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Oreganought

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Posts posted by Oreganought

  1. Even if you try to prepare it in a good way, that typical fish flavor always comes through in a bad way.

    That's a tough one....................I'd say stay away from fish.You may want to try

    very fresh fish just slow oven roasted until med-rare to med and a splash of lemon,or another juice if lemon is not up your alley,most work.

    Do you eat fish and chips?

  2. Mmmmmm Carbonara....now I have to make some,soon.

    Guanciale or pancetta large dice sauteed in a little olive oil and I let it

    brown enough that when I take a ladle of the spagetti water and add

    it to the pan it looses a little colour and doing this also deeply flavours the

    water.When added to the finished dish it adds a depth of flavour I prefer.

    And I would like to think that might have been done to extract all the possible

    flavour considering the origin of the dish.Whole eggs and a combo of parm/pecorino and lots of large cracked black pepper....nothing else otherwise

    it morphs into other villages cuisines......just look what Rome did to the dish.

    Anyway,I like to heat up a large serving bowl,and at this point I would add the pasta water to the renderings giving some ceremony with the steam rising to the ceiling as I add it to the bowl,then the spagetti,a few tosses,then the egg/cheese

    combo,pepper a few more tosses.......a little more cheese.....craving satisfied.

  3. I believe the intention was not to use the commercial wines with salt added.Any

    other wine will do.....from the very cheap to the most expensive,depends on

    the individual.Personally I use the wine that I would normally serve with that particular dish.

  4. I'm thinking about making a career change and love cooking so much I want to try it professionally.  But I love many aspects of my profession, and am weary of some of the down-sides of being a chef (e.g. bad hours for a family man).  I am thinking about doing 2 things simultanesously, i.e. continuing in my present profession part-time and starting cooking part-time.  My question (especially for you professional cooks/restauranteurs) is whether you've run into this before and/or whether you have strong feelings about it.  Is it the absolute stupidest thing an otherwise-fairly-intelligent person could do?

    This topic may be better placed in another forum, but I'll be damned if I can figure out where.  Everytime I search for relevant discussion about culinary careers I strike out.  Certainly the interviews with batali, etc. help out but I'm talking something more grass-roots for members.  Shouldn't there be a forum specifically on careers?  And one on cooking schools, perhaps?

    What are your expectations? Someone with no experience in a professional

    upscale kitchen will be relegated to peeling potatoes and onions for a year

    working on a part-time basis.....maybe not,but close.

  5. From these posts I can't tell if the method I learned is old hat or new to the crowd:

    I've made it this way for 35 years. I have been known to use some tobasco.

    I'm on my 2nd wooden bowl,but my original fork and spoon that is curved past

    the factory specs,by me,on purpose still survives.

    I take 2 large garlic clove,2 anchovi fillets and a few pinches of sea salt and

    grind to a paste with my fork and spoon....one handed operation....one crushes

    the other cuts, works well.Add an egg yolk,dry mustard and work into the mass.Equal parts lemon and red wine vinegar,some worchestershire and drizzle

    in the olive oil and grated parm.Tumble in some romaine hearts,homemade

    croutons,more parm......for 2 people.

  6. When the mother has converted all the alcohol to vinegar,and that time can vary,

    remove about 3/4 and bottle it for consumption.Replace with more wine.

    You need not add wine at various times for the first batch.

    A crock with a spigot really is ideal for long term vinegar making,and the glass

    container should really be covered up not to allow any light.

  7. * Olives. Chopped up or kind of hidden in things, fine, but blatant olivism still kind of bugs me.

    * Gin. I'm trying really hard with gin, but it's not going well.

    * Offal. I haven't had really any exposure to offal, so I don't know if I like them or not. Seems like a special case of the acquired taste: If you don't do it right the first time, it could be ruined forever. See also: raw shellfish, sushi (I love sushi, but it seems to be one of those categories of food).

    I think the thing with acquired tastes is that they are things you think you CAN like but currently DON'T, or else you wouldn't be subjecting yourself to the acquisition process. Like gin and I; I can see liking gin, but at the moment, I'm not a huge fan. Maybe I just haven't had the right gin for me in an actually well made martini, so for now, I'm working on it!

    -- C.S.

    "Not A Fan Of Blatant Olivism, And Gin. Olives In His Martini Are Right Out"

    Edited for spelling; reserves right to add more stuff later!

    It takes all kinds,doesn't it? A friend of ours will never try mashed potatoes

    again....ever.But loves scotch....go figure.It's all in the mind,not the mouth.

  8. Most of the bases have been covered here.I'm a bit of a collector

    when it comes to pots and pans but I don't think anyone mention

    any steel fry pans......I have ones just for crepes another just for eggs

    and I couldn't saute mushrooms in anything else.

  9. THAI STICKS

    basically a forcemeat of ground pork and chicken with minced garlic,

    softened vermicelli noodles cut to 2" lengths,fish sauce,nam pla,spring

    onion.Par cook shrimp and skewer lenghtwise take the forcemeat

    and wrap around the shrimp,caot in a batter of coconut milk and

    cornstarch....deepfry. I serve with a chilli dipping sauce,everyone

    devours these.

  10. That's basically my point carswell.

    One might conclude that wonton wrappers are far too chewy/rubbery

    for that application,certainly not mushy.Is it possible the filling was intended to be of a mousse consistancy?If the sauce tasted like 10 ingredients,sublime as it might

    have been,a few of the ingredients should have been fairly obvious.How much more foie % wise would have made the dish even more delicious,or would too

    much foie and less cream take away from the "brulee" mouthfeel,and actually

    be a deterent.Just a couple of points I liked to make,is all.

  11. I agree with carswell,a one time good/bad opinion must be digested with a little

    sodium chloride.

    It was decadently delicious, but the pate could use more foie grass and less cream to make the flavor more pronounced
    The lobster ravioli were sad. The filling tasted too processed, the pasta dough was mushy (I think they used wonton wrappers instead of real pasta dough).
    The lobster sauce lacked clarity of flavor. It tasted as if 10 different ingredients were simmered in a pot until they turned into one big “blah”.

    As a chef I would need to ask Helen a few more questions to find some

    clarity in her meaning.

  12. I don't mind the talking at all. I kind of enjoy the company and the chatter. What I DON'T like is the "helping". I would rather do it all myself than to watch someone chop clumsily with my precious knife or season something that doesn't need seasoning. You can stand in my kitchen, sip my wine, and talk my ear off... just don't touch anything.

    exactamundo

  13. How do I say this without sounding condescending...If I had to tip toe around a co-worker because they couldn't talk and cook without screwing something up and then get blamed for it.....

    On a more positive note.....I would initiate conversation to help overcome that

    initial hiccup that apparently is the cause of the problem.

  14. I find that it goes beyond being vinegar ( Aceto) to being ACETONE.. with a nailpolish smell!

    So when that happens you need to hsake the bottle again, give it air.. leave it open again for three days and then recork it.

    Very interesting. Can you elaborate, please? Do you mean this happens when you let it ferment for a long time with the mother in the vinegar/wine? Or does it only happen if you cork it and store it with no mohter in it?

    Elie

    People will use different methods,but it pretty much universal that the container

    be open to the air.

    I use a large crock style pot with the spigot at the bottom so I can remove

    some vinegar when I want and feed with more wine at the top.The mother will grow and you can cut some off and start a new batch,or just give to friends.

    If you leave some vinegar out exposed to the air...like a wine vinegar,not

    the white stuff it's more than likely it will start to develop a scum and develop into

    a mother...not every time though.You might try a few different brands at a time.

    Bad vinegar has an acetaldehyde taste, smelling like thinner. This is not wanted for good and high quality vinegar products.

    The occurrence of acetaldehyde shows, that the vinegar is not yet ready. It is also an reliable method to determine, if the conversion from alcohol to vinegar was done.

  15. Is the "mother" the white stuff or the dark stuff. I have a bottle of red wine vinegar that has dark specks in it but I would not call in mucilaginous (thank God). The dark specks/swirls were not there when I bought it. If I can make my own vinegar, I'm all over it though.

    That's probably just sediment if it's small specks just floating around.If the mother

    is dark and feels stiffer to the touch,that is a sign of failing health and should

    be discarded.

  16. Oreganought-

    This keeps getting better and better...raspberry vinegar! Just to be clear, is it absolutly necessary to use the cheese cloth to close the jar? A lid would not do? I am mainly worried about the sttrong smell this might cause in my pantry if left with nothing but a piece of cheese cloth on.

    Elie

    No lid FoodMan,it's a living organism and needs oxygen to thrive.

    Keep it in a dark place....in a cupboard or pantry,and it's really not

    going to smell too bad,you would need to get up close and personal

    to really smell vinegar....unless it's in a very small space.I keep mine

    out in the open.It doesn't need to be a mason jar the opening can be smaller at the

    neck.Have some fun with it

    • Like 1
  17. it's all a bit creepy, ain't it. :unsure:

    Because vinegar is sterilized before being offered for sale, the appearance of a mother is a rare and chance event, most likely due to chance "contamination" of an open bottle of vinegar with a helpful acetic acid bacterium that was floating around in your kitchen at an opportune moment.

  18. The bottle of red wine vinegar (Colavita brand) could not have been more than 6-8 months old, and I know I've kept vinegar longer than that. I was going to use it in some salad dressing and I noticed funky looking white swirls in it as well as thin dark red strands. When I tried pouring some, part of the white swirl came out like as a nasty mucousy substance.

    What the hell is that?

    I’ve bought red wine vinegar before and this never happened. Maybe I should try and post a picture since the bottle is still sitting on my kitchen counter.

    Elie

    It's a natural thing called the mother.You can strain the mother out and

    put into another container and add some more wine or any alcohol and you'll

    end up with a pretty good vinegar.

  19. I had a friend come visit who insisted that the lobster bodies I make into stock for chowder MUST be roasted first. I disagreed, thinking (but not knowing) this was for beef and veal bones only. We went ahead with his way. It made a killer lobster bisque, but the effect on my chowder was unattractive.

    What do you think/know about this?

    Anytime someone does something out of the ordinary and gets good results

    through experience and works for them,doesn"t mean that it will work for everyone. Experiment with different techniques.The general consensus on

    cooking anything will give expected results only,subpar for some.Everytime I hear "this is the only way something is to be prepared"....it's

    generally from a cookbook or a googled answer. :wink:

    10 cooks 10 different results,that will never change,thank God.

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