Dave the Cook

Michael Symon says -- in a Calphalon commercial -- CAL-fa-lon. Video here.

The CI crowd can be condescending, smug, unnecessarily circuitous in their thinking (including many a trip through the land of the Straw Man), and downright boring at times, but they're rarely out-and-out wrong. So I can't account for their results. Damage to avocados seems to have a threshold of 45°F/7°C. Trucks and trains headed to New York get cold, I'm sure, but probably not that cold -- ruining a semi-trailer full of expensive fruit seems like a quick way to go out of business, so there must be a way to mitigate temperature. Or maybe they come in the hold of a boat.

McGee, On Food and Cooking (second edition), p 277: p 337: From the first edition, p 202-203:

You got some bad advice. Cold actually damages unripe avocados. Depending on the species, if you take them out of the refrigerator now, they'll likely go straight to rotting.

I was going to embark on a long explanation, but the Serious Eats link says it pretty well:

It's not worth the trouble to caramelize sweet onions; they don't fare well in long cooking applications. We use them for onion rings and in salads. They're also good when quickly grilled, or sometimes as part of a stuffing.

David is onto something when it comes to texture and the contrast between the egg and the crispy parts of the hash. But I also appreciate the extra volume of sauce -- in the form of yolk -- that a poached egg provides.

Dude. Poach an egg. Instructions here. Or here. It really makes a difference.

I think -- very generally -- that prepared mustards are half-seed, half-liquid, much of which is vinegar and the rest water, wine or verjus. So it seems like you could start with milled seeds in half the amount of prepared that you would normally use. Dilute it with water or stock, maybe?

I think that's hash, but I worry about the evident lack of ambition: that egg is not poached.

Why not use mustard seed or mustard flour?

I think Keller's prejudice is the result of two things: the sort of food he usually handles, and watching amateurs (including cooks right out of school) misuse an otherwise valuable tool. Keller directs the reader to a photo of him using a palette knife to turn scallops. That makes sense to me; if you use tongs, you might be more likely to tear an insufficiently seared scallop. With the knife, you really have to wait for proper browning before you can turn. But what works for a two-ounce bivalve won't work for a two-inch-thick ribeye (or, I suspect, the 2-1/2 pound short rib he calls for on page 41 of Ad Hoc; I wonder how he manages that). Having just spent three days teaching a "kitchen basics" class, I can say that many folks approach tongs in a manner very similar to the way they handle their first really sharp knife. They're uncomfortable with them; they treat such implements the way other people might handle a gun or a very fast car for the first time. As a result, they tear the skin off of chicken thighs while searing and they crush sauteed zucchini. But nearly every one of them leaves class with a pair of tongs, convinced of their ultimate utility, and the need for practice.

Grade B isn't as prevalent as A, but it's not hard to find. When I lived in Houston (late 90s), it was available at all the major grocery stores. Here in Atlanta it's the same story: of the three or four brands on the shelf, at least one of them will be B.

I'd scour eBay for a Cuisinart Little Pro Plus. They're not made any more -- I suspect because they weren't profitable for the company -- but mine is still going strong after eight or so years.

If you were making it for me, yes. I think a successful hash hath crispiness to a more than nominal degree.

I think it's a challenge if you're going for "crispy" -- potatoes are good at "crispy outside/fluffy inside." But I could see other starches working under the right circumstances. Bean, rice and grits cakes can all be crispy.

I don't find that there's big difference in taste among potatoes (for example, I don't know what you mean by "meaty"), particularly when there's lots of other stuff going on like there is in hash. The significant difference for me was that I was starting the potatoes from scratch, and I didn't want to parboil -- in fact, in the size I used, parboiling seemed superfluous. In this case -- going straight to the pan -- the waxy type seemed the better bet.

Our hash was made from pork shoulder and two potato varieties, Yukon Gold and mature reds. We were shooting for a crispy crust, especially on the potato. Several folks have suggested getting the potatoes 3/4 of the way done before adding onions (and peppers, which we didn't use) to help avoid softening the potato surface, but we went a step further, doing the onions and meat separately, then adding them at the last minute. Here, more or less, is the recipe: 2 C roast pork, finely diced (1/4") 2 C waxy potatoes, finely diced 1 C chopped onion 2 cloves garlic, minced 1/2 C rich stock (we used beef, but it probably doesn't matter) 1/4 C heavy cream 2 t pork fat 1 T duck fat (Yeah, the fats are odd, but we had the pork fat leftover from the roast, and duck fat was close at hand -- plus poultry fat + potatoes = some kind of magic.) Heat oven to 450°F. Cook the onions in the pork fat until they separate and pick up a little color. Add the pork and stock and heat through. Add cream and reduce slightly. Adjust seasoning. Brown the potatoes in duck fat with a little salt until crispy. We used a cast-iron skillet, because we knew we were going to put it in the oven, but any oven-safe saute or fry pan will do. Pour the meat-onion mixture over the potatoes, being careful to disturb the potatoes as little as possible. Put the pan in the oven for about ten minutes, until top is browned and liquid has thickened. Plate and top with poached egg, if desired. Here's the hash right out of the oven: And here it is plated, with an egg and scallion garnish: This was an excellent example of a "crispy-with-separate-bits" hash. The potatoes retained their crunch, the meat picked up a little crust, and the brief stay in the oven brought the liquid down to a glaze, leaving enough moisture (along with the egg as sauce) to prevent dryness in the mouth.

Got it. Your method makes sense, since tots were originally devised by Ore-Ida as a way to use up shards left over from making fries, weren't they? I'm wondering if you're not going to have to add another step for authentic tot crunch -- some starch, or pre-frying or something. Otherwise, you've just got irregular potato shapes. Or maybe that's what you want.

I'm not clear on the result you're trying to achieve. Do you want to recreate tots ("gems" to our friends down under) as a component of the hash, or are you after something much smaller, like a tot "crumb" -- maybe 1/16" inch?

saturnbar is correct. The commercial standard for Creole mustard is Zatarain's, and the ingredients are as simple as can be: vinegar, water, brown mustard seed, salt, xanthan gum.

Having been gifted with a chicken and a bunch of lemons, we cast about for some new way to combine them,and came upon Jamie Oliver's "roasted chicken breast with lemony bombay potatoes." At first we we planned just to double it, but an unexpected diner showed up, followed by two more. Since we now had to serve five, we used the whole chicken, cut into quarters (backbone went into the freezer for stock). In the end, we used: One chicken, quartered Two lemons, zested and juiced One red bell pepper, roughly chopped 1-1/2 pounds red potatoes, peeled and chunked 1-1/2 inches ginger, peeled and julienned (next time, we'll take it down to brunoise; a matchstick of ginger was too jarring) 1 tablespoon turmeric 1 tablespoon ground cumin 1 teaspoon red chile flakes (not in the recipe, but we had a crowd that likes things spicy; next time we'll add more) 1/3 cup olive oil (that's a guess; in the spirit of Jamie Oliver, we just glugged it in until it seemed right) salt and lots of ground black pepper We parboiled the potatoes for four minutes, then tossed them with everything else except the chicken. The vegetables were strained, then dumped into an oiled 5-quart casserole. I brushed both sides of the leg quarters with the liquid and put it in 400°F oven. After fifteen minutes, we pulled the pot out, tossed the potato mixture around, and added the breast quarters (also painted with the liquid). I set the timer for 40 minutes, but it took about 45 for the breast to come to 155°F. This served the five of us and yielded leftovers. Other than the ginger and chile changes noted above, the only thing I'd change is to up the amount of sauce, partially degrease it after baking, then whisk in a little grainy mustard to emulsify whatever fat remained and add another sharp note. Between the olive oil and rendered chicken fat, the sauce ended up a little tame and greasy.

Check out Toco Giant, in the huge strip mall at North Druid Hills and LaVista. First, they stock Laird's b-i-b (look on the bottom shelf against the wall opposite the cognacs); second, they have an excellent selection of bitters, as well as vermouths; third, decent mezcal and gin selection; fourth, they sometimes have Rittenhouse b-i-b, and always have Smith & Cross; fifth, I'll get to in a minute. Also check out Tower on Piedmont. The Buford Highway location is okay, but in midtown they're more serious about spirits. Unfortunately, I haven't convinced them that there's a difference between the various Laird's bottlings, but they have just about everything else. Here's the "fifth" from above: if you can't find something at Tower and you really want it, tell the manager at Toco Giant. Usually he'll bring in a couple of bottles just for bragging rights. Finally, if you're serious about cocktails, get to the new-ish H&F Bottle Shop in Peachtree Battle. I haven't been there since they got their spirits license, but it's bound to be fun shopping.

No worries. My remarks weren't intended to criticize; they were to point out that even in big North American metro areas one has to cajole, hump and scavenge to assemble a respectable cocktailian bar -- never mind the bar one really wants.

Not to minimize the difficulties of dealing with the Ontario LCBO and the logistics of small towns, while I can get everything on your list in Atlanta (we live in a close-in suburb), I'm not sure it would be a casual trip. It would, at a minimum, require visits to two stores and expended time of two hours.