jnash85

Strawberry Gazpacho from the Eleven Madison Park cookbook. Probably one of the easiest recipes in the book. I tried plating like the book does, then tried doing my own thing, which I preferred. The strawberries were tossed in olive oil and sugar and cooked in a low oven for 2 hours. I will definitely be using that technique again.

So the post above was technically lunch. Dinner was roast chicken, with spanish rice, black beans, pickled tomato salsa, and creamy jalapeño salsa.

Fried pig tails from Thomas Keller’s Under Pressue cookbook. I would make them again, but with some adjustments. I would prefer the green beans were warm. Also, not a fan of the deviled quail egg.

Amazon had this for $105 so I went ahead and ordered it. Can't wait to get it.

During the week I like to cook a couple of Italian sausages then add some crushed tomatoes, chile flakes, and salt. I enjoy it the most when the leftovers are cold and I’m eating it around 1 am...

Beef meatballs from Ottolenghi’s Jerusalem cookbook. Subbed edamame for favas. Served with basmati rice and orzo and the cucumber yogurt sauce. It was very good. I need to cook more from his books.

Are they still offering the option to dine a la carte in the lounge? I haven't seen any recent postings about it. I will be in NYC in a couple of weeks and I would love to go. Is it correct that they do no take reservations for the lounge?

Full episodes here: http://m.video.pbs.org/program/mind-chef/

I have been asked to make a punch for a small group of people. These are mostly casual drinkers. Usually cut the liquor in a cocktail by about half. They also enjoy frozen strawberry margarita's. I would love to make something from David Wondrich's book, but I'm afraid I would be the only one drinking it. Anybody have any recommendations? I like the look of this one. http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/puerto-rican-rum-punch

Inspired by my shameless love of Pei Wei's Caramel Chicken

I did a kaffir lime margarita. House made kaffir lime syrup, lime juice, and silver tequila. I also had a few lime leafs in the shaker. I think I overdid it with the line leaf. It really takes over. This was inspired by a cocktail I saw on seriouseats at Le Bernardin.

I'm enjoying a Little Bit Country tonight. Bourbon, lemon juice, maple syrup, maraschino, jalapeno, and bitters. The maple syrup / jalapeno combo is great. I'm halfway though and its leaving me with a very nice burn...

The primary bind sounds like the problem. I don't have a stand mixer and mixed by hand. Would hand mixer work for the primary bind?

What about chips vs chunks? I used chunks (not soaked) and smoked the sausages for about an hour. I plan on smoking a brisket for pastrami a few hours in a couple of weeks. Right now its about 40 - 50 F outside. Should I wait for the smoker to come all the way up to temp before I add my food? It took about 45 minutes today to reach 140 F. It would have taken at least another 30 to reach 200 F, maybe longer.

I took the dive into charcuterie today. This is the venison sausage from the book. Venison, Pork, and Seasoning by jnash85, on Flickr Links! by jnash85, on Flickr Smokin by jnash85, on Flickr Partially Smoked Sausages by jnash85, on Flickr Venison Sausage by jnash85, on Flickr I smoked the sausages for about an hour. As you can see from the final pic there were some air pockets inside the sausage. Will this be a problem for the rest that I froze? Also, I felt the texture was a little grainy. Is this normal? I did my best to keep everything cold during the production of the sausage.