Broken English

The part I like most about this cookbook is the pages at the back with all the gel, sorbet, and crumble recipes. It's not something I've seen in too many other books, ones that provide a bunch of specific recipes for stuff like that. If they only could have at least included metric measurements in the recipes, it would have been very hard to beat for book of the year. Somehow, I doubt that the kitchen at EMP uses recipes with amounts given in cups and tablespoons.

You could use a fish sauce caramel as a base (palm sugar, chilli, garlic, lemongrass, toasted coconut, coriander, fish sauce), I have a good recipe if you want to give it a try. I'd gently heat coconut rum and dissolve the caramel in there and go from there.

A great light-ish pasta course could be with paccheri, a cherry tomato napoli, some fresh cuttlefish and finish with a little ricotta, herbs and lemon zest. Personally, I'd start with antipasti, have the pasta as a main, and serve a classical tiramisu for dessert. Though you said he's bringing that, so disregard that last thought haha. Hope it goes well for you.

There's nothing worse than a liar in a kitchen, if you've screwed up, 'fess up. I totally agree with pastrygirl.

I found at Alinea that there were very few courses that were more than three or four bites. I'm sure you'll enjoy it, it's an amazing restaurant.

I'm still wondering how exactly one measures two cups of sliced potatoes.

Alinea, at least the time I went, served enough food to make you no longer hungry, but I was far from hitting a wall. Afterwards, I bought a bottle of red and some cheese to have back in the hotel.

How much is it on average? Also, Heston Blumenthal was on The Jonathan Ross Show and he was dsipping his bare hands into it and flicking it at Ross, which made for quite an amusing scene. Extrapolating from this, I'd assume that it's okay to touch, if only very briefly.

Rayner usually is quite witty, I enjoy his writing usually. That's why this piece makes no sense to me, it's devoid of wit, and it's way off base.

I'd suggest the short rib, though the texture won't be quite as open. It'll be easy to get hold of too, we never had any problems (I'm from Australia, just living overseas fora year or two).

I don't really get the point of the article. I'm a notorious slow eater, not to the point of the example he cites, but I usually finish five minutes or so after most people. I find that eating fast makes me feel bloated and a little ill, so I'd rather just go along slowly. Plus I like to play around a little with the elements on the plate, tasting each in different combinations. Maybe I'm weird. I don't see why it matters, so long as you're not holding anyone up too long. Its not like there's a clock on it.

Avoiding the grit and getting rid of the 'icky' factor would be my guess. Chewing on a gritty prawn is not the most pleasant of the things in the world.

I picked it up today and I'm really impressed. It looks to be a modernized version of The French Laundry cookbook, which is a very good thing. My only issue is that the primary unit of measurement is in cups, which I have an inherent distaste for. I look forward to combing through it in more detail.

Maybe I'm weird, but I only ever use either vegetable or a mildly flavored chicken stock to make risotto. I find that their flavours are not overwhelming so that you can actually taste the rice. For my taste, mushroom stock would be too overpowering, as I like my risotto to be more about the rice, with supplementary flavours, rather than being dominated by the main ingredient.

You could remove the skin and puff it by dipping it in a boiling sweetened brine containing 9% salt, and 1.5% each of glucose and sugar, then drying it in a low oven. Then dip it in a vinegar solution and deep fry it. I got that from modernist cuisine and it seems to me that is the best way to treat the skin if you want it crisp. If you're dead set on keeping the skin and pork as one though, I'd slow roast it, press it overnight, portion it then crisp the skin in a pan, then transfer the pan to the oven to reheat the pork and further crisp the skin, though it won't get wonderfully puffy this way.

My chef staged at Noma a few months back, he said it was amazing. I'd love to go, or better yet, stage there at some point. Great report, that bone marrow caramel sounds amazing, what was it like?

That really sucks. There's not much you can do about it though, I'd just take it as a compliment. Also, remember that if you give twenty chefs the same recipe, you're still going to get twenty different dishes. Perhaps in the end it will be a positive, like you said, if word gets out that you had your recipes stolen in a break in, it could be a massive boost to your profile.

Never again will I put icing sugar and flour into identical containers and not label them. Pasta and chantilly cream turned out rather disappointing. Never again will I toast nuts without a timer set. Never again will I ask a first year apprentice to strain the stock without expressly stating I need the liquid, not the bones. Never again will I pick up a pot filled with scalding hot oil just emptied from the frier without announcing to everyone not to move, and double checking my surroundings. Never again will I absent mindedly grab pans out of the oven with no cloth. Actually, that ones a lie, I totally will.

I get what you mean, and I agree, those opposing foie are not terrorists, it's those that go further. It just seemed as though you were defending them, but upon re-reading your post I see that I just misinterpreted. I blame my iPhone's small screen, either that or I should just stop getting distracted with my modernist cuisine books I'm browsing while reading the forum. *red face*

Read the Bourdain article, where he describes a friend who had his business vandalized, his car doused with acid, and had video of his wife and children at home (along with a threatening message) sent to him, then tell me that they're not terrorists.

The Anthony Bourdain article entitled Food Terrorists pretty well sums up the militant vegan morons who terrorize innocent civilians. The ban is ridiculous, but will probably stand in California given (what seems to me to be) the ultra liberal overriding theme. They already won with Wolfgang, it's not a huge stretch to see them creating enough noise to see the ban stand. It's a sad day when hysteria and misinformation pass for fact.

My copy arrived today. Wow, it's going to take me years to get through this thing. It's been amazing just skimming through it thus far.

That was me. By that I meant that in a restaurant setting, it's a much harder rice to get right, as it's far less forgiving than the other two, which requires far more care than is usually possible when you're busy and have 6 other things on the go. I also find it far less creamy and starchy. Arborio plants produce more grains per plant than the other varieties, so I imagine that's why it's still the most widely available, and therefore widely used rice for risotto. Carnaroli it is for me.

I won't be trying it. I get wonderful results with Carnaroli, and I see no reason to mess with what seems a more complicated method. I think the biggest problem with risotto in a lot of restaurants that aren't high end is that they use Arborio, which is in every way inferior to either Carnaroli or Vialone Nano (although I prefer Carnaroli). I've also taken to finishing my risotto's with butter and mascarpone, and generally omit the Parmesan altogether. I find it's creamier yet less rich, if that makes sense. It gives a texture and flavor profile I prefer as well.

Recieved my shipping notice today.