ChrisTaylor

If you cook them w/ the poo tube still in doesn't that impact on the flavour in a negative way?

What did you think of the lemon ants? Were they chilled or prepared in some way that would prevent them from running away?

Yeah and he abandoned that whole sous vide pig.

Yeah, but there's still a whole lot of people that thing French people live off frogs and snails. An outsider's perception of what is typical is worthless. And, any more, most dishes that meet your 'yummy' criterion are widely avaliable in some form or another. I doubt there's any dish, anywhere that will tick all of those boxes.

Wow. Wagyu beef cheeks + this sauce = crazily intense. I ate what seemed like a small portion initially and now feel like I've been hit with a cattle truck. Wonderful.

Perhaps the most knowledgeable bartender at my favourite bar, Whisky & Alement, suggested making an Old Fashioned with Ardbeg Uigeadail in a recent article. In place of a cherry I used a teaspoon of Luxardo. I like this a lot.

This impresses me.

Yeah, I decided to go for it. At first I was holding back because, man, there are a lot of ingredients in this thing--even though I had everything except the fresh vegetables on hand. Then I stepped back and realised that, hey, this damn near ticks all the boxes on a list of my very favourite things. I shall report back.

I bought roughly a kilo of wagyu beef cheeks this morning and am looking for a good recipe. I'm leafing through my books but at the moment I'm most interested in the one from Pelaccio's book, Eat With Your Hands. The cheeks are marinated with red wine, Scotch, onion, carrot, parsley, mustard seeds, tomato paste, fish sauce, sriracha, dried chilli, garlic and dates. They are seared before being placed in this (cooked) marinade. The eventual braising liquid includes all this stuff--and there is a lot, I know--along with some master stock and a satchet of cumin seeds, black cardamon and a little coffee. I have never tried the recipe but I have cooked beef cheeks before. Anyone got any better ideas or, bettet still, cooked or eaten this dish?

True, but dark meat is unpleasant at 60C. It still feels a bit raw to the bite. Cook the breasts at 60C, chill and store. Cook the legs at maybe 65C. Also, with that thickness I'd worry the breast meat--having to sit in the bath so long--would start to take on an unsettling mushiness. Deconstruct the bird. Bar messing around with meat glue, which I know nothing about, sous vide (and even slow and low roasting) makes perfect presentation (ie a whole animal) and perfect doneness a binary choice.

What do you do when Keith_W hands you a foil pouch containing a handful of leftover char siu chunks? Why, you crisp them up with some diced shortcut bacon and then finish that off with a couple of fried eggs.

I tend to go through phases. As a student, for instance, I cooked a lot of Indian curries, maybe mostly because I had and still have a lot of South Asian grocers nearby. I can easily find spices and pay very little for them. Mostly using beans or cheap cuts of meat such as chicken wings. I flirted with Thai food but David Thompson's recipes were usually too costly to make on a full-time student's budget. Over the years I've flirted with Ethiopian, British (in the Fergus Henderson sense), Spanish, Sichuanese, Mexican and numerous others. I sometimes fool around with Italian and, more frequently, French (in the bistro fare sense of the word) but for the past couple of years I've been increasingly fixated on Cajun and, well, Southern food in general. I also spent a lot of time last year making things from David Chang's book. I enjoy that sort of thing so much that it didn't take much thought to just do a blind buy of a book I stumbled across online, Smoke & Pickles. The blurb told me that book would be my idea of a good time. Curiosity is a big motivator. For a while there I was ordering bits and pieces of every native, game or 'exotic' meat I could legally get my hands on. When I hear of something else interesting being made avaliable I tend to try and get my hands on it unless it's stupidly expensive, in which case I'm happy to have an expert at a restaurant prepare it. In general, I'll eat anything. I dislike the aroma of bananas and the taste and mouthfeel of milk but, well, they're the only two limitations I've run into as an adult. I was a very fussy child.

You're definitely eating the wrong baos if you don't like baos! The ones available here (Australia) are properly made. There's even a trend towards ultra-fresh baos where the dough is rolled and steamed minutes before you buy. These are even more killer than the standard baos, which are delicious enough already.Indeed. Even an increasing number of food court places (that one in Chadstone, for instance) work on a small batch basis.

Coopers 2013 vintage ale. I like it better than the 2012.

I didn't know this dish until you mentioned it. It's like a high class turducken.

The Mid-City for Kindred Cocktails. An ounce each of rye, cognac and sweet vermouth (I used Punt e Mes), a half ounce of coffee liqueur (I used Illy), a couple dashes of Peychaud's and six drops of Xocolatl Mole bitters. Lemon twist. Rocks glass. Yeah. I like it better than the Vieux Carre. And I like the Vieux.

That prime rib looks incredible.

What does 'curry' mean? A Thai jungle curry isn't packing a remotely similar flavour profile to anything Indian, for instance. Something Anglo with a sprinkle of a British-brand 'curry powder'? I too had to warm up to Mac and Cheese. It took a while.

I made the chicken pie although I used a store-bought puff pastry (butter-based rather than the more common vegan crap). I liked it a lot.

The martini is a drink I have a funny relationship with. I've never got it. Never understood it. I decided, tho', seeing as I recently purchased some new gins (West Winds Cutlass, Old Raj & Blackwoods 2008) that I may as well have a return visit. I went for Blackwoods and Noilly Prat and a 3:1 ratio. A dash of Regan's orange bitters and a twist of lemon. This isn't my favourite drink in the world but I .... I think I like it.

The Wink: 2.66 oz gin (I used Old Raj), .5 oz simple, .33 oz Cointreau, 3 dashes Peychaud's. Shaken w/ ice and served, like a Saz, w/ an absinthe rinse. From here.

Nothing says 'good time for Mai Tais' like a midwinter Monday, right? 1 oz Smith & Cross 1 oz El Dorado 15 .75 oz-ish lime juice .5 oz Cointreau .25 orgeat .25 simple

At a nice quiet bar in Melbourne: a 'drunken chicken Sazerac'. Based on Cognac. The sweetness (and chicken aspect) came from a 'chicken fat-washed ginger syrup'. The drink was overly salty, I thought. What was hiding under the saline was pleasant enough, though.

The steakhouse-style meal looks great.

Chicken wings are my favourite cut of any kind of meat in the world. And I've eaten and loved many cuts of many animals. Those wings look very good. Smashing a plate of those and a couple of beers would bring me much pleasure.