weinoo

So, I have two duck legs, cured overnight, and I'm probably gonna do sous vide for, I dunno, 6 or 7 hours. Just read this piece, wherein the author does mention... I have both Wolfert books mentioned above (I'm sure I'm not the only one, and both are well tattered) and have often used Paula's method for sous vide confit, from the revised edition. But based on the Serious Eats piece, I think I'm gonna go for a temp in the 170 range, for 7 hours or so, and see what happens.

A couple of recent bottles... \ A lovely Nebbiolo that went well with a mushroom pasta. 2010 was considered a great year in Piedmont, and while I'd love to be drinking a Barolo, this Nebbiolo was just fine. With shrimp and scallops last night... Kermit Lynch is the importer, and you usually can't go wrong with those wines. A lovely Chenin, which is one of our favorite grapes.

Pan-seared wild Gulf (of Mexico) shrimp, Hokkaido scallops, salad. Rice, too.

Yes, the size of small cherry tomatoes, and around the size of a Goya Queen olive...

It's 5 o'clock somewhere. My dad was never without tomolives.

A couple of recent dinners... Penne with chick peas and green beans - ramp pesto. Large salad accompanied. Crispy-skinned chicken thigh, pan gravy. Sautéed green beans with shallots. Potato salad on the side.

Fresh Direct's price for DeCecco currently (and recently) is $3.19.

Mrs. Melitta just rolled over in her grave.

Of course now most of the manufacturers sell pans that are "pre-seasoned" so that might take the worry out of it! I had originally taken that little video because a friend wouldn't believe me that I could cook eggs in my carbon steel without sticking.

I'd use 4 cups of stock to 1/2 cup Jasmine rice (well washed)...cook till the rice falls apart Add anything you feel like - lots of ginger is always good.

To be honest, my favorite "non-sticks" are my well seasoned carbon-steel pans. When properly heated and oiled/buttered, anything and everything just slides around beautifully. I believe I have both Matfer and deBuyer...old school.

I guess it was bound to happen, but I won't be buying any of these... Falk proudly presents the first solid copper and healthy non-stick ceramic coated cookware! Unless their non-stick interior lasts a lifetime, I can't imagine buying any nonstick type of pan (in copper, at $200+) that I normally replace every couple of years. And used properly, my Falk is basically non-stick anyway...though I'll use dedicated omelet and crepe pans for those jobs.

Sorry, these were not over-picked. However, eater is.

I'm pretty sure it depends on how long the bird's life is (and also what they supply the bird with), and when it is harvested. Last week's bird from LaBelle was well over 5 lbs, came with the neck, but no insides like gizzards or liver. When I'm buying a bird I can actually see at a butcher counter before I pay for it (as opposed to Fresh Direct, where I just put the bird in my online "basket"), I tend to look for birds in the 3 - 3.5 lb. range, as it's only two of us, and I cook the whole thing. With the big bird mentioned above, I "break it down" and freeze the breast for another use, only cooking the legs, thighs, and wings. And if I buy a 3 - 3.5 lb. bird, and it's a BoBo bird, it comes with head and feet still attached, as well as the gizzard, heart, and liver.

Not exactly a glowing review, but a good value...https://www.wineenthusiast.com/buying-guide/bota-box-2013-riesling-other/#:~:text=When you buy something through,flavors like sugared honeydew melon.

Host's note: this post and the next few followups were split from the Chicken Skin topic. Today, the NY Times ran a piece specifically referring to the chicken I mentioned (and cooked) above. It's my weekly chicken order... The Secret to Restaurant-Style Chicken at Home

For those who like Staub, I don't think it gets a much better price than this: https://www.surlatable.com/product/staub-round-dutch-oven-4-qt/1202662

Is it really 2 minutes? From the web site: And I don't know that I'd want a kettle made of glass holding 6 cups of boiling water. I might prefer my Cuisinart, which also keeps water at temp for 30 minutes.

There is actually some medium-rare rib eye cap hiding under the mushroom/shallot/mustard sauce, but it's hard to see. Green beans sautéed in ramp butter. Yukon golds.

A friend gifted me this: It's about a pound+ of ramps, sustainably harvested. So I got a little busy: Couple of cups of ramp pesto, and some rather "rustic" ramp butter. Like, it could have been finer had I used the food processor, but I chopped the ramps and mushed them with the butter by hand. AS I do when I make pesto with basil, this has no cheese added at this point. I learned from an old Italian cook not to add the cheese if it's not going to be used right away, as the cheese doesn't get any better sitting in the pesto. And for this ramp pesto, pistachios.

I'm not gonna opine on Bosch vs. AEG vs. Electrolux vs. MIele, but...it might help to think of whatever oven you buy and what percentage of your total budget that's gonna involve. Because if the Miele is a better oven based on whatever you learn, it may be expensive compared to the other brands, but a minor percentage of what you spend in total.

I'm pretty sure I first read about the technique I'm thinking of in Cook's Illustrated, back in the day. Lo and behold...https://www.americastestkitchen.com/articles/7692-how-to-salt-vegetables Obviously, YMMV!

Not all drank last night... The Nathan K NY State Riesling (on the right) is nice and dry and delicious...http://www.nkendallwines.com/wines Albariños are some of our favorite wines - we had sushi the other night, and this was quite nice with it...https://chambersstwines.com/products/pedralonga-2023-serea-albarino The Domaine Cady's are lovely as well...https://www.wineauthorities.com/winemakers/cady-domaine/ All the above wines, as are most of the white wines we drink, sourced from Chambers Street.

For fish and chips in Dublin, you'll probably find no better than The Fish Shop - great wines, too. Strangely, or maybe not so strange, our favorite Dublin meal (most of our meals were rushed because of other commitments), was at a Spanish-influenced restaurant called Uno Mas. Lots of shareable plates, and another excellent wine list.