MikeHartnett

Thanks, dougal. Really, I was just curious because I'm impatient and I'd really like some pastrami. Like now. I might take the small piece out tonight (after 2 full days) and smoke it, and then do the larger one tomorrow, which would be the recommended time.

Quick question: I'm brining brisket for pastrami right now, and I've got two separate hunks- one about 2.5 lbs. and one 1.5. Since they are smaller than the recommended weight from Charcuterie, and in two pieces, how will this affect my brine time? Thanks!

I've never had this, but the only recipe I could find listed "one small bottle of soy sauce" as well.

Had a great time. Thanks everyone!

After looking at IiF's cookies again, I'd really like to do a side-by-side analysis of vacuum-sealed and non-vacuum sealed. My hydrated batch turned out so much better looking than their batch did.

The only concern I would have about that is that, I believe, the freezing stops the 'aging' process. However, I think if you aged it in the fridge first, that would probably work splendidly.

When I did it, I just put it in some tupperware. If you're not freezing them after aging them, they're still pretty easy to form. In re the vacuum sealing, are you referring to the Ideas in Food post? Because I've been thinking about trying that out soon. It seems like you get the same effect without waiting...

Link recipe please. I can never make my wife love me enough. ← I just made the chocolate chip cookies as found on the dining page of the NY Times, here gfron1 is talking about using the brown butter muscovado chocolate chip recipe found here, but adding the aging technique found in the nytimes article. Either way, your wife will be pleased. That is, if she likes chocolate chip cookies.

Let's hear about 'em. I went to Stella!, and I thought the Drinks were, for the most part, fantastic. They were done by the guys from Death & Company in NYC, and they were well executed. My personal favorites were the St. Germain Redux, and the Fresa Brava. The St. Germain was St. germain Elderflower, Beefeater Gin, club soda, and Champagne, with a little lemon. Sweet, refreshing, very nice. My absolute favortie, though, was the Fresa Brava, which was Herradura Silver Jalapeno-Infused Tequila with Yellow Chartreuse, simple syrup, lemon juice, and muddled strawberries. Throat-searingly delicious. In fact, 95% of the guests couldn't finish it because of how spicy it was, but I absolutely loved it. The food was good. It's Stella!. I did, however, feel that Chef Boswell was kind of resting on his laurels a bit. He seemed to be playing it safe with the menu (understandably with the crowd there), and while the food was well-executed, I expected a little more line-toeing. Oh well. Still my favorite place to eat in the city, but now just a bit more mortal.

I'm not sure, but Phil and Joaquin were there last night, and Brian wasn't, so it very well could be.

The Death & Company guys were at Stella! in New Orleans for a Tales of the Cocktail Spirited Dinner last night. Cocktails paired with each course (even one for the amuse), and they were excellent. The standouts to me were the St. Germain Redux, with St. Germain Elderflower, Beefeater Gin, Club Soda, Champagne, and a lemon peel, and the Fresa Brava (favorite) with Herradura Silver Jalapeno-Infused Tequila, Yellow Chartreuse, lemon juice, simple syrup, and muddled strawberries. The second was my absolute favorite, spicy, fruity but not sweet, and utterly delicious.

These are the brown butter muscovado chocolate chip cookies? The NYTimes cookies have made my gf a major fan of me lately. I'll have to try the hybrid.

As far as pickles go, you could do quite a few 'quick-pickles' or the like before next week. You'd only really need to be concerned about time if you were doing full-on cucumber pickles or 'putting-up' pickles. Also, the idea of the kumquat special sounds good, but I feel like it sort of clashes with the whole gourmet, fresh foods thing. If you're going to have to go out of your way to get some sort of extract or something, it seems like it's stretching it a bit.

Is it a TIDES course?

I really think Emeril gets a ton more criticism than he deserves. His delivery is sometimes very awkward, and his restaurants are not the best in the world. But he's very enthusiastic about food- done the right way, I might add- and his restaurants are tasty and successful. Personally, I think criticism of him stems from pure jealousy at this point.

I'm completely on the owner's side in this one. I don't know where all this 'everyone has a right to whatever they want' syndrome came from, but Simmermon does not have a right to his espresso on ice in murky coffee. If he doesn't like it, leave, and never come back. But the owner has a right to refuse service or refuse to serve specific items for whatever reason he likes. It's his business. If he sinks because of his decisions, so be it. That's his right.

The cookies are delicious. I'm not much of a baker (yet), so I had some textural issues with them, but flavorwise, they're great.

A) Who gets something catered and doesn't want desserts? B) It really sucks that you're not able to get your desserts out there.

Personally, I find that salads served on the side don't get my attention. Maybe if it was a really, really interesting salad, but for the most part I ignore them as just "filling the plate." I understand you're trying to fill the meal out and leave people with enough food, but I think a miniature dessert is a very interesting idea, because it isn't done a whole lot (with the exception of cookies), and it also gives you an outlet for your baking, which can bring in additional business on that end, rather than simply doing the duty of plate-filling.

Agree with the no on the bread. That was the best signature idea I could come up with when I posted, but probably led to the demise of that place. Carb overload. A really good potato salad would be good. So many places make it as an afterthought, and it usually isn't very good. I just made the potato salad from last month's Cook's Illustrated, and I was reminded of how good potato salad can be.

I also think it's worth considering some sort of 'signature' side item. There was a sandwich place near me growing up that sold asiago cheese bread with their sandwiches, and everyone I knew went there mostly for that bread. The fact that the sandwiches weren't very good eventually sent them on their downward spiral, but I'm sure that's not a problem you have. My point is that it may help to have an item that comes with every sandwich that gets people talking. That way, even two people who don't like the same sandwich will have a common thing to discuss about your place.

So far, I've made the hand-rolled rice noodles with market fresh tomato salsa and soy-vinegar dipping sauce, and the pork and leek dumplings. Both were very good, simple cooking. I do have a question, though for any who has made the hand-rolled rice noodles. Did they have a sort of grainy, crumbly texture for anyone else? They stayed together reasonably well, but the "graininess" threw me a little.

Unfortunately, Sundays kind of suck re fine dining. What exactly are you looking for? High end, low end, etc?

I haven't tried it... But I'm willing to be a guinea pig if anyone's got an idea for it!

They're still around.