Morkai

Question - The recipe simply says "add chicken" and the ingredient list is "1.5 lbs chicken thighs". Do you put in the thighs whole and break up later while eating? Did you slice the thighs into large chunks? Did you use skin on? My inclination would be to use boneless/skinless for easier eating and to cut them up. Anyone got any ideas?

We're planning to use a mixture of extra sharp cheddar, gruyere, and comte. There is Parmesan that is littered on the top. I am liking the idea of doing a MC-like citrate substitution. Once made and refrigerated, will it bake well? Hoping to keep that gooey Velveeta-like texture. Thanks all!

I am planning on making Michael Ruhlman's macaroni and cheese this weekend for a party. In the recipe, you make a soubise sauce with flour, butter, milk, and carmelized onions. You hand blend these all together (with some spices), and then add the grated cheese to the hot liquid to melt. Then you can mix in with the cooked pasta and keep overnight in the fridge. Then I remembered I have sodium citrate in the pantry. We like this recipe, but find that it's not as "cheesy" or "creamy" as we'd like it to be sometimes, especially after cooking. Would adding a dash of sodium citrate to the cheese/soubise mixture help keep it that classic cheesy texture? Even if it sat overnight in the fridge and was then baked? As I am making this along with smoking a couple pork butts for my girlfriend's co-workers, I really don't want to have a food disaster! Thanks all, Mork

I stumbled upon these short ribs recently at a local Korean grocery store. I noticed that they were labeled as choice grade, and certainly were surrounded by other packages of the same cut, but they appeared to have significantly better marbling. As in, they didn't look anything like the others - much, much, much more marbling. I am pretty certain these were mislabeled, and must be from a higher grade. Anyhow, I have never quite seen short ribs cut like this before, which, along with their significant marbling is making me question how to use them. They appear to be very thickly cut flanken short ribs. I was thinking of trying to remove the bones form each of the three pieces and cook the short ribs like steaks, to medium to let the fat render a bit. Any thoughts or suggestions? How is this cut normally used?

What'd you think of the fish? been wanting to try this.

Well, if it's not a crazy amount of trouble (don't want to put you through excess work), I would love if it you managed to jot down the amounts. My vision of custard, well, who knows what that will turn out like! Looks remarkable. Thanks for the advice!

spipet, that is a beautiful crust on that fish. Did you make the beer batter on your own, or did you use a recipe?

I am happy to report that Lobels reached out to me immediately and offered to send two new steaks on the spot. There are absolutely no complaints in the customer service department. I'll post some cooked pictures soon, I am sure they will be spot on.

Here are the steaks. The porterhouse has salt and pepper on it, so it may be more difficult to see, but I think you can see the clear thick striations throughout the strip portion that I fear will be tough. There's even a thin one that hugs the bone. As for the ribeye, it looks... fine. If this is what I saw a local butcher I would be satisfied, but this is supposed to be the creme de la creme. I certainly wouldn't think this was the "top 2%" of prime steaks, as Lobel's advertises. Simply by visual inspection, I would not think the ribeye here compares to the beauty posted above. Perhaps looks aren't everything.

Hi Rotuts. I'll try to take a photo tonight when I get home. I have lots of experience with sous-vide for steaks, but in some ways I feel that a steak like this deserves a "primal" technique. Risk of overcooking, but that's part of the challenge, isn't it? Man vs. meat. When I sous-vide I usually sear on the grill and quickly baste with melted butter with herbs and roasted garlic. I hear the calls to keep beef of this caliber "pure", using salt and pepper and little else. I usually prefer it my way

I recently came into possession of a 36 oz porterhouse and a 24 oz ribeye from Lobels. I cannot yet speak to the flavor, but I must say, at first glance I was disappointed by the looks of the meat. The strip section of the porterhouse looks to have a thick tendon running through the middle, the color is a pinkish hue, and the marbling seems fairly average. Considering the cost was $180.00+ for these two pieces of meat, I feel a bit let down. The ribeye looks better, but nothing like picture I have seen of Lobel's in the past. For instance, the following picture was uploaded by an eGullet member as representative of Lobel's quality: My steak does not look like that - though it is the same cut, same purveyor, and same size. That steak seems worthy of an $80.00 price tag. Regardless, I am trying to decide how to cook these. Right now I have the porterhouse in the fridge, heavily salted. It's either sous-vide then a char on the grill, or slow cooked on the cool side of the grill basted with butter/herbs/roasted garlic and then seared up near target temp. Does anyone have any suggestions on how I should proceed?

That's the texture I have been searching for in my fried chicken. Do you mind sharing your process? I have been continually let down by recipes that sound promising only to end up with soggy texture after a few minutes, brittle hard crusts, or too-dark skin.

My copy arrives this afternoon. I am the biggest fan of fried chicken I know. Looking forward to trying this out - getting some decent buzz. Anyone have a copy or cooked from it? I'll post some thoughts after I work through it a bit. Wesbite here: http://www.friedandtruebook.com/

I'd love one. I doubt my landlord would approve.

Gotta admit, that chicken does look very moist. And the breading looks quite good. Unusually good for baked chicken tenders. Care to share your secret? Brine?