Tri2Cook

I think the whole discussion is a bit silly. Fun, but silly. There doesn't have to be a division. If you're not in their kitchen under the jurisdiction of their rules, do whatever works for you. I refer to chef's that I personally respect as "Chef (insert name here)" for no reason other than the one I stated... personal respect. It doesn't matter to me if I work for them or not because, in this setting, I'm not conceding authority, I'm attempting to convey respect in a print medium. I don't expect anyone else to join in or think the same way and I'm not disappointed to see someone else simply refer to them by name. However, to claim that an accomplished chef deserves less respect than a doctor or a professor because "the doctor or professor had to go to school longer" is ridiculous. Respect (in my opinion) is earned through accomplishment, not automatically associated with a title.

Saw the commercial, entertained the idea of applying for about 30 seconds, laughed and said out loud "what the heck are you thinking". That was the end of that. I'll watch it though.

I like the theme concept. I don't mind the ticket concept as long as there is some policy in place that allows for emergency cancellation without financial penalty. I find it mildly interesting that Heston Blumenthal has been doing a modernized-historic thing for a while now and many people (mostly people that haven't been to his restaurants) think it's kinda silly and he's a bit of a wanker for doing it but Grant Achatz announces he's doing it and many of those same people herald it as the second coming of Escoffier. Note: that is not aimed at this thread, it's based on other discussions I've had and things I've read. Personally, I'm very interested in seeing what Grant does with the themes but I was/am equally excited over the things Heston has been doing with his historic-based themes so this is an easy leap. I do find it kinda interesting that Chef Achatz is opening something so radically different at a time when many already popular restaurants are struggling. Hopefully the pricing will open his food to a whole new audience in addition to his current followers and allow it to succeed.

So far I've watched the Chocolate Factory Feast, the Fairytale Feast, the Titanic Feast, the Gothic Horror Feast and the 70's Restro Feast from the new series. The man is completely insane in the best possible way. I watch the episodes and listen to the insights on how he approaches the ideas then I usually end up laughing like some kind of lunatic when he reveals the results. It's like being at a good jazz session and having the drummer jump into some utterly ridiculous but incredibily difficult pattern or something and then come back in right on time just when you were sure he'd lost it. I don't really care what anyone thinks about the culinary value of what he's doing, the thought process behind it all is pure genius.

Doesn't bother me from either end. I don't mind people taking pics of my food (not sure why they'd want to but it has happened) and I don't mind people taking pics of their food when I'm eating somewhere nice... if they can do it in a relatively unobtrusive manner. In my opinion, anybody who says that someone else quietly lifting a camera and snapping a quick and quiet no-flash pic messes up their dining experience is just looking for something to complain about. If there were no cameras then they'd probably complain about the scratch of pens from someone making notes about the meal or something. However, if you feel the need to set up a tripod, use blinding flash or move around the room trying to get the best angle while loudly narrating to the room what you're doing, I probably won't be happy and, being the direct person that I am, I probably won't bother with the manager or anybody else. I'll just let you know you're being a jerk.

Thanks yet again Martin. I saw it on your site yesterday (you're in my blogroll, I check in regularly) and grabbed it already. I'm happy to see a new round of TGRWT announced as well.

I agree with you in spirit, I'm just not sure most people, OC Housewife or not, have the ability to do that. If you hate liver and you're not on some branch of the culinary professional tree with the ability to suck it up and judge a dish on it's technical merits, how do you taste it and think anything other than "yuck, liver"? Which leads to saying "then don't use those people as judges"... but TC always has and probably always will so that's part of what you sign on for if you do the show. If everybody is subject to it, then it's fair. Undoubtedly frustrating at times, but fair. I'm not trying to convince anyone my way of thinking is right, I'm just not as offended by non-professional opinions on the food as some seem to be. I have to live with non-professional opinions of my food every day and I'm fine with it.

Fair enough... but in a real-world setting nobody will care if it's technically good. They'll only care if they like it or not. The guest judges cover that aspect. The professional judges are there to weigh in on the technical merits and have enough votes to outweigh guest judge opinions during the eliminations if they feel the need.

I don't know. If Grant Achatz, Thomas Keller, the OC Housewives and the janitor from the bus station all spend their money on dinner at your restaurant, then what each and every one of them thinks of the food matters. If you tell yourself "well that person just doesn't have a refined palate" every time someone without a pedigree you respect doesn't love your food, you won't be around long. My biggest disappointment so far this season... Wylie being eliminated by 1 point. I really wanted him to advance, I enjoy seeing his approach to the challenges.

I miss Jazzfest (ok, what I really miss is the food at Jazzfest). When I lived in Alabama, I made the short trip every year. Where I live now, not only can I not get that kind of food but I can't even get many of the necessary ingredients to make it myself. Anybody wanna smuggle some crawfish into Canada?

Check out this article from the folks at Ideas in Food. It discusses how they approached the idea from start to... well, I won't say "to finish" because they don't really finish. They're constantly evolving their ideas.

Me too.

My reasons for wanting to go to some of those places are pretty much the same as Johns. That's about all the info I can give you at this point since I've never been to any of them.

I think it would be awesome with pork. The easiest way to find out is to try it... then let us know how it goes. Maybe even smoked apple butter, that would definitely be rich enough to stand up to the smoke.

Nice work. I used to do menues the same way. I'd figure them out, decide I'm not as confident about it as I thought I was, ask opinions... then end up doing it my way anyway. It usually worked out and eventually the confidence grows enough to keep up with the ideas so that self-editing becomes easier. Not that I'm above asking advice and learning, I hope I never think I'm at that point, I've just learned to trust my own ideas more than I used to. Looks like it worked out great and the guest comments back that up. You have to be happy with what you do and the thoughts of those who have only read the ideas can be helpful but, in the end, what the people eating the food think is what really matters.

I knew it! I told my therapist those chickens were following me! Point taken on the knife sharpening. I was just thinking that a lot of people get paid to do jobs that they can't/don't do particularly well. I don't usually consider them professionals.

I would modify that rule to: Unless you see an obvious mistake, follow the recipe the first time... then adjust as needed/desired. I frequently see people that try a recipe for the first time with "I'll just change this, add that, remove the other" who then rant to everybody they know about how "that recipe sucks, never try it". They haven't even tried it yet, how do they know it sucks? If you take them to "some jackass with power tools who does lawnmower blades for the neighborhood" then you didn't follow the rule of "take them to a pro". But I agree... learning to do it yourself is best. A personal favorite is the old "don't get a drop of yolk in your egg whites or you'll have to start over". If that were true, I would have wasted enough eggs by now that the entire world population of chickens would have organized against me. A little gets in, scoop out what you can and carry on. I've never had a meringue or foam fail because I had a bit of yolk in the whites.

That recipe and many more of his recipes are in the Alinea book. The best $35 you can spend if you're into that style of cooking. I can send you the soft chocolate recipe if you want but it honestly isn't all that exciting on it's own beyond the cool factor (not that it's at all bad, it's just not any better tasting than many non-bendy chocolate components)... it's the dish as a whole that makes it.

My thoughts would be, I would have done it with just the miso initially. No additional flavors outside of the necessary panna cotta elements. It would be much easier for me to decide how/if I wanted to tweak it once I knew what I was tweaking. I think a nut flavor in the panna cotta would take away from the point of trying to showcase white miso in this way since the miso has it's own nuttiness. Was there a thought process behind the molasses or did it just seem like a good idea at the time? I'm asking because that does seem like a powerful flavor to throw up against white miso. Since this is a multi-component dessert with the panna cotta not having to stand alone, I think I would just showcase the miso in the panna cotta and provide any balances and contrasts with the other components. That's just my thought process though, doesn't mean it's the best approach for everybody.

I haven't worked with liquid smoke enough to offer positive experiences (I have a bottle that I bought because a tiny amount goes in the BBQ marshmallows from the Chadzilla blog that I wanted to try. They were awesome but it would take years of marshmallows to use the entire bottle so maybe I'll do some experimenting with it sometime.) but I'm not in favor of ruling out any ingredient based on other peoples opinions or tradition. I really don't care if someone else think it's right or wrong to use something, if it gives me the result I want then it's a valid ingredient.

How do you decide what makes a good candidate for the kimchi process (outside of what's traditionally done)? What I'm wondering about specifically... I found a large patch of wild horseradish growing locally and I'm planning out some uses for the young leaves this year (beyond just using them as greens, which I'll definitely be doing). The idea of using some of them for kimchi occured to me but, not being an expert on making kimchi, I'm not sure how well this would work. Any thoughts? Would the older, tougher leaves be better candidates? Does it sound like a bad idea all around?

Sounds fine for casual stand-up munchies... but hold the tartar sauce on my roast beef. I'll take horseradish instead.

Pichet Ong does a white miso semifreddo (and serves it with a raspberry ice cream) so he thinks the combo works. I can see the nuttiness working nicely on the sweet side. I guess it depends on one's ability or willingness to accept traditionally savory tastes in a sweet setting (personally, I have a lot of fun playing with that line in the sand). I'd just work some into your favorite vanilla panna cotta recipe then pass it through a chinois before molding as a starting place. You're probably going to want to start relatively mild just so it's not overpowering and to keep the salt level in check, you can always add more. Once you decide whether or not it works for you, you can play with it in any way you want.

It's ok to go to a chain restaurant whenever/wherever you want to. It doesn't require the "I don't normally but..." disclaimers or the "I don't but other people do so I go along to be nice..." disclaimers or any other excuse. It's also perfectly ok to not got to chain restaurants. That's why they make red cars and blue cars. 'Cause people don't all like the same thing.

You don't have to grind the candies, you can dissolve them in the liquid and sieve out any pieces that don't melt. I've never used them for a ganache but they definitely dissolve in liquid.