Chris Hennes

I find that it depends on what I'm cooking, and how much prep there is. If it's something where things are all time-critical and must be done in quick succession, I prep into bowls and then arrange the bowls in a line on the counter in the order they get added. If it's something where there is enough time between steps to "prep as you go" then I don't bother with bowls, just go straight from the board into the pan/pot/whatever. In general, the more ingredients, the more likely I am to use bowls, so I can more easily double-check that I have everything done before I begin the cooking and make sure I haven't forgotten anything. I don't always use one ingredient per bowl, however: if a bunch of ingredients are added to the pan at the same time, I frequently prep them into a single bowl (i.e. mirepoix, trinity, etc.).

Big Truck Tacos (non-chain, 530 NW 23rd St., Oklahoma City) Big Truck Tacos is the newest entry into the OKC "serious" dining scene, and an attempt to update the humble taco for a more contemporary palate. Open 7:30am-7:30pm every day except Sunday, they serve both breakfast and non-breakfast tacos and burritos: I have not tried their breakfast yet. Certainly not strictly "Mexican" or even "Tex-Mex," the non-breakfast tacos range from the traditional Tacos al Carbon to the modern "Flaming Lips" (hickory-smoked tongue with what I believe is a sweet potato Pico de Gallo). I have had those two, as well as their "Fifth Amendment," which at least today consisted of an unidentifiable protein (tasted beefy, but could have been a well-done non-chicken poultry element) with a heavy dose of avocado and a crumbly fresh cheese. I ordered them all on corn tortillas, though the Flaming Lips showed up on flour anyway. The corn tortillas themselves were lackluster store-bought offerings with little flavor or texture, and at least today (Saturday) were definitely past their prime. The flour was... well, a flour tortilla. Not much to say about it! Not the best in the city, nor the worst, but did not appear to be house-made at any rate. On to the fillings: the Fifth Amendment was quite good, with well-balanced flavors and a good level of seasoning overall. There was nice textural contrast between the protein and the avocado, though I definitely found myself wishing the tortillas were fresher, since that would have added a welcome additional textural element. The Tacos al Carbon were one-dimensional, the beef had a bit too much bite, and they had no textural contrasts going on at all. A weak offering that I would not order again, considering the high quality of TaC available elsewhere in the city. The Flaming Lips were an intriguing flavor combination, but ultimately unbalanced by the shear quantity of the relish/pico/whatever they are calling it. The meat was succulent and perfectly cooked, and though a bit over-seasoned had excellent flavor when eaten on its own. In the context of the taco, however, most of the flavors lost out to the sweet potatoes (or yams? not sure here) which were present in far too much abundance. The flavor combination, if balanced, could have worked well, so this taco may be worth giving a shot on another day. I thought the heat level was good, and the smokiness of the lips was a nice touch, it just has some execution issues. Overall, although it has been hyped like mad, I thought that BTT was only good, not great, on this visit. I'll visit again, since I drive by a lot, but for my money Taqueria los Comales makes a better taco. Maybe once BTT has matured they will improve, however: they are still very new, and may have some kinks to work out yet.

Allow me to step in for a moment and defend the foam/air/espuma/whatevertheheckwearecallingthemthesedays: I've had a very similar seafood soup with a chorizo foam on it and the foam worked reasonably well for me. Chorizo on its own is an incredibly powerful flavor that can easily overwhelm everything else in a dish, and the foam allowed the chef to tone it down a bit, while still maintaining the chorizo as an individual component of a complex dish. So in my mind, while the execution may have been flawed in this case, there is nothing terrible about the idea.

He tweeted about it again today, so it looks like it's still on.

According to my copy of The Food Lover's Companion her pronunciation is an acceptable one, though not the first listed.

Yeah, no surprises this week, I don't think my estimation of any of the chefs really changed. I still think this is the strongest group yet, but we'll need a couple more weeks to eliminate the lower tier regardless. After that, I think things will heat up...

What's your thinking behind only going a day or two? I keep this dough for both bread and pizza, and I think that it is far better flavor after a week, and still makes great loaves after two weeks.

Up a few posts rickster comments that KennethT's hydration might have been too high, which I think is interesting. I've been playing around with making a dough that works well in my feeble oven, and right now I'm doing a no-knead 77% hydration dough, retarded for a week in the fridge (give or take a day or two, depending on when I feel like eating pizza). I'm very happy with the final texture when stretched very thin and minimally topped. I feel like the very high hydration helps combat the fact that it takes almost five minutes to cook, but I could just be on crack here.

According to today's Washington Post live chat many Washingtonians share your opinion and say they will never ever patronize Zaytinya again, despite the fact that they like the restaurant. However, Mike's boss Jose Andres simply advised him not to read blogs. Duh! http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...9081902382.html Well, perhaps, one should give up JA's restaurants too... Skipper ← From the article: So, maybe he only plays a schmuck on TV... as usual, I'm perpetually distrustful of the TC editors, who do their best to take comments out of context for sensationalism's sake. Sarcasm on camera is probably not such a great idea: out of context, it sure doesn't always look like it.

The New York Times has an article talking about ice this week. Not much in there we haven't already discussed here, but I hadn't seen the latest in the Cooking Issues entries on the subject, Cocktail Science IV: All-Star Shake-off at Pegu Club Testing Shaking Differences Between Bartenders Qualitatively. In this one they are attempting to get at the textural differences between shaking techniques.

I'd definitely go with rendering your own beef fat, since I think that many of us who use lard render that ourselves too, even when the packaged stuff is available (it's not very good).

That tastebud diagram has been pretty thoroughly debunked as well. Still seems like a ploy to sell glassware to me, and perhaps to extend the grip of wine mythology. A few different glass shapes, sure, but how the hell many does Reidel sell? ETA: Looks like HungryC beat me to it

I'm not sure pure potency is a good measure: in most dishes you can simply adjust the amount of garlic you are using to compensate. I have to do that anyway with the crappy garlic available here most of the year. The question, I think, is more subtle: adjusting for potency, do dishes taste BETTER with fresh garlic than with jarred?

It's interesting that this topic should pop back up right now: this summer I had the opportunity to dine with a number of people who are very knowledgeable about food, and have considerably more advanced palates than mine. I was wholly outclassed at these meals in my feeble attempts to speak intelligently about the food, typically reduced to mostly incoherent ramblings. This experience has convinced me more than anything else had that I really do need to come up with a system for developing my palate.

Ordinarily I am a big fan of pungent blues, but I am having a very hard time appreciating the Cabrales I picked up the other day. The first bite is an interesting, complex sequence of flavors, one right after the other in quick succession. Then the mouth-numbing tingling aggressiveness kicks in, and by the second bite I can't taste anything at all. Does anyone have any tips for appreciating this cheese? Should I be eating it with something else? In much smaller pieces? What's the secret?

The eG Forums discussion of the Diet Coke commercial is here.

I almost always omit the carrots from my stocks: I don't care for the added sweetness in a general-purpose stock. So I'd say stocks are the least of your worries!

I liked that the quickfire win came with a substantial prize: they seem to be trying to get the contestants to play to win, even this early in the contest, rather than last year's perpetual try-not-to-lose lameness.

Have these all been the KitchenAid variety, or have you already trashed a Bosch or an Electrolux model as well?

My impression after the fact was that they were attempting to edit it to make it seem like it had been a contest, when really it was clear that Chef Lo was going home the whole way.

Yup, I think it's on right before the TC:M Finale.

Yes, we can. Now we can add in some fish sauce! Heaven!

Well, folks, the publicity has ramped up to fever pitch, Dom at SkilletDoux has posted the season preview Power Rankings, and the Bravo website has managed to crash my browser three times... it must be about time for another season of Top Chef! I agree with Dom's assessment that this year's field looks to be the strongest yet: there is some incredible talent in that pool, and even the losers look promising. Wednesday, 9 Eastern, 8 Central, be there! (No, Bravo is not paying me for this. But they should be!!)

(Host's Note: The general discussion on care and feeding of sourdough starters has been moved over to the Sourdough Starter - Hows, Whys, Whats topic)

Chris, do you have a recommendation for some easier-to-source rums for this? I can't get the Lemon Hart OR the W&N here in OK. Flor de Caña? Bacardi 8?