IndyRob

I'm a Bourdain fan and I accept the fact that his point of view sometimes differs from mine (as I try to do with most people). I'm given to believe that he's a charitable man (financially, at least) and seems to hold true to his own code of ethics. But I think once he starts telling others - very publicly - what they should do he crosses a line I can't support. He crosses over into a preachy realm that, upon reflection, I don't think even he'd feel good about. It's nice that he wants to stick up for NOLA, but there are other people that have been officially appointed to those various roles. Some of those - specifically responsible for tourism - decided to give Bravo money to bring Top Chef to NOLA. Why would this be a problem for Bourdain? Yes, it would be nice if Bravo gave the money back. Or, it would also be nice if AB quietly reimbursed them. Or how about AB licenses the Les Halles brand and banks a restaurant in NOLA. You know, create some jobs. All this stuff is easy for me to suggest. It's not my money, after all. But it would be nice. Hell, Tony, while I'm at it, could you see your way clear to buy a skillet for those Namibian dudes to cook their ostrich eggs in? You know, rather than in the dirt? You could tie a picture of yourself to the handle and give it to the chief as a personal gift in return for their hospitality. Maybe along with a bottle of olive oil and a salt shaker? That would be nice. Oh, and Mr. Simon? Thanks for Treme (exceptionally well done, if excruciatingly slow to develop) and your generosity to NOLA. But if I may channel the tourism bureaus for a moment..., "Thank you very much for broadening the reach of the deep New Orleans culture to a wider audience. But a little less suicide, rape, and face shooting next time, 'kay?" Okay, now I'm going to enjoy the latest episode of Parts Unknown on the ol' DVR.

Over time I've been sorely tempted by pictures of Saganaki, but I had never had it. Finally, the desire overcame me and I knew it was time to end the drought and make some. It's easy, right? Take some firm Greek cheese, dip it in water and then into flour. Pan fry that in some oil. That's it. Right? But since I've been travelling a lot lately, I had a long time to research the many of the various options on the web before I had the opportunity to make my first attempt. Wow. They're all over the place. It's very interesting to me how something so simple could take on so many variations. Some are expected forms of variation (dip in egg instead of water, season the flour, butter instead of - or in addition to - olive oil, etc.) Some are just contradictory (dip in warm water or cold?) The whole flaming thing appears to be a North American deal (just as, I suspect, shouting "Opa!" is). Emeril marinates his cheese in brandy. But there are other stranger variations like broiling the cheese (in one case just brushed with butter and no flour?!). Then there's the cheese choice. I think in most cases this probably comes down a matter of availability. But are Greek cheeses necessarily the best ones? There are a lot of cheeses in the world, man. Then there's the matter of shape. There's some latitude for preference, I suppose, but then there's the matter of thermodynamics. All that being said, my first attempt was a tasty, but ignominious, fail. Too much oil, too much obsessing over not burning the oil (temp too low), as well as rather dainty wedges lead to a one sided saganaki with a nice crust on one side, but a melted mess on the other. I think I've got enough Kasseri (what was available) left to right the ship through some more attempts. Luckily, my wife was sufficiently turned off by the taste of the room temp Kasseri to have no further interest in what I was doing at the time (but I think she'll be hooked when I get it right). So what are the best saganaki variations and practices? And also, how would you complete a plate with saganaki (e.g. a nice heirloom tomato wedge)?

Speaking of appliances, would anyone be interested in an automatic adjustable bread slicer? The idea is that you'd drop an unsliced loaf of bread vertically into a box. Then, you'd adjust a thickness dial and press say '2' for the number of slices and 2 slices of the selected thickness would pop out the front. Meanwhile, the remaining bread stays sealed in a box unsliced until needed. Anyway, here's a similar thread we had about such things... http://forums.egullet.org/topic/136372-the-dawn-of-post-modernist-cuisine/?hl=3d#entry1779168 And more recently there's news about noodle making robots being employed in China. They're already cheap enough ($1,600) for the well off to afford as a novelty for entertaining.

I've been following this thread for a while and think it's an important one. However, there's a lot of noise introduced by various political and other biases. I think ScoopKW challenged us to come up with a solution that would be viable in the U.S. I'd like to suggest that this is indeed possible in the same way that we've found solutions in most cases in this country - consensus. However, in order to reach consensus we have to be willing to drop a lot of baggage including affiliation, tradition and selfishness. We must approach the discussion from the standpoint that restaurants, their employees, and customers cannot exist without each other. Within a restaurant we also have to balance the interests of the kitchen and dining room staff. It's all a symbiotic relationship that will not be helped by seeking to tear down those that you depend on. Same with the NRA and Unions. They represent their members. They will by definition disagree. The basic question is whether tipping is a useful institution. I honestly haven't seen a particularly compelling argument that it is. Yes, it gives the consumer some power - but in a way they don't expect to have in virtually any other transaction. Perhaps it's necessary to offset the $2.33/hour worker with no benefits - even though I could walk to a McDonalds near me (I just checked their career page) and get $7.25/hour (If they'd have me). Government doesn't have to do everything. Recent news has Costco eating Wal-Mart's lunch while paying employees a 'living wage'. I think they may get it.

According to commenter Ken G at seriouseats...

In general. if you have the opportunity for fresh (especially at a good price), seize it. Don't freeze the fresh unless you've made some sort of large score. In my case this usually means stalking a grocery store beginning with the morning after a holiday (say, Christmas eve). If they cut too many rib roasts, they're going to have get rid of some at a discount. Since I live in a two person household, some of that meat will be destined for the freezer - but not before I cook the choicest bits from fresh. I think the conventional wisdom will always come down on the side of never-frozen meat. But I would love to see a true double-blind test.

I've only been to Vegas once, but I say we give Guy the keys to the city. Hell, make him the mayor. A thin veneer of cool, shrouding a vacuous tradition of fraud could be the best match Vegas has found yet.

I think the Big Shop is also very common in the US. One variation is with one woman I knew who shopped ALL the supermarkets on Saturday. I think it works if you have good planning skills (well, probably more accurately, the desire to plan) You're trading between economy, quality and convenience. If you're cooking for one, that's another limiting factor. I have mixed feelings about Ramsay but I think that, generally, when he rails against frozen foods it's in the context of having something better right down the road. Living here in the largest landlocked city in the US, coming across shrimp that have never been frozen is unlikely, and may even be of dubious origins if found. If you are near a coast I'd think it would be well worth your time to try to find seafood right off the boat on a day-of basis. But IMHO, freezing is not evil. For instance, a freshly baked loaf of bread is the best sort of bread of all. But, sans preservatives, fresh bread frozen as soon as it is cool is infinitely more desirable than day-old bread. I think shrimp frozen on the boat is similar.

BTW, I forgot to recommend some classic Lay's potato chips with the above sandwich. But it occurred to be that there is a more relevant piece of advice with regards to lunch packing. DO NOT buy the lunch-sized bags of potato chips. They have to use smaller potatoes to get chips that will fit in the bags and those are definitely inferior.

I've recently found that home-made enchiladas can be very microwave friendly. I've also found that re-sealable snack bags can be quite useful. These are about 1/3 the height of a sandwich bag and are good for some roma tomato slices or other veg, as well as condiments, shredded cheese, or even for use as a little pastry/piping bag. Freezing sandwiches was a trick my mother always did for my school lunches. I've upped the ante by baking fresh bread and using homecooked meats (corned beef currently). The sandwiches can thaw at your desk until lunchtime. Disassemble and nuke the meat briefly if desired. My best one, also from the 'guy' menu, is my Little Caesar's Italian sandwich clone. Take some pizza dough and roll it out as if making a rather thick (1/2") 8" pizza. Divide that into two half-moon shapes. Cover and let proof. Brush both sides with butter and bake until golden brown. Remove and re-brush with more butter. Let cool and slice a pocket into the flat side like a pita. Slide in some mozz/provolone slices with ham and salami on top. Wrap and refrigerate (or freeze). The morning of, put some lettuce and tomato/onion slices in the aforementioned snack bags. Final prep involves wrapping the sandwich in paper towels and microwaving only until heated through. Then stuff with the veg on top of the meat. In this case, the microwave is not a compromise heating solution. It's actually an integral part of the method which steams and softens the bread while heating the meat and melting the cheese.

Hmmm.... 164 tons of food... = 1.48778 typical blue whales.... = 1.6 x cargo mass capacity of a Boeing 747-200F aircraft... = 328,000lbs... ... divided by 90,000 meals.... = 3.64lbs per meal (not including beverages)

I decided to give this a try. I bought a pre-brined flat cut and just gave it a good rinse. I cut it in half, applied the contents of the spice packet and put it in two bags. I put them both in a 145F bath. One I took out and chilled after 24 hours and the other I left in for about 12 hours more. The results were virtually identical. Any possible advantage I'd give to the longer cooked one is probably down to the fact that that end had a thicker layer of fat. The flavor was fine (not overly salty at all) but they were both a little bit on the dry-ish side. Both bags had about 1/2 cup or more of juice that came out. I think both were better than the stuff I paid $$$ for at a local deli but could be improved. Next time I'll probably try 135F for 48-60H.

I would like to see a side-by-side of Hung going through chickens, and Kristen going through LCK contestants. Who went through more?

There's been a lot of criticism of the format and I think I agree with it all. However, the result still seemed reasonable. The fried chicken was a bone-headed play that decided the day. And I think the final two contestants sort of redeemed my sense of the quality of this entire season. Here we were with two very worthy competitors. Congratulations, Kristen. Please pack your knives and dough.

WolframAlpha lists the density of (milk) chocolate at 0.71 g/cm3. There's a drop down box where you can choose from among many brands, but these seem to take their data from the nutritional information data which doesn't provide the volume measurement necessary to calculate density.

This seemed to me to be the most cordial semi-finale ever. I thought it was kind of refreshing. There were no head games and little drama (other than the chefs worrying about their own dishes). I think this was a redeeming episode for this season.

I think that the word 'geek' has very broad connotations - from a pejorative to the more complementary form used in self identification. I guess it's the latter sense that we're talking about here. I think that some food geeks might be people who've amassed a great deal of food knowledge but don't actually cook (much) themselves. Perhaps like a jaded restaurant critic - armed with copious notes about all manner of preparations previously encountered. A sort of foodie naturalist, I guess. Christopher Kimball - at least in his role as host of America's Test Kitchen - might be the poster boy of this sort of food geek. But for the doers, I don't think that equipment is necessary, but will tend to turn up (as OliverB said). Sodium citrate, a handful of cheese, and a can of beer is all it really takes to get some geeky nachos, but any of us that do that sort of thing also have some favored hardware up our sleeves. And I think that's where some further distinctions can be made. I propose the terms Enthusiast, Hacker, and Boffin. The Enthusiast has the means and desire to understand and acquire as much of the technology as he desires and will employ it all exactly as designed. Most likely to become a serial product reviewer at Amazon. I'll stand in for the Hacker, although probably best typified in the geek community by John Draper, AKA Captain Crunch, who discovered that a toy whistle found in boxes of Cap'n Crunch could lead him to a method of making free phone calls on AT&T's networks. It about how to make incredibly simple things work in unexpected ways. For me, in the last couple of weeks, it's been about making progress towards the world's fastest (good) grilled cheese sandwich.... Take a half a sheet of aluminum foil. Cut it in half. Brush one side of each half with melted butter. Place a slice of bread on each half. That was prep work. Put those in a zip-lock bag in the fridge (unbuttered sides facing and touching each other). Now, to the sandwich - Put a pan on the stove on max heat. Grab a coated paper plate and drop a handful of shredded cheese on it. Put that in the microwave until melted - about 30 seconds. While that's going, grab your bread and lay the slices on the counter aluminum foil-side down. Take the paper plate out of the microwave and slide the melted cheese carefully onto one slice (some tomato slices are a nice addition here - sprinkle with kosher salt). Cover with the other slice (need I say aluminum foil side up?). Now, drop that bad boy into the heated pan for 10-15 seconds. Place your hand on top of the sandwich to secure it. Flip the pan over and up so the sandwich is left on your palm. Now drop the other side into the pan and remove the first piece of aluminum foil from the top. Wipe the cheese grease from the paper plate and (after another 10-15 seconds) de-pan (as before) the sandwich onto it - removing the second piece of foil. Throw the foil in the trash and (once cooled) the pan back into the cupboard (it was never dirtied). That's a pretty geeky way of doing it, I think. And now to the Boffin. Well, that would be Nathan Myrvold and his merry band, I think. They really represent the best of both approaches. The resources to try everything, but with no particular attachment to any of them. Just an edict to get results. ETA: I'd gladly put my grilled cheese up against Nathan's.

40gm? http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2010/feb/21/french-onion-soup-recipe-slater

I was glad to see a bread making requirement in the latest episode. But wasn't there a perfectly good Kitchenaid mixer visible in the background of some of those kneading shots?

I think this most accurately describes my goal state, although next time I'm near a Home Depot I think I'll check out dcarch's suggestion for towels. The door to my garage is literally one step from my kitchen trash can, so if I could hang a container right inside on the wall it would be very convenient. I think I'll continue to use the paper towels for raw meat juice and the like.

I don't see a second season happening, but I think it will get better as the herd is culled. If it comes down to a home cook and a pro it might get good. But I think the one bite format is very limiting in terms of what they can show prep-wise. Although I suppose it could be cool if, with four people left, they dragged in a whole hog and said "Somewhere in there is the perfect bite. Here are your knives. Find it. GO!"

For comparison purposes, I believe that MCAH calls for 2.8% of the combined cheese and liquid weight for their cheese sauces. Although I've just started playing with sodium citrate and cheese for sauces, I find the mere suggestion of getting it anywhere near cheese meant for a pizza distinctly evil. I freeze grated cheese all the time and don't have any problems with it when thawed. If, as the patent seems to suggest upon a quick skimming, you're topping a pizza with frozen cheese, YOU'RE DOING IT WRONG.

I would really like to use fewer paper towels. But my family has always seemed to use them for just about everything. Oh sure, there have always been some dish towels around, but they've been used primarily for drying clean dishes. The thing is, I don't know anything about the care and feeding of kitchen towels. Towels are mentioned at least twice in the current Essential Kitchen Tools topic and Anthony Bourdain counts a stack of towels as an absolute necessity prior to service. In my home kitchen, that seems like a nice luxury but how can I manage all these towels? For instance, America's Test Kitchen had a segment on spinach lasagna. They used some frozen spinach and squeezed the water out with a dish towel giving them some spinach flavored water, some drained spinach, and a (newly) green towel. They didn't tell me what to do with the towel. It seems like I'd need to rush it to the washing machine. And while the greening of a towel might be a nuisance, towels used to wipe down a butcher block that has been used for, well, butchering, might present a more significant health hazard if not dealt with properly. So how do you treat towels in your kitchen? Do I need a kitchen towel hamper? Do I need to segregate towels by use?

"Crunchy yet soft?" Yes, I believe I've fallen down the rabbit hole. You haven't fallen nor have I. When you bite through the "crunchy/crisp" top of the fatty layer of pork belly it gives way to the "soft" fat below. It seems that Tom couldn't get through the cement layer on top of Stefan's pork belly to experience the other textures. Pork fat would always be a nice surprise under any sort of barrier - including the shoe leather that many BBQ enthusiasts would describe as a highly desirable 'bark'. But I'd rather go through crispy pork fat than crunchy pork skin.

"Crunchy yet soft?" Yes, I believe I've fallen down the rabbit hole.