slkinsey

Well, I am probably somewhat uniquely equipped to answer questions about Rossini. His heroic "baritenore" roles (Otello, Antenore, Agorante, Pirro, etc.) are a specialty repertoire of mine, so I have made it my business to learn about him. When I was at the Rossini Opera Festival, I had a Pizza Rossini or two at the osteria C'era Una Volta ("there was a time") just up the street and around the corner from the Teatro Rossini. It is a regular pom/mozz pizza topped with several quarters of hard cooked egg and drizzled with mayonnaise at the table. As you may imagine, there are any number of dishes to be had in Pesaro named after Rossini. I doubt he had anything to do with the pizza Rossini (although he did do his best work in Naples, the pizza capital). A relatively thin homemade mayonnaise with egg yolks and olive oil is definitely the way to go here.

I see several recommendations for the Child/Bertholle/Beck Mastering the Art of French Cooking. I am rather of the opinion that these are not particularly useful books for beginning cooks, and especially those who do not have a strong interest in French cuisine. The book to which I turn the most often for advice is Julia Child's The Way to Cook. This book offers well-illustrated techniques on how to prepare just about any kind of food. It focuses on the techniques rather than specific recipes, but also provides certain "master recipes" for classic dishes or uses for classic preparations that the cook can use as a jumping-off point.

Here is a link to the blurb in Gothamist, which had this to say: Here is their menu on menupages. The place next door, Numero 26, is an Italian wine and soccer bar owned by the same people. What happened is that the people from Numero 26 bought the space next door and opened Numero 28. This Gothamist blurb explains it all: No. 28 sounds like a place worth checking out. Edited to correct No. 26/28 confusion

Vya is, IMO, hands down the best vermouth on the market. Both the white and red versions are good enough to sip by themselves on the rocks with a twist. The gold standards for mixing, IMO, are Noilly Pratt for white vermouth and Cinzano for red. Not sure I'd want to sip either one of these on the rocks, though. I keep my vermouth in the refrigerator capped with one of those rubber "wine saver" cork thinks you use to suck out most of the residual air. Have kept vermouth in excellent condition up to 6 months this way.

According to this, I think you forgot a half-ounce of lime juice, no? Great drink, btw, and I thank you for bring it to my attention.

Stone: do you mean the raw product, or restaurants serving it? For the raw product, I am not aware of any retail places that keep it in stock. But any small full service butcher (e.g., Oppenheimer Prime Meats) should be able to order some for you on a few days' notice.

Hmmm... I just might have to have a Hendrick's martini tonight. Interesting to read my 8:1 ratio from almost a year ago, as I am going in a significantly wetter direction these days (4:1, 3:1 or even a "reverse martini" at 1:2).

Some nice stuff about Landmarc in this Sunday's NYT Magazine's food article by Sam Sifton: The article is, more or less, about "cheating" in an attempt to replicate Landmarc's pork chop dish at home. Landmarc chef, Marc Murphy, takes Sifton through the process of making their pork chop dish and later Sifton describes his "cheat" for making it at home. Along the way, Murphy dispenses with culinary wisdom like this bit he let drop as he was salting the chops for the grill: "You want to get to the point with the salt where your relatives are looking at you and saying, 'what are you doing?'"

Really?! Interesting. Where did you get this information?

I don't know what the law is in Canada, but it is against the law to sell lungs in the US.

My mother, a scientist ever on the alert for reasons I shouldn't eat certain things, recently made me aware of this article from news@nature.com. It had previously been thought that the prions were confined to the brain, spine and immune system meant that we thought it was safe to eat the other parts of susceptible animals in countries with BSE. The study upon which this article was based, Heikenwalder et al., Chronic Lymphocytic Inflammation Specifies the Organ Tropism of Prions, Science 2005 0: 11064601 (registration/subscription required) may change all that.

Another good one, not entirely unorthodox but unusual to some, is a scattering of fig preserve and gorgonzola, then some lightly dressed ruccola when it comes out of the oven.

Sounds great, Jack! We're going to have to postpone our Burns' Night dinner this year, since this year's Burns' Night is sandwiched between two weekends when bergerka and I have performances scheduled. I like the inclusion of Scottish salmon -- might steal that idea for our dinner in a few weeks.

Unusual and unorthodox pizza toppings... Interesting thread for me, because my tendencies are to go the other way in the direction of ubertraditional -- although some of these are considered by Americans to be somewhat unusual (red pepper or pancetta with an egg or two "fried" right on the crust, for example, or evoo-cured tuna with onions). Some thoughts that come to mind as being unusual in the American lexicon of pizza would be: - A pissaladière. This is more or less a Provençal "pizza" topped with caramelized onions, anchovies and black olives. Although it is most often made with a flaky crust, the topping would work beautifully on a pizza crust. - Any kind of shellfish. Brush the crust with evoo; place some raw seafood about the crust (clams, mussels, bay scallops, shrimp & calamari are all winners -- you could even do it with lobster); perhaps a tiny sprinkle of chopped garlic; bake in the oven; dust with parsley, sea salt and crushed red pepper. It's important that the crust be thin and the oven set up to fully bake the pizza in no more than 3-4 minutes, lest the seafood overcook. It's important the seafood be raw so the juices cook into the crust.

Whew! I was beginning to think you meant the Hotel Gansevoort.

Fatty pork? All the better... But do you really think it significantly increases their food cost? Soup dumplings don't usually cost much more than fried dumplings, do they? Hmmm... Hard to say. My impression is that they're comparatively more expensive for the amount of food you get. But it's hard to say with any certainty. My point was more that the five for a dollar places are likely operating on a low margin and have to keep their costs down as much as possible.

My guess is that they just use fatty pork. When you're selling dumplings five for a dollar and making a living, I don't think you're bumping up your food cost with jellied stock.

Well... it's mixing species to compare soup dumplings with the kind of (usually) fried dunplings to which this thread is dedicated. What do we think are the characteristics that make a really good Chinese dumpling? For me, the filling should be fine and flavorful, but a lot of the action is in the wrapper. It needs to be thin and, if fried, it should be crisp rather than simply browned. Nothing is worse than a thick, gummy, filling wrapper on a Chinese dumpling -- something that seems especially common with steamed vegetable dumplings. What's the deal with that? Does anyone make a truly outstanding vegetable dumpling? And for God's sake, why aren't they fried?! I think the New Green Bo fried dumplings are particularly outstanding. The wrapper is nicely thin, so it isn't too filling (you would underdstand why this is important if you ever saw how much food Fat Guy and I order when we go there together). The dumplings are deliciously crisp on the bottom, and yet not greasy. And I also like their long-and-skinny approach in contrast to the more common short-and-lumpy shape -- it maximizes the ratio of crispy wrapper to filling, much like the baguette's shape maximizes the ratio oif crust to crumb. This shape would be a disaster with a thicker wrapper, but works just right at NGB.

I'm not sure it would really be a "-cello" were it flavored by anything other than the zest of a citrus fruit. Vodka infused with kaffir lime leaf would be simply kaffir lime leaf vodka (or a kaffir lime leaf cordial after you sweetened it). Which is not to say that it wouldn't be tasty! Kaffir lime leaf vodka is very good.

In my experience, bitter orange peels are indeed different from sweet orange peels. This is not to say, of course, that good bitters couldn't be made with the latter.

They sell bergamots? I don't see them listed on their web site. What are their prices for bergamots?

According to their site, the mechanical spitjack goes for around 12 minutes between windings and a bell sounds when it is nearing time for a rewinding. Needless to say, however, it's not something you should expect to set and then go to another room for a nap.

Well, I'd think you could use it any way you might use either sour orange or lemon juice. You could use it to marinade chicken or pork before roasting, for example. You could use it in a vinaigrette or squeeze it over cooked foods. You could, I suppose, make a bergamot meringue pie. But, to be honest, most of these uses strike me as ones which will obscure the special taste. One thought I had was something like pollo alla Francese: pound pieces of chicken breast, veal or pork into thin paillards the approximate size of your palm; dredge in flour, egg, flour, egg, flour and then fry until golden; wipe the pan and add some butter and paper thin slices of bergamot orange; fry until orange slices are soft and lightly caramelized, and reserve; add bergamot juice, white wine and chicken stock to the pan, and bring to a light simmer; mount sauce with butter; add back the meat and bergamot slices and warm through; remove to platter (the bergamot slices will be edible).

http://www.spitjack.com It's a rotating spit (either mechanical or electric) that you can stand in front of your fireplace for roasting. I've wanted one of these since I saw my landlord using his girarrosto to roast a pheasant on his hearth. Le sigh... if only I had a fireplace. Is this cool or what?

Interestingly, there is no mention of chicken on their online menu. What we see is pork, turkey, sauce, pork, pork, pork, collard greens (most likely cooked with pork), pork and Brunswick stew (including pork?). This is, of course, not their full menu -- but it is, I think, a good indication of what they think they do best and what made their reputation. Interesting quote from the "articles" section of the site: This feeds into my thought that the way to go is to pick one style/technique, stick with it and refine it if you want to make truly exceptional barbecue. It also adds an interesting point to the question raised upthread about whether NYC can ever be a "great barbecue town." Can there be a "great barbecue town/region" that doesn't have it's own style?