Wilfrid

Not all of us, Hollywood, not all of us.

I see S&W serve filet mignon, but not strip steaks. I wonder what they do with the rest of the porterhouse? Or do they buy the filets ready cut? This thread is getting me ready to start a steak 101 over on general foods. Meantime, I found the explanatory pages on Lobels' web-site very clear and helpful. There's a link to cuts of beef on that page.

What an implausible theory.

Sorry. We should have a general discussion about Indian restaurants in New York, or maybe we have already...

Just to be clear, I am saying that Tabla is not Indian. Not remotely. The Bread Bar is something else.

Hey, I bet you got the question about whether simple things can be complex wrong. I always get that one wrong.

It's out, and the paperback's out on March 27.

Bottarga is usually smoked, right? But think fresh bottarga, red in color, and you're on the right lines.

Marinate in home-made sazon prepared by your Dominican friends, simmer in seasoned water for about half an hour, then bake in a slow oven.

I've had acceptable steak at Ben Benson's, lousy at Gallaher's, and both at Keen's (where I like the ambience anyway). Never had anything actually bad at Sparks, S&W or The PostHouse. I guess I'm still saying that I don't see a big range of quality. Question - there's some kind of chain thing going on with S&W, the PostHouse and maybe some others? Should we assume they share the same source of meat? I am still not getting the point about different cuts in different restaurants. I know some places don't serve some cuts (although why does a porterhouse eliminate a strip and filet? I mean, you can't serve them all from the same piece of meat, but I don't see why a restaurant can't offer all three). I find it hard to think of anywhere in Manhattan I haven't seen a filet. I don't know - you'd think if a place can get the sourcing, aging and cooking right, it could deal with the different cuts. Anyway, my advice is go to Kansas City. Edit: Here's some information at the S&W web-site. I see Cite's part of the chain, and I wouldn't go there for a steak...so... And I bet they don't age the filet 28 days. Anyway, click away.

I can't imagine anyone doing that, but if you say so... Let's get some more evidence before we conclude it's in any way typical. I am trying to think of an analogy. If I decide I want a Thai meal, I consider Vong alongside a bunch of Thai restaurants? I don't know, I think Tabla's more remote from Indian food than Vong is from Thai food. Tabla (not the Bread Bar) offers cuisine so far removed from any mainstream Indian cooking, I don't know why we are even discussing it. Or perhaps you mean the Bread Bar.

If it's the Pakistani restaurant next door, that narrows it down. Of course, if one has to recognize the entrance by the color light bulb outside, it may still be tricky. So, a beefsteak at Beacon, then all back to the Cell, right?

Zinfan, maybe it depends what you're used to. Many people raised in Europe will know the wine they like by geographical source rather than by varietal. I bet a lot of people who know they like a Bordeaux or a Cotes du Rhones couldn't tell you the varietals involved.

Cooked some filets of whiting last night. Very cheap fish. Is it somewhat looked down upon in these parts? Rubbed them with salt and garlic, sauteed them skin down in a little oil quite briefly, then added fish stock and some handfuls of fresh parsley. Finished in a hot oven for about fifteen minutes. Served over some braised lettuce, with the odd bottle of Marques de Riscal white Rioja. Cookies and calvados to follow.

Oh, Ron, Ron, Ron. What are we to do with you? Have you ever had cod roe or tuna roe? Just to get you in shape for the texture: as with those fish, the roe of the shad consists of innumerable miniscule eggs contained in a very thin membrane. So it's nothing like caviar or salmon roe, where the eggs are large and easily distinguishable. Shad roe is more like a sort of grainy paste. The flavor is somewhat fishy - no surprises there - I would say it's richer than cod or tuna roe, but I don't know what else to compare it with. Something about the texture makes it cry out for creams and butters as cooking environments. A small portion goes a long way.

Can anyone help with the logic behind Fat Bloke's contention that the best examples of each cut are probably to be found in different restaurants. I don't doubt the truth of that for a moment, but I am wondering why. I am assuming (rightly?) that a restaurant gets all its steaks from the same source, and that it applies a consistent aging policy - aging filets for maybe ten days, strips for twenty days, and so on. So why isn't the restaurant using the best supplier and keeping the meat correctly the best across the board? I should have thought that if a kitchen knows how to cook a strip, they know how to cook a rib eye too? Am I missing something?

Tommy has spoken well of Palm, hasn't he? Maybe on a different thread. Haven't been.

Gee if the French don't have an exclusive on those techniques, how can you express puzzlement that other cultures don't use those techniques? Which, of course, they do.

I've been trying it for years. Still here.

You think only the French avoid chopping the fish up small? And only the French strain soup? These are the kinds of assertions which I find hard to fathom, given that you obviously know a lot about food.

Pay attention, Adam. Spicing is good when it's done by the French, because they do it in a balanced way. Also, not spicing is good when done by the French.

What if they didn't cut up the fish, and strained the soup carefully, and spiced it just right. Would the soup then be okay, even if it wasn't French?

I should have said that the book is nicely illustrated. Good black and white photos of the facades of many bars - the Holland Bar looks particularly frightful. It also has some amusing add-ons like "How to Drink, "Ten ways to tell if a bars a dive bar" - I paraphrase, but you get the idea. It's also unusual for a book on this subject to have the editorial content provided by a woman writer and her female friends. Gives it a slightly different angle. There are no pictures of proprietors "asses".

As recently as the middle of the last century, manual workers in England would drink beer in the morning, and refresh themselves with it throughout the day. Note, I am talking about people doing heavy, hot work. How does that sit with alcohol having a de-hydrating effect? If I have to die of thirst, I suppose I might as well be pissed at the time.

Because they're not French?