IndyRob

You can google 'freezing basil'. There are some seemingly plausible strategies involving freezing in olive oil.

I want to try this, but lack the equipment you have. I think I saw it first on the Spain No Reservations episode. Aerated spongecake batter nuked in a plastic cup and torn up to resemble fluffy coral for a dessert plate. It's better demonstrated if you can find the No Reservations clip.

I may have posted this in one of the other threads, but long ago my wife wanted a KitchenAid mixer. I shopped around and found a Kenwood (which I think is no longer available in the U.S.). It had all the features, add-ons, more power and was about half the price. I don't think she was impressed. But as it turned out I became the primary user anyway. Eventually we remodeled our kitchen with a lot of stainless steel and black appliances. The white plastic Kenwood went into a cupboard while a sleek black KitchenAid took its place. But now the Kenwood is back and stands proudly, if perhaps wastefully, beside the KitchenAid. In retrospect it was superior in every practical way but one. It has a plastic bowl. Plastic bowls can absorb fat which could kill your egg white whipping efforts. However, I also found that plastic bowls (whether by the same fat absorption, I'm not sure) can be a real boon with bread doughs. Dried bread dough can develop a death grip on stainless steel. In the plastic bowl I can leave dough residue to dry completely and it flakes effortlessly off. Pretty much a wipe down is all that is needed. So, I don't know if such an option exists today, but I think it would be worth finding out if interchangeable bowls are an option.

It turns out that this is old news but I can't find mention of it here.... I was reading Anthony Bourdain's Travel Channel blog about the 100th episode and noticed the first entry in the comments section concerned an appearance by him and Eric Ripert on the Martha Stewart show. Apparently he was gracious despite Martha's interruptions. I had to try to seek this out and found it. We start with a dog teaser followed by a table discussion with a centerpiece of durian - during which, oddly, Tony is barely able say anything more than that he's tried it. Martha begins to loose her inner Zimmern and then it's time to press the two chefs into a production of a coq au vin. Tony remains amazingly gracious and even lets a 'nubbin' reference go untouched. But towards the end all becomes clear as it's made clear that the purpose of the appearance is Bourdain and Ripert's upcoming Sirius/XM radio show on the Martha Stewart Living channel. A stint of five weekly shows. It turns out that this was all earlier this year. There are some youtube clips and blog entries, but I've yet to find any place to listen to the whole shows. Hopefully they have or will find a home and not be lost to the ages.

There's an English Muffin Topic here, but I've found that I like Thomas' and some agree. I wish they had a fresher feel when bought (most of their competitors are found in the refrigerated sections whereas Thomas' are found in the bread aisle), but after toasting they're still quite good (and require an amazingly small amount of butter).

Ooooh, I like that. For an American comfort food grilled cheese, the petroleum based Kraft American cheese-like substance is a must. But the Texas Toast angle is pure genius. After finding a brand of flour tortillas I particularly like, I must admit to an unnatural desire to roll cheese and anything I can find into a tortilla and wax paper and nuking it until properly heated and steamed (can be pan fried afterward if you want crispy). It took me a surprisingly long time to use canned chili and cheese to come up with something burrito like - except for breakfast burritos (another case where the Kraft cheesish stuff is required).

Good point. Consider this story. A politician posts two newspaper articles on her campaign website without permission. She gets sued. Not by the newspaper, but by a company that looks for infringements and then buys the rights to the content that was infringed. It makes sense for the newspaper since they aren't in the business of suing people, and these people are. Bartenders don't have the infrastructure or expertise to manage an IP portfolio. All of those licensing and IP protection issues are better handled by, well, big corporations. Extrapolate that to its logical conclusion and bartending could get quite scary (or quite boring).

Making English Muffins from scratch. In my head it still doesn't seem like a big deal, but after the only time I ever tried, it just seemed totally not worth it. Perhaps a little like a Parisian trying to make their own baguettes.

I've already been on record as to that. And very specifically. It's available to you upthread.

Here's the problem.... I asked them and they said it was expressive. That proves it. Yeah, I don't think so.

It seems that there are at least four different kinds of IP law being addressed here in a willy nilly fashion. I am not a lawyer but still feel compelled to respond to the best of my ability. Copyright covers the expression of an idea. You can't copy my reporting of a news event, but you can report on the same event independently. I can't sell pictures of the Mona Lisa, but Andy Warhol could do his own version (well, except for that being dead thing). But a list of ingredients is an instructional and not an expressive thing. Most food blog recipes probably would qualify as expressions of an idea if they were copied. But if just the ideas were used, there would be no violation. But if you're trying to protect your turf, why have you published the method? And if you haven't, copyright does not come into play. Patent laws protect the idea itself, but it has to a be a non-obvious idea. Sous vide cooking would've probably have been a good candidate for a patent. Your cocktail making method might be as well. But whether your idea your is worthy of patent protection is up to the courts. Trademarks protects the brand name. It has nothing to do with the product, but the words and marks related to popularizing it and protecting an identity. Trade secrets are protected and that means keeping your mouth shut. Coca Cola has been very successful with this for over 100 years. If your idea is good, marketable, and non obvious, this is clearly your best option.

Jeremy Clarkson had a pretty powerful blender on Top Gear once... Might need some refinement though.

I think it just got more than annoying. A sandwich truck beats French cuisine and then gets sent home for not being able to create a great catfish dish using a panini press? Leave it to the Food Network to come up with a good concept and then screw it up trying find a way of getting Tyler Florence his face time. Ah, well. At least it caused me to visit Austin Daily Press' web site where I got a chuckle...

I'll take the middle ground and say that while heating from frozen would work fine, if you have the luxury of being able to thaw them in fridge overnight, take advantage of it. Reheating will go very quickly. I've baked uncooked frozen meatballs in a toaster oven in around 15-20 minutes. They get up to temperature very quickly because they're so small. If it were it me, and if it was important, I might add a few extra sacrificial meatballs that I could pull out and test prior to committing to the batch.

Maybe proofing and baking them in rings? Burgers are not something I've worked on much, but would like to. But just looking at the thread title and imagining my ultimate bun (although this is a very subjective thing), I think there might be an easy way out... I love to make baguettes and boules and pizzas from scratch. But when it comes to American style breads I have an easy proven alternative - frozen dough from the supermarket. It's nearly fool proof. It's a little more rustic than your supermarket buns - slightly denser, a larger crumb. More moist, for sure. And freshly baked. That crumb is exactly what I'd want for a burger. Crustwise, I'm a little more unsure about what I'd want. I think it depends a little on the burger style. But there are all sort of tricks to play with. Brushing with butter, milk, egg yolk wash, egg white wash, egg wash, cornstarch glaze, etc.

Thanks, I also have a Silpat and silicone mat available for deployment.

In Collichio's blog, he acknowledges that many people are saying the competition is not up to the levels of past seasons, but promises a strong finale. Best food of the season. Unfortunately, he didn't address the freeze-dried parameters.

I'm considering buying three half sheet pans and dumping all my larger rectangular teflon coated baking sheets. They seem to have a very limited life and the various sizes cause a storage problem. But would I regret not keeping something teflon?

I had to laugh at Bourdain's reference to Ripert's "dark world view". Ripert did a stint on the line at Le Halles for a No Reservations episode so they obviously have a good relationship. I think they just have different points of view. I agree that the challenge seemed ambiguous. The one restriction that made it to the air regarded sweetness. But it appears that the sweetest dish won.

I think this question falls under 'things you need an electrician for'. I'm personally pretty audacious when it come to home improvements, but I would draw the line short of this decision. Regardless of your intended uses, over the life of the installation there will invariably be counter top crawling babies and Alzheimer's affected grandmothers. But really, if you just purchase installation with the appliance you'll rarely go wrong. Especially if you express your concerns and have someone out to take a look.

I don't know all the facts or the law, but on its face it seems like a legitimate claim. I'm not a savvy New Yorker (if that's a legal standard) but I was a little confused as to who was who just reading this story ("Wait, isn't BLT 'Bistro Laurent Tourondel? Oh, they must have split. He just dropped the B?")

For me there are only two cases in which I care at all about something being 'authentic'. First, as a matter of advertising - like in the club sandwich examples. But adding a qualifier to the menu can easily solve that. If I saw, say, 'Mr. Frisbee's Club Sandwich' on a menu, I would infer that there's some sort of twist involved. The other case is finding an authentic example to use as a benchmark when I try something for the first time. I mentioned in another thread that I've never had risotto but see it all the time. This has made me curious enough to want to try it. There's obviously some technique involved, so I could easily screw it up without ever knowing it if I tried it myself. So I need to find an 'authentic' example. Perhaps 'representative' would work just as well. But once I've sampled it and recreated it (if desired), then authentic goes out the window. I'll put cream in it if I want.

Nom Nom is looking pretty unbeatable. I was expecting others to steal their ideas like calling the media. But I didn't see anyone doing that this week so I wonder if that tactic was quietly 86'd by the producers. Must've been rough for the crepe folks to get sent home by Ft. Worth before they could get to New Orleans.

Describe the food show you'd like to see. Maybe someone will notice and we'll actually see it. 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.

Technically, I don't know. But I like brined things and dislike pickled things, and I'm vinegar averse. I associate pickling with vinegar.