newguy

It is definitely a personal taste. But there are different uses for fruity vs. peppery. I like the fruity oils raw on top of anything basically. The peppery ones i will cut sometimes with regular oil if making a dressing say. Get a big solo taste of a real peppery oil and it could send you into one of those coughing fits.

I definitely want to know how this final dish plays out...

I wasn't sure if you were talking a thin wafer like slice of pancetta or say a brunoise that was rendered of fat, leaving little crunchy bits. Actually I have made a sweet and sour jus. It was lots of shallots completely covered with sherry. Reduce that sec, then cover again with sherry vinegar, reduce that sec and cover with red wine vinegar. Repeated twice. The shallots are then added to a stock of some kind last minute with a brunoise of pancetta. Fantastic sauce.

Love the ice wine idea. I'm thinking that since that is SO sweet, is there something more sour than champagne vinegar? Maybe some type of citrus? How about you slice the pancetta in real thin rounds, and bake it off so you have a very crisp "craker" like texture in the dish

Why not try to add a little sour component to the dish as well? This dish sounds fantastic, but it may need a slight balance of all those rich flavors and textures with a drop of sour and I'm not sure the port sauce will do it. Why not a gastrique? Maybe a port gastrique with a flavored vinegar of some kind?

While you are pureeing your roasted peppers, put a little fresh OJ in with the puree. Not to much, but it gives it an interesting taste without really being able to tell what it is.

The A&S Pork Store is outstanding. There is a team of butchers in the back that sends out all kinds and varieties of meats. Veal, chicken, sausages, steaks. Prosciutto, cheeses, home made mozzarella etc...They also have some pretty decent prepared foods and a variety of dry ingredients from olive oil to risotto rice.

Agreed. Pat's steaks in Philly are some of the best sandwiches around. And they use cheese wiz. Seems odd, until you have your first, you'll never look at provolone the same way again.

I found that I have manged to down grade from a 10" knife to a 6.5" knife. I have a 10" Wusthof that I used to use all the time for everything from fine mincing to hacking away at anything. Then the more I worked, the more the Wusthof felt like a 2X4 when I was trying to really finely mince chives or shallots etc... So I went and purchased a Misono for mincing only, which is a very thin blade, sharpened for a right handed user. Eventually I just stopped pulling the Wusthof out of my kit, and use the Misono all the time.

I am fairly new to the white soy sauce, and shiro dashi (no real clue how to spell it, since the bottle was not written in english). I found this product outstanding. I believe it is fermented 80% wheat and 20% soy, which is the opposite of regular soy sauce. Real interesting flavor. Sometimes I don't always like regular soy, as they can be to pungent for me.

I get a problem like this when I eat cantaloupe. It's always happened, and I used to tell people about it, and everyone thought I was insane (which may be the case), so I stopped telling people.

Rosie, I was there with my wife and her grandparents at the end of January this year. I had a conch seviche, with a yellow tomato broth for an appetizer. The grandparents split a simple salad and my wife had something with crab and lobster, although I can't remember the exact dish. Mine was very good, although VERY small. My wife's dish was good and I can't recall the salad. I had a veal chop (after asking for a tuna dish, which they ran out of by 8pm) which was the size of a compact car as an entree. Not cheap, coming in at a cost of about $38 along with the grandmother. My wife had a rack of lamb, which was over $40. The grandfather had a filet mignon with a red wine foie gras sauce, which he deemed "to strong." However, I didn't taste it, and wouldn't take his opinion on anything, especially that dish. The veal chops were not outstanding, and did not deserve a $40 price tag. The lamb was good, but still not a $40+ dish. I had some sorbet and tea for dessert (the tea was great). Service not great, asked for several things like bread which never arrived. There are better places to go, especially if you are going to spend cash like that.

I don't think that the menu is set yet. They'll probably wait to see what comes in first, more fun that way. It's probably a work in progress.

This would be a great reality show. I can see publicists getting in the way, and telling Rocco to remain calm and easy. Not to ruin the public's opinion...

I have confirmation that Rocco is not as pleasant in his kitchen as he is in all of his media outlets and venues. He is supposed to be quite "vocal" in the kitchen. Of course which personality will come out? TV chef or 3 star restaurant chef?

Didn't Ruth Reichel have the same "syndrome?" But she passed out higher star rankings. I was looking forward to Grimes coming in and seriously trimming down from the past, and being a stern reviewer. There was another thread I read on here which stated that there is such a fine line between the great 2 stars and the lower grade 3 star places. Who can tell the difference anymore? Maybe I just don't understand these reviews anymore.

I have been to Scalini twice, and was never really impressed. Serenade on the other hand seems to be on par with the review. I don't quite agree that the prices are comparable to Le Bernardin. You can have a black truffle tasting menu, 6 courses without wine for $85 or $120 with wine. A single course in NYC with some truffle grated over it can run as a $60 supplement.

Is there some type of "political" editorial pressure that really does not enable critics to do what they wish? When he first arrived at the Times, he consistently seemed to administer, firm but fair reviews, but now he just gives 2 stars all over the place. Why is this? I have the same argument about Otto. I enjoyed my meal there this past Sunday, however, I don't believe that was a 2 star experience. But for some reason, I can't stop reading these reviews, no matter what I say.

I've had truffled taro with a smoked filet of beef. I'm guessing it was cut with a little potato, but I could be wrong. The entire dish was outstanding. I've also had taro sliced thin and fried, and used as a chip in a tuna tartare dish.

Fat Guy, I'm not 100% sure of the sizes. I believe that the oval is not the largest size available, probably middle of the road at 6 or 7 quarts. Why do you ask?

Le Cruset is VERY expensive, but worth every penny. I have an oval and a round pan and fine them both useful. However, I tried making veal osso buco in the oval and found I was only able to fit 4, so if you are looking for a larger, all purpose pan you should get the larger round pot. But these pans are outstanding, very heavy, conduct heat very well I have a tough time getting things to stick to it. Rumor has it that they are very easy to clean too.

Growing up in suburban NJ, my first Chinese food meals were definitely Americanized, and quite often I might add. I also have to admit that I didn't exactly like shrimp until a little later in life, but the Americanized shrimp and lobster sauce was one of the only things I ate (without the shrimp). It was always white, and now that I can think back on it, definitely thickened with excess cornstarch. In these days, I would certainly appreciate trying a real shrimp and lobster sauce.

Rule of thumb when braising is to keep the liquid at approximately 1/2 - 3/4 the height of the product. so it doesn't matter if you have 2 pork chops or 16, as long as they are all on the bottom of the pan in an even layer, the same amount of liquid will go into the pot.

Even though you halved the amount of meat, you probaby shouldn't have reduced the amount of liquid in the recipe. 4 pork chops and 2 pork chops are equally as high in the pot, so the amount of liquid should stay constant regardless of the amount of product in the pan.

That meal at Ducasse was possibly the best meal I've ever had, and I've done a great job blowing pay checks all over Manhattan. Now I'm not sure if it was because it was the end of a great vacation and all the other factors weigh in on that decision. That room in unbelievable, I had never seen service like that. There are 16 tables and 25 members of the waitstaff. If you are thinking you might want another bottle of water or wine, they are there with it. Reach into your pocket to have a cigarette and there is fire in front of your face before you get your hand out of your pocket. We had a tasting menu. For some reason, a 5 course tasting was only about 10 or 20 Euro's more than a la carte. He really loves his olive oils out there. We had seafood salad, risotto with a tempura vegetable and lemon & olive oil, grilled turbot (not at the calibur of the rest of the meal), and a veal dish. outstanding