slkinsey

IMO the Fee's lemon bitters doesn't really have the complexity you'd like to have in a straight bitters. I see it as more of an "accent bitters" -- which is to say, something I might use in single dashes to accompany another bitters I'm already using in the drink. Edit to add a note that this is my 7,000th post.

I've spent considerable time in Le Marche, in both the mountains (Urbino) and on the coast (Pesaro) -- although both are in the North of the zone. I'll see if I can contribute any information. The one dish that comes to mind when I think of the mountains is pollo in friccò. This more or less consists of chicken which is browned in olive oil, then braised in white wine with fresh rosemary, garlic and juniper berries. The way I was taught to make it, you keep only a shallow layer of white wine boiling furiously over high heat, and replenish as necessary. When a bottle of wine is boiled away, the chicken is ready. Grocery stores would package cut-up chickens together with fresh rosemary, garlic and juniper berries "ready for friccò." The cooking by the coast, as you may imagine, is quite different. I had a lot of fritto misto out there. One thing that I thought was interesting and unusual is that, in the locals' seafood restaurants I frequented where one price got you everything, they typically served many different small dishes as the antipasto. There is also a tradition there of serving seafood with fresh pasta, which is not the common practice throughout Italy.

What he said. The best thing to serve with risotto is a nice glass of wine.

Baggy, what vacuum sealer are you using? My FoodSaver Professional III doesn't do well with liquids, but I always just use the trick of freezing he liquid (this works just fine with olive oil) and vacuuming the bag while the liquid is still frozen. Anyway, 400 ml doesn't sound like a small amount of oilve oil to me (that's around 1.7 cups), and I'd also worry that stacking fillets one on top of the other would mean that some surfaces wouldn't be covered by the oil. But I can see your point regarding your cost when using the cheap oil. I tend to use a significantly higher quality extra virgin olive oil for this.

The Gumps on Wikipedia.

Makes sense with respect to water. For me, however, it doesn't make sense to do it this way when using oil. If I want fish slow poached in extra virgin olive oil it takes (at least) a cup of oil to completely submerge the piece of fish. And then, when you're done cooking the fish, you have a cup of fish-infused oil you have to throw away. On the other hand, I can seal as little as a teaspoon of extra virgin olive oil in a bag with a piece of fish, and the fish will be completely surrounded by the oil on every side. The great thing is that the fish doesn't know the difference.

I see some gum arabic right here at around 22 bucks for a pound. Considering the amounts one is likely to use, that doesn't strike me as prohibitively expensive. Isn't the classic gomme syrup also supersaturated? Here is Dave's recipe from the (currently offline) Esquire pages: I assume one could make an even more concentrated syrup, if desired.

What's the theory behind the 52C pre-treatments for the broccoli and cabbage? What is is supposed to do? Is this something you read about, or something you came up with on your own? Also, when you say "direct contact in a gastronorm pan," does this mean you have the vegetables in the same water as the circulator? Or that you have the vegetables in a water-filled gastronorm pan that is sitting in/heated by the water bath?

I don't see it on their web site, but I believe Kalustyan's sells gum arabic. There are also other places where you can buy it. So, no reason to make a fake gomme syrup.

Very cool. What temp do you do? 65C or so?

Well, I was speaking of the whole sous-vide shebang which, to my mind, has to include the precise temperature control. Simply boiling something in a bag doesn't seem to offer the home cook too many advantages over non-bagged methods. Puisque nous écrivons en Anglais, nous pouvons dire "quotidian," en Anglais, au lieu de "quotidien," en Français.

The point of cutting against the grain is to sever the muscle fibers into managable pieces. Otherwise the meat ends up tough and stringy.

Could you describe your turkey meatloaf procedure? I assume the point of doing it with turkey and sous vide is to make it lower in fat? Ground turkey always ends up so dry, and I've been trying to figure out a way to make turkey meatloaf that doesn't turn out like a pencil eraser.

Prices vary widely depending on condition and technology. I got mine fully cleaned and reconditioned for around $500. But they can be had uncleaned and un-reconditioned for less, and in anolog for a lot less.

The only curcumstance in which a salt mill makes any sense at all is to dispense superfine sea salt when seasoning to individual tastes at the table. Preground superfine salt has a tendency to clump in the shaker unless it is combined with an anticaking agent like sodium alumino-silicate. These anticaking agents are not usually used in superfine salts (they're usually found only in regular table salt size), and also some people don't like the flavor of the anticaking agents or the added potassium iodide. Also, it is very easy to control the "dose" of salt with a salt mill whereas salt shakers can be extremely variable in that regard, being especially prone to pouring out too much superfine salt per "shake."

Hmm. I always thought "boar taint" was what they made sausage out of.

Now that we have a number of home cooks who have invested in various levels of sous vide technology, I'm wondering how often we use our machines and for what purpose. Sure, it's great that we can make those 48 hour short ribs and salmon mi cuit and all that, but these aren't the kinds of projects one is likely to do on a weekly basis. Lately, I've been using my rig (Lauda digital recirculating water bath heater, 5 gallon stock pot, FoodSaver Professional III) to make lunchmeat for the week. I'll pick up a turkey or chicken breast, a pork loin, a brisket, beef roast, or whatever looks good and is on sale, vacuum bag it with salt and whatever other flavorings suit my fancy, cook it in the water bath as appropriate, toss the bag into an ice bath to cool down and then into the fridge. I usually do this on Sunday evenings, and on Monday morning I pull the bag out of the fridge, slice up the meat, and I have incredible sandwich meat for the rest of the week. This is not only a huge savings over buying sandwich meat at the deli counter, but there's just no way Boar's Head can ever compete with what I can make at home. What's nice also is that it's a complete snap to do sous vide -- easier than any other method, really. Anyone else use their sous vide setup for mundane everyday stuff like that?

While this is often true, I wouldn't say that it's universally true. For example, the music critic for the Boston Globe more or less ran conductor Erich Leinsdorf out of town. I suppose one could also say that Mimi's right, if her point is that Bruni has the last word with respect to his validation of Chodorow's work.

Of course he's in it for the money. Ultimately, they're all in it for the money. If there's one measure that the culinary arts haven't reached the same level as the classical arts, it's that people aren't willing to do it as a money-losing venture just so it can be done. I'd say that what's reasonable is whatever one plans to make on these ventures. I'm quite sure that Chodorow has charted out what he feels would be an reasonably good return on this investment.

While we're taking exception to points, I'd like to point out my disagreement with this last one: This is the kind of nose-thumbing closing of ranks I've always found distasteful in reviewers of all stripes. No, in fact, the press do not always have the last word. If that were true, then the highly-reviewed restaurants and movies and musicals and novels (etc.) would be the ones to succeed while the lower-reviewed ones failed. Needless to say, this is not, nor has it ever been the case. All too frequently, it is exactly the opposite. If Kobe Club maintains reasonably good profitability for a reasonably long lifespan for this type of restaurant, Frank Bruni will not have had the last word.

Or, rather, Jerry Thomas said it was invented by Santina and we accept this. Since I think the JT recipe is the earliest of which we are aware, I'm not sure what basis you have for asserting that it does not reflect the formulation and practice of crafting that cocktail at the time Jerry Thomas set it down, other than your own supposition. If you have other evidence, then by all means trot it out and let's talk about it. Questioning is good. But just because one has questions doesn't mean the JT recipe should be tossed aside and disregarded. If it's the best we have, and we have no meaningful or contemporaneous contradictory information, claims or practices, I don't see why we wouldn't go with this recipe. I also don't quite get your assertion that Thomas's Crusta formulation and instructions had little influence on subsequent authors. On the contrary, most of them seem remarkably in line with Thomas's formulation and instructions, especially with respect to the frosted rim and the use of a large piece of lemon peel lining the inside of the glass, except for the introduction of maraschino. Didn't you yourself add information to your beloved webtender wiki with a 1941 recipe which specifies "peel the rind in one piece ... then fit the lemon peel inside the glass"? Have you ever had a Crusta made this way? Having had many with the full lemon peel, I can attest that it is a different experience altogether compared to the drink without -- and yes, this does include flavor, although that is by no means the only difference. You mean this stuff? A linoleum-like decorative wall covering invented in 1877? Why?

Notwithstanding Embury's opinion, I have always preferred younger apple brandies. The younger ones taste more of apples, whereas the older specimens taste more of "aged spirits" and wood.

What Dave said. That the lemon peel is an important and integral part of the Crusta seems self-evident from the instructions and illustration in JT's book. I hardly see how anyone could think otherwise.

There's nothing wrong with buying a reasonably cheap nonstick or French steel omelette pan. They make great omelets and they're cheap. I prefer a straight gauge design for frypans.

Exactly. The flavor is completely different. That's why pomegranate molasses is not a good substitute for grenadine.