jvalentino

Nice What dough recipe are you using there? Thanks all. The recipe was my own concoction using the dough calculating tool here http://www.pizzamaking.com/dough_calculator.html 100% Bread Flour 69% hydration 2% salt .15% IDY Minimally knead and rise on the counter for 24hrs.

Dinner tonight was pizza. I'm starting to get some good ones out of my new wood fired oven.

If you search "mortarless" on pizzamaking you can get some ideas. This one looks nice and made some good pizza. http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php/topic,23141.0.html

Made a shoulder ham tonight. I did a 48hr brine in 5% salt, 3% grade b maple syrup and pink salt. Smoke roasted at 225 and glazed w maple syrup and bourbon. Served on homemade rolls w Merkts Sharp Cheddar Spread. Very tasty, except next time I will give it 3 days in the brine-there was a spot in the center the size .50 piece that didn't get cured.

Hi everyone! It's been awhile, but I've been lurking, Pizza last night- Grande mozz, roasted cauliflower, pancetta, pinenuts and pickled hot cherry peppers. Finished w EVO and black plepper. Was pretty tasty. The cherry peppers gave a little vinegary spicy kick to cut through the otherwise rich flavors. ETA: pic

I'm sure you found the quality of the polenta makes a world of difference. I was amazed at the corniness that quality fresh milled had over normal polenta.

Wow. I believe that's a first for me, what did you use for the carving? Great job.

Speaking of carbonara, I actually made some last night. I have now eaten carbonara, and posted on egullet more in the last week than the last 6 mos! Cravings. Jeff

Sure.I only have the carbonara and candy bar. ScottyBoy can talk about the prep because the texture of these dishes were unlike any I had before in these two preparations. Also had-salmon, mushroom soup, and lamb loin. Jeff

Hi Everyone, I mostly lurk this thread these days, but wanted to let you know about a meal I had at ScottyBoy's recently and it was because of the dinner thread! I was going to be in Oakland and from seeing his posts on here I asked if I could try his food. He graciously had me over and made a great meal. If any of you are ever in Oakland, you should look him up. Thanks Scott! Jeff

Just to be clear, we are not talking about meat that has expired, but is nearing the date. Or at least thats what I'm talking about. Typically, I see it slightly discounted a few days before expiry, and more heavily discounted as expiry approaches. I have never seen meat for sale past expiry (and if I did I would complain to the manager), and rarely on the day of expiry. Thanks for the clarification- that may have been my misunderstanding.

Looks like I'm in the minority here, but I don't even like buying it within a day or two of the use by date. Not sure if it's mistrust, paranoia, ignorance or what but I am an absolute date freak about all foods-meat included. Jeff

LOl, sorry no offense meant to any Canadians and I like the vids. I was referring (too obscurely) to comments of "this is what's wrong with America" on some of the episodes.

Thank goodness they're from Canada.

Thanks for the replies so far. The ability for good restaurants to either cook and hold or cook and reheat food is impressive. Jeff

I've been curious about this for a while now and am asking about whole and half birds. Is it fully cooked then held, and if so how? How are they re-heated? Are they partially cooked and finished? Thanks! Jeff

I salt before grinding and forming. That picture was not representative.

I suppose this goes in the "shows what I know" file-maybe Mullin.

Guess you have not been watching the shows closely! The recent episode showed Chef Mehta as the winner and not Chef Garces! Running a restaurant successfully and winning a competition are two different things. A competition needs presence of mind, an ability to handle pressure and a killer instinct. Chef Mehta has exhibited all these skills. In the 4th episode, where the chefs had to shop for themselves, Chef Garces was sweating at the shopping mall because shopping under pressure is not his thing! Chef Mehta, on the other hand, knew exactly what he wanted and made a dash for all those things. He had organized his thoughts and got his act together as soon as he was in the kitchen. Mexican food is not Chef Mehta’s domain but he was able to execute the challenge smoothly and went on to win the round! Also I don’t see any other chef being very innovative with his food. I cannot imagine anyone serving a dish in a “take-out” container, the way Chef Mehta did in the last episode. I feel being innovative is a major part of being a successful IC. By the way, in case you don’t know, Chef Mehta is not only successful in the competition but also runs a fantastic restaurant called Graffiti. Another Mehta commercial...I'm surprised he is still around. The "take-out" container was hardly innovative, it seemed more like he couldn't think how to make an American dish. Of course anything can happen, but I don't see him going much further.

I think Garces is the best chef, and would be a good IC. For some reason (ratings) I think FN wants a personality as much as a chef. That makes me think Appleman, or Trevino, and maybe Mullin but not Garces.

Please correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't Garces beat Bobby Flay on ICA? You are correct-my mistake. Farmerie beat Cora as well...Ooops

Man, I'm late to the party here! Thanks for the info.

I'll triple up on the Appleman hilarity from this episode. I'll also say Frietag was a surprise, but I still don't think she'll win or finish in the top two. Just seems a bit vanilla. I really thought Mehta was going home this week. Side note-I was generally not too excited with this cast, even though I am an Appleman fan. If some of them would have been on ICA and won it would be different. Instead it is giving me the impression of the bar being lowered. At least for now. Jeff

2nd pic- Jeff

So, I have two batches of olives that are jarred and about ready to go. The first pic is using chefcrashes method mentioned upthread, and the second is from The Feast of The Olive-recipe here-http://homecooking.about.com/od/fruitrecipes/r/blfruit37.htm Chefcrash's olives have been jarred one month tomorrow, and I think they need another week or two as they are still bitter. The second pic is from the other recipe, and the water was changed everyday for 2 weeks, then jarred in brine for two weeks. These are closer along, but still need a bit more time, and aren't as "pretty" as the others.