Tri2Cook

Sounds like a waste of a good tuna steak to me... but I'm not a big fan of tuna salad.

Well played Mr. Hennes, well played. You are of course correct that the desired flavor comes from the toasted flour and desiring a flavor from the flour was your disclaimer to not using other products. Apparently I'm just not too observant at 5:30 am.

I was going to agree with Chris entirely. Then I thought about using Ultratex or Wondra or similar in my gumbo or etouffee instead of a dark roux and decided I better add those as a definite exception. There is no blatantly floury taste in those but there is definitely a flavor benefit to having that dark roux in there.

I do too... but I'd like to think somebody actively advertising as being a culinary professional and looking down their nose at what others are doing would know that a whole world of food is out there. Even if it is a world they choose not to explore.

Checking in with the experts to be sure I wasn't getting ahead of my actual experience. During a discussion with some other people, a person mentioned that he has taken to drinking vodka martinis (I know, but hear me out). He put forth the request for vodka and vermouth suggestions as he was new to drinking this. A person in the group responded that, with the vermouth being such a small amount in the drink, it really didn't matter which one was used. I countered with my thought that, in a drink composed entirely of vodka and vermouth, the vermouth was really the only thing that mattered (assuming not using some complete rot-gut swill vodka). I confess to never having tried a vodka martini but it seems the vermouth has to matter. In drinks with many more flavor components going on, it seems to matter... so how could it not matter in a vodka base?

I still maintain there is no such creature as a fake chef. As for the questions, I've been cooking in restaurant and catering kitchens for a fairly long time and consider myself somewhat up to date on food trends and cooking techniques and I wouldn't want to try to play Stump The Chris Hennes.

I'm pretty sure that's what a few of us have already said, but thanks for bestowing your wisdom upon us. I disagree that simply saying the word "chef" to most people is self explanatory though. Most people associate that word with cooking skill, not leadership ability. Whether or not that's the case is irrelevant, most think it's true and will continue to think that way. Try to convince a room full of non-restaurant, not foodie, non-eGullet people that there are chefs out there that never cook at all and see what kind of reaction you get. It very frequently requires explaining if one considers it worth the bother. I don't as a general rule.

I realize the focus of this discussion is on what constitutes a "real chef" but I'm surprised more people aren't getting their hackles up over the term "normal food". Having a category of food he considers "normal" would be much more offensive to me than claiming to be a chef (assuming he's not). Even if it were possible to categorize food as "normal", what that category contained would have to vary so much based on location, tradition, personal preference, etc. that it would require thousands of sub-categories. Instead of trying to drill him on whether or not he's a chef, I'd be drilling him on what he considers "normal food". I think that may tell you all you need to know about his actual experience and knowledge.

No. Cooking School produces cooks. You are not a chef when you walk out the door of CIA or Cordon Bleu with your certificate(s) and you can be a chef without ever attending any of those schools. Culinary schools are primarily producing line cooks, it's up to the individual to have the drive and determination to go beyond that. I was trying to make the point that "chef" is a term that has been bastardized to the point of being meaningless outside of the restaurant environment with my tongue-in-cheek reference to the rules of chef club but I guess I didn't do a good job with it. Chef is chef to his/her subordinates in the restaurant. Once you step outside that environment, anybody with a chef's coat and the ability to talk the talk can claim the title and there's no line of questioning that can prove otherwise.

Tell me more about this 'direct sales program'? If you go on the LCBO site, go to the product search page and type in Creme Yvette it has a link to a direct sales thing for ordering it. I found it by accident, I try to browse through the rum, gin, tequila and liqueur sections every week or two to see if there's anything new. I'm not sure if there's a dedicated page for the direct sales thing or not, I'm going to do a little more checking into that. I know they have the vintages online sales but it doesn't seem to be the same thing. Edit: Just checked, actually it is the Vintages online sales program. I thought it was different because the Vintages online links usually send you to an order page and this one just gives numbers to call but, on second look, it's the same thing.

Got all excited, the LCBO now has Creme Yvette available through it's direct sales program so I thought that was what I was buying... and then I slowed down enough to notice that it's selling for $89.00/bottle. No thanks.

It's entirely possible for a dedicated foodie to know more about things food related than a random chef. While a foodie is traveling around visiting culinary destinations, reading books, researching online and browsing eGullet trying to keep on top of everything food, chef might go to his/her restaurant and do what he/she does for 15 hours a day the same way he/she has been doing it for 20 years with no concern at all for what anybody else is doing. Doesn't mean he/she is a "fake" chef. Doesn't mean that a foodie with more knowledge is more a chef than he/she is. There are no things "only chefs know". Well, there is the first rule of chef club... but that's secret so I can't post it. But I will agree that "Don't you ever cook anything normal" is a pretty rude thing to say.

Important or not, where I live it borders on impossible to eat organic consistently. There's an organic produce area in the only store but it generally has maybe 6 or 7 different things at any given time and they usually look pretty bad because the store charges so much more for it that nobody wants it... so it sits there forever. I've never seen beef labled organic in the store, if they had it they'd make it known and charge accordingly. I'm taking the approach that I've been eating without concern for long enough that any bad it's going to do has probably been done and worrying over it now probably won't do anything other than give me something to worry over.

In honor of the late, great Earl Scruggs, I mixed up the Foggy Mountain Breakdown from the Fogged In Lounge... 2 oz blended scotch 3/4 oz Drambuie 1 oz lime juice ginger ale or ginger beer to fill Combine all except ginger ale over ice and stir. Strain into 10 oz tall glass. Add fresh ice and fill with ginger. Stir gently. Thanks for the music Mr. Scruggs!

That looks pretty close to what I use. I heat the cream, butter and a bit of salt together and don't usually add vanilla but otherwise it's pretty much the same.

230 with the recipe I use is pretty soft, not liquid, but definitely soft. It's firm enough to bottom but if you bit a bonbon and left the rest on the table, it would eventually run out of the shell. I know you don't want to mess with the flavor balance of your caramel so I think temp adjusting is the way to go but increasing the fat content will give you a softer result for a given temp as well.

Yep, as Jenny said, adjust the temp you cook to. I've made caramels that range from a sauce that you can dip fruit in or pour over ice cream all the way up to firm enough to cut into squares and wrap without dipping all with the same recipe just by adjusting the final cooking temp.

Nice set of drinks!

If I make it, I'm fine with the residence. Hotel's fine too, so whatever the group decides...

There seems to be a lot of versions of the Dr. Funk out there and apparently the original is only a "best guess" based on information available but this one appealed to me as a version I wanted to try... 1 1/2 oz Appleton V/X 1/2 oz Wray & Nephew Overproof (the recipe I used called for Smith & Cross but I don't have it) 3/4 oz lime juice 1/2 oz simple syrup 1/4 oz absinthe (Lucid... because that's what I have) 1/4 oz grenadine Shake with ice, strain into tall glass with ice, top with 1 oz soda water. Edit: the lime shell is supposed to be in the drink but I just gave it a couple healthy twists instead.

Looks good Matt! I still haven't made an actual complete dish from that book. Borrowed quite a few ideas from it and twisted them to my own purposes but I really need to actually do some of the dishes at some point. Same with the Fat Duck book and many others I have... they usually end up getting used more for inspiration than cookbook. Maybe one weekend I'll pick some dishes from a few different books that will tie together nicely into a meal and invite some friends over. Despite the evidence to the contrary, I really would like to experience some of the complete dishes.

I can easily get Havana Club where I live and it's probably still my favorite white... with the disclaimer that I can't get Flor de Cana white and have never tried it. I say "probably" because I don't drink white rum neat. I'm always mixing it and in many cases that can hide minor differences and narrow the gaps between the whites I have.

Very nice! It's still early for where I live, an unusual warm spell got rid of most of the snow but it's going back down below 0c tonight and supposed to be colder all next week. I don't usually have a lot of luck with them here anyway, I don't know if they're sparse in this area or if I just haven't found them. I usually do well with chanterelles and matsutakes in the late summer/early fall but the morels are few and far between.

Tried the Star Crossed Lovers from the Heering website (the original is 5 oz, I did a 3/4 recipe)... 1 1/2 oz Redbreast 12 yr Irish whiskey 3/4 oz Heering cherry 3/4 oz lemon juice 3/8 oz orgeat 3/8 oz egg white Dry shake, shake with ice, strain, coupe. Garnish: freshly grated cinnamon, 2 drops Angostura bitters (the recipe says to drag the Angostura to make 2 little hearts on top of the drink, I didn't bother for myself).

It's just about impossible for me to be definite this early so I'll give a confidently hopeful "I'm in". The date couldn't be much better for the combination of getting away from work and traveling from this area and that gives me plenty of time to practice being in a kitchen with civilized people.