huiray

BTW, have you seen this old thread? http://forums.egullet.org/topic/20297-pork-belly/

Steak & Eggs w/ some sort of fried potato has always been a meal that I have no difficulty eating for breakfast. :-)

If you are not interested in the skin and fat: Pork belly - $3.90 a lb Pork shoulder - $0.89 a lb. dcarch :-) Oh but I AM interested in the fat and skin - I like crispy skin too but I also do pork belly in other ways that do not REQUIRE that the skin be crispy but is meltingly soft and gelatinous instead, or soft & tender, and LIKE it in those ways - as do many other folks, I dare say. :-) Pork shoulder at 89¢/lb? That's cheap. Still, pork belly is the most favored cut of pork for Chinese folks; with pork shoulder amongst the less favored parts (often not enough fat, amongst other things) and can be a hard sell in some markets. But surely you are quoting NYC prices?

Lunch today: • Spaghetti [Garofalo] tossed in the pan w/ a sauce of sautéed garlic, shallots, chopped spicy capocolla/capicola [Goose the Market], sliced mushrooms, chopped trimmed broccoli rabe, salt, dried thyme, powdered dried sage. • Chicken broth: from chicken frames ("grass-fed"), chopped up and cut along (through) the backbone (cleaver) plus chicken quarters (chopped up), carrots, celery, salt. Really intense chickeny flavor & smell. • Bête noir, raspberry chocolate truffle [Rene's Bakery].

Well done! Looks nice. Perhaps you might give some thought to going for a pork belly dish that does not fixate on the crispy skin next time?

Late dinner last night: • Scottish salmon fillet marinated w/ ryori-shu, sweet mirin, fresh lime juice, sea salt, sliced ginger, ground black pepper, olive oil. Steamed in the marinade w/ shimeji mushrooms and trimmed scallions. • Cabbage soup. With smashed garlic & chicken stock. • White rice (Basmati).

Breakfast today: • Leftover salt-n-pepper picanha, sliced up. • Leftover sautéed Chinese garlic chives, sliced bottled whole mushrooms, sliced shallots; tossed w/ linguine [De Cecco].

"Only"? I don't think that is really so; even if there may be something like disliking the personality or whatnot of the cheftestant at play. There are other factors at work and there is also the bias for Western/French-derived cuisine built into the issue/show/general audience. Certainly on my part I've objected before to the "cooking only Asian" meme from cheftestants (and commentators) thrown at particular cheftestants. You left out "European" - why aren't cheftestants accused of cooking "only European" food? I presume you are including commentary from the cheftestants as well in your post? We've talked about this general area before, I think. Accusations of "cooking only Asian" (whatever one means by "Asian") has tended to arise from the cheftestants themselves (let alone commentators like us) directed at another cheftestant more than any other accusations of culinary "narrowness" - think of Angelo Sosa, Beverly Kim, Sheldon Simeon, etc in past seasons, let alone this one. I think Sheldon was well-liked by all the cheftestants - even by Brooke Williamson, who was the one who most frequently accused him of cooking "Asian" - although I can't say if he was universally liked by the viewing audience. Angelo Sosa certainly did not cook "only "Asian"" dishes if one actually looks at the recipes and reviews what he put out yet just the whiff of soy sauce near one of his dishes would provoke another "only Asian" sneer from one cheftestant in particular. Even with French cooking, Kristen Kish, who was well-liked by everybody, was tagged with "cooking French food" and she herself said in one of the LCK episodes that she wanted to cook a Japanese/Chinese-derived dish to get away from the idea that people had that she cooked only French food. Ilan Hall *was* accused of cooking "only Spanish" but in his case it was true that he wasn't liked by the other cheftestants too. Sarah Grueneberg was not well-liked, yet she wasn't accused of cooking "only Italian", but of cooking variation after variation of risotto (including arancini)...until towards the end, by commentators especially, true. I think it ought not to be automatically a "slur" when one calls out the style of one's cuisine - in most cases it ought to be a simple statement of the situation. In this current season, it just is true that Carlos Gaytan cooks Mexican food when he is not otherwise forced to do something else. Certainly "Mexican food" is very broad-ranging and encompasses many regional styles, of course. Nina Compton has not been accused of cooking "only Caribbean" by anyone in this thread, I think - while external recaps (e.g. in the Grubstreet ones I've linked to) state that aspect in a matter-of-course manner as a way to characterize her style. Shirley Chung has not been accused of cooking "only Asian" by anyone, myself included, in this thread - my objections have to do with her harping on doing so and dragging her family into it repeatedly.

Depends on what cuisine. Crispy skin and melting fat plus tender flesh in one piece such as dcarch shows is not the only way to cook pork belly and is certainly not the only "perfect way" to have pork belly. I've given several examples from other cuisines.

She does seem to be a bit of a brown-noser, yes. I'm sure she has also read "The Mind of a Chef" by Colicchio (the book as mentioned by gfweb) and appears to try to appeal to the judges' (and Colicchio's) predilections, certainly in how she keeps harping on how she (supposedly) draws upon her family, her heritage, her this-and-that in making dishes that call out how soulful her food is, blah blah. After all, remember that Colicchio (in)famously accused Hung Huynh of "lacking soul" because he cooked French food rather than the familial-draped Vietnamese food he (Colicchio) thought he (Hung) should be putting out - apparently *because* Hung was Vietnamese in heritage, never mind that he (Hung) chose to train in French cuisine.** **Even though I personally, myself, wished that he had not chosen to do so.

In addition to the already-mentioned ideas - Babi Pongteh Babi Chin Rice congee (sautée the sliced pork belly w/ ginger then proceed) Or a braise of some sort with the aromatics of your choice plus carrots and potatoes and onions - an "Irish Stew" of sorts, if you will, but with pork belly instead. Pity what you got appears to have no skin - Chinese/Cantonese roast pork w/ crackling would have been nice in that case...or Kow Yuk... But OTOH, without the skin, one can slice it thinly and use it in any number of stir-fries with the veggies of one's choice. Try celery. Or sliced ginger and scallions. Or steam it with garlic & (Chinese) fermented black beans. So many permutations. Or, just ignore the lack of skin and roast it in one piece (after rubbing with whatever strikes your fancy) (I myself might choose five-spice powder + salt + pepper, or even just salt & pepper) ETA: Image sets for Kow YuK; Kow Yuk with taro yam slices; and Kow Yuk with Fukien-type preserved mustard greens (梅菜). :-)

I imagine you mean the fish tamal? As I indicated before, I don't think it is that different from a form of otak-otak. Not creative, except maybe within the realms of how tamales are normally made. Outside of "Mexican Food" (which is all he makes) the concept of steamed fish paste wrapped in banana leaf is not new. And steamed fish paste (with various additions) without the banana leaves is a very old dish in the E/SE Asian tradition.

Grubstreet recaps of TC NOLA episodes 14 and 15: http://www.grubstreet.com/2014/01/top-chef-season-11-episode-14-recap.html http://www.grubstreet.com/2014/01/top-chef-season-11-episode-15-recap.html edited to fix links.

Regarding LCK and the preview of the next episode - it is very tempting to infer who the LCK winner is who joins the 'final three', based on the posture (arms akimbo in a certain way), the general proportion of hands/arms/body, skin tone of the left arm, appearance of the fingers, shown in what can be discerned in that preview as those ladies moved the palm leaves aside. (No actual head shot shown, of course). I found a photo of whom I suspect to be the LCK winner in another article about this person in which this posture etc appears to be almost identical...I shall see if I was mistaken next week.

I am content with Nick getting through to the last three. Carlos Gaytan talked about his seafood (no masa) tamales being "risky" because they had probably never been seen (in [something], I could not make it out) and thought they were an innovation. Ditto the judges, who considered this non-masa steamed seafood tamal to be an innovation, something remarkable. I suppose all of them had never heard of or tasted something called otak-otak, wich has been around for a while. The Nyonyas would be surprised about it too.

Hmm. It is commonplace to use broccoli stems (peeled or unpeeled depending on the toughness of the skin), usually sliced up, in soups, stir-fries, etc in Chinese/E Asian/SE Asian cuisine. Certainly "at home" but also in restaurants. Been done for years and years. Similar situation/corresponding situation to the cases with celtuce and Taiwan A-choy stems, which are grown FOR the stems. Been done for a long while. In all cases if there is "woodiness" one simply slices off the skin down to the succulent core then slice that core up accordingly. I also can't cite any specific example but I suspect there must be at least one TV chef in the E/SE Asian sphere who has shown use of these items in dishes. Maybe even predating Pepin...? (Just speculating) In a similar manner, what I do with broccoli rabe (if I have the time and am in the mood to spend the effort) is to strip the skin off the stems while trimming every branch (except for the really skinny/thin ones which are just not worth the effort and are tossed) and keeping the (tender) core of these branches to incorporate in whatever dish I am cooking. ETA: Here's one post where I described stir-fried Taiwan A-choy stems... http://forums.egullet.org/topic/143989-lunch-whatd-ya-have-2012/?view=findpost&p=1933370 (scroll down a bit)

Breakfast today: Three soft-boiled eggs w/ light soy sauce & ground white pepper. I drank this in a few slurps. Oh, plus a Bowl Noodle Soup Spicy Kimchi Flavor [Nong Shim]. :-)

Heh. Thanks for the compliment, Paul Bacino. For lunch today I converted the remainder of the "Tachiyama Chankonabe" into something perhaps somewhere between a Chankonabe Miso-Aji and a Yosenabe. :-) Call it "Today's Nabe". :-D (I changed the taste profile somewhat by adding in mutenka shiro miso [Maruman], "naturally brewed soy sauce with Hokkaido kelp flavor" [Wei Chuan], sake (I used ryori-shu); then nira (Chinese garlic chives), more daikon, sliced gobō (Burdock root), Napa cabbage, shaved ribeye; and fried tofu pockets stuffed w/ {minced beef chuck mixed w/ sesame oil, chopped scallions, ground black pepper, bit of salt, minced garlic}) Eaten w/ pickled scallions & Japanese cucumbers + toasted sesame seeds.

Early breakfast: A second round/leftovers of that riff on Tachiyama Chankonabe I described here.

Couple of lunches. --------------------------- • Sapporo Ichiban Chicken Flavor Ramen, with standard celery, leafy celery, Chinese roast pork, eggs poached in situ. • Pickled scallions & Japanese cucumbers. --------------------------- A riff on Tachiyama Chankonabe. Napa cabbage, Shimeji mushrooms, Shiitake (Far Koo variety) mushrooms, Negi (Japanese scallion), deep-fried tofu puffs (instead of Japanese aburaage), Daikon (cut into sticks), Burdock root (gobō; 牛蒡) (sliced), carrots (sliced), Chrysanthemum leaves (tong ho), chicken thigh meat, shaved beef ribeye, yaki dofu (firm tofu block pressed further to 2/3 of original height, drained, pan-fried in peanut oil, then sliced). Stock was from chicken bones and pork bones (parboiled first, then washed under a running tap) in fresh cold water with extra chopped chicken legs (with meat) tossed in, salted very lightly, simmered 4-5 hours, skimmed further as needed; left overnight, re-simmered. Most of the oil skimmed off. Nice gelatin-heavy light brown stock. Decanted off, reheated, a couple cloves of smashed garlic added, seasoned with Kikkoman soy sauce & sweet mirin to taste; then the assembled ingredients added in except for the yaki dofu which was eaten on the side.

Your response is duly noted. I like Frank Bruni. I find both his food writing/reviews and his politics to be agreeable in general.

May I ask why?

I think it might clarify matters for other readers (and in terms of what I and gfweb has posted) if it was explained here that Georges Perrier was the proprieter/chef of Le Bec Fin in Philadelphia, held to be the premier French cuisine place there and one of the best in the country, and where Nick Elmi worked as EC in the late 2000's to 2012 before the sale by Perrier to Fanucci (a former GM of LBF, who left LBF in 2003? and decamped to Florida then The French Laundry; who then brought a FL sous-chef (Abrams, who got sacked after 7? months) to LBF when he took it over) (So Fanucci and Elmi did not overlap in the LBF time-line)

Crap. You're right. I must have been projecting my wishes onto the computer screen lol. Well, yuck. I don't want to see Nick again. But, I guess I will. ;-) :-) I tend to agree. He's not evil. High-strung, definitely. He does have a sense of superiority, yes, but his past experience** does also give him some basis for that although he would be better advised to tone it down. What's that they say about youth and brashness, though. ** For example, EC of Le Bec Fin (before Fanucci bought it, and it closed down not so long after that) and protege of Georges Perrier, who has also championed him.

JoNorvelleWalker, I am guessing that you mean black turtle beans (black variety of Phaseolus vulgaris) and not Chinese "black beans" a.k.a. dau si (豆豉) nor Indian black gram (Vigna mungo)?