IndyRob
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Posts posted by IndyRob
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I'd never seen Top Chef until now--doesn't free on free-to-air television in Australia, so far as I know--but I'm ten minutes in now with the first episode of season eight and already annoyed by everyone.
I'd suggest giving it some more time. Most of us are excited about it, but we already know each chef fairly well by now by their previous ups and downs. I can't imagine watching season 8 without knowing about the previous seven seasons. Usually, the early episodes are confusing but more becomes clear as they pare down the competitors and are able to spend more time with each.
As I think Sethro would attest, they will focus on the drama and leave out a lot of good work. But with as many as 17 people to cover in the initial episodes, it's hard for them to show much depth in around the one hour alotted.
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I feel sure that this probably wasn't her experience, but Julia Child's Cream of Scallop Soup was an OMG! experience on the first try.
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I thought the quickfire was an excellent idea. Team up by seasons and cook for the bragging rights. But as I watched, I realized that, ironically, whoever would win this honor would inevitably wind up saying that season 8 was much tougher than any of the other seasons. Oh well. But another benefit was that they didn't have to cover 17 chefs individually in a quickfire.
I was about to panic as Richard didn't stop when the clock ran out. I thought he could could go home for not presenting a dish. But that's not how it works. So I guess if the clock is running out and there's something on the plate that could get you eliminated, you should just keep working and fix it regardless of the clock. I somehow doubt you can keep working on it until the following morning though. I wonder what the rule is. Make it to the table on time?
Once I saw that Richard was off the hook, it seemed to me like Stephen was the one to go. However, part of me wanted Elia to go because she was making me nervous for her.
I'm glad Richard and Fabio will survive to fight another day.
Oh, and after all the Season-7-Isn't-Up-To-Snuff angst, Angelo pulls off the first win.
And...Bourdain's blog is back. Tony is feeling bad for offending Fabio.
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But I'm guessing that some of the personalities may have changed as well. Tiffany F was not someone I could ever support until I saw the reunion show. After that it was not out of the question that she could make amends.
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Funny. But okay, this leads me to a question about salt mills. With pepper mills, the point is to keep the oils in the pepper corn until grinding, right?. But salt doesn't have oil, does it? Does grinding salt have any purpose beyond turning a too coarse product into usable product - which could've just been bought that way?
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Am I missing something -- every eggroll wrapper I've ever bought has a coating of cornstarch on them to separate them from each other. I can't see how that would work in a lasagne...
Emily
If true (it might be flour for all I know), I haven't seen an issue from it. I don't think a little extra thickening agent would do much harm. I've done some pretty thick cornstarch/water mixtures to glaze bread crusts. Even at that level, it's not really much thicker than a marinara.
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I think I'm clearing my slate. We might be suprised by some of the chefs' growth.
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Egg roll wrappers can be very, very good. But there really is such a range in lasagne styles that I'd hesitate to fully endorse them in this case. I don't know what you're going for. I'll just tell you where I'm coming from.
After reading a book by Pino Luongo, I was able to dine at Coco Pazzo Cafe in Chicago. I think this is not owned by him. I think it may have been given to his crew and continues on without his name. Someone here may know the real story.
But the 'Tuscan Lasagne' was an eye opener. I couldn't place the pasta. I even thought at some point that they might've taken a rolling pin to slices of Wonder Bread. In his book, Pino points out that pasta dishes are not pasta with sauce, but a whole which is to be taken together. You shouldn't be able to tell where the sauce ends and the pasta begins because it's an integrated whole.
I took my best shot at recreating it a couple of weeks later. Discarding the silly Wonder Bread idea, I used egg roll wrappers in a rather fussy production that came close to the original dish. It needn't be so fussy on a larger scale, although presentation may suffer. But it was basically this - some tomato sauce lube on the bottom, followed by seasoned ricotta/egg mixture, followed by some cooked ground sausage, another layer of pasta, of course. Repeat to desired height. Douse with a 50-50 mix of marinara/bechamel and heat gently but thoroughly.
It could be pretty quick. You just need to cook the egg and soften the pasta. Then it's just about the plating. I imagine it could also be steamed sans sauce which could be applied hot at plating.
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In my humble opinion, if you can't get excited about this cut, then you've already failed. One of the most divine food experiences of my life involved this cut.
Please, do tell us. I'm all about divine food experiences.
Nothing complex. Seasoned filet seared briefly but aggressively on very high heat. Then finished in the oven to a perfect med rare. Bites dipped into a hollandaise like a fondue. The fat lacking in the tenderloin cut is more than made up for in thickened butter (with a little built in acid). The contrasting harmony between the 'clean' taste of the meat and the enrobing of the sauce is, IMHO, astounding.
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In my humble opinion, if you can't get excited about this cut, then you've already failed. One of the most divine food experiences of my life involved this cut.
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I think Julia was special for two reasons. First there's the historical transformation thing. That's been well covered. But her life seems to have been an epic version of one of her episodes....
"Ooops, that didn't go well. Well, just pick up your head, deal with it, and move on..."
Slogging through the tough parts invariably led her to a successful conclusion.
That said, I can understand someone viewing her programs today and wondering what the fuss is about. When the Cooking Channel started running her old shows, I set my DVR to capture every one. But other than the awkward moments that make me smile and cringe at the same time, there's nothing new for me to learn. But I guess that's the point. Julia's revolution is the new normal.
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I've had good luck freezing cheese. I don't detect any difference upon thawing. The cheese I freeze isn't special though. I buy 5lb bags of shredded for around $2/lb (it's twice that at the grocery). I rebag it into three or four portions and keep one in the fridge and the others in the freezer. As I empty the bag in the fridge, I move a bag from the freezer to the fridge.
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BLAIS OFF (December 17) - How can one man beat the world's most renowned chefs and experts who have been spent decades perfecting their recipes?
I hope it's this: Think "Thrown Down" with Bobby Flay. Instead, we have a Blais Off. I started a thread about food shows we'd like to see and this could be very similar to my first suggestion...
For me, it would involve Wylie Dufresne and Homaro Cantu teaming up to try to beat a pair of top traditional BBQ chefs in a pork rib challenge. Rivals teaming up for a battle of new vs. old. -
We've had a few threads leading up to Thanksgiving, so I thought I'd start one on the results - whether you need a place to celebrate, or if like me, the experience falls into the Live and Learn category.
My performance was pretty disappointing. This year I was only cooking for three, so it would be pretty easy, with a limited offering. But indecision and a lack of thought (over confidence?) got the better of me.
After discarding some whimsical ideas, I settled on a simple menu. Brined turkey breast sous vide sliced over a mushroom risotto, and creamed spinach. With a favorite yeast roll recipe.
But the wife seemed disappointed not to have potatoes. Well, okay, maybe I could do that too. Maybe instead of plating I could just put them in separate bowls. But the original reason why I wanted to switch starches this year was that I had a little bit of mash fatigue. So I needed to do something different. Baked potatoes didn't seem right so I had to think of something else. The lack of cream in the house led me to think bacon.
Off to the supermarket I went. Bacon, mushrooms, chicken broth, spinach, Hmmm...turkey breast. Where's the turkey breast? (retrospection: "Go to the meat counter, you boob"). The only packaged turkey breast I could find was a bone-in one that was bigger than I wanted. Oh well, it would have to do.
Back home, there was nothing to do until the morning.
I got up early and made a brine and as it was cooling, I unpackaged the turkey. I discovered that in my haste, I had basically bought a whole turkey sans thighs, legs and wings. It looked like a motorcycle gas tank. If, by some bizarre fate, I ever need to do an American Chopper theme Thanksgiving meal, I've got a major component covered. I should have cut off a breast and continued with my plan. Instead, I chose to use the whole thing and do a traditional roast which would allow more time for brining the larger than expected piece.
Morning prep also included frying up some bacon and doing a small portion of mashed potatoes that the yeast roll recipe called for. I made slightly more mash than I needed so I could pre-test the bacon mash. Added some bacon grease to the mash. It needed something. Thinking back to a potato salad I'd once had I added some mayo. WOW. That's it. I was looking pretty good.
I knew I would have a hectic final 45 minutes, so I decided to 86 the spinach (bad choice). Checking the yeast roll dough, it didn't seem to be doing anything. A mental search uncovered a mental note to double the rising times because I'd had this problem before. I should have written it in the book.
The turkey was done a little bit early. Not unanticipated, it could rest under foil. Forgot the foil. Starting riz and spuds. Timing is good. A little too good. Predictably, the risotto got more timely attention than the potatoes. Alternately tasting starch dishes proved difficult.
Turkey is okay - not dry but, not up to snuff brining-wise. Risotto wins the attention battle, potatoes lose. Yeast roll dough finishes its first rise at serving time, and are ready to be shaped to start their second rise. Luckily, I had a different homemade bread in the freezer that I was able to heat up.
The result wasn't bad. If I had been served this at some unspecified relative's house, I wouldn't have been unhappy (though the double starch aspect was just plain stupid - especially for three people). But this was the worst in recent times for me.
Grade: Turkey: C+/B-, Risotto: B+, Mash: D+/C+ (there is a big potential factor), Spinach: Incomplete, Yeast Rolls: Incomplete, Substitute Bread: C+.
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As a child I was bowled over by a Christmas wreath an aunt did. I think it was Rice Krispy treat on the inside, coated with a corn flake equivalent on the outside for texture. Both with quite a lot of green food coloring.
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How long can one keep a pastry dough in the refrigerator? It seems to me that having a dough in the fridge a day or two before - dough you know is good - would be a real stress reliever. For each batch that you do, you could do a test bake and throw the batch out if it's sub-par. If you do more, smaller, batches you're risking much less in terms of ingredients. Plus you'll get intensive practice.
I was able to do a good pate brisee the first time I tried just by following directions religiously. But on subsequent attempts I got a cavalier attitude, like I knew what I was doing, and failed. I found that there are sometimes things such as this where I have approach it as if it was my first time, every time.
For the crumbly dough it sounds like a hydration problem. Either not enough cold water, or not letting the flour hydrate in the fridge for long enough. In my limited experience it should go into the fridge (tightly wrapped in plastic) threatening to be crumbly, and come out in an immediately useable form - not crumbly, but not too far from it. But if your fat clumps are too large, that could be an issue too.
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Frustratingly, I've never been able to find exactly what those strips were and what they were testing.
Thanks, I bet that's it. I'll do some further looking. In my case, on one hand there seem to be contradictions, on the other, some supporting evidence. But it certainly seems plausible.
Lips curled in derision as when Jerry Seinfeld would say "Newman...."
"Phenylthiocarbamide...."
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I'm haunted by an experiment we did in a 9th grade science class. The teacher handed out what looked like a piece of litmus paper to each student. All at once we were asked to put the paper in our mouths. Immediately, nearly the entire class was spitting out the paper in disgust while I was thinking "Tastes like paper to me". I looked around and found a girl across the room that was not reacting either. We looked at each other and shrugged.
According to the teacher we were missing a particular type of taste bud. I didn't think about it much as I had never perceived any problem. But later in life I began to wonder about it.
Frustratingly, I've never been able to find exactly what those strips were and what they were testing. How might this affect my perception? I don't feel that I'm unable to perceive any of the basic flavors (though I don't by any means think that my pallete is in any way near competition ready). Then again, there are things, like coffee, where I'm baffled as to the attraction.
As an aside, perception of color is another area where there is a great degree of variation between individuals.
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The author was interviewed on CBC's As It Happens on their November 5th program, as well.
Clarification in case it's needed. I thought this was another Griggs interview I had missed. But what I missed was the word 'Author'. Judith Griggs is the Editor and Monica Gaudio is the author. Ms. Gaudio has been interviewed many times, but the link I posted is the first case I've found where we have the words of Ms. Griggs outside of the infamous e-mail exchange and the subsequent Facebook posts.
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Judith Griggs has finally done an interview. Not as probing as I would have liked, but it's something.
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Is smoking an essential/traditional part of jerk? I was thinking maybe sous vide. Then again, I was thinking brining...Oh, I don't know.
Thanks for the rice prompt though. I think that's making it in in some form.
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My wife just came back from a cruise with her girlfriends in the carribean. Luckily, there were no engine fire issues and they didn't need to be towed into port (although the weather was not exactly great throughout).
But, I got some stuff. She brought me some 'jerk spice' and some 'herb pepper blend' (which smells like oregano and black pepper). (To be frank, I suspect that we may have gotten some tourist spice, but I'm going to choose to be optimistic)
There seems to be just enough of the jerk spice to rub down a turkey. It seems clear that we should do a Carribean themed Thanksgiving. But I don't have any experience with this jerk thing.
Advice?
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I think Reese's Peanut Butter Cups are gross. And while in theory I like the combination of chocolate and peanut butter I've never had a commercial candy with that combination that I didn't think was terrible.
Insanity. I mean, while I agree that in theory one could use higher-quality ingredients and get a superior product, all the artisinal PB cups I've had sucked WAY worse than a Reese's. They are a thing unto themselves, and I think the bland, waxy milk chocolate Rees's use is part of their unique appeal.
I concur with all points but the waxy part. I do have some waxy clones right now. Reese's chocolate seems on a par with most mass produced chocolate candy.
My only complaint with them is in the portion size. It's easy to eat them in two bites. That would be cool for an amuse, but not for something in the candy bar space. But they do have some cup inspired bars that I do like.
I've often thought about making my own. I'm pretty sure that brown sugar is an element in the peanut butter equation. Along with salt.
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maybe he can go on one of those restaurant makeover shows...
Marco Pierre White might have some free time. Might have to be on pay-per-view though.
Sous Vide, Poaching and Confit
in Cooking
Posted
Sous vide, poaching and confit share some obvious similarities and differences. But what about the not so obvious? If I have brined some pork, will poaching in the brine be the same as sous vide-ing the brined pork? Thomas Keller uses a hybrid of confit and sous vide for lobster by adding some beurre monte to the sous vide bag.
Where are the lines clear and where are they blurry?