Really Nice!

Went in this morning. It looks like they'll have a good lunch crowd with their deli and salad bar. It reminded me of the Treasure Island groceries back in Chicago where they are in the basements of condos. They have a good selection of just about everything you need in an emergency. ...no unique brands or products that'll make me think of going there first. I'll have to wait to see how the prices compare. I bought a package of bacon for $2.50 a pound. It's a grand opening special. Cornish hen was $4.50, 6 oz tomato paste 80¢. They had Alki Bakery and Grand Central breads...

No problem, and thanks for your insight to this book!

Marlene, do you know if the rumor is true? "Rumor has it that there will be an option to buy a thermo water bath circulator along with the book for a package deal of around $500." When Michael was in town to talk about his Elements of Cooking he started to discuss this project and mentioned what I wrote; this is the source of my 'rumor'. However, this was months ago and things change. Is this still in the works? Thank you.

Sous vide = under vacuum. There's more pressure outside the bag so it's under pressure... Michael is definitely writing it.

Amazon is offering pre-orders for $53.55 with the book being released Oct '08. Rumor has it that there will be an option to buy a thermo water bath circulator along with the book for a package deal of around $500. Anyone know if this is true? Thanks.

This is opening Wednesday, June 18 at 7 A.M.

For me it's pretty much what Brad and Katie said. My preference is old world/new world, country, and then varietal. Any place offering wines based on adjectives is a guarantee that I'll be buying the least expensive entree with a glass of water. Cringe is an understatement. Heebie-jeebies is more like it.

We were in Paris in February and one of our goals was to taste this chicken to see if it was special. We found a place that had it on their menu on our last night there: Au Bon Accueil in the 7th. It was quite delicious! Au Bon Accueil 14, Rue Monttessuy 75007 Paris, France +33 1 47 05 46 11

Ettas.

Excellent observation about the free downtown bus ride and often overlooked. Here's map of the downtown Seattle Ride Free Area. http://transit.metrokc.gov/tops/bus/area_m...eattle-rfa.html Here's a chart of the routes. A bit convoluted, but know that buses on 2nd and 5th go South; buses on 4th and 6th go North. Buses on 1st and 3rd go both. http://transit.metrokc.gov/tops/bus/Bike-l...ad-RFA-1007.pdf Route 174 and 194 on 2nd will drop you off in front of Salumi and 1/4 mile from Uwajimaya Asian Grocery. This is the end of the Free Ride Zone. You can also get yourself to Westlake Center and Olive Way and ride the SLUT to the new Whole Foods. Enjoy and welcome!

Kriste and I are stopping in about once a week for happy hour (M-F 4:30 - 6). They have $5 tapas plates, $3 bottle beer, glass of wine, or well drinks. Buy 3 plates and the fourth is free. We tend to get their pommes frites, zucchini fritters, beef plate, mussels in basil butter, and mushrooms (for me). You can get four plates, two drinks and get out for under $30, including tax and tip. Their dinner menu offers duck, lamb, shrimp... lots of great stuff. Wine list is simple, easy-drinking stuff. Their cuisine appears to mostly center around Procençal-style. Here's their web site: http://entrenousseattle.com/

I have now had knives sharpened by both Bob Kramer and Epicurean Edge. Without a doubt Bob Kramer does such a better job that it can't be compared to Epicurean Edge. It's worth the $20 shipping ($10 each way) to Bob. Bob sharpens the knife at a smaller angle, and with the shaprening he applies a polish so you really can't see where his sharpening ends. I've had knives sharpened by him for more than a year with nothing more than a couple of swips on a steel every week to maintain the edge. A few weeks ago I had some knives sharpened by Epicurean Edge. They had a clear, definitive, sharpening edge of less than 1/8 of an inch up the blade. The knives needed some light sharpening on a stone within 2 weeks of my receiving them. Actual price for sharpening the knives was about the same. Edited for grammar.

One thing I'm finding is the importance of having some other medium in the bag along with the protein to help keep the juices in the protein. Each time I've done this without something extra in the bag, about 2 to 3 tablespoons of liquid from the protein ends up in the bag. I've determined that the weight and viscosity of the medium doesn't matter, it just has to be different from the water inside the protein. Butter, salt water, oil, stock, mole sauce or even using watered down mustard in the bag, the juices stay in. The results are mouthwatering. For every two portions in a bag just add about 1/2 cup of whatever then freeze the bag for about 30 minutes to keep the food saver from sucking it out. Work quickly though. The results are far supieror from having a protein in the bag alone. To date my best is a 9-hour cooking time at 143°F for a duck breast cooked in olive oil. The texture of that was spectacular, unlike any duck breast I've ever had in my life. I repeated it with a 2 hour cooking time and it just wasn't the same. An extended cooking time has a positive, tenderizing affect on the texture. Just be sure to stay above 140°F if you're going for an extended period of time. Todays' experiment will be short ribs with hoisin sauce and pork belly with maple syrup. I'm aiming for 24 hours on the short ribs and 18 hours on the pork belly; both at 170°F. Following that, I think I'll go with a lobe of foie gras in the bag, which is the ingredient that started all this.

Google Star Tribune Kuleto Syrah and you'll get it.

My food saver isn't strong enough to change the texture of watermelon. Regarding bacteria and temperatures. The TDZ (temperature danger zone) is between 40°F and 140°F. This is the range in which bacteria is able to reproduce. Bacteria doesn't die at 140°F, it just stops reproducing. Bacteria reproduces at its best between 70°F to 120°F. The flow of food is the path food takes from receiving to putting it on the table. This includes the time you take the food out of the store's refrigerator, continue shopping, store it in the car, perhaps drive to another store, blah, blah, blah, and finally get home to put it in your refrigerator. Then add the preparation, cooking, holding times that the food is in the TDZ and add it all up. You don't want to have food in the TDZ for more than four hours. After that it is considered unsafe. This gives some credibility to the argument that a steak cooked rare is safer to eat than a steak cooked medium because it's in the TDZ for a shorter period of time. Or in this case with fish. Cooking it at 115°F for a couple of hours is okay assuming you've observed how long it's been out of refrigeration from the time you took it out of the store's/fish monger's refrigeration.

That's almost exactly what a friend said to me the first time she drank a New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc. (replace 'bloody iron' with 'cat wee') Her facial expression as she blotted her tongue with a paper towel after rinsing her mouth out with water was priceless. Even though I can pinpoint that 'bloody iron' descriptor in my taste memory, I don't think I've ever tasted blood in a wine, and I'll side with Jean in that I don't think I'd want to. On a side note: Sangiovese in Latin "sanguis jovis" means “blood of Jupiter.” Just thought I'd toss that into the conversation. Marshall, welcome to eGullet.

Regarding the NYT article, I might give that watermelon trick an attempt.

You can get Google alerts, which is something I've been doing for some time now. Just type in your e-mail name and select how often you want them. If you select "Web" or "News and Web" you'll get links that will include eGullet. There's no guarantee that the Thomas Keller you want to get news on is the Thomas Keller.

Bingo! I'm a career changer and for me selecting a school was a matter of convenience. I live (and worked) in Seattle. I needed to keep working to pay the bills and the mortgage, etc. Of the four (I think) schools I looked at only the Art Institute offered evening courses for their degree program. I sold my house last year and quit my job (high tech) last December to focus on my education as graduation nears. Need to find a job in the biz, too. I have found that the Art Institute of Seattle has great instructors and is located just 7 minutes from Pike Place Market, which has vendors offering their wares every day of the year. BTW, the Seattle program was built and designed by Rolland Henin.

You're right, fat floats. But somehow the fat does keep the juices in. See my post in this topic (number 130; fourth photo) as the butter has no meat juice in it even after four hours of cooking. And when I cut open the bag, there was not one drop of pink juice. When I did the duck breast, I did it without additional fat and there was about three tablespoons of juice in the bag when it was done.

I was going to write welcome to marketing 101. It's one of the four 'Ps' of marketing: price, product (which includes packaging), promotion, and place. While many of us are more concerned with what's in the bottle, there are many more who are concerned with how the bottle looks.

Also if you have a copy of The Zuni Cafe Cookbook, pages 411 - 413 describe how to cut up a rabbit. She (Judy Rodgers) also describes how to cook each of the pieces (i.e. braise the legs, grill the loin).

Last Thursday I did a duck breast at 143°F for 9 hours. Seared the skin side in a hot skillet for about a minute. Sprinkled it with a little fleur de sel and it was very good. The texture was unlike any I've encountered before. Tomorrows experiment is a brined cornish hen. Brine: low fat milk and kosher salt. I've been brining in milk for about 5 years. Based on the results I get I think there's something about the lactic acid in the milk that makes the meat creamy. Fat: when cooking via sous vide, putting fat in the bag makes the density outside the food higher than it is inside and the juices stay in. I'll make a fresh poultry seasoning using black pepper, nutmeg, and fresh thyme, sage, marjoram, rosemary and whip into some butter and evo. Cooking: I'm going to aim for 12 hours at 160°F.

I know larry's and whole foods carries, and now I know university seafood carries it as well. However, they all sell it frozen. Seattle Caviar sells it fresh because they supply the area restaurants with it and have to have it available for use on a daily basis. Why do I sound like a commercial for these people?

I just called University Seafood and their A lobes are $57.98 and the Bs are $47.98. As for ordering it elsewhere, at $20 to $25 shipping costs it ends up being the same when buying it locally. And the folks at Seattle Caviar will take as many out as you wish so you can choose the one you want. (They only sell grade A lobes.) For price and selection I'll still cast my vote for Seattle Caviar. Oh, and FWIW, grade B is going to be smaller and have more blood spots. It's good for searing only. You'll have a splotchy terrine or torchon if you attempt to make one with it.