weinoo

I'd bring wine, cheese, pecans, and dessert as well. Don't forget the napkins! Overthinking? Do you think?! Never is a bottle of wine an incorrect gift, in my opinion. Unless you're going to a bris. We are often invited to friends' homes for fancy dinners. I know that they're opening very good wines to pour with dinner. If they stick the wine I bring into their wine fridge, I'm not insulted, and nor do they feel bad.

I'd say we order dessert at our regular places like 25% of the time. But at special places we go to once every couple of months, every time; these are places with dedicated pastry chefs, so why not see and taste what they're doing? When we have dinner parties, I tend to follow the mains with a cheese course, and then dessert.

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You are in a quandary. I think the only gas ranges with basically zero electronics are that Blue Star and the Wolf I bought at the high end, and some other really low end stuff that'll just drive you crazy.

Imagine if Escoffier had an Instant Pot! But that's not chicken stock. And it says to boil for three to four hours, which would also make a fairly lousy stock.

I don't know about that, Paul. We were taught (and we were taught classic French technique) skim, skim, skim. Bocuse says nothing about blanching. Eric nada. And Tom says: Maybe those culinary textbooks you're referring to have been updated to reflect ancient Chinese secrets .

When I saw how much schmutz used to come off of those bones, I certainly understood the reasoning behind the methodology.

I remember when I first started teaching myself about cooking, it was with Chinese food, back in the day. And a few of my first Chinese cookbooks taught that the proper way to make a chicken stock was to bring the bones to a boil first, dump it and rinse the bones, and then start your stock.

I make chicken stock any number of ways. But I still find the way I learned in cooking school, French classic, unroasted bones, mirepoix, bouquet garni, 4-5 hours stove top, skimming, to be about the best tasting. The MC method is very good. And lately I use the IP (I do use mostly older birds and parts), making sure to do a natural release (i.e. if I'm correct, that means letting it cool by itself). This stock is also very good, and saves a few hours.

After a test run, this time I think I nailed the coda alla vaccinara. Upped the tomato content, and also ran them through a food mill before using. Primi for this dinner party was mezze rigatoni all'Amatriciana. Antipasti included anchovies with sweet butter on crostini, grilled artichoke hearts, mixed Italian olives, prosciutto, nuts. Cheese course after the main. Dessert simple poached anjou pears and whipped cream. Served with crusty bread (bakery bought), and broccoli raab almost cooked to death. There was some wine drank (missing the bottle of Crémant du Jura). With the leftover broccoli raab, and Hudson River Valley duck sausage gifted to us by a dinner guest... Supper the next day was orecchiette with the aforementioned sausage and raab. Salad on the side of thinly sliced celery, celery leaves and parsley.

I think it's the best chicken I've ever tasted in the US. Great texture, flavor. That Fermier Rouge I bought at Union Market is also good, but there's obviously no match for the freshness of a bird you buy at La Pera; as a matter of fact, you actually should wait 24 hours before cooking the bird from La Pera, so it relaxes after slaughter. My memory says $2.99/lb. for the Sasso chicken, and they give you a card that gets stamped for every bird you buy - buy 10, get one free!

The must have 5 or 6 different types (breeds?) of chicken for your dining pleasure. I'm pretty sure all the birds he sells are "organic," but whether that means anything any more is a matter of semantics, I guess. I buy the Sasso bird, and learned about that particular chicken after seeing a couple of articles about it. Grubstreet Sasso Watkins Poultry

Bourbon - a rock.

I love my original MC line of all-clad. After many, many years, the pieces I had which were non-stick, weren't any more. So I sent them off to all-clad, and they happily replaced them with updated versions of their non-stick, which are nowhere like those pans of 30 years ago. But I still have my stainless lined, original MC pans, and they're just as awesome as when they were new. Made in Canonsburg , PA - as opposed to, you know, China. I do have a set of those Tramontina non-sticks, also bought quite a few years ago - oven safe to 450F or so, and they don't make those any more. Simply used for eggs. But yes, it's all about technique - not only the correct temp, but leaving stuff in the pan without futzing around with it, and it will release itself. Just like on a grill. the real deal...

Or call. They carry the Sasso birds.

Good to know, @KennethT, if I ever decide to use FD. Interestingly, La Pera Brothers also delivers.

Otway or Olmsted in Brooklyn. Wildair on the lower east side. Bacaro is a very nice room, with good enough food and reasonable prices. they also have a good happy hour, with some $1 snacks and inexpensive wines and a cocktail or two. You could have a drink and some snacks at the bar upstairs, and then head downstairs for dinner. Otto, if you're not boycotting B & B. Just keep in mind that at $75, all in, you're looking at about $60 pp, before tax and tip. If you have glass of wine each, that'll knock you down to about $45 pp for food, all in.

Will do. There are 4 locations (3 in Bklyn) with a 5th coming soon (also in Bklyn). The French breed chicken I bought there last week was quite good.

So I picked up one of these... And roasted it, just seasoned with s & p. Good bird, right up there with a freshly killed La Pera, in terms of flavor. Much more expensive, however, and sans feet and head, which I like for stock. I pulled the bird from the oven as soon as the breast was done to my liking, waited a few minutes, cut it up, and then put the leg/thighs back in for another 20 minutes. I find it near impossible to roast a whole chicken (w/o a rotisserie) so that all parts come out cooked to my liking. Significant Eater doesn't mind overcooked white meat, but I do. I almost roasted it on a vertical roaster, but instead just did it in a roasting pan, along with russets cut into eights. I may go back to the Julia method, which starts the bird on one side, flips to the other side after 20 minutes, and then goes breast up for the final cook...a bit of a pain in the ass, but getting those thighs started before the breast meat might be the answer. Or perhaps browning the bird on each leg/thigh before putting it in to roast.

I've actually given Julia's How to Cook as a wedding gift myself. I just think it's so much of a better book than Bittman's.

Looks like the top folds and rests against the back. Pilot lights are not code here any more. But I like no electronics; even in a blackout, I can light my stove and/or rangetop.

I have a full shelf's worth of Beard, yet not that one!

As a matter of fact, I can see I'm missing the regular (not slotted) spoon! Wonder what happened to that?

Rescued from my mom's house, when I was packing up the house after she departed... I'd say vintage 1950's, since I do remember them as a kid. Flint is the name of the company, stainless steel, wooden handles. There might be other pieces I'm missing. In damn good shape, I'd say!