leviathan

I didn't mind that Batali wasn't always in the kitchen. Batali is a bigger than life character, and if he was in the kitchen, the authoer would have been focusing exclusively on Batali. It gave the author a chance to get to know the other chefs in the kitchen, some of whom have since left Babbo to opened up their own restaurants or move on to executive chefs positions at other restaurants. Its funny today that some of the other chefs doubted Andy Nusser's ability to cook since he opened Casa Mono, which Ilan from Top Chef 2 gave a big shout out to by using some many of those dishes. And, there was Tony Liu, who's going to appear on Iron Chef this upcoming season. I don't know much about the Delta Blues situation, but its not like Batali learned all those old Italian cooks tricks, and then copied them and called it his own. For Batali, what he learned in Italy is a starting point and even he will admit that he's not doing authentic italian dishes. He's putting his own twist and interpretation on it, where he's more concerned about flavor than authenticity. I disagree with that. Not every customer is equally valuable to a business. Probably 20% of a business customers account for 80% of that business' profits. As such, businesses are going to focus more of its attention on that 20%. THe goodwill of a restaurant critic or famous celebrity will bring more business than the average Joe.

I still have trobule understanding the conept of unami. I thought you were saying that savory is a subset of unami, but then it later seemed you were treating the two terms as the same thing. And, the bigger problem is that I don't quite understand what this flavor savory is when you use that to describe what unami is. I've heard savory described as being meaty, but then I've seen that term applied to things that aren't meats.

I stopped by Barnes today, and was skimming through Susana Foo's book. Her dishes don't even look chinese.

I've heard about how that a normal house kitchen won't provide the same heat as those in a Chinese restaurant, so you'll never get the same flavors. But, isn't that also true for Western dishes as well, where a home broiler will never get as hot as a restaurant's. And, what they do in home kitchens in Asiaif home kitchens don't get hot enough to use a wok? But, let's say, I don't get a wok and use a more western tool. What tool, and brand would best replicate a wok? Right now, I have a nonstick skillet but somebody said not to use a nonstick wok so I'm assuming that a nonstick skillet wouldn't work. How about something in cast iron? It would take a while to heat up, but once hot would stay hot. That seems like a quality I'd want. I know its heavy, but I don't see myself making acrobatic fips, a la Iron Chef Chinese.

It seems to me that Japan's influence was linked to its phenomenal resurrection from the ashes of WWII. You had businessmen who would travel to Japan to close deals, and that would expand their palates. And, since Japan was where the money was, a lot of western chefs worked there and were influenced by Japanese dishes when they returned to their respective countries. Joel Rochubon is an example of this. As China continues to grow economically, you'll probably see a similar result occur as well. Although, I doubt that the Chinese appreciation for certain textures will ever pass over into western appetite. Of course, this analogy could be totally wrong. After all, Germany also had phenomenal growth but I don't think it had the same influence. Ironically, you had a whole brigade of Germans at the CIA, but they were mostly carrying on French style dishes.

Yeah, it definitely hasn't changed much but its not quite as busy as it used to be. I remember when there was no space for parking, and you'd have to wait 15-20 minutes for them to call your name. The food hasn't really changed or suffer in quality, but the customers have certainly declined and gone elsewhere to eat. Maybe, that's the problem. While new restaurants arose, Seafood Cove stayed the same. I don't know if its the same dynamic for Chinese restaurants, but with western cusine, a place needs to evolve to a certain degree. Or, maybe, there's just more competition and more restaurants. Although, now, I'm curious where all the customers go to eat now. And, regarding 300 items, how do they do that? Wouldn't it be better to edit the dishes down to a smaller number, where you concentrate on what your best dishes are and help reduce inventory costs.

A newbie question: When you're working with a cast iron, what's the difference between the cast iron skillets which are smooth and the cast iron grill pans with those ridges? I don't understand when you'd use one vs. the other. If you're going to cook a steak or anything that you want to get a nice, crunchy crust, do you always choose the cast iron with the ridges? I don't understand the purpose of those ridges other than aesthetics.

How has chinese cooking influenced Western cuisine? I think you could argue that Japan has had quite a influence on Western cuisine. You see it from japanese style knives in american kitchens to the japanese aesthetic of simplicity and empty space in terms of plating to the increasing use of yuzu. Even Southeastern asian cuisine has started to influence American cuisine, as you see its ingredients being used for non-asian dishes. There's no doubt that Chinese cooking is undeniably popular with Americans. But, right now, I can't think, or more likely, don't know of how Chinese cuisine has influenced Western cooking.

From what I've heard, Martin Yan speaks with a accent but then he strategically exagerrates it to a cariacture for TV viewers. I wouldn't have any issue with it if that's how he normally speaks but I do have one if he's taking a page out of Sixteen Candles and decided to speak like Long Duk Dong just for the sake of being a funny cariacture for his white audience. Let's take your example with Dave Chappelle. I wouldn't take exception if that's how Chappelle normally speaks. But, if Chappelle spoken in a different manner normally but decideded that in order to attract a larger, whiter audience he needed to speak 'black' and break out in song and dance... Then, yeah, I'd be perturbed by that.

I find most cookbooks rather hapazard in this regard, where they don't really explain why they're using specific ingredients. For a recipe with 20 ingredients, I'd like to understand the process of why they needed all 20 ingredients, and how they came up with those specific 20 ingredients. I'd like to know what would happen if I didn't use one of those ingredients, or if I substituted another ingredient. Sometimes, there might be a small blurb with the recipe that mentions that they used a specific ingredient, but then its just so completely random. I guess I'm looking for more of a theory book about this topic, and don't necessairly care about recipes. It would be great if the book started out by laying down its ideas, and then used the recipes to illustrate those concepts. So far, I've found several books that sound like they might help me in this regard: Culinary Artistry by Andrew Dornenburg and Karen Page The Elements of Taste by Gary Kunz Secret Ingredients: The Magical Process of Combining Flavors by Michael Roberts Kitchen Conversations by Joyce Goldstein Has anybody read these books? I'd like to get some opinions about them before I order them. Any other suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

My local library should have a copy of this book, but its been missing, ie stolen. And, how do you exactly know if something is a first edition? Sometimes, the book will state that its a first edition, but other times it doesn't mention that.

You pay for what you get. I went to a free Williams-Sonoma cooking class this weekend at the South Coast Plaza about chinese wok cooking, and I really shouldn't complain because it was free but I am going to anyways. It was supposed to last an hour, and ended up pettering at 45 minutes. And, more importantly, it didn't really seem the two WS employees who were teaching the class really knew a lot about the topic they were supposed to be teaching. It seemed that they were reading off a pamplet that WS headquarters had sent to all its branches. Strangely enough, there was another employee, probably the manager, who was watching them but seemed to know more about the topic yet she wasn't teaching the course for whatever reason. Its too bad because WS occasionally offers free courses and this would have been affordable, ie. free route, to learn. I checked around some of the other cooking classes at other places, and they can get kinda expensive. I've been reading through some of the past threads to get an idea where to go to eat to improve my newbie cooking skills. Its kinda perplexing, given all the money floating around in OC, that the level of cooking doesn't seem to match the level of LA's for the most part. Maybe, with Vietnamese dining in Westminster, does OC surpass LA. But, overall, I can't think of any place in OC that has captured national attention the way restaurants in LA have. Part of the problem is that the local OC paper is a second rate paper, while the LA Times only occasionally reviews what's happening out in OC. So, far, Flemmings or Mastros seems to be the place in OC for a steak. Pacific Car in LA might be better, but its out in LA. But, ultimately, it might prove to be futile since I would never be able to cook a steak like they can at those steakhouses since a home kitchen just can't provide the same, intense heating sources.

I'm not going to buy All-Clad woks because of the price. But, if price was no problem, would this SS-Aluminum-SS construction be superior to the standard carbon steel wok?

I wonder if the people who buy from WS actually end up cooking after buying all those toys, or if they just end up going out all the time to eat. If you can afford to regularly buy items at WS, then you're probably spending too much time at work to afford those items and therefore might not really have time to cook. There's probably a lot of fancy kitchens with top line items that probably don't even really get touched. So, do you know if the WS people were correct in that you don't need to season All-Clad woks?

I've seen snippets of the guy on TV, but I won't buy any of his books or help support him in any way. Martin Yan purposely plays up and exaggerates his accent for the TV audience. To me, that would be similar if a african-american purposely exagerrated the way he spoke and acted until it becamea cariacture to appeal to his non african-american viewers. Its one thing if he actually speaks like that, and another matter if he does that on purpose.

Thanks for the recommendation. I stopped by this shop this weekend, but I didn't really a get chance to look around since I had to hurry up and meet somebody for lunch. They had a bunch of cleaves, maybe 7 or 8 different ones, including a Chan Chi Kee cleaver as well as some other cleavers whose names were in Chinese. I probably would have gotten the CCK but its shape wasn't a sterotypical rectangle shape and I didn't have time for the owner there to translate all various things in Chinese to help determine which one I wanted. I'm assuming that since it wasn't a rectangle that it was probably a cleaver for boning but I'll have to finish up reading Barbara Tropp's book to know. The store was selling the CCK cleaver for around $32 so I'm not sure if that's the same one mentioned in the cleaver thread since they mentioned you could get that for $10 in HK. I must have missed the woks. Everything else I saw were things you'd see in a typical restaurant supply store for westerners. I also stopped by Williams-Sonoma, the toy store for adults, at the South Coast Plaza for a class on Chinese wok cooking. In the store, I saw that it was selling two All-Clad woks, a stainless steel one and another All-Clad wok with a copper core for over three hundred dollars!! I understand that since its almost Chinese News Year, WS is trying to position itself to take advantage of that by selling Chinese ingredients (although, it failed in some regards since they didn't have any bamboo steams in stock). But, really- they were selling schezuan peppers in a very small box for $16 when I can get those for over a dollar at the Ranch 99 and sesame seed oil for $14. I just find it hard to believe that there's going to be any difference between those schezuan peppers at WS and the Ranch 99. If anything, the Ranch 99 ones are probably going to be fresher since there's more turn around. I don't necessairly mind paying more for better service, but it just didn't seem the WS people knew a lot about Chinese products even though they were giving a class on it. It just seemed they were doing a lot of things wrong. Correct me if I'm wrong, but they should have been using peanut oil instead of canola oil. And, when I asked them about seasoning woks and about how western kitchens don't get hot enough to use a wok, they had no idea what I was talking about. A manager, who wasn't teaching the class, piped in that you wouldn't need to season the woks since these woks WS were selling weren't cast iron.

A couple of newbie questions (I'm still using canned chicken soup all the time): 1) Is there any reason you're using wings vs. the chicken legs? If a chicken is using its legs constantly vs. its wings, then wouldn't the legs develop more flavor? I would imagine that using the wings would similar to using the breast for flavor. 2) Would chopping up the bones make it easier for the flavor from the bones to get extracted and therefore make the soup tastier? 3) I'm uncertain when you save the meat or keep it? By making the soup, does the process make the meat dry and unusable? If you were really into it, wouldn't it be better to throw away all the meat and cook a new batch of meat specifically for the soup? 4) If you originally rinsed the chicken before then putting it in cold water and bringing to a simmer, would that reduce all the scum and skimming?

I kinda have to wonder if the home cook can ever match the level of professional chefs by buying from the same sources as the chefs do. Those chefs regularly buy from those sources, and so those sources are always going to keep aside their best products for those chefs. From a business point of view, it just makes sense that you're going to put more efforts into those who bring you the most business. Even among chefs, there's a certain hierarchy where somebody like Eric Ripert is going to get the best fish. Unless a home cook is willing to buy as much as the chefs, then I just don't think those purveyors are going to give their best stuff to a home cook.

When you need to buy kitchen tools or equipment, do you ever turn to or follow the recommendations that magazines give on what to buy. I know Cooking Illustrated, Real Simple, Consumer's Reports, and probably other mags like Gourmet or Food and Wine, all provide that service. I was reading Consumer's Reports, and I couldn't help noticing that their recommendations for certain products were very different from Cooking Illustrated. In CI, they highly recommend Da Vinci Olive Oil but CR rates that brand poorly. They're both magazines that don't accept advertising, so none of that should influence their decisions but they made totally different recommendations. Does advertising really affect the recommendations that other magazines make?

In general, Kenmore is a good brand with a reputation for quality. But, on all the post interviews, outside Bravo of course, the contestants were very unhappy with the equipment on the show. According to them, the Kenmore stuff was always causing problems. For that Asian show wher Ming Tsai was the judge, Mikey's pork became dry because the oven went into self cleaning mode and they couldn't open it up to save the pork.

As a newbie, I'm just starting to learn how to cook and want to cook but a lot of recipes utilize the oven. However, I think my oven might be broken. I'm not sure since I've never used it and don't know how to use it even though I've been living here for awhile. So, is it possible to use a toaster oven instead of a oven for all those dishes where you're supposed to use a oven? What adjustments would I need to make if I were using a toaster oven instead of a regular oven? Since a toaster oven is much smaller than a regular oven, I'd imagine that I wouldn't need to take so long to preheat it but I'm not sure if I would need to adjust my temperature settings higher or lower than the recommended oven temp for a oven.

Oh, I understand that I might have to go to more than one restaurant; my gut would probably burst if I attempted to try everything in one sitting. I've read several cookbooks that describe what a risotta or pasta is supposed to taste like, but I think I need to taste what those dishes are supposed to taste like to truly understand whether or not I'm cooking them correctly. I like the concept of Craft in NYC, where supposedly its all about cooking ingredients simply, but perfectly. I know they're going to open a satellite Craft in LA soon, but does anybody know if there are any other restaurants that share that philosophy. I live in Huntington Beach, so I'd rather go someplace closer. If Denny's had eggs cooked just right, I'd be happy to go to Denny's. Or, what about the Mortson's in South Coast Plaza in Costa Mesa. How are their steaks? OCC is an interesting idea, but my impression is that its geared more towards those who want to become professionals in that industry. I think you can't just cherry pick one class- they'll make you enroll in several classes at once or you'll need to enroll in prereq classes before you enroll for other classes. So, my understanding is that you'd need to take beginner classes like stocks first before you can take other classes. But, honeslty, I don't see myself making stocks and bechamel sauce from scratch at home.

Couldn't you just use an orange like somebody suggested? And, is there a special process for drying them, if you don't have a radiator?

I'm just starting the process of learning to cook, but how can I cook something if I don't know how its supposed to taste like. I can make scrambled eggs, but they're probably too dry because I'm not sure what proper scrambeled eggs are supposed to taste like. When a recipe says to season to taste, I have no idea how its supposed to taste. I'm looking for some suggestions or recommendations where I can go eat to taste in the OC/LA region, places where I can find perfectly cooked scrambled eggs, medium rare steak that's seared the right amount, al dente pasta that's the right consistency, fish that's cooked where the meat flakes off, etc.. I'm not looking for anything too fancy, just the basics that will help my home cooking skills.

I think the third point might turn out to be the most valid one. It seems to me that a Chinese restaurant could use the same sources as other elite restaurants, but there's always going to be a barrier on how much white customers are willing to pay because its a Chinese restaurant. I've had seafood dishes such as crabs and lobsters at Chinese restaurants, so the ingredient costs should be similar to other restaurants. Yet, if this had been a French restaurant, I would have been paying more for the dish. I think it might just come down to the fact that Chinese restaurants are willing to take lower margins and profits to squeek by. Aren't most of these restaurants run by immigrants. And, historically, immigrants have been willing to take the lower paying jobs that nobody else wanted.