IndyRob

I like Bridget and Julia as well, but am having trouble imagining them doing some sort of co-hosting thing. I recently happened upon some of the very first ATK's and was stunned to see that Chris was very hands on - sharing the prep-work, and demonstrating techniques during the recipe demos. I think they eventually found that it was better if he stepped back and became the observer. So much so that a child wrote in to say that she liked ATK because "they helped Chris cook." It seems like it would've been easy to find a personable host whose relative ignorance would be an advantage. Anyway, I think it would be hard to ruin the show, and I'm quite curious to see how they'll handle it.

It's funny. Here's an argument where I agree with all sides. It's just one writer who made a comparison to what they knew. Literally nothing is said about product - only perception.

I would search for Muffaletta. It's a New Orleans sandwich of Italian heritage. No cooking is required. In fact, two (capacolla and sopressetta) of the three meats typically found in it are cured, not cooked (mortadella is, but is usually bought that way). The olive salad that is spread on the bread is usually quite salty. And I think it would lend itself nicely to substitution of what's locally available.

I guess that could be it's own topic (actually, I'd be amazed if it wasn't already). But I recently saw a video on YouTube that sought to expose that notion as ludicrous. And I thought it did a pretty good job of it.

I think developing a hating Kenji complex may be my next faux-endearing personality trait. Oh, Kenji this, Kenji that...

I think you're thinking too small. Cravings need to be met in a now-ish fashion. There's one place where I believe this is regularly done - Vegas. High rollers are catered to in unprecedented degrees, no? And with all of those buffets for the masses around, ingredients are never far away. I suspect Donald Trump can already get anything he desires in Vegas within 30 minutes, or so.

Okay, I return, after dinner, suitably humbled and with mouth burning of the five hells . But that's okay. I'm alright. Look, I get it. Kenji figures it out and then he posts. I'm not that smart. But here's what I learned tonight. The technique, which, in these recipes, I don't believe I've done a disservice in summarizing, is more important than the ingredient list. Watch the youtube videos of the actual Italian guys doing it right. If you don't properly introduce the peppery oil, pasta, water and cheese, disasters will beset you. None of these recipes really address this, except maybe Bittman's, which may strike a blow for the non-traditional. I was ready to ridicule that, but I think he's gotten the better of me.

Did they use a minimal amount of water? I seem to remember that either they or ATK recommended this in one instance to maximize the starch in the water.

I've decided to make Cacio e Pepe tonight. It's a very simple thing, but it seems like most references say it's only good if it's done right. But the thing is, apparently, no one seems to agree on what that way is. From youtube videos to internet recipes from generally respected sites, there seems to be much disagreement. For instance, Saveur uses 1lb of pasta and 2 tsp of pepper. Mario Batali uses 1lb pasta and 1/4C of pepper. Some insist that Pecorino Romano must be the only cheese. Others include Parm or other cheeses. I think there's room in most recipes for a little personal preference choice, but I think it's fascinating how such a simple thing has spawned so many different takes. Some will cook the pepper in oil (something ATK did for a pepper encrusted tenderloin - it's supposed to take the heat out of the pepper), others ignore it completely. Batali toasts his pepper in a pan without oil. Another interesting thing concerns the amount of salt in the pasta water. Only 2 of 6 recipes offer specific guidance. And one of them contradicts itself. No wonder this remains such a frequently asked question. So I decided to put several recipes from the internet side by side for review. I think this would be nigh on impossible for, say, lasagna recipes, but I would've expected a closer sort of harmony in something like this. Saveur Bon Appetit Chowhound Talesofambrosia.com NYTimes (Bittman) Mario Batali (abc.go.com) Spaghetti 1lb 6oz 2lbs 400g 3/4LB 1LB Black Pepper 2 tsp 1tsp 6TB To Taste 1TB ¼C Parm 3/4C 1C 1/4C Pecorino 1C 1/3C 3 1/2C 200-250g 1 ½C 1/4C Olive Oil 4Tb 1tsp or 2 6TB Butter 3Tb 6TB 6TB Water 6qt 3qt 12qt 4L Pot 6qt Salt To Taste ? Heavily Salted Water 40g (or 20g, because the Pecorino is salty?) enough to salt pasta water 3TB Other 3/4C Cacio de Roma 3/4C Grana Padano or Parm Method Heat Oil, Add pepper, 1-2 min. Add 3/4C Pasta water, boil, add pasta, Add cheese, toss (more water if needed) Heat 2TB butter, Add pepper, 1 min. Add ½ cup water, add pasta and remaining butter. Add Grana/Parm, remove from heat, add Pecorino (add more water if needed) Combine pasta and 2C pasta water over low heat. Add remaining ingredients and stir until creamy, about 5 min. Heat serving bowl, add drained pasta and some pasta water. Add cheese and toss 'til creamy. Add pepper. Mash cheeses and pepper with enough cold water to make a paste. Add cooked pasta and stir with a tsp or two of olive oil, adding a bit of pasta water if nec. Toast pepper dry. Add butter and oil. Add 1/4C pasta water, pasta, toss over med heat. Stir in cheeses. More water if nec.

Thank you bon appetit ( and, um, Hipsters, I guess )... http://www.bonappetit.com/entertaining-style/pop-culture/article/brooklyn-is-everywhere

I've made mashed potatoes many ways, but to me, there's nothing you can do to them in the first thirty minutes that beats what you can do in those last two minutes. Well, if you haven't undercooked them, at least. For me, mashed potatoes are the ultimate in 'season to taste' - with 'seasoning' being meant in a very broad sense. Forget all of the potato varieties. None of it means anything if you can't make a small young russet taste as good as big old russet. I don't choose to limit myself to certain tools, or deprive myself of any. Butter, cream, salt, water, garlic, cheese, etc... it's all on the table. I also think the perfect mash for chicken breasts is different than that meant for a beef pot roast.

I wouldn't rest it so much as let it cool a bit. In the traditional sense, a rest shouldn't be necessary. But you spent a long time a long time getting it to the perfect temp. Don't take it over the optimum temp while searing.

Are you thinking pork loin instead of tenderloin? The tenderloin is generally quite small (1lb each in this case, it would appear). Pork loins can be huge (much, much larger than a beef tenderloin).

I don't think I would. I'm not an expert and don't know what the maximum time might be, but according to Thomas Keller (in Under Pressure), it *is* possible to overcook meat sous vide. It can still be pink and yet overcooked. I believe I've experienced this with my own beef tenderloin.

The good stuff is always home cooked, no?.

Perhaps it's a "You hadda been there..." thing. Have you ever spent a year on the road? I've had some generous per diem deals, but after a while, dining alone in a strange (and often boring) town leaves you just wanting the creature comforts of home. Or the best semblance of it you can make there. Of course, money does come into it (since it's why you're out there in the first place). I've negotiated away the per diems in favor of a higher rate that I can take home, rather than leaving it at the Cracker Barrel on rt. 6.

A couple of years ago I was living in hotel rooms 4 nights a week and was constantly looking for products and thinking of ways to eat, well, but inexpensively. I tended to do a lot of cooking on the weekends and traveling with the prepared food. I have an insulated bag with a plastic box insert. On Sundays nights I would put a freezer pack bag in the bottom, then layer a bunch of bagged prepared and chilled food, and top that with another freezer pack. Then I'd freeze the whole thing overnight. Then on Monday morning I could throw the whole thing in the car and drive two hours, work for another 8 and get the food into the hotel room fridge before it lost its chill. I made sure I only stayed in rooms with both refrigerator and microwave. This approach worked well, but I constantly found myself wanting things like a grilled cheese sandwich. Inspired by the Top Chef episode where the cooked in a Target store, I once accomplished it with the hotel room iron (I used aluminum foil between the iron and bread). It was funny, but not optimal. I thought about bringing my portable gas grill, but I'd have to cook out of the back of the SUV in the parking lot. Sadly too late, unless I go on the road again, I bought one of these... http://www.campchef.com/butane-one-burner-stove.html (or just search for butane burner - there are a million of them at all price points) I love this thing. It's light and powerful and cheap. There are even two burner variations. They're safe for indoor use (by most accounts). Another thing I found on YouTube afterwards is something I love for its sheer McGuyerishness...The Penny Can Stove. Search for this on YouTube and imagine the accolades when you are able to fashion an effective burner out of a couple of empty soda cans.

This may not be what you're looking for, but I think it fits the topic.... A while back someone on this board (I wish I could find the post) mentioned doing (pork) ribs SV for 12 hours at 165F. At the time I was playing with cooking carnitas in lard in the oven, so I decided to substitute ribs for chopped up pork shoulder. This worked quite well, but then I thought "Why not just do it sous vide with the same method?" Just season some ribs and vacuum seal them and leave them in the refrigerator overnight. Early the next morning, place the unopened bag (bone side up) in a roasting pan and cover with hot tap water. I've found that my oven set at 220 will keep the water at 165. Check the temp after a couple of hours to see if yours will require an adjustment. For those without a vacuum sealer, I've also done this successfully right in the cryovac package from the store. Of course, it's better with the seasoning inside the bag, but it's still quite good.. I also keep meaning to seal in some lard to restore that aspect of my previous trials. After 10 to 12 hours (I've been backing off from 12 lately), remove the ribs and add a dry rub. Optimally, they will be finished on a grill, but a broiler or hot oven will work as well.

Lately I've been cooking a lot of pork ribs by a variety of methods (both traditional and modernist). Perhaps the one most frustrating factor I found is the variability of thickness of the meat on the individual ribs. Baby backs are much thicker, while normal spareribs (generally) are more to my liking. However, baby backs are normally pretty constant and don't present a lot of waste. Spareribs, on the other hand, are usually less expensive per pound, but come with a lot of waste (or extra meat that needs to be repurposed). St. Louis style ribs usually end up costing as much as baby backs despite having less meat. But that brings me to my question. I think I actually prefer less meat on my ribs. Sometimes I'll slice a rib off the thick end and think that it might as well be a bone-in pork chop. When I think about the perfect rib, words like 'morsel' come to mind. But I'm not sure if my preference carries over into the general populace. So what do you think? Do you like a lot of meat on your bones?

Recently, Eater has been the best source for videos of real chefs ironically preparing celebrity recipes. Other than that, it's pretty much.... a) What did Anthony Bourdain say today? b) Who's peeing in your fast food. c) Other things their Google news searches turned up.

Two or three months ago I found myself wondering if one could make ice cream without a machine out of some sort of whipped cream variation. Eventually I did a YouTube search and found that this is indeed possible, and SCM appears to be a major element. ​ ​ ​It almost looks like this is becoming a thing. It's made me buy multiple cans of SCM. Now I'm wondering about folding in some streaks of the caramel SCM.

While the seniors might have a preference for comfort food, I suspect that the owners might value the 'comfort revenue'. If they're making enough money to keep their heads above water, selling a change may be difficult. However, perhaps there's a way to play both sides of the equation. Create a "Seniors' Specials" menu in addition to your new, more trendy menu. Let the two menus compete in the same space. Let the wait staff make the call to provide one, the other, or both depending on the table. If the new menu starts bringing in more of the younger crowd, the seniors will take themselves out of the equation. If the new menu fails to bring in appreciably more business then your existing older customer base will still feel catered to. From there, the only issue is doing both menus from the same basic inventory.

It looks like you did not crimp the edges with the end of a fork (the tines). There's one in your photo that does look like it has been crimped. It's on the right-hand side around the vertical center. The one with the point facing up. Could that be a store bought one thrown in there for comparison? Or perhaps the crimping was too lightly done?

Well, I'd say I'm not quite done playing with them yet, but a recommendation would probably come with some caveats. And certainly not as an investment, as they are a consumable item. If, like me, you're interested trying your hand at dry curing, but are not ready to build or acquire a curing chamber, and have no suitable cellars or caves you can use, and you already own a vacuum sealer, then I would highly recommend the bags with few reservations. However, if you are willing to build/find a suitable curing chamber, then these things would be rendered pointless. If your goal is to save money on dry-cured meats then it's really, probably, a dead end. By the time you factor in the price of the meat, the bags, the vacuum sealer, a deli slicer, and all the waiting time, you'd probably do nicely by spending an afternoon exploring the commercial offerings of your nearest metropolitan area for the best deals on the finished product. I also have an increased level of skepticism for their suitability for dry aging meats. Having had a large piece of beef in one of these bags for many weeks, I wouldn't call the end result 'aged'. Rather, I'd say it was somewhat miraculously un-aged. Dried somewhat, but otherwise unaffected. If the prices of these bags ever reach commodity levels, I really think our thinking about storing meat could change dramatically. This could result in many things that we haven't really imagined yet. But it will require a price-point that doesn't penalize failure. In my two initial experiments, the bag was almost, if not more expensive than the meat I put in them.

Yes. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eaq7UsRcDvs. Salumi seems to be much more finicky, but I think I'd like to try pepperoni next. As a beginner to charcuterie I find it slightly humorous that we must expend so much effort in the beginning to keeping the meat mixture well chilled, only to hang it at room temp for three days. I think I know why that is, but it just seems a strange sort of the magic.