RAHiggins1

I come from a fairly low brow background. I aspire to cook good food, but really some things just aren't in the budget. So I went and got a part time job where these items are readily available for me to taste and learn. I just got my first taste of real Foie freshly seared in a pan and nothing could have prepared me for it. I've had "Goose Mousse", "Duck Pate" and such ala whole foods and what not. But that stuff is crap to me now. What an epiphany.

OK, so Fabio is probably GLAD he didn't ask Ariane to cook his lamb.... This season continues to dissapoint. I thought the quickfire dishes over all, looked better than the on the farm, can't get fresher ingredients, elimination challenge dishes. I don't think the chefs gave any consideration to feeding people outside on a hot, sunny, day.

Why is it NR has to ham up the dream sequence stuff when they go to Italy?

Fabio should have asked Ariane to cook his lamb, then it would have been a winning dish.

There may be a wait to get seated but service is fast and the food is certainly worth it.

Two things, first Amazon's Omakase Banner above seems to have learned that it should serve food related articles to this site. Second, I found it cool to See Chad's book appearing in the first slot.

I need some advice for this spring's garden. Last year was the first time I had turned the soil and planted vegetables. It was fine at first, but then the grass I had turned with the soil went completely balistic and I was unable to keep up with it. I need to know what I should do to pre-treat the soil to minimize this happening again and also any tips on ground cover to help keep it to a minimum. I'm thinking that I will plant more tomatoes, peppers, cukes, and squashes.

http://www.accessatlanta.com/restaurants/c...ml?cxntlid=sldr If you haven't been, then you need to go. so far I've had the Flip, Lamb and Po'Boyger, Fries, Vodka Battered Onion Rings, and Sweet Potato Tots.

I ran short on time this week to prep and cook in advance. I ended up doing it all after work and after shopping for all of it on new year's eve. I got home at 3:30PM. I had to change the menu for simpler preperation. It worked out great and no one was the wiser. Crostini with goat cheese mousse, strawberry compote and walnuts. Shrimp Cocktail Assorted cheeses brought by a guest Sirloin Au Poivre Chicken Francese with Lemon Caper Sauce Roasted Reds Baby Carrots with Fried Shallot Gremolata Garlic Mashed Yukon Golds

Chicken & Sausage Freezer Gumbo; I pulled it out of the freezer, made rice and heated it up.

I've decided to start up a small catering service that does parties and dinners. I'd like to know where I can rent professional equipment to use (hotboxes, coolers, buffet service, etc.. or possibly a kitchen that can be leased for prep, cooking, etc.. I would prefer the latter as it would mean that the kitchen is already approved for food preperation by the health department.

Oysters Rockefeller Soup

I left them out this year and liked it. The texture was much looser and the dressing was just moist enough to keep it together.

I host a New Year's party every year. I try to mix it up on food served. I usually do provide a couple of starters, beef, fish, poultry, 2 starches, 2 veggies and a dessert. So far I am I know I am making; Goat Cheese Mouse served on Crostini with a strawberry compote, red wine caramel and walnuts. Shrimp and Queso Stuffed Chili Relleno with a Tomato Beurre Blanc on Polenta Chicken Balantine with Tarragon Scented Veloute. Parsley Buttered Red Potatoes Steak Au Poivre Bouche de Noel

So would direction of stirring effect convection? The most common patterns I use are Circular, Figure Eight and Straight Across.

Salt also makes a difference in how quickly the water returns to a boil. Heavily salted water boils at like 213º to 214ºF. So blanching which is typically highly salted would cook faster than say, Pasta or dumplings. you also have to consider the ratio of water to product. I add enough water to just cover my potatoes, but when I blanch veggies or cook pasta I like to fill the pot most of the way so that there is a lot of water and adding things doesn't drop the temperature very far. Another thing I have found interesting was the instructions on a package of pork dumplings I bought after sampling them at the local Super H-mart. It had me bring the dumplings to a boil, add a cup of cold water, and bring to a boil again. I had to repeat the process two more times, but in the end the dumplings came out excellent and I probably would have let them go to mush trying to get them done in a rolling boil.

Chicken Piccata with thin spaghetti tossed in basil pesto. I made my own bread crumbs and I have to say that fresh bread crumbs from old bread I keep in the freezer is much more crispier than the store bought crumbs like Vigo. I season the crumbs and press the chicken down into them to bread it. No egg or flour.

I finally got around to making my turkey stock, I deboned my 22# bird, roasted the bones and put it all back in the freezer until I had a full day. I got 3.5 Gal of stock from this one. I save all of my chinese take out "soup for two" containers just for this. I also used my turkey fryer to simmer the stock in as it has a drain on the bottom. That really made keeping the manky stuff on top seperated from the good stuff underneath easy.

He references the fooddemocracynow.org website, and Pollan gets in some interesting, if predictable, points. Not sure why Kristol has to diss bacon so stupidly, though: ← I saw a report on a hog farm a few years back where they were collecting the waste and had devised a system by which they contain the waste and use it to produce methane gas as a by product of the farm.

Hell's Kitchen did a "Name that ingredient" challenge this last season too. This episode reminded me of it. At least TC used sauces that can be more vague than the new england clam chowder in HK. I don't think that they named the sauces for the chef's though. When they said the last was a Mole, I immediately thought ""Chocolate" and Stefan identified that ingredient first. I'm surprised that Padma didn't ask him to be more specific than just chocolate.

FYI, you can get a gluten free soy milk. Creme Brulee" anyone?

Entree- Grilled Portabella fajitas with a cornmeal polenta made with vegetable stock. Corn tortillas chips on the side. Salsa, Guacamole'. My 1st thought was a polenta stuffed chili Relleno.

After you remove the roast and strain the stock, try crumbling up one or two gingersnap cookies and mixing it in to the pot liquor.

I'm not Mayhaw Man nor Lindacakes . . . but making stock from a big roasted bird is one of my all-time favorite kitchen activities. After the big tryptophan dose I become a crazed turkey vulture picking away at the bones. My modus operandi: 1. Let Big Bird cool down breast-up on a platter. 2. Get three bowls and a stock pot :light, dark, skin and bones. 3. Cover bones with just enough water, simmer for several hours. 4. Cool, strain and freeze. I like concentrated turkey stock frozen in 1 cup containers for future usage. Some of the best dark meat bits are along the back, hidden from diners. The big toms have fantastic back meat -- it reminds me of cod cheeks in that they're shallow muscles with broad attachment to bone, and not worth the bother in small specimens. ← My bird and had a lot of fat on it, and since it was 22# it took 4½ hours to roast at 325ºF. This caused the dark meat on the underside to come out Confit. What a joy for me! My wife doesn't like dark meat, SO, all of the good stuff was gone by the time I got that massive bird picked clean. <insert loud belch here>

Does that make him a foodie? Pretty darn close, anyhow... ← Wow, most politicians stick to milk and bread prices.