Calw

Love the idea and would love to take the classes. I come to Pittsburgh a lot on business from the bay area - and have had to slog our way through some moderate food. BUT TONITE we ate at SALT OF THE EARTH wonderful local modernist cuisine - most expensive entre - $23 a delicious skate wing. 5 dined on starters mains and a cocktail each - total with tip - $200. The menu was unique and the food well prepared and each dish had just the right amount of twist to be delicious and very edible. The chef does a bit with local fir infusions, local on just about as many things as possible from what I could tell from the drink bases to the bacon dust candy in the dessert. And while some say the portions were not big, I disagree - i was stuffed as were my 2 Pittsburghians.

If you are going to pre-slice before serving and you like the rarer flavor and texture of duck breast, I'd do the former. The lower heat will more slowly reach the core tissue and it will be more tender for a more medium cooked breast. More heat makes the tissue seize up, so a lower heat will help keep it tender as it cooks beyond rare. The other worry I have on the length is over shooting your doneness mark - can't un-ring the bell on that one!

Lisa, We did the burrito bar for my son's varsity high school football team - 34 boys and 6 coaches. We EASILY went through 20#'s of tri-tip - and could have done more if we did not step in to control the meat flow. We had to switch over to quesadillas for the final fill-up. The conventional wisdom is 4 to 5 oz cooked per person for a caterer, with athletes, I'd think about 1.5x or more per person. We also took the step of mixing the rice and beans together - went through 2 large trays. If you use the large burrito wrappers they add to the filling and make it easier to eat - so people can sit anywhere and not have to balance plates too much. One other consideration is for you to serve the meat yourself - let them do the initial build and then you portion the meat so you know you have enough. Tell them to come back for seconds. It slowed down the flow and surprisingly few came back.

Thanks. I've checked in and from a med interaction, there are no issues. However, from a health / lifestyle standpoint we are dealing with someone who has lived well from a food standpoint - too well without balance. I'm not her parent, but I am the chef - so I get to pick. If she survives the cancer, she needs to deal with the weight. Unfortunately there is a wealth of data on that. So... ideas?

There is a vodka made with it that makes a great martini - with pomegranate juice (unsweetened), lime and simple syrup. A great holiday cocktail. There is a restaurant in Oakland called Luca's Tap Room that has them as the house cocktail. Really delicious if you like a fruiter cocktail - but it is not as sweet as a lemon drop.

Great questions. I will look into it. She has just started the chemo phase. I know that moving towards vegetable and away from animal is a general trend. There are many approaches in dealing with this - some do a starvation approach where they cut out all fat, but I don't know what is science and what are other word of mouth approaches. Thanks

Thanks all, Yes the Saba perfectly describes it. And thanks Kerry for the thread. Po was a Batali restaurant I believe at one time, and it looks like there were some other references to how to use it. Since there also seems to be a history of similar concentrations across Greece, Turkey and all the way to Iran there must be some spice combinations that work well with it....

I had the Game Hen at Po in Manhattan a while back - and really loved every bite. They finish the birds with a drizzle of a sweet grape sauce that I think is a Muscat sauce. While I'd love to deconstruct the whole recipe, I'm curious if anyone has a recipe or source for a Muscat sauce that would be similarly used?

I am cooking Christmas dinner for a good friend recently diagnosed with a colon cancer. While I usually cook what tastes best, I am looking for suggestions on what tastes great and is very healthy and fit for a Christmas Dinner. I will likely start with a Carrot Orange Soup...and from there who knows. Any main or side or dessert suggestion is welcome. Thanks.

We are hosting a dinner that will have a caramel souffle for dessert. Trying to time things to minimize activity in the kitchen between the main and dessert. Does anyone have experience with how long one can hold egg whites after they have been whipped - before you have to work with them? Can they go 30 minutes? Unfortunately the recipe says these souffles have to go straight to the oven (we have a recipe for some you can freeze before baking which is great - but not this one.). Does anyone have any broader experience with sweet souffles and whether they can sit at all before going in the oven? Any thoughts?

Well, at the price I considered it a bargain, because I did not have to deal with the rest. I expect to pay a premium when I buy eaches. - Much less per pound than vanilla beans - that's for sure. So at $12.95/lb, I was not complaining. And yes they are pretty big - so in terms of using them, I likely have more than enough for the leg.

as he writes, "skim, skim, skim" - I skimmed, skimmed, skimmed. That thin film just coated my mouth and tasted like fat.

I have been working a lamb sauce from FL for a few days now. Not sure of your end point but mine will end up under a fan of sliced lamb. One interesting point came when after all the skimming and de-scumming. I put in the tomato paste and final seasonings and started to reduce it down more. So I had a nice thick, very clean sauce in the pot. (I did this over a double boiler because one time I had the sauce separate because it accidentally boiled.) I then went to the final chinois step and ended up with a very thick, but flavorful paste in the cone. It had the thickness and color of Marmite, but with a rich lamb stock flavor. Below the chinois I had a beautifully clear more viscous stock. Now I am trying to figure out what to do with that flavorful paste - seemd a shame to toss it at this point. I guess is that it is mostly tomato paste meat that has absorbed some flavors. I am planning to try it on some toasts as a spread possibly topped with a slice of roasted mushroom and chives. But it occurred to me that I could have left it in and had a thicker, clean sauce (because it had been through the chinois a few times already - so you may want to consider how you will use it.

Here in the Easy Bay (Berkeley/Oakland) we have at least one place (Market Hall) that sell them by the fish. So 2 fish ran 84¢ ! Was glad to find them this way because I really did not want to get into a whole can at this point.

I had some nice replies to my querry on Lamb, which two people (thx Dave Hatfield & Michael B) suggested to add anchovies - wrapped up in the leg during roasting. I had planned to work in some anchovies so the suggestion was perfect! I've also heard of them being worked into stocks, etc. Saw there was a string in 02 on anchovies, but it went another direction. So just how far do they go? I will soak them in milk first, but will 2 be enough for a quart of well reduced stock? or will that be too much? Any tips? What about a size of meat like a leg? Is 2 enough? I have heard they dissolve into what ever they are in.

Yep, that looks like it other than the grill lines. I'll have to try it this weekend - thanks. Sounds like backstrap to me.(below) They are small so roasting presents a new set of challenges. Unlike almost every other cut of lamb they are very lean.

First, I have no issue with the large group charge - it is extra work and many groups (or individuals) don't own up to what a fair tip is - we all know the cheap scape who "only had soup and water" and does not even put in enough for that (don't forget the tax & tip is there too!), but it happens on a large scale too. The problem with tipping rules is that there aren't any - the reference to Italy & France will get you into trouble when you go to Asia or Australia - where (this happened in front of me - to my shock as an American) my host (who was not cheap on any other occasion) reduced the bill because service was very poor. There are too many other cultures of tipping out there to say this is the one. Seems to me there are 2 counter pressures here. First, we've become tip happy - or mad, as a culture. I'll leave behind for now that everywhere I go there is a tip jar - (can't wait to see one at the grocery store for my self bag & check-out line). Second, the issue of whether a living wage can be earned should not fall to the diner but the restaurant industry. Look, menu prices are up and as a result 15% is of a higher number. But the restaurants are dealing with the base price and not the labor component in their pricing. Seem that the idea of a gratuity has lost its meaning, it is supposed to be that - a gesture of thanks for good service. I have no problem giving 15% right off for even adequate service, but places that demand 20 (like the NPR show recently) is getting out of hand. Restaurants should pay their people properly, but we as diners should have the decency - especially now - that is is really hard to make a living in this career to be more generous. I am upping my tips to 20% - especially now because there are fewer people dining out. but I don't feel that when the economy turns I have to keep it there.

So I recently tried it with short ribs - got the wrong cut though - get the long bones. I did it with Ziplock bags and a Crick pot. My crock runs 120 on low and 220 on high - with the lid on. But with the lid off, an acceptable 160 - not perfect by the pros standards but workable - in the range of stated temps. So the bad news is that with the lid off I was refilling the water 3x per day - in a slow stream to not shock the internal temp. I cooked it for 3 days. In the bags with the browned ribs I put in raw carrot, onion small sprig of thyme and tomato paste. It made its own gravy. So it was an interesting experiment, but I am not sure I really did it completely right. It was good, but I can not say it blew the socks off my regular braising technique. I did buy more to try the correct cut and some different techniques. Now that it is raining in Nor Cal I have time to experiment again! I am tempted to buy the small thermostat as a controller, but really want to get at least a solid win before I invest more.

I am hosting a dinner party (14) and will be serving a roast lamb - sliced and resting on a morel risotto cake with fava beans and lamb jus. Does any one have a suggestion for a cut of meat that in one to 4 pieces can serve this many and can look nice when sliced and plated? I have seen some lovely photos (but can't of course find them now!) of lovely rectangular slices fanned over a sauce or starch. Anyone know what that may be or have a suggestion. I many times do a butterflied leg, but was looking for something more uniform in shape. Now for the marinade. If I am doing a morel cake, would you rub the roast with a truffle honey - or would that just be one too many notes in the song? I want the fresh lamb to come through, but want something a little special. Thoughts?

OK, learning to reply - but my post seemed to go missing. Sorry if it is a repeat. For me it is about the spud - Solanum tuberosum - the kennebec potato. If you search them out they are worth the find. They have the right sugars to do fries. If you ask your grocer they will order a sack which you can share out to your spud loving friends. Make sure you get new crop and they will keep well too. As far as toppings, aside from the cold sweetness of Heinz to cut through the heat, we love an aioli with the fries shaken in a spicy blend of smoked paprika, ground fennel, good kosher salt. We use a recipe from Cesar in Oakland / Berkeley.

Interesting method, but for me its all about the spud - I search high and low for kennebec potatoes - Solanum tuberosum. I will even buy a 50# sack and share with all my friends - much cheaper too! They can sometimes be called processing potatoes on the sack. Wonderful for fries - good sugars. Make sure you get new crop and they will also store well.

There is a wonderful mock porketta recipe in the Zuni book. It does take 3 days to season and cure but it brought the table to silence.