Chef Jonny

I enjoy the tomato water idea - it may get a bit too salty by the end though. Having a good mix of tomato water, sundried tomatoes, vinegar and probably some water to lengthen the cooking time would help. I've always done a 1-1 with vinegar to sugar for my gastriques. Strain and serve.

Waverly Root's "The Food of France" Not really a cookbook but a darn fine read.

I'd have to say turkey gravy is NOT a veloute.... veloute should start with a roux, add liquids, finishing ingredients. Gravy as I've see over the years(at home, not restaurants), is pan drippings, sprinkled with flour, stirred and "corrected". I think the major difference is fat to stock.... veloute should be 100% liquid, about 10% fat. Gravy is running about 50-50.....

There's one product I know for sure you should keep an eye on - cake and pancake mixes.... there's some cases that have come up where people get REALLY sick because they didn't notice the expiry date.... http://help.com/post/113848-warning-about-pancake-mix-and-othe Just sayin'.

I think these soups have an advantage to a lot of other soups... cream of mushroom just isn't a soup unless you use a roux.... achieving the proper soup consistency and nutty flavour flour adds just can't be compromised by starchy vegetables or other thickeners.

I agree... it was a bit brutal watching one show.... I don't know how many times you heard the word "tor-tee-ya".

I've seen "Parmesan Veloute" a couple years back on Ramsay's 'Petrus' restaurant.... and I've made a corn veloute(chicken stock) for a couple banquets to go with crab cakes... it can be a heavy sauce but I still like the way it tastes.

I agree with Sheepish... not too much meat on the suckers. I found the best way to do it up was like a brawn - so I usually buy some lean cuts of pork and add that while I'm starting the process. I make a brine and soak the whole head and cuts over night. Then I wash off the brine for about 3 hours, and simmer the head with some veggies for up to 8 hours. Once it's(mostly) cool - there's a LOT of gelatin in these suckers - pull all the meat off. I like to get some meat down in a tray, then layer with fat and meat until it's all done. Now, I like to cube it(depending how deep the terrine is), panko, deep fry, serve with a horseradish cream sauce. Alternatively, just mix all that up a hobart, add some mustard and herbs, push into terrine moulds and it's fine as-is. God I'm drooling.....

I have the great reluctance to say "Kitchen Confidential"....

If you're ever in Paris, there's a restaurant called "Ghi Anglini" near Place de Bastille... open only for dinner, it's fresh italian fare. What blew my socks off was the truffle duxelle - until now I've only had the quenelle stuff of mushroom and thyme, etc. The pasta came out with jambon cru around the plate, and the waiter brought a small bowl of the duxelle... it was a sauce... he dumped it on top, voila. Dinner.... I've only served a duxelle as a sauce to dish from then on.

Like the peach reply... I'm the same with pears. Roast rib - I use pickling salt, rosemary, as much cracked pepper as I dare. Double down the salt, roast till done, scrape(some) salt off, enjoy with fingers.

Bakery: Their croissant... if I'm paying serious $$, then when I chew it, there can't be a "film" left in the mouth(shortening!!)... gotta be butter! Some steak joints I like to walk behind the restaurant before I get in(again, if I'm paying more than $40 for my 10oz striploin). Just checking the boxes in the recycle bins tells me enough. If I see the telltale "Excel" vac-pac stuff, I'll order the $20 pasta and spend the rest of it on wine.

Very nice article.... good read. I've worked in restaurants where the chef is adamant to use un-peeled garlic, and then I worked in some places where buying peeled garlic just makes fiscal sense - "put that in the robo-coupe and get back on line!!"... I buy unpeeled for myself because a)it's cheaper and b)I like the smell of it. Albert Roux once wrote that the germ was "indigestible"... garlic burps?? All in all, though, the majority of the garlic we get in NA is ho-hum... I was once in Paris and passed a market stand... the guy looked at me as though I had a hole in the head for NOT buying all his garlic. It was the first harvest of Rocambole garlic, and going to my cramped little apartment, slicing the juicy bulbs, sauteeing in a little butter with cooked lentils and smoked hock, I was hooked - thinking of the regular stuff(Artichoke varieties) we get as "better" peeled or unpeeled really doesn't phase me anymore.

Chris So far I've found two products - the "starch" and the "flour". The starch is usually more granular and.... not that good. The flour is a pre-gelatinized product that "puffs" up when fried.... but it doesn't work if you want to go 1:1 with AP flour or rice flour... not enough starch. "Club House" makes an amazing Potato Flour product that I'm more familiar with... local flour distributors sometimes come out with products, but they are never really that good. Hope this helps.

It's my pleasure... I passed the baking aisle and found this product, trying it on some pan-fried chicken pieces and chili sauce. It held out really well with that satisfying crunch. Great homework David!

Count me in on this one.... give me my cast iron skillet(Gertrude....) anyday! Even then, I usually pop a rectangular rack on top and then stuff some potatos on the bottom to "catch" the juices.

I really enjoy using "potato flour" whenever I do some frying... just throw a little into the mix, and you get a lot of flavour, crunch and colour on what you're frying.

I find greek style meatballs benefit by adding some cooked rice - I usually put that through the grinder, too - into the mix. It just tastes good.

If you're a bit worried about too much fat in your stock, here's a trick you can use to still add the chicken skin. In a deep pan with parchment layed out and flowing over the edges(this will create a lot of smoke and excess fat...), put a wire tray inside the pan, the skin on top and roast the skin until it's nice and crispy. You'll notice a lot of fat rendered off - it's your discression if you want to keep that or feed it to the wildlife. Then, add that to the stock - it'll create a very nice flavor to the broth.

Cooking at home, anything I hear about that I can do on the ol' BBQ is fine enough for this guy. If I hear about a new spice or sauce or cut of meat that "goes nicely with yada-yada on the grill", I'm sold.

Wow... I didn't expect to see so much favor towards NOT basting! Anyone who's done some serious roasting - high volume restaurants, hotels, etc - SHOULD know the quality of the meat if you did or didn't baste... the sweet/salty juices pouring over the meat again won't make the roast more succulent - it will give the outside a flavorful "crust"(which will make you salivate more, like me right now thinking about it). Most places have some roasting pans that they dent on purpose so the juices collect easier so they can baste easier... I DO find, though, that too much fat dries out a roast by the end....

Puttanesca is the usual "mish mash" of the usual suspects... but the only variation I usually do is fry the capers until their crispy and mix it with some parma.... sprinkle and enjoy.

Cold smoking definitely gives a powerful smokey punch..... Perhaps try hot smoking over hot coals? You could get a good sear AND some nice flavor - one I prefer over cold smoking.

I usually add 1 parts vinegar(sherry, red or good ol' fashioned white wine) to 2 parts oil... a little blend of olive/grapeseed, mince some garlic, S&P and the most important part *drum roll* a good shot of maple syrup. Good enough to drink.