Owtahear

I know this. Most places in the states advertising "fresh cut fries" get an epic fail. What they should do, is fry them earlier in the day at a lower temp (325F?) until soft and starting to get a golden color, then take them out. Drain them or wrap them in paper, or something, but leave them alone. Then to serve, fry at 375F to order for 3-5 minutes until nicely crisp. It is unavoidable there will be some oxidation (brown) but it is about the texture and flavor. I don't know why places don't do this? It makes it easier (quicker) to get the fries (chips) out to order, and they are what the customer wants, crispy, and will stay crispy while being fluffy inside. It's not that hard!

Easter Leg of Lamb. Garlic/Rosemary/Herbs De Provence rub Simply grilled over lump charcoal on a Weber. Made Barbecued Carrots from a recipe from the Publican (Chicago, Paul Kahan) Twice Baked potatoes Salad Rolls Owen Swift Papillon Wine

Bingo! That's exactly what I do. I know I have seen something....but usually will look it up. Like I said, they are fantastic resources for ideas and techniques.

Too many!!! Someone asked me, how do you know which ones have which recipes to follow? I usually tell them, I don't really copy specific recipes in practice, all of these books I read are really just for ideas, techniques, but I rarely copy a recipe verbatim in practice.

I love a really high quality soy sauce. I can eat my own fingers just by dipping it into. I love trying new soy sauces, small batch, very terroir oriented. But I have to admit, Kikkomen's Low Sodium soy sauce is pretty damn good.

HamLambpalooza for me this weekend. Baked ham, home made potato salad, and empandas on Saturday. Sunday.......Leg of Lamb. I got one from Pure Bred Lambs (Elysian Fields), this is where the French Laundry gets their lamb will rub with garlic. rosemary, preserved lemons, Served with a mint/carrot top chimichurri. Pommes Anna (I think unless I change) Barbecue Carrots ala Publican Salad with greens, lettuce, artichokes, olives, roasted red peppers and red onions with a homemade vinaigrette and crumbled bleu cheese Ciabatta garlic toast. Lotsa of excellent wines....beer and yes, Lent is over...I will have bourbon!!!

Again no pics. Friday a complete disaster of beer batter cod. Just a complete and utter failure. Yesterday, good stuff, marinated some chicken thighs over night in tabasco, hot sauce and thyme.........then coated with seasoned flour, fried and served with......Rice a Roni (okay, basically rice pilaf with broken spaghetti in chicken broth) and snap peas. I love this meal. The chicken thighs are so well seasoned from the hot sauce, tabasco and thyme....with a crispy crust....it is like cheating if you gave up Buffalo wings for Lent like I did.

That stuff is the bomb!!!!!

Nice. I got a leg of lamb from Elysian Fields (Pure Bred Lamb) and was thinking of making Pommes Anna as a side for Easter next week. Was going to use Yukon Golds as my potatoes. What was your recipe?

One of my biggest regrets in life, is I spent 2 weeks on business in Japan. I was only 26 years old. Now I ate everything and didn't Americanize anything. But my palate and likes weren't still developed enough to appreciate what I was eating. I mean I liked sushi, but not like I do now. I had so much great food then, but didn't appreciate it like I would now. I hope to be able to go back.

I do that all the time. A garlic butter compound really elevates a steak in my opinion.

My god, that is Food Porn to the nth degree! Beautiful!

OK, Iberico Pork Shoulder, chimichurri sauce, Potatoes Au Gratin and Sugar snap peas.

I got an Iberico Pork Shoulder defrosting........... Still weighing in on how I am going to cook it. With the weather getting nice, definitely on the grill. Just trying to decide to marinate in a citrus garlic marinade (got a great recipe from Roy Choi) or a classic garlic/rosemary/olive oil rub marinade.

I can't believe I forgot to take photos. I had a Spicy Beef Noodle Soup (Chongking style) at LJ Shanghai in Cleveland, OH. YUM. Spicy as you would expect a Sichuan noodle dish would be, sweated, but couldn't stop eating. It was great. Really happy with the find! Also had my true love....XBL......Soup Dumplings. A must whenever I see them on a menu.

I bought a whole bunch of Meyer lemons as they were in season, and I preserved them. I did two jars, with a bit of a Moroccan spice inclusion and one strictly with salt. I also took a bunch of lemon peels and orange peels and have them steeping in vodka to make some homemade limoncello and orangecello. This should be ready in June. My preserved lemons will be perfect timing come Easter and a perfect accompaniment to the grilled lamb I will make.

Duck Breast A L'Orange, Duckfat roasted potatoes with garlic and rosemary and spring greens with a blood orange vinaigrette. My plating skills suck. This is my first attempt so forgive me to post on here an actual photo. I have done duck breast better, the breasts were smaller, and therefore didn't get the medium rare I wanted. But man, I nailed the sauce. I didn't want that typical cloying, sweet orange sauce that might as well be on some cheap Chinese buffet. I had it with fresh orange juice, zest, shallots, thyme, and especially homemade duck stock. I finished it with Cointreau, Cognac and butter. The sauce rocked much better than the actual duck. I now know how to nail the sauce. next time I will do this with a whole roasted duck.

I have lurked on this site for many a year, but never actively participated until now. I loved, loved, loved, Anthony Bourdain's shows and books and voraciously consumed any of the media associated with him. I did notice the less joy and frivolity, more serious and dark his shows were getting. Much more political. I understand this, sometimes, especially seeing the world as he did, food (at least for enjoyment not sustenance) can seem trivial. I am into sports and I find a lot of sports writers when they get a chance to stray from what must be the mundane, they jump at the opportunity. It is not ironic that the day he died, I sought out a Pho restaurant the night before. It would have never been something I would have actively sought out on my own before following his shows. Same with Sichuan cooking, and my personal opiate, Xiao Long Bao (Chinese Soup Dumplings), which if I don't have at least once a month, I get withdrawal symptoms. He opened up and exposed these food items to me. I always had a love of sushi, but it is only now do I get sushi. I miss his shows. It is weird, I loved his shows with the Joe Beef guys, but seeing AB dead, and the Joe Beef guys stone sober, I wonder about my own excesses. I guess nothing last forever.

I understand and yes, the "food porn" in those topics is fantastic. But if you go on the Regional Cuisine, you will say days, weeks, months before posts. Like I said, it USED TO BE active. I understand their other mediums/media for this. Eater is great, but it is Major city centric, and is not very interactive. Grubhub is great if I am going to NYC. Chowhound as mentioned, has declined since it was bought out. Yelp is yelp. I was just wondering if there were any other foodie blogs/sites. I am in sales, travel a lot, unfortunately like most of this country, they ain't always in NYC/Chi/LA, etc...but smaller towns What I tend to do is use Google Maps and look at the area around where I am staying, then click on the restaurant's web site and look at the menu, photos and reviews. But sometimes I don't know if those reviewers know the difference between a fish stick and fresh piece of halibut. So I kind of use the menu and photos as my guide.

I see this site USED TO BE a fantastic source of restaurant reviews, foodporn, and information, but for some reason, it has died off. Similar with Chowhound. Yelp is yelp, but I find more people whining and too many people who would think Mrs Paul's fish sticks are good food. Are there anymore "foodie" type of review sites?? And why has Egullet's forums on these topics have essentially died off?

Ah yes.........I have had them as Balmain or Moreton Bay Bugs. I am assuming they are the same? Nothing still better than the enormous Mud Crab!!! Miss Australia!

In 45-35 degree days, I have used my gas grill (not turned on) or Weber kettle to be the vessel to cold smoke cured salmon. People spend a lot of money on these smokers to cold smoke, but I found if the temperature is cold enough (but not too cold) it is relatively easy to smoke using a grill that is not fired up, aluminum foil containers containing the wood chips and a rack and thermometer and smoke the cured salmon 4-6 hours. Just want a light, not heavy hit of smoke.

I live in the Pittsburgh area. There used to be a place that carried Sy Ginsburg (out of Detroit) corned beef briskets this time of year, but they went out of business. This is the brisket that Zingerman's Deli uses. I was in Michigan two weeks ago, it was stupid of me not to seek them out. I found this brisket to be the right amount of fat to meat, really unctuous, unlike many other of the prepackaged, pre spiced briskets. Next year, may again do a real homemade, cured brisket which I have done before. The best thing about corned beef and cabbage meal? The day after where the leftover brisket is turned into Rueben sandwiches.