nickrey

I've never subscribed to the grandmother principle. Everything I recommend is done for a specific reason. Adding ingredients at different times means that they will cook differently and have a different impact on the taste. You add cream or butter to a dish as a finishing element after it has finished its key cooking, otherwise it splits. Same thing applies to vinegar, which loses its volatility and the sourness that you want it to achieve if you cook it. You can cook and reduce cream, which I do in one of my pepper sauces. This reduces and caramelises to provide a counterpoint to the heat of the pepper. But I'd never do this in a Bolognese as it would detract from the meat profile with an unnecessary sweetness.

As you imply, "liking whisky" is likely to be different from appreciating some of the more complex single malts. I'd try a Glenmorangie Original, which is probably the easiest transition from the blends you mentioned into the world of single malts: sweet, smooth and light (because of the height of the stills).

If you are using milk, add it early and cook it off. If you are using cream, add it at the last minute to enrichen the sauce.

Katie, Ragu is a meat-based sauce. Bolognese is a subtype of the class ragu. Hence ragu Bolognese, ragu alla Napolitana, etc. They are not necessarily tomato based; for example, ragu con fegatini contains chicken livers, white wine, and cream.

It's certainly a record of how the restaurant dishes are created. With food at this high level, you'd expect the recipes to be complex with many processes involved and, in this respect, it doesn't disappoint. I wouldn't expect a large number of home cooks will try the recipes in their entirety. On a scale of one hat (easy) to four hats (very complex) , you'd have to categorize a lot of the recipes as being of four hat difficulty.

I'm not sure, the original posted by Nakji didn't have the photographer's reflection. At least we know it is going to be female and either someone who wears glasses or was wearing sunglasses when she took the picture.

Nice work Kevin, I've bookmarked your blog.

So we have the MacGyver of cooking: what can you make with just tonic water and Meadow Lea? With some additional chemicals, perhaps something Modernist? I assume from the use of Meadow Lea margarine that we are in Australia again.

Check out Martin Lersh's blog at this link and download his recipe collection entitled "Texture: A hydrocolloid recipe collection."

Somewhat distressingly as Daniel Humm is a Swiss chef, it does tend to have the full American cups/tablespoons treatment. Some of the quantites are in imperial (eg. 3 ounces of...). In certain dishes, for example those using thickeners such as agar agar, he does give the grams measurement as well. It's a bit frustrating but not something that would stop me buying the book (Particularly as I estimate and taste rather than measure for virtually everything I cook).

Same here. In fact, I do this when slicing rolls or pieces of ciabatta, too. This.

Australian Gourmet Traveller ran an article entitled "Battle of the Bol" in which they discussed the sauce and collected recipes from 60 of Australia's top chefs. Link here. Hope it works from your location.

If something works particularly well, I tend to post it on eGullet with pictures. This gives both the benefit of spreading the joy as well as giving me an electronic record of what went on.

This topic should provide some interesting discussion. White wine (Marcella Hazan, Vincenzo Buonassisi), red wine (most others), or none (Silver Spoon)? Do you add milk (Hazan) or cream (Claudia Roden, Buonassisi)? And when (milk early, cream to thicken sauce)? For umami, do you add soaked dried porcini (Hazan), diced mushrooms (Roden), star anise (Heston Blumenthal) or nothing (Giorgio Locatelli)? Add pancetta (Hazan, Roden) or not (Locatelli)? Add additional herbs (Locatelli) or not (Roden, Hazan)? Or add nutmeg (Hazan, Vincenzo Buonassisi)? Add garlic (Locatelli) or not (Hazan, Roden, Buonassisi). All use a soffrito but I must admit a fondness for adding some additional cooked onion later in the process to give another flavour layer (Blumenthal). Do you brown the meat or just colour it? And these are just questions from writers who are from or have researched in Italy, the rest of the world is sure to have other variants. My 10c worth: Prepare soffrito (carrots, celery, onion). Cook until translucent Add beef and cut up pancetta, salt and pepper, tomato paste, garlic. Colour over medium heat, do not brown. Add milk (and pinch of nutmeg if using), simmer until evaporated. Add wine, reduce down. Add passata, slow cook to reduce sauce. Half an hour before finishing, add some fried, chopped onions and some porcini powder (perhaps a bit of star anise if I'm feeling like it). Reduce to sauce consistency. Adjust seasoning. Serve on parpadelle or tagliatelle: you need a broad pasta for the sauce to stick to.

You need to use some tough beef to get the desired result. Try ground beef neck.

My copy arrived yesterday. Creativity with twists, turns and backflips and some of the best plating and styling I've ever seen. I've seen some good looking food in my day but this is exceptional. The details and complexity of each dish are staggering, so be prepared for some high-end cooking without compromise. Having a dinner party in a few weeks and the entrée and main will be straight out of here. Will report back with photos.

With the metal bit on the end it looks like a Shun.

I love Cornish pasties and those look really good Blether.

I can see a Republican elephant logo on one of the signs, so it's definitely someone from the USA.

Seems to me this probably indicates that they haven't done good market research in siting their restaurants.

I think I'd use the continuum ranging from simple through to sophisticated. In this case the person had simple tastes and could not appreciate your efforts. How can you realistically criticize someone who has no taste for not appreciating your food? I'd save your indignation for someone who spurns your food who has a supposedly educated palate. Although disappointing, why waste effort on complex dishes when you are dealing with people who cannot appreciate them? Some of my friends get a twenty year old wine when they visit because I know they will appreciate it: others don't. For the latter, I choose something more appropriate that I can still stomach. That way I know both will go away pleased while I have not wasted precious resources unnecessarily. If this person comes back, bring out the grilled cheese sandwiches and go to your own room to enjoy the foie gras.

It's not our packaging, it always happens. Same things with cloves in packages. The scent molecules must be small enough to penetrate the plastic.

That looks great. I've been wanting to do this meat for a while and your post has given me the impetus to try.

I grew up in Adelaide, South Australia, driest state on the driest populated continent. Reputedly one of two places in the world where ships would not fill up their ballast water (the other being Aden). One boil would be enough to scale a kettle for a lifetime. I envy you New Yorkers your wonderful water.

Seems the water is great at the source and in the intermediate delivery system. There must be some old plumbing though: even the water board acknowledges this is a source of contamination. This stuff gets into kettles and creates scale. See my comment above.