slkinsey

I've been quite fond of Alice's Tea Cup on 73rd Street just off Columbus Avenue. Their web site has plenty of good information. I've always wondered if any of the fancy old hotels in town did an afternoon tea.

Well, China 46 is disqualified because it's in the Midwest, not NYC. So, what is it that's so good about the dumplings at these places, Stan?

Not soup dumplings -- I'm talking about the fried or steamed Chinese dumplings filled with pork and/or vegetables. Who makes the best? I've got my favorites, but I want to hear from you.

Sounds like curly endive or escarole might work. I've often found that they stand up to braising well.

I'm quite sure that neither the Post nor the Times review will hurt Dinosaur Barbecue NYC's business one iota. Edited to add: I see Oakapple and I are of one mind on this point, right down to the choice of quote.

One could easily say almost the opposite: one benefit of Staub's matte black interior over Le Creuset's shiny white interior is that it is much better at browning -- which I have found to be true. Unless you have a dimly lit kitchen, it shouldn't be all that hard to judge the level of browning on a piece of meat, etc. It's just not something I have found to be a problem, and I like the fact that it's faster at browning. And, once you get past the browning part, I just think it's a better pan for low/slow/wet cooking. It's heavier and I like the basting spikes.

Given the size of the place, I am quite sure that Kreuz Market does huge business with everything they sell. How do you know that the pork chops were their biggest seller that day? I would be shocked if it were not the case that beef was their best seller, with brisket beiung the most popular form (they also sell shoulder clod and prime rib). Smoked sausage is another Texas regional specialty, so I bet that's their #2 best selling category of meat. Of course, now that Kreuz Market is such a tourist attraction, they probably don't have to cater to regional tastes as much. But I know they made their bones on beef and sausage, and once you have your operation set up to make one best-of-class product, it's a lot easier to think about adding something. Still, the top places like Kreuz, et al. serving multiple meats aren't attempting to produce multiple styles, just multiple meats. That's a big difference. The pork at Kreuz has nothing in common with the pork at Mitchell's. What is so "authentic" about Dinosaur that is "not authentic" about Virgil's?

This is a very good point, although it is also worthy of note that many of these places serve one meat that is truly outstanding, while the others are just good to very good. I can't imagine that Mitchell's, for example, would be famous for their chicken. Similarly, do you want to go to Kreuz's for the pork? This is, I think, one of the big difficulties in making outstanding barbecue outside of the barbecue regions. All the places in NYC seem like they're trying to be all things to all people: not just Texas-style brisket, but also Carolina-style pork and Kansas City-style ribs, etc. The invitable result of this, in my experience, is that none of these places quite hit the mark on any of the 6 styles they're trying to make. On the other hand, think about the barbecue regions. People in Eastern NC want lightly smokey chopped whole hog with a slightly sweet vinegar sauce. A place like Mitchell's focuses a large percentage of its efforts on making that one product as good as it can possibly be, because that's where they're doing most of their business. If a NYC place is ever going to truly succeed in making top-level barbecue, I think they have to focus on doing one signature style and doing it to the highest possible level. But, of course, the NYC places really don't have to do that. Barbecue-themed restaurants like Dinosaur and Virgil's are beating off customers with a stick. There's gotta be a reasonable list of the top barbecue restaurants on the internet, but I can't find one.

Keep in mind that, although this thread is ostensibly about Le Creuset, they are by no means the only game in town. There are plenty of manufacturers who make enameled cast iron. Le Creuset makes a quality product they stand behind, but in my opinion Staub is even better. Here is the Lodge web site. They are a well-respected manufacturer of cast iron cookware, and one would expect the quality to be high.

Great idea. What kind of lettuce? And do you puree all the ingredients raw, or par-cooked?

Hmm... I am not so sure I totally agree with you here. I don't think it goes out on too much of a limb to suggest that NYC will never be a great barbecue town. It's like suggesting that Lexington, NC will never be a great pastrami town. Perhaps in the strictest sense both assertions are unprovable, but they are so close to being absolutely true that it strikes me as acceptable to say it. There are serious barriers, such as economics, history, infrastructure, ingredients, experience, expertise, culture, etc., to making outstanding barbecue in NYC. Even if we had one truly great barbecue joint (which we don't) I'm still not sure that would be enough to qualify us as a "great barbecue town." So, let's say that it is extremely unlikely that NYC will ever be a great barbecue town -- which is one small step away from "never." And, by all reports, including most in these forums, it would seem that Dinosaur NYC is serving barbecue that, while perhaps pretty good by NYC standards, is relatively mediocre relative to the highest standards. Indeed, I haven't heard even the most fervent Dino fan claim that it's on a par with the best (or even very good) places in the barbecue regions of the US. It's not clear to me that anything said in this review (as opposed to Sietsema's, which contained some spurious information) is incorrect about the place -- or at least it's not out of line with that I've read and heard from trusted parties. Hey... NYC is a tough town. I do agree that the author doesn't help herself by missing the boat on NC barbecue, though.

It appears that an era has ended. According to today's NY Times, Mitchel London no longer runs the Fairway Cafe. The Times says the next thing for him is Sunday brunch chef at Lucy Latin Cafe on East 18th Street -- although I can't imagine that this is what someone with his talents will really end up doing. Maybe he's just taking a break? He will still oversee Fairway's prepared foods.

I'm always interested to see how many American fresh pasta recipes include some form of strong wheat (durum, semolina, bread flour, etc.). When I'm making fresh pasta I like it to be silky and soft -- not gummy, but also without having a firm bite. So I like to use AP flour at the strongest, although I prefer 00 and am not above cutting the AP with some lower gluten flour like cake or pastry. Unless I'm making one of the Southern Italian fresh pastas, like orechiette, that need semolina. This isn't really a "better or worse" thing, more that I prefer the Emilia-Romana style when I'm making fresh pasta. Anyway, like just about everything I do in cooking, I never measure. I just plan on about one egg (or two egg yolks if making egg yolk pasta) per person, toss it in either the food processor or KA depending on how much I am making, and mix in enough flour to form a very firm dough. That gets kneaded by machine until it starts to look glossy and uniform, rested for at least 30 minutes at room temperature and then formed into noodles. If I am making pasta alla chitarra, I just flatten it out with a rolling pin and roll it through the chitarra. If I'm making tagliatelle, papardelle, etc. I use the roller attachment for my KA, rolling/folding/reinserting each piece of pasta until it looks smooth and uniform, then resting it while I do the same with the rest of the dough, then thinning the dough with progressively narrower runs through the rollers, then rolling the dough into a cylinder and cutting it to the width I want (pasta machine cutters never seem to work very well, and this allows me to get the exact width I want). Then I turn this: Into this:

How do you feel about regular cast iron for browning? Is the non-reactive surface the only cooking benefit of enameling cast iron? Sorry I didn't see this before. Might as well respond now... You nailed it: Yes, regular cast iron is excellent for browning. And yes, the only cooking benefit of enameled cast iron over regular cast iron is that the enameled cast iron is nonreactive.

Heh! No, maraschino is clear. It's a real must-have for the classic cocktail enthusiast.

Yes, I would say so. Maraschino doesn't taste particularly strongly of cherry. It tastes like... well... maraschino. Kind of like a sweetened cherry grappa, if that makes any sense. I assume that the "grappa-like" quality comes from the fact that it is distilled not only from the cherry fruits but also the pits, stems, etc. And for cherry brandy you really want something like Cherry Heering or Sangue Morlacco. Both of the products above are likely to be somewhat less sweet compared to your bottle of crème de cerise. It's also less likely, in my experience, that you will find a cherry liqueur of equivalent quality that tastes as "natural" as, e.g., Luxardo Maraschino or Cherry Heering. In any event, regardless of any potential differences in quality, crème de cerise does not taste the same as maraschino or cherry brandy. So you might make a perfectly good drink with gin, lemon juice and crème de cerise... but it probably won't taste much like an Aviation (and, as someone who tried this drink substituting Cherry Heering for maraschino, I know whereof I speak! ). If you like drinks that call for maraschino or cherry brandy, you owe it to yourself to acquire some of the real stiff if you can. It's delicious, not that expensive, and it's used in small amounts so you won't run out any time soon.

This is an interesting question. I thought it would be an easy one for me, but it isn't. In my mind, my "signature dish" would be the sort of thing where people would say, "you just have to have slkinsey's _______" or "when I think of slkinsey's cooking, _________ comes to mind." And I'm not sure I really have a signature dish. Or rather, maybe I do have one, but I'm not the person to answer that question.

As Rien says, Amaretto Di Saronno is the standard. I can't imagine that there are any particular drinks where one would favor a different brand over that, if price is no consideration. And actually, since the distribution in the US is so much lower, brands like Lazzaroni and Luxardo are usually more expensive than Di Saronno. My general rule of thumb for home use is to stay away from well brands like Hiram Walker, which never tastes natural to me.

You assume correctly. Wouldn't do much good if it was magnetic anyway, since it is on the inside. If they use a three ply construction, how could they get away with making the 7 ply statment? Also, if they used a 7 ply construction, it seems the performance would go down, not up. Theis whole "7 ply" claim is just a bunch of marketing mumbojumbo. If you look on the Demeyere web site, you will see the following description of their "7 ply" material" So what do we have here? We have an inner layer of stainless steel. Okay, that's one layer. Then we have a miniscule bit of bonding material that adheres the stainless cladding to the aluminum alloy core. Are we going to call this a "layer?" Demeyere does, but it doesn't pass my bullshit test. Then we have a thick layer of aluminum alloy. Okay, that's the second layer. Then we have another miniscule bit of bonding material. Again, not really a layer. Then we have an outer layer of stainless steel, supposedly in "three special alloys with magnetic properties" (like magnetic steel is so special). That amounts to one layer as far as I am concerned. So, in reality, we have three layers: an outer layer of magnetic stainless steel, an inner layer of aluminum alloy and an inner layer of stainless steel. This is why I included this text in my class: Demeyere's "layer inflation" is designed to appeal to people who believe that "more is better." Like somehow seven layers are better than three layers. Really, the optimal configuration is only two layers: an thick outer layer of thermal material and a thin inner layer of nonreactive material. This maximizes the thermal benefits of the thermal material while protecting the food from the problems of reactivity. Demeyere claims that the total thickness of the "7-ply material" for frypans is 4.8 mm. I assumed that the stainless layers were similar to the thickness of the stainless layers used by All-Clad (0.44 mm interior layer, 0.46 exterior layer), so doing the math I came up with an approximate thickness of 3.9 mm for the thermal material. I doubt it is any thicker than 3.9 mm, but it could be thinner. Assuming it is 3.9 mm, you correctly surmise that this is better than All-Clad Stainless in terms of thermal material. It is right around the same as All-Clad MasterChef, which has an aluminum exterior of 3.94 mm. That said, the MasterChef line does not work with induction. Personally, induction doesn't interest me all that much. I'd rather have gas than any other heat source. They do make professional-style in-counter gas cooktops with high powered burners, fwiw. If you're determined to get an induction cooktop, I'd recommend getting cookware specifically designed for induction. In particular, you might look at the Induc'Inox line by Mauviel. They are made with 2.0 mm of magnetic steel fully clad with stainless steel. This means that, rather than having the induction hob heat up a thin layer of magnetic steel which conducts heat into the thermal layer (this is how All-Clad and Demeyere work with induction) with Induc'Inox, the thermal material itself is heated up by the magnetic field.

Apparently, it's just very finely-cut oatmeal. Actually, if I understood Alton Brown correctly, it's partially cooked by steaming, then pressed flat, and then cut. But they also add flavorings/sugar even to the plain flavor. Steel Cut Oats are whole oat grains (minus the outer hull) that are cut into 2-3 pieces. This is, IMO, the best tasting kind of oatmeal. Takes around 30 minutes to cook. Rolled Oats are oat grains that are heated and passed through a roller to flatten them out. The thinner the oats are rolled, the more pre-cooked they are. This makes them cook faster, among other things. There are three major types of rolled oats: Old-Rashioned Rolled Oats where the whole grain is rolled. These are the thickest and the least-precooked. Takes around 8-10 minutes to cook. Quick Oats where the grains are sliced before rolling. These are thinner and more thoroughly pre-cooked. Takes around 3-5 minutes to cook. Instant Otmeal where the grains are grains are sliced, entirely pre-cooked, then rolled very thin. Cooks instantly with the addition of boiling water.

Yes! Steel cut oats are delicious, and really don't need anything more than a touch of salt (not that this stops me from adding a bit of butter in the end). That McCann's stuff is obscenely expensive, though. On a tip from JosephB, I now buy mine in bulk for around a buck a pound upstairs in the organic section of Fairway. You might try stopping by your local organic grocery to see if they sell it in bulk.

I'm curious how old these people were? There is certainly a definite "depression mentality" among people of a certain age (my parents' age). Apart from understanding it (which I do) - I also find it kind of difficult to fault. When someone like my father-in-law - who never earned more than $25,000/year in his whole life - could afford at the end of his life to spend almost $7,000/month for a skilled nursing facility for 3 years and never dip into capital - well I find that kind of admirable. More admirable than the 40 year old people who don't have a dime saved for their kid's college educations or their retirement. It's nice to be in the middle - but - over the years - I haven't met too many people in the middle. People who've found the proper balance. Robyn ← Without revealing too much about these relatives, I'll say this: they're both around 70 years old, and have to be considered "wealthy" rather than "upper middle class" at this point. Of the two of them, one grew up affluent enough to have servants until leaving for college, and one of them grew up in a family that had to scrape to get by in the Depression. The one who wouldn't drink a $60 botle of wine is the former, not the latter. So, I don't know if it's a depression mentality thing, per se. Rather, I just think 60 dollars is simply more than she thinks any bottle of wine could be worth to her. More to the point, people I know with this view will often decide beforehand that they aren't going to like or appreciate something if the cost exceeds their paradigm of how much is reasonable. For example, I have a friend who likes steak. He buys regular supermarket steak at regular supermarket prices. When his brother and I took him to a good butcher in his neighborhood, he was aghast at the idea of paying 25 dollars a pound for a steak (nevermind $45/pound for a top prime porterhouse or $100/pound for American Waygu from some place like Lobel's) and more or less decided before tasting it that he wasn't going to be able to tell the difference. The result was, of course, that he declared that he preferred the less expensive steak. If someone went into Masa with the idea that $350 sushi can't possibly be that much better than $100 sushi, and a little offended at the price, I can well imagine that such a person would determine in the end that the $100 sushi is "better."

According to their web site, this is a planned closure of the restaurant. Landmarc has been such a success down there, and deservedly so, I am quite sure we won't be losing them from the scene anytime soon. They reopen on January 10.

I think there is something to this... people assign certain values to certain things in life and balk at the idea of paying more. Clearly there are people who are personally offended at the idea of spending 350 to 500 dollars per person on a meal. To them it is an offensively frivolous expenditure of money. I have always found it amusing that people who think nothing of spending 2500 bucks on a laptop that will be obsolete in 3-4 years can't wrap their minds around the idea of spending 250 bucks on a copper saute pan that will last a lifetime. I also think a lot of people have a hard time even enjoying something if it costs more than the value they have assigned to that category of expenditure. I had an interesting experience with some relatives just before Xmas. We went to Da Marco, a nice Italian place in Houston, and I ended up picking a very nice bottle of wine for the three of us. It cost something like 50 dollars, and we all remarked that it was very good. At the end of the meal we were discussing what a good value the restaurant is, and I mentioned how much the wine had cost. One of them blanched said a very curious thing: "I wouldn't have had any of the wine if I had known it cost that much." This is a person who could never enjoy a 350 dollar restaurant dinner, no matter who was paying the bill, if she knew how much it cost. i don't think diamonds lose half their value, or much value at all, after being bought/worn. I don't think it's necessarily the diamonds that lose value, but rather the piece of jewlery -- which probably costs considerably more than the value of the stones -- loses value. It's like a car that loses value the minute you drive it off the lot. I'm sure it's not half their value, but I don't have a hard time believing that a brand new $10k diamond necklace has a resale value of substantially less than $10k the day after everyone has seen it around someone's neck at the annual Rich People Society Ball.

Try the large fruit/vegetable joint in the Chelsea Market--Toby Cecchini and I just scored some there; they call them "sour oranges"--3 for $1. One thousand blessings be upon you, my friend. Will check soonest.