Ruth

Hi Mr. McGee I am so delighted to get the chance to ask you this question. We have been roasting whole pigs in a Caja China (a metal enclosed box in which the marinated pig lies at the bottom topped by a tray of glowing coals, for several hours). We have had delicious moist meat but have had no success in getting a crisp skin. In fact the skin was quite leathery. The pigs were small (25-30 lbs) and very lean. Yet in Europe we have had much smaller pigs with deliciously crisp skin. Do we have to look for a fatty pig or do you think there is any other way to get the result we are hoping for, perhaps an additional ingredient in the marinade for basting.

I have frequently left a stock pot on the stove overnight when making veal stock and never had a problem. I feel even more comfortable with the idea now that I have a new stove which has burners that are supposed to reignite automatically if the flame goes out. The oven is certainly an option, especially if there is no simmer burner, but lifting a heavy stock pot out of an oven is no fun.

Basically you strain and defat your stock and then reduce it until it reaches a syrupy texture. You can do this with a veal, beef, or any brown poultry stock.

I always cook boneless chicken breasts sous vide - about 45 minutes at 130°. I then cool them off and sauté them very briefly skin side only at high heat just to crispen the skin. I like them a touch pink in the center. If you prefer them cooked through you might want to leave them in the 130° water an extra five minutes. You can even stick an instant read thermometer in the chicken before you close the bag. That way you can leave it until it reaches the temperature you like.

I have actually done that with a small digital thermometer. It is not too easy to read through the bag but it can be done. Ruth

Nathan I was away and have just seen your post. Thank you so much. I am kicking myself that I did not realize the alcohol could be a problem. I will definitely omit the wine next time.

No problems with EVOO and peanut oil. In fact a good peanut oil (the best comes from Hong Kong) is wonderful for sautéing and deep-frying as it adds its own flavor. I generally prefer to use grapeseed oil for fish. It has a very high burning point and no real flavor of its own. Grapeseed and canola oils are also great for making flavored oils and infusions when you do not want the flavor of olive oil. A number of chefs are now cooking with pure olive oil (second pressing). This has a higher burning point than EVOO which breaks down when subjected to high heat.

Years ago we used to take our kids to a Hunan restaurant on Mott Street (NY Chinatown). Once they discovered the pigs' ears (boiled for an hour or so, sliced into thin strips and marinated in soy, chile, lots of chopped raw garlic, sesame and cilantro) they ordered them every week and were totally devastated when they were taken off the menu. The owner told us that, apart from themselves, we were the only people who ordered them. Cooked this way they are a real delicacy. My boys still ask me to prepare them when the come home. My older son now lives in Shanghai and scours the city for the best ears!

That is the answer to so many problems that everyone who cooks should have one of these. I too saved my basil chopped in olive oil last year and will be doing it again in a couple of weeks. I popped out the little cubes, vacuumed and froze them. They remained flavorful and emerald green until late Spring when the new crop began to arrive.

I've done the short ribs both ways -omitting the marinating when I have been short of time. There is no doubt in my find that a couple of days prior marination produced a more flavorful and succulent dish.

I use crème fraîche regularly to finish sauces. Whenever I make whipped cream I use half heavy cream (the real stuff - not the ultra-pasteurized garbage) and half crème fraîche. It gives a deliciously nutty flavor to the whipped cream

All the questions that have been posed are discussed regularly by long-time members. Unfortunately we have virtually no input . The current President rarely appears at the dinners and isolates himself from the members. When Peter Kump was President he was frequently at the Beard House and had a willing ear. The Board of Trustees acts as a rubber stamp. Even a non-profit is still a business and should be run efficiently. I have been told by several chefs that they simply could not afford to cook a dinner at the House. Surely at least half of what we pay for these dinners should be allocated to the chefs. Hopefully the current publicity will result in a major overhaul.

I need some input. I cooked some rabbit legs tonight - seasoned and seared them and popped them in a bag. I sauteed sliced garlic and thyme in the remaining oil, de-glazed with white wine, added chicken stock and poured everything into a sous vide bag with the rabbit. I was able to vacuum (more or less) by sealing the bag just before the liquid was sucked in. There was no visible air left in the bag. I brought a pan of water to 140°, immersed the bag and kept it there for 5 hours. I was using a Garland induction cook top and was able to keep the temperature at 140°-145° for the whole time. After five hours I removed the bag to an ice bath and kept it chilled until 30 minutes before dinner. I then placed it in a pan of simmering water for ten minutes (following instructions in a recipe from Alexander Stratta (Renoir, Las Vegas). The flavor of the rabbit was wonderful; there was no shrinkage and it was just cooked through - a touch of pink at the bone - but the texture of the meat was mushy. Was this just the nature of the beast or something I did wrong? I would love to be able to perfect this. Any comments or suggestions would be appreciated. Ruth

That's the way I always do it. When you leave the husks on the corn will be steamed on the grill - o.k. but that is not grilled corn.

That was fascinating Nathan. I still have not found a method to cook sous-vide with a marinade without pre-freezing the marinade although I am sure some method must exist. I have been cooking salmon in duck fat for seven minutes at 140°. How long do you keep a filet of salmon sous-vide at 104°? Please continue to keep us informed

Everything you say seems to make a lot of sense, Moby. I like to cook fish, guinea hen breasts etc. both sous vide and in duck fat and have found the resulting texture to be very similar. It would be great to get Harold McGee's take on this subject.

Last night I cut some scapes into 2" lengths (including the buds), blanched about 20 secs and then combined them with sautéed eggplant and a couple of oven-dried tomatoes as a sauce for pasta. The scapes had a good crunch and retained their garlicky flavor.

This is certainly not an update as I have not been there for many years, not since the original Père Bise died. I am not sure if you are aware that this was once one of the great three star restaurants of France and one of the very best of them. Alas, the family was not able to maintain the old standards after François died and I believe that they lost all their stars. I am very happy, for old times' sake, to hear that they have regained one and that you enjoyed your lunch there. The setting is incredibly beautiful. There are more interesting restaurants in the area now - notably the three star L'auberge de l'éridan.

There are some fairly new plastic bags on the market now: Evert Fresh green bags and Glad FreshProtect. I have been using both for all my vegetables and herbs for the past few months with excellent results. I had Thai basil, which is even more perishable than mint, in one of these bags for four or five days without any sign of black. It retained its flavor too. I wrapped it first in a paper towel before putting it in the bag. I have no idea what makes these bags different from the regular plastic bags. They claim to use a "revolutionary technology". Whatever it is it seems effective. See EvertFresh

Hate to be a nay-sayer. We had the lunch tasting menu in 2002. I went in ready to be wowed. The foie gras was woefully overcooked and had the texture of a chicken liver. I was told by the chef that they seared and then roasted it. The other dishes, including a squab were perfectly well prepared but not particularly interesting. In view of the prices they charge I don't think we'll bother if and when we go back to London.

I use a Kitchen Aid coffee grinder and have had no problem in the 2-3 years I have had it. These things will burn out if you use them continuously over a long period. If you do "heavy grinding" and also use a blender often enough to make it worth your while you might want to invest in the 2 1/2 horsepower Vita-Mix and get the optional dry container. It's quite costly but a wonderful machine.

Your amarone will be just ready to drink although you could easily keep it for another ten years. Do decant it about an hour before dinner. Why not a bistecca a la fiorentina? Actually any game or a magret would be a perfect match

I have not yet tried this method myself: Some chefs now are treating octopus as we do squid - three minutes in boiling water and then thinly sliced tako style. I think that is the way it is sometimes prepared at l'Impero in New York. The resulting texture is unusual, almost crisp, but not rubbery. I asked the waiter if it had been cooked at all and he told me it had "seen a little heat". Sam Choy also cooks it in the same way.

I have never broiled a chicken breast. I do grill them, always bone-in, but only after brining and allowing the skin to dry. In fact I would never cook a chicken breast by any method (except sous-vide) without first brining it.

I was about to ask the same question. The author/restaurateur Binh Duong has, or had, two restaurants: the Truc Orient Express in Hartford, Connecticut, and La Truc in Boca Raton, Fl. If this is the same Binh Duong you are in luck. I was at a cooking class he gave at De Gustibus in '91 when the book was published. He is an excellent chef. My copy of his book is falling to pieces now but it is the most authentic Vietnamese cook book I know.