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mjc

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Everything posted by mjc

  1. I made the gnocchi too and was relatively pleased with the way they came out. They were incredibly light, similar to what I remember at A Voce. The directions say to stir only enough to combine, but then it also says "Work the mixture into a smooth ball". So you do need to do a some kneading. Even so the mass you get, isn't all that smooth. When I was rolling out the "snakes" sometimes the dough would fall apart a little, so I just kneaded them some more. I made a short rib Ragu, with some left over braised short ribs I had, for the gnocchi.
  2. Is there a difference between the Marconi Wireless and The Star Cocktail?
  3. Thanks for the tip Purplechick.
  4. [Moderator's note: this continues the discussion from Sous Vide: Recipes, Techniques & Equipment (Part 4)] As I mentioned above I was planning to make a Wagyu Brisket Sous Vide. I setup the sous vide equipement with an Auber PID and a Waring roasting oven which I got on Sale + Coupon from Bed and Bath. I Drilled Holes in the lid for the temperature probe and the aquarium circulator. I cooked a turkey breast sous vide once before and I think there is a post about it somewhere in this thread. I did that one the stove in a Le Creuset Oven, but since this was an entire 10lb brisket and would cook for 48 hours, I figured I needed a better setup. Here is the brisket cooking. Before adding it to the bags, I divided it into three pieces, seasoned, and seared it. I decided to set the bath to 144F. Seems that people cook the brisket at a wide range of temperatures and times. After reading Under Pressure, I was kind of nervous to cook it at 135, but after re-reading Douglas' guide, I think I would try the next one at that temp. It turned out pretty well. I've never cooked a brisket before. At my first dinner I served the leanest part with a sauce bordelaise, turned glazed carrots, chanterelle mushrooms, and potato gratin. The meat was really tender, and not dry, but not all that moist either. I liked the less lean part better. I served the middle piece a different day, just about the same way (changes to shitake mushrooms/Julienned carrots). This piece was a little bit pinker and more juicy. I dropped and pretty much ruined camera just before the last picture. I've got the third piece in the freezer.
  5. I'm planning on cooking 10lbs of wagyu beef brisket in the next couple of days. It seems that most people here have had a better experience cooking their briskets for 48 hours at 135F rather than the 147F that Keller uses. But for Keller's briskets, he uses Wagyu beef and I don't think anyone else here has tried that yet. So do you think I should go with 135 or 147? Do you think the type of beef will make a difference? Also, should I do any marinade or rub first? Thanks for your help.
  6. Congratulations, sounds like it was fantastic.
  7. i agree that the British one is better. I think its because you get more of Gordon's personality in the show. In the US version you have the silly narrator and all of the "interviews" with the owners, cooks, etc, but in the UK version, Gordon tells the whole story.
  8. Tom also laments the ethical horrors of serving Chilean Sea Bass on his FoodTV blog. I'm sure most places don't really care very much about whether they are getting their product from a sustainable source or not, so maybe Tom and Gail are speaking in general? I agree, I think they are speaking in general terms and probably don't even know anything about what whole foods is selling. This would have been a great opportunity to plug the sustainable whole foods version and help them get their money's worth for their sponsorship. Instead they make it seem like whole foods is selling an unethical product, both on the show and now the blog. As had been discussed this show is so heavily influenced by its corporate sponsors that I'm surprised by this and am curious to see if anything is going to be done about it.
  9. The folks at Whole Foods must be annoyed that the editors left that comment in by Gail about Sea Bass not being very politically correct, as they advertise theirs as sustainable and have a little book all about it.
  10. mjc

    Bouley

    This is probably more of an oversight, as they are very very bad about updating their website. I am often in the neighborhood and every time I've passed by the kitchen during service--the new one has glass doors and windows--I've seen Chef Bouley in there working.
  11. I agree with John impress everyone with good food. You've got to please the majority of your guests who aren't that adventurous. I would aim to impress everyone also with the use of high quality, familiar ingredients. If you've got experience with doing dishes sous vide and your confident in the dish then I would definetly do it, because it will be awesome But I wouldn't try a lot of new things on these people, because A . they may not understand or appreciate it, and B. it could be difficult to execute and make you look bad. The client has picked you because of he likes your food. I would stick to what people know, but embellish it.
  12. are you bringing the food to the office? What are the dynamics of the event? What are the things you are thinking about? Most of the food that gets brought to a doctors office is pretty bland and simple. Because of the schedule of the office everyone may or may not eat together. Often times hot food is cold by the time many of the doctors/staff get to eat it.
  13. It works great with praline paste.
  14. Those dishes sound great Mike. Thanks for sharing. Keep us updated with what else you make. I was thinking about making the duck meatballs for thanksgiving, but I don't think I'll have time to assemble all of the ingredients this week. I'll try to make the gnocchi over the weekend and report back.
  15. What does everyone think should have been done with the Ostrich Egg that would have been more creative or highlighted it more? A giant fried egg is all I can come up with, but wouldn't have worked well for this challenge?
  16. I didn't know these video's existed, it was a really cool event, and all of the blue blazers tasted really good. I'm a little to frightened to make one myself, but probably practice practice practice is the best way to avoid burning yourself. Also don't try this method of making a blue blazer I think that that was Johnny Iuzzini on the left, someone at the party said that his arm didn't feel so great afterward.
  17. I'm new to this thread and this look pretty tough, but I'll make a first guess at 3 of them. Is the tall one a Chabichou? The shorter round one a camembert. They are probably all french, but the rectangular one kind of looks like a robiola. Hope you have a nice early thanksgiving.
  18. Wow! I missed this post in the past. John this is an amazing pictorial. When I saw the warning that is was graphic, I wasn't quite expecting these pictures. I think this is a truly important for us to know where are food comes from and be part of it. This is a great example of this and I'm so glad you shared it. I'm curious, do you think if you were to do this again, you could do it yourself? I wonder sometimes, if I could. One of the interesting things about slaughtering animals is that it should not only be as cruel free as possible to the animal, but also to the person who has to do it. This is another one of the things that Joel Salatin talks about. His message is that not only should animals be slaughtered in a cruel free, transparent way, but that it should not be the primary job of the individual. When someone is slaughtering animals as their full time job, they become cold to it and it becomes a less meaningful task. This is well illustrated in the movie "Our Daily Bread" from Europe. I watched this documentary at Slow Food Nation in SF over Labor Day weekend. It is quite a difficult film to watch as it is long and has no dialogue, but also because of the scenes of industrial agriculture it portrays. There a a number of scenes of slaughterhouses and the workers there seem very cold to the lives they are taking. There is one scene where one of the workers is on his cell phone as he butchers an animal. This is in stark contrast to the scene at Salatin's farm (which you can see in the movie Food Inc.) in which there is much more respect for the animals by the workers. This mutual respect for both the animal and worker, would lead, I imagine, to a cleaner, healthier, and better product as well. Anna mentioned that this more respectful method of slaughter might not be practical. I agree, that in our current world, it is not. But perhaps it could be somewhat more practical if we followed a more healthy diet of eating less meat and more vegetables. Hopefully as more people learn about the differences between industrial slaughter and the local responsible version, maybe things can change. I am curious, about how much does it cost to get a lamb like that?
  19. I picked this book up yesterday. I am a big fan of Carmellini's cooking, while he was at A Voce, it was my favorite restaurant. (I haven't been back since he left.) I am eagerly anticipating his next restaurant. I was very excited though, that in the meantime, I heard he was coming out with a book and when I saw it in the store yesterday, I couldn't resist. It starts out with a pretty good and interesting stories that influenced his development as a chef. As is the case with many people, as a young man he was surprised to discover in Italy that the "real" Italian food of America, was something quite different than that made in Italy. It features some of his signature dishes from A Voce, like the Duck Meatballs and his Gnocchi. After checking out the recipe, I now know why the duck meatballs were so good. He labels his gnocchi recipe "The Best Gnocchi", and at A Voce they certainly were. They were the lightest gnocchi I ever had and I have been trying to find a recipe like that for awhile. I can't wait to try it. Does anyone else had this book? Have you made anything from it yet? p.s. Over at the feedbaghttp://www.the-feedbag.com/ they've got Carmellini on video doing some of the recipes from the book.
  20. mjc

    Onigashima

    Wow. I can't believe that any place could have service as bad as that. Did you say anything while you were there?
  21. Thanks, That was an awesome review! I tried this method when the article first came out, but since then have been cooking steak for a few minutes on the grill followed by a low oven. I will definitely try this method again. Slightly off topic, I am a really big fan of Ducasse's olive mill pasta recipe that was published in the same series. See that one Here.
  22. mjc

    'egg'

    I've looked at that book a lot in the store. I can never decide if I should get it or not. If you think its worth having, I'll pick one up.
  23. I'll second a visit to stone barns. You can eat something simple in the cafe and check out the grounds. On Saturday's they have tours and events. Its an amazing place and you can spend a significant amount of time their if you like. Check out their website Stone Barns
  24. How about Esca? I always forget how close it is to the theaters.
  25. I guess I've been missing for awhile. That's an outrageous fee for shipping! On the JB prince website its 169. Sounds like a better deal.
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