Dave the Cook

I'm with Suzanne. Egg whites are practically nothing but water held in suspension by long strands of protein. Just stir 'em in like that and you're almost guaranteed to get rubber--imagine an egg white cooked in a pan over medium heat for eight minutes, and you'll get the idea. Moreover, as the water in the whites evaporates at the surface, you lower the surface temperature = longer cooking time = overcooked fish and tough crust. If you whip the whites to soft peaks and fold them in at the last minute, they'll add some air in the form of bubbles, which (theoretically), when they pop, will increase the surface area of the cooked batter. More surface area = more crunch. But that's lagniappe. Try it Suzanne's or Andy's way, then add the whipped whites if your crunch jones is still howling. If you don't want to do the yeast, but still want a leavened batter (again, more bubbles), try one to one-and-a-half teasoons of baking powder per cup of flour. Other than that, make sure your oil is up to temperature, but you're probably already being careful there. You do have a deep-frying thermometer, don't you? This is fun. I feel like Tyler Florence. With less hair.

You're shittin' me Plotnicki. I'm not surprised in the least. I'll bet it's a pre-CBS Strat, too. {edit: I see that it is--crossed posts.} As usual, we'll be et up with guitarists, and no rhythm section. I'll bring my Rick bass and the small G-K cabinet. We're gonna need a drummer.

I imagine it makes them giggle.

This is pretty much my recipe, too. But I've never felt like I was approaching the limit of the potatoes' ability to hold butter (my limit, maybe, but not the potatoes'). With a sufficiently dry potato, I think you could slide another quarter pound in without much trouble. Bakers/idahoes/russets are preferred because the higher starch content (relative to waxier potatoes, which includes Yukons) allows for greater absorption as the starch expands. It has also occurred to me that an emulsifier of some sort might amplify the apparent ability of the potatoes to hold fat. Haven't tried it, so it's still only a theory. I would start with one well-beaten egg yolk for two pounds of taters, and go from there.

Do you mean battered fish? That's what I'm aiming for and I miss almost all of the time - batter simply not light and crispy the way I want it. So, if that's what you are after, I too will be following this thread very closely and hoping for some answers. What usually happens in threads like this is a bunch of people will throw recipes at you guys (no offense intended if chicks are present). You'll pick one or two and try them. They might work, or they might not, but to me it's not a very interesting way to go about it. I'd rather figure it out by analyzing what you're doing and why the results come up short of your desires and expectations. Then we can pick things apart and try and fix it. So: what are the recipes? was there trouble with any part of the recipe--substitution of ingredients, difficult techniques or techniques that had to be modified? what were your expectations? how did the results differ from your expectations? All we've got to go on now is "not light and crispy the way I want it." That's a start, but--more details, please.

For some of us, feeling clean is just not that easy.

This confirms that there's a lot of rude people hanging around here. But I guess we already knew that.

Alton Brown has a nice slow-cooker recipe here. I cut back on the water a little and add maple syrup or brown sugar. It's a great aroma to wake up to. And no, wawairis, grits are not low class. They're the more refined version of polenta.

201: Hope no longer! A mandoline can be used to make manicotti shells from eggplants, but it truly excels at getting see-through-thin slices of knuckle and fingertip. Much more efficient than a chef's knife.

A nine-inch pie shell holds about 4-1/2 cups, so I'm guessing it might make 4 pies--if you added some pecans.

Jin, Thanks. This is perfect--jargon for something I already do. My favorite sort of discovery. (It is great, by the way.)

OKAY! I GIVE UP! What the hell is congee?

I was thinking about this just the other day. We went to see Springsteen, and as I sat down to dinner--a foot-long chili dog while sitting in the second row, first balcony--I reflected on what I had touched since last washing my hands: car keys; sttering wheel; beer bottle from fridge; upholstery in brother-in-law's car; dollar bill (money is filthy) given to alledgedly homeless person; wife's jacket; ticket, which passed from my hand to vendor then back; more money for hot dog; cardboard tray for beer and hot dog; railing down to seat. Reflecting on the antiseptic properties of alcohol, decided another beer would be required. Still alive. Changing my sig.

This does not mean that the dishwasher is worse than just leaving them moldering in the little ceramic dish at the edge of the sink. We'll have to see the numbers to draw any real conclusions. Now that I think about it, I run sponges through the d/w just to clean them up, not specifically for sanitizing purposes. Sometimes I'm just a cheap bastard. As tommy might say, 'i'm special that way.'™

Baphie, can you suggest something similar as a back-up? Then we can have our own little tasting.

Though I think it's an admirable compendium, Bittman's book is not for the beginner. I came home one day to a disappointed daughter, whose first words to me were (thrusting How to Cook Everything) in my face), "Daddy, this title lies!"

Surely my French is rusty, but isn't this tuna honey? Please tell me I'm misunderstanding.

Maybe Awbrig can arrange for you to have a special one on one class with CT. That could be his gift to you for the New Year. And also as a generous thing he did for a fellow eGulleteer. And then you could go and teach 201 what you learned from CT.. And 201 can share that knowledge with another.. and they with another and so on.. CT's fame would continue to grow.. and Awbrig would have done a great Mitzvah.. and he too would be thanked everytime someone learns how to cook great food. A suggestion that is far superior to mine. Maybe Awbrig will think so, too.

That's okay with me if it's okay with Awbrig.

I added a little honey to the polenta I made this afternoon, along with ground ancho. When it was done, I spread it in a sheet pan and let it cool. Then I sliced it in triangles and grilled it (can't remember where I saw this done). I don't have all the technique worked out, but the honey was a nice counter to the ancho, in a more harmonious way than straight sugar would have been. Plus the honey helped to create a nice crisp grilled crust. Bobby Flay is big on honey with chile, and that's why I gave it a try. Maybe he's worth paying attention to once in a while, after all!

Awbrig, pay attention! Send it to me. I promise to send it to 201 when the time is right (and I'm done with it. ).

OK, thanks to Steve P and Jaybee, I have a better sense of it. You were simply keeping your options open (vis a vis having the chef/kitchen choose your meal) until it became clear that working through this particular server (and by extension, possibly the kitchen) was not going to be worthwhile. Have I got that right? It makes sense to me. But forget the server for a minute. Having the kitchen plan your meal almost certainly bypasses the problems related to faulty execution, by definition. That would be one of the reasons (though maybe not the main one) to do it, wouldn't it?

Someone please tell me he's kidding! You ARE kidding, right? No, he's not. There is such a book. I haven't read it, but it looks interesting, and I'm thinking about acquiring it, since Awbrig recommends it. But based on the synopsis, I would not suggest it for an inexperienced cook; it seems more of an intermediate-level text for cooks who are comfortable with technique and want to move to the next level. But it does remind me that we have left out an important primer: Jacques Pepin's Complete Techniques Having this book when I started probably would have saved months, if not years. I hope Jin doesn't find out we forgot...

Not alternative texts, but supplementary reading, if the science of cooking helps you make sense of it: On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen by Harold McGee. It's not a cook book; even if you never cook, it will help you make sense of what you eat. Another thing you should not forget is the incredible resource that eGullet itself represents. If you need help with cooking, you couldn't be in a better place.

tommy's comment was posted at the same time as I was having trouble reconciling Steve P's comments on the Blue Hill thread with what was being posted here. It may have been an infelicitious introduction, but I think the ideas need to be considered. Steve, I also interpreted what you were saying on the BH thread as being generally applicable. If it's not, how is one to know when it will be a useful strategy? It seems from your early posts in this thread that you were only exploring the possibility at Babbo, and not serious. That leaves me wondering why you did it at all. Just to see what the reaction would be? Under what circumstances would you have let the kitchen at Babbo choose your meal?