OliverB

I love my citrus squeezer, the thing that looks like a gigantic garlic press. (which I also own and never use). Mine has a hinged insert in the middle, so it can be little for limes or large for lemons. Works very well, squeezes out all the juice in no time, and I only have one tool instead of two in the drawer. Great idea that actually works - unlike so many other "greatest thing ever" kitchen gadgets out there. I think I got it at Crate and Barrel, might have been Williams Sonoma, can't remember. I use this very often, contrary to a lot of the other stuff cluttering my drawers :-)

I got mine too, and I must say I love this book. Reading their stories, and there are many all through the book it seems, is interesting and also quite inspiring in a way. I don't care about the language, makes it more authentic and seems to be actually written by them, not some ghost write like so many (almost all?) other cookbooks. I can't wait to cook from this book, almost wish I would not have a tritip to put on my new Big Green Egg tonight. Everything looks really good and seems to be relatively easy to make at home. At first glance I thought the cover is probably the ugliest cook book I've ever seen, but reading their story it all makes sense. More so than many other book covers actually. I really like ramen, never thought about making them myself (safe for the late night microwave bowl), this is sure to change quickly. I'm very happy with the book, would love to eat at one of their places someday, though it's unlikely I'll make it there anytime soon. I'm a big fan of books that share stories and backgrounds of the chef, the restaurant, the different dishes and/or the regions they come from, and this book delivers on all of those accounts. It's a bad Momofuku! (to paraphrase a bit of Pulp Fiction) Oliver

it arrived yesterday, also a great edition. Same content, a lot smaller than the first one. A bit smaller than the FL book, but a bit thicker. One page marker band. If you wanted this book but not the high price, get it now. Were this the only edition ever published I'd be very happy with it. I'm still excited to have the real Big Fat Duck book, as I collect art books. And to me that one is more art than cook book. Well, one of my favorite artists for a long time, Dave McKean did all the artwork :-) Be warned though, this book is full of very ambitious recipes, similar to Alinea. And a big chunk of it is the history of the Big Fat Duck. I probably won't be cooking too many things from this book, but the inspiration alone is worth the price of admission. I wish Heston's TV show In Search of Perfection were accessible to me, the clips on youtube look very promising. And that's geared to the ambitious home cook. Anybody know if it can be found on DVD? Food Channel should show that, instead of that drivel they show nowadays. You might be able to find this in bookstores soon if you want to take a look at it first. As far as I know this is the first book to combine the history if a restaurant and the recipes with custom artwork that's more than just a couple pages of illustrations. A classic IMO.

lol, I guess I should have looked back here, I have a pile of perfectly clean seed to roast right now No matter to me, I hardly eat them and the kids won't know, pssst! As for cleaning, I pulled them out of the pumpkin, squeezed the seeds off the gunk and dropped them in a large pot with water. Later on I swooshed this around and strained it, but there were still large pieces. But I had noticed that the seeds float and most of the gunk doesn't! So, back in the pot with lots of water, large slotted spoon to skim them out, and done. Quick and easy. Just in case someone wants clean seeds. I tend to put some spicy mix on the ones I eat, anything from Old Bay over Essence of Emeril to some bbq rub. My boy (6) designed a pumpkin with 5 eyes, two teethed mouths and scars Happy Halloween!

chocolate pudding, crumbled chocolate Graham crackers, gummy worms. All in one bowl, instant dirt with worms - my boy loves it And don't forget food coloring, you can make mean looking pasta (blue, green, red, etc) and get creative with that. Or color just about anything else. Green milk anyone? You can also buy black pasta, it's usually colored with squid ink. Looks great too. Some white sauce, black olives stuffed with almonds or something else bright for rotten eyeballs. If I get to it I might make a pumpkin pie and see if you can draw/paint on it with diluted food coloring. You can also get edible sheet that you can run through your printer and then somehow apply to a pie or cake. I have not done that, but take that, a computer, the image search in google and the possibilities are endless

As I'm just sitting there reading in the book: "There are four appliances I especially recommend for the home kitchen: a Vita-Mix, a standing mixer, a scale, and a food processor" He then goes into detail about each, and he does mean the Vita-Mix brand blender. Talks about the high price but that he thinks it's justified since it works so well. However, this is not a list of "have to have to cook with this book" things, it's a general chapter talking about recommended kitchen gear, anything from knives to pots and pans. And those four counter top appliances. I am sure that any blender will be fine (well, as long as it does blend), some things might not come out as well as TK would have them, but unless you compare side by side.... So, no, you do not need one. This is not French Laundry cooking, if your soup is a bit rougher than what the Vita-Mix would make - does it matter at home? Not with this book, it's not it's intention. Just shows you how to make some really good looking food in a regular kitchen. You also don't "need" a food processor, I haven't used mine in a long time and don't even have a stand mixer. They're nice but so far I have not found one necessary. I love kneading dough and use a hand mixer for other things. It is a very nice book and it's neat to see TK's approach to "fine home dining", can't wait to make the buttermilk fried chicken!

Also, if you're outside the US but like US published books, you can easily obtain a set of cups and spoons. There seems to be no real norm for these, just read a test somewhere that showed quite some differences, I'd try to get one set from one manufacturer. They have other uses too in the kitchen, and for some things I like measuring in cups/spoons. It should not keep you from getting the book if you'd otherwise like it. that there are no weights is disappointing, I'd like to ask Keller or Ruhlman for the reasoning - especially since the scale is called for as essential. Makes little sense, but sure would not keep me from buying the book. You should be able to find the conversions via google very easy, even those that compare table salt to Morton to Diamon etc. And they differ widely. Some good books do specify which salt they use, which is great. And if you can't find that salt, it's easy to make a little table to stick on the cupboard door as quick reference, I have several of those. Oh, and salt usually does not get measured by the cup for most recipes Maybe wait until you can look at the book in a store? Or return it as not up to my expectations or what that reason is on Amazon if you really don't like it. I think it's a very good book and the price is more than fair.

my wife will be happy to see the slow cooker come out of the closet again, she's been nagging me about "that big expensive christmas gift" over the summer, LOL Lots of plans, low and slow meats, beans, onion soup.... Of course we won't see much of a real wintere here in Northern California, so my new Big Green Egg and the bbq will still be in use, but I am looking forward to some nice comfort food. I am also getting more and more into open fire cooking and might either get a spit or a Tuscan grill for the fire place... check spitjack.com for all those wonderful things!

I'd love to experiment more with this, but it takes so long! And how do you compare? Short of having two ovens and cutting one gigantic piece of meat in half, cooking on so hot and long, the other different and comparing, it's hard to do. Higher temp/shorter time might turn out wonderful but that might have just been the meat. Heston did a lot of experimenting with chicken to arrive at his "perfect" roast chicken, not something one can do at home all that easily. Unfortunately.

I still didn't get around to cook from this book, reading the Amazon reviews, it seems that there might be some errors here and there, particularly the brine for the above scallops is mentioned. It's quite sad that most recipes don't have weights, just the usual cups and spoons. Despite the fact that Keller calls for a good scale to be essential at the beginning of the book. I'm pretty sure he uses Diamond Krystal Salt, and it's important to use the same if it's just called for in cups/spoons.

The cheaper version is now in stock at amazon for 31.50 (list is 50). It appears to be a hardcover and I might just have to buy one, as the idea of getting anything on the big big fat duck cookbook is horrible! 31.50 certainly seems a fair price to avoid ruining this masterpiece with some spilled sauce... It's in stock and qualifies for free shipping :-) Edit to add: they also still have the real thing for 157.50 or so, in case you want to splurge. I just ordered the "small" one, as I saw that Momofuku is now also in stock. Some good reading coming my way! Wish I had a 2nd head...

I almost always fluff rice (I don't have a rice cooker) as it makes it - well - fluffy :-) I also sometimes put a knob of butter on the rice once it's done, so I have to mix that in. Sometimes I add the butter at the beginning, if I don't forget. Sometimes I scoop rice with a ladle or a cup to make a half ball on the plate, then I don't fluff. But I've never really give this any thought, just something I've been doing automatically.

I just found an episode with Heston Blumenthal where he cooks a whole chicken at 140 degree (60 C) for four hours! Comes out all juicy, but with hardly any color. He then fries the skin in a skillet and ends up with what seems to be ultra crunchy super juicy chicken! This is almost a hybrid sou vide w/o the vacuum I guess, I will definitely have to try this. It's a two day process, as he brines it too over night. I was expecting he'd use a blow torch to crisp the skin, but he just used a skillet. I'd guess basting it with butter and using a torch might work too, but I'll try his version first. To him it's the best roast chicken, and that means something. Part 1 of the video can be seen here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=41AHxTR1MqQ there'll be a link to part two and three at the end of each segment. Lots more by him and many other great chefs on youtube. Pretty neat. Somewhere there's one of Marco Pierre White making stuffed trotters, an other recipe on my to do list, as the feet are already in the freezer :-)

for temporary relieve from hunger? Is that something they sell? Please do report how it turns out, should you make it. The book? I love it :-)

as I'm trying to live a bit healthier, this thread comes in handy! I've also been thinking about a VitaMix recently, the price is outrageous, but it seems to be a very good machine. And Thomas Keller recommends it in the new Ad Hoc book, so there. My main problem is that I don't like sweet stuff all that much, I'd have to experiment with some savory recipes. Haha, I guess that would be cold soups actually! Or something with nuts, peanut butter sounds good already, Nutella probably would be good too. Add a pinch of cayenne or smoked paprika? I'm secretly hoping that Costco might have a demo again soon, that way I could "hide" the purchase in the bill for all the other stuff. I doubt anybody would realize that it's a different blender, as I hardly ever use the one we have. Not in years I think. Come to think of it, I guess you could throw any dish into the blender and experiment. Well, maybe not any dish, but pasta, salads, salsas, hmmmm....

Fun stuff! I always dream of making a plan for the whole week, go shop for that and go with it. Of course, that has never happened so far Made some bbq chicken last night, but we ate it all, so I have to come up with something tonight. Oh, wait, there's still some tomato sauce in the fridge, I guess we'll have pasta tonight! The kids will be happy :-)

I was just reading in Nancy Silverton's Sandwich book, which is full of very tasty looking recipes. I generally am not a friend of left overs from dinner, I usually don't want to eat the same thing again for lunch, no matter how good, but this book just gave me the thought to reverse the planning: Pick a great looking sandwich recipe, say something with pork loin (or what ever) and then plan backwards to a dinner to have the day before. Make the pork/chicken/what have you in a way so it will turn out like the meat ingredient you need for the sandwich, and create a dinner around that preparation. I've never thought backwards like that with food, made me curious if others do that? Plan a dinner with a more or less set left over recipe already planned for the next day? And if so, what might be an example? Especially if your planning started with the dish made from left overs from dinner you made with the idea of making dish #2 the next day.

I throw them into lots of water and swoosh that around, then put them in a strainer with large holes, again swooshing and shaking. I find it all comes of relatively easy that way. Then scoop them out by the handful and remove remaining bits and pieces. I never tried to roast them with the pumpkin, if it's cut side down it might work, just try. Cut side up I'd expect everything to bake onto the seeds permanently. I always roast the seeds from the pumpkin we carve, but I always end up throwing most of them out later on, the initial "uhhmmm, good!" turns into indifference quickly at my house. You might not need to roast all the seeds you get? Just an idea, if you have a big pasta pot with that strainer insert, you could probably throw the seeds in there and then hose them down with a garden hose outside? That should do it. Also throw them into water right away, the sticky stuff dries on to them quickly. I have a pot next to my carving station (outdoors somewhere) with water.

thanks all! Here's my plan: work on a cutting board to stretch the dough, use a flour sifter to sprinkle dough and peel, flip dough onto peel dusted side down. Have sauce and everything else ready in bowls and see that I get it on the stone within a min or two. Might get to it this week, if so I'll report. I think a sifter will be helpful to get an even layer of flour quickly. I'm hesitant about parchment paper as my BGE can get pretty hot and is fired by - well - fire.

Fat Guy: "The whole issue can be addressed through technique." Me: "That's what I was thinking/afraid of" of course, the upside of this is: more pizza! I'm sue mine sat a good 15 min on the peel, I'll see that I really have my mess in place next time and can go at it with speed. Wondering right now, how do they actually do that in pizza restaurants? Do they have a wall of peels to use or do they set them up some other way? And do they use corn meal? I hardly ever go out for pizza and haven't paid any attention on how they get the raw pizza from here to there. Thanks again all, I'll make my own dough next time, see how that goes. More fun anyway

wow, my bacon turned out really nice on the Big Green Egg! I'll post pix soon, have to run them through the computer mill and a longer version with more pix will be on my blog - hopefully tomorrow. Smoked for about 2 hrs with Almond wood grown on the same grounds as the pork. I was tempted to eat the paper towel I used for draining it

wow, great ideas here! Love the one with blowing air under it with a straw, better make sure nobody sees you doing that, That pizza peel thing looks pretty neat too, though I'm determined to get this working the "real" way for now. Neat idea though! This time I used dough from Trader Joes, they sell fresh dough in the fridge. It's pretty moist and very sticky when coming out of the bag. If I make it from scratch it more or less depends on which recipe I find first, though they all don't differ that much. I have prebaked it before, but that's not that convenient, especially if I want to make the pizza outside on the grill. I'll sand my peel down a bit on one side, see if that works, and I'll use more corn meal. Or parchment paper, but does that work in a 550 - 600 degree bbq? Or would that go up in flames? And I'll see that I work faster and jiggle the thing a bit, it was probably on the peel too long yesterday. And now I'll have to check out that pizza forum Thanks all, great ideas!

so you do bake the crust first for a little? I've done that before and of course it slides off then like nothing, but is that really a requirement so to say? Should it not just slide off raw? Seems any cooking show has it on there fresh, of course they might just not show that part. Maybe I'll leave the oil off for now but I think sanding it nice and smooth might help? Of course, might just as well make it worse. I did not have any topping leak on the peel and I had a good hand full of corn meal on there, the dough was well flowered. Still stuck and a friend who came by yesterday reported the same problem.

So, I love making pizza from scratch. I have a wooden pizza peel. And no matter how much flower and/or corn meal I put on there, the pizza will inevitably stick to the peel and not come off easily! Certainly not as easy as any single video I've ever seen of that being done might suggest. That results in a mess in the oven or now my Big Green Egg. I noticed my peel is not as smooth as my wooden cutting boards, so I'm gonna sand it down and oil it with cutting board mineral oil, but are there maybe other tricks to this? Would a metal peel be better? I've seen those for wood pizza ovens and be happy to buy one if it makes life and pizza easier. I do like my crust thin, so there's not much substance to it. Should I pre-bake the crust? I guess I could just flip the peel over and drop it on the stone. But that's one more step and should not be necessary. Thanks!

you don't have to salt it either, I don't (nor do I ever buy salted butter, salt was added as preservative in the past and is no longer needed.). I don't do it often, you can buy really good butter by now, but it's a fun project. Makes more sense with really good cream of course. A fun project to do with kids: fill the cream into a jar with a screw top (plastic is better in case they drop it) and have them shake it shake it shake it. First nothing seems to happen, then it gets oddly silent in there and suddenly you feel something heavy clunking around. Be prepared to do most of the shaking yourself I would only go through the process for butter to use as is on fresh baked bread as the OP, I'd not do this for butter I intend to cook with though. Not worth the trouble IMO. If you can find fresh cream directly from a farm go for it, it's interesting to see how the butter changes with the seasons and the diet of the cows.