bmdaniel

I've been thinking about steam griddles ever since reading about them in MC; what about replacing a stovetop with one altogether? Any downsides?

I thought the idea was (and I've heard this before too) that you shouldn't heat the pan with oil in it.

Having a hard time envisioning common use scenarios where that is going to come into play? At least for myself, chops, eggs, etc. seems like it would be pretty handy and cheap (can get even better deal with free shipping on amazon).

Why not something like this: http://www.harborfreight.com/6-inch-digital-caliper-47257.html?utm_medium=cse&utm_source=googlebase-pla&hft_adv=40010&mr:trackingCode=2F6C0F9E-782A-E011-B31E-001B2163195C&mr:referralID=NA&origin=pla&mr:adType=pla&gclid=CJCCzrzi66oCFRJX7Aod0UyENg

A pectin enyzme might be a good idea?

Have not been to Adour, but I did have a wonderful meal from Chef Elena at Chateau Les Crayeres in Reims in 2008 (made all the more wonderful because afterwards I proposed to my wife - and she said yes!). I was sad for him that they didn't get the expected third star that year (which I assume may have been the impetus for returning to the US?)

I'm contemplating a trip in early November, so I will be stealing liberally from Matt's ideas as well.

Has anyone tried Nolets? http://drinks.seriouseats.com/2011/07/nolets-gin-review-less-juniperry-gin.html

I second Sam's advice and will also say it's a very foolproof way of making hollandaise as well (just microwave the butter)

I've also seen pretty universally good reviews of drybags http://www.drybagsteak.com/ I bought some to try, but then found out the bags won't seal with an edge sealer so haven't used them.

Bryan Flannery has some grass fed Pacific Northwest wagyu that is prime without being grain finished (my understanding at least) - would like to try it at some point (although I'm sure it is outrageous).

Sigh. Depending on the oils involved, non-hydrogenated margarines can be lower in total fats, trans fats and saturated fats as well as cholesterol and total calories than butter is. Why are vegetable oils any less "real food" than butter? I prefer butter but I don't kid myself that it's any healthier than non-hydrogenated margarine... it just tastes better. More and more research is coming out that saturated fat is not bad for you (and possibly good for you) - there are definitely quite a few people who believe that butter (or bacon fat or fatty beef) is healthier for you than vegetable oil (especially if you are concerned about your omega-6 intake).

emilyr or A Patric?

Who's in Independence, MO?

Scallops with asparagus and morels The final plate is straight out of TFL cookbook - techniques are all different though. Scallops are the twice-cooked scallops from the Ideas in Food book (brined in 5% solution, cooked SV at 122 for 30 minutes, chilled, then seared/basted in butter). Asparagus puree is stems cooked SV in a pot at 185 with butter and salt, then pureed with its cooking liquid in the blendtec (this was amazingly good). Asparagus tips cooked the same ways. Morels are dried (I don't have TKs budget), reconstituted in chicken stock, which was then reduced to a glaze and the chopped mushrooms finished in that and butter (these were surprisingly good for dried).

Ugly picture, delicious salad: Curry roasted cauliflower, pickled red onion, creamy feta, slivered almonds, flat leaf parsley, sherry vinaigrette. Will definitely make again.

Love your blog! Wish I could take pictures like that.

No salt Panaderia?

Kim - What's in the paprika dressing?

I just wanted to finish up by thanking everyone who followed the blog this week. I have a newfound appreciation for how much work goes into these - definitely ready to be done taking pictures of everything that goes in my mouth! It's been a lot of fun and I hope interesting. It was definitely a great food week (even with the Schwa and Lucia hiccups). Hopefully not too much damage done to the diet (the good news is after all that food the prospect of scaling back is pretty attractive). Headed back to Houston today (hopefully I have better travel luck than last week), but I will keep an eye on the thread in case anyone has any last questions/comments before the blog closes up this morning. Thanks again to everyone! Ben and Nicole

Okay, really home stretch now - last meal was at smak tak, a polish restaurant by the airport. My wife is half polish and had requested a polish meal. After doing some research, Smak Tak sounded like a winner, and we weren't dissapointed. Delicious (if extremely filling) polish food. The room - polish hunting lodge style Nicole had a polish apple-gooseberry juice Two soups - mushroom and borscht with small mushroom dumplings - both delicious As starters we had two plates of pierogies and potato pancakes. The pierogies were half savory (cheese, potato, sauerkraut, meat) and half sweet (sweet cheese, cherry, plum, blueberry). All of this was delicious (and we ate way too much) We didn't really need entrees at this point but they were ordered - Stuffed cabbage - excellent Ground veal cutlet - least favorite of the three, but still tasty Bigos (Hunter Stew) - Nicole's mom prepares this at the holidays - I though this was an excellent (if a bit different) version Alright - that's it for the food in the foodblog. Need to run to catch the plane - I'll try to sum up a bit tomorrow before this closes.

Okay, sides were fine but on to the main event - very few misses in the hot dogs. They also use a toasted lobster roll bun, which I think is a significant win over Hot Doug's more standard hot dog buns. Bayou Dog - Andouille, Fried Shrimp, Remoulade - this was excellent Chicagoest - this was their take on a chicago dog - one of the best (Nicole's favorite) Chinese Duck - Duck sausage, pickled lotus root, (sorryy can't remember what else - can't get the menu to load)! Ham Hock - This is another one I can't remember all the ingredients - ham hock sausage, balsamic saba.... just okay Kids meal - even basic hot dog was very good Kimchi Dog - pretty solid Mystery corndogs - each of these was a different sausage - well done Rueben Dog with thousand island dressing and sauerkraut - multiple people's favorite (went back for a second of these) New Orleans - andouille and fried shrimp with a more ketchupy sauce - not as good as the Bayou but not bad either Truffle dog (with truffle mac and cheese) - like the mac and cheese itself, just oaky Dessert dog - french toast bun, chocolate sauce, and various fruit and toppings - surprisingly good. Like I said, overall this was really great and I'd highly recommend

Made it to Franks and Dawgs for lunch in Lincoln Park. We went to Hot Dougs on our last trip and thought it was pretty solid. We were expecting F&D to be a bit second class in comparison. We were very pleasantly surprised - I thought Franks and Dawgs was excellent and significantly better than Hot Dougs. Highly recommend. There were 6 of us, and we split a lot of stuff. I'll split into two posts - I'll do the non-dog stuff first and then finish on a high note Triple truffle fries - suprisingly good Cheese fries - about what you'd expect Beans - very surprisingly good - delicious blend of different beans done in a dry, semi-mashed style Brussel sprout salad - okay, but we make a better version at home Fried green tomatoes - very nice, we did two orders Truffle mac and cheese - pretty ordinary Cole slaw- fine, had raisins.

They said the chef had to go to Los Angeles. Apparently this is something that came up between when they confirmed Friday afternoon and 3:30pm Saturday. I've even seen rumors in the past that they cancelled on people to accomodate VIPs, so who knows what happened.

This morning we walked over to Intelligentsia for breakfast (weather has been gorgeous all weekend) - We split a currant scone (which was fine) and a caramelized banana tart (which was quite good). I had a breve cappucino - more boring, beautiful latte art Plan for the rest of the day is probably to get sausages at Franks and Dawgs (kind of Hot Doug's knock-off) for lunch, and then polish for dinner at Smak Tak and a late flight home (back to the real world unfortunately tomorrow). I don't want to intrude on toolprincess's time, but I'm happy to throw up the last couple of meals and round out the trip if anyone is interested.