MobyP

Exactly.

On John and Pti's recommendation, I caught a quick lunch here, having the mosaic of colbert and foie, and the veal. Both very well prepared, wih excellent ingredients and at a higher level of care than you would find in an equivalent London establishment. Service was perhaps over friendly, but am part to blame as they thought I was writing a review (solo diner, note book, much scribbling, silly questions about provenance of ingredients etc). Didn't care very much for the decor or shtick, but not offended. Food perhaps lacked something of the soulfulness of other parisian mainstays (hi and low). Still, very much worth returning to. Thanks to pti and John.

You should have replied, what, you mean like Heston Blumenthal? Or is that Michel Roux? Lacked respect. What a fucking idiot.

I do envy the Americans some of their high end prime beef. We certainly don't in the UK have an industry wide knowledge about marbling profiles, or even a market for it. But as Jack says, it's become a different type of industry here. It's relatively straight forward - with a little effort - to determine not just breed, but age of animal, degree of dry-ageing, location of farm, even type of feed. Here are a few examples, for better and worse, that I've had recently. The best of them, consostently, have been the galloway short horn cross, with a very distinct flavour. Though I'd eat the Red Poll daily if I could, they're very hard to find. A galloway/shorthorn cross, age 36 months, dry aged for 5 weeks (fantastic piece of meat) Same farmer - galloway pure breed - age pushed to 5 years. Dry-aged 6 weeks. Much darker meat, but also different parts of the same rib section. Different farmer, sirloin from a Red Poll breed, age 30 months, dry aged 5 weeks (v.good flavour) in contrast, a sirloin with freak marbling from a longhorn, age about 30 months, 6 weeks dry-ageing. Flavour relatively poor. Standard supermarket Angus boneless ribeye, age probably no older than 24-26 months, carcass hung for a week and then wet aged for another week or two. Taste, ok.

I'd love to see a picture of that, if you had time. Do you had any calfs foot or pig's trotter for gelatine, or just allow the light reduction to take care of itself? p.s. I don't know if you saw this galantine upthread, with the problem you speak of.

Once again a terrible pic in terrible light. But it's xmas time which means dinners which means terrines. This is a foie and confit terrine, with lightly pickled vegetables. The sauce is the reduced liquid from the confit process.

Thanks moby went to have a look at Randalls today, very pretty but prices are on the high scale (get what you pay for?) ← Yep. Not always. Very very nice Italian deli on the New Kings road called Ellie's or Elena's or something along those lines.

Randalls on Wandsworth Bridge Road.

1. If aspic, you won't need plastic. Otherwise it helps you get the thing out at the end, cabbage or no. 2. Unhingeable good for pate en croute (in pastry). The other is good for all other types. 3. here's the best aspic terrine I've ever come across. Girardet's rabbit and foie. He lines the terrine with leek.

Click.

click for another demo

Pointed out to me in a kind Pm, a correction:

Well, as Heston would be the first to tell you, Ashley (the head chef) has been there since the beginning. He's the boss of the hot kitchen. And although Heston is often at the pass come service, you couldn't tell the difference between his work and Ashley's.

Marc, that's the best agnolotti demo I've ever seen. Brilliant. Thanks. Shaya - I'm shamed! If that beautiful kid can do it, so can I!

As a torchon is served essentially raw - Keller suggests something along the lines of 90 seconds simmering for a 3" wide torchon, a time and temperature that would barely penetrate much past the surface, let alone cook to health department specifications - I don't see that a low internal temp would be an issue.

Is anyone based in Santa Fe these days who might have or be able to take a good quality digital pic of the El Moleno fajita stand in the plaza? I'd really appreciate it. PM me for info.

I know. I've done it half a dozen times or so. The question is how do you remold it in a way that when faced with high heat - direct or unbound in poaching - it won't begin to fall apart along the seems of where you broke it up. As for the whole roasting/fat loss issue, people have roasted foie for centuries. And actually, if it's a little cold, you should be able to keep a medium rare center. You can achieve a good maillard reaction with foie relatively quickly if the pan is hot enough. So long as you then keep rotating it to make it even you have a result. Also, Chef Johnny uses a 250 oven which is unlikely to cause damage at too fast a rate. I guess the alternate method would be to roast it at 250 until done (not sure how you'd go about evaluating that partcular issue) and then blow-torch the thing. I know Ducasse and L'Ambroisie will serve whole lobes roasted. Obviously it's fairly simple to take out the major veins. They then roll the lobe slightly to maintain its integrity in the hot pan. I still wonder about the two lobes though.

Hw do you devein and then put back together without it falling apart when you then apply heat? Do you have to really squish it together after deveining?

Does that mean that a political piece that runs in Foreign Affairs or New Statesman or The Economist would be death in the market place if instead printed as an opinion piece in the Observer? Read but a page or two of egullet and you'll see it's hardly the most serious place on earth. Make it to the second paragraph of OFM and you'll figure out the same. Next issue: What does Paris Hilton like between two baps?

Probably..... 1.Gelatinise by standard liason method. 2.Freeze Solid. 3.Defrost over colander lined with coffee filter. 4.Suspended particulates captured by gelatin. 5.Dripping clear liquid retains flavor of base ingredient with clarity. I used this to improve yield of tomato water, makes a fantastic "no heat" dashi. ← You don't need to add gelatin to use this method - as most stocks have natural quantities anyway. This is now the preferred method for clarification used by Heston Blumenthal. He thinks you get the same clarity as a raft, with much less flavour loss. He uses it for a lamb gelee with very nice results.

Exactly. There's something very primal, old world and satisfying about making a terrine. It's really cooking, rather than just frying or baking. I'd love to find one of those old pate en croute molds. None of the shops seem to have them anymore; which is our loss.

No. I just pulled off the first few layers of leaves, cut out the central ribs, and blanched for about 1 - 2 minutes. I forgot to mention, I lined the terrine mold with about three layers of cling film (saran wrap?). As the temperature was kept low, and would never go above 110, it was in no danger of melting. It makes it much easier to remove at the end. Also, the foie has so much fat, you really don't need any caul.

Thanks. Yes. Savoy cabbage on the outside. This was very simple. I soaked a couple of ham hocks over night in water, then poached them the next day until soft. I removed the meat. Meanwhile I soaked the foie in milk, then deveined it. After de-ribbing the cabbage leaves, I blanched them until just cooked, then shocked in ice water. After using them to line the terrine, I put in a layer of hock, then foie, repeated, and put in a bain marie until the internal temp was about 110. After cooling, I weighed it down to compress it slightly, and placed it in the fridge for a day. We served it with toasted brioche and some 25 year balsamic.

Foie and ham hock.

I think the point is that you roll the neck skin off, cutting around it. The neck meat itself I'm not sure you can do much with unless you confit or braise them and then remove the meat with your fingers. You then use the neck as a sausage skin.