AlaMoi

the vermouths I've met had a very strong taste - I'm open to any good ideas - any recommendations on 'the mildest' vermouth brands? no sous vide in the house; no intent to go there. interesting idea tho.... freezing - anyone with experience in this please chime in - I made a rack for the freezer so I can 'mount' 10 ounce plastic cups set up to make 8 fl ounce i.e. one cup stock ice cubes. would be a neat solution for one-cup-winecicles..... I freeze the stock in the cups, then dunk in hot water & extract to plastic bags for storage. the standard bag-in-box is 9 liter; set up like that to mimic the 12 x 750 ml = 9 liter wine "case" volume. I reckon I should start tasting my way thru the PA boxed selections. jeesh I sure hope they're better than the airline bottle-size selection.

there are many recipes / dishes which call for some minor amount of wine. I'm cooking for two; volume wise half a cup, one cup is the usual need. for those in the 'red' category, there's port, maderia, Marsala, etc. these are shelf stable, longish keeping wines. in the middle, the sherries. okay, but frankly a bit taste-overdone for my preference.... then there's the white wine camp. or perhaps more accurately, there isn't an obvious white wine camp... is there a shelf stable long keeping white suitable for cooking? for years I campaigned - suggesting vintners provide a bag-in-box small qty of white/reds that could easily store in the fridge for cooking needs. typically the bag-in-box allows the bag to collapse, not exposing the remaining contents to oxygen/etc, so it would keep-better-longer. longer? on a tear I may do 2-3 dishes with a wine sauce/need per month. DW's medications allow only minimal alcohol/wine, and I'm not a sot, so a (750 ml) bottle less half-a-cup is a lot of wine looking for a consumer at our joint..... being in Pennsylvania and subject to the inane state store selections & policies, only recently have bag-box wines appeared. I previous tried the airline size bottles for whites - ugh! is all I can say....what a waste of good food ingredients..... anyone tried the white small qty bag-in-box for "dry white wine" cooking? does the bag-in-box actually promote keeping it for multiple weeks?

"In Winter Garden there is a restaurant called "The Chefs Table" which is very similar to Victoria & Alberts (someone said the chef used to work at V&A) - but, the price is no where near what you'll spend at V&A." So we meandered on down to The Chef's Table at the Edgewater n Winter Garden - not a real far drive, some traffic - allow extra time in the 5-7 PM timeframe as Orlando area has some Class LA style traffic. There are 16 seats in The Chef's Table option; it is sandwiched between a pub grub / bar front room and something else behind the kitchen. The setting and attention from the supervising staff is what one would expect from the 'chef's table' moniker. DW went with a Mushroom&Chive Crepe Torte (16 ounce double thick bone in) Berkshire grilled pork chop Chocolate Torte dessert I did the Pan seared Foie Gras Pan Roasted Duck Sweet Potato Bread pudding for dessert. The food was very well prepared and far better than you'll find in many many "fine dining" eateries. Priced at $56/person for the three courses, it is an exceptional value. There were two service breakdowns. Cocktails were not offered, and by the time I got someone's attention to that, the timing was thrown off and we wound up with cocktails, wine and appetizer on the table enmasse. We requested a second roll/bread and had to follow-up on that as well. The food was obviously prepared with skill and exquisitely presented. My comments are based on my own tastes and preferences and should not be negatively construed with the exception of the Brussels sprout issue. Fois gras - expertly done, but just two small, very thin slices. Barely enough to taste. Prepared with a maple syrup reduction which I found a tad too sweet, but still veddy tasty. The Crepe Torte sauce used something of the Brussels sprout (prepared for other dishes on the menu) that simply did not mesh taste wise. DW could not continue with the sauce - I found the taste not good as well - and we are both Brussel sprout eaters.....go figger. The pork - I'd tell you something about it, but DW ate the whole 16 ounces. I got to gnaw a little meat off the bone. I'm gonna' say it was really good.....Berkshire pork usually is extra tasty. The duck was very nicely prepared. It was quite good but not a "duck spectacular." It certainly did not disappoint. The Sweet Potato Bread Pudding definitely made the spectacular taste and creativity class. Highly recommended. The Chocolate Torte was extremely dense and heavy; DW couldn't finish it, took it home, couldn't finish it the next day either. We did the cheese plate. I like to do these hoping to discover something new and yummy. It was very nice, but nothing unusual, new or particularly taste catching. We also did the wine pairing. I keep making the vow I'll never do it again, and then I crumble..... Wine is one of those very individual taste things. For two diners, three courses = six opportunities, four were poorly received. Some DW liked, I didn't and the other way too - so that should tell you, it's probably not the Chef's selection but more the patrons' preferences. The good news is the pairing is reasonably priced ($24/person) so the let down is not further compounded by a "lack of value." But I would go back - it's a good find!

cauliflower will take temps down to the mid-20's without damage, however long cold periods will slow it's growth rate. the temp records show 2015 was cooler than usual for highs, and warmer than usual for colds.... http://www.accuweather.com/en/us/salinas-ca/93901/december-weather/327135?monyr=12/1/2015

I'm glad you brought that up - actually altho I've read about it many times/places, I've never used the Coke trick. could be time to give it a go!

I will never again become engaged in a discussion of how sharp a knife should be.....

/quote "They became more and more disgruntled, and we started to experience turnover," he said. "We were spending a lot of time and energy hiring and training, and rehiring and training." He estimated he lost about 70% of his tipped staff -- or 30 people -- during the 10 months the policy was in place. .... When tips were allowed, servers at the two restaurants made around $35-$45 an hour, which fell to $20-$35 when gratuity was eliminated. /unquote does sort of explain why the tipped staff population hasn't taken to the streets demanding $15/hour.

thanks all - collecting collecting . . . . I like the W-sauce idea - that's always a good flavor for beef. I use beer in pot roasts; I could be beered out I suppose.

I've been perusing beef braising recipes - short ribs and shanks (I found a butcher than reliably has boo-ootiful shanks.....woohoo!) carrot + onion + celery + wine is pretty much "standard" then it divides into the "tomato sauce" group and the rosemary+thyme group. seems most everyone uses a bay leaf and garlic. parsley and oregano are infrequently used. frankly, it looks like all the famous cooks simply copied somebody's recipe of rosemary&thyme. seriously.... except for the guy who said his dad made the best ever - that was salt&pepper in water...... five spice - what is it? not got that.... methinks I'm gonna launch my own madness for a braising liquid. and I'm gonna start with dried morels reconstituted in chicken stock. more to follow, presuming I don't poison me to death....

"Descriptions like "effortless" don't help much, because one person's effortless is another person's dull. " I quite disagree. for exactly the reason you give: a 850 pound Superman has a different definition of "effort" than the 98 pound weakling. so, if the thing cuts effortless for you, it's sharp enough.

fruitcakes can be moister or dryer - adding to that,,, they have more or less "stuff" scattered through the dough. a moist fruitcake with lots of chunky stuff is less good at thin slices. a drier cake - lots of flour in the recipe - with minimal fruits/nuts is apt to slice thin without breaking. leavening is another thing - baking soda makes for denser than baking powder; or a combo of both. I have a recipe that produces a 6 pound (96 ounce) fruitcake; uses 1.5 cups ~ 7.5 ounces of flour - and a cup of booze. it's moist; you kinda' hafta' bake the recipe and see if you like it - "predicting" can be tricky because fruitcakes also use butter and eggs and sugar and and and ... which all affect it's texture.

so I did some short ribs. beef, bone in was all I could get. I pulled off off the bone prior to service. curious how much the meat shrunk - they started out end to end with the bone, about one pound each. turned out pretty good - the usual procedure: dredge & brown, remove brown onion + carrot + celery + smashed garlic add a cup of dry Marsala & reduce return to pan, add chicken stock for braise level; tbsp tomato paste but the seasonings were not to my liking. bay leaf rosemary thyme S&P rosemary is not our favorite, so I used half the called for one teaspoon. thickened the braise liquid with a dark roux. anyone have a killer seasoning combo?

if you're paying that kind of money, the restaurant should afford themselves multiple large cats - with stripes and large fangs - to keep the mouse staff in order. it may fly at the corner diner - it's completely unacceptable at the Per Se level.

how sharp? here's my / an age old old ancient approach: hold the knife perpendicular to a fingernail, scrape the nail. if the edge does not scrape off some fingernail, tain't sharp enough. there are knife nuts that spend hours and hours putting a finer than razor edge on a knife. I don't know why, unless it's just to prove they can. rotuts hit it square on the head: ". . . when a knife 'effortlessly' does it's job. "

I don't care for the poly boards. they "catch" my edge too much. now.... catching a edge on skis with the resultant face plant is one thing. face planting with a knife is much more serious, usually involves more blood.

I am not a snobby eater. either the food is superb, good, passable or not good. and, that has zip comma zilch to do with "price" - a rotten tasting $185 chunk of fillet of yuk does not taste better than an $18 rotten tasting chunk at the local "steak house" wines - I have a simple approach: I like it or I don't like it. and I'll never like it more or less because of its fruity nose or its horsepucky finish.... "what are the odds he was even there for those evenings ? " seriously? one can only expect the advertised if the BigWheel is in the House? "Can you support those opinions in a way more substantial . . ." my wallet used to be able to do that, after our visit my wallet could only support a "WTF? comma over" I don't read or follow food critics - any of them. a place has a reputation, I will try it. but not that one again.

hhmmmm, that might impact the wireless 'thingie'. interesting tidbit - thanks!

I actually can't make any sense of this, if you were intending to address my post. I have a 15 x22 inch edge grain maple. it's quite fine, thank you. I have found through personal experience doing my own sharpening that 15' on my chefs knives wears down in about 2 months; long on the less used 10", faster on the 8" and 6" at 21' they keep an edge that is easily maintained with that OMG grooved steel for 6-9 months. your mileage may vary. and there is nothing wrong with an EdgePro. I sharpened free hand for years - and the EdgePro allows me to maintain a seriously more consistent angle - which I find a significant advantage. I do not spent three days getting into my Zen before picking up the knife,,,,

lemme suggest a different tactic: just forget the whole idea. it was a dumper last fall.

with the EdgePro on a batch of Wuesthof I use 15' for slicers and santuko - but I've found it too acute for the chef knifes. the chefs get a lot more brute work - the 15' does not hold for long, and then the second bummer, the edge fatigues quicker on steeling and I get small chip outs....

what dcarch said. "heat" is not just "heat" - and cooking is not just applying thermal energy until some part reaches the temp you want. heating proteins to too high a temperature is generally not a good approach in terms of tender and juicy. cooking at high heats will result in the outer parts of the object being raised to higher temperatures than the "middle" - it's actually is just science / physics if you don't like beef cooked to 200'F, and you're roasting at 375'F, the outside is very likely going to reach 200'F before the inside gets to 130'F - there's baskets an baskets of 'other considerations' such as size, surface area to mass ratio, object starting temp, fat caps, skin on/skin off, etc etc etc that basically make 'one line the perfect way to cook' theories completely off the scale of reality.

go for the refund and hope you get it. there are no "recent" regulatory changes. in the US, few retailers will touch anything that has not been approved / has the UL seal (Underwriters Lab) - Canada may have it's own "UL" kind of safety requirements, but they are not new. nor is the Canadian theory of "North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA)" - what that means to Canadian authorities is: Canadians can ship anything to the USA duty free, but anything shipped into Canada from the US gets hit with huge import tariffs. it is not a two way street. we stopped shipping to Canada because Fedex didn't collect the duties, and when the shipee didn't pay up, Fedex eventually billed us for duties, broker fees, fees fees, more fees fees, other fees fees, fees for charging a fee.... and there isd _NO_ Canadian manufacture/supplier of our type products - there is _NO_ domestic _ANYTHING_ to "protect." perhaps if you wrote your representative and asked what's up with NAFTA things would improve.

it comes from a slight bruising of the area typically from mechanical handling / packaging. the damage is already done, but may not be evident, when you pick it up in the store/vegetable stand. kept long enough, the bruised area(s) go brown. slice it off - proceed to chomp.....

and . . . quite a few "experts" don't recommend dry aging beef that has already been cut into steaks. the cut steaks are generally too thin, dry out too fast. now.... I've done it; for two-three days. but if you're going to dry your own, I suspect you'll have a lot more success with a large cut that you later trim & slice into steaks. I have serious doubts it will "... be able to replicate the awesome steaks you would get at a high end steakhouse."

Jaymes - the biggest issue in the entire discussion is people who have not clue #1 on how waitstaff are compensated. including people who claim to have been waitstaff and don't understand now - and presumed then - how the amount of their compensation was determined. and then the issue that state / local laws differ - in some places the waitstaff must be paid Federal / State / Local minimum wage _plus_ all the tipped amount (not widespread, but working on it....) there are people who are cheese lovers - and if you tell them the moon is made out of green cheese, not only will they believe it "because it's on the internet" but they'll be in the street protesting that the moon is being exploited and should be paid more for its cheese. you can't make this stuff up. it requires inbred smart phone / 140 character tweet mentality to carry it on.....