MattJohnson

My wife and I will be visiting Paso Robles on Sunday/Monday morning. Does anyone have any recommendations of wineries to visit?

A website I check out once and a while (not affiliated with them at all) had a little piece on Italian cheese making. Its not super in depth, but I found it kind of interesting. Anyone here do anything similar or have experience with cheese making? The link: http://www.goodmagazine.com/section/Projec...n_cheese_making

At Blackbird in Chicago, we had bacon ice cream. They did what people above have suggested, put the cooked bacon in with the base, heat, strain, then do what you will with it. I'm guessing that a similar technique would work for your mousse.

If pickiness comes along with stubbornness, I don't think it can work very well. If the pickiness is just a result of not having exposure and there is a hint of a willing-to-try-it attitude, I think it can actually work out very well.

I've now made my 2nd batch using the method described in the Zuni Cafe cookbook. Both times it has made very nice gelatinous stock. I think it is a bit expensive as you use a whole chicken (although you do take off the breast meat) but the results are very good. She does recommend salting - I used 1 tsp for 4 qts of water. Also, she recommends simmering for 4 hours. I've done it for longer, and honestly don't think it improves. I have not tried reducing it yet as I've been making soups. I think I'm going to start buying whole chickens to break down and reserve the thigh and breast meat, and use the rest for stock. Tonight I'm going to try to clarify the stock further by using the freeze and thaw with filter method.

Ah, I see. I'll give it a shot and report back. Thanks for the help.

I recently made chicken stock (following the recipe in the Zuni Cookbook) and it turned out well. I put it in the fridge to cool and it was 100% gelatinized (is that a word?). I'd like to try it again and clarify it using this method, but I don't think that it would go through a filter if I kept it in the fridge, it was too solid. Am I wrong about this? I'm leary about leaving it out on the counter for long periods of time.

hmmm, i got nice browning, but they weren't really crispy. I'll have to try again.

Is it supposed to be crispy? I tried it last night and it was good, but didn't change my life.

I have a bottle blackberry port from a Columbia valley winery at home. Have to bust that out sometime.

Make a bunch of cement mixers. (I'm a Wisconsin fan).

You may have better luck in the Kitchen Consumer Forum. But I'll try to help anyway. For olive oil, there is quite a large thread that focuses on every day olive oil that doesn't suck found here: http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=108039 As for wine, I think if you find wine that is palatable, you can use it for cooking. I believe Fat Guy said somewhere that the subtleties that make expensive wines expensive tend to get cooked out - I tend to agree. Just find some vino that you don't mind drinking and go with that.

All it would take in Milwaukee is for the head bartender at any of the listed places to make it policy to make drinks correctly. A couple jiggers and some training probably. The places have quality ingredients for the most part. Seems like it has to come to the staff from the management. For me, until about year ago, I though jiggers were for bartenders who weren't good enough to estimate. A trip to The Violet Hour in Chicago changed my mind about that. I wonder if some people have the same mistaken belief.

Whats that odd shaped one with the holes in it? Is it some kind of cheese knife?

HAHA!

I have not done this, so take the advice with a grain of grey sea salt. I've heard that volunteer soup kitchens are good places for people looking to get into the industry but lack the experience. Don't know if this helps or not. Just an idea of ways to fill out the resume with relevant experience.

They do, however I've sampled some of the smaller bottles and have had very hit or miss results. Perhaps I'm running into poor storage/shipping situations. I had hoped to avoid another miss with eGullets help. And I spend a reasonable amount of time and have been in the Jewels - I feel your pain. I don't get to the metro market much, but every time I've been in there I've been impressed.

I really like them. When they are good, they are crisp, not mealy and very sweet. What have the ones you've had tasted like?

Ooooo, let us know ← It was a great beer. Aroma of grains, carmel, slightly floral/fruity. The balance was really nice. Just enough bitter to balance a subtle sweetness. Long lovely finish. It'd be fun to put some down and see how they age. If I could get it around here for a bit cheaper (ended up being 15 for a bottle with shipping!) I'd definitely drink it often. It was great to try it - just the story about the pains of getting this beer makes it worth it.

As a consumer, I've grown very suspicious any time someone starts pouring me a wine and leads with "gold medal winner." When you look at the contest name its always something silly - "Association for winemakers with 3 legged white dogs and a bad case of gout" If it makes you feel any better, I asked my friend who makes several trips a year to your neck of the woods if he'd heard of your winery and he right off the bat said it was his favorite for reds.

I have a bottle of Trappist Westvleteren 12 that I'm hoping to try this weekend. Some friends and I went in on an Ebay buy of some. It should be interesting to see what it is like.

Sheesh, you are totally right. I had a feeling the threads were in there... thanks for the tip and all of your continued patience. Thanks for all the recommendations. FatGuy, you weren't kidding - the prices at Teitel Brother's look fantastic. I'll look around town for some of these brands. Perhaps a tasting is in order...

You need to get the pan screaming hot. Additionally, don't move the piece of meat/fish/chicken for a few minutes. You want at least enough time to get a nice crust. After the crust is formed, you'll be able to move/flip the piece no problem. ← Or, just make a pan sauce. Deglaze with a little cognac, flame it, reduce it with some cream, add a shot of raw cognac right at the end, and you've got just about the yummiest sauce known to man: the classic sauce for steak au poivre. As stolen from Alton. ← For sure. I don't mind the little bits that get stuck for sauce, but I don't want that at the expense of the protein - which tends to get a bit mangled when its sticking in my pan.

I'm out of the last bottle of grocery store olive oil. I've had really spotty luck with the stuff at my local grocers. Some is ok, some tastes like play-doh. I'm looking for that good QPR olive oil I can use for every day cooking. I've done a search for olive oil (which returns quite a bit) and found a few threads, but most seem to be quite specific to a certain region. What do you use for your every day stuff? If anyone is in the Milwaukee area, where do you buy it? Are there any great online retailers people have used? Just in case someone is in the same boat a bit later, here's a nice discussion regarding middle eastern oils.

You need to get the pan screaming hot. Additionally, don't move the piece of meat/fish/chicken for a few minutes. You want at least enough time to get a nice crust. After the crust is formed, you'll be able to move/flip the piece no problem. ← Thanks, I'll give that a try.