Dave the Cook

I'm pretty sure this is not true. According to the EPA release, PFOA "is an essential processing aid in the manufacture of fluoropolymers, which are used in the manufacture of a wide range of non-stick and stain-resistant surfaces and products . . ." and "may also be produced by the breakdown of fluorotelomers, which are used to impart water, stain, and grease resistance to carpets, paper and textile." It's not generally present in cookware as purchased. According to the Dupont web site: "A published, peer-reviewed study (April 2005) in Environmental Science & Technology found no PFOA in Teflon cookware. No PFOA was detected even when the cookware was scratched with a knife." Dupont does qualify: ". . . according to a recently published study conducted by researchers at the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA), PFOA was detected in minute quantities in cookware using extreme and abusive test methods--methods that do not reflect what happens when consumers use cookware." It's bad enough that this stuff is in the air, the water and our bodies. There's no need to scare people with misleading information.

Do you mean Aviation, maybe? 2 ounces gin 0.5 ounces lemon juice 0.5 ounces Maraschino liqueur Shake with ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. There's a topic here. Who's Leo?

Three suggestions: Bijou (from drinkboy.com) Bitter Floridian 1 ounce gin 1 ounce white rum 1/2 ounce orange juice 1/4 ounce falernum 1/4 ounce lime juice 2 dashes orange bitters Shake with ice and pour into a chilled cocktail glass. Cropduster 2 ounces applejack (Laird's 100-proof bonded is even better) 0.5 ounces lemon juice 0.5 ounces maraschino liqueur Dash orange bitters Dash peach bitters (I use this pretty much just for effect; I don't think it adds a lot to the drink. You have dispensation to use two dashes of Regan's No. 6 instead.) Shake with ice and pour into a chilled cocktail glass.

One of those great bits of serendipity here: our eG Spotlight guest this week, Sara Moulton, mentions in her interview with snowangel a product called Just Whites. According to the product information, it's real egg whites, and can even be whipped.

Over here, we make our own.

My recollection from a recent visit is that it was a breast half and a thigh. Considered in the context of the entire meal, it seemed like a reasonable portion. We asked about this. They used these clever French accents, but yeah, they said pretty much what you're saying. The presentation is pretty impressive -- the tiny halogen light over our table created a halo that sent the whole affair over the top (I actually laughed out loud). I'm not sure the bowl itself, though polished to within an inch of its life, is unique. If you want to see another one, go to Pegu Club, where they have one on the back bar to hold (I think) sugar cubes. Regardless, the baba is pretty impressive.I have to disagree with your assessment, though. The best dessert in New York (not that I have a lot of experience) is listed on the same menu: the pear souffle (forget the salted butter ice cream that comes with it; it's great stuff but not well matched) is not only the best dessert I've ever had -- and I'm not a fan of pears -- but the best souffle, period.

Make your reservation for a Monday or Tuesday, and request the tasting menu at that time. That's it. If you're dining alone, or with someone as crazy about food as you are (and I mean that in a good way), I recommend sitting at the dining room bar so you can have a close-up view of the preparation of your meal. As for cost, I have to admit that even though I've been there twice, I can't remember what we paid -- I only recall feeling like we got the better of the deal. I'm terribly remiss in not posting my notes. I promise to get them up soon.

Thanks, Jack. I appreciate all of that, most of which I agree with, though one shouldn't discount the power of a well-funded marketing campaign to engender enough repetition to force new meaning into the language. I suspect this happens more in the US than the UK (again, divided by a common language). But I was actually making a cheap (and admittedly off-topic) joke. So, if you don't mind my saying it, my bad?

What do you mean by that?

So you're the one that did that to me. I've been looking for you. Can you tell me what happened? My memory is a bit foggy on the details. Also, in the sticks, at least for the early part of the 80's, I might nominate the Russian Brothers-The White Guy and his darker counterpart, The Black Guy. I made a gillion of those things in New Orleans in the early 80's. ← As a matter of fact, I first encountered the Brothers at Brennan's -- in the early eighties. Consequently, I cannot help you with the seventies. Sorry. But if your tending duties included brunch at Brennan's during the period, it's possible that we're even, in some cosmic sense.

If you were looking for more of a true cocktail for the '70s, might I suggest the Tequila Sunrise? Maybe things were different in New York City, but out here in the sticks, I served up as many of those as I did Bartles & Jaymeses.

I'm pretty sure that the basic frozen fries you get at the grocery store are blanched. Let them thaw, and you'll see all the essential properties of fries that you blanched yourself. In fact, if I don't have time to do fries from scratch, this is my preferred method.

I'm pretty sure they're formed from moisture in the air that's in the bag. I know you say that you got it all out, but unless you're using a vacuum sealer, there's always going to be some left -- and of course, every time you open the bag, you let more in. We've seen how often you make stock, Marlene. I seriously doubt that freezer burn is a problem.

Have you tried corks? I hear they have magical properties when it comes to ice. I don't think you can prevent them, especially if you're repeatedly opening up the bag to grab a cube or two. Why are they a problem, anyway?

Around here places that sell things care about MONEY. If I want to buy it why won't you sell it to me? Or is that some strange new business model? ← Sometimes they aren't set up to take credit cards, handle cash or deal with sales tax -- or retail-level customer service.

The great thing about the eGCI course is that even if you can't go out and load up a credit card with Sitram, Staub and Falk Culinaire, you can go out armed with sufficient knowledge to make an intelligent assessment of pretty much anything you run across. So maybe you don't have the $150 for a clad copper saute evasee -- based on what you know, you can decide if $19 is reasonable for a scratch 'n' dent 3 1/2-qt Cuisinart MultiClad saute pan with lid. I had to rebuild most of my batterie about a year ago with a teeny tiny budget (okay, no budget). What I learned is that if you are poor but patient, deals like this show up at places like TJ Maxx, Tuesday Morning and Marshall's -- not all at once, but often enough to make it worthwhile to stop in regularly. I've put together the basic set of stuff: 3-1/2 and 5-qt saute pans, 1, 3 and 9-quart saucepans, and a 16-qt. stockpot, all in name-brand, stainless-clad, decently-thick aluminum, for less than $200.

True and true (speaking from experience). I agree that aluminum is an odd choice for a Dutch oven. I don't agree that "anything that is done to it is to try to convnce the users that it can work." Aluminum has had a significant role in professional kitchens for many years. Not everyone can handle its responsiveness, and not all aluminum cookware is resilient enough for the home cook and the domestic environment. I imagine the non-stick on this All-Clad stuff is either hard-anodization or a PTFE inside and an enamel outside. It would be nuts to expose Teflon to a heat source.

If you look at the food section for any major city paper, you can see that ad content compared with editorial usually exceeds the average for the rest of the paper. Do food sections subsidize editorial and reportorial content for other parts of the paper? If they do, what do you think is the rationale for that, given your assertion that readers are devoted to the subject of food? It's hard for me to buy, at least on its face, the argument that newspapers in places like Houston, San Francisco or Atlanta "recycle canned material because they don't have the staff to fill the section with their own stories." Are you saying that they can't pay reasonable rates, or that they won't? Or is it that they can't find people to fill the need at any price?

I'm not finding "gibbles" in Larousse Gastronomique.

I will smother biscuits with gravy (or molasses, maple syrup or egg yolk) indiscriminately. The gravy of choice, however, is made by using the fat from sausage to make a roux, then adding milk. In truth, I use half milk, half stock (pork if I've got it, chicken if not).

Chunk up some ham and make a hash.

I suppose it's sort of cheating, but the day after is my day with the kids. Since I knew they would get the traditional stuff on Thursday, I decided it was my opportunity to have first shot at leftovers. So I went at the two days as a joint menu. Here's today's brunch: - Sparkling apple-pear cocktails for the kids; apple-champagne for the grown-ups - Turkey-sweet potato hash, poached eggs, sage reduction - Roasted asparagus, polonaise (minus the grated egg) - Cranberry-ginger sorbet with green apple brunoise and turkey-skin garnish - Pumpkin-pecan bread pudding with applejack sauce About half of this was leftovers (the turkey, sweet potatoes, asparagus), about a fourth was simply a modifying step while making Thursday's dinner (cranberry sauce and sorbet -- just divide the berries after cooking, add different syrups; freeze some after dinner; the reduction; the garnish) and a fourth was all new (bread pudding and sauce, done last night; brunoise and polonaise this morning).

Prudhomme has a recipe for tasso and oysters in Louisiana Kitchen. No spinach -- just cream and a buttload of green onions, served over pasta. Will that do?

I'd go the other direction: smoke for an hour or so, then into the oven for a long, long time at low, low heat. But honestly, I don't know from venison. The wildest thing I've ever cooked is brown trout.

I saw that, too, but I'm just working off Emeril's recipe. I guess he's used lemon plus a variety of syrups as an alternative. Tamarind is another thing to think about for the next batch.