inventolux

A chef must be a cook before becoming a chef.

What is the "best"? The food network's "best of"? Im not sure the "best" is the best of anything in its category. I have a problem with a restaurant reviewing system that compares restaurants with check averages above 20 bucks, with those below 20. Perhaps we need a new system.

Lets not confuse chefs and leaders. A chef to my best guess is one who fabricates edible food products and/or posseses the ability to somewhat skillfully transfer heat (cook) items to a desireable edibility. A leader can be plucked from one environment and placed into another while still possesing the ability to lead reguardless of profession. A jack of all trades, quick learner and great role model. If one is a chef and a leader well, thats a rare combination, maybe 1 or 5 of these individuals exists to my knowledge. I dont believe one can ever "pay their dues" that is an exercise in hopelessness. All I can say about Jet posessing chefs is its different for everyone. Respect for everyones position is the first step in anything professional.

In 1995 I bought a 1200sqft 3 bed, 3 bath for 43k in Ptld. There is a HUD program in Ptld that aides first time home buyers with tons of incentives for real estate investments in low income neighborhoods. You are also able to get these homes through REO's or with little or no money out of pocket.

El Bulli Hotel, all the way.

There is the original Powells Bookstore downtown, awesome, new and used. Then the Powells Books for Cooks in Northeast Ptld. Perhaps the best bookstaore for chefs I have seen yet. Income may be less than what you are use to but rent is cheap for what you get and there is no sales tax.

Some chef was probably upset at his commis and told him to waste his entire day carving footballs out of beets. Thus the tourne was born. I believe if one is going to do something (like a tourne), then go all the way! Dodecahedron of coffee flavored ice cubes anyone?

1 month ago I was in the Savigny Les Beaune region and a cave owner pured my wife and I some of his "leftovers" from his lunch, it was a 1947 Givry Santenay (easily on my top 10 wine experiences) and it had been decanting for over 24 hours. This gentleman told me to always decant burgundy over 10 years old. I have been decanting every burgundy since, my last experience was a '93 Vougeot and it was like drinking a raspberry bush after decanting 8 hours. I believe there is a limit to how long you can decant burgundies, that mystery depends on the individual bottle which is the mystery of burgundy as a whole. Sorry for changing the subject.

Many chefs, (Thomas Keller, Daniel Boulud, Charlie Trotter, Pierre Gagniare, Ferran & Alberto Adria) Im sure there are thousands more great examples, believe in something similar. Do what you love and the money will come later. I believe that even if the money never comes, who cares? Im not in my profession to make a quick buck, that would be suicide in my opinion. Foodwriters are artists and I believe like chefs, will be rewarded down the line as the mainstream public begin to support the industry more. Unfortunately, we spend too much time supporting things like disney's new 500,000 square foot all you can eat taco bar with 2 miles of sneeze guards. We need to keep pressing on with the culinary uprising that has begun. We must continue to educate and gain the interest of the public in what this infectious disease we call gastronomy is all about. If we dont, we will wind up where we started. Nowhere.

Was it dipped in pureed calamari tubes that was mixed with rice flour and a touch of eggwhite?

I definitely have a biased opinion of Ptld. However trying to be as unbiased as possible I have to say Ptld has a large black population considering how small it is. The economy is headed on the downturn partly due to no sales tax, but which city right now can claim otherwise? I love big cities and Ptld will eventually be as populated as Seattle. I believe as others from larger cities move in, the infrastructure with begin to provide a solid economy that will support a more integrated suburban gentrification. Its Ptld's suburbs that I believe are the heart of Ptld. Check out this company just for starters to see whats really evolving in Ptld

Yes, the japanese have strict laws on the production of wasabi and arent able to improve the the plants intensity, In the US much like everything else, we can do whatever we want ant not only is it already better than Japan's, but it keeps getting better as the refine the process. I love chicago and I would live in oregon but Oregonians arent ready for the food Im about to do.

I grew up in Ptld, and worked in a lot of the restaurants there. Some I worked in for free and some I was paid. I can tell you as far as food goes, its better in Ptld, than Seattle, simply because Ptld has more restaurants per capita in a city over 750k residents than any other city in the nation. Micro breweries are also a huge industy in Ptld. One of the worlds most technologically advanced wineries, Archery Summit (and also has the destinction of being a pioneer in biodynamic farming) is just 45 minutes outside of Ptld. Oregon in general is in a unique global position, Desert in central Or, ocean to the west, mountains to the north and south, and some of the worlds best fly fishing waters to the east. Few other states can make that statement. My personal favorite thing about Or and Ptld is the fact that after working 4 years at Charlie Trotter's and seeing just about every top producer of food products, Or has the highest concentration of everything from produce, seafood, meat and game, dairy products, and some pretty damn underrated wineries. Lets not forget when master burgundy winemaker Joseph Drouhin was looking to expand his winery empire, he chose Or because the environmental conditions are almost exact to Burgundy. Just for kicks, the only Wasabi producer outside of japan is in Hammond Or and no amount of scientists have been able to grow it anywhere else on the planet, at least not that I am aware of. Gastronimically, Or has some of the most boutique restaurants I have seen in the US. One great example is Couvron in downtown Ptld, 22 seats, tasting menu only, beautiful wine list, always a great experience.

I have a story to tell.......... My wife and I took our henymoon in france and we drove from Paris to Savigny Les Baune. (one of many road trips) We pulled into a cave and began looking at some wines a merchant had on his shelves. After talking with the man who was very knowledgable for about 45 minutes, he says, why dont we taste some wines I have left over from lunch? I said sure, not knowing what this guy drank for lunch. He whips out 2 bottles: A 1947 Givry Santenay and a 1993 DRC La Tache both half full. The 47 he said he began decanting 18 hours ago and the DRC over 24 hours ago. Most other Pinot Noirs would be dead after this treatment. They will remain some of the most memorable wine experiences for a long time. In describing the two wines the man said humbly, "always with burgundy, you wait for at least 10 years....now thats a wine." I love the mystery of burgundy.

"giving shows that have promise enough money to become themselves. sometimes a little less money can inspire more creative solutions...sometimes." A prelude to independent food tv, i'm game. Now thats food tv worth watching. Any chefs up for something other than Ron Popeel's hair in a can commercials at 1 am after they get off work, I know I am. Possibly 2 million other cooks that fall into the same time slot. How about "This evening (or morning) we explore the mystery of atomizers and cooking fish on rocks in front of the guest.

are you a sales rep associate?

That would be my pleasure. I'm familiar with nda's.

Are you a sales rep?

The immersion blender has thousands of uses, one might use it to make mayonnaise or some other form of emulsified product, certain froths, foams, emulsions and any other sauces that fall into what I call a more 3 dimensional preparation. However I would definitely stay away from trying to create smooth pastes, soups and sauces due to the low level of watts hand blenders usually carry. Stick with using a cup blender, food mill or a juice extractor for these heavily fabricated jobs.

Take bonito, konbu, shoyu, a sliver of daikon, 2-4 inch pieces of dried sugar cane and miso to barely taste and put it all submerged in cold water over a double boiler or in a cryovac bag(preferred). Heat (it wont boil) for 4 hours and strain. Its not a classical dashi but who cares, its like dashi on speed.

The Physiology Of Taste - Brillat Savrin

Paul o' and Jimmyo, I am in Chicago, algae salt is a nice addition or other forms work nicely such as red hawaiian salt, or homemade salt using the following technique: Soak forbidden black rice in a heavily salted water bath for 12 hours. Bring to a boil and drain the water off. Dry rice really well. Place into a popcorn popper to dehydrate and toast. Remove and place into a blender dry. Blend into a powder. You now have created Forbidden Black Rice Salt. Very useful in a number of seasonings, especially sake "rim crustings." Although the problem with crusting rims is you may run out of salt or the balance becomes imperfect as you sip. I like to use the technique described earlier above to create a salted black rice "cappucino" to place on top of the sake so you dont have to fiddle around with salt dissolving on your lips on an inconsistent level.

I tried playing around with the cedar boxes used in consumption and I found if you soak the new box in sake and drain, then bake it in your oven for a few hours at 275f you create a smoky beverage vessel that not only enhances the flavor of the sake, but now the sake is able to stand up to red wine food preparations. Try it out, let me know what you think.

Paul O' , Spuma is when a body of liquid of certain consistecy is placed inside a NOS cream container in place of cream and whipped. Whipped rice. You mentioned Chicago, go to mitsuwa - 100e algonquin rd arlington hts. A great place for sake. Or go to Murai Sushi on division, they carry a 60 year old SHOCHIKUBAI KUKON JUNMAI DAI GINJYO , if they still have it on hand. I ordered it off the list for 210.00 and worth every cent.

"Hawk in Heavens" Junmai from the Sendai area if you can get it. Beautiful stuff. As far as a food pairing one must consider most good sake is produced from high quality rice.......... Soak some nishiki in water with pine needles or evergreen needles overnight in the refrigerator and retain the water. Boil the nishiki rice in normal tap water and form into 1/8 inch X 4 inch X 4inch cakes. Caramelize the cakes in grapeseed oil until totally dehydrated and golden brown on low heat. This takes about an hour. Puree with water that is extracted from soaked nishiki for about 5 to 6 minutes in a high powered blender like a vita mix or any 2hp blender. Add as much of the "pine liquid" as it takes to balance the toasted flavor vs the starchy texture. Season with fleur de sel and a touch of yuzu or lemon juice. Strain through a chinoise This mixture can be used as a soup or spread out onto a silpat and dried out in the oven to produce toasted rice and pine paper to subtitute store bought rice paper. You can also with a little engineering put it into a spuma form but it takes practice due to the high density of rice starch.