weinoo

"Southern" Italy - Carlo Middione - The Food of Southern Italy Roman - Jo Bettoja - In a Roman Kitchen David Downie - Cooking the Roman Way Julia Della Croce - Umbria Julia Della Croce - Veneto New York - Mario Batali

On our last trip to Paris, I just had to buy this... It's really good.

LOL. People who want to burn the shit out of their hands and arms perhaps? And I don't get the whole no need for preheating when using a screen. That's bs. Any standard home oven (including the Crapmaster 9000) needs to be preheated for at least 30 minutes or more to get up to proper temp. I've "modified" my Bosch gas oven to where I can get the stone and walls up to around 600 F. Between playing with that and the broiler, I get a pretty nice pie in aabout 5 minutes. Perfect? No. But way better than 99% of the pizzerias even here in NYC.

I was hoping that this was the closest, but probably not. It's one of my favorite things to order in a sushi restaurant, when available. Usually, it's hamachi or salmon, and salted and broiled, practically nothing better. Also, no one wants to share it. I expect that soon we'll find fried cod's tails on the menu at fancy places around town.

This is the seasoning that I think adds the most "smoke" flavor to oven cooked ribs, and many dry rubs have paprika in them, so this doesn't push the boundary that far. That said, one of the few Alton Brown methods that I've recommended to friends over the years starts with oven braising of the dry-rubbed ribs and ends by finishing them underneath the broiler (or on a grill if one is so lucky). I much prefer St. Louis style spareribs to baby backs, however. I also find Chinese style barbecued spareribs are a wonderful thing to make in the oven. They even look like there's a smoke ring!

Don't think that can be classified as a Negroni .

I'll still deal with it, and will keep going early.

I've really become (thanks to johnder) much more apt to use M & R in my Negronis as it allows the gin flavor to shine through a bit more. Now, an Americano on the other hand...

Of course, your actual mileage may vary, but I had a pretty damn good lunch here just the other day... Lunchtime. Hunger. New York City. What are there, like a thousand places to eat? Actually, there’s probably more, especially if you count all the street meat that’s around; carts, trucks, kiosks, people selling tamales out of their granny carts, sidewalk food sold by squatting women in Chinatown - and on and on. Now compound that hunger problem with finding yourself in one of those places in New York City that sees a million people a day; people scurrying through its grand spaces, not there to eat but on their way from somewhere or to somewhere, generally in a hurry. And it happened to me last week (though I wasn’t in a hurry), when I ended up here, to visit that store at the top of the stairs… Normally, giant railroad terminals aren’t thought of as great places to eat (well, maybe in Italy, where you can often find a decent panini and a perfect espresso); they’re usually where you can grab a crappy sandwich or half-cooked hot dog, on your way, as I said, to or from somewhere. Grand Central actually has a food court in its lower level, which certainly does a booming business at lunch. But look a little further underground and you’ll stumble across this… Its official name is Grand Central Oyster Bar & Restaurant, and it has been sitting in the lower level of Grand Central Terminal for practically 100 years, falling into decline in the late 60s to early 70’s then rescued, renovated and now once again feeding hundreds of seafood happy customers on a daily basis. Don’t forget to check out the Gustavino tiled ceiling in this landmarked building… I like to grab a seat at the counter, because that way you get fed fast and you get to watch the show… Remember, this ain’t Le Bernardin folks. So start off with a bowl of clam chowder (I like Manhattan-style)… Chock full of briny clams (get there early), slightly spicy and with a handful of those oyster crackers crushed into it, it hit the spot. Then I moved onto the real reason I was here… Perhaps the finest oyster po-boy you can find in the city, simply loaded with perfectly fried oysters, a little shredded lettuce and a swab of tartar sauce to top it all off. A squeeze of lemon brought it to perfection…under $10! Even though I like the counter at lunch, the full menu is serious. Plenty of daily/seasonal specials. And the oysters? On any given day, the blackboard menu is likely to offer up at least 2 dozen varieties… I don't get here for lunch as often as I should, but for food this good, in a beautiful and historically landmarked building, it's worth a trip. And that goes for whether you're hopping on a train or not.

A couple of things. I believe Phil's original recipe called for Beefeater. And M & R for the sweet vermouth. Served up. Was the orange peel flamed? All of these elements will make the difference from a "regular" Negroni more apparent.

Pete Wells gets one right... NY Times review.

Not too surprising - it seems to happen a lot with pizza! Are they on 18th Street?

There have been, over the years, a few family feuds in the restaurant/food biz here in NYC. For instance, the Patsy's/Grimaldi's feud is a classic in the pizza business (Ray's, too). In the Chinese restaurant world, you really don't have to go any farther than the Grand Sichuan Int'l. chain, which keeps spawning offshoots and offshoots of offshoots. On the upper east side, something went on in the Balducci family, creating Grace's Marketplace, Agata & Valentina and yes, Balducci's. And don't forget the Zabars. I'm sure these types of feuds occur outside of New York as well. I'm looking to name a few.

It looks like a pretty darn good tournée knife.

Sometimes, places are open for a long time before I get there. Such is the case with Co. But, I'm glad I did, and I probably will go back, for a pizza pretty much unlike any other in NYC, and pretty delicious, too. With our salads, we ordered the pizza bianca, which is way different from any pizza bianca we've ever had in, say, Rome... Then we got down to a Pizza Rosa... And a Pizza Boscaiola... Now, don't necessarily go here thinking you'll get out cheaply. Of course, our party of 4 drank a little. Well, maybe a lot, with 2 bottles of wine and 2 draught beers (at the outrageous price of $8 a pint). We spent $100 a couple. YAMMV.

Yes, I guess. But according to some, refrigeration is the bane of avocados, no? My "experiment" seems to disprove both Cook's Illustrated and McGee. And Dave the Cook!

Maybe I was too quick to throw CI under the bus...perhaps it's McGee who needs to go? Earlier this week, I pulled out one of those still green avocados from the fridge (I didn't throw them away after all, wanting to experiment) and set it on the counter. As of today, I've had these avocados for 2 weeks, so for this particular avo it was about 10 days in the fridge and 4 on the counter. It looks like this on the outside... And when cut in half, it looks like this... Lo and behold, perfectly ripe and creamy and delicious, without even a hint of rotten or dry spots. Who knew?!

Have you looked at John's website?

You see, we're even getting conflicting opinions here - not really a surprise. I am wondering if the different varieties of avos respond in different ways to fluctuations in temperature and/or refrigeration. High-oil content avocados, like the Haas, may dislike refrigeration more than a variety like Fuerte. But, since they're all basically a warm-weather fruit, I'm probably just blowing smoke with this theory.

Isn't controversy what all awards are about?

So Cook's Illustrated should've read McGee, right? Of course, the fruit is never ripe when picked because it doesn't ripen on the tree. And I'm sure they get pretty damn cold on the trip to NYC from Mexico via truck.

Thanks, Charcuterer! From the Cook's Illustrated article, May, 2009: Exactly what I did with my $6 bag of avocados. Down the drain.

Does anyone have the May, 2009 issue of CI and can look at this article?

I know I recently read it - I just don't remember where, and a quick search of my current food mags left me still wondering. Anyway, what I read was that, contrary to popular opinion, the best way to ripen an avocado was in the fridge. The cold temperature allows the avocado to ripen evenly, as opposed to ripening on the counter, where you get air pockets and uneven ripening. (From the sound of this, it must've been CI, but I can't find the reference). So, a week ago I bought a bag of organic Mexican Haas avos (4 in a bag) and stuck them in the fridge. Today, they're still hard as a rock and look exactly like they looked when I put them in there. What gives?

Then if you can, you ought to go to a hardware or kitchenware shop and check out the clay pots!