slkinsey

I noted an interesting thread from last year where people posted their Thanksgiving dinner menus, or proposed Thanksgiving dinner menus. Rather than tacking this onto last year's thread, I thought I'd toss in a reference and start with a clean slate. So... what's it going to be for everyone this year? I am especially interested to hear how people are organizing their Thanksgiving dinners... whether or not there will be multiple courses or everything at once... whether the food will be plated or family style... whether the turkey is roasted whole or in pieces, presented/carved at the table or in the kitchen... whether and to what extent sweet foods will be included alongside the savory foods... whether the meal will be "fancy" or "rustic"... to that extent there are traditional family "must have" dishes, and whether or not this is a blessing or a limitation... to what extent non-stereotypical and/or non-traditional flavors or traditions are included, etc. Please chime in. Inquiring minds want to know.

And a savarin doesn't have raisins or currants, right?

The article, which is titled "Killer Bills" and focuses on the high prices at fine dining establishments, may be found here. Below are some relevant excerpts relating to Mix:

Sorry for not responding. The answer is that it is very hard to tell. If you go to the Sitram web site, you won't find anything under "Sitram Professional" -- or "Sitram Catering" for that matter. That said, the web site has a lot of problems (they describe the Profisserie line as having a "thick triple copper bottom to distribute the heat" and then give detailed specifications that include "thick aluminum sandwich base of 7,3 - 7,5 - 7,7 - 8,0 - 8,5 mm depending on diameter"). So, it's really hard to say. The only Sitram lines with which I am fully familiar are the Catering and Profisserie lines as sold by Bridge Kitchenware. The Collectivite line is described on the site as having a "copper sandwich base [of] 3,3 - 3,5 - 3,7 - 4,0 - 4,5 mm thick depending on diameter." I have a hard time believing that these thicknesses of copper can possibly be true, and assume that the specifications include the thickness of the stainless body as well as the stainless layer on the outside in calculating the thickness of the base. Clearly, the largest thicknesses describe some truly gigantic restaurant pans. All this said, of the four lines described as "professionnel" on the Sitram site, the Collectivite line seems the closest to what I know as Catering. The only reason I can say this is that the other professional line I can find on the site with a copper bottom is the Magnum line, which has a design detail in which a small circle of copper is visible on the bottom of the pan. The Catering line does not have this detail. Sitram probably labels some of their cookware as "professional" specifically for sale in the US, and has neglected to provide that information on their web site.

Glad to help. That's what I'm here for. While you're poking around Bridge and elsewhere, don't ignore Sitram's Catering (copper bottom) and Profisserie (aluminum bottom) lines.

This is what got me confused. ADNY probably bakes their own bread, not Mix.

I use Chaudier 5000 and have for many years. I bought my original pieces from Professional Cutlery Direct but they no longer handle that line. I haven’t done any exhaustive comparisons but my Chaudier performs flawlessly. Lately, when I want to add a piece or two I wait until Unique Homeware puts it on sale. I think they do that once a year and the discount is substantial, around 40% if I recall correctly (although I could be mistaken about that). I’ve finally reached the point where I can’t justify many more pieces. Drat! The stuff not only performs well, it looks like jewelry. For what it's worth, I'd like to point out that you can get Paderno Grand Gourmet (the original upon which Chaudier 5000 is based) for considerably less at Bridge Kitchenware. For example, a 4.4 quart Paderno Grand Gourmet saucepan with lid runs about 95 bucks at Bridge (78 for the pan, 17 for the lid), whereas a 4.5 quart Chaudier 5000 saucepan with lid runs $155 CAD on sale at Unique Homeware -- this works out to around $120 USD. That's a difference of around 25% for pretty much the exact same pan.

These are ongoing Q&As connected to the eGCI classes, so you needn't worry about digging up an old thread. It is the nature of cast iron and seasoning that a certain essence of foods past can remain with the pan. Ordinarily this is not much of a problem because the foods cooked in the pan won't have such distinctive and powerful aromas. I cook bacon and sausages in my cast iron all the time, and it has never effected my tartes Tatin. Seafood, on the other hand, does have a distinctive and powerful aroma, and for this reason I would avoid cooking it in your cast iron pan if you want to use that pan to prepare certain foods. (Similarly, I have never had problems with pie stored in a container that had previously held sausage tasting "porky," whereas I would definitely expect the pie to taste "fishy" if the container had recently been used for fish.) You also have to understand that you have a very young cast iron pan. Residual smells and flavors should lessen over time as the seasoning builds up. It is also possible that the oil you used to cure the pan caused or contributed to the "fishy" smell. One thing I would recommend is that you lay off making pasta sauces and things like that for a while (personally I think cast iron is horrible for this cooking task anyway) and make several months worth of bacon, sausages, steak, hamburgers, pork chops and the like. These types of food items are proven to help build up the seasoning. I hope this helps somewhat. Please feel free to ask more.

The problem with using Pyrex or a ceramic on a baking stone is that they are horrible conductors of heat. If you want to get a blast of heat on the underside of the crust, you want to use a metal pan. The advantage of Pyrex, I understand, is that it allows you to monitor the "doneness" of the crust visually and also allows more radiant heat to get in there.

Professional pans like these (there are many pages, see navigation at the bottom) are cheap enough.

was dat, shittin', skippin', and strippin' ?? Close... it's what many men do first thing in the morning: shit, shower & shave. Okay... Shiewie needs to tell us about more cool food before this thread veers dangerously off course.

For real expresso making, the feeling among cognoscenti is that one must acquire at minimum a grinder that costs around $250. There does not seem to be anything less expensive that can produce the required fineness and consistency of grind.

From the same school of pronunciation that brought us The Three ''Rs'' -- Reading, Riting, and Rithmetic. This is entirely different, of course, from The Three Ss.

hmm, difara's. not a bad idea....how's parking there, in case i drive up? It's street parking and a busy area, but the time we went there we managed to find a space. You might have to circle the area for a few minutes though. how busy is the area on saturdays between 1 and 7pm? If you're willing to invest 6 hours of your time, I'm positive you'll be able to find a space.

I noticed. I did a little happy dance, actually--while looking around furtively to make sure no Yankees fans were watching...they can legally shoot you for that in NYC, or so I understand. K Not that there's anything wrong with that, per se.

Mrs. Lovett...from Sweeney Todd: that perky but ultimately tragic, that pint-sized meat pie maven; that rhyming cannibal, you know her, you love her, it's Mrs. Lovett! I always preferred the classic: gateau de viande dans la mode de Titus Andronicus.

Depends a little on the kind of spatchcocking you want to do. I always cut out the backbone wich poultry shears. But if I want to go the extra step of removing the breastbone, this requires a knife. I almost always do remove the breastbone because (a) I can save the raw backbone and breastbone in the freezer for stock at a later date, or (b) I can or boil them right then and there to augment a pan sauce. The only time I always leave in the breast bone is for grilling, where the ribcage provides extra structure to prevent the chicken from falling apart as it is turned. Another thing for all the spatchcockers out there... try splitting the chicken at the breastbone instead of the backbone. I am still experimenting with this, but it may have some advantages in terms of getting more heat to the legs as opposed to the breasts. Splitting at the breastbone is a knife task, I think...

Just go to the guy at the place and ask for the thing, capisce? Non mi rompere i coglioni.

Sounds cool... but there's no way I'll be in any shape to attend a pie party on New Year's day, no matter what time it is. Any other date, and I'm in!

Thus proving that we are equally stupid.

The buzzing on the numb tip of my tongue tells me that they're fresh enough. I should point out, by the way, that among Foodmart International's charms are several 20 foot tall, 5 yard wide stacked displays of Chef Boyardee canned ravioli, spaghetti and meatballs, etc. OK... apparently everything I eat for the rest of the evening will taste of sichuan peppercorn.

I am still astounded that no one has mentioned the notorious "Zagat Effect" when mentioning the utility of the ratings therein. Among the many interesting things raised in the referenced article, is the following: The author's a total blowhard, but I think he makes his points.

Yea... well college "cocktails" is another discussion entirely. Often something like this: 1 case grain alcohol 1 giant can Kool-Aid mix (something red, usually) 2 bags ice Mix ingredients in clean (or mostly clean) trash can. Garnish with bra.

You elitist dick!

First, you may have some interest in Dave's brining course That said... in re to duck, it strikes me that duck is fatty enough that brining is usually not required for the meat to stay moist, so there is likely very little to gain. If you are searing the breasts and serving them rare, they will be moist no matter what. If you are making confit with the legs, a lot of the liquid will cook out of them no matter what. Even slow roasted, falling-off-the-bone whole duck has been plenty moist for my taste. I don't see how brining would effect the rendered fat for further use, so no worries there.