Louisa Chu

I was wondering how long it would take for this to make the media. I'm interested to see the New York/American reaction in general. And to see how French rules play on American turf.

Lutz has been THE place for Viennese pastries - I haven't tried them for years - but in my memory they were very good. And I've heard excellent things about Vanille Patisserie - I know there's a thread on it - maybe in the Pastry Forum.

I don't wash them. The ones I've used in LA and Paris have come from sources I know - and treat them like a luxury product - and charge that way too - so there's usually no need. If you don't know the source - and feel like you need to wash them - then I'd suggest removing the pistils - they may have absorbed water. In gastronomic service they're almost always removed - for potentially unpleasant bitter flavour, to stuff them better, and I suspect just to make life that little bit harder for me. Have you done tempura before? I had a friend at Cordon Bleu whose dad was a tempura chef in Japan - I'm sure the Japan forum can help with the finer points. But essentially no special trick really for blossoms. Ice water - and keeping your batter very cold - gives great results. I'm not sure if carbonated water really makes a difference - again - Japan forum for those answers. And I have to respectfully disagree - I've been told that it's best to use tempura batter immediately. Have you had good results with just flour and egg wash? Copper pot? That's funny. No, you don't need a copper pot.

Why are we not naming the decent and humane hotel chain? I forgot to mention that at the Plaza Athenee in Paris that hotel personnel were welcome to free breakfast in the personnel restaurant - coffee, tea - real cream and sugar - hot milk - for cafe au lait - baguettes, butter, jam, and the extra housemade croissants, pain au chocolat, pain aux raisins, and brioche.

The only "signature" dish is the langoustines/caviar - all of the other dishes change - but the scallops/caviar/cauliflower puree has stayed for at least three seasonal menus now if I'm remembering right. It's not black tie/ball-gown dressy - as for how dressy a dress - elegant dressy - or even funky couture dressy. And not all the men wear suits.

Let's get back to Lauren's trip!

marcus, you know I have to strongly - and vehemently - disagree with you about ADPA. I LOVE the room and the service - I think both are beautifully modernized versions of the classics - but I will agree that I don't get those pictures on either side of the fireplace! The food - I worked with M. Moret during the transition - and had dinner there when he fully took over - and it is - without a question - SUPERB. And I spoke with both M. Moret AND M. Piege about where I should work - and I know I really can't understand at this point in my life just how unbelievably lucky I was to have that choice - but there were a LOT of factors that led me to the Crillon - not the least of which was M. Moret's blessing - and nudging - to get out into the world and work in another historically great gastronomic kitchen. I would say of course that for anyone who can - go to both.

Hi Lauren - congratulations! It's so cool that you're so excited! There are two Menus at ADPA - the Menu Collection at 300 and the Menu Plaisirs de Table at 190 - click La Carte. It's the Spring carte right now - with morels and aspargus. With the Menu Collection you'll get an amuse bouche of the signature langoustines and caviar; and then demi portions of the scallops and caviar, the lobster, and then the chicken. With the Menu Plaisirs de Table you get to choose three demi portions from the Menu section. From the dessert menu - I'm really excited to see the last one - with the Guariguette milkshake - fresh French seasonal strawberry milkshake! Last year the patisserie guys got a little cotton candy machine to play with - this one should be fun too. Have a great time!

Ah, I see - a student with special needs already.

OK - help me with my market research please! How many people are really interested in learning more about how to do these kinds of techniques at home? How do you think you'll work them into your own repertoire? What other tricks do you want to learn how to do?

I seem to remember little individual deep-dish pizzas at Wrigley - or am I imagining this? I've been to a few Sox skybox events - and while very swank - seemed very wrong.

Chef - no one is sorry that you've been busy. For the Southeast crowd - behold Moto.

Chef - you are forgiven - since you've been busy But from reading his bio I do not believe he is an El Bulli alum. Edited by Varmint to remove link due to merger of threads.

Regarding the mold on cheese - it is almost as simple as when it tastes bad, it's not good - but that does take some familiarity with the cheese. For example, I've had a cheese with a black crust with white fuzzy mold growing on it - one of the scariest-looking things I've ever eaten - and it was delicious - but you can be sure I would have been hesitant to try it had the cheesemaker not been there himself. And just want to add that cheese rinds - except waxed of course - are edible - it's just a matter of personal taste. But I've been warned that I might not want to eat the rinds of big hard cheeses - because they get rolled across the floor.

Hey - give me a break - I'm working with jet lag, no sleep, and five languages here! In French kitchens - where there's a fair need for speed and precision - when you're talking just creme - it's just liquid heavy cream; creme epaisse - thick, spoonable heavy cream - NOT acidic; creme fraiche - thick, acidic cream; creme fouettee - whipped creme; chantilly - sweetened creme fouetee. Beyond that we'd have to continue this conversation at the cremerie - or the cafe.

Mon Viel Ami does have a second seating at 21:30. Off your list I know Clos des Gourmets is closed on weekends.

I vote for Danskos too - I wore them fine working boulangerie. The only time I ever slipped a bit was on non-stick spray. I wear Dansko closed back Pros - and just discovered they have Narrow Pros which I'll be getting as soon as I possibly can. I also have Superfeet Custom Fit footbeds in mine now - but will be switching to the New Balance Motion Control footbeds - with metatarsal cushioning. I also wear SmartWool RBX Ultra Cushion socks.

I've been thinking a lot about this lately - sad that the staff meal seems decidedly not important in some of the best restaurants in the States. My family's restaurants were pretty basic but we always had the best staff meals - never scraps - but no set meal time - we never closed during the day so we ate - or tried to eat - sometime between lunch and dinner rush. When the Vietnamese cousins came over we had some of the best meals I've ever had to this day - rice vermicelli in clear chicken broth with finely julienned chicken - or sometimes crispy skinned duck - with big bowls of cilantro leaves and finely sliced green onions to garnish - lemons, limes, and hot sesame oil to season to taste. Non-alcoholic drinks were always available to everyone. At ADPA we usually left for lunch at about 11:30 and dinner about 18:30 - to be back in our kitchen at the top of the hour. The Plaza has an employee cafeteria and the food was usually pretty good - at least two hot plats every day - typically French bistro kind of food - they once did a very nice boudin noir - with salads, cheeses - oh my god the cheese selection - yogurts, and desserts too. The desserts came from the hotel's central patisserie - extras from tea or the Relais Plaza - so what might have been a 15 euro patisserie for tea was only 45 centimes for us - like the giant chocolate macarons. We all had a meal allowance that we rarely used up. Friday dinners was usually the night we cooks would special order the steak frites. Right before our Christmas vacation we had a special meal with smoked salmon, our own housemade foie gras terrine - the cooks at ADPA made up enough foie gras terrines for everyone at the Plaza - and turbot. After meals - back up in our kitchen - we always had coffee - a big pot of espresso and a tray of demitasses - always right before service. Is a place to sit, some decent food, and a few minutes to just eat really too much to ask for? Very sad.

Some Visa cards just do not work in France. I have a Visa from my French bank - and I had to choose - and pay extra - for the option of being able to use it worldwide - otherwise it could have just been in France - or just Europe.

To me the best bit is almost whatever sticks to the spatula - que de bonheur.

Creme fluide is NOT liquid creme fraiche - it's just what's called in the States heavy whipping cream - a cream about 30% fat. I don't know what LIQUID creme fraiche would be - I've never heard of such a thing. Creme frais is just fresh cream. I haven't looked for a ravioli pasta but I guess you could buy that - wonton wrappers could be an alternative - just stick with an egg wash.

I've been out to Rungis with the chef/proprietor - Pascal Barbot - a great chef and a gentleman. There is no secret to reservations at L'Astrance - it's just a very small restaurant in great demand. Just call and ask for the next available table - or the next available time to reserve. Ask for the waiting list. They call to confirm dinner reservations by noon or so - so call around 14:00 to ask about cancellations. There's no secret. They don't hold tables for VIPs - there's no room.

You can actually buy whole bowls of just that rice crust in microwaveable packaging in Korean markets now - those Koreans are a clever people.

Fatback in France is usually NOT salted. If you do blanche it of course make it's entirely cooled before mixing it with your raw meat/egg/etc. ingredients. It's funny - in France where ALL kinds of kitchen hygiene rules are ignored - working with raw meat mixtures is the one area where chefs really don't like to mess around - working with it over ice usually.

Is salted fatback cooked or treated in any way? If it's just fat with salt then just cook off a sample to taste for seasoning. Otherwise the general rule is 20g of salt and 6g of pepper for 1k of UNSALTED ingredients.