huiray

Have you taken a look at this older topic? https://forums.egullet.org/topic/144327-rounding-out-my-chicago-itinerary/

I found this episode both somewhat boring yet somewhat confused. Or I was just sleepy (I had to re-watch the DVR recording of it the next day to get a better sense of what went on). In the QF cheftestant Chad White brings up a situation I rarely think of - how to cook with wine or alcohol when you don't drink and can't taste any of the stuff yet still come up with a "perfect pairing" with whatever ingredient in whatever dish. Off the top of my head I don't remember another TC season where there was a non-drinking chef forced to try to make a winning combination with an alcoholic beverage but I'm sure one or two will come up from a bit of digging. Are there many chefs in "normal Western/European" cuisines in the USA (or elsewhere) who are in the same situation? Here's the Eater recap of episode 3: http://www.eater.com/2015/12/11/9890800/top-chef-season-13-california-episode-3-recap Pretty detailed this week and says more than I can! Grubstreet & EW recaps: http://www.grubstreet.com/2015/12/top-chef-season-13-episode-3-recap.html http://www.ew.com/recap/top-chef-season-13-episode-3 Angelina Bastidas does seem not ready for Prime Time yet. Needs editing in her cooking. Frances Tariga-Weshnak being told to PPYKAG was the right choice although Angelina was a close next choice. She too needs editing and development in her cooking. IMO. As for LCK? Glad Garret Fleming won. Frances - seemed a tad sneering and b*tchy.

Maybe they "lost" their usual camera on the road-trip. :-) I can't say I've seen wonderful photos of the dishes on past seasons/episodes before, but yes, these are bad. They've been striking out on the photosets so far this season too in other ways - like leaving out MANY of the dishes on episodes 1 and 2, including at least one winning dish! ETA: And for episode 2 they provided only 6 photos of the dishes, 3 from the losing (vegan) team and 3 from the middling (Korea) team and none from the winning (Persia) team!

Pork spare ribs stewed w/ browned onions, garlic, water, sea salt, some by leaves, small portobello mushrooms, lots more onions (small yellow, red cipollini, yellow cipollini), fresh thyme sprigs. Liquids allowed to simmer down a fair bit. Eaten w/ white rice. Plus chiffonaded Tuscan kale & purple curly kale simmered (cooked down) in beef stock.

Last night – Shrimp, capers (Pantelleria salted capers), tomatoes (halved Cherub tomatoes), garlic, EV olive oil, fresh lime juice, ground black pepper, just-cooked capellini [De Cecco], some of the caper-soaking water + some of the pasta cooking water, toss in pan. Serve. Spinach, Napa cabbage, scallions salad. Dressed w/ Maussane-les-Alpilles olive oil (Fruité Noir), 10-year balsamic vinegar [Vecchia Dispensa], Maldon sea salt, ground black pepper.

Various meals. ------------------------------------- Leftover beef shin, bamboo shoot & daikon braise (see here; scroll down) with handmade Fuzhou-type thin wheat noodles (手工麵線; sau2 gung1 min6 sin3). Plus Chinese-type spinach (菠菜) blanched in oiled simmering water & dressed w/ oyster sauce & white pepper. -------------------------------------------------- Faroe Islands salmon fillet marinated and steamed w/ ryori-shu, hon-mirin, sake, sea salt, white pepper, bunapi-shimeji, ginger, scallions, coriander leaf. Eaten w/ hōrensō (spinach) & hakusai (Napa cabbage) briefly simmered in fresh chicken stock/broth. Plus white rice. --------------------------------------------------------- Chicken rice. Quasi-Hainanese style. Chicken ("Just Bare Chicken" young whole chicken) poached w/ the barely-simmering method this time; scallions in chicken cavity, lots of lightly crushed ginger, sea salt, a bit of ajinomoto in water. Removed when done, lightly rubbed w/ "pure sesame oil" (un-roasted) [Dragonfly] and chilled in the fridge for a short while. Rice – peanut oil, minced ginger, chopped smashed garlic, long-grain rice, the poaching stock w/ the floating chicken fat, pandan leaves (frozen --> thawed, tied into bundles). Cook in the usual way (stovetop). Soup – Green cabbage in some f the poaching stock. Sauce – Medium-hot oil, chopped crushed garlic, sauté; quench w/ a mixture of double-fermented soy sauce [LKK], a bit of dark soy sauce [Yuet Heung Yuen], good Shaohsing wine, enough water, ground white pepper; bring back to a low simmer for a minute or two.

Per Dale Talde, with his new cookbook "AsianAmerican".

Grayson did well in her first appearance on TC (season 9 - Texas). She lasted till episode 13, and won or co-won 2 QFs, 2 ECs, and was in the "top rank" 3 other times. That's not shabby at all. She was (and still is) one of the few with the balls to stand up to Tom Colicchio and his bullying. She doesn't lick Tom's or the judges' arses, which is a plus in my books, even if she puts herself at a disadvantage by doing so since the show is really a game show that should be called "Who Wants To Cook For Tom Colicchio & Friends". ;-) :-) I still remember her dish of the black chicken leg with claws and all for that Evil Queen challenge (episode 11) on TC Texas, and how Eric Ripert advocated for her dish. :-D

I wonder if the Forget-me-not pigment is a functional acid-base indicator, like many of the pigments and dyes in nature. Try adding some lye water (or carbonate solution ("kan sui") to it to make it alkaline - does it change color? (Back towards a blue/purplish tint, maybe) One could try it with some of the others too. Usually acid (adding vinegar, for example) often shifts such pigment extracts/infusions from vegetable material towards the paler side of the spectrum (closed form of the chromophores), when these pigments do have the requisite chemical structures and function as indicators.** Are Clitorea ternata (Bunga telang; 蝶豆) (Butterfly pea) flowers available in your parts? This is the classic source of the beautiful blue color used in Nyonya cakes and in some Malay rice preparations and is also used in other cuisines in SE Asia including Thai, of course. I know even Amazon sells it... ** Beets, dark-color (e.g. purple) carrots, turmeric, etc are examples of "natural" acid-base indicators. Extracts/juices of red cabbage in particular will give a lovely progression of colors as one swings stepwise from acid to basic. See here too.

Recaps from Grub Street: http://www.grubstreet.com/2015/12/top-chef-season-13-episode-1-recap.html http://www.grubstreet.com/2015/12/top-chef-season-13-episode-2-recap.html Recaps from EW: http://www.ew.com/recap/top-chef-season-13-premiere http://www.ew.com/recap/top-chef-season-13-episode-2

That's true, but she also does have valid beefs with the TC judges IMO, especially as she becomes more "firm" in her way of doing things and in her approach 4 years on. She definitely is a carnivore (if not an omnivore), which is quite plain from her comments about animals being placed on this Earth to be eaten, heh – but also from her sticking to what she does. Those meatballs of hers in episode 1 - they were of her style, encompassing various European influences; but was still faulted by the judges for "not showing whom she was". Uh, I though she just did.¶¶ Reminds me of Tom Colicchio blasting Hung Huynh for not cooking Vietnamese food (at least TOM's conception of Vietnamese food§§), because he was of Vietnamese heritage, even though he had been trained in French cuisine and had chosen to do French cuisine. ¶¶ I also dunno about Padma Lakshmi's comment about it being like any pizza parlor's meatballs -- some pizza parlors produce pretty good food including very nice meatballs. Just because it isn't EMP or Per Se doesn't mean a corner low-down diner can't produce wonderful food. §§ See, as another example, Tom's blasting of Travis Masar's shrimp in tomato sauce in TC Season 11 as NOT Vietnamese but was "Italian" --- uhh, Tom, had you ever heard of tôm sốt cà chua? If not you just need to stop pretending you are an expert on "ethnic" food. ETA: Or of his (and José Andres') bashing of Ed Cotton's tea-smoked duck in TC season 7 as garbage, when the Chinese diplomat at that meal had praised it as very good, very authentic.

In NYC, Eleven Madison Park will be next. But not NoMad, yet. http://www.grubstreet.com/2015/12/eleven-madison-park-no-tipping.html http://ny.eater.com/2015/12/1/9816186/eleven-madison-park-no-tipping-nomad Also, like with Danny Meyer's USHG, there will be no tip line on the bill anymore at EMP. (Unlike Per Se which retains the tip line on the bill even though service is already included)

Couple of dinners. ---------------------------------------- Smoked Cajun sausages [Claus'], sautéed cipollini onions & baby portobello mushrooms, blanched baby kai-lan plants, wild rice [Bineshii] cooked separately then tossed in the fond/juices/residues in the pan on heat after doing the sausages and onions/mushrooms. ---------------------------------------- Hiyayakko. Soft tofu chunks, julienned hakusai (leafy parts mainly), katsuobushi, chopped scallions. A sauce made from a mixture of soba shoyu [Assi], hon-mirin [Takara], "Hokkaido kelp-flavored naturally brewed soy sauce" [Wei Chuan] and water, was brought quickly to a brief simmer then poured over the cold tofu and the toppings added. Beef shin stewed w/ bamboo shoots & daikon. Smashed garlic & generous sliced ginger sautéed in medium-hot oil, then beef shin sliced into thick rounds and browned a bit, mutenka shiro miso [Maruman] added, everything tossed around, water added, simmered for a while. Fresh bamboo shoots (see here, scroll down) halved then stripped of bracts & trimmed suitably were simmered** in salted water (strong simmer) for ~30 min. Peeled baby daikon cut into rounds were added into the pot w/ the simmering bamboo shoots (to temper the bitterness of the young daikon) and the mix simmered for a little while more, everything then drained and rinsed, the bamboo shoots sliced up and added in to the simmering beef shin, followed a while later by the reserved daikon. A good shot of hon-mirin went in, seasoning was adjusted and simmering continued till it was judged satisfactory. (2++ hours in all) ETA: Drinking sake also went in with the hon-mirin. ** Fresh bamboo shoots contain cyanogenic glycosides which need to be removed/transformed; the simmering/boiling takes care of that.

Good, the Kardashian-wannabe (a.k.a. Renee, the "super sassy" chef) is gone. After sashaying and smirking through episode 1 and the garden at the vegan restaurant and extolling her oh-s0-healthy lifestyle she produced a pretty underwhelming beet dish. Then she nonchalantly burnt her chicken and managed to cook with lemongrass without imparting any lemongrass flavor to her dish in Last Chance Kitchen. Buh-bye.

jamesglu, I see from poking around a little (I was just curious) that you run a very nice lodge with your partner...and you both spent quite some time in China too! Up-scale food for varied guests with varied backgrounds - so that indicates that "keeping strictly kosher" is not really possible in your place, especially if you prepare standard Chinese dishes too (all that pork, for starters).** But I'm sure you'll manage with these guests you are expecting, especially if - as you explained - you do know the rules of kashrut and suspect the guests are not rigidly kosher. ** Unless you went the way of Strict Halal (and certified) Chinese restaurants in Kuala Lumpur/Malaysia (which many have been abandoning over the years, from the ridiculousness and strain of "keeping halal" in a Cantonese-heavy city), or prepared Muslim-Chinese dishes...

Gail Simmons' blog on episode 1 (episode 1.1?) is good reading. She comments on various issues including the strength of the chefs, the nastiness of the man-bun guy using that dried grass, reiterates that Grayson Schmitz's meatballs weren't bad - just ho-hum, and explains why it was Garret Fleming who got chopped. BTW1, in the slide-show of the dishes in the EC for episode 1, they left out the winning dish (Jeremy Ford's crudo). WTF. BTW2, in the slide-show of extra tools the cheftestants brought, they didn't show the cleaver in Frances Tariga-Weshnak's set that she was clearly and audibly using in breaking down her chickens. WTF2.

I agree with Lisa Shock. A good start. The TC judges seemed to be more measured than before, I noticed, at least in what was broadcast after the show had been edited of course. They also put emphasis in this first episode (again, could simply be editing) on saying that nothing really stunk, although that could also simply be a function of an overall fairly uniformly strong group - as Lisa alluded to. Yes, Grayson got through by the skin of her skinny-chin-chin, but she didn't make a BAD dish - rather, a somewhat confused dish that fell below the others and not of the standard that the judges expected from her. So much for any "advantages" a past competitor may have from competing again. Mind you, from the limited perspective of what I saw as a non-taster and from my armchair I wouldn't have complained about her meatballs. (Still, Amar Santana's meatballs DID look very good!) The chap with the man-bun (Phillip Frankland Lee) appears to be the budding villain - with his blather and "New Californian Cuisine" strutting. The TC judges (Emeril Lagasse and Gail Simmons) also made some side remarks about THAT, heh. (And, later, his claiming to know "all the critics" etc.) And he used the dried grass/hay on the ground just besides his setup to burn and smoke his stuff? He just walked on it, plus whatever else, plus whatever shit may be in it... Personally, I found his dish the least attractive and scattered and much too futzy and precious. And foam. Ick. Of course, I did not get to actually taste it. I, too, blinked a bit at the lady who sunnily introduced herself as that blah-blah exacting chef (the first one in the introductions) just before the 1st Quickfire. Really? Is that how you introduce yourself? Some of the other cheftestants in brief vignettes after that rolled their eyes at that, and rightly so IMO. Regarding Wesley True ("The Pig" (his self-characterization); the slob (per Lisa Shock)) — I have to say even I - who is NOT the neatest person in the kitchen - was taken aback by the mess he created everywhere he banged around, even semi-spilling that other chef's food when he plonked down his pot on the stove. And --- that tomato water he made, gummy label and all included (!!!) – what happened to it? What he presented at the actual event (Shrimp & Clams with Mustard Potato Salad) didn't seem to contain that tomato water, or at least was not described as having it as a component... Glad that Jeremy Ford made it through and was eventually successful. I wondered about the wisdom of preparing a crudo a DAY before it was to be served, but he seemed to have pulled it off quite successfully. His sticking those chicken pieces in the oven during the QF cook-off, though, then expecting Wesley to find them --- that was risky, at the least. But his comments about what Jason Stratton could possibly have in mind when he (Jason) made all those "preparations" seemed to me to be justified.

Nobody has said anything about the kitchen itself or the utensils/pots/pans/dishes used to cook and serve the food? If these folks are strict Orthodox folks observing kashrut rules in full, the OP will have some serious work to do to make his kitchen kosher even before a single food item is brought into his kitchen and cooked. Does he have two kitchens he could use and keep them separate? He should ask these folks how strict they are on this issue too, and how relaxed they can be about keeping kosher. http://www.jewfaq.org/kashrut.htm#Utensils http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/82667/jewish/Koshering-Your-Kitchen.htm http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/82672/jewish/Koshering-Appliances-and-Utensils.htm ETA: Will they be eating anything else besides the fish dishes, over the course of these two days? Anything at all? :-) Would they need the ingredients to be certified kosher and other dishes to be kosher (or at least pareve)? ;-) ETA2: Oh, wait ... cakewalk above did bring up the subject.

Ann_T, you're welcome and thanks too. ----------------------------------------------------- Soup. Pork & beef+tendon balls [Venus] plus yellow & orange carrots simmered in fresh chicken stock/broth. Lots of Chinese-type spinach (washed & trimmed of course) folded in and simmered for less than a minute after they were wilted. Heat shut off, roasted vermicelli [Ahmed Foods] folded in/softened into the soup. Eat.

Well, that was part of my point about what was being served at "Chiang Mai" - that those guys looked like the guys served in 生蝦麵 and looked like what you know as udang galah. Which has a resemblance to langoustines, as I mentioned, and as you seem to agree. :-) That's right. But remember they (and we) in that case are talking about SALTWATER shrimp/prawns. Here one place in Mississippi (USA) that farms the FRESHWATER prawn Macrobrachium rosenbergii, which I was referring to in my previous post. They themselves call the stuff they farm "prawns" (before switching to "shrimps" elsewhere, heh) and clearly they supply food establishments here in the USA. :-) http://www.laurenfarms.com/index.html They farm catfish too, nowadays: https://www.facebook.com/laurenfarms

Try these. http://ep.yimg.com/ay/houserice/set-of-2-chinese-soup-spoons-and-rests-10.gif https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_spoon#/media/File:Soup_Spoon_on_Rest_Hakubai_Japanese_Restaurant.jpg https://carousell-sg.s3.amazonaws.com/media/photos/products/2015/10/17/brand_new_7piece_chinese_chopsticks__soup_spoon_rest_1445049919_3a10f4e2.jpg Or just use a dipping sauce/soy sauce dish. I've shown those with a spoon parked on it in some of my posts here on eG.

Look also at the large and long pair of claws as well as the large head, both much more pronounced than the "standard" type of shrimp/prawns one sees around. Sort of resembles a langoustine, except that the heads on langoustines in relation to the body seem not as unbalanced as with these guys here and the enlarged pair of claws are both shorter than here and more lobster-like than the skinnier (but longer) ones here. Note also I commented it looks like a FRESHWATER prawn, but of course I could be mistaken. The common ones are saltwater guys. I'll take a guess, stick my neck out and murmur that – speculating based on what's generally done nowadays and what's farmed (or, in SE Asia, say, occasionally wild-caught from the rivers there) and available commercially nowadays it may well be Macrobrachium rosenbergii. Some other links: freshwater prawns; (note that they are farmed here in the USA too); FAO document on freshwater prawn farming. Pan, do you remember this from your time in Malaysia? (生蝦麵; "Sang har meen", which uses these large-headed big-clawed freshwater prawns; expensive, because the prawns are not cheap, especially when they are wild-caught from the rivers.) P.s.: If one had a dish looking like this, but with "normal" smaller non-big-headed-shrimp/prawns, it would NOT be called "生蝦麵"), if the restaurant/stall did not want to be labeled as a cheater. As for saltwater shrimps vs prawns, this is also a useful article even though it relates more specifically to Australian waters.

Those are not "shrimp". They look like freshwater prawns. ;-)

The latest batch. Just ginger & sea salt as flavorings this time. I threw in a bunch of chicken feet as well this time, and also dumped the water the first time round after it had come to a bare simmer. These bones/frames were bloodier than normal, and there was a LOT of pink plus detritus & coagulated blood etc in the water. Rinsed the chicken pieces under the tap and started the simmer in a cleaned pot w/ fresh cold water. I haven't done this sorta-"fei sui" treatment for chicken pieces for stock for a while. I still did some skimming as it came to a sustained low simmer.

Reminder: TC California (Season 13) starts tomorrow night Dec 2 at 10 pm EST on Bravo.