mattsea
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Posts posted by mattsea
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This is where the pressure cooker really shows off its stuff. Risotto takes 7 minutes at high pressure.
This is an attitude I'll never be able to understand. A risotto, cooked traditionally, will take somewhere in the region of 17-20 minutes to cook. Are those 10-13 minutes *that* important? I enjoy cooking, and I suspect you do too! I just don't understand.
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Knowing all the risks and implication of the challenge, I would love to see an amateur version of Top Chef. I would probably be the first to enter!
The UK show MasterChef has been licensed by Fox. An American version of the show will appear in 2010, hosted by Ramsay.
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I had no idea they're notoriously tricky! Mine is about 6 foot tall, and produces more leaves than I could ever use!!
I do suspect that Rhode Island has slightly different weather to Western Australia though, which may explain the difference.
Mine likes full sun (and I mean FULL), and I tend to water it every 2-3 days in summer. It's in a large pot with good drainage.
They also seem to like being pruned. I regularly massacre mine and it comes right back with growth spurts.
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I just wish that the finale episodes themselves went for 2 hours. Then we would get more of a sense of the creation, execution and judging of each dish.
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My understanding is that the current French Laundry technique for poaching a lobster tail (ie. poaching in beurre monte controlled by an immersion circulator) is a hybrid of the classic TFL technique (a traditional poach) and the technique used at Per Se in the early days (cryo-vac'd tail with small amount of butter).
As to why they've chosen to use this hybrid technique I don't know.
I do know that it's delicious.
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In Myer last night I saw Thai Street Food for $69.95 and Movida Rustica for $44.95. I imagine they're the same price at other Myers.
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I'm not actually aware of any restaurant chef who has written a cookbook, as opposed to having it written by a co-author.
I can think of a few exceptions to the rule, such as Thai Food by David Thompson.
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as far as sandwiches go, I very much enjoyed Eisenberg's Sandwich Shop when I was in NY last year.
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I don't think I could do $1 per head, but $1 per course should be possible.
Where are you drawing the line as to what's included in the $1? Spices from your cupboard? Cooking oil? Electricity and gas?
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Gail Simmons has confirmed that the two-part finale will be shot in Napa.
Maybe the Thomas Keller rumours are true?
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Re #7, I don't mind a name, but I don't want him/her in my mental space. The waiter is not my dinner companion. Take the order, be quiet, be knowledgeable, be present, never interrupt a conversation. If I'm a regular, be friendly, but not a "pal".
Agreed, but I think there is a considerable middle ground between a stiff, formal, servile server who refrains from giving his/her name, and the "pal" who is over-friendly as you describe. I'd like someone in the middle. Someone human, but not in my face.
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For me, most of these "offenses" fall into the category of "I don't really care"
Yes, I agree. The only possible exception would be if these occurred in truly top restaurants for which you were paying a significant amount of money (like Per Se or Le Bernardin or something). Other than that, I think adherence to these rules would make things too fussy for me.
The "no names" rule really strikes me as odd and somewhat archaic.
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My girlfriend and I both loved Oyamel, Jose Andres' Mexican small-plates restaurant.
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I believe he splits his time and has constant video hookups from one kitchen to the other.
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It does seem to show an inconsistency (or growth?) in the judges... I recall them harping on someone who was playing with the idea of coq a vin, but used a hen, yet these kind of nouveau terms aren't fazing them much. I guess once you've whipped out the agar and the nitrogen, all bets are off.
She wasn't playing with the idea of coq au vin, she said she had cooked coq au vin, which she hadn't.
Surely coq au vin, as the name of an individual dish, is in a different class to words like "confit" or "carpaccio" or "sashimi" that describe a technique or method of preparation.
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I agree! I think describing it as tomato 'sashimi' is fine, and I don't see the problem.
I'm sure people had issues when people stopped saying "onions, celery and carrots" and started calling it mirepoix.
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Unless you are a Euro and then you are actually expected to put both feet in the trough.
Wait.... are you claiming that Americans have better table manners than Europeans?
That's such a shocking inversion of the orthodox wisdom that I don't know where to start in rebutting it...
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At least I haven't harped on the "tomato confit" issue this year--until now. I seem to have heard one of the Cheftestant's using the term on one of this season's episodes. I'm not a big fan of tomatoes stewed in duck or goose fat, but I guess we live in times where anything can be called a "confit"--a liberal description of what is a specific form of cooking. Tomato "sashimi" or tomato "confit"--I suppose in the end what matters most is what the judges tasted.
I thought Eli's eggplant "confit" in this episode was basically slow-roasted eggplant with liberal amounts of olive oil, but I suppose "confit" works as shorthand.
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I thought Mike V's bitchiness about Kevin's dish was really poor form, and it shows a complete lack of maturity. Is he suggesting that refined, well cooked food that uses traditional methods is always inferior to dishes cooked using cutting-edge techniques? Surely not. I thought he was too mature for that, and that his work for Jose Andres would have shown him that both approaches can yield equally delicious results. That seems to be the entire premise of the Bazaar, at which Mike V was Chef de Cuisine.
Speaking of Andres, the "tomato sashimi" element of Mike's plate looked very familiar.
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I have too much faith in Tom C to believe that he would allow the producers to steer the results in that way.
Although she has been faltering, and could plausibly have been sent home this week or last week, I think the judges decisions in both cases were entirely defensible on merit grounds.
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ON the more laughable side, Jane Kennedy has released "Jane's Kitchen". Kennedy isn't a chef, either professionally or on TV. She's not a food writer, journalist, or blogger. IN fact, her main claim to fame is to have been a TV personality about 15 years ago and popping out 5 kids. For some reason, she thinks the world wants to know what she cooks.
The sad thing is, she'll probably sell more copies of that than many chefs will sell of their books.
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Clotilde of Chocolate and Zucchini "discovered" it while she was in Australia:
"Dukkah, an Egyptian mix of ground nuts, seeds, and spices that was new to me, but seems very popular in Australia ("Yeah no, it was really big fifteen years ago," Melbourne restaurant critic Stephen Downes informed me with a grin)"
http://chocolateandzucchini.com/archives/2008/03/what_i_brought_back_from_oz.php
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True, I'm sure he's a great cook, I'm just a bit put off by his on-screen demeanour. I'm aware that his TV persona might not quite match his personality, and that even if it does he might still be a great cook.
Haven't been to Zaytinya, but I had a fantastic meal at Oyamel last year, and I'll be going to The Bazaar in LA next month.
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Avoid talking to chef Isabella, if his behaviour on Top Chef is any guide to his character.
Top Chef: Season 6 – Las Vegas
in Food Media & Arts
Posted
Yes, he does seem a strange choice.
MasterChef Australia went the opposite route, with the show praised for its non-harsh attitude towards contestants. It was apparently (I didn't watch it) a softer, friendlier reality show. The ratings were through the roof.