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Why don't you just use fresh vegetables?

Rocker Oysterfeller's is the best restaurant near Point Reyes these days. Stellina hasn't impressed recently. Marshall Store is the place for lunch. Good job missing Chez Panisse. Oliveto isn't as good as it was under the two previous chefs, but Chez Panisse is kind of marginal. Commis is better than either, if you have the chance to change.

180 for 8 hours is going to give you a pretty traditional braise texture for any meat you use, yet it will be significantly juicier than meat braised traditionally in a 350 oven.

That has been closed for years.

There is a reason for this. The marginal value they provide is vanishingly small and they are basically undifferentiated commodities.

Cut it into pieces, bring a tablespoon of water to a boil and whisk it into the hot water.

Standing ovation.

What kinds of suggestions are you looking for?

The value of the waitstaff is still determined by the market, in this case there are just more individual bids than in the case where the owner is paying. There is still a clear market rate for service jobs, whatever the base is plus a percentage of the average check, but with tipping the buyer is allowed a discount for a worse than expected product. In many ways what it does is turn the waiter into somebody who controls capital rather than somebody who works for a wage. The capital is their skill, and they are able to earn higher returns on it by deploying it more skillfully, which is impossible in a tipless society.

Edward, you just keep saying the same thing over and over, but that doesn't make it any more true than it was when you started. You don't like how society values waiters and cooks differently, but that is just you having a different opinion than other people. The part about being saddled with loans is silly, though. Most cooks are not culinary school grads, and at least in my day, most culinary school degrees were scoffed at. There is a big problem with professional, for-profit schools and government guarantees of student loans. It puts a lot of people in a lot of schools they shouldn't be in, but again, that has nothing to do with tipping.

Now here I must disagree, tipping is illogical. If we take the example the speaker in the video, Mr Mc Adam gave, of table "A" having a bill of $200 and "B" of having a bill of $300 each with the same amount and quality of service (same server) "A" will tip 20-$30, and "B" will tip 30-$45. Yet both tables had the same service. I find this illogical, but there's more. Usually you can get just as much information about what people are NOT saying, as what they ARE saying. In each post I made on this thread I made the statement that the server is tipped a percentage of the entire bill but is not responsible for the entire dining experience. I am doing so again. Yet no one one acknowledges this, and no one will argue against it. Anyone?...., jrshaul?..... Nobody argues against it because it is insignificant. Yes, the server is not responsible for the whole meal, but then they are not being paid for the whole meal, even you acknowledge that. The fact that their pay is a percentage of the whole dining experience cost is not problematic in any way. They are there to be the go between between the restaurant as a whole and the customer. The percentage construct is sensible. OK, so here you are, as dear old dad used to say, putting the emphasis on the wrong syllable. If the going rate for a cook is 11-14 and hour, then what isn't logical is going to cooking school. But this is no surprise. The industry grew up around an apprenticeship system, and professional schools in general are a pretty big scam. Add to that the need to retrain newly minted cooking grads at all but the lowliest of establishments and you realize that the culinary education is not defeated but self defeating.

Tipping is neither particularly illogical nor economically inefficient. You are allowed to assess the product before you price it, which is a great benefit to the consumer. The cultural aspects and pressures are more problematic.

Wine isn't carefully made to be served at any temperature, certainly not at cellar temp, though it is generally the temperature at which I prefer most wine. The serving temp has to do with the range at which our palates perceive different tastes more or less strongly, and is as much subject to the winds of fashion as anything else.

OK, great! Liver - another one. I like my calf's liver pink in the center but will take it just done - so long as it is *not* rendered into shoe leather. Chicken livers I like to be just done through, and if I make liver sauces (duck or chicken) of course the liver bits (such bits as remain after mashing it up) will become well done. Foie gras I like the classic way - seared on the outside, warm and definitely pink on the inside. Don't like foie gras torchon and all those fanciful and foamy renditions of foie gras so enamored of Molecular Cuisine and "Tasting Menus". My veggies? Depends. This, I think, is another huge area. :-) Most of them I prefer to still have quite a bit of crunch in them - think blanched or stir-fried in the Chinese idiom. Boiled to death or soft (so-called "tender" by some) generally provokes pursed lips from me. Creamed spinach, or that "traditional" (Western) blob of formless goo called "spinach" beloved of cartoonists and (Western) school cafeterias & etc - ick, ick, ICK. Blanched whole leaf spinach with stems on, drizzled w/ oyster sauce or ponzu sauce and dusted w/ a few grinds of white pepper - Yum! US-Southern style collard greens w/ pot likker - that would be an example of an exception of sorts for me regarding "cooked to death" veggies, as it is this peculiar dish with that defining characteristic. But if I made collard greens myself, I would be more than likely to do something like chiffonade it then throw then in chicken broth and cook for just a few minutes so that they are softened but still have a "bite". No stewing it for hours and hours with a ham hock etc. I'll go to a down-home soul food place for that. Seared foie gras is not the "traditional way." A torchon is much more "traditional."

That's just lousy food, and who wouldn't dislike that? But that can be achieved using virtually any approach or set of techniques, and isn't any more typical or unique to Modernism than, say, the more oversauced schools of traditional French cuisine. My point, I am sorry you missed it.

Soft, gummy food with absurd names and intricate decorations and loads of inedible garnishes served at near room temp. Is it modernist, or is it pre-Point?

Great! We are in between Sarlat and Perigueux. Just a short drive.

It's a salamander.

Oh my. I don't even know what to say.

So you are worried about poopy hands?

Having people over is about hospitality and generosity, not showcasing food talent. Sure, timing issues can be a drag, but the best is to make sure you have the best possible time and enjoy your friends to the fullest, even if that means imperfect food or timing.

Probably.

Heat from the bottom is generally better than heat from the top. The latter has the tendency to wilt greens and to put a veil on sliced meat making things look pretty unappetizing pretty quickly.

Freeze it in an ice cube tray. Then, if you like, unmold, wrap in plastic and keep in a bag in the freezer.

Depends on the brand, but the best answer is that there is not much difference. Creme Fleurette will sometimes have stabilizers in it, so in that way it is more similar to whipping cream than heavy cream, but it doesn't always. My m.o. is to use heavy cream unless the recipe calls for creme epaisse or creme double in which case I use creme fraiche.