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alanz

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Everything posted by alanz

  1. Rachel, I was in New Orleans last week for a conference. We had a memorable meal at Mr. B's, and a forgettable meal at Nolas (great service, good but not great food). However, my most joyful portion of the visit was Acme Oyster on Iberville, off Bourbon St. Absolutely the best oysters I've ever eaten. We went back there three times during our visit (best to go around 1pm, where you're likely to get a seat, preferably at the oyster counter). I hear it's a long line at night. Their gumbo was very good... the fried food was well... fried food (a waste of perfectly good seafood). I didn't get a chance, regrettably, to try their crawfish. The raw oysters were outstanding! $6.95 per dozen! The shuckers were a kick, professional funnyguys. Never argue with a man carrying an oyster knife... just take what he wants to give you <vbg> They have a web site complete with webcam Acme Oyster I hope you get a chance to try this place.
  2. I missed the cider too... So I suppose we just have to do it again this weekend
  3. When Rachel was having difficulty unmolding her jello, I suggested that she simply put a spoon in it and let people dig in. (It was Jello, afterall < s >) The stunned look on her face was precious. She was not about to do that! At the time, I had no idea of the spectral spectacular lurking within the mold. I'm glad she finally shed some reflected light on the matter.
  4. I've made gefilte fish from scratch only once. Traditionally, it's "stuffed" fish... that is fish skin or heads that have been stuffed with or wrapped around a ground fish mixture. I have some photos of the project, including making the fish stock from the heads, bones, etc. Take a look at this page if you like. My mother is one of those people who loves picking apart a fish head... she's always relished the opportunity to do so. Personally, I think it's a lot of work for a few tasty morsels, but I understand the attraction. As far as people having an aversion to certain parts of an animal, it reminds me of the joke: I respectfully contend that if one can eat an egg, one can eat most things on the planet. Fortunately the fact that unfertilized chicken ovum tastes great overwhelms the idea of what it is and where it comes from
  5. Suzanne... What me? Mess with the Gospel according to Kraft? Heresy! < s >
  6. Okay, I give up... I thought folk might like seeing how Classic Mac-n-cheese should be prepared. Click here for my very own Mac-n-Cheese adventure
  7. One thing I forgot to mention... it was REALLY dark in the restaurant. We only half jokingly asked for a flashlight. There is a place in NJ called "The Restaurant" that is also very dark, but the waiters do hand you little flashlights when they give you the menu. The waiter made that funny remark about it being romantic, but in fact, the table next to us had some older patrons who simply could not read ANYTHING on the menu because of the lighting. The waiter basically verbally enumerated the menu, which in and of itself is a difficult way to select a dish (it's like the waiter telling you about 30 specials... how would you remember them, or even guess at the prices?). It's not just my 50 year old eyeballs that had trouble... our kids did too. We were able to finally view the menus after our eyes adjusted for quite a while, but it really was straining to do it. So, as charming and romantic as a dark restaurant may be, I believe it would serve the customers to make their menus as easy as possible to read.
  8. We were at dinner with Dumpling on Sunday, and I agree with her review... EXCEPT.. The music didn't remind us of Saturday Night Fever.... the incessant repetitive beat reminded us of the Saturday Night Live sketches where the two guys at the bar were trying to pick up (and constantly being rejected by) women. It wasn't the same song as in the sketches, but it seemed to go on and on and on and on. There was a brief point where the music stopped... and it was a relief. I suppose the twitching will stop sooner or later < s > As Dumpling said, the entrees and deserts were quite good, but the appetizers were disappointing.
  9. There's a very good summary of the definition of a brisket at: Brisket Defined web page
  10. Maybe I'm just spoiled... my cooker is a ceramic device with a lot of thermal mass and very refined air flow control... so it doesn't dry out the meat as much as other cookers do. I suppose steaming would help some smokers, just as adding plates of water into the smoker helps or is necessary for those other cookers. Nice to be spoiled. < s >
  11. Why would you think that a piece of meat coming straight off the smoker would be inferior to that which has been steamed to reheat? I much prefer the meat as it comes off the cooker. However that's not viable for restaurants, so steaming is a good way to ressurect the meat after cooling. In my home, we vacuum seal my leftovers and bring them to a simmer in the vac bag before serving.
  12. The dry rub technique I outlined calls for piercing the meat many many many times with a pot-fork (good for removing pent up agression too). Also, the meat put into a plastic bag and placed under weights and turned once a day. So the corning does reach way down into the meat, just as brining would.
  13. The dry rub corning recipe that I use was originally in Cook's Illustrated. I agree with the Cooks Illustrated staff that a dry rub technique actually yielded better results than brining, and is much much easier. The recipe and links to my smoked corned beef page can be found if you click here
  14. Lauren and I were married in 1974, on a Thursday afternoon at the United Nations Chapel in NYC. We brought the dozen or so guests back to our apartment in Queens for a small post-nuptual meal. The food was platters of cold cuts provided by (the now late and lamented) Pastrami King. I remember ordering the platters, explaining what I wanted... pastrami, corned beef, salami, etc. When we got the platters, I was surprised that there was no salami. Well, that is, until after the guests left and we were packing up the leftovers. There, hiding under an inverted aluminum foil bowl on each platter (which we thought was just there to give the platter different levels)... was sliced kosher salami. So, that's what we ate for late dinner.... and if I recall correctly... in the morning, grilled salami and eggs.
  15. I thought I'd share one of my experiments from a few months ago, Because I'm such a fan of corning meats, I started to wonder if anyone ever corned pork. I really didn't find many examples, so I talked to my prime butcher, and he suggested corning pork ribs. So, I used the technique that I described earlier in this thread and corned the ribs for 7 days (next time, I've decided I'll limit the corning to 3 or 4 days) I then coated the ribs with pepper/coriander/garlic etc and smoked them. I asked my wife how she'd describe the meat, and she said: "It's pastrami on a stick" < s > I dropped off some to Fink's Funky Chicken & Ribs (2 minutes from my home), ... for Fink and Andrew to taste. I didn't hear back from Fink, but Andrew loved them! Next attempt will be corning beef ribs.
  16. Melcor, When you cut some slices from the thicker end of the brisket (called the point, deckle, or second cut)... try frying the slices or grilling them. They crisp up a bit and make a wonderful sandwich.
  17. WHT, As for calling the product "Pastrami-like"... well that is my own personal web site, and hence my text. I would not call any smoked brisket a pastrami. A pastrami is a corned brisket that has been coated with spices (mostly pepper) after the corning process, and then smoked... a very different taste and texture than a typical smoked brisket
  18. WHT, I respectfully resubmit that smoking a corned beef is fundamentally what a pastrami is. Soaking the brisket in brine is one way to produce the corned brisket that will later be smoked. Whether the corning process is done in brine or via a dry rub is just a matter of technique... the results are virtually identical. Also, some folk smoke the brisket for only a couple of hours, and then finish the cooking by steaming or braising later. I prefer to finish the cooking over coals in the smoker (typically 12 to 16 hours smoking time total.) Most recipes I've seen for pastrami list corned beef as their starting point, recognizing that most folk don't want to take a week or more to prepare a dish for cooking. As mentioned earlier, corning your own brisket lets you control the ingredients, and if you don't mind brown slices, you can omit the saltpeter that most recipes call for (which is just there to keep the meat pink.) Regardless of the technique used, if someone has the smoking equipment, it's a great treat to have pastrami (smoked corned beef, or whatever else it might be called) straight off the cooker. If no smoker is available, then the simplicity of making great corned beef from scratch is worth the experiment... it's so simple to do. I use a recipe from Cook's Illustrated... take a peek at: Corned beef recipe with link to smoked corned beef page
  19. Instead of my bringing a meat dish, I think I'll convince Lauren to prepare some of our favorite, yet enigmatic, pasta that we often bring to such events. I won't elaborate on the ingredients because figuring it out during tasting is half the fun.
  20. alanz

    Defining Barbecue

    But that's the very problem with coming up with a definition in the first place. Put a plate of chopped pork seasoned with vinegar and red pepper in front of each of 1,000 North Carolinians. Assume that the pork was cooked over a gas cooker without the use of wood. Don't tell them how it was cooked. Ask them to identify the product in front of them. You'll get 998 responses of "barbecue" (the 2 holdouts just moved here from NY and wouldn't recognize any barbecue). They call it barbecue because of what it is, not how it was cooked. It may be a lesser version of barbecue, but to call it anything different is inappropriate. Then again, if you merely scramble eggs and call it soufflé it's still scrambled eggs... regardless of whether or not your guests can tell the difference. Something can taste like barbecue, and look like barbecue, but isn't. It would be hard for me to consider the McRibs sandwich of a few years back (some indeterminate rib shaped reconstituted meat thing on a bun) barbecue, but I'm sure there are some who would. So one can boil up a brisket, slice it or pull it, slather it in a tomato based "bbq" sauce... it's still not barbecue. It might taste fine, but as has been said: "It is what it is" < s >
  21. alanz

    Defining Barbecue

    Nah, that's rotisserie < s > Though it's often a technique used in making barbecue, to keep the cooking even if there is no container large enough to enclose the beast.
  22. alanz

    Defining Barbecue

    Putting barbecue sauce on meat does not make it barbecue. Putting lobster sauce on shrimp does not make it lobster. (Note: Lobster sauce does not contain lobster, and is only called that because it is one of the traditional sauces served with lobster. in some Chinese cuisines.) So barbecue sauce is a condiment that is sometimes served with barbecue... not a requisite of the type of food at all. I can make barbecue from a pork butt, with little or no seasoning, and without sauce. Start with a great butt, and cook it right, and anything you put on it is considered a "finishing" sauce. I hold with the definition that barbecue is the product (not the equipment) that is the result of lengthy, low temperature cooking over wood or coals (also called "low and slow" cooking technique.) I have several cookers on my patio. One is a (mostly unused these days) Ducane gas grill, and one is a Kamado cooker.. Of the two devices only the latter is really suited for producing barbecue. In years past, I saw an FDA or USDA definition of barbecue, and it's pretty much what I described. I'm trying to find a link to that definition... as it's the... well, offical US government position on the topic < s >
  23. Rachel, Lauren and I and Joshua will be able to attend. Any suggestions as to what we should bring? The coleslaw is a simple one for us.... and since Fink is doing pig, I won't do pulled pork. Perhaps... just perhaps... I can be convinced to corn and smoke a brisket for the event. Or maybe make some bulgoki/kalbi... Decisions decisions
  24. I guess it's my turn to contribute to this thread. In the 70's, we used to live a couple of blocks from Pastrami King... and they made a very respectable pastrami sandwich. Now that my wife and I live in NJ, and do quite a bit of outdoor cooking, we make our own pastrami. Well, let me qualify that a bit. We make our own smoked corned beef (which, to my understanding, is fundamentally what a pastrami is.) The advantage we have is that we buy a full brisket (12-15lbs) and do a dry corning technique (found in Cook's Illustrated, from a couple of years ago) that takes about 7 days in the refrigerator. The reason I consider this an advantage is that I can start with great meat (usually prime grade) and control exactly what goes into the corning spices. I don't use any saltpeter or other nitrates/nitrites. An interesting side note is that the only reason corned beef is pink is that the consumers seem to demand it. The companies that make commercial corned beef have found that only New Englanders will buy brown colored corned beef, so that's the only place they sell it... everyone else gets saltpeter or other additives to make the meat pink. One the meat has corned for a week, I coat it with ground spices (black pepper, coriander seed, and/or whatever I'm in the mood for) and smoke it for about 18 hours at 225-250 degrees F. Because this is an entire brisket, both cuts are involved. The "first cut" (also called the "flat") is what you'll always see in the supermarket. It's lean, and tends to be dry if made from a commercial corned beef. The thicker "second cut" (also called the "point" or "deckel" cut) is fattier, and incredibly flavorful. Good Jewish delis usually make sandwiches that have slices from both the first and the second cuts, yielding a tasty sandwich. With all this talk about steaming a pastrami... I think folk are missing one of the great taste treats... eating a pastrami that has just come off the cooker (rather than one that's been steam reheated later). Another truly wonderful thing about smoking an entire corned beef brisket is that you can take the fattier slices from the second cut, and grill or pan fry them. You get something that has some of the same qualities/texture as bacon, and the crispy bits are amazing! I've got a couple of pages on my own web site that describe the very simple process of corning a brisket, and then smoking the meat. If anyone wants more information, I'll be happy to provide it. Even if you don't have a cooker that can handle the smoking part of the project, learning to corn your own brisket is very much worth the effort. So, the secret to great pastrami... in my opinion, is start with great meat, control the corning process, and smoke it slowly over low heat. You don't know what you're missing until you've tasted it
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