Chris Hennes

I thought last night's elimination was ridiculous: what is this, Survivor: Top Chef Edition? Now we're voting people off the island... That said, I don't buy into Kenny's conspiracy theory because I don't think you could get all the contestants to agree, in front of the judges, that food that was not at least bad, if not actually the worst, should be at the bottom. I think that having the judges present moderated their tendency to kick off a strong competitor, because if Kenny's dish had actually been good I don't believe any of them would have risked looking so foolish in front of the real judges as to say they not only didn't like it, but thought it was the worst.

Living in Oklahoma, my "big five" is actually a "big one." I can reliably get high-quality red snapper at my Asian supermarket, so when I want fish, that's what I get. They also have Tilapia (live and dead), Catfish (ditto), and a dozen or so other varieties I have never heard of (maybe the English translation is wrong on some of them).

The BlendTec does not seem to like quantities below a cup, in my experience, though that will depend on the consistency of the puree. I imagine more liquid things would do better in small quantities.

Milk and yogurt certainly "BlendTec" well (at least, when combined with frozen fruit).

Costillas de Res Guisadas con Chiles de Árbol, Alubias, Hongos, y Cerveza (Grill-Braised Short Ribs with Árbol Chiles, White Beans, Mushrooms, and Beer) (pp. 264–265) It's hot here so I didn't want to turn the oven or stove on: it's strange to me that I wound up with a braise, which I generally think of as a winter dish. I really liked the flavor of the broth, and the beans (I used peruano) soaked up a lot of that liquid and were very flavorful. The broth, beans, and beef all tasted clearly of having been grilled, there was no mistaking the smoky charred flavor, so although he says you can make this in the oven, I really recommend firing up the Weber and having at it. Prep time was very minimal (not counting making the beef stock and cooking the beans), and it cooked in just over two hours unattended.

Their ice cream recipes are awesome: for example, the ingredients in the hazelnut ice cream are hazelnut-flavored non-dairy creamer and ice. You can't be serious, BlendTec. Can you?

Richard, so far I'm very, very happy with the aesthetics of the knife, but still adapting my cooking to to the different blade shape. I've cooked with a standard Chef's knife my whole life, some of the habits I built up don't work when the blade is so wide at the end.

I saw those recipes in the little recipe book that came with the blender, but was skeptical: many of the recipes in that book seem very, very lame. Did you just wing it with the fondue, or did you actually follow a recipe from someplace?

Welcome to eGullet, cadmond! Glad to find another person trying out the book, the tacos look great. Re: the food porn... actually, I have been a bit underwhelmed by the photography in the book itself: seems like half the photos are of Rick, not the food. Though looking at his photo on 147, I see why you wanted to make these shrimp tacos! Very nice.

Atún en Escabeche de Chile Jalapeño (Tuna in Jalapeño Escabeche) (p. 129) I made this for lunch today, thinking it would be sort of like a tuna salad with some pickled jalapeño in it, which sounded pretty good. But what it actually turns out to be is a jalapeño salad with a little tuna in it. Also good, but not what I was expecting. I personally found there to be too much onion, and the pieces of onion to be too large, but that's just a personal preference, I think. Also, make sure you use chunk light tuna here, not white: you need the added flavor in order to taste the tuna at all. I don't think I'd serve this at a party (it's probably a little too weird for most of my guests), but I'll probably make it for lunch again. I served it as a salad atop the dregs from a bag of tortilla chips.

In addition to the dry-cured stuff I'll probably bring (or mail) five pounds of a Hungarian Paprika sausage I just finished. It's a cold-smoked, heavily seasoned sausage that we can serve either with the other charcuterie, or if someone wants to incorporate it into a dish of some kind.

I grew up in Minnesota, and my mom made a few different wild rice dishes when we were growing up. I was chatting with some friends about it a few minutes ago and was wondering what sorts of things others use wild rice in (besides serving it plain as a side dish). Do you have any family recipes to share, or good sources of ideas?

A Jack in the Box just opened up near me (well, near my Home Depot, same thing...): I've never been to one, or heard anything about it. Is there anything good there? What kind of food do they serve, even?

Which recipe did you use for that? Were you happy with the flavor?

Can anyone with access to the Spanish version comment on the ingredients required to prepare the dishes? Are these things we're going to be able to locate here north of the border?

I agree, Marianski and Marianski have an excellent section on the various starter cultures, in particular their research on the time vs. pH during the incubation and curing stages. My problem with M&M is that they recommend the use of incredibly tiny amounts of starter culture in these small batches, which I don't think is a good idea considering the widely varying nature of home freezers for storing the culture.

My point is not that this year's crew is not lopsided: it's that the bottom of this year would kick the crap out of the bottom of, say, two years ago. Seriously, go back and watch the ridiculous mistakes the bottom half was making in any season but last. And I think there are several people this year (Kelly, Angelo, Kenny) all of whom could have beaten the top three from two years ago. I don't see what the problem with curried eggplant is at this stage of the competition, they are still waiting for the losers to wash out: when the only competition left is real competition, then we'll see the top start to shine.

The other day I barbecued a pork shoulder that I had rubbed down and marinated with an achiote paste and pineapple juice marinate, sort of simulating the flavors of tacos al pastor. After a LONG smoke over mesquite it was well past dinner time when it was ready (hell, it was almost breakfast time, who am I kidding?), so I just chilled it and popped it in the fridge. (Incidentally, we had picadillo on chips for dinner last night because the AC died and I didn't want to cook.) Today I finally got around to eating some of it: I made some tortillas, shredded some pork, and served with a hard Mexican cheese (don't know what kind) and the Sun Dried Tomato Guacamole from "Fiesta at Rick's". That is a mighty fine pork shoulder, if I may say so myself, probably the best I've ever made. The tacos were not bad at all:

Sun-Dried Tomato Guacamole (p. 34) Just your basic guacamole with the fresh tomato replaced by sun-dried. Bayless makes it clear in his intro that this is not his preferred guacamole, but rather a stopgap when good tomatoes are unavailable and none of the other options appeals. Of course, he also says he adds jicama to it, though jicama is not in this recipe. It would probably be good, though. Frankly, I don't see the point of the sun-dried tomatoes. They don't really bring anything beneficial to the bowl, and the guacamole would be better without them. But I guess if you're looking for a change... it's not bad, but I wouldn't make it again.

Mitch, is that still true for "tinned" cast iron?

I personally don't feel the same way about this year's talent: I think that last year was a fantastic year talent-wise, but that this year may be the second-best. Remember those early seasons where the first half-dozen or so contestants were eliminated for completely horribly screwing even simple things up? Not just running out of time or not having the greatest idea, but really truly producing things that were awful? I don't think we're really seeing that this year: even the losers' food is edible.

thirtyoneknots, I would suggest holding off on doing anything until the culture arrives, you want to make sure it is well-incorporated into the meat mixture, and the best way to do that is to add it before you do the bind. In my opinion you should prep the pork for the grinding, even add the seasonings to it, and then freeze it. When you have the culture, let the pork thaw enough to grind, then add the culture and do the bind. As for the amount of culture, you are right, for any quantity less than about 50 lbs you are just going to want to use the minimum recommended amount. zavadny, glad to hear the salami turned out well. I personally like to vacuum pack mine and keep it in the fridge. I actually find that a week or two vacuum packed improves the texture of the final product. I also find that it freezes with no trouble, but I think others have reported degradation: I don't know quite what's going on there.

When you say "keeping the temperature low," how low are we talking? Do you measure it, or just eyeball the bubbling?

I've taken the eGCI Course on Stock, I've read the Chicken Stock topic, and I've made a lot of the stuff, but I'm still not terribly pleased with my chicken stock. I'm trying to narrow down the culprits, and figure out what really matters when trying to make a first class chicken stock. I've tried with and without vegetables, I've tried with just carcasses, with carcasses and feet, and with whole birds. I've tried with various combinations of herbs, etc. Still, something escapes me. What I want to know is: what can I do to fine-tune my stock? What are those little tricks that don't get mentioned in the "big picture stock making" literature? What is your grandmother's top secret addition that adds that extra awesomeness?

kalypso, I have the same issue with the clay. But believe me, it's tempting to do anyway! Maybe it needs to be a two-day party: on the first day, guests dig the BBQ pit (tell them it's fun!), and on the second day you BBQ. Speaking of BBQ.... the great thing about it is the number of drinks you can sample while you are "tending the fire" Coconut Horchata Colada (p. 67) I made the coconut horchata a couple days ago, which was pretty easy with the new BlendTec blender. I should have strained it better, though, but I got lazy and decided to try to make this drink anyway. I'm not a fan of the texture, so I will be going back to strain it again after all. The drink tastes basically like a piña colada, but with the texture of horchata, and the barest hint of cinnamon. I used Rancho Gordo Canella (Mexican cinnamon), but it was probably two years old, so was a bit weak-tasting. I've put in an order for some fresh stuff, I may try this again when it arrives. One annoying thing about these beverages is that he calls for ice in cups (a volume measure). I really wish he would include a weight for this as well, since ice varies wildly in volume depending on its shape. I found the recipe as written to contain too little ice, I personally would double it if using half-moon icemaker ice.