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Batard

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Everything posted by Batard

  1. i thought the exact same thing. . . . as for carla, i thought the whole "served with love" explanation endearing. . .it doesn't excuse poorly made food, but it does explain a lot about carla; and while that is also not a defense, i didn't care for the way the judges went after her on that point. she's just a wacky, out-there individual. ← I liked Tom's snappy comeback to Carla on her "sending out love" argument, something to the effect of "just send out good food, keep the love in the kitchen ."
  2. Just split a bottle of Dogfish Head Fort with some friends. Fort lives in some hitherto unknown border region between beer and raspberry wine, and I've never tasted anything more extreme. Imagine a a super-concentrated Framboise lambic with a hard 18% alcohol bite. It might work with a bittersweet chocolate desert, but, for me, pairing it with something savory would be a challenge.
  3. The phrase "Molecular Gastronomy" hadn't been invented. Roy Rogers actually had excellent roast beef and quality buns.
  4. Nicholas is currently offering a 6-course Black Truffle Tasting Menu. Now I can't seem to get it out of my mind - that little voice of truffle love is calling out to me. But before I make the reservation, I wondered if anyone had tried this or heard from someone who had. Should I have reservations about making reservations?
  5. My WASPy grandmother used to drink a glass of raw vinegar (with the "mother") mixed into water with a little honey on a daily basis (my grandfather did the same thing, except he used fresh lemon juice instead). She placed a lot of faith in home remedies, and constantly read health magazines. This is 50 years ago. Some of the claimed benefits of this type of vinegar: - strengthens the immune system - detoxifies your blood - helps circulation - helps control Type-2 diabetes - is a natural antibiotic/antifungal - helps reduce excess fats in cells On the other hand, I’ve read that vinegar also strips the enamel from your teeth. There have been some "studies" that claim to show benefits from this type vinegar, but I tend to be skeptical. I'd like to hear more.
  6. My steaks never achieve that real steakhouse crusty goodness.
  7. If the sauce is good enough, people will eat tofu. It's just a matter of catering it to someone's taste.
  8. These might be better asked in the "stupid questions" thread, but I am new to home sharpening, so here goes. Do you find the number of angles it will sharpen, 29, 25, 22, 19, 15 and 11 degrees, to be sufficient? Is fine grit sufficient to give the edge a nice finish, or do you need the superfine as well? Will the Gatco Pro work on thinnish blades like Global and other Japanese knives (like my Nakiri)?
  9. Yes, it's a plastic/bamboo composite. I think all Kershaw Wasabi knives use the same handle. I'm not a good knife sharpener, so I like that it is double beveled. I got mine at Amazon.
  10. I have a Kershaw 6.5 inch nakiri that I picked up for around $25.00 and am really happy with. I had my eye on the Shun Pro 6-1/2-Inch Nakiri with its VG-10 blade, but it's a bit expensive considering how often I would use it.
  11. I have the dubious honor of living 2 miles from perhaps the most famous Haggis producer in the USA: Stewarts of Kearney, in Kearney NJ. I say dubious, because I tried it and didn't really like it. But they are working overtime to shipping loads of haggis all over the country Burns Eve. I'll be having pasties, bridies, and meat pies instead. Their as authentic as you can get in the USA, but since US law prevents using certain parts of the pluck (e.g., the lungs) for food, it is a little different than you'd get in Glasgow. People who like haggis say its the best. Count me in, I will be toasting to Robbie on Burns Eve.
  12. You'll be fine, that timer is heavy duty and can handle any household device that will plug into it. If you run your toaster and your coffee machine from the same wall outlet at the same time, you might have a problem, because those two devices combined may well go more than 15 amps. Just make sure that the total load isn’t more than 15 amps. Or if you have a 20 amp outlet, you can go up to 20 amps total If you are working with watts instead of amps, seven amps equals 770 watts; 15 amps equals 1650 watts (at 110 volts).
  13. If there was a question here, I seem to have missed it. I guess this thread is for commentary. I've been to Chengdu, and yes, it does taste different than here in the US. If you ever had hot pot in Chengdu, you would never say the food was not "spicy". You would also find it "hot" too, like many Indian dishes are, but that does not mean the food is not well-spiced. You can get two decent types of good, spicy Hot Pot in Flushing NYC -- a Sichuan type and the type from Shandong/Shaanxi. But nothing like in China. And that doesn't help you in Austin. The problem in the US is that "spicy" and "hot" have become interchangeable words to most people ordering local Chinese food. Ask your local Chinese place for spicy food, and they add just add some cheap chile oil to make it hot. And it doesn't help that 90% of the "Sichuan" Chinese restaurants in the US are run by Cantonese, who really have no idea what Sichuan or northern Chinese food is about.
  14. The Bunn doesn't have one either. Features/specification sheet for the Bunn is here.
  15. Technivorm is great if you want to replace a $70.00 coffee maker with a $270.00 one. The Bunn-O-Matic is about $100, is easy to find, and makes excellent coffee.
  16. John, I was just there this past Wednesday for some boudin noir, and bought some Cotechino while I was there. I've never eaten it in Modena, so I lack a true baseline, but it was awfully good. They might even have Zampone if you ask, but I don't think they have that every day. Salumeria Biellese is worth a trip downtown.
  17. I think this doufeu is little more than a not-so-subtle attempt at taking Staub's concept and reinventing it ala Le Creuset. How much more the ice exaggerates the condensation process is debatable, but I know this works brilliantly with the Staub without needing to babysit the ice.
  18. Apparently the ice is supposed to make the lid cooler than the contents, which causes condensation to "rain down" on the food. Apparently "the inner surface of the doufeu lid is dotted with nibs, the water drips into the center of the pot, continuously basting roasts, short ribs and braises so they emerge tender and succulent." Sorry, but aren't Staub Coquette lids already designed to do this without the need for ice?
  19. If you slice an onion correctly, you cry a lot less than if you chop an onion, at least in my kitchen. Slicing cuts more cleanly and damages fewer cells, so you end up releasing less sulfuric acid than if you use a chop-down stroke. It also results in less surface bruising, which is important is you are cutting fresh herbs or doing chiffonade.
  20. It's just dawned on me that the season is almost over, and I haven't seen any sweet Maine shrimp in the places I bought them last year. Has anyone seem them around? Any leads around the Clifton/Montclair area would be appreciated.
  21. Again I'll point out, these menus are designed more for parent satisfaction than they are for the kids. Your palette doesn't begin to mature until you're in your 20s, and most kids and teens like the same kind of food regardless of their economic background. EHS always has white tablecloths -- which creates quite a contrast with all the laptops and bookbags tossed lazily on the floor -- and a healthy, anti-obesity oriented menu. I don't know how they handle admissions, but there really isn't a chubby kid in the whole school.
  22. Thanks so much for posting the link to that Japanese shipping service. But it looks to me like you will pay more for shipping and their service than the cost of the times you want to buy. Let us know how it goes. I've been wanting a GLOBAL-PRO chef's knife, and then there's this donabe I've been dying for, but the shipping, service charge, and additional fees (5% for the privilege of paying with PayPal for example) seem exorbitant.
  23. What OXO products can you buy from Amazon Japan that you can't order directly from OXO? I'm an OXO fan and would like to know what I'm missing out on.
  24. I grew up on Spanish Rice-A-Roni. I can't reproduce it -- I'd probably need a science lab -- so I still make it sometimes as a comfort food. I do submerge some fish fillets when it's almost done and top with chopped scallions. But it's still Rice-a-Roni. I get a real jones for Rice Krispies sometimes, and peanut M&Ms now and then, too.
  25. Batard

    Surf And Turf

    Oysters and pork are a winning combo. You can make braised pork and fresh oysters (which hzrt8w already posted here ), oyster-stuffed pork loin, fresh oyster and ground pork soon du boo, oyster and pork sausage, the list goes on and on.
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