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Reading "A Year in Provence" by Peter Mayle If you are a fan of Provencal food, this is a good book

Thanks for the recommendation. I watched 8 of 10 episodes so far. *** Spoiler Alert *** The New Zealand and Indian Cooks. It seemed like the New Zealand chef blamed her sous chef when she was eliminated based partly for the ruined Thanksgiving stuffing. And when they had to cook to survive elimination with pumpkin, her sous chef stepped in to make the dish but was faulted on the bread size by the judge. It seemed like the NZ chef was very not happy with her sous chef and sort of blamed her for their elimination. The Scottish and American Cooks. It seemed like the American had this contempt for his Scottish partner's folksy down to earth small town idiosyncrasies and yelled at his incompetence (real or imagined) sometimes and got angry a lot. After their elimination he pointed out like "I don't even know this guy and just met him on this show" instead of the usual camaraderie. I thought the background tension stuff was kinda interesting to see.

No sous vide for me tonight. I was just going to do a sauteed steak with red wine sauce - standard Bordelaise - and then using my mandolin to julienne these purple potatoes to make fries. I'm trying to step up my game by learning the foundational classic French dishes that's doable at home hopefully. Le Cordon Bleu has this book geared for that (mostly for learning) and I'm using James Peterson's books as well. And trying to do French pastry by the recipes in The Art of French Pastry book. Not a Franco-phile but their techniques seems like something worth learning.

I saw the documentary last night. It was kinda cool to see guys from Cleveland, OH and shots of the houses etc. I thought that point that Brandon made about how his job allows him to put on a suit and tie (giving him self-esteem and sense of pride in what he's doing) in the morning was deep - like it made a lot of sense. I guess that's why some of us wants to work until we die and get depressed when we have to retire. And it's cool how Brandon has empathy for the ex-cons because he used to be one and a second chance was so meaningful to him. It looks like B experienced trauma or had a hard time growing up - maybe these past issues make him feel sad in the head sometimes.

This isn't a favorite quote necessarily but one that stayed with me and changed my beliefs a little From the book "Yes Chef" by Marcus Samuelson [from his stage/intern period working at 3 star Michelin French restaurant of Georges Blanc]..."I got caught in the walk-in refrigerator with a chef who decided to go off on his Japanese commis. The chef was a few years younger than the commis, and the commis, like most of the Japanese who came to work for Blanc, was an excellent worker, meticulous and fast. The chef was just a cocky guy showing that he was boss. He had not only called him a fucking idiot and an amateur, he had upended the commis’s mise en place, creating a holy mess inside the refrigerator. And when his screaming wasn’t enough to fully express his rage, he punched the guy in the stomach. Right in front of me. The commis didn’t say a word. He’d flexed his stomach in anticipation, practically breaking the chef’s hand. The commis was going to be fine, but I remember watching this and thinking, OK, I’ve gotten all the training I need here. Time to go....This was the dark side of the French tradition. All of the chefs had come up through that same brutal system" I've always imagined these French Michelin guys as full of refinement and culture and a little effeminate...but it was surprising when I read it

I was interested in their book on sous vide book because my sous vide never comes out right. E.g., 3-5 day short ribs at about 165 F leads to soft meat but a lot of heavy fat still not rendered. Mui cui salmon lacks texture and a lot of things wrong with taste and texture overall I follow Kenji Alt Lopez and famous guys but baking in the oven or pan frying seems to produce better tasting results than sous vide If anyone has tried their sous vide book and recipes, and can comment on that - mucho appreciated

Teo, I didn't read the entire article by Becky put it looks like there are issues of quality and the processing method is cheaper (see quote below). But you are in Europe and likely use Callebaut and I'm in the Americas and I'm using beans from the Americas (El Rey) so there could be personal favorites " It’s known that unfermented cocoa beans are way cheaper than fermented cocoa beans. The fermenting process takes up anywhere from 5 to 7 days to complete. This means more labour, more infrastructures and more time than just collecting wet cacao on the field and deliver it (or directly drying it). By using unfermented cacao, Barry Callebaut dramatically reduces the cost of its raw material. Moreover, since the flavor of Ruby chocolate is so subtle (and at this point not particularly relevant), the company can afford to be careless about the quality of the cacao beans used, reflecting in lower prices paid at origin." https://thechocolatejournalist.com/ruby-chocolate/

Thanks for the info Kerry. That was very lucidly explained. I guess the rumors were true and that the color comes from not fermenting (and not roasting it now turns out). I do wonder about the quality of the beans - since it seems to make sense from a business/pragmatic point that higher quality beans seem to be wasted if not fermented and roasted to bring out the chocolate-ly flavor ..and would it make sense to use cheap beans to make the ruby chocolate since the chocolate flavor from fermenting/roasting would never be brought out anyway??? just my random speculation Umm...because I heard Callebaut and Belgium producers blend cheap and expensive beans from all over the world to make a specific flavor, and it seems like I don't know the product I'm paying for from Belgium, I've been buying from El Rey in Venezuela. The processing method is integrated in one area and the beans are from one country and they said its Criollo (so..no blending from around the world), so I trust El Rey so far but I sure hope the political stability situation in that country isn't affecting the quality of the product they export here.

I read on wiki that there's an idea floating out there that the ruby color is coming from not fermenting the cocoa beans ..and that the fermenting stage is primarily responsible for the chocolate flavor that comes out after roasting strange that the producer won't tell us how it's made ruby - like I wonder about the quality of the beans (criollo etc.) it seems like it would save the processor money to skip the fermenting stage (which takes time but gives flavor) guys could just be getting tricked into paying for a low-quality product but if the taste checks out then...I guess it's ok etc.

I wasn't a fan of the book because it was too wordy for me and I'd rather get the analysis upfront etc. But I also watched the Netflix series and it was good and I wanted to make focaccia bread when I saw it. I used this Cook's Illustrated recipe and the work is like 15 min or so - super easy (1 day to ferment) It tastes great and I baked 4 of them for this dinner party as an appetizer not a fan of the book but liked the show and it motivated me to finally do the focaccia and it's a bread I'll probably keep in my repertoire

Hmmm...it is the service industry and - at least generally - some people might have different social and economic backgrounds I hope he was rude enough as a customer to deserve his experience that I'm guessing he's paying for

my stuff usually turns out bad when I put too much of any one ingredient or use really cheap ingredients or if it's stale maybe too much of the sweet and sour mix and buying a really cheap version I would taste the cheap sweet mix first to make sure that too much of it will be bad hmmm...if you were to tell us the reason for this intention of yours that would be very helpful too

NICE! It takes me something like 7 min on a pizza steel on a weak home oven at 500 F. About the 2 min...are you using a commercial stove or home stove or fire brick oven? thanks for sharing my a-me-go

yeah - found the same price on JB Prince recently and I bought mine from Amazon for that same price a month ago. It seems like all the retailers are lowering their price all in unison (maybe in response to each other's price cutting??) Hmmm...I know that sometimes the legal contract between manufacturer (Breville) and retailer (Williams Sonoma) requires retailers to sell at a certain price and can't give discounts Maybe - just a guess - Breville permitted the sale to retailers under their distribution contracts?? (but it could be price competition??) just my guesses

It sounds like the clientele that died or got sick must be pretty upper-echelon (to dine at Michelin star) - pretty important I heard Spain's legal system is very slow-paced - maybe owner might not feel the fist of justice for a while if negligent etc.

I like the courage the guys have for opening a restaurant since over 60% (maybe more) of new restaurants fail within the first 2 years or so. The highest business failure rates are in restaurant and retail. The turnover of staff employees are the highest etc. The profits are very low (if you aren't losing money) So that's why I feel sorry for the majority of guys that don't make it and try to be polite to the front end staff etc. I think the service determines a lot about the experience. Most of us on Egullet most likely could dish out something better (owing to higher cost ingredients and freshness that we pay more for) so I judge on service because I've had pretty bad experiences (owing to service). I've had great nights in Williamsburg, Brooklyn with great service but moderate food but beautiful dining and place and a great crowd

I'm doing a dinner party with about 15 guests mostly family/friends this coming weekend. Really hoping things go well. The last one I did on New Year Eve was almost a disaster. It was supposed to be a pizza party (NYE drinking so pizza good for that I thought). I bought a baking steel and fermented by dough just right. I made past pizzas before often enough on my little home stove so recipes were tested. When it was about 6pm, I started making my pizzas and stretching the dough balls into circles. But the problem was the pizza dough wouldn't stretch without snapping and breaking - like it was a different dough. I tried repeatedly and likely overworked the dough and started to panic because I have like 15 people waiting for an exciting meal, hungry and with high expectations. I was at a family/friends place and I used a different flour - Gold Medal and not my usual King Arthur. I realized that it was bleached and with a lower protein content and that the lower protein meant that I would have weakened gluten strands that will break when stretched - aaarggghhh!!! I didn't know what to do and people saw my panic and recommended I drink some booze which I did so in huge amounts. I got drunk and calmed down and needed to stretch it differently. I remembered a technique I saw by Ken Forkish on youtube and you just let the dough hang on stretch on its own gravity - it worked somewhat and I had squares. Next I put it in the stove. My normal recipe method was to bake at 500 for ~4 min. Next put sauce and cheese and then broil for 3 min. But this was not my usual stove and gas so when I switched from bake to broil the gas broiler won't turn on. When it finally came on 15 min later, my pizza was too high and the parchment paper caught fire. I lowered the pizza steel. I tried my next pizza. Bake at 500 then switch to broil. Again the broiler won't come on and it took another 15 min or so. I realized that I could only choose top heat or bottom heat bc once the broiler is off, it won't come back on. I chose top heat and hoped for the best. The pizzas came out okay that night. People genuinely raved about it because the rich fermented flavor of the dough was so pleasing and new to them (since they only had store bought pizza before). So the night went well through improvisation. I'm doing another one (a fancier 5 course meal) and just kinda worried. But it would be interesting to hear if you had similar things happen and how did it end?

I watched this film - The Last Recipe - because I heard it was so deep that it made even hardened macho kitchen guys cry at the end. I thought it was really good and still thinking about it now. It's about generations of family life and how creating new cuisines and recipes bridged together different cultures at war during WWII The most endearing and beautiful things in it was probably the day to day things of cooking in a kitchen with very close co-workers/family and working on a project to create something new and exciting ummm..it was like the personalities in the movie had this goal (of recipe creation) that they all believed in and which brought them close together worth a watch - I guarantee it's primo

I was planning to make chocolate molds with different fruit puree fillings based on the book "Making Artisan Chocolates" by Anders Garrison Shotts Author makes 2lbs of chocolate per batch and he said you can't scale down or up and needs to be exact. So that's why I was planning to make exactly that much each time. Umm..I made chocolate truffles and fudge and just cover up the fat bloom with nuts Just got this overpriced burner - Control Freak by Breville - so wanted to start tempering the chocolate and start with chocolate molds. So far the best price I'm getting is from JB Prince but they don't specify if it's from Chocolate World / Pavoni etc. just some unspecified "European brand of high quality" that they won't name. I want the CW 2295 but the one I'm seeing that looks like it isn't the same and the dimensions are bigger at https://www.jbprince.com/pastry/sphere-chocolate-mold-24-molds.asp I think I might get a bonbon size that's closer to 1 inch diameter rather than the above 1.44 inches diameter (too big?) Also, instead of a $30 chocolate scraper, I was planning to buy a $5 bench scraper to use to scrape chocolate off the mold. You think that'll work as a cheaper substitute?

yeah the link is broken so far but pretty excited at using beer to make new cocktails so far my cocktails have been a spirit, sugar and then a sour or bitter (all cocktails) something new would be less boring for sure

I'm trying to buy the molds CW2295 - Chocolate World sphere dome. But if I'm making 2 lbs of chocolate will I need about 3 of these molds? I was planning to buy just one. I'll check out the recommended vendors above but so far JB Prince has it for ~$23 each plus free shipping and no tax thanks

I thought light beers are better for mixing - like lagers - but I have a bunch of ipa's in stock so I use that. I have stouts also but not using it for mixing currently. I checked out the above recipes but lots of tomato juice involved. you have any got-to-try suggestions? I think i'm going to google a porter milk shake - but any links or book titles?

I was just using Mark Oldman's list of value wines for a while ($20 or less) Now I'm checking out Robert Parker's list (where cost is $20 or less) so recommendations were good and some not so good interested to see if there is a better source list of recommendations that's reliably good all the time at an affordable price

yes. I'm currently drinking the beermosa - it's like mimosa but with beer instead of champagne. It sounds gross and I though it would make me barf but I googled it and it looks like a thing that's done. I tried it and it's pretty refreshing but more like a breakfast early drink and not a good night cap. and also ginger beer shandy: beer, ginger ale, lemon juice, sugar only I just mix beer and ginger ale and leave out the rest how about you guys? any good beer-mix suggestions? I don't do it primarily for taste but I would like to lower my alcohol consumption on the weeknights (easier to wake up early in the morning for work etc.)

I liked the yamazaki 12 year a lot but since the Japanese ran low on aged whiskey and started putting stuff out blends for the same price, I didn't feel I was getting my money's worth (for blends with no age statement). I'm glad to see an age statement of 10 years on at least on bottle. I hope the blends were up to scratch and worth the dollar.