IndyRob

I credit my mother for giving me the the foundations as a home cook. But as she developed alzheimers and my (rather traditional) dad started taking over the cooking duties I began to become appalled (No, father, we are NOT putting the turkey into the microwave) Recently we've gone through the whole Assisted Living/Nursing Home thing and while this may be beyond the scope of a Senior Center, I think some observations may have some value for teaching even the younger seniors. Be prepared to adapt quickly. The ability of seniors varies wildly. Look for the one(s) that can pick up some slack from the others. One or two might be able to chop onions for the entire group. Some others should not even be given a knife. Frugality will play well with this generation. In addition to their place in (depression era) history, they're all (well, most of them) stressing about their money holding out for longer than they do. Don't try to challenge their tastes. Generally speaking, they want comfort food. They don't want fancy. They want simple, traditional fare. The odd Amuse might be well received, but that's not what they're looking to cook.

I've done some googling on this and didn't discover much coverage from the mainstream media - although wikipedians appear to have been quick to add this ignominious distinction to the pages of each sponsor. I guess that leaves me with two questions: 1) Is there anyone who fears that this could actually be passed? I mean, any state legislator could, for instance, propose a bill banning squirrels from the state. It wouldn't necessarily mean that change is coming. 2) WTF are Brooklyn voters thinking? And will they think differently next time they're at the ballot box?

I don't do brunch much, but Cafe Patachou usually tops brunch lists. There's one very near your hotel (the River Crossing one). http://www.cafepatachou.com/ Not strictly local, but Le Peep is also mentioned often. I have been here and had higher expectations than were met (my eggs bennie had a broken hollandaise). But the menu has a good variety and I think I was the only disappointed one in the group. http://www.lepeepindy.com/ (the Castleton location is almost within walking distance of your hotel) One I saw mentioned is the Three Sisters Cafe. Again, one I've not visited. But it caught my eye because I first noticed it while out for a walk. It looked so quaint that as I walked down the block my head was craning back trying to figure it out. It seems to get good marks for the food, but gets dinged on service. http://indianapolis.citysearch.com/profile/3960610/indianapolis_in/three_sisters_cafe.html#profileTab-reviews You're in a good location to cover a lot of ground in a car in 20 minutes. You've got freeways that can take you west, south or northeast 20 miles in that time. If you travel west on 82nd street you'll pass not one, but two malls. In the second one (the Fashion Mall) is a Cheesecake Factory which is also a popular brunch spot. If the weather is nice, I would recommend taking I-69/Highway 37/Binford Blvd southwest to 62nd street. Go west on 62nd, past Keystone Ave about 1 mile to Broad Ripple Village. Here you can get out and walk. This is where the Three Sisters is, as well as another Cafe Patachou and a variety of other restaurants including locally unique Bazbeaux Pizza (if you miss brunch). This would allow you to lay eyes on several places before you decide.

Cheese making.

I'm afraid that I can't offer expert advice, but thinking it through, the first thing I would try would be baking the puff pastry fully (or almost fully) on an empty greased cup. Then lift off the pastry and keep it on a tray (covered or not - depending on the wait period). To serve, add the hot soup to the cup, cap it with the pre-cooked puff pastry cap, top with cheese and broil briefly to melt cheese and warm the pastry through.

For me, the most infuriating example of this came when I googled "o'charley's rolls recipe" hoping that I could make a reasonable facsimile without a lot of experimentation. The first recipe included a step where you form three little balls and place them together in a muffin tin. Huh? That's like a cloverleaf roll. Clearly not the rolls at O'Charley's (pictured here... http://www2.prnewswire.com/mnr/ocharleys/31428/ ) Oh well, I clicked 'Back' and selected the next google hit. Same thing. Next one. Same recipe. And on and on it went. Many have disclaimers like "This isn't my recipe and I haven't made it. I found it on another site and thought I would post it here". It's in recipe sites, message board replies...everywhere. Every time someone asks for an O'Charley's roll recipe someone googles it and perpetuates the same bogus recipe. When I finally did find a different recipe that looked plausible, I looked up at the start of the post. There it was again - "I found this on another site but I haven't made this recipe myself..." Aiigghh!

The mention of raw foods reminded me of an interview on NPR with a biologist who suggests that it was cooking that made us human. Indeed, I just checked Wikipedia and during the paleolithic period "Humankind gradually evolved from early members of the genus Homo such as Homo habilis — who used simple stone tools — into fully behaviorally and anatomically modern humans (Homo sapiens sapiens)".

In addition to the pork tenderloin, another ubiquitous sandwich at Indiana fairs and festivals is the Hoosier ribeye. Simply a thin grilled ribeye steak on a bun, sometimes with cheese and/or other condiments by request. It's more of an outdoor walking-around kind of sandwich. I like to use the eye of the ribeye and reserve the cap/calotte - since I've come to view the cap as a superior cut for pan searing - too good to cover with bread.

I can't remember for sure, but it would have been between 131 and 135F. But for four-five hours. In the cookbook forum I posted a similar sentiment about his (140F) temps and the possibilities of lawyerly intervention. In retrospect, unlike pork ribs or say, beef short ribs, I can't see that there's anything to be gained by longer SV periods when it comes to filet. And I wouldn't at all be surprised to learn (definitively) that there is much to be lost.

I recently got Keller's Under Pressure and the biggest eye opener was that you can overcook meat SV. "Pink, but overdone" is how he put it. As I read it, I realized I had done this to a beef filet. I had wondered why it wasn't as good as I thought it was going to be. But at the extreme of this is lobster. Although I never thought it would be something you'd cook for a long time, Keller says a tail will be done in 15 minutes and then there's a 10 minute window to get it out. While that's a leisurely pace as lobster cooking goes, in usual SV terms it seems like a drag race.

While watching the Brittany show I saw that they are posting travel guides on the web site. Check this out... http://www.travelchannel.com/TV_Shows/Anthony_Bourdain/Episodes_Travel_Guides/ci.Episode_Brittany.map For Istanbul... http://www.travelchannel.com/TV_Shows/Anthony_Bourdain/Episodes_Travel_Guides/ci.Episode_Istanbul.map

Um, Top Chef with Kenmore and the Glad Family of Products (among others)? I like Top Chef more than I dislike commercials.

I wouldn't worry about it. The Top Chef/Michelob blog thing worried me more because we lost something there. I laughed out loud when I saw the Chase plug. There is only one reason he's on the air and that's to draw eyeballs for others (paying advertisers). And it's clear when he's doing it. This wasn't the first time. It was just the least subtle. In the end it's the advertiser's dollars who are paying his way. And I don't think Chase gives a hoot whether he pans or praises the street food in Juarez, Mexico.

Someone on another site recommended the T-Fal Ultimate EZ Clean Pro Fryer. It appears to be unique in that it will automatically (?) filter the oil after use and then you can easily break it down and throw everything but the heating element into the dishwasher. Anyone have any experience with these? http://www.t-falusa.com/All+Products/Cooking+Appliances/Deep+Fryers/Products/Ultimate+EZ+Clean+Pro+Fryer/Ultimate+EZ+Clean+Pro.htm

It seems to me that there's been quite a lot of product placement within No Reservations. Cars come to mind. This Chase one did seem pretty blatant, but effective. I usually DVR the shows and watch the commercials in slow motion so I can savor...um wait....No I don't. I fast-forward through those suckers to get to the good bits. The Chase ad is the only one I remember. But I suspect there might also be a story behind it.

Well, 18 months later I guess they've got the problems sorted. I got one for Christmas this year have have been exploring the online Aerogarden world and have not heard of any fire hazards. I'm pretty pleased so far. I got mine Christmas Eve and spent 15 minutes Christmas morning setting it up, and already my Basil is about 7" tall. All of the pods have sprouted and are growing and my only problem has been a rogue Purple Basil plant cohabiting with the chives. But I think I'll let it fight with them for domination since I feel that I'm unlikely to get a sufficient yield of chives through a half inch hole. And chives are the one thing I've been able to grow easily in a pot. As to the economics, yeah, it can be pretty pricey. But then again, I've paid around $3.50 for a single bunch of basil when it's in season. So this could add up too - and is limited to the season. I've been looking at homebrew hydroponic systems and think they could be done with much less money. But the beauty of an Aerogarden is that you'd be happy to put one on your kitchen counter top (if you have the counter space). Along with a 15 minute initial setup with no scrounging for suitable parts, I think that justifies the up front costs (although I highly recommend the Christmas present route ). For the ongoing costs, you've got bulbs, seed pods, nutrients and power. The light bulbs appear to be proprietary and can't be replaced without significant modification. But contrary to the official recommendations, the conventional wisdom seems to be that you can use the bulbs beyond their recommended life. It appears that many people are having good success with making their seed pods using their own seeds and standard hydroponic materials. Likewise, general purpose hydroponic nutrients seem to work well. I saw a post where someone estimated the electricity cost of running their Aerogarden at $8/mo. But then again, I saw another poster (with multiple AGs) claim that his electric bill actually went down because he wasn't his regular incandescent lamps as much. Yeah, the lamps are pretty bright and in herb mode will only give you 5 hours of darkness per day. If you want more info a good web forum is at http://www.aerogardengrowers.com. It's a good independent site with many multi-unit Aerogarden owners.

Dang, now I have a new challenge. I don't have an answer, but in the interest of accuracy, I note that you switched between talking about searing a "tenderloin", and wrapping a "fillet" in short order. I assume there was a slicing step in there somewhere? My internal eyebrow raises around the phrase "sitting for just a few minutes." With a traditionally roasted piece of meat, I'd put my thumb squarely on that. With SV, it might still be an issue.

My current shopping goal is around $1.79/lb for utility butter in Indiana. I think that's very low compared the last 5-10 years. Similarly, milk seems to be about 30% lower. I gladly pay over $5/lb for President butter from Normandy, but I only use that in specific applications. But it would be interesting if someone could find an average adjusted price per decade. I've always been under the impression that butter has always been close at hand, but perhaps that might be a rural thing (and perhaps why one seems to find the better pies out in the country).

I like to roll out an 8" circle and deep fry it until golden (can be done in a saute pan with an inch or two of oil). When it comes out, season it and add provolone, salami, lettuce, onion and tomato (or what have you). Then fold in half. I think some call this a crispella. Or, when I need to use the dough but don't have an immediate need, I make a similar 8" circle, but a little thicker and cut in half so I have two half-moons. Cover and let rise, then brush with butter and bake. Brush with butter again when they come out of the oven. Then I can cool and freeze them. They thaw quickly and I cut a pocket in the flat end and insert salami, ham and cheese. I wrap these in paper towels and microwave briefly to steam the bread and melt the cheese. Then stuff with lettuce, onion and/or tomato. This was a successful clone of a Little Caesar's Italian sandwich.

My version of Anthony Bourdain's childhood oyster experience was Maltese Pastizzi - although in this case, my family wasn't exactly shocked by my indulging in them, as they were too busy knocking me out of the way to get their own Although the true dough probably bears more of a resemblance to strudel dough, frozen puff pastry can be used to create an easy but less spectacular version. Take the puff pastry out to thaw and dump your 15-16 oz of ricotta into a mixing bowl and add two eggs. Season liberally with salt and black pepper (to taste if you're not afraid of the raw eggs). Mix until incorporated. Roll out the puff pastry sheets to make them a little larger and cut out 9 - 3 or 4 inch circles from each. Put a spoonful of ricotta mixture on each and fold up and seal like an asian pot sticker (but without the flutes). Place each, seam side up, on a baking sheet and bake in a 425 degree oven for 15-25 minutes until golden. Or, you can freeze the unbaked pastizzi and bake the number you want right from the freezer. After years of searching I've finally found two videos that seem to corroborate the correct method for producing the traditional dough.... Professional method of production.... (quick - about 2 min) An apparently authentic Maltese Grandmother with the complete dough recipe... (longer - about 16 min) http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=121209033894 I'll be trying this soon, but unfortunately the final shaping (which I think has a lot of important nuances) is very hard to see with the quick handed pro in the first link, and is not covered at all in the second link.

Two things come to mind. One is superheating where water can actually exceed the boiling point without actually boiling, and then it spontaneously - and almost explosively - boils. An explanation of superheating and microwaves is here: http://www.phys.unsw.edu.au/~jw/superheating.html Another possibility is that, because microwaves heat from the inside out, you could wind up with molten butter and steam inside a frozen shell. This would almost have to explode.

I was watching America's Test Kitchen today and they did an eye of round roast rubbed with salt and they did wrap it in plastic and kept it in the refer for 24 hrs. But I think that with a steak or chop, some drying of the surface is desirable as it helps with the initial sear. I'm guessing that there's probably a sweet spot to be found if you're trying to achieve both at once.

Thanks much. The sig in mine matches your image. I'll have to find out more about where it came from. But now that I've gotten through the book, the biggest revelation is that you can fairly easily overcook meat sous vide. I don't think I've seen that explicitly mentioned anywhere, but I think I just did exactly that. I did a ribeye for 4 hours at 135(F), then seared with a proper blowtorch for the first time. I thought I was going to have my best result yet, but was underwhelmed. I think I got just the sort of 'pink but overdone' that was mentioned. And the idea of a mere 10 minute window for lobster was eye opening. Regarding the temps, I think I'll reserve judgment and keep reading various sources. I've always been amazed that Alton Brown has never addressed sous vide. From the little I've been able to read, this seems to be because of the lawyers and regulators that he normally likes to tweak. So I wouldn't be surprised if some temps had to be tweaked in order to get the book past the legal review.

I love the President butter from Normandy. Their pesto in a jar is also good, and cheaper than most other prepared pestos. The jarred roasted red peppers are also good.

I've settled on coconut oil as the ultimate cooking medium, but am still looking to create the authentic movie theater popcorn of the past. One promising find is something called Flavacol which I found in my local restaurant supply store. It's basically powdered salt with some butter flavoring. The first test was pretty promising although it's so fine that I couldn't properly disperse it even with a fine mesh shaker. The result was over salted. I think I'll try it in the oil next time.