IndyRob

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...

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+.

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.

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.

phenylthiocarbamide? 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...."

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.

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.

Judith Griggs has finally done an interview. Not as probing as I would have liked, but it's something.

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.

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?

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.

Marco Pierre White might have some free time. Might have to be on pay-per-view though.

The OP did say in a subsequent post that they had tried to deal with it that night and had not been successfull. This being the new Maître d'... "(who we mistook for a regular waiter as he acted in all ways just like a regular waiter) didn’t even wish her a happy birthday." Service was a problem and they identified the new Maître d' as a particular problem. So they complained to...the new Maître d'. But then there's the CRM (Client Relationship Management/computerized relationship mockup) thing. The Maître d' should have known about the wife's birthday. I've just had a birthday and was surprised by two letters from two restaurants (one I've been to, and one I have not) offering me free birthday entrees. My reaction was "WTF are you doing with my personal information?" I'll go way out on a limb here and suggest that perhaps the new Maître d' was accustomed to old school personal service. Wherein you build a personal relationship with people by talking to them. Not from notes posted in a computer. I suspect that I could be very well off base here, but I am feeling that this could have been handled far less publicly to better effect. Unless being public was the goal.

Wondering how prevalant this is, I've been doing some shallow investigation. I grab a unique looking sentance from deep within the one of the infringed articles and google it looking for exact matches. I found quite a few pretty quickly. Sometimes it does look like fair use. In other cases there is attribution but no indication that is is used with permission. But it seems like in around half the cases, it seemed a willful (or naive) infringement. In one case, a slideshow was converted to a static web page and used both the text and images. Interestingly, most blog posts on this site were in another language although this one was posted in English. It occurred to me that the devious thing to do would be to target non-english sites (say, the French goosto.fr) and do a google translation and clean up the grammar. I won't post examples since there could be cases where permission was granted but it isn't made known. But if anyone has a relevant blog and wants to follow the trail(s) to the end, it might be a useful way to contribute to the larger issue (and get some hits in the process). I'm reminded of a story I saw a few months ago (posted in the cocktail copyright thread I think). It was about a newspaper that had a standing relationship with a legal/IP firm. The latter would monitor the web for infringement of the newspaper's articles. When it found one, it would buy the rights to the article and then go sue the infringer (or probably in most cases, settle). At the time, this arrangement seemed a little bit chilling. But I'm sure they would bring up a case such as this in their defense. The newspaper avoids involvement in a lawsuit and is immediately compensated for the infringement. The legal firm does what it does. I must admit that I'm warming to the arrangement in this context. [ETA after reading the intervening posts]Although I found some recipes copied with some very specific instructions, notes, or other borderline content, I quickly eliminated these and focused on things like health advice articles. It was still pretty easy to find some.

I think it's already fully spun up. The stories seem to have become more about the reaction (internet justice) than the original offense. There's not much to write about on the latter if one side isn't talking. But one article I read (I can't find it now. It may have been the NPR one) tryed to imagine how all the effects could be possibly be undone if it were discovered that the facts were different than they seem. In a sense, I'd like to see what would happen if this turned out to be the case. But it doesn't seem likely. A good account of one blogger's investigation.

Exactly. I could add several paragraphs to support it, but they would just subtract from its direct eloquence.

This is what I find interesting in the general response. I've yet to find a comment supporting the magazine's position - despite going to sites where anti-copyright sentiment runs high. The 'doing it for profit' angle seems to completely nullify those sentiments. I don't think I've ever seen such a clear case of everyone - who understands what was infringed (many instances of the "recipes can't be copyrighted" arguments) - actually agreeing.

Cooks Source Magazine editor Judith Griggs apparently responded to a complaint of copyright infringement by claiming that everything on the web is in the public domain. It doesn't sound like a case of a recipe being lifted - for which there may be a defense - but an article. She was also apparently quite condescending in her response. [update] The reaction is threatening to become a bigger story. 'The crowd' is now using the Cook's Source Facebook page to finger other articles. These appear to include content from the Food Network, WebMD and NPR. But much of the reaction stretches to a dangerous extreme.

I wouldn't say that I was happy to see Heather go, but it did seem inevitable - especially once her team lost. Just being a home cook I've made good mousses and ganaches without a fail. Not all of my crusts have been been up there. That's the sort of thing that should make a good pastry chef shine. And she went her own way with it. The fact that it failed in not one, but two dishes means that, IMHO, this was one of the least controversial Top Chef eliminations ever.

I don't think the blog post was a troll. Actually, I don't think that the three poor reviews of our vet were trolls. I think they each genuinely felt that there were one or more issues. I do think that people who feel wronged are more likely to post. But I think my main problem is that, unlike word of mouth, a blog post is so much more permanent. It's also more of a standalone thing than a post at a review site. I don't think this means that a blogger is obligated to conform to some particular set of ideals, but I do think they should try to make sure that their posts have a purpose in the larger sense of things. An e-mail, or a post in an eG thread for the restaurant, seems like a more appropriate means of expression for a "went there tonight and they seemed off their game" sentiment. But I also understand that the level of financial commitment also takes this to a sort of different level. But that's all the more reason to try to rectify the problem within the system. I do agree that if Marcus just never presses that call button, none of this would be known to most of us. It was a BIG mistake. But there are becoming so many instances of, say, Facebook posts turning out badly (some even resulting in suicides), that I think we should be careful about how/what we're posting publicly and why.

I have a real concern here that arises out of an unrelated incident. We really love our veterinarian. I won't go into why, but trust me, he has proven his worth consistantly over the years. So one day I found a site where people rate and review businesses. So out of curiousity I looked up our vet. He had three glowing reviews (from long time clients) of the sort we would give him. But also three harsh criticisms from people who were there just once or twice. I feel that those could be chalked up to, say, a bad day, a misunderstanding, or even unrealistic expectations. But these reviews will be there forever and people looking at that page will get the impression that only 50% of his clients are satisfied. Having been there, as you say, six times previously, your expectations were well set and not met. But it appears that this is your third post in seven visits (plus, at least, this thread on eG). I, for one, would not like to be blogged about every other time a customer visited. Eventually, there's going to be a negative post. If the restaurant was truly going down the tube, I think that would be fair game. But a single experience does not demonstrate this. It appears that this was a night when the top people were not there. And perhaps because of this they may been having an even worse night than you were having. Ettiquete-wise, I think the thing to do would have been to send Marcus a note describing what was wrong with your experience so that he could work on it. If it was about money for value, perhaps he could have fixed that with a full or partial refund. If it was just a bad night, I don't see how anyone is served by posting this experience publicly. This latest post will probably attract more eyeballs than your previous positive posts combined. I don't agree with how Marcus handled this situation, but can understand his frustration.

Based on the posts here I think I'll give it another chance. But I agree - the franchise has been damaged by the Food Network as per usual. Michael Symon's 'Cook Like an Iron Chef' is a recipe show of nearly zero worth. And why is Kat Cora even involved? IMHO, The Food Network's cliquey nature is abundantly on display in The Next Food Network Star, but it's only thinly disguised in the Iron Chef America franchise.

I tend to deflect compliments, but I'm like that in general. I'm not one to crave being the center of attention and I think that's part of what caused me to choose cooking as a hobby. I can secure myself in the kitchen and let the product be the focus afterwards. But compliments can be tricky things sometimes. My wife will compliment anything that's not clearly botched (and even then she'll look for a silver lining). My son will let me have it straight. I appreciate that and am much more comfortable in my reaction with him. But beyond that inner circle, I'm not sure what level to ascribe any given compliment. So it's usually a generic "Thanks, I was worried that X might not've worked, but I wish Y had worked as I'd expected." Or, the more generic "Well I'm glad you liked it, thanks."

My only problem was that the judgement of black and white became entirely subjective in the end. As I was doing the play at home version in my head, I threw out a few things as 'not black enough'. Things that actually would've turned out to be acceptable. For the quickfire, I think cooking with a single pot is a valid challenge. I think that regardless of specialty, a cook should be able to come up with something good without all the gizmos. On 'Masters' I think Hubert Keller made good use of a dormroom bathtub. Having to cook in a deficient environment is certainly something that could be encountered in real life. It's great to be able to create great things when you have everything you want, but that rarely happens in real life. To me, it's far more impressive when someone can indeed make a silk purse out of a sow's ear.

How about a chocolate flavored cultured cream (creme fraiche)? I've been thinking about mixing cocoa (or chocolate) and sugar with cream, adding a mesophillic culture (or some buttermilk). Like making cultured butter but stopping before the churning step. My thought was to pour a layer on top of a room-temperature-stable pie and let it set before serving or refrigerating. It seems to me that it could be done thicker and might be able to be heated (I imagine this would have to be done gently). My concern is whether the sugar or chocolate might prevent the bacteria from working - or worse, make them do something unwanted or even dangerous. I haven't been able to find anything on the interwebs about this.