Mjx

I haven't yet eaten anyplace that does this, but just thinking about a metal utensil scraping even lightly across slate makes me cringe.

I'd also add that if a waiter is rude or otherwise a serious problem, a quiet word with management seems more appropriate and effective than slamming the establishment for the errors of one staff member. Wrath and disappointment apparently make for more interesting reading and writing. There are plenty of very pictorial and enthusiastic write-ups of meals at various restaurants, but if you look at the number of responses these get, it's pretty clear that most people seem to be more drawn to the negative stuff (seriously: I recently had an absolutely fantastic meal at a restaurant, documented it in detail here, and it got no response; I've seen the same thing with plenty of other positive write-ups).

I know some people are thoroughly incompetent at waiting tables, but I don't not tip for incompetence alone, if the waiter is truly trying (I don't encourage them to continue in a job they're lousy at by overtipping, either). And I'd never not tip for decisions or actions of the chef, or whoever is responsible for seating (if seating is determined by someone other than the waiter). If a waiter ignores me/is rude, that will affect my tip (but here too, I try to not take things to personally, and differentiate between someone who is monosyllabic because they're rushed off their feet, and actual rudeness). I worked very, very briefly as a waitress (a morning to be exact, then begged to switch to bus-kid/dishwasher), which does affect my perspective on the whole tipping issue.

Cope. The only reason these restaurants exist is because of the slobs, not despite them. Michelin-starred restaurants are dependent on enormous traffic despite equally enormous pricetags; without the millions of poorly-educated buffoons flowing through Vegas, they would not exist at all - and neither would Vegas itself. . . . . Ignoring a dress code isn't poorly educated, it's rude, a really prime example of 'I have a right to "express" myself by doing what I want'. A less than flawlessly executed version of a restaurant's dress code I can understand and cope with (trainers with your suit? Ugly as hell, but hey, you may have serious foot problems, and at least you tried in the other areas), but blowing it off altogether? Hell no.

I'm pretty sure that what you're getting was astringency and not bitterness. Actually, tobacco is quite well researched, and information on minimum and maximum quantities of nicotine and other compounds present in tobacco are well documented. The levels of potentially toxic substances that infuse cannot exceed those present in the amount of tobacco used. I first looked into this when I experimented with tobacco-infused truffles, several years back (I posted what I found about that here, post #28). Anything tobacco-infused becomes miserable tasting at well below the toxic level; there's the astringency, but the tobacco has an unambiguous bitterness, too. This is not something that should be used as a test of 'too much for safety', but something to keep in mind in terms of flavouring: just because the amount used is within safe limits, doesn't mean it is going to taste good.

Rabbit seasoned with lavender, garlic, and dried nettles, chanterelles, and rice with borlotti (slices of red and yellow bell pepper on the side). I used suet instead of butter or olive oil for both the rabbit and the chanterelles, since butter didn't seem quite right with rabbit, and olive oil seemed likely to overwhelm the chanterelles.

This must be a personal thing; once it hits about 30C/85F, I have no desire to eat, and can easily go for a couple of days on nothing but fluids. If the temperature keeps up, I do adjust, and start to eat again. But I stay pretty unenthusiastic. These days, I'm spending most of my time in Northern Europe; ever since that started, I gained about 12kg/26lbs, since there are no prolonged, hot summers during which I practically fast at times.

Have to say, bagels definitely seem to lose a great deal of their charm far faster than many breads; even before they're identifiably stale (in fact, once they're fully cooled), toasting helps dispel the rigor mortis that seems to hit them within a quarter of an hour or so of their exit from the oven.

Peeling makes sense; that, or slicing thinly crosswise, to minimize the amount of skin on each piece. I don't love eggplant, either, but have found that small pieces pretty much disappear in a well-seasoned stir-fry. I admit I'd probably be foisting them on my friends.

Giving this topic a bit of a bump, since some friends we visited earlier this week were incredibly sweet, and gave us a vast number of golden chanterelles as a parting gift. Anyone getting their hands on these, and care to share recent recipes and images? Tonight I'll be experimenting with some of the ones we have (images later, unless the results turn out to be disastrously unphotogenic).

Hah. Not everybody is getting nice-ish things at 7-11. I think they gauge what the regional palate will tolerate, and go with that. Evidently, in DK, might-be-chicken must be desiccated, and baked good are preferred stale, even when 'fresh'; I don't know how they manage this, but that's the only way you'll find it. Makes the traditional sausage and beer for elevenses look pretty tasty, by comparison. You can also get Ben & Jerry's ice cream at Danish 7-11s, for a mere USD10 or so per pint.

I thought that slight metallic tang had to do with its being aged; is that incorrect? I don't care for it myself, and since meat tenderness isn't a top priority for me, I tend to steer clear of aged beef, because of this impression.

Every time this topic has caught my eye, I've noticed I felt fleetingly uneasy, so I decided to figure out why. I think it's this: Most of the 'signs' that have been mentioned (including my own previously-noted nothing but nuke-and-eat food to be seen) are likely to make for a poor meal, or a poorer meal than could be created with better ingredients/equipment, but I think I'd still hesitate to conclude that the person is a poor cook; he or she might just be (at least temporarily) poor, period. I know plenty of people who are competent to excellent cooks, who (particularly as students), resorted at least on occasion to the most appalling food, just to put something, anything in their stomachs (instant mash made with hot water from the tap, ketchup sandwiches, giant boxes of cheap breakfast cereal... whatever gave the most food mass/cash unit), and during these lean times, about all you'd find in their kitchens would be some sort of crap instant thing, and a bunch of aging condiments, spices, and herbs for which they'd have no use for quite a while, but cannot bring themselves to throw out, since they figure things will get better eventually. So, like I said, I think these may well be red flags about an upcoming meal, but may not say much about the cook .

Apologies if I should know the answer to this, but do you mean the chain? I'm asking, because I had no idea they sold anything like actual food, just hot dogs, might-be-chicken on skewers, and depressing pastry. Or is that just in Denmark (I don't think I've been inside one anywhere else)?

It was only a subjective notion, based on a vague hunch, nothing there to disagree about For the rest, you may well be right, although I'm not sure how xenophobia fits into the picture ('neophobia', on the other hand, does apply).

I was wondering about that! I remembered hysteresis from physics, and was wondering how that was possible. BTW, thanks for the coffee gelatin mention, it inspired me to gelatinize my breakfast (and lunch, and ongoing... there was a litre of water involved) coffee.

I have a hunch that many restaurants aren't that enthusiastic about having children about, so the kids' menu is a distinct (and possibly intentionally discouraging) afterthought.

May be a long shot, but could you blend in a little liquid lecithin? I had a friend who routinely did this, and claimed wonderful success (I'm not big on peanut butter, so I never tried it, and can't personally vouch for the result).

I decided to reformat my coffee, this morning. Konnjaku powder, instant coffee, black pepper, cacao, some freshly ground cinnamon, a few flakes of salt. Topped with a little more cacao, and some chestnut honey (since this made me think of grass jelly, which I've usually had with golden syrup over it).

Oh, of course it's easier to "over-umami" with MSG, just as it's easier to oversalt with pure sodium chloride! But regardless of how you get there, the end result is the same. Unless it's used really sparingly, though, MSG makes for very one-dimensional umami, which (to my taste, anyway) makes it hit the 'too-much' mark really easily. So, although you can have too much umami, it's seems an unlikely outcome when using ingredients other than MSG, since you'd usually have a fair chance of catching the trend in that direction, and not add further umami-enhancing ingredients, or stop reducing, that sort of thing. The only times I've encountered something with too much umami, MSG has been involved.

Not very fishy - just a hint of dry shrimp. They are baked and quite light. There is another style I have not purchased in a while, and whose brand name I do not recall, that is more intense. They are imperfectly round and perhaps a 32nd inch thick. Perhaps someone else knows what I am referring to? Uncooked krupuk, I think; they puff up when you cook them. I didn't know you could eat them uncooked!

I've definitely over umamied a dish before. It was a pasta sauce made from braised goat, cream, dried porcinis, dried morels & truffle salt and it just tasted too umami for me to eat more than a tiny portion of. That does sound a bit...overcrowded. But I also think that falls in the 'over-concentrated for the given volume' category, what with the braised goat cheese, and all the dried mushrooms (just my subjective opinion, obviously).

I don't think I know anyone who hasn't had at least one fairly severe frontal head injury, and the interest in food among them seems to reflect the general one in the population (i.e. a few don't care at all, or are intensely interested, most fall somewhere in the middle; my mother, thanks to many years of intractable epilepsy, must have one of the most bashed-up anterior cerebral cortices of anyone I know, and is in the middle ground). The research paper is suggestive, but it isn't intended as evidence, and the abstract, at least, doesn't mention the (at least as numerous) cases of people who have sustained severe head injuries to the right anterior cortex, and just become run-of-the-mill sociopaths with no special interest in food.

I'm not certain whether you're distinguishing between MSG-created umami, and any other sort (I'm not reflexively anti-MSG, by the way). Umami from most sources is pretty hard to overdo, since you usually get it from sources that don't become excessive unless they get really concentrated (e.g. by reduction, dehydration), and even then, I think that you start to get some breakdown products, with bitter/salty compounds forming/becoming too prominent. MSG is just concentrated umami, so it's pretty easy to hit 'too much umami' with it, what Shalmanese described as 'the taste of bad Chinese restaurants', or the taste of cheap snack food (I've noticed this in a lot of seasoned peanuts).

Cabinets/freezer filled with nuke-and-eat food, not a single raw ingredient to be seen.