Fugu

I don't work in the restaurant industry, but I've heard that this sort of thing happens in many, if not most restaurants. Recycling not just butter, but bread that has been on other tables as well. I just try not to think about it when I go out to eat. ← Yes, it is common practice to reuse butter. We use to make 1000s of butter rolls out of 50 lbs. blocks of butter. Unused/untouched butter from the diningroom are placed in a small pail with ice and sent to the hot kitchen. It is turned into clarified butter and used for sauteeing or sauces, like hollandaise. Rolls and sliced baguettes on bread baskets were routinely returned to the warmer to be used for other tables. I had the same adverse reaction when I first saw this practice back in 1980 at a high class hotel I worked and apprenticed under. This hotel was run by a talented french Chef. Followed by a German Chef who switched to prepackaged, foil wrapped butter to save on labour(I was the "prep bitch" apprentice and spent a lot of time making butter balls, cutting batons, parisiennes and turned veg. Sorry, got carried away.....anyway, it made no difference, the foil packs were recycled as clarrified butter as well. There's always that bottom line Chefs have to worry about.

Domestic Goddess, I /we could always use another recipe. TIA I have a recipe that I thought was humba or at least I call it by that name. It would be interresting to compare recipes. My aunt has a habit of hiding her recipes or renaming them when someone asks. It has heart of coconut tree(ubod) and fermented black bean and whole peppercorns. The pork is braised, like adobo. Edited to add: Our native cuisine varies so much. Bicol's recipes and Kapampangan's recipes, inspite of sharing the same name have widely different ingredients. We have unspoken competitions from various regions on who makes the best this or that. Additional ingredients are added to better the next, losing the original recipe in the process. And to add to the confusion, we have over 180 languages and dialects.

Even a piece of metal will cut anything if you knew how to sharpen it. Maybe you should add knife sharpening to the class? It makes knife choices, in the cheap, less of a problem.

I don't really know how to use these ingredients properly but this is how I utilized them. IMO, most of these ingredients, not all, only serve as an added textural and visual component to a dish. The moss, for lack of a better discription, looks like.......Anyway, it looks like a black steelwool. No presoaking needed, easily breaks apart in mousses or even cream soups or fried rice, adds a curious appearance. No discernable flavour. Kinugasa mushrooms are hollow, finger like, almost like fine mesh. The closest I could find in comparison to texture is lufa. I soaked the mushroom until it was soft but I did not smell it first, otherwise I would have washed it again to remove the vinegary smell. I stuffed it with a seafood mousse and served with a light sauce, like a chicken veloute with soya sauce. One of those neutral palates that need you own touch to make it sing. The white fungus looks like a crumpled tissue paper, hard to describe. It is white with a crunchy texture, even after it is cooked. Similar to black woodear mushrooms but not as good. I mixed it in with mapo tofu after rehydrating but it only added texture to the dish. I was told that this is used in desserts? Dried banana blossoms are similar to dried day lily blossoms. I tie 2 blossoms in an overhand knot(presentation)and pre-soak them. They slightly crunchy in texture, good in sitr frys with a sauce. Banana hearts(blossoms are inside) is usally used in a Pilipino peanut stew called Kare-Kare, served with garlicky shrimp paste. Similar to artichokes. first few out leaves need to be removed as they are not as tender. One of my Chinese friends invited me for a Mongolian hot pot and introduced me to a papaya dessert in syrup with frogs eggs. I was not told what it was until I ate it...Supposed to be an energy booster/aphrosdisiac?

If we're just talking about the blood smell, I agree. I've never thought of that as funky, it's just part of the beef. ← I've worked in the industry for a long time and I am just passing on my own experience. Google "smelly vacuum packed meats".

When I worked as substitue butcher I've always encountered that funk smell comming from almost all the vacuum packed, wet aged beef. Wash all the blood off and it should be fine. Cooking 101, always season first before cooking. But I am sure there are exceptions. I would save some of that garlic butter for table side. Look for dry aged beef, it has better flavour than wet vac aged beef.

I like collecting ingredients and try them in my cooking but some of them I find inedible so it stays in the pantry for a long time. Some expired stuff I have are: 1. Black moss, dried, so I don't know if they do expire? 2. Kinugasa Mushrooms, smells like vinegar when rehydrated. 3. White fungus, still enjoying how it looks. 4. Dried banana blossoms, might be good with adobo. Anyone used any of these before? Maybe you can shed some light on their proper usage or at least something edible to come out.

Riboflavinjoe, thank you. I want to visit a friend from Hull and he told me about this giant log cabin called, Chateau Montebello. I have been to Montreal a few times but that was more than 20 years ago.

The version of a rouille I learned is similar to what you've described, aioli with roasted bell peppers which is then thickened with white bread(no crust) soaked in water.

First year culinary school, I was 17.

I am sure she is also feverish? In the Bahamas, lemon grass is known to local herbalists as fever grass adn it is used to lower fever temps. It might help to add lemon grass to your soups?

I worked with a Chef from Lausanne, when he made rosti he would keep adding butter to the pan as he fried the rosti.

Looks like I am going to Montreal this spring! How far a drive is Au Piede De Chochon from Chateau Montebello or Hull, Quebec?

Just wanted to add: We call them "Singkamas" and they're sold by street vendors as snacks. Dips could include a number of combinations, popular dips: Fish sauce with lime juice, soya sauce, or a spiced vinegar. Can also be mixed in dumpling recipes in place of waterchestnuts. Also good in summer rolls with a lime fish sauce dip.

Thanks Edsel, I am picking up a copy tommorow. I am curious about the canned duck that Bordain ate at the restaurant and Picard's foie gras Zampone.

Cat Cora has a better won/lost record on ICA than Morimoto: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_resul...on_Chef_America shel ← Based on the figures listed on the wiki link, Kat Cora's loss percentage is at 33.33%, while Morimoto's loss is at 29.16%. And the quality of opponents Morimoto had to do battle are more skilled. Kat Cora's skills, as Iron Chef, is a joke.

Any more reviews from the owners of this book? I took a look at this book at Chapters but they were all wrapped in plastic.

By blanching a piece of shark with the skin on and then running it on cold water, you can rub the grit(scales) off the skin. The skin has a gelatinous texture once it is cooked.

Longo's sometimes has sweetbreads. I don't eat at restaurants often and the last time I had sweetbreads in a restaurant was at Arlequin's 1980's, Avenue Rd. and Davenport. It is probably closed now? Chef was Jean francoise Casari.

Salt blocks and finishing salts

It depends on what you are making, using stock to soak dried mushrooms makes sense, especially if you're making soups or a sauces where the predominant flavour calls for mushrooms. I make it a point to use the soaking liquid by reducing it further to intensify the mushroom flavour.

Heston Blumental's method of making fries might work for home fries? Cook the potatoes in seasoned water until almost falling apart, cool in the refirgerator. Deep fry until golden colour, the chill once again. Before serving, deep fry again for a final crisping.

Here is a Filipino pork rind chicharon. We also use puffed pork rind as a garnish for Pansit Luglug and Pansit Palabok. Crushed pork rind is also used to thicken a sweet & sour, pork and liver stew called, Paksiw. edited to add: Pansit is a general term for noodles. In this case both these dishes, "Pansit" refers to rice noodles.

Chinese Mezzaluna? Like a Mexican/Soul food fast food place, Nacho-Mama.

425 degrees for 10 minutes.