/squidink/2011/05/culinary_school_lawsuit_san_fr.php Going 100K in debt to get a 25K job is not a smart move. Community colleges often have great programs at a fraction of the cost.

She's absolutly nuts. Probably fun at a party, at least before she gets too ripped and starts pole dancing.

Well said. CABA is juvenile, deeply stupid and embarassing. I stumbled into this great steaming turd of a show and watched about 10 minutes, waiting for it to get good. Any middle schooler with an iPhone would post better stuff on YouTube. Advertisers pay for this? What's the demographic...morons? Either Cooking Channel has absolutely no judgement (possible), or they have nothing original to show (probable), or they have complete contempt for their audience (likely).

MG crops up all over the place. It is well-entrenched in the minds of food writers. eg http://eater.com/archives/2012/07/13/taco-bell-chef-lorena-garcia-breaks-her-legendary-silence-on-molecular-gastronomy.php

I never liked it. It describes nothing about the methods used or the product. The techniques are no more "molecular" than traditional cooking methods. Its all applied chemistry one way or the other anyway. If the term didn't exist then nay-sayers would have nothing to attack and I wouldn't have to read inane comments by Alton Brown or Lorena Garcia.

Nice piece. Fine writing.

20% sales tax on food!

Probably.

That's one big bacterial culture! Is it refrigerated?

For me her attitude is exactly the point. I'd never say that you had to agree with me.

I only know her by what she says in the media and what I've read. She seems self-righteous and a preachy pain in the ass. Having Waxman's food knowledge isn't required to detect a pest. By Waxman's standard, success and "never changing her tune" are reasons for affection. OK. If that's his metric, how's he feel about Donald Trump? (FWIW I find him entertaining).