OliverB

A Ranch 99 Asian market opened here yesterday (hooray!) and I got a little selection of game birds (partridge, pheasant, etc) and also could not resist a small black chicken. I'm kind of thinking of roasting them all together like Jamie Oliver did in a Jamie at Home episode (though I don't have a wood fired oven - yet). But I can't find info on roasting a black chicken, I find references to soups etc. So, can this black chicken be roasted or will I end up with a black rubber chicken for Halloween? I'd be happy to use it in a soup or any other dish of course. They're quite pretty birds, with silky feathers that almost look like soft fur. Thanks! Oliver (who's contemplating what to do with the two true red snappers in the fridge)

I don't use mine often, but if I do they're on the cheap not very heavy wok. That way they don't sit in water. Work very well and I might rinse them if there's something stuck, which is not likely with steaming. Just don't put stuff with sauces on it in there. Any germ will be dead via cooking anyway. I'd NOT use soap on them though, as that soapy water will most certainly get into the bamboo. I don't use soap on my wok either, just a brush and warm water.

I don't have any book to add, I find them all to be lacking. Quite some seem to not count the prep time into the cook time it seems. Or maybe they throw everything that needs to be chopped all together in the food processor? Or buy those already chopped and en capsuled in artificial environment chopped things you can sometimes find in the stores? I leave more elaborate food for when I have time (luckily often) and if it needs to be quick it's some meat, some greens or starch, s&p, lime juice and cilantro, or garlic/onions, things like that. Or a quick pasta. All of which can be done quickly and really does not need a book. I do like that artisan bread book though, it's not that you make it in 5 min, it takes just very little time to work on the dough (which sits in the fridge for up to two weeks) every day. It is a somewhat misleading title, as you still have to rise it and bake it of course. there's a long thread about that book in the baking section. I don't bake very often, but the outcome so far has been quite good. Like anything you can find in the good bread section in a supermarket here. Not anything like what you find in a real bakery, if you're lucky enough to find one where you live of course. I will have to check out 60 Minute Gourmet though, it's been mentioned on EG several times.

as anything else, it'll probably go well with bacon? Of course, there are lots of asian dishes that use coconut milk, I could imagine that quite some of them would benefit from a bit of added smoke. edit to add: I don't have much of a sweet tooth, but was just thinking that you could also use it on some chocolate desert, maybe something that also has a bit of a cayenne kick? Sweet, bit of a bite, coconut flavor with a touch of "is that bacon?" in it?

I have the Alinea and Fat Duck books, thanks for the khymos link, that looks good! Forgot to check on Willpowder, good idea. The adria site is http://www.albertyferranadria.com/index.html Only in spanish so far, but the videos are easy to understand (no spoken words) and all ingredients are named in English too, at least in the video I just watched. Good stuff, thanks! Oliver

somehow my edit to the last post did not work and now it's locked. Anyway, great link but the guys at Alinea are probably busy making up new things, there are lots of things listed but only a few have actual info about how to use them, a recipe or technique. Good start though. Maybe there's some other site or maybe a book?

oh, nice! Just what I was looking for! I did not recall that from last time I was on their site, but that was a while ago I guess. Thanks!

if the beet juice is too bright, you might be able to town it down with squid ink too, if you can find it somewhere. Or use that for some other black part of your dinner. I've never used it, but maybe if you thin it out it even has a purple tone to it? I hope to find it someday as I want to make black pasta.

I'm looking for some kind of list or index of all the strange ingredients used in "molecular gastronomy", meaning the foams, gels, etc. It would be nice to have a list of all of these things, best would be a list where each item has a short description of what it does and a link to more detail, maybe with instructions on how to use it. While I think that these things are a bit overused in some fancy restaurants, they seem fun things to play with at home, make something that looks like one thing tastes like an other etc. Just a little surprise to serve here and there. I googled and looked here, but am not really sure what to search for also, as this is a new thing to me. Thanks! Oliver

I get purple potatoes (not sweet ones) at Trader Joes, they're often almost black and keep the color well. It does get a bit lighter, but still qualifies as purple. Blueberries of course are super purple. Maybe you could add a bit of blueberry syrup or juice to your too red dish? Probably won't need too much. this is a fun idea for a dinner, what other colors are you using? Post some photos please, that would be neat to see! That desert a bit up on the page looks fantastic too, maybe shift purple to the desert location?

I'll make some mozarella myself next time I make a pizza. I can mill the tomatoes and will keep things simple. Good to mention to add the basil after cooking, as it turns a rather dull brown/green if cooked. Even if put on too quickly after the thing comes out of the oven. This is making me hungry!

that's all very interesting, thanks! I'll look for some good canned Italian tomatoes and will just use salt. I often added other things, oregano, garlic etc. I'll leave that for the topping. the super hot oven probably plays a role too. I'm almost proud owner of a Big Green Egg, which supposedly can heat up to 650+ degree and can be used as pizza oven. I might one day build a real one, but the BGE seems to fit the purpose for now, and it's a great BBQ and smoker too. Building a real one is not that hard either, you can buy prefab pieces that go together like lego, but it's expensive and once it's there, it's there. You can't move it, so you better be sure where you want to have it I'd love to see that dough recipe too, if you can find it! The "oldness" of Italy is also an interesting point. I can see where that makes sense, it does with wine it seems. Thanks all!

one of these days I'll make my own mozarella to put on top, use tomatoes from my inlaw's garden. I really can't put a finger on it, there's a something to pizza in Italy, even at touristy places, and I can't recreate it. Maybe you're right and it's the secret ingredient of _being_ in Italy?

that's interesting, thanks! I'll try that next time.

pork and beef, 50/50. Don't know why, that's just how my grandmother and my mom make it. Same for patties or meat balls. I've never made it myself, but would do it this way. Bacon on top sure sounds good! I'd not use veal unless I come across some cheap ground veal, unlikely. Lamb could be interesting I guess. What's called Hackfleisch, (minced meat) in Bavaria tends to be a 50/50 mix. I'll ask a butcher next time I'm over there or ask my mom to ask why they do it this way. Maybe because most cows are raised for milk and the meat of those breeds is less fatty? Beef is not the most popular.

I don't know what it is, but pizza almost always tastes different in Italy than anywhere else, and I can't quite put my finger on it. Is it the crust? can't be, I have tried so many different variations, not that they're all that different. The sauce? Probably The cheese? Quite likely The toppings? Depends I guess. Then I had a pizza from Whole Foods this week, a simple peperoni (meaning pizza with red sauce, cheese and salami, not sure why they're called peperoni when there's no pepperoni in the meat?) and it was there, that elusive taste or almost feeling of some sort, that taste from Italy. I can't even describe it, it's a taste, a mouth feel, and also a feeling just going down my chest when I inhale the smell. I do have a suspicion, maybe there is a bit of anchovy in the sauce? Not enough to stand out, but to add that certain touch that you can't define? Of course the cheese and toppings were top quality, but I've used similar and it's still not the right taste. Whole Foods has a fake wood fired oven, it's probably gas heated and in the back is a gas flame flickering away, so it's not the wood fired thing either. Any ideas? I'm sorry I can't really describe the taste/feel I'm after, I know it was there in that pizza and I will try to add a bit anchovies to my sauce next time. But I'm also curious what others might think? Nothing beast a pizza eaten in some side ally or on a nice ancient plazza in Italy, but it would be nice to come closer to The Taste. Oliver

Oh, that ReaderWare thing looks great! Not so much for my books, but I have somewhere between 3 and 4 thousand CDs all over the house, if this really works with the barcode I could imagine organizing them one day! The idea of having to type all that into a databse has kept me from doing it. Thanks for mentioning this! And wow, 700 Asian cookbooks?

just a bit above 200-220 or so, lost count (kids...) and don't feel like starting over. I'm hitting the limit of what I can store w/o them taking over the entire living room shelf - not that that will stop me..... ;-)

Elizabeth David's French Country Cooking might be of interest too, though it's less focused on the fancy French cooking, more on what you find in anybody's kitchen. I just got it yesterday, an edition that combines her 3 classics. Found it used for a fair price, came from England. Might add, it's an old book from the 50es and not focused on low fat or anything like that. Just great looking recipes she collected. But I think if she gets Julia's books and the Pepin technique book, she has plenty to read and play with. There are more modern books out there of course, I'm just not a fan of books that fiddle with ancient recipes just to make them lighter or healthier etc. It's not like you're gonna cook something fancy every day, the extra fat and calories should not play a big role unless one has health reasons to watch these things. Personally I find recipes that use 3 sticks of butter rather intriguing :-D If your mom gets around on the net ok she can also find Julia and Jaque videos to watch, I agree, they made a great team that's a lot of fun to watch. Don't know, but maybe some of the shows are available on DVD? That could be a fun gift too. I have yet to see the movie, probably have to wait for the DVD now. Les Halles is great too, but she might find the writing offensive? Look at it first. Bouchon is fantastic, but as somebody mentioned, not for the timid. Keller seems to have an abundance of the most important ingredient, time. Of course, he has a fantastic staff to help too :-)

LOL, but they'd probably come after my family, unless I kill everybody with my food, haha!

I couldn't care less about fads or jumping sharks (though I'd like to see one!). Bacon Bacon Bacon Bacon Bacon Bacon Bacon Bacon Bacon! :-) PS: bacon and toast fried in the bacon fat is the PERFECT camping breakfast! The wasps had no chance to get at any last weekend :-D

that's probably true. Still, there are too many USDA regulations that ban certain things that seem to be just fine anywhere else. Fresh milk cheeses for example, they have to age a certain time here (6 months) before they can be sold. Brains and lungs I think can't be sold, things like that. I'm not knocking them, they are a necessary institution, but they seem to be a bit overly cautious at times. Of course, the ridiculous amounts of money one can sue for if getting sick from something probably make this a necessity. Liability laws are important, but the amounts should certainly not be in the millions for a stomach bug. Or hot coffee on your lap. I think you can get around most of these things if you buy a live animal for yourself, I think I read somewhere that you then can have it butchered at the ranch and take home what ever you want. Anybody know more?

I have one made of ceramics, Mason Cash, about a finger wide. Works very well and goes in the dishwasher, which is required in my house ;-) I'd like it to be a bit larger, but the next size was just too expensive for something I rarely use. It is very durable though, not a chip in it yet. But then I don't use it very often, less than 10 times a year I'd bet. the Mexican ones have been interesting to me, but I was never sure if you ever get them smooth or if you end up either eating lots of volcanic rock or if you end up throwing out a lot of what ever you put in there because it's stuck in the little bubble holes. I've been looking for a larger one, the size of the mexican ones but with a smoother surface. Can't find any - not that I'm looking around like crazy. there are tons of small ones the size of mine made of just about anything it seems though. I've used tumeric, curry, saffron in mine and it never stained - to my surprise. I'd recommend that brand. Oliver

Interesting, I had wondered about that too, as some really uncured product would be rather unsafe to eat IMO. Would be interesting to compare openly cured meat to not-so-uncured uncured meat, measure nitrite levels. I'd guess that controlling the amounts with celery is a bit harder than adding a preset amount of curing salt? Maybe not in an industrial setting? I never buy them, I like things the way they're supposed to be. I will have to pick up some of that Niman Ranch stuff though, when I see it :-) I'm getting more and more disenchanted with USDA (and similar) regulations though, they prevent us from quite some things that people in Europe have eaten for centuries with no problem. Seems a bit overly restrictive for the land of the free, no? I mean, safety in food handling is very important, no doubt, but there are a lot of regulations that make so many good things disappear from the shelves. Things that seem to have no negative impact on the health of millions of people in other countries. Luckily I can do what I want in my own kitchen and it's possible to find just about anything if one looks in the right places. :-) To think that all the good things I've eaten at small farmhouses in Germany and Austria this summer would be illegal here is a shame. Things are getting worse in Europe too, with the European Community. Luckily out of the way places simply don't care :-) Hmm, selfmade cured meats, cheeses, milk products, drinks, liquors, etc etc

aside of the primal urge to burn things (LOL) I do prefer to do things the old fashioned way, which makes electric smokers feel somewhat "wrong" if that makes any sense. I would get an Auger controller for my BGE though, just because there might be quite some money in the smoker that I'd rather not have to go to waste for some medieval experiment One major drawback for me is the selection of woods though. Beech wood is what's used for most smoking in Germany (Austria, etc) and those are the things I miss and crave. And as far as I can tell, there's no beech puck to be had. This lack of the option to use unusual woods or add other flavorings (like juniper needles) to the smoke is to me the main reason not to go with a Bradley or any of the other smokers. But then, I'm German and I want to make some of the things I miss, make them the way they were made for hundreds of years. A slightly different agenda on my side I guess. Hickory etc don't exist in Germany, not as far as I can tell. I just bought a pile of smoking books over there and they all use beech as the base wood. FWIW, what I hear and read about the Big Green Egg (BGE) is only good stuff. Some even managed very low temp smokes, though that's not high on my to do list. I love smoked meats of any kind, smoked fish is not so much my thing. I prefer fish raw or from the bbq or seared. Not poached, boiled, or smoked. Again must a personal taste preference, but it plays into the decision making here. Lots of good stuff about the Bradley too, but if I'd start having sheet pans and smoked water on the deck I'd get into serious trouble, especially since we just spent a gazillion on the new deck ;-) I don't think you can go wrong with a Bradley if you're mainly interested in American style smoked things. And it's not that expensive that you could not justify something else in addition down the road, if need be. Good luck and let us know how you decide and what you're making! Always looking for new info on smoked things :-)