donk79
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Everything posted by donk79
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Beautiful! Do you have plans for how they will be served?
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My adventures with pastries (and sometimes savoury stuff)
donk79 replied to a topic in Pastry & Baking
I'm no pound cake expert, but I would certainly expect the added fat of sour cream to weigh into the butter portion of the ratio. -
I echo what @Dr. Teeth says except 95% of my coffee is made pourover. Also, I rarely have it last more than 6 weeks post-roast.
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She talked about a two-table in New York. She also talked a fair bit about the Washington Post article from three years ago. So yeah, talking it up a bit to those who have already decided to come. But on reflection further, I do expect to visit again in the future. Probably not soon (I am in NOVA maybe 6 times a year), but some time in the next year or two. Certainly if I am in the area looking for lunch!
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I wish I had read the article closer before visiting. Keenan, whose picture is in the article, was indeed the host, and I suspect this may still primarily be a one person operation. Amazing!
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I made it out to Yanzi Noodle for lunch today. It was a bit more than a hole-in-the-wall, but only a bit. The hostess was quite excited by the food she was serving, and repeatedly claimed that they were one of only two lousifen restaraunts in the United States. She talked plenty about the "special broth" but played down the snail side of things. The only mention I heard was when another customer asked. She advised getting the milder version of the dish, as it was "tastier." I took her advice, and found no need to resort to the jars of spicy sauce (hot oil?) on the table. I heeded Lizhou's admonition and did not seek snails in my bowl. I did give in to the temptation to have shrimp added. Honestly, though, the shrimp did not add much to the dish. They definitely were an "add on." The broth was nicely savory, with an opening hit of what I believe was star anise, followed by pepper heat. The lettuce was a bit unexpected (it will be hard to persuade me that it was cabbage, and not Romaine!) but was very enjoyable. The peanuts were quite enjoyable also, along with what I suspect was wood ear mushroom (the dark noodley looking bits on the right side fo the bowl. I have a harder time identifying the almost crunchy looking pieces at the top of the bowl, but I wonder if they might have been fried tofu skin. By the time I ate them, there was no crunch present. One of my favorite parts of the dish was the fermented bamboo. Almost pickle-like, it was a nice contrast to the rich heat of the rest of the dish. I had a couple of bites, and expected to find more, but unfortunately did not. The waitress/hostess talked up the "special vinegar" in the pot on the table, and I found that also provided some nice contrast after sprinkling a bit on top of the broth. I wonder if the "special vinegar" might have been the liquid from the fermented bamboo. It had lots of unidentifiable white bits floating around the bottom of the pot. I probably won't drive 30 minutes to have this again, but if it were 10 minutes away, I would probably become a regular. It was a nice meal, served by people enthusiastic about the food they were offering. If you happen to be in Northern Virginia, I would certainly recommend stopping in to give it a try!
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From James Hoffmann's World Atlas of Coffee "Coffee production stayed relatively small until around 2009, when a significant jump occurred. This was probably due to a combination of lower tea prices and a brief spike in the global price of coffee. The coffee industry continues to grow in Yunnan, buoyed in particular by a growing market throughout China. Per capita consumption of coffee in China is still incredibly low, but its enormous population means the Chinese market has the potential to have an enormous impact on the supply and demand of coffee production worldwide. "Right now China is beginning to get a taste for its own coffee; the best Chinese coffee I have tasted was only available in China."
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Starting a high profile new restaurant (after closing another)
donk79 replied to a topic in Restaurant Life
@gfron1 I am hard-pressed to find many others living with the integrity and conviction that you do. Thank you for your example. -
I'm very curious to hear your thoughts, Liuzhou. I will be within striking distance this weekend, and am tempted to give this place a try!
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Starting a high profile new restaurant (after closing another)
donk79 replied to a topic in Restaurant Life
@gfron1, It's been a few days, but I am curious how this landed. Are there any updates/stories/reflections that you can share about the menu.pdf above? Really enjoyed the "Taste of History" episode, btw! -
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Jumping to pourover and light roasts at the same time is a pretty big leap. I was using an aereopress when my tastes shifted to lighter roasts. Then I personally found that pourover brought out more of the flavors I preferred in the light roasts (mainly fruity sweeter flavors). That said, my first pourover device was a Kalita wave. I find it to be more forgiving than the V60, and produces a cup with rounder more dark chocolate flavors than the sharper flavors from a Chemex or V60. I still go back to it occasionally when I have a coffee where I just can't get the V60 to make a cup I like.
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Thank you for sharing, weinoo. Another reminder that it is the people who make this space, and how precious they can be to us. So glad for your friendship, and sorry for your loss.
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My recipe (using a hario v60) 15 grams of coffee, ground medium/fine Water at 100C, or close Enough water to wet the grounds (20 to 30 grams) Wait 1 minute Over the course of 1 minute, add 250 grams of water. Let drip/brew for 90 to 100 seconds. Remove the brewer and allow to drain into another cup. This latter portion often has flavors I don't prefer.
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To be clear, the crabcakes I am thinking about would never make it onto a sandwich. They would never be a to be picked up in a single piece with a fork. They are instead an excuse to eat an obscene amount of blue crab meat, with a perfect light seasoning. They often are made with a full half pound of crab. There's no justification for it and it's absolutely amazing!
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I am no master crab cake chef, but I will say that the best crabcakes around the Chesapeake are almost always broiled, not fried. I think frying requires the introduction of too much binder, and a Delmarva crabcakes generally seeks as little binder as possible.
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I could have sworn that we already had a thread discussing sorghum. I was wrong! But we did cover it a bit in the "Molasses" thread, and those posts are informative and well worth reading.
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It has been a long time since he was active here, but @Mark Sommelier contributed quite a bit in the early days of eGullet, especially to the DC conversations. This does not even begin to get into his contributions to the DC dining scene itself. I never knew or met him, but appreciated his presence here. https://dmwineline.wordpress.com/2023/07/23/remembering-mark-slater-a-dc-wine-icon/
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I've been sorely tempted by the Kruve. If I ever see one at a yard sale, I'll snap it up in a hurry!
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I've never done much that gives input to this conversation, but the Washington Post gave a survey of the topic this past week: https://www.washingtonpost.com/home/2023/08/30/gardening-electroculture-explained/ Paywall gifted link: https://wapo.st/3L4Kikw
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I have an Fellow Ode that produces ample fines. I was hoping it would be better on that front than it is, but it sounds like I am unlikely to be willing to spend for a grinder that will produce fewer fines. I do see the impact in my pourover (30 grams in a 2-cup V-60). But for me the impact is in how long it takes my 500 grams of water to move through the coffee bed. My response has been using a cheap sifter from Amazon. I sift a good portion of the fines off (usually about 2 grams) then proceed with my coffee making, which I still have to pull off the cup at my preferred time to avoid off flavors. I will also note that I prefer rather light roasts. My observations suggest super light roasts produce more fines in my grinder than roasts closer to medium. This is not absolute, but is a strong trend.
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At our farmers market, we have a guy who sells those mushroom bags for $20. The $479 for a humidity controlled box seems laughably high to me. But on the other hand, I have not yet built the box that I have been thinking about for 6 months now. So for some it might be worth it.
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