pufin3

Your pan doesn't look very 'seasoned'. Anything you put in a cast iron pan that contains ANY form of acid is going to remove the carbon 'seasoning'. Like tomatoes, vinegar etc.

I bought the book when it first came out. Followed some of h recipes to the letter. The rabbit dish was terrible IMO. The 'BB' was WAY too complicated IMO. ATK has a far superior recipe for making 'frites'. Tony's fiction books are really good reads. 'Bobby Gold', Bone In The Throat' etc. All worth the time.

A Heston Blumenthal states most of the flavor of a potato is in the skin. Taste tests have shown this to be so. If you put some potato skins in the milk to be heated and added to the mashed potato you will taste more 'potato' in the final dish. Obviously the skins are removed from the hot milk before the hot milk is added to the potatoes. LOL I wash four large russets well and pat dry. I rub duck fat on them. Poke a couple of tiny holes in the skin. Into the oven at about 375 F until they are VERY soft inside. Using an oven mitt to hold them I slice them in half. Scoop out the flesh into a bowl. Add about twelve roasted mashed garlic cloves. Tiny pinch of fresh nutmeg. Mash thoroughly and add just enough whole milk to obtain a smooth puree. Season to taste. Spoon the puree into the potato skin halves. Sprinkle with very fine chopped pinch of fresh flat leaf parsley. Pro tip: When you scoop out the flesh you don't need to scoop out so much it makes the skin too thin. Leave about 1/16th-1/8 inch of the flesh on the skin.

Franci your pasta looks excellent! Would you mind putting up the recipe/measurements. I have dozen of hand made egg noodle pasta recipes. Some I've tried are pretty 'out there'. LOL

I'm guessing ramen noodles have been made "by hand" for quite a while LOL I think you could quickly 'pulse' your blender to get the ingredients to essentially come together. After they do you'd probably want to finish kneading by hand. I get a bunch little pieces about the size of small dried lentils. They don't look like they will form a ball by some hand kneading but they do. Try the recipe sometime when you are in the mood. I'd like to read your feedback.

No I haven't had any store bought fresh ramen noodles. Never seen them in the stores where I live nearby. I'm sure they are tastier than the .25 cent packages available.

This is the one I've had for a few years:

Originally ramen noodles were made using the water from a lake that had a high soda content. I make my own ramen noodles. They are night and day better than the little packaged ones. Here's recipe that results in excellent ramen noodles: Into 100 ml warm water add 1 1/2 t ‘baked soda’. (Google how to make 'baked soda'. I make enough to last me six months. I keep it in an airtight container.) Stir to dissolve. Into food processor add 2 C All Purpose flour. Set speed to low. Slowly pour in the soda water. In a minute the flour/water will form into small balls. Remove from processor and knead into a large ball. You don’t need to rest the dough like the Italian pasta. Form the dough into golf balls. Press into discs and like with the Italian pasta make thin sheets then run them through the ‘spaghetti’ cutters. I lightly dredge the noodles with All Purpose flour. As with the Italian pasta I put the noodles into lots of lightly salted boiling water. The noodles only take a minute to cook, if that. Some people advise rinsing the ramen noodles in cold water then adding to the hot soup. I don’t bother if I’m using them right away. If I’m putting some in the fridge for later I do give the noodles a cold water rinse and then drain.

ATK did a segment a few years ago based on this method: Large pot halfway filled with 'neutral' tasting high heat room temp. oil. Put in McDonald size raw room temp potatoes. NO lid! Bring to boil. Turn down heat to keep hard boil but not boil oil over. Fries turn golden brown as the last water evaporates from the fries. Crisp golden.

I make chicken stock about four times a year. Full disclosure: Around here I can pick up any number of old roosters which people list on sites like Kijiji for free. They are live. Some are old 'pets' which have outlived their welcome. So I'll pick up four old roosters. Take them to a friend who has a machine which removes all the feathers. Cleaned well washed chilled 'parted'. Parts Into a large commercial size stock pot. Covered with cold water. About five pounds of fresh pork bones. A large handful of leeks. No onions. No other veg. No salt. Bring just to a boil. Low simmer for a couple of hours only. Remove all pork bones and chicken parts and leeks and discard. Back to a very low simmer to reduce by at least half. This can take at least a day. Make a 'raft'. Cool and carefully ladle out the clear stock. Into fridge over night. Remove any fat on the surface. Into Ziploc bags. This 'mother stock' is then used every which way. Herbs/seasonings added as needed.

We had a deliciou green salad in Diez once. The chef gave men the recipe for the salad dressing in return for me sending him a cowboy hat later. He stressed the to oil/acid ratio was most important: 3 T walnut oil 1 T rice wine vinegar 1/2 t honey 1/4 t fine mustard 1/2 T fine chopped watercress Pinch of flaked salt He did not shake the dressing to emulsify it. A light stir to dissolve the honey. He said the salad dressing ingredients should be able to be tasted separately. When watercress isn't in season I have used other fine chopped light tasting herbs.

Thanks for the replies. I put 6 C AP flour in a large glass lasagna dish and put it in the oven set at 200 F for an hour. The flour did not 'brown'. It turned very slightly a light golden color. Barely different from the flour color in the bag. Today I'm dextrinizing 6 C 'bread flour' and will make Italian spaghetti tonight. I'll let you know how it turns out.

I've recently started making fresh pasta/ramen noodles using a pasta machine. Lots of recipes out there. I always use 'dextrinized' AP flour to make rouxs. The result is a very smooth silky sauce/gravy. I just made spaghetti using Thomas Keller's recipe using dextrinized AP flour. The result was excellent. Has anyone experimented using various flours which you have dextrinized first? Like 'bread flour' for instance? Or Durum Semolina?

A few years ago I was watching an episode of ATK. The host said: "There's a saying you can't teach an old dog new tricks. Well that theory is disproven today. We have always used the deep fry then remove and drain then increase the oil temp then deep fry the potatoes a second time. We have discovered a 'new trick' which makes fries even better". Here's the method, which I have since used dozens of times with excellent results: Large heavy pot with room temperature deep frying oil of your choice obviously only about half full. Yukon Gold or other waxy potatoes cut into your basic McDonalds size pieces. As you cut up the potatoes just drop them into the room temp. oil. Obviously you don't overfill the pot. Put the pot on the stove top. Turn on heat to high. When the oil comes to a rolling boil turn down the heat a little to maintain the boil but not to risk the oil from spilling over. As long as the oil is bubbling away that means the water in/on the potatoes is getting removed. After about ten minutes you will see the oil stop boiling at the same time as the fries are turning a nice golden brown. Don't let them get too dark. Remove with a 'spider'. Into a bowl with paper towels in the bottom. Add whatever vinegar/seasoning you like. Shake the fries. Eat delicious crispy fries. Made some last night. I use refined coconut oil. After it's cooled I refrigerate it. It can be used many times as long as I only use it for fries.

Ghee/clarified butter has no milk solids. It's the milk solids that cause the scorching. Think putting some cheese into a screaming hot pan with a steak in it.

Thanks for your advice. I cook steak somewhat similar to your method. Heston Blumenthal has a good Youtube video on how he cooks steak. I follow his advice on turning the steak frequently to cook the steak evenly. One thing I think is good to point out is by using clarified butter you aren't adding the milk solids into the steak flavor profile and it's the milk solids which are in fact scorching. Clarified butter has a much higher heat range than table butter.

When I lived in France I enjoyed the sauce you describe. IMO as already posted the sauce was likely a bechamel. The subtle cheesy flavor was very likely the cultured butter very commonly used, especially in N. France. Adding any cheese is going to make the sauce too cheesy tasting. A common fault, IMO, and the opinion of millions of N. Mediterranean pasta lovers, with many N. American pasta recipes is adding a sauce which obliterates the flavor of the pasta. The whole point is to enjoy the flavor of the pasta. The pasta flavor is supposed to be the 'star'. The sauce is supposed to be just a very subtle flavor enhancer.

I make my pasta from scratch using half AP flour and half Durum Semolina and farm eggs and extra yolks. Food processor mixing method works great! Anyone wants the recipe ask here.

I've done both. I make sure the chive blossoms are really dry then into ziplocks then into the freezer.

I have found a method for hard cooking very fresh farm eggs that has worked perfectly every time. I imagine the method would work for store bought eggs too. I usually cook about six eggs at a time. Heavy pot. Gently put in the eggs. Add enough cold tap water to cover the eggs by about an inch. Bring the water to the boil slowly so the interior of the eggs can cook at the same rate as the whites. Gently boil the eggs for about four minutes. Drain the hot water. Run cold tap water to fill the pot. This next bit is very important IMO. Put one of those frozen freezer packs in the pot or a couple of trays of ice cubes. Let the eggs completely cool for at least half an hour. Peel the eggs. Works everytime.

Same with chive blossoms. We 'deadhead the chive blossoms and dry them by the hundreds. Then into freezer Ziplocks. Enough to last until time year's crop. Absolutely wonderful in any fresh salad or savory dish calling for chives/shallots/onions. Fine chop them.

I commercial fished for Spring salmon/halibut/cod/rock cod/prawns/Dungeness crab off BC's West coast for about 25 years. I owned the boat and I did all the cooking because I wanted to eat well made food. Here's a favorite for cooking cod: For two hungry people: Warm 2 cups of whole milk in a pot. Don't boil it. Into a large fry pan over low-medium heat add 2T butter>1/2 fine sliced fresh fennel bulb> fine chop 2T fennel fronds> the gloves of 1 garlic bulb crushed and rough chopped>1t BTB lobster flavor base>1 peeled fine chopped shallot. Add a couple of T of water. Cover and slow saute until the fennel/garlic/shallots are soft. Sprinkle on 1T all purpose flour. The floor and butter combine to make a roux which prevents the milk from splitting. Stir the flour in and let it cook for a couple of minutes. Now add the warm milf and stir to combine. At this point you can add any fresh seafood you want to. Just don't overcook it. For cod I cut 2-3 C of fresh fillets into about 3" pieces. Lay them into the milk. Turn the heat to low and cover. Cooking the cod to perfection will only take a couple of minutes. I serve the cod with creamy mashed potatoes and some blanched veg. On each plate I put a few 1/4" slices of fresh lemon which I cut in half like half-moon shapes. It easy to use your fork to mash the lemon pieces so add to the cod. I like to cut a small piece of the lemon and eat it too.

My two cents: We only ever have fresh farm eggs to deal with. I remove them from the fridge a couple of hours before putting them in room temp. water in the pot. I slowly bring them to just a boil. This takes about ten minutes. Eggs have protein strands which basically contract and turn to rubber bands when heated to over 212F. By slowly just bringing to the boil the entire egg is cooked through gradually. Room temp. eggs are going to cook through more evenly. When eggs are allowed to boil for minutes the egg white cooks first and turns rubbery and the yolk is eventually cooked through. Rubber egg whites. Just cooked yolks. Another consideration is as the egg heats up it expands against the shell. This is something sometimes not considered. After the water just comes to the boil I pour off the hot water, put a lid on the pot and let the eggs slowly come back to room temperature. This method takes time but not a lot of messing about. Then these very fresh eggs peel perfectly every time. I was taught this method when I lived in rural France by an old granny. She had all sorts of chicken breeds and ages running around the yard. She did select eggs to be soft-boiled according to breed and age of the hen.

All the idea's offered look delicious. I've collected morels etc etc for decades. Here's my offering: Wash well using a fine brush to get into the crevasses Pat dry. Into a very low saute pan. NO butter NO oil. NO nothing. Allow the mushrooms to give up any moisture in them. When they seem as dry as they'll get THEN add some clarified butter to the pan and gently saute them until cooked. The mushrooms will absorb the butter like sponges. If you saute any fresh mushroom that hasn't been allowed to give up all its moisture and just add butter and saute the moisture stays in the mushroom and the butter stays outside of the mushroom and the result is a mushy slimy mess. Here's the tip for eating any fresh mushroom. Grate on a pinch of nutmeg and a pinch of fresh lemon zest. Season Eat. .

I know I may be generalizing but in fifty years cooking professionally and in my own kitchen I think I have only smelt 'garlic breath' on a few people I knew well enough to breath around them. In each case I felt that the person's body chemistry was causing the 'garlic breath. We eat a LOT of garlic each week. It's always sauteed or steamed or roasted. We don't eat it raw. We have never noticed any 'garlic breath.