weinoo

This was taco Wednesday... One of the better taco places in Manhattan, Los Tacos No. 1. The tortillas are great.

Oh shit, I just realized - Jacques stole the avocado idea from me!!

While that Le Bec-Fin recipe certainly must taste good, I think it hardly qualifies as a good old Maryland-style crab cake. Like this one... Mine are similar to this (but I like to add an egg)...

I ate at Topo in like 1994, prior to migrating back east from California. It was pretty great then. Of course there is Cosme, Olvera's fancy Haute Cuisine Mexican in NYC. Our last trip to Chicago included a good dinner at (what was then) another Bayless restaurant, the wood-fired kitchen Leña Brava. Since sold to his (ex)-partner.

I think you should pick it (the Lillet) up; next thing you know, you'll be making Vespers! Or maybe even a Corpse Reviver #2. I don't believe there is a borderline; once you're not adding vermouth, is the drink still a Martini at all?

While I have both, I generally reach for the non-Navy for Martinis.

Your's looks lovely. For reference, here's the actual dish I had last night... They use yellowfin. Chives sprinkled atop.

I'm pretty wed to Beefeater or Plymouth for Martinis. The other night, at a lovely restaurant bar, I ordered a wet Martini. Lots of gins on the back bar, but the first thing the bartender asked me was if Beefeater was OK. Indeed. Olives on the side. And @Duvel - you might like this restaurant...as it fashions itself a Basque Taverna...http://www.ernestosnyc.com/

The partially milled Japanese brown rices I get from The Rice Factory are the best brown rices I've ever had - and they cook perfectly in the rice cooker. (These are not the brown rices of my misspent youth in Santa Barbara, shopping at health food stores, and trying to ignore the scent of lentils and whatever else they were badly cooking. Anyone who shopped in health food stores back in the 70s knows the smells I'm referring to - curried lentils - blech! And as George Carlin once noted, how come everyone shopping in those health food stores looks so damn uhealthy?) I go for 50% milled on the brown, but you can go even higher (or lower, actually). Key is really washing the rice well before cooking, and don't forget to adjust water quantity based on how much water clings to the washed rice! That's why I find using the scale when cooking rice to be helpful, but the water lines in the Zojurishi are pretty darn accurate. I usually "decant" a Mason jars worth of rice from the bigger bags, and vacuum pack the remainder until needed. White rice goes off, but nowhere near as quickly as brown.

Well, he's a realist; I'm more of a dadaist.

I've upped my game to 8-year old plating... Crab cake first course. Followed by spaghetti and meatballs, which we've seen before.

Paging Wolfgang Puck!

Methinks ATK might've "borrowed" that technique from a million others; Jacques does it with peas as well. You can also throw a tablespoon of butter in there when the water is almost cooked off, and have a nice little saucy thing going on.

Hmmm...what have you been reading, @paulraphael? How the NFT phenomenon works in the world of high-end spirits.

Japanese chicken curry. Thighs cooked on the bone and then bones removed for service. Home made Japanese curry roux. Jasmine rice. One of my favorite Japanese food web sites is Just One Cookbook.

Nice description. And all you need to go along is Kenta's Kombu Celery... 5 celery stalks, strings removed, cut into 3x1/2-inch sticks 1 tablespoon furikake 1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil 1 teaspoon soy sauce Toasted sesame seeds (for serving) Toss celery, furikake, sesame oil, and soy sauce in a small bowl to coat. Chill uncovered 30 minutes to let flavors meld. Serve topped with sesame seeds.

That sounds very good!

So free pouring works for the bartenders you know? My point is that there's basically one way to get accurate measurements in a bar environment, and that's by measuring, not free pouring.

And that dude can roast a chicken! I really think, just as with the ribs mentioned above, it's to "clean" up the protein and start it on its way. Gets rid of whatever schmutz might be around. Probably blanching for a minute or two "renders" the same result as 7 -10. The above based on absolutely zero scientific knowledge or evidence. Just a hunch.

@Chris Hennes @Robenco15 Has the Artisan Dough turned out to be your favorite of the doughs so far? And if so, which version of the Artisan dough?

I don't know if an 8 oz. Martini is really the way to go. It'll get you there fast, however. If what you mean by consistency is consistency in measurements, it's why most serious cocktail bars use jiggers. Certainly all the good ones.

Same here.

Fauxssoulet, or cassoulet without sausage, but with Tarbais beans from @rancho_gordo, house-cured duck confit, pork shoulder.

Today's breads...it's nice and cold here! Same dough for the boule and the focaccia. Overnight poolish, 10% whole wheat. 77% hydration. BUT...I started by proofing the boule in a room-temp Dutch oven, into a room-temp oven to bake, after it had proofed for 40 minutes. Baked about 25 minutes after oven reached temp, lid removed and baked for another 20.

Nice plating. Penne with meatballs and sauce. (Yes, penne first tossed with sauce, plated and then a schtickle more sauce, and the balls, over the top). Brussels sprouts with Schaller & Weber double smoked bacon.