mojoman

In the US (where we don't add an extraneous "u" to words like flavor and honor), recipes read "salt to taste." Since there are salt taste buds, that seems like correct terminology, even for a nit picker. Do your recipes actually read "salt to flavour?"

ZZZzzzzzzz This is so 2004.

I think most sources define restaurant as a place where food is served to the public. IMO, a "restaurant" has to: 1. Be open to the public. 2. Charge for the food. 3. Serve food that is ready to eat with no further preparation. So, if you all will agree with the properties I have proposed that define a restaurant, it comes down to what is the definition of serve? Certainly, being having a hot entree placed on a white tableclothed table on fine china is being served. I also would posit that having a plate full of spaghetti put in front of you on a picnic bench constitutes service in this context. Does being handed a tray with a Big Mac, fries, and a milkshake constitute service? How about pointing to a hot dog on a rolling thing, having the guy stick it in a bun, and hand it to you?

I don't go into an empty restaurant unless a friend I trust recommended it...or it's a crazy motherfuckin hour of the day...and someone recommended it.

I wrote a long megilla that ended up making little sense. Harry, my friendly advice to you is not to classify people as "smart" or "dumb." It's hard to do if you're "smart" in the conventional sense but it is not nice and it's not useful.

I am a physician but message board dolt so I don't know how to quote multiple posts. So, I quoted the one here and will reference the one about lactose intolerance below. However, I am qualified to state that the two posts cited are irrelevant to your situation (from a medical perspective). Most real food allergies (peanut, milk, fish) result in anaphylaxis which is life threatening, causing death by bronchospasm and eventaully hemodynamic collapse if not treated emergently. There has been some success in desensitizing patients to certain allergens like penicillin although I've not heard of someone being desensitized to a food. The only real "treatment" for anaphylaxis is the timely injection of epinephine and supportive measures (crystalloid, oxygen, etc.). Parenteral corticosteroids may be helpful. Allergic rhinitis (cat, pollen, dust, other airborne particle) allergies can cause misery but are not life threatening. They are effectively treated via desensitization shots or oral antihistamines. Lactose intolerance is totally irrelevant and should never had been mentioned in the context of a food allergy. Lactose intolerance is caused by a downregulation of the gene responsible for the synthesis of betagalactosidase, the enzyme that cleaves lactose into it's component monosaccharides. If you're producing inadequate amounts of betagalactosidase, lactose will pass through the small intestine because the small gut cannot absorb disaccharides. The lactose will be fermented in the large bowel, causing flatus and diarrhea. Totally self limited and medically insignificant. Treatment? Either avoid lactose or prophylax with over-the-counter Lactaid-type products. NB This is not intended to be medical advice.

I would love to know how to do this too.

I got the 100 um, 1.3 L one. It was $45 + $9 shipping.

I just found this "sort of" recipe. http://studiokitchen.typepad.com/studiokit...erbag.html#more I'll have to try it when the melons get better later in the summer.

I just bought a superbag from le sanctuaire. I recalled reading that you can throw cut up tomatoes in it to make clear tomato "water." What do you do with the water? Anyone else have one of these?

Since the start of corn season, I cannot get over the way my GF eats corn (we met last fall so I did not previously witness this). Most people eat using the typewriter method, biting off a couple of horizontal rows at a time, hitting carriage return, and repeating (so you only eat in one direction at a time. Your can do a variation of this (serpentine) where you move horizontally but don't hit the carriage return. Others do the around and around method, taking off circles. She eats corn in a highly random fashion, starting in the middle and moving in any direction she feels. What do you do? Me? Typewriter

I gather that it's easier to make caviar than ravioli sferications?

First off, >95% of my recent aquisitions are high quality conventional cooking equipment. I can produce good to excellent (by my own judging) food cooked conventionally (with occasional flops). I spent about $75 on some chemicals because I'd like to eat some of the interesting and tasty dishes I've had at restaurants generally considered MG but I don't want to drop another $200/head at Minibar. I'm not looking to create new things, just to eat stuff I've had and, hopefully, introduce some of my less adventurous or less well-heeled friends to some of this great food. That seems like an appropriate use of a recipe to me.

Sorry. I'm not interested in sous vide. I'm interested in the caviar/ravioli aspects of MG. The relatively simple...liquid + chemical stuff. I did buy a Thermapen today though!

I have taken the plunge into molecular gastronomy! I ordered my chemicals today. I had eaten at Minibar last fall but I saw Bittmans Best Restaurants in the World on El Bulli this weekend and got inspired to learn. This hobby gets expensive*...I estimate I've spent at least 2 grand on equipment alone over the past 9 months or so. I've been interested in food and cooking since I was maybe 9 (I'm 41 now) but the interest has been rapidly accelerating. eGullet is an awesome place to get the enthusiasm going. I'm a competent conventional cook. I'm not a great baker but otherwise, I can work around a kitchen. I bought a sensitive (100 mg accuracy) digital scale, sodium alginate, sodium citrate, calcium chloride, lechithin, and xanthum gum. As a physician, I have ready access to syringes for making caviar. I also have quite a bit of experience in labs so I know a little about chemistry and know how to measure stuff. Can any of y'all provide some simple recipes for a first-time MG? ETA: I reviewed the entire sodium alginate thread from last year. I know that I should start with simple things like tea ravoli and caviar but was looking for more exact recipes. Thanks in advance! *ETA I re-read this and I wrote one part badly. I haven't dropped big money on MG equipment...it's mainly conventional cooking equipment. I see where some of the responses are coming from. My bad.

I have not read this entire thread but I cannot see how any subsequent post can eclipse this one for the graphic quality of the descriptions. Terrific writing.

My "baseline" tip is 20% although, personally I would prefer if, per convention, I could tip the back and the front of house separately. Why? 1. Sometimes there is that much disparity between the food quality and the service quality. 2. From what I understand (I'm not in the biz), the BOH gets screwed under most schemes. 3. As Busboy says in post #13, to get to the $100+/head resto, the server has "graduated" and, presumably, offers more knowledge and better service. Still, when I'm paying that much, for the most part, I'm paying for the skill of the chef. As long as the server brings the food reasonably on cue, it is still mostly about the chef. I would rather express my appreciation for the chef than the server. Yes, I could insist on getting the resto manager and tipping the BOH and FOH staff separately. Thoughts on this?

There's something to this idea. Depends on the criteria of ranking. If it is understanding of food as science and art, the rank would be different than technical skill. Building on the quoted post, I propose the following ranks of people currently on the network: Sandra Lee Rachael Ray Robert Irvine Paula Deen Giada DeLaurentis Tyler Florence Ina Garten Alton Brown Bobby Flay Mario Batalli Emeril Lagasse I'm probably somewhere between Tyler Florence and Ina Garten, putting it that way. I know I'm leaving some out. Fill in the blanks on the missing ones, since I can't seem to figure out how to rank the remainder. ← I like this concept! Where do y'all think Julia Child (yeah, I know she's not TVFN) fits into this kind of hierarchy? This may be sacriledge but I was never impressed by her cooking skills. Her food did not look that good to me and her knife skills, etc. were not great.

Sandy, Without benefit of googling, I understand that a "diner" has to be based upon the old railcar structure and, theoretically, can be easily transported. A "coffee shop" is a permanent building. I think their menus are interchangable.

The constructive points are well taken. I guess what I was getting at was: 1. What are the core skills to develop to become a good home cook? 2. In what order did those of you who are skilled home cooks develop them? It was not about rating myself...that was a poorly conceived construct on my part. As evident from my "rating scale," I developed/am still working on the ability to prepare: a. Super simple boxed foods first (you might have to measure a couple cups of water and boil it). b. Simple no-recipe dishes like bacon and eggs (requires essentially no knife skills, easy to tell when done) c. Fairly simple recipes requiring several raw ingredients (requiring the use of a knife and more of a judgement about doneness) d. More complex recipes requiring several cooking techniques e. Recipes where you "season to taste" (no specific quantities given). f. Pulling odds and ends out of your fridge and making something tasty with several cooking techniques g. Recreating a dish you ate without the recipe (requires you to identify ingredients, determine what techniques were used to cook, order of cooking, etc.) h. etc. As someone said, one of the main differences between a pro and a home cook is consistency. On a good day, I have done all of these and on a bad day, I can overcook an egg (soft boiled). And, I'm not sure if e and f are in the right order but sometimes I undersalt a dish because I'm afraid to ruin it by oversalting and you can always add more salt at the table. Pastry and candy are totally different animals and, I agree, I should not have included it in the construct. So, what skills do you think you've developed and which ones do you need to work on? What skills have been hard to develop?

Hello fellow foodies, I did a search and did not find any threads that address my current query. How do you define a skilled amateur cook? Here's my proposal. Level 1: Can follow very simple directions (such as Campbell's Soup or Top Ramen)...absolutely no knowledge of cooking terminology (e.g. saute) required. Level 2: Can cook things like bacon and eggs without burning them or serving them raw (eggs may be overcooked to a foodie though) Level 3: Can make a Sandra Lee menu Level 4: Can follow a recipe with explicit instructions such as how to make chocolate chip cookies. Level 5: Can execute any recipe cooked on a stove. Level 6: Can execute any recipe cooked in an oven. Level 7: Can make a good dish from looking at a picture with a description of the ingredients and techniques (e.g. "Dinner" thread) Level 8: Can make a good dish by tasting in a restaurant, then experimenting. Level 9: Can ad lib a pastry (sufficient understanding of the chemistry to make it up) Level 10: Can look in a fridge and OK pantry and make something restaurant-grade without consulting any reference (i.e. knows basic proportions for pastry, bread, sauces, etc.) By my "Richter Scale," I am a level 8. Feel free to add intermediate levels (e.g. Level 3a (Can make a Rachel Ray menu).

No offense, but this is what bothered me about this post. When I started the junior year and my PGY1 year (more responsibility-don't need a cosignature), the priority of my concerns was more like this: 1. Geez, I hope I don't goof up and hurt someone. 2. How do I manage my school/work responsiblities against other responsibilities? 3. Have I adequately prepared myself for this? 4. How do I better prepare myself for the physical and mental rigors of the clinical years? 5. God, please don't let me goof up and hurt someone. I was a foodie then but worrying about what I was going to eat on call did not even appear on the list.

Come to think of it, as a medical student/house officer/attending, you should not carry food around in your pockets. It is unprofessional. Unless you have a legitimate medical condition that necessitates eating at regular intervals, you should not carry food in your coat. Just my opinion.

If you were training "back in the days of the giants" before the limitations on hours spent in the hospital and other lifestyle improvements for students and house officers, I would have advised you to buy bigger clothes. All students but the most metabolically active gained weight starting as juniors. I was a lean, mean, 24 year old fighting machine when I started the 3rd year and gained about 15 pounds over the next 6 years. You work long hours so you have little time and little energy for exercise and, with call, you usually end up eating an extra meal around 2 AM or so if you can get 10 minutes to do so. Now, with the relative wussification of medical training, I think your only problem is going to be getting hungry in the middle of the night while on call. If you train at a heavy duty place such as Hopkins or Wash U, you should be busy enough that there's not much time to get a real meal so a granola bar or something will have to do. If you train at a west coast cush place, you'll probably find more time to spend in the cafeteria.

Beef barley soup and salad from the crapateria.