KennethT

Thanks for all this! Excited for Paris!

Where are you? I didn't think it was still mangosteen season...

Braising in a hotter oven brings no advantage because the braising liquid can't get hotter than 212F. When covered, the steam inside can't get hotter than 212F either since the only way you can get hotter than that is under pressure. The speed of reaction that tenderizes tough meats (collagen turns to gelatin) varies depending on both time and temperature. The higher the temp, the faster it goes. But, as btbyrd said, in the pressure cooker, you get no evaporation, so the braising liquid won't thicken that way - you have to thicken it either before or after the fact. As for why oven braising tastes better - I'm not sure why that is, other than something simple like some things just take time - time for flavors to get extracted, mingle, etc...

Can I be the first to say, don't get saucy with me, bernaise!

Basil needs more light or it will get leggy. But it doesn't need nearly as much light as a fruiting plant would need.

Re: Pretzels - I wonder if you could put the lye solution in a spray bottle and spritz them, rather than trying to dip/submerge? Re: banh mi - the ones I've seen in Vietnam did go stale very quickly... so much so, that in fact, the bakeries are hyper hyper local - only delivering within a very small radius. And most popular sellers get several deliveries per day to make sure of absolute freshness.

I'm curious if the book mentions specialty breads such as Vietnamese banh-mi, or the Singaporean bread used for bread-toast.

Some of those translations are hilarious... what are "My Batteries" and "Discharge salad"?

Leon is extremely famous for moules frites. They started in Brussels in 1893 and have since expanded to many restaurnants in Paris and Lyon. We had one of our first meals in Brussels there, and while there was a bit of a wait, we thought their mussels and frites were some of the best that we had on that trip.

I love pigeon in France/Belgium... it always has so much more flavor than when I have it in the US - I've heard that it's aged a short while there, whereas in the US, they're not allowed to age birds of that size.

Beurre D'Isigny is pretty good... my local Fairway supermarket used to carry it, and I still have some in my fridge at home...

When in Brussels, one must have the mussels!!! We were in Brussels several years ago - had lots of mussels, as well as a few GIANT Belon oysters - you had to cut them with a knife prior to eating! We visited Pierre Marcolini - at the time, the internet wasn't my first go-to for info, and we asked our concierge who said it was the best chocolatiere in Brussels - that was his opinion... what we had there was excellent (and no bloom to be found). We also happened to be there (by sheer luck) for the "flower carpet" which takes place over a couple days every 2 years... And, as luck would have it, we were there on the night it was being taken down, and they let only a handful of people (maybe 10) - us included - in to help "destroy" it.... My wife even wound up getting briefly interviewed by a local TV station about it! All by sheer luck!

Is your hotel in Wieze or Brussels? What is Wieze like - is it a city, small town, or something in between?

I remember being served a full meal (with drink first) on a 45 minute flight on Bangkok to Chiang Mai on Thai Airways... in coach... and it was quite good... and all for less than $100 round trip...

When I was a kid, I visited the Anderson pretzel factory during a school trip to Pennsylvania... I seem to remember the pretzels baking on a long conveyor type oven, then emerging and getting a spray of lye water, and then going into another conveyorized oven... but it was a long time ago, and I could be imagining things...

That makes parking at JFK (about $18 per day) look like a bargain!

Seconded!

Interesting... the result looks similar to when I use Wondra flour

Have you ever considered a mail-order business? I'd be your first customer!

Velveting paste?

Really? I LOVE game, and I think there are quite a few other NYC folk who would agree with me... especially by judging how much it costs to buy quail or squab in the market! I think if a store started carrying doves, it would cause a stampede at the store because everyone would know that the quantities were limited and no one would want to be left out.

I just caught the last half hour of Bourdain's recent CNN show on Singapore... his questions/discussions were very topical of that place - namely how to keep the local food of Singapore from disappearing. He visited Guan Hoe Soon, the Peranaken restaurant we visited upthread, where it came out that there are very few Peranakens cooking Peranaken food in restaurants anymore... it seemed like the main focus of the show was him wondering "why can't you charge more for local food"? It's true that Singapore has some the highest GDP in the world - it's a relatively wealthy country, and the people there are obsessed with food - they're willing to pay $$ for French, Italian, etc, but they expect their chicken rice to still only cost SGD3. He makes a good point that if it were accepted to charge more - say SGD12 a plate rather than 3, you'd have a lot more Singaporeans wanting to stay in the family food business - thereby preserving their unique food and culture. Even the government is trying to encourage young people to want to stay in the hawker business, but they're finding it's a hard thing as it's long, hard hours for (currently) very little pay. It was also nice to see him, at the end of the show, visit the Hong Lim food centre and get the Outram Park Char Kway Teoh... delicious! But, rather than his ever-present beer, he should have gone across the aisle to the great fruit drink vendor who is one of the few left who makes his lime drink (limeade) from scratch and not a concentrate.

Thanks for doing this!

I'm curious as to what you thought was awful about it - was it bitter, or just flavorless, or something else? I can't think of any western cuisines that do this, but I can think of a lot of SE Asian ones - making something with fermented shrimp paste that originally smells really strong and slightly putrid, but winds up being something magical...

@Chris Hennes and @SNewman004 In my (extremely) limited experience, I agree that hydration and temp are the most important factors. I've found that kneading the dough isn't necessary, but I think it is necessary to wait like 20-30 minutes to allow the masa flour to absorb all the liquid before trying to form the tortillas.