formerly grueldelux
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Posts posted by formerly grueldelux
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I have a grocery store nearby with a huge Goya section, so I've tried and generally liked most of the things on this list. A couple of other favorites: lady fingers, Jalapeno jelly, Thai jasmine rice which is as good as brands twice as expensive. From the freezer: yucca, banana leaves and fried plaintain "cups".
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Of course the reason they do keep trying to make more money off of their subscribers is that they get no $$$ from advertisers. So their subscribers are the only source left.
I don't mind paying a little extra here and there (for the CI web site in particular) and not have to look at page after page of ads.
And, like many others posting here, the engineer/scientist side of me appreciates their delving into what works and why with a recipe.
David
I wonder sometimes about how impartial they are. Take cookware, for example. They continually advise full price All Clad stainless, when no "consumer" magazine that did even a little homework (eg. reading eGullett) would do so. Makes me suspect their relationship with Sur la Table, a major underwriter. I know they often select cheap versions of things (like Bakers Secret), but I'd still like to see them back off the recommendations for All Clad when there are much better values.
And the food science angle is often hit or miss. For example, until this issue their position has been that the heat of a chile is in the seeds. Have they been living under a rock? Using russets in a potato salad, on the other hand, now that was genius.
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I find Charlie Trotter to be excellent on the Kitchen Sessions. For me it's the first time I've been excited about a show since Molto Mario. As you'd expect, it's very serious business, with many very chefy sort of dishes that I, for one, would be extremely unlikely to cook at home. But I love the fact that he's unapologetic about it. He's the anti-Rachel Ray, and he's clearly aiming for the serious cook, perhaps even the professional.
Here's an example of one show. Two dishes:
a) Jelly terrine. Brined, smoked chicken breast, cubed, seasoned. Prepare fennel jelly (fennel broth to which has been added sheets of bloomed gelatin.) Sautee onion and sliced fennel. Put alternating layers of chicken mixture and fennel mixture in terrine mold, pouring in fennel jelly along the way. Chill etc.
Sauce: saute fennel bulb until soft. blend with fennel fronds, garlic, water, olive oil.
Plate slice of terrine with drizzle of sauce plus a salad component of sliced fennel, apple and radish lightly dressed in oil and lemon. Then tiny french breakfast radishes and a few micro greens are strewn about.
During this construction of the dish he's constantly examining his choices and giving alternatives. He explains, eg, that the apple gives sweetness, the radish bite, and that he doesn't want a heavy vinaigrette to interfere. He discusses the strategy of taking a single element (fennel) and incorporating it in a variety of ways in the same dish.
b) A roasted duck served family style.
Oil the duck, coat in coiander and fennel seeds and place on top of vegetables in a roasing pan. Roast high (450) then lower to 350 for an hour.
Whole fennel bulb wrapped in prosciutto and caul fat, browned in pan then baked in low oven for two hours. Sliced vertically.
Carved meat and fennel arranged on platter with a sauce of meat reduction, dried cherry, sherry vinegar, fennely fronds.
Again, lots of informative commentary given along the way, but no hand holding (eg. he's not going to get into how to purchase or truss a duck. I like this. He assumes you either know how or know how to find out.)
The show has lots of infomative glimpses into the restaunant kitchen as well.
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appetizers:
Burnt Starters
entrees:
Manager's Special: Unpulled Pork on a Rally Roll
Collapsing Dent Corn Souffle
dessert:
Assorted Booted Dribblers
Boone's Wine
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Yes, I do think of it as a variant of pizza Americana--I think the Greek immigrants learned their pizzacraft here, not in Greece, and because so many of them are good cooks with a great work ethic, they essentially dominate the local restaurant scene wherever they live. This isn't just true with pizza but in any city with a large Greek population (like Charlotte, for instance, where I now live, or Houston where the Pappas family seems to own every other restaurant in town, even barbecue and Tex Mex places), many Greeks just seem to have a natural talent for the restaurant business. That's why even in Greek pizzerias you will find as many crust variations as across the rest of the country, even if the style seems similar.
Thought I should clarify my question after the fact. I can't really speak for New England as a whole, just Boston/Cambridge (and barely that since I ain't from around here origionally.) Yes, Greeks run all sorts of restaurants and make all sorts of pizza, but there seems to be a recognizable Greek style pizza here that's has a fairly specific crust. Perhaps someone can describe it better?
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Where do you think Greek pizza fits in? I don't mean pizza with feta, but rather the dominant style in New England sub shops, often run by Greeks (and often pretty horrible, unfortunately).
It's non-deep pan pizza which, at it's best, has a crust that is sort of doughy but with a crunchy/oily exterior. Sort of like what Pizza Hut is up to with it's original pies. Is this pizza worthy of mention or would you say it's just a regional variant of Pizza Americana?
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My first job at 14 was flipping griddle burgers at an A&W, so I got to appreciate griddles early. The only strike against them from what I can tell is that it's next to impossible to liberate our friend Mr. Fond in a way that can put him to use, so it's less than ideal for some meat searing applications.
My all time favorite piece of equipment is the tilting skillet (not endorsing this brand, just like the image.) Though it's a tiny bit awkward to reach into for flipping e.g. pancakes, it basically works as well as a griddle PLUS you can use it to braise, boil, stew etc. I worked a summer at a summer camp once and for the first month I just used it for storage since I didn't know what to do with it. By the end of the summer it was my most heavily-used piece of equipment by far (imagine it filled with mac and cheese for 300.) Someone should market a line for the serious home cook. Maybe 20 gallons or so, maybe on wheels.
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Is there such a thing as a chili burrito? I made one last night for dinner: regular American chili, rice, avocado, raw onion, pickled jalapenos, shredded cheddar. It was a little sloppy, so next time I'd probably up the rice, but man: tasty. Is this a common dish somewhere in the country? What about chili tacos?
Thinking: chili dog burrito
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2)Mix: Mix the remaining flour and water, but not the salt with all of the sponge. Need only roughly mix until the dough is homgeneous as it is time, rather than mechanical work, that develops the gluten.
Jack,
I've been putting your advice to work over the last couple of weeks on my basic rustic loaf (which is a reliable but unexciting Cooks Illustrated recipe that has been slowly tweaked and improved.) I had already learned to cut back on the kneading in favor of turning, but eliminating kneading altogether? Revolutionary! But it totally works. That whole kneading the dough thing, it's so over. I'll miss it though.
michael
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Anyone else tried cooking grits in a slow cooker?
John Thorne did a bit about grits in a slow cooker recently in Simple Cooking ( I don't remember the issue number but it was within the last year or so and focused on grits and fried eggs.)
From my memory (not to be trusted) it was 5 water to 1 grits, butter,salt, overnight on low. I like the idea of waking up to them.
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Anyone try the franks from Bavaria, a German sausage maker in Madison, Wisconsin? The product line looks amazing.
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Based on your review and the review from Rosengarten, I bought a pack of Boar's Head. I haven't had them in awhile. I think I like them more than Best's, Sabrett , and Nathan's. Just a perfect spicing, casing and taste for this type of dog, which is New York/Chicago kosher style all beef. This dog, I think, best typifies this style. I still consider Usinger's my favorite beef dog, but it is not a perfect example of the style in that it is shorter and thicker, has a smokier taste which is not common in beef dogs (more typical of the beef/pork) and contains esoteric spices like cloves, nutmeg, black pepper (I think) and others whereas with a dog truer to style, garlic and paprika predominate. But the hell with being true to style. If something tastes good, eat it. That said, I thing the Liehs and Steigerwald dog is more in the German butcher style than Thumann's. It contains some veal (which Thumann's does not) and has a different spicing. It contains a spice called mace which I detect in many German butcher dogs.
Just caught up with this thread. Very interesting and sure to triple my hot dog consumption.
Wondering one thing. Suppose you want an all beef natural casing dog with garlic dominating (and possibly smoke) but little of the other traditional hot dog spices coming through? Recommendations? I ask because occasionally we like to depart from our fairly purest treatments and do a variety of "international" dogs, and sometimes the hot dog spices sort of clash. Garlic works with everything, of course.
michael
EDITED to add that, after reading more hot dog threads, I guess what I'm asking about is a mildly spiced dog that allows the condiments to be a big part of the focus, but with prominent garlic.
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I can't vouch for these products personally, but these knives on QVC might fit the bill.
Cook's Essentials 5 pc. Forged Cutlery Set (K1065) $48.54
Stainless 6 pc. Steak Knife Set (K1311) $17.68
plus shipping
the knives are full tang, triple riveted, made from high-carbon German steel, made in Taiwan.
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I agree that it was just an attempt to describe a range, but it seems a little sloppy to offer a dualism of sophisticated NYC vs. less discriminating South, particularly when the Times is trying to broaden its reach to become a sort of national paper.
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I thought it was a pretty good article but one sentence marred it somewhat:
"[Chinese restauranteurs have been versatile enough] to feed sophisticated gourmands in NYC, less discriminating palates in small Southern towns and immigrant communities across the country."
Why not "less discrimnating palates in small towns"? Why small Southern towns? I'm not even from the South and it struck me as a little odd.
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One with slits, now that sounds interesting. I was imaginging using a regular one outside over a cast iron pot of heated coals, but then I began to question what the point would be. If the pan was of solid construction, none of the flavour from the coals/flames would reach the food anyway, so the fuel source doesn't seem to matter, except for perhaps aroma. Slits seem to be the answer and I'll definitely keep my eyes out for one. Perhaps it could be placed on top of a chimney starter full of hot coals.
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I grew up having potato soup every weekend. My mother would save the potato water all week and then on Saturday use it to make a chunky soup with nothing more than potatoes, onion, a bit of celery, butter and milk, salt and pepper and parsley. Never heard of no leeks. Bowls wood be showered with grated cheddar and crushed saltines. Couldn't be tastier.
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Maybe add a little splash of wine near the end to liven things up? Maybe incorporate a minced anchovy to add a subtle savory twist (and irritate traditionalists?)
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The only difficulty is that clearing up us a major hassle. Anyone know any good ways? Dough is tenacious stuff and sticks to anything, and doesn't come off easily. It doesn't soak off. Best implement I've found is to scrape it off with a rubber spatula. If you get it on the dishcloth, it will never come out.
Jack, great blog so far. Looking forward to the rest.
I have one bread cleaning-up tip. Soak bowls etc. in room temperature or cooler water and then use a plastic shopping bag, a wad of cling film or a loosely scrunched-up piece of foil to do the scrubbing. The dough comes right off and you've no worries of dish clothes, sponges etc. gummed up with dough bits. Counters are another matter. Have you tried the Roulpat (large silicon mat made by Silpat?)
michael
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Zucchini noodles - sounds good! The nearest to noodles that I know of is beanthread vermicelli.
I'm not low carbing myself but thought I'd mention tofu shirataki, which I don't think has been mentioned here yet. It's a combination of yam flour and tofu and sold in water-filled bags like regular shirataki. Sort of tasteless with a chewy texture but not a bad noodle substitute.
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While we on the subject, noticed in the TJs flyer that they have peaches from Spain bottled in white grape juice. Peace is at hand.
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Are you sure it's a Vietnamese product? It sounds very much like the thing often used for grilling Korean bul go kee or kalbi over a fire or charcoal.
You're right, silly me. Didn't think to search for Korean products since the store was 95% Vietnamese stuff.
Now that I've raised (or re-raised) the subject of the reverse wok, what do people think of them for stovetop use? Would they better than a regular flat grill pan for kalbi, for example?
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Hi folks. I recently saw a pan at a Vietnamese grocery store in boston and I haven't had any luck finding out what it's called and what it's used for. The pan is cast iron and about 12" in diameter. It has a short rim and is dome-shaped, rising several inches in the center. I can't picture it exactly in my mind, but I think it had ridges of some sort. Does anyone know what I'm talking about? I'm
curious about how it is used. Perhaps for some sort of crepe?
michael
Le Creuset
in Kitchen Consumer
Posted
Caplan Duval frequently has deeply discounted LC. For example a new (not second) white 7 quart for $108 plus shipping.