IndyRob

It sounds like a not very good show on the wrong network. How many episodes did "Blais Off" last on the Science Channel? I only found two. Were those pilots? But there was some promise. I bet if someone gave all the footage to the right people it could be made into something good.

A thought I had earlier in the thread....Making something once is always worth the trouble. It's a MacGuyver thing.

I haven't seen this yet. In fact, I wasn't even aware of it until this thread. My DVR has committed to me that it will record the next airing no matter how bad it is. But the description on the guide seemed to say nothing that would imply that any sort of useful information would be involved. Does anyone think it works on the let's-get-this-trainwreck-on-film-for-our-own-amusement level?

You've captured my view and I'm jumping on the deep frying bandwagon. Until someone invents a cooking vessel that can make efficient use of cooking oil for deep frying, I'm out. And Mayo, I absolutely love to make it. It's so magical. But so inferior. When really I'm looking for anything more than Hellman's, I can add some garlic or sriracha. You bread heathens, though,....we're going to have to have words....

At age 10 or 11 or so, my Mom taught me to make Crepes Suzette. Well, that's what she said they were. In a later restauraunt moment slightly uncomfortable to us all, I learned that Crepes Suzette did not involve cottage cheese and frozen sweetened strawberries. Instead, my order caused a whispered conversation between Mother and waitress - one that involved words like 'wine' and 'alcohol'. I was summarily informed that I would not like this version, and was left to work out my confusion until later in life. Still, I had learned to make proper crepes and I've since substituted fresh strawberries macerated in balsamic and sugar for the frozen ones. It's still good. But I'm calling them "Crepes Esther" now.

I'm sure I could. but I don't mess around with gas. Even my brother in law who is one of those do everything kind of guys and is an electrician by trade, hires people to do gas work. I don't mind paying to have to job done, I just don't want to get overcharged. And still you'd be stuck with the job of getting rid of the old one and probably have some sort of disposal fee. $240 doesn't sound too bad to me, but I would feel better if they didn't quote free delivery. I mean, it's like they're saying that they'll load it up, drive across town and haul it into the kitchen for free, but the last few steps will cost $240. Then again, Lowes will offer free installation on some items, but you just know that that's in lieu of offering a sale price or something. I'd just shop around, and compare only on the total installed price. Or, if you know (or can find) a contractor you trust, they often get contractor discounts. We had a pretty good experience with Sears installing our duel fuel oven, and a few years later when calling for service. But I've started to become leary of the K-Mart-ization that seems to be going on after they merged.

I think it's been mentioned a few times that since his season he's gotten a lot more experience at some good restaraunts and has improved his repetoire considerably.

I don't think it's the Food Network vs. Bravo. It's the Food Network vs. All That is Holy. The Food Network would be more accurately named The Food Clique For People Who Want To Be Popular. It's first reality show (besides Iron Chef which they stole from Japan and plugged in members of its own clique) was the self serving Next Food Network Star - whose rejects were recruited for their Chopped All Stars - much as Top Chef's rejects we recruited for Top Chef: All Stars. The Food Network is all about promoting their own. Looking for Eric Ripert? Marco Pierre White? Daniel Boulud? Jaques Pepin?... Look elsewhere. Oh, screw all this enumeration....Just look up Top Chef: Masters for many others.... It's not just Bravo. PBS, The Travel Channel, Creat, Planet Green, and Bravo's owner, NBC. They all have shows that exist on their own merit. Not by putting Duff Goldman up against their own stable of competition chefs.

It is. Well, some of it is. And methyl cellulose is made from plant material. But I think one would be hard put to argue that either are natural ingredients.

We recently had a thread about wood chips - AKA cellulose - which would seem to fit the spirit of artificial while being plant based. To me, imitation crab is more like a fish in disguise. Out of curiosity, I once put a chicken boullion cube into a cup of water and nuked it and added a little cornstarch slurry to thicken. It worked, and was arguably a chicken soup - although not very good by any measure. But I'd think I'd accept that as an artificial soup. Although by that measure I guess we'd have to include the entire Knorr family of envelope-based sauces on display at the local supermarket.

I drink all three regularly and they all taste different. Coke Zero seems to have a little extra punch in citrus oil than Diet Coke, while Diet Coke is more citrusy than Diet Pepsi.

You're right. I think seafood would experience a huge comeback. Pigs, cows, and chickens, maybe not so much. If the artificial food is better than the natural, and it's nutritionally sound, the man-husbanded natural sources will go away. But not the wild natural sources that aren't in our way (those in the sea). But I guess we'd also need to identify where all these miracle chemicals are to come from. Do we need to remake the world for the production of, say, kale?

The diving for conchs was ridiculous. I shuddered at the thought of one of them not being able to swim at all (but I suspect there was a questionnaire at some point). But it didn't seem to to affect any of them adversely, so no harm, no foul. I didn't have a problem with the rest of the challenge. They had awesome ingredients and limited tools. I think this translates better to TV where we can't taste anything. It's easier to see ingenuity than judge the subtle differences between dishes. When I saw Richard absolutley dousing his work surface with water to get rid of any sand, I thought "That's brilliant." This wasn't a finale, despite them being on the site of it. They still have to adapt and overcome. And they did a great job of it.

We have a dual fuel range. Gas burners, electric oven. There are two regular burners, one 'power burner', and one 'simmer burner'. I like it. But I'd trade one of the regular burners (the back one) for an electric coil. It seems that those can get much hotter.

I was sitting there watching the second episode and realized that the Food Network could never allow their professional competition celebrities get beaten by Duff. I felt I knew exactly how it would go down at that point. I expected some funny feigned outrage by Duff, but instead, it was "Cool. See ya'...." Then Ann makes a comment about the fennel and ladyfingers - "I don't know if these were chosen for me, but...." Hmmm....

Are we going to need Modernist Cuisine, Volume Seven? Come to think of it, I have read that they're experimenting with patriot-missile-style laser zapping of malaria infected mosquitoes in the same lab, so, you know, maybe it's kismet....

I think I get it and it's a good concept. A couple ribs here, a couple wings there, etc, etc. I think in the challenge they got hung up on feeding 1,000 people with one day of prep and no established production line. So they went for things they could do in large pans and not small plates. They should've copped to that, but they survived nonetheless. Ultimately, I don't think they'll survive, as the concept belongs in a bar, but I would go to that bar. But I continue to like this series. NBC did some good here.

Sous vide hard boiled eggs don't make much sense to me. A vacuum makes no sense for hard boiled eggs. If we broaden the term to mean fine temperature control, then that's already been there for at least 50 years. Bring some water to a boil and reduce to a simmer. Add eggs and keep it at a barely simmer for 10 minutes. Remove and plunge into an ice bath. If you want a little more moisture in the yolk, remove at 9 minutes.

I'm thinking that the core temp at this point is less important than the outside temps. The evil things are attacking from the outside. At two hours, you're probably okay based on my reading, but it's bumping up against the line.

I like Bourdain, but couldn't find the quote. Instead, I'll just virtually point to the baking and spices aisle of any supermarket and say "Pointless? I don't think so." Better cooks than any of us from all ethnicities have drawn down the stocks of those aisles over many years. The best ingredients? No. Pointless? No, not that either.

That's even more interesting because it's nearly the perfect middle ground between sous vide and the Joy of Cooking method that involves warming the steak to room temp before searing it. Does the steak tub directly in a liquid, or in a plastic bag?

That's interesting. I wonder if it comes from sous vide or from something like parcooking bratwurst in beer and onions.

Well, I really did mean pointless. There is no benficial use for dried basil or rosemary. That's not true in my experience. At least for basil. In fact, in a pizza sauce I notice much more taste effect from dried basil versus fresh basil. Especially freshly dried basil. Fresh basil is less about taste and more about smell.

Chives. Although I take issue with 'pointless' versus, say, 'inferior'.

Well, this was in the context of statements from food critic-types, so it wasn't really about everyday dining. But it's still an interesting question. MC itself is not likely to directly affect everyday dining much overall (for price reasons alone). Perhaps it will pressure people like Alton Brown to address sous vide or something. But the question that this brought up in my head is "How can we measure the impact on everyday cooking?". eG is probably pretty bad as a representative sample. I have some anecdotal evidence that brining, for instance, is seeing some penetration into homes around Thankgiving time. But what about sous vide? I don't think I've ever heard a reference to it from a non-media, non-foodie person.