Chris Hennes

Inspired by this topic I decided to make one of these for lunch today. Admittedly, with six slices of homemade bacon on it it was more a bacon-sandwich with a side of eggs, but it was pretty damned fine nonetheless. That's applewood-smoked pepper-cured bacon and Dietz & Watson hot pepper cheddar on there:

No, it's definitely a pie: I think of a tart as having only a single layer of blueberries, this one is an entire pie shell filled with them, as in a regular pie. It just doesn't have a top crust. I think I'm going to make that one and the two Cook's Illustrated recipes I have, for comparison purposes (a gallon is a lot of damned blueberries).

Avanti Bar & Grill (non-chain, www.avantibarandgrill.com, 13509 Highland Park Blvd., Oklahoma City) We had dinner tonight at Avanti, a relatively new Italian restaurant in North OKC (just south of Quail Springs Mall): it was definitely sub-par. It took a number of back-and-forth sessions with the waiter and eventually the bartender to get our drink order in, which ultimately was not what I wanted due to a missing ingredient in their bar lineup (no bitters = no Manhattan). We started with a "lamb samosa" appetizer which actually turned out to be ground lamb egg rolls: these were relatively flavorless and generally underseasoned. After a competent but overdressed house salad, I had the veal Saltimbocca. The veal was overcooked to my liking, but not terribly so. The downfall of the dish was the seasoning: it was dramatically overseasoned, to the point where all you could taste were the herbs and pepper, in everything. The vegetables, the gluey mashed potatoes, the veal, everything. My wife reports that the same was true of her dish. I had ordered a glass of wine a few minutes before our entrees arrived that showed up after I had finished my meal, with an apology that the bartender was slow (I had seen that glass of wine sitting on the bar for almost ten minutes, suspecting it was mine). So, part of the problem can be blamed on our individual incompetent waiter, but the overseasoning is of course coming from the kitchen. All told, I can't recommend anything about Avanti, and I strongly doubt I will be returning to give them a second chance.

The consensus from the Google hive mind is that the bone does conduct heat better than the meat, so helps the butt to cook (slightly) faster. However, McGee says:

I was just thinking about this today: I think I am the world's slowest cook. "Methodical" if I'm being complementary. I just kinda plod my way through the prep list, stare out the window a bit, re-read the recipe, pour another glass of wine, chop something up, stare out the window some more, etc. And frankly, that's the way I like it.

As food-lovers I think we get caught up in the "everything must enhance the food" aspect of an event: it's all about the food. But I think we could look at it differently; I think you could treat the gathering as a social event, with the food there to enhance the event, not necessarily to be the focus of it. Taking a more holistic approach, the technology and the food work could together as equals to promote an entertaining evening. Don't stress out about "distracting" from the food, etc. Have fun! Push the limits, see what works! Maybe the food is only a tool to make the evening enjoyable as well. As for collaborative tools that you may be able to leverage at the event, check out the folks at http://www.37signals.com : they have a number of slick tools for working together, and most of them have free demos, etc. Maybe you can incorporate some of this sort of technology.

Yes, Wylie had a great score on his chicken and egg dish: apparently it was phenomenal. But he still came across as not having done that well, I think mostly due to his appearing somewhat "scatterbrained." It's unfortunate, but he doesn't really film well (though I thought his constant stream of expletives was amusing).

On well-know food writer Michael Ruhlman's blog he's got a piece up called "On Food Writing" in which he addresses the question, "I want to write about food, I want to be a food writer—how do I begin? What do I do?" Much of Ruhlman's advice is not really specific to food writing: it would apply as well to someone writing about, say remodeling a house, or building a wooden boat. Good advice, nevertheless. Still, I'm wondering if anyone out there has any advice on food writing specifically. Thoughts on how to start? Subjects to avoid? How do you communicate your love and in-depth knowledge of food to an audience without boring or alienating them?

I haven't seen the one that uses apples: do you happen to know the year? I've got one here from August 1995 that uses tapioca, but is otherwise pretty conventional. But I don't usually trust their older recipes, so if there's a more recent one I'd love to take a look at it. Rose Levy Beranbaum has a good-looking open-faced blueberry pie in The Pie and Pastry Bible that I might have to try, too. I probably have enough berries for 3-4 pies.

Blueberries are now in season in Oklahoma, for sale by the gallon at the farmer's markets. To me, this can mean only one thing: blueberry pie. Got a favorite recipe? Dorie? Cook's Illustrated? Someone else?

Well, that's a good enough endorsement for me. I've ordered the lemon, orange, celery and aromatic. I think I'll wait on the JT for now given the comments above.

I've been hunting around for a reliable US supplier: has anyone had any experience with Cocktail Kingdom? At $16/bottle TBT bitters are a bit pricier than I would like, but I suppose a bottle of celery bitters would be effectively a lifetime supply.

I thought that the dorm room challenge was fun, and I definitely think that adding limits is the only way to make the competition interesting. It's much more interesting to watch chefs battle adversity than just churn out great food. We already know that all these guys can make great food in a restaurant where they are allowed to do whatever they want. I think some of the wackier TC-style challenges could even yield more interesting results with chefs of this calibre than with the normal "cheftestants." Where's the vending machine quickfire? And I think a Top Critic would be a blast. Maybe even just for a special episode?

How do you all build your fires? Do you spread the coals out evenly before putting the pizza on? Or do you try to mound them off to the side? How hot are you trying to get it? About how long should it take the pizza to cook? I'm a total newbie at grilling pizza, I need more hand-holding!

It seems to me that the editing is done to ensure that none of the chefs is made to look too stupid (unlike regular TC, where it seems it's almost the opposite sometimes). After all, these are in fact some of the best chefs in the world, and if Bravo wants to have another crack at another set in the future, every single participant had better come out a "winner" in the end. Overall I enjoyed the show: I too was a little worried that Rayner would be this show's "Toby" and was pleasantly surprised that he didn't come across that way. Overall I've got no objection to either the judges or the contestants. I'm lukewarm on the host: never thought I'd miss Padma, but there ya go...

How much ginger do you use in that?

To be honest, I've tried them with a number of cheeses running the gamut from cheap to far too expensive to be putting on a sandwich, and I actually prefer el cheapo American (Kraft Singles, baby). I don't think the cheese needs to bring much flavor to the party, the eggs and bacon have that covered, it's mostly a textural and umami component as far as I am concerned.

Paul Clarke over at Cocktail Chronicles has been organizing a monthly online cocktail event he calls Mixology Mondays: This month's event is being hosted by RumDood.com and the theme is Ginger. From the site: (Hey, that's us! Thanks for the shout-out!) If you would like to participate, please write up any cocktail made with ginger in this topic before Monday, June 15 at midnight. I will compile a list of cocktails posted and mail them to the organizer.

David, you appear to have the opposite grilled pizza philosophy as me: I absolutely minimize the toppings, probably to the point of absurdity. A very thin layer of sauce, a little grated mozzarella di buffala, maybe a few olives or onions, but not many. Some basil chiffonade after it cooks. I've never had good luck maneuvering a pizza on the grill when it had a ton of toppings on it. How do you manage it?

When I make these at home (and therefore have no other "orders" to attend to) I make what amounts to a French omelette with the egg: well scrambled, no browning, a little runny in the middle, completely cohesive (as opposed to fully scrambled eggs that are in smaller chunks). I love a poached or over-easy egg on something I'm eating with a fork, but I'm still having trouble imagining it on a sandwich. And I don't care for the flavor of a bite that has only fried yolk in it, which you sometimes get with an incompletely scrambled fried egg as described above.

Ditto that, I love them on english muffins. If I'm felling really ambitious, though, they are fantastic on biscuits.

I underbowl: I prefer the feeling of overabundance I get when there are great big heaps of whatever balanced precariously above the rim.

I got an ad the other day from Bradley regarding their cold-smoking attachment for the smoker. It looks like basically a dryer hose that allows you to move the smoke generator away from the main unit. At $100, I think I'll pass on the "official" solution, but it's out there.

I own a melon baller, but I must admit, not only have I never used it for its designed purpose, but I never intended to when I bought it. I think they are particularly handy for fishing olives and cherries out of narrow-mouthed, liquid-filled jars, especially when the jar is down to it's last few denizens. Are there any other great uses for this gadget? Does anyone actually use theirs to make little balls of melon?

While I think it's basically a truism that butter makes nearly everything better, this is actually a bit of a challenge. You need something that isn't just improved by butter, but that actively highlights it. The usual suspects are out due to the gluten-free requirement, which requires us to get a bit more creative. I would think something potato-based would be ideal: they have a relatively mild flavor of their own and are a near-perfect vehicle for vast amounts of butter.