Really Nice!

Rack of lamb Sear fat side down over high heat/little oil in a skillet for 2 minutes. Pack a bread crumb mixture that includes rosemary, garlic, and mint on fat side. Place in 425F oven for 12 minutes per pound. I buy my racks at Costco and get ones that weight 1.5 lbs. Cook rack for 18 minutes; let rest for 10. Winter time I serve this with roasted root veg/Summer time serve with seasonal veg. Vegetable Lasagne I make individual lasagnes by using small 2 x 5 inch bread pans. When served, people think it's a lot, but it's light (vegetables), people don't get full eating it. People also like getting their own lasagne as opposed to being served from a large pan. Make a simple pasta dough and cut it so it fits into the molds. Gather and mince seasonal vegetables. Gather cheeses such as parmesan and ricotta. Open a small can of tomato puree and add fresh rosemary, garlic and oregano to it. Pour a little milk in each bread pan; add a layer of pasta; followed by alternating layers of veg; cheese; and more pasta. Bake in 350F oven for 40 minutes. Unmold onto plates and serve with a bechemel sauce. Anything that comes out of my pizza oven! PBase

Render the fat to use in sauteing other dishes. Make any of the following: Whole bird: French: Roast duck stuffed with orange and apples slices, brushed with honey. Asian: Peking duck Breast: French: Duck confit Asian: Duck breast with 5 spices (fennel seed, star anise, cinnamon, cloves, and szechuan peppercorns) Legs and thighs: French: Cassolette Save the carcuss to make a duck stock.

I give her a lot of credit for doing a truly live show. It's not live in the sense that it is taped before a studio audience. Not only does she have to know what she's doing, she has to fill airtime so viewers don't leave, and take calls from viewers while she's cutting and preparing. It's very hard to keep track of timing (both cooking and live tv), prepare food, identify what you're going to do next, all while having a conversation with someone on the phone. There was a show recently that was funny, but she probably felt it was her worst. There was a young chef, he was in his early 20s and two young boys and they were building gingerbread houses. The chef was constructing a side room on the house. Sarah: What's that you got going there? Chef: It's a den. Sarah: Well, it could be a flower room. Chef: Nahhh, it's a den. Sarah: <stops and says sternly> NO! It can be a flower room! The show kind of fell apart from there. At the conclusion she was saying goodbye and thanked the two boys by name. She thanked Aaron, and he said, as she continued talking, "My name's not Aaron, it's Eric!" EDIT: From her Web site http://saramoulton.com/bio.htm By then Sara had also begun working as the host of "Cooking Live," her own show on The Food Network. After six years and some 1200 shows, Cooking Live ended its run on March 31. She is better than most in making food you can make at home. Although I like Jacques Torres, there's no way I can do what he does at home. Rachel Ray is annoying. Ming Tsai is bland. If Emerril is getting people interested in food that previously were afraid to cook or simply not interested, then good for him. Hopefully, these people quickly graduate from his Cooking 101 programming. Bobby Flay, likes to get drunk on TV with his Eat America programs. It's worth watching for that alone. How do you pronounce Willamette Valley? I don't like the marketing of the Saturday morning cooking school programming. There's no educational substance. It's just watch me cook and write down the recipe. Cooking School Stories is very good. Very accurate. I would like to see more of Robin Dorian

There are two books on this subject that are incredibly dry, but informative. Aroma and Flavor Lexicon for Sensory Evaluation: Terms, Definitions, References, and Examples (Astm Data Series Publication, No 66) This is a text and software package from the Oregon State University (I think-I'll have to check). It lists terms used to describe flavor and smell of foods, as well as defining the terms research that led to its definition. Also if you're of the science-minded, it contains the protocols for preparing a food for a taste test. It's a spiral wire binding book. It's a pricy $99. For an example, I'll quote basil and tomato characteristics. Basil. Anise/Licorice, green, hay, minty, tea. Tomato. Acid/Sour, earthy, grassy, metalic, tin, tobacco, woody. (and many more) With each characteristic you can drill down farther. For example, Basil-Hay: Term Hay Definition Aromatic of sweet, dry grasses (hay, straw) Example Dried parsley, dried herbs, (savory, thyme, oregano). Autumn picked tea leaves, basil, paprika, rosemary. You can drill down even more to find all those foods that have HAY as a characteristic which includes: basil, dill weed, savory, whisky, and wine to name a few. It takes a while for Amazon to secure a copy. One of the two authors, Gail Vance Civille, does a lot of food sensory evaluation type books if you're into that kind of thing. The other book is: A Psychology of Food: More Than a Matter of Taste by Bernard Lyman. Unfortunately, this is an out-of-print book. It took Amazon ten months to find me a copy. However, on verifiying that the link works, I see there is a used copy available for $25. As the title states, this book looks into the psychology of how we interpret food tastes; why we like some foods, dislike others; why we crave certain foods at certain times etc. It also categorizes flavors together etc. There's a lot more that I can't recall offhand, I'll have a look tonight and update my message. Edited to include content about the book, A Psychology of Food: More Than a Matter of Taste The table of contents reads as follows: Part 1 Food: Its psychological meaning and significance ... Chapter 1: The role of food and eating in personality and social development Part 2 Food Preferences ... Chapter 2: Long-term food preferences ... Chapter 3: Fluctuations in food preferences <- good for the thread discussing the age question: keeping it simple. ...Chapter 4: The relation between emotions and food preferences. With respect to those that have lost loved ones in the food for mourning post as I have, this might be a good read. ...Chapter 5: Fads, fashions, and food preferences. Part 3 Food as a complex psychological stimulus ... Chapter 6: Taste ... Chapter 7: Oder ... Chapter 8: Texture ... Chapter 9: Appearance ... Chapter 10: Color Part 4 Food meanings and associations ... Chapter 11: Food meanings ... Chapter 12: Changing food likes and dislikes ... Chapter 13: The use of food and psychotherapy ... Chapter 14: Conclusion If you're looking for an analytical evaluation as to why you taste things the way you do and when, this is a good read. I've often felt that I'm a poor taster so I peruse these types of books like crazy in search of learning how to taste food and wine. When you buy a bottle of Château Pétrus and prepare a tasting menu for it, you better know what flavors and aromas you're looking for and how to taste them! CathyL I agree with your assessment of Culinary Artistry. I think I've recommended this to death along with Timing is Everything! Here are a couple of posts that include my recommendation for those books: mamster's mystery basket challenge The Recommend-a-Food-Book Thread I agree that you can get out-of-print books at other locations, but there's a 20 percent discount by adding egulletcom-20 at the end of the ISBN number in the Amazon.com URL. See the first post in the: The Recommend-a-Food-Book Thread. Gotta support those that support you.

Great choices! I reference Culinary Artistry daily. If you're into creating your own dishes, or you like writing menus as a hobby (okay, I'm weird, but am I at home here?) or are thinking of participating in this Market Basket referencing this book is a big help. Along with Timing is Everything, you'll never need another cookbook.

This sounds like the vietnamese restaurant near the intersection of Belle-Red Road and 20th in Redmond. I think the restaurant is on Belle-Red. I forget the name. I've never been there but a woman who joined my group said all the guys in her previous group loved going there for, umm, the food.

Very cool. Count me in! Do we get extra credit for photos? To quote Homer (guess which one?) "Oh sure, Lisa! Pork, bacon, and ham all come from the same animal. And does this "magical" animal have a name?!?!

How many different salts do you have? I think I have five, but I'd have to check. Fleur de sel Grey salt Sea salt (course generic kind) for the salt grinder Hawaiian (pink) salt Kosher I suppose it's six if you count table salt, but I only use that for absorbing fresh stains in the carpet and buffing my wok and cast iron skillets. What do you use your different salts for? Are there any others that I should add to my collection?

This may be more than you want to know, so I apologize if it's overkill. First, it depends on the type of dough/batter you're talking about. For example, there are three yeast bread doughs; lean, rich, and quick breads. There are high-fat cake batters and low-fat cake batters, and there are also quick breads. Each has a different mixing requirement which leads us to... Second, you need to understand the purpose of mixing a dough based on the type of dough or batter you’re making. With yeast doughs, the purpose of mixing is to: 1. combine the ingredients into a uniform dough 2. disperse the yeast evenly in the dough 3. develop the gluten Now that you know the purpose of mixing a yeast dough, know that there are three different kinds of mixing to achieve that purpose: straight dough method, modified straight dough method, and sponge method. Straight dough method. Dump everything in the container and mix. Used for simple breads with little or no fat or sugar such as a loaf of French or Italian bread. You need a strong gluten so the time used to develop it also combines the ingredients as well as disperse the yeast. Modified straight dough method. This is used for rich yeast doughs. Combine everything but eggs and flour in the dough. Then mix in eggs one at a time. If you add them too quickly, the result looks like eggs that have curdled. The other ingredients (fat, sugar, milk solids, etc.) didn't have time to incorporate with the eggs; hence, a big gooey and lumpy mess in the mixing bowl. After the eggs are blended you should have a smooth, homogenous mixture. Now you're ready to add the flour. The flour will absorb what looks to be excess moisture, but when you're done, you'll have a rich dough ready for baking. Think sweet rolls and brioche. Sponge method. This is common with pizza dough. Mix the water, yeast and some flour together and let it 'proof' for 10 minutes. Then add it to the remaining ingredients to thoroughly mix the ingredients. The main difference between the straight dough method and sponge method is to give the yeast a head start in the fermentation process. Other products include sour dough bread, but don’t confuse this sponge method with the sour dough sponge. That’s in a different thread. Cake batters are basically broken down into high-fat cakes and low-fat cakes. With cake batters, the purpose of mixing is to: 1. combine the ingredients into a uniform batter 2. disperse the leavening agent (baking powder/soda) evenly in the batter 3. NOT develop gluten For high-fat cakes there are two methods: creaming method and two-stage method. For low-fat cakes the methods are: sponge method, angel food method, and chiffon method. First, high-fat cakes: Creaming method. Cream the butter or fat first (usually butter), then start to add other ingredients a little at a time. A little bit of dry, a little bit of wet, a little bit of dry... The reason for this is you want to slowly build a homogenous mixture; you don't want one (such as dry) to out-volume (if I can use that as a transitive verb) the wet. If it does the batter won't properly develop as you'll spend time trying to get the two together rather than mixing. The result is an over beaten dough which will result in a uneven shape and a course, tough texture. Think of your basic yellow or chocolate cake for this method. Two-stage method. This is for cakes that have more sugar than flour. Also the liquid portion is higher than normal. Mix about 3/4 dry ingredients along with the fat (usually shortening). Then add remaining 1/4 dry ingredients followed by all the wet ingredients. This makes for a rather viscous batter. You do it this way because the flour can't absorb all that liquid at once, and to develop the proper structure; meaning that you'll get a smooth batter and the sugar will be dissolved so the finished product won't have a grainy texture. Think pound cake. Secondly, low-fat cakes: Sponge method. This is for sponge cakes which contain whipped egg whites and well-beaten egg yolks. You cannot have a single drop of egg yolk in the bowl in which you are whipping egg whites. It just won't work. You need to mix them separately. Usually the recipe says to mix your egg yolks and sugar together, then add your flour, and finally, fold in your egg whites. Hmm, think jelly roll, if that helps. Angel food method. Same as the sponge method, only there are no fats (egg yolks). Think angel food cake. Chiffon method. This is a combination of sponge and angel food methods. You mix the flour, sugar and oil together and then fold in the separately whipped egg whites. Think chiffon cake. And finally <phew!> you have quick breads which offer two methods of mixing: biscuit method and creaming method. With quick bread doughs, the purpose of mixing is to: 1. combine the ingredients into a semi-uniform batter; expect lumps 2. disperse the leavening agent (baking powder/soda) evenly in the batter 3. develop a little bit of gluten Biscuit method. This is the same method used to make pie crusts. Sift dry ingredients together. Cut in shortening. Add wet ingredients. Knead the dough for about 30 seconds. Also great for biscuits in Southern cooking. Muffin method. Combine dry ingredients together. Combine wet ingredients together. Combine dry and wet ingredients together. Do not overmix. Expect to have lumps. This is the same method used for making pancakes. In conclusion, I think whether or not you want to develop the gluten has the greatest importance in how or when you add the ingredients during mixing. You can test this by making a muffin using the straight dough method for breads. It will turn out tough, chewy, little height gain, and probably very heavy. Make a loaf of French bread using the muffin method for quick breads and you’ll end up with pockets of flour, pockets of wet gummy stuff, no height added, and very, very tiny air pockets. Each type of dough/batter requires its own type of handling.

Costco's world head quarters is located here in Issaquah Washington; about 15 miles east of Seattle. A friend of mine who is very wine knowledgeable says that many Costco executives love good wine. Since they live in the area, many "east side" Costcos get a very good selction. I don't know about elsewhere in the country. *Supposedly* Costco gets great deals on wine by purchasing high volumes of the lower quality wines of a particular vitner in exchange for getting the higher quality wines at a lower price. For example; the Kirkland Costco (about 15 miles north of Issaquah) currently have several different types of Penfolds wine, such as Bin 28 shiraz, bin 407 cab sauv... I guess this is why I was able to pick up two bottles of 1997 Penfolds Grange for a mere $129 a bottle. I wish I had gotten there earlier to gather up a case. Other local stores are selling the '97 Grange for $180. They do rotate their inventory quickly, and it seems once the store's supply is gone, they replenish it with something else. I now visit Costco weekly for this very reason. Usually I walk out empty handed which is very hard to do.

A couple of meat items you can buy in low quantity include whole chickens in a two-pack, and a single rack of lamb or small leg of lamb. Here in the Northwest you can usually find a salmon fillet that can support a small dinner party. I agree, without extra freezer space your choices are limited; unless you can find someone else in a similar situtation and divie up the purchases. I usually go to Costco when I'm hungry and don't feel like preparing something. All those free samples fill me up just fine!

Make sure you ask for edible gold leaf. Would an art store would carry the edible kind? I'm not sure what a manufacturer would add, but if the target market is an art store, I don't think they would ensure it's edible. You might want to take a look at: Dilettante Chocolates Broadway Restaurant & Bakery 416 Broadway E. Seattle, WA, 98102 206-329-6463 Dilettante.com -or- Dilettante Retail Store Pike Place Market 1603 1st Avenue Seattle, WA 98101 206-728-9144 It's been years since I've been there, but I think they use it. You might want to ask them for their supplier's name. Hopefully, they won't tell you, "just go into any art store."

Ahh, the loophole in the logic! For bacteria to thrive it needs an environment suitable for growth. This environment spells out the acronym, FAT TOM. F Food A Acidity T Time T Temperature O Oxygen M Moisture Each one of the above has characteristics favorable for bacteria to grow. Take out one of the above out (i.e. make it unfavorable) and bacteria will have a more difficult time to reproduce. Two things done to food that fight off bacteria on proteins at room temperature are salt (removes moisture) and smoke (removes oxygen). I don't believe lox is smoked (someone of authority can chime in here on that), but salt does ward off bacteria by reducing the moisture in the food. Keep in mind that if the salmon is received at the location where the lox is made is in bad shape to begin with, toxins from the bacteria will remain after it is made into lox. There are many products out there that are salted and smoked at low temperatures, which is called cold smoking, that are perfectly safe to eat. Over time, however, any product not properly stored can spoil.

Could be. With freshly made ravioli, the salmon most likely wouldn't get up to that temperature as the pasta would be over cooked and gummy. If it's a cream sauce pasta, for example, then it probably would get up to temperature if the salmon was added early on as the sauce simmered. Cooking is not the only time food can spoil. There are seven steps in the flow of food that need to be monitored. They are: Flow of Food.....Time and Temperature Receiving...............Receive and store food quickly Storage.................Store foods at their recommended temperatures Preparation...........Minimize time spent in the TDZ 40° - 140°F (5° - 60°C) Cooking.................Cook food to its minimal safe internal temperature for the appropriate amount of time Holding..................Hold hot foods => 140°F (60°C) and cold foods <= 40°F (5°C) Cooling..................Cool cooked food to 70°F (21°C) within two hours and from 70°F to 40°F (5°C) or below in four additional hours. Reheating..............Reheat foods to an internal temperature of 165° (74°C) for 15 seconds. Failure to ensure proper storage and handling during any of the above steps can ulitmately make the customer ill.

Any protien that sits in the TDZ (Temperature Danger Zone which is between 40°F and 140°F) is going to be a risk. This is a basic HACCP principle. If a dish is prepared early in the day it needs to be held either above 140 or below 40; and it's best to get through the zone as fast as possible. TDZ is most severe between 70°F and 120°F. Fish goes bad faster because it comes from a cooler environment. A fish that lives in 55°F water and stored at 35°F only drops 20°. The bacteria can survive more easily. (Note that fish also have different bacteria than cows.) A cow that has a body temperature of 100°F and stored at 35°F has a drop in 65°. For fish to be GRAS (Generally Regarded As Safe) it needs to have an internal temperature of 145°F held for at least 15 seconds.

Regarding making FL reservations: You have to call exactly two months to the day of your reservation. So if you want to eat on March 15, you have to call January 15. The thing I've always wanted to ask when making a reservation, and I always forget, is: What do they do for April 29, April 30, and August 31? There is no February 29 (except in leap years), there is no February 30, and there is no June 31.

The content of this post is from an e-mail I sent to some friends last year, but I thought I'd offer it to you folks in this forum. Have you ever looked at an item on the menu and say, "I can make that!" I have a habbit of looking at menus and if something stikes my fancy, I'll copy the description and try and make it at home without knowing what the original dish looks like or how it should taste. I have to admit, the results are usually pretty good even if I am taking liberty in interpreting a chef's dish. ------- My girlfriend and I went to Tia Lou's (a Mexican restaurant in the Belltown neighborhood in Seattle) for dinner Saturday night. We got there at 4:30, and since they don't open until 5pm, we headed up the street to Belltown Pub to have a beer. I was looking at their menu and it looked pretty good. One item that caught my eye was, "Smoked Salmon Ravioli -- Fresh smoked salmon ravioli in lemon-dill cream sauce with sauteed red onion, tomatoes, garlic and capers topped with candied walnuts." With that as an inspiration, I decided to give this a shot on Sunday. SMOKED SALMON Salmon fillet Smoked paprika Wood chips Water Mix equal amounts of wood chips and water; let soak for 15 minutes. Dip a pastry brush in the smoked paprika can. Tap brush over salmon to lightly sprinkle. Place wood chips in a fish poacher. Insert rack and place salmon on top. Cover and cook over high heat for 10 minutes per inch of thickness. Chill salmon in refrigerator when done cooking. RAVIOLI Leftover pasta sea salt, to taste fresh ground pepper, to taste Reduced balsamic vinegar Champagne vinegar I have a two-piece ravioli maker that looks like this. Roll pasta very thin to twice the amount you need. Place half the pasta over a ravioli mold; make indentations. Sprinkle each indentation with salt and pepper. Drizzle reduced balsamic vinegar in each ravioli. Add a slice of salmon and brush with champagne vinegar. Fold other half of pasta over; press down to seal and make individual ravioli. CANDIED WALNUTS 1 1/2 tbsp water 1 1/2 tbsp sugar pinch of salt 1/2 cup walnuts Make simple syrup with equal parts water and sugar. Add small amount of salt to heighten the sweetness. Bring to a boil in a skillet and add walnuts. Stir constantly until sugar threads begin to show between the walnuts as you stir. Place a sheet of parchment paper on a wire rack and spoon walnuts on paper. As they cool separate them. LEMON-DILL CREAM SAUCE 1 tbsp EVO 1 garlic clove, minced 1/4 cup red onion, minced 1 tomato, seeded and chopped 1 tsp capers, rinsed in water sea salt, to taste fresh ground pepper, to taste fresh ground nutmeg, to taste 1/2 tsp dill weed 16 oz heavy cream zest from one lemon Preheat oven to 400°F. Heat EVO over high heat in a heavy stainless steel skillet. If you use aluminum it will turn the sauce gray. Add garlic and red onion. Fry for about a minute then add tomatoes, capers, sea salt, pepper, nutmeg and dill weed. Saute for about 1 minute. Spoon tomato mixture into a bowl. Reduce heat to medium and add heavy cream to skillet. Stir occasionally until mixture is reduced by half. Return tomato mixture to skillet; heat for about 2 minutes. Place ravioli in bowls, pour tomato mixture over ravioli. Place bowls in oven for 5 minutes. Remove from oven, top with lemon zest, candied walnuts and serve.

“Is Escoffier relevant today? What remains of his work that influences chefs today?” Absolutely! He took grande cuisine to a new level that is still prevelant in kitchens worldwide. The kitchen brigrade is his idea. He introduced the idea of serving meals one dish at a time. The categorizing and simplifying of sauces and bringing them together in five manageable 'mother' sauces is his. There are many more things that I can't recall without referencing books at home. You don't earn the title, "Emperor of the world's kitchens," and "the King of Chefs' and Chef of the Kings'," without carrying significant influence to the following generations.

So how many different salts do you have? I think I have five, but I'd have to check. Fleur de sel Grey salt Sea salt (generic kind) for the salt grinder Hawaiian (pink) salt Kosher I suppose it's six if you count table salt, but I only use that for absorbing fresh stains in the carpet and buffing my wok and cast iron skillets.

If you go to Pbase and scroll to the bottom you'll see three menus and a receipt from my three trips there. Yes, the suppliers are mentioned on the menu. I also take notes about what I'm eating, what sensations I get, and I even take photos of the dishes. I'm sure it's a bit weird for other patrons to observe this, but when you pay close to $600 for dinner for two , you want to remember what you paid for.

Place the onions in a strainer and run water through it. Blot the onions dry. This diminishes the sulfur atoms.

Here's the wine list from the Laundromat dinner. In case you didn't see the other post, the photos from the dinner are here. Wine: Charles Heidsieck Brut Champagne 1990 Dish: Salmon Tartar Cornet with Red Onion Crème Fraîche Dish: Cauliflower “Panna Cotta”with Malpeque Oyster Glaze and Osetra Caviar Dish: White Truffle Oil—Infused Custardwith Black Truffle Ragout and Chive “Chip” Wine: Puligny Montrachet Sylvain et Nahalie 1st Cru Contrôlée 2000 Dish: Blini with Roasted Sweet Peppers and Eggplant Caviar Dish: Carrot Soup with Cream and Lulu White Truffle—Infused Clover Honey Wine: Château d'Yquem 1990 Dish: Pan Seared Moulard Duck Foie Gras with Apples and Black Truffles Wine: Puligny Montrachet (Continued) Dish: Chestnut Agnolotti with Fontina and Celery Root Purée Wine: Witness Tree Benchmark Pinot Noir 1997 Dish: Salmon “Chops” with Celery and Black Truffles Dish: Butter Poached Stonington, Maine Lobster with Leeks, Pommes Maxim, and a Red Beet Essence Wine: Château Lafite Rothschild 1983 Dish: “Yabba Dabba Do” Roasted Rib Steak with Chanterelles, Pommes Anna, and Bordelaise Sauce Dish: Chaource with Comice Pears, Clove—Scented Oil, and Lola Rossa Wine: Porto Rocho 1963 Dish: “Coffee and Doughnuts” Cappuccino Semifreddo with Cinnamon—Sugar Doughnuts Dish: Meyer Lemon Sabayon Pine Nut Tart with Fireweed Honeyed—Mascarpone Cream Anna, as Fish says, preparation is key. Read that one paragraph in my post about Mis en Place. Preparing for dinner as well as staying organized makes or breaks the experience. Also, I'm sure you've heard of, "Clean as you go." But you also need to "Put away as you go" to keep the sink area from becoming the bottle neck. If you can start preparing a few days in advance, that'll help. If you want to make it simple, try keeping the ingredient list to a minimum. For example: Roast chicken: brine the chicken in kosher salt, season with pepper and roast. Potatoes: peel and soak in a large amount water overnight; spin dry in salad spinner; season and roast with melted butter and rosemary. Asparagus: get the pencil thin stuff; blanch and chill in ice water to stop cooking. Sear in a skillet and serve with a quick hollandaise sauce (if you can't make your own, buy an envelope of it in the spice aisle--nothing wrong with that!). . . . Planning is key! Good luck and let us know how it went.

Suzanne has it right on. A couple of additional things I do (have done) include: Plating. Draw a circle on the sheet and do a quick sketch as to what goes where, unless I'm doing the standard protein at 6 O'clock, veg at 10, starch at 2. Reverse engineering. As previously stated, after developing the timetable, start from the time you serve it and plot backwards. I found that giving an extra five minutes for plating and a five minutes buffer (what can go wrong, will) at the end helps. MEP (Mis en Place). Write down the equipment you're going to need and have it out before you start. One thing you can do is throw the utensils that you'll need into a pot that you won't be using for the meal. This will keep your work space organized. Another thing to do is set up the kitchen before leaving for work in the morning. This means all the utensils in the pot (I use a bain marie), cutting boards on the counter, pots/skillets on the stove, non refrigerated/frozen ingredients on the counter. This shaves about 15-30 minutes off your prep time. Back in November at my house, a group of us did a French Laundromat dinner using recipes from the cookbook. Photos are on Pbase. There were four cooks and 13 dishes. Since everyone did the initial preparation at their house, I put together an equipment MEP list for when the time came to do the dish and taped it above the stove. It looked something like this: Menu Item: 1. Salmon Tartar 2. Cauliflower “Panna Cotta” 3. White Truffle Oil—Infused Custard 4. Blini with Roasted Sweet Peppers 5. Carrot Soup with Cream* 6. Whole Roasted Moulard Duck Foie Gras 7. Chestnut Agnolotti 8. Salmon “Chops” 9. Butter Poached Maine Lobster 10. Yabba Dabba Do 11. Chaource with Red Plums 12. Coffee and Doughnuts 13. Lemon Sabayon Sorry about the column alignment. Dish Owner Oven Stove Other Items Salmon Tartar Mike -- -- -- Cauliflower “Panna Cotta” Margaret -- med. SP FP / CH / SMB White Truffle Oil—Infused Custard Simon 275°F 25 min & 45 min med. SP / med. SP M / S / EC / BL / CH / GBP Blini with Roasted Sweet Peppers Paul 350°F Large SP T / EG Carrot Soup with Cream Mike -- HP J Whole Roasted Duck Foie Gras Mike 475°F / SP SK -- Chestnut Agnolotti Simon -- LP -- Salmon “Chops” Mike -- SP / SK / SP / M Butter Poached Lobster Paul 300°F 50 min -- M / CB / S / FP Yabba Dabba Do Paul 450°F / Small SP M / CB Chaource with Red Plums Margaret -- -- 2RM Coffee and Doughnuts Mike -- -- DF Lemon Sabayon Simon -- -- MX Things that the cookbook says can be prepared 24 hours or more in advance are not shown. SP = Sauce Pan SK = Skillet LP = Large Pot FP = Food Processor CH = Chinois SMB = Small Metal Bowl M = Mandolin S = Silpat EC = Egg Cutter BL = Blender GBP = Glass Baking Pan T = Tamis EG = Electric Griddle J = Juicer HP = Pan in Bain Marie CB = Clarified Butter 2RM = 2-inch Ring Mold DF = Deep Fryer MX = Mixer * This recipe isn't in the cookbook. I got it from his series of LA Times columns back in 2000/2001. So yes, timing is everything. It's a great book to have when, for example, all you want to do is cook a rack of lamb without looking through twenty cookbooks to find out how long you need to cook it. Timing is Everything.

Thanks! No, but buying it in bulk like that at least ensures that they will be carrying it for a while. I just about wet my pants when I saw it. When I bought it they were down to 2 wheels. I went back a few weeks later and there were 5. One other thing about Whole Foods: I gather they are a tad bit expensive compared to other places, but on my second trip I was able to purchase a case of DeLille D2 2000 for $27.40 a bottle that included a 10% case discount. That was the cheapest I've seen it anywhere and most places won't part with a case because of their limited supply.

I put them in 1-quart Zip Lock bags, lay them down on a sheet pan, and put the sheet pan in the freezer. Once the zip lock bags are frozen, I run them through the Food Saver. It sounds like a lot of work, but it isn't. I prefer this method because the storage space is more compact than jars. I currently have beef, chicken, duck, veal, and vegetable stock in the freezer. Each batch makes 10 to 11 3-cup bags. Once they go through the Food Saver, I store the bags in plastic grocery bags. It makes finding a specific stock in the coffin freezer in the garage a lot easier. It's also easier to know when you're running low on one (like I am with beef stock ).