slkinsey

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.

I am all about organic and near-organic dairy... however, there is no real evidence whatsoever that the milk from cows treated with rBGH causes young girls to start menstruating earlier. Indeed, there is some controversy over whether or not girls are, as a group, beginning to menstruate earlier in life and, if so, whether or not this isn't simply due to better nutrition (i.e., less malnutrition) compared to earlier generations -- or perhaps this only appears to be the case because have more awareness now due to greater openness about such things. There is some evidence that elevated levels of the hormones related to or influenced by rBGH may be found in the milk of cows who are treated with rBGH. There is a great deal of disagreement, however, as to whether these are significant levels or significant hormones where humans are concerned and at typical levels of human consumption. Of far greater concern all around is the fact that the antibiotics that are typically deployed -- and which are typically deployed in higher levels where growth hormones are used -- promote the development of antibiotic-resistant bacteria. I'm not "accusing" you of willfully spreading misinformation or anything like that. One hears things like this frequently and it sounds reasonable until it is looked into a little more closely. Now back to your regularly scheduled thread...

Chicken-chicken fat would probably be fantastic, but it would take a long time to accumulate the required amount of fat... unless one employs inventolux' confit-in-cryovac technique as described here

Yes... I understand perfectly that these chefs can't be in the kitchen all the time and I don't particularly care if they are or not, as long as the quality and inventiveness are there... I was just responding to the whole "corporatization of the restaurant business at the haute cuisine level" thing. It seems to me that most of the top guys are pursuing this model every bit as much as Ducasse. Bouley, I note, is the only one who claims to do any actual cooking. This is getting a bit OT, but I wonder how long this has been the case in the restaurant business... where one person is the chef of multiple restaurants, perhaps in multiple cities. It can't have been for all that long. FWIW... there do seem to be clear examples where the chef's lack of engagement in the kitchen has led to quality and consistency problems. Ouest comes immediately to mind, and obviously Rocco's is a prime example, if the television show is any indication.

Nobody who has met him would ever say that about him -- indeed, he has earned the right to be arrogant and condescending but he is not -- but he sucks at media relations. There was an adversarial dynamic set up very early in the pre-opening process, not least because Ducasse announced that there would be no preferential treatment for media. That's not something that affects Grimes, because the New York Times tends to operate above that level of favoritism and quid pro quo, but it contributed to the overall hostile media environment. I think that, more than anything, is the crux of the problem. Hmmm... interesting. I could swear I read/saw an article or interview on JGF in which he specifically said that one of the strengths of his style is that it is very precise (exactly so much of spice A, so much of herb B, etc.) and so he could ensure with relative ease that his dishes would turn out exactly as he wanted them without his presence so long as the cooks followed his instructions to the letter.

But doesn't someone like Jean-Georges Vongerichten represent the same thing? And he seems to have a very good relationship with the NYT reviewers. I always thought Ducasse's main problem coming into NYC, and which perhaps led to Grimes not liking him, was the general perception that he was "looking down" on New Yorkers and the NYC restaurant scene when he arrived. NYC can justifiably be counted among the very best restaurant cities in the world, and somehow the idea went around long before ADNY opened that Ducasse was of the opinion he would be gracing NYC diners with a level of cooking they had never seen before, and that to a certain extent he could get away with "cooking down to them" and yet still impress them with high prices and meaningless flourishes because he would be casting pearls before swine. I'm sure much of this was undeserved, but something must have happened to create that impression. Is Ducasse known to be arrogant and/or condescending?

Can't come to this one. Am scheduled to be "making art" all day.

I'm from the school that says: add the pepper flakes at the very end so the heat is more varied with some bites having more heat than others because the pepper flakes retain the heat themselves as opposed to the uniform heat one gets when the pepper flakes are cooked in and give up their heat to the sauce.

Salt cured anchovies. Salt cured capers (particularly of Pantelleria). Very good quality evoo and lots of it.

I agree in principle, but it also depends a lot on how much liquid there is and how "tightly closed" the lid is. If the pressure inside is high or the liquid has all become steam, it can get hotter. Well... yes. But I can't imagine that the lid could possibly be so tightly closed that the temperature would rise much above, say, 230 F.

Sounds interesting, although I have a hard time understanding how anything inside the tightly closed Dutch oven could be any warmer than 212 F -- the 450 F oven temperature notwithstanding. Now that I think about it, I use a "high heat braising" technique myself when I make the Marchegiano dish pollo (or, better yet, coniglio) in fricò. The meat is browned in a pan over high heat; some garlic, rosemary and juniper berries are added; local white wine is poured in, but only enough to make a small layer on the bottom of the pan, and the pan is covered; the pan is kept on high heat and the wine is replenished "piano a piano" as it evaporates; when the bottle is empty, the dish is done.

I sometimes wonder whether the cocktail glass as we know it was evolved for cocktails and used famously for martinis or the other way around. I have some old "martini" glasses that belonged to my grandfather and look more like small old-fashioned champagne saucers than they do conical cocktail glasses. I also have an antique dark amethyst cocktail mixer with matching cocktail glasses, and the glasses look more like handeless punch cups than they do cocktail glasses.

Yes! Hendricks, Boodles and Plymouth are my martini gins of preference. With Hendricks I like to garnish with a translucent, paper-thin slice of English cucumber floating in the glass rather than the traditional olive or twist.

Is it the 7th favorite restaurant or the 7th best restaurant or the 7th highest rated restaurant? There is a salient difference between these three. A 7th favorite ranking does not necessarily imply "better" or "higher" food than the 20th ranked restaurant. One must also mention the "Zagat Effect" -- which is the real flaw in their methodology.

Well... you are a man of taste with a sophisticated palate. Of course you do! It should have vermouth in it. Perhaps I should have said, "the vast majority of gin martinis consumed these days (by Philistines, natch) is straight gin, more or less." Bombay Saphire's not one of my faves, though, but that's for a different thread.

The vast majority of gin martinis consumed these days is straight gin, more or less.

What I like even more is to just buy fancy creamline milk. That way the anti-fat people can pour skim and the rest of us can have a little fat in our milk. I, of course, derive great pleasure from pointing out that full fat milk is still only 4%, and that they're getting a lot more fat from one pat of butter than they do from an entire cereal bowl of milk. You have to drink a LOT of milk before skim versus whole makes a significant difference in your fat/calorie intake. Another thing I like about creamline milk is that I find it tastes creamier than homogenized whole milk and yet feels lighter at the same time. This, I think, has something to do with the smaller size of the fat particles in homogenized milk and the fact that the homogenization process acts to thicken the milk slightly.

Interesting point, Stephen. It seems to me, however, that the alcohol fumes would not be particularly pronounced in a properly chilled and diluted cocktail.

It not just pours cold but the viscosity of the liquid changes at a lower tempature. This is for both gin and vodka, and ideal for doing shots. FWIW, and interestingly enough, the viscosity and mouthfeel of many liquors also notably "thickens" upon the introduction of a small amount of water. I have observed this adding a bit of water to blended and single malt scotch, and also with martinis when they come out of the cocktail mixer (one argument, in my book, for not freezing the gin if it is for use in martinis).