FoodMan

I guess the Reissue edition (June 2, 1992), is not an "updated" edition then.

Is the asciutta part of the name right? Is it a dried pasta? I rolled it out and used it fresh. The condimento was a ragu of sausage, rosemary, and ginger. The ginger flavor really perfumed the dish well. The pasta puffed up beautifully the second it hit the water, but then collapsed upon further cooking. Not at all al dente either, but it gave up a lot of starch, which leant a creamy flavor and texture to the whole dish. ← That is so cool and amazing. I want this book so bad in addition to a few other ones from Sicily! Kevin, do you have the paperback version of Root's book? Publishers should start giving Kevin some kickback's because of all the books we are buying from this thread. Elie

I made the Potuguese (aka Hawaiian bread) recently: As you can see it came out very lovely indeed. The recipe made 2 of these loaves baked in a pie plate each, just like the recipe instructs. The bread also freezes very well. I froze one and defrosted it about a week later with very good result. The loaves are also VERY light, I mean light as a feather. Tasted great and toasted great. Just be carefull the toast burns very fast so don't crank up the toaster for too long. Elie

Fifi- Thanks for the funny, interesting and helpful account of your adventures (or are they misadventures?). For my family and I we got obsessed with bread. Come Wednesday night we figured out that we had no bread at my in-laws house where we were staying in Houston. So I was ordered to take care of the matter "before the power goes off". By Friday afternoon we had three different loaves of bread, all freshly made from scratch. By Saturday morning, the power was still on, the cable was still on and the stores promised to open soon and we had plenty of bread . Elie

Sunday: Braised chicken with creamy onions and country ham (recipe from Wolfert's "Slow Mediterranean Kitchen"). Absolutly lovely and deliciouse dish. Served it with creamy mashed potatoes Dessert: Almond and Hazelnut cake (no yolks, no butter and fantastic - recipe from Marcella Hazan's "essentials..." for Almond cake ). served with homemade Vanilla ice cream and chcocolate hazelnut sauce. Monday: Pizza. Homemade tomato dough, raw tomato sauce, spinach, cheese. Last night: Sauteed Milanesa beef steak with garlic, lime juice , Worcere..., beer and pepper. Served with white rice tomato and avocadoes. Elie

I certainly was not disappointed, it was exactly what I expected. Dumbed down, some funny moments, good looking cast and it happens in a restaurant's kitchen. I guess my expectations were not that high. I love how "realistic" it was for the staff to be waiting for the Times' review to appear in the next morning's paper. She had the dinner and ran off to write and publish the review . That's TV for you. Hey, at least they did not have a silly "laugh" track after every comment. Elie

Miyako, IMHO, sucks. Almost any sushi joint in Houston is better, including Todai. Now, I am not sushi expert but I am good enough to tell that if a restaurant semlls "fishy", literally smells like fish, I do not want to eat there. I've been once and nevermore. As for the so-called "Reader's Choice" awards or selections or whatever, well I always take them with a shovel of salt, not a grain. They are very misleading. Elie

Chef- Do you have any other updates about the venture? Opening date? Is everything on shcedule? How is the construction going, in the kitchen and otherwise? Any major obstacles? what about sourcing ingredients? Will you try and go mainly with local stuff? Congrats on the WSJ article, I will try and check a copy out at the book store. Elie

I think it is the beak, here's how Robb Walsh describes eating them in his article The Xiu Mai Super Bowl about Fung's Kitchen Dim Sum:

I have only seen them cooked on the bone (aka beak ) as part of dim sum, but never thought to order them. Kent, this thread can be used to keep track of greensNbeans' venture. Please post any specific queries about the restaurant over there. Elie

Houston Press' Dining Section Reggae Buffet Robb Walsh reviews “Tropical Grill”. Jamiacan is a very underrepresented cuisine in our fair town, Walsh seems to have found the real deal in this unassuming joint. Houston Chronicle's Dining Guide A tasty blend of cultures By Alison Cook. Pearland barbecue joint melds touches of Southern style, soul food and Cuban flavors This thread is for food media DIGEST entries. If you want to discuss one of these news items, please start a separate discussion thread.

I have seen them fresh I think at Hong Kong Market and I've seen them frozen at a couple other Asian markets. They do not look that appetizing to me and I've never thought of trying them let alone cooking them myself, but I could be persuaded Chef- How are you planning on cooking them? You might be one of the first chefs at a fine dining establishment in Houston to serve them. I've certainly never encountered them outside of a Chinese shop in Chinatown. How do they fit on your menu? Elie

Keeping this thread on topic, basically do you think one should slaughter an animal to feel better about eating meat? The issue of vegetarianism Vs. non has been debated and discussed extensively so let us not dwell on it here again. It’s a personal choice and everyone has their own because of tradition, religion, morals or who knows what else. I honestly do not have an answer to the question posed above. I personally have dispatched fowl (pigeons, ducks, chickens and numerous smaller feathered animals), I also assisted my grandfather (in Lebanon) whenever he slaughtered a lamb or goat for the family dinner/freezer. I do not lose an ounce of sleep over any of it. In MY opinion animal life is not by any means equal to human life and should not be treated as if it is. Yes, I respect the fact that an animal had to die for me to enjoy a steak but I do not torture myself with guilt over it. Gul_Dekar, the fact that you are even asking this question means that you have thought about your food, where it comes from and how it got to your plate. Trust me this is more than what most people are capable of doing. If you still feel like you need to slaughter a critter then it’s your personal choice and no one will be able to convince you otherwise.

Kevin- It is very sad that we cannot get a decent pork loin with the fat attached to it but write this tip down: Go to your local "Whole Foods" and talk to the “head butcher” or meat manager or whatever he is called. Get his name and ask for him in the future. Ask him for a loin with the fatback intact and he will be happy to save one for you. I got a few pounds of fat back for sausage from there…for free since it is regarded as “trash”. They get the loins and promptly remove the lovely white skin, so getting one with the skin intact should not be a problem. Elie

Maybe they don't want any smartass chickens. ← OK . . . There is my GulleyLaugh for the day. Now that I think of it, I don't remember about my chicken. But I don't think it had the "Pope's Nose." (I love that term. I learned it from my in-laws in New Orleans.) What I want to know is . . . If they cut them off, what do they do with them? ← McDonald's makes chicken nuggets with them. No wait, that would make the nuggets edible. Nevermind.

Kevin- I am, as you might know by now, a big Mario fan and it amazes me how many of his shows you seem to have. How do you know where each episode is? Do you have them catalogued ? Now...er..I don't know how to say this...but how do I get my hands on some copies? Just kidding. From previous discussions about rabbit we had on eG it seems like the farmed stuff we buy here might not be worth it. Like you said it's more like chicken. If you can get your hands on some free range or wild rabbit, then it might be worth the price. Elie

Doc- Thank you for taking the time to post all these amazing pictures! Absolutly lovely. How did your kids like the meal? If I remember correctly you had 2 teenagers with you. right? Elie

Friday- Eggplant and Chickpea stew, served with pita bread (recipe from Wolfert's book) Saturday- Chiang Mai pork larb with sticky rice and chilli jam Sunday- -The eggplant-chickpea stew was pulverized in the food processor. I added tahini, pomegranate molasses, extra garlic and chilli paste. it made for an amazing dip with pita crisps - Baked Kofta with potatoes, tomatoes and onions - Rice with vermicelli Dessert: Chocolate rice pudding with sesame brittle

From reading all these rules and regulations I hesitate to enter my latest Larb. It is a recipe from Thompson's "Thai Food" though so it must be right . So I decided to try something other than the regular protein-lime-shallots-chillies larb and tried my hand at "Chiang Mai Pork Larb". Thompson says it must be of Burmese origin due to the extensive use of spices in the paste. Speaking of pastes, this Larb really blurs the line between a curry and a larb. It was pretty good but is not a substitute for the original. The paste has cumin, cassia, and black pepper as well as galangal, lemongrass, chillies, garlic and shallots. I served it with sticky rice (is this stuff addictive or what), and Thai chilli jam.

Five reasons that make Bouchon's quiche the best: 1- Thick crust, rolled to about 1/4 inch. The crsut is buttery and tender with the butter thoroughly incorporated in, non of that bits of butter in the dough. 2- The quiche is made in a 2 inch ring mold. So, it is quiet thick resulting in a perfect proportion of crust to filling. Like Russ said, it can be made in a deep dish pie pan instead. 3- The filling base (7 eggs, 2cream, 2milk I think) is very custardy, creamy and smooth. It is barely "solid" when warmed and definitly melts in the mouth. I actually prefer a more "eggy" filling so I made this several times and I now use more eggs and a little less dairy. 4- The end result looks absolutly stunning and very impressive. 5- For me at least, and this might sound strange, getting this quiche recipe nailed down was a challenge. It is tricky and can result in a mess if the dough has a small leak in it. So now that I am comfortable making it, it's sort of satisfying. This in my book is the best quiche ever. Damn, now I have to make one this weekend...and I love the goat cheese idea. Tip: I am not sure if I mentioned this on the other thread or not but I found out the best way to get the crust perfectly right and to reduce the chance of leakage is to measure the flour BY WEIGHT not by volume. Elie

Buy the Bouchon book and make the (IMHO) BEST QUICHE EVER. The texture of the filling is just like you describe, creamy-melt-in-your-mouth. Here are discussions about it in the Bouchon thread starting Here Just be advised that this quiche, is one of the trickiest things to master. Especially if you use the ring mold rather than a pie pan. Also here is a discussion of Russ Parson's article about this specific recipe and his adaptation. Goog Luck. Elie

HEB has a wide selection of USDA Prime beef at the butcher counter. They also have "prime" pork and lamb. I am not sure if those last 2 mean much though. Elie

I did all the steps and I added lots of dried rosemary to the pepper mix. I kind of liked it. I also might do away with the 60 hours in the warm oven next time around. Elie

Talami dough as I know it usually inlcudes mahlab and is slighlty sweet. It is formed into rounds (about 5-6 inches in diameter) that are pretty thick and typically have ridges on them. The end result is a thick doughy piece of round sweet bread, usually served slathered with butter and sprinkled with sugar. My grandma always makes them when she bakes fresh bread in the "tanoor". I have never attempted to make them myself although I have one or two recipes including one in the aformentioned Chef Ramzi's book.

Behemoth is correct. The way the word is written in Arabic, with the letter that most resembles "ss" rather than the "z" one. So, I do not think it is refering to Khubz (bread). Elie