AaronM
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Posts posted by AaronM
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Still says it should be delivered by tomorrow, but hasn't shipped yet. No email - Ordered in February.
Amazon don't know shit.
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Just pulled the trigger on this. Could use another one at the shop.
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I take issue with "pointless."
Even dried Rosemary has an aroma, if not such a large flavor as fresh - and surely that counts for something?
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I'd say the comment about brining is accurate in my experience. My general gauge of a technique's popularity is when my sister mentions something to me without be bringing up anything.
Like, "Hey, I heard about using a blowtorch on roasts. What's the deal with that?" Which means she heard about it from your standard media sources.
Purely anecdotal, but it's a barometer of sorts for me.
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AaronM makes a good point. People love to identify new trends, or claim that trends are over. Being late to recognize a trend isn't very special, so people tend to jump the gun.
In MC chapter 1 I discuss an article by Gael Greene from New York Magazine in 1981. In it she says that Nouvelle Cusine is "over, finee, mort, dead". It is the sort of broad prouncement that journalists love to make, especially those who position themselves as jaded sophisticates. Instead of being dead, Nouvelle went to in inspire a generation of American chefs.
I think it might be fair to say that there is starting to be a trend away from being conspicuously modernist. I don't think any of the solid techniques will go away. Instead they'll just stay in the background as fryolators always have. I don't think we'll see a lot of new WD-50 type concepts.
This is only fair in how it might pertain to ultra fine dining. We haven't even begun to see what the trickledown effect of these techniques will be as to everyday dining.
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Out of morbid curiosity I checked to see what the vultures were doing with this on eBay. Not one. Not a single set on eBay. I'm shocked.
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Totally! Sometimes you just wanna shove garbage down your throat - quality be damned!
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In my unscientific experience, yes you'll lose some liquid by probing the meat, but it isn't such a quantity that will affect the quality of the meat.
Perhaps someone can correct me on that.
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It's all the same to me. Either the food is interesting, or it's not. People can label it anything they like.
The only real distinction I make is in setting. Fine dining v casual. They can both hold themselves to extremely high standards and serve exceptional food. One involves an amount of luxury - which i personally find unnecessary.
In the end, whether the technique is passe or not, does the food taste good? Is it interesting? Does it engage your senses and make you feel good? Is it as good as it can be?
Sometimes technology helps us achieve these goals, sometimes not. I'll use whatever the food calls for.
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Cooks cook the food.
Chefs create the menu and run the restaurant.
Everything else is just shades of grey.
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Freschetta Brick Oven Pepperoni is exceptional for a frozen product.
Drizzle a little good olive oil on it and you're done.
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The assertions of that Wired article are bogus. This is the problem with people who would ever talk about 'food trends.'
"Oh, I'm so over liquid nitrogen."
Well, the other 99% of the population that hasn't had the chance are still very interested.
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That "skill" is acquired by extreme levels of repetition. If the number of poorly done steaks I've received is any indication, it is also a rather rare one (see what I did there). Otherwise, using a thermometer is not a "crutch", it is quality control.
I suppose I'm the exception in this instance, but I worked as the chief butcher/grill cook at a restaurant for 2 years, then at a Ruth's Chris for a little under a year serving hundreds a day, and in that time I miscooked 2 steaks. I'm proud of that record, but I also strive to always be the absolute best I can at whatever the task at hand is.
I'm certainly not saying to not use a thermometer, I'm just saying that in a professional situation it shouldn't always be needed. If you have the time and supplies handy it's a good quality control, but I don't think the future of dining is replacing skill with a thermopen.
Again, this pertains to the professional kitchen, not the home cook. If a stage was trying to pull out a thermometer for every piece of meat they tried to cook, I'd assume that perhaps they weren't ready for the kitchen.
This is all thrown right out the window if you're dealing with something other than grill/saute - like sous vide or baking.
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Not a cookbook per-se, but my most used book in the kitchen, and what I recommend every cook I've ever hired buy: The Flavor Bible.
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I got this book about 2 months ago. The layout/presentation is among the most high quality books I've ever seen. My only complaint is the little half page rice paper things can be hard to read.
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I have a question for the people that have the books: Do the volumes have dust-jackets, or is everything printed directly onto the hardcover? I hate a really nice book with a god awful cover under the dust jacket.
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Using a thermometer doesn't negate the ability to tell a steaks doneness by touching and looking at it on the line. Prsonally, if I'm grilling a steak on the line I'm going to go by how it feels and my innate knowledge of time and temp. If I'm roasting a bird in the oven on same line? I'm reaching for a thermometer.
And often in a busy, crowded kitchen there isn't a thermometer handy to temp every piece of meat and fish.
It doesn't mean a thermometer is useless; it means a thermometer isn't a crutch to lean on instead of skill if the situation calls for it.
But this is based on a professional situation. at home, if you're unsure, just use the thermometer. There's no shame.
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A dinner at Alinea costs $200 minimum. It better be "local, organic, sustainable" and all that. But I find the idea that everything has to be local and organic disingenuous. A can of crushed tomatoes provenance does not matter, and only some vegetables gain an actual taste benefit from organic growing conditions. This worship of buzzwords upsets me.
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For my money, it's The Vortex in Atlanta.
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I ordered from Amazon in February (the 10th) and it says it should be delivered between today and monday.
But it hasn't shipped yet, and I haven't received an email about a delay...
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As a chef I came away from reading it feeling like I didn't learn anything.
It wasn't a bad book, just a bit... shallow? Maybe written more for the average person than to another chef.
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I don't like secret recipes. I don't like an unwillingness to share knowledge. Think about the state of BBQ in the USA, competetive and secretive with a few really notable exceptions. If it took someone years of trial and error to find something out, why wish that journey on anyone else? Why not share that knowledge and be happy when it becomes common knowledge and no one else has to suffer through that journey? Then they can begin where you left off, not where you began.
Precisely.
I always tell my customers when they ask about the preparation of a dish (after they inevitably do the sarcastic "But then you'd have to kill me lol") that I don't believe in secret ingredients. I wouldn't know anything about cooking if people weren't generous enough to share techniques with me. I think it's simply doing my part to disseminate information and further my craft. According to the theory of memetics somewhere down the line I'll have played a part in the creation of something awesome - prepared by someone I've never met.
"Modernist Cuisine" by Myhrvold, Young & Bilet (Part 2)
in Cookbooks & References
Posted
I'm not complaining, I'm just spreading info for all of us that're waiting.