JHeald

Hmmm...I don't see the difference between the souffle and a carbonara. Both are nomenclature arguments, aren't they? I'm just wondering if the nomenclature is dictated by a process/technique, rather than the specific ingredients in the finished product. Would you still call a baked dish of spaghetti, egg, cheese, pepper, and pancetta a "carbonara", even if the cooking technique is different? Or what if you substitute risotto for the pasta? That changes the ingredients AND the technique. P.S. I don't mean to be argumentative, I just don't understand the distinction between authenticity/tradition and correct nomenclature.

This is an excellent example of why I sought out this type of discussion. Is a dish "authentic" or "traditional" based on the end result alone, or does the cooking technique matter? Here is why I ask. Last week my brother followed a recipe for a Cheese and Grits "souffle", which consisted of making cheesy grits, adding whole beaten eggs, and baking in a casserole dish. I objected that this wasn't actually a souffle, since a souffle requires that the egg whites be beaten separately, then incorporated. This was really just an egg and grits casserole. It was good, but it wasn't a souffle (IMO). Does this seem correct? It seems to me that "authenticity", with regard to naming a dish, might matter differently when discussing the techniques that are used to make a certain dish, rather than the ingredients of a dish. Obviously a "braise" is only a "braise" if you follow the definition of braising, but what about when a certain dish implies a certain technique?

I have no experience in a professional kitchen, or in opening any business, and although I waited tables during the summer in college, I am therefore completely unqualified to offer advice. But here are my worthless two cents: It seems like this might be a new diner, and if it's not new, then the manager is probably not very good. I waited tables at Red Robin, so while they aren't fine dining, I can personally testify that the standards for the servers are very high. Asking for silverware, and having to find someone to give you a bill? That's kinda ridiculous. But maybe it was just a bad day? I share your sentiments with some of the food trucks that have opened in my area. How do you offer sincere advice, without coming off as pretentious or arrogant? After my first experience, I sent them an email and shared my thoughts. I made sure to emphasize the good attributes of the meal, while also pointing out what I *personally* thought were flaws or deficits. I tried the same meal a little while later, and noticed that nothing really changed. It didn't bother me, since it's their business and because food preferences are just that; preferences. This is a little bit different from the technical mistakes that you described, but I think you could approach this diner the same way. I think that you if send an honest and balanced email/letter to the owner, if they are smart and a good business owner, they will at least read it with an open mind. Tell them what you liked, what they are doing correct, as well as the problems you saw and changes that should be made. I think the main reason Gordon Ramsay gets to act like Gordon Ramsay is because of his fame and record with restaurant success, and perhaps more importantly, his restaurant failures. Without such fame and record, and due to the small-town setting, you probably want to be as kind as possible, and pick your words very carefully. Write an email, but don't send it. Have someone else read it, then you read a few days later. Consider the letter from the diner owners point of view. Edit or rewrite any parts that might be perceived as offensive or presumptuous. Good luck!

I'm with Karri on this, for most things. Like french fries, it is the presence of water, which converts to steam in the hot oil, which results in a crispy crust while preventing an oil-soaked and over-cooked potato stick. It looks like the pork skins worked really well, and dehydrating those makes sense, considering the end produce is ideally completely dry. I don't think you want to dehydrate your fish and vegetables, unless you are trying to achieve that fried-pork-skin texture. If you want your fish and vegetables to have a crisp *crust* when fried, that seems to be a different goal than obtaining crispness throughout.

Pork tends to take on the taste of the food that it eats. This is why some pork suppliers feed their animals things like apple cores and nuts. Pigs also eat a lot, and they need a fairly large amount of protein in their diet, so as another poster mentioned, fish meal was once very popular. Similar to how cows are often finished on grain to substantially increase their weight, pigs were once fed large amounts of fish (i.e. fish guts and trimmings) to bring them to market size. It was somewhere is Eastern Europe, where they had a lot of fish guts left over. Anyways, people didn't really like their pork tasting like fish, so it's not a common practice anymore. Unfortunately for you, fish meal is still a source of protein, and can be used for mr. piggy...

That is not the same thing as being a better cook, which is what you actually seemed to take offense at. Food and cooking knowledge does not always translate into cooking skill, which is how you seemed to interpret the statement. Sculptor's statement is probably technically true, considering the depth of knowledge in MC. If you take offense at what he actually said, rather than how you interpreted what he said, then it seems to me that your ego is being bruised. Like you, I mean no offense, rather I'm just offering an opinion/observation.

I would guess the difference between a flour slurry and wheat-flower based noodles is the simple fact that the flours in the noodles have had time to hydrate and break down, which is necessary for the formation of gluten. I'm sure that coating the flour in fat, which occurs in a roux and noodles made with egg, makes a big difference. Consider that Beurre Manié does not involve extended cooking, but doesn't leave any unwanted "faw flour" tastes. A final thought is that a "slurry" does not adequately disperse the flour, therefore the cooking time is necessary to allow the flour to completely disperse and prevent tiny clumps of flour, which would result in the raw flour taste.

kinda like a watermelon knife?

GlorifiedRice, I would suggest you ignore him. I suspect that, due to the nature of most online communities, there is very little at steak due to this "chef" potentially lying, or even being an honest but arrogant jerk. I can almost guarantee you that the only reason he says such things is because it gets him attention. While your choice to ignore him won't deprive him of attention (i.e. you mentioned he has lots of fans), your personal attacks directed towards him might be wrong, and even if they are correct, they probably won't paint you in the best of light. Ignoring him obviously won't make him go away, but choosing to not let him bother you will make your annoyance with him go away. You can't always change people's behaviors, especially when they are ignorant dolts on the internet, but you can always choose to ignore their personal form of stupidity.

How does this book compare to Molecular Gastronomy by Herve This? I'm about half-way through that book, which was written about 5 years ago, and find it very interesting.

In Molecular Gastronomy, Herve This discusses how the perception of specific molecules (e.g. MSG and other glutamates) induces satiety at a faster rate than other molecules. If I remember correctly (I don't have the book in front of me) studies with rats has demonstrated that food/drink mixtures that include glutamates induce satiety faster, as measured by the rate at which the rats stop eating. These molecules also effect insulin secretion.

Recently I've seen a few articles discussing the "new" steak cuts, which are found within the beef chuck and round. As there any butchering guides available to describe how to find these steaks within the roasts? Thanks for the help.

Can you elaborate? I've never heard of doing that. I have a gas range with heavy cast iron removable grates that cover the entire stove-top (rather than just squares around the burner). How would that work? Thanks.

I once heard that the correct pronunciation of Riedel should rhyme with "needle". Is this correct?

While I'm not familiar with the exact science of basil turning brown, I think kouign is probably on to something. I notice that cooking basil will often result in brown colors. I would suggest blanching the basil first, the pureeing it really well in the blender. I don't know about basil -you might need to add a little water to the puree, but I feel like I got most of the liquid out of the tomatoes when I used gelatin. Granted, tomatoes have a much higher volume of water in them...

How well someone describes their materials and methods has little bearing on whether the experiment was scientific or not. Poor explanation makes the author a poor communcator, not a poor scientist. Nor do the quality of the results determine if an experiment is scientific. Poor quality results, or results that are difficult to replicate, makes the experiment poor science, it does not disqualify the experiment as "science".

I don't know if anyone has suggested this, but I would recommend using gelatin filtration. I used it to make an amazing tomato consume, and I'm sure it would work with basil. It is very simple, but takes a few days. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/05/dining/05curi.html?emc=eta1

I'll admit, I didn't follow this post, but I saw this article in the news and immediately thought of this post. Apparently, garbage disposers are more eco-friendly... http://www.marketwatch.com/story/new-study-will-make-people-think-twice-about-how-they-discard-food-waste-2011-08-11?reflink=MW_news_stmp

You'll probably have a hard time getting that to work. In order for nerve stimulation to occur, the ion transporters in the neurons have to work, and that probably won't be possible after cooking or if the animal has been dead from any period of time. Sure the ion channels *might* open once, upon electric stimulation, but theres probably no way the ion pumps are going to function after the cells are dead. If there's any chance of that working, I'm sure you'll have to have live octopus, then cook it very quickly and lightly. One more thought: if you get a live octopus, you might try stimulating it with a TENS (or find, remove, and quickly stimulate a large nerve) to ensure that you can induce a color change. It might also be difficult to figure out which nerves you need to stimulate; if applied to a whole tissue, a TENS will likely stimulate all the nerves, which could induce all the color-changing effects, and result is practically nothing occurring. All that being said, good luck, and let us know what you find!

I think this is probably a great place to ask this question. Watching "Secrets of a Restaurant Chef", I notice that Anne has a large, metal, grate-looking thing next to her range. She uses it as a spoon rest, salt pig rest, etc. Does anyone know what this actually is? I've searched Google multiple times with no luck. Thanks.

After his frequent use of the word "pedestrian" (again, what does that even mean???), I was coming to this comprehensive explanation too. Quite frankly, the whole "cooking down to" goes beyond snobbery: I think it's head-up-your-ass ignorant...but these types of comments really bother me, so maybe I'm biased?

Can someone please explain to me what "cooking down to..." means, and why that is a bad thing? As far as I can tell, "cooking down to a guest" simply means cooking something that the guest wants. WTF is wrong with that?

I haven't tried the IiF recipe for chicken log confit, but I did try making it using a duck confit recipe. After the dry rub, I rinsed, dried, and sealed them in ziplock vacuum bags and threw them in a slow cooker filled with water and set on low, overnight. I tossed the legs in the fridge the next morning, after dumping the liquid into a jar. Most Amazing Chicken Legs Ever. Plus, there was some rather amazing chicken jello left in the jar...we're talking jello non-jigglers. The tendons had completely dissolved, to the point that I could remove the bones and joint (cartilage), leaving the leg and thigh completely intact!

If you're concerned about being a bad role model, or a bad parent, you could always just leave them in the car. Right? Just kidding. I agree with the crowd: I don't think there is really a problem. I also sympathize with your dilemma: I've been concerned about bring my 8-month old son into a liquor store...

I apologize if this is a repeat, but I wanted to write it down before I forgot it. I'm watching Anthony Bourbain: No Reservations (in Montana), and somebody (I'm not watching that closely...I'm on eG after all) made a comment about freshwater trout that might be applicable. He said that the flesh of the fish "turns to mush" when the water temperatures rise. I wonder if the mushy fish that you are experiencing is a seasonal thing? From what I remember from McGee, water temperature affecting fish flesh texture makes perfect sense: the meat-degrading enzymes in fish are active at much lower temperatures when compared to land-mammals. Maybe the higher water temperature means that the fish flesh starts degrading faster than it would during cooler temperatures.