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cjsadler

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Posts posted by cjsadler

  1. Hit the Majestic for brunch on Sunday. I had some very interesting deep fried poached eggs with 'beluga' lentils. The eggs were poached, coated in panko and nicely fried to maintain a runny yoke. The beluga lentils, which I'd never heard of before, were very tiny lentils cooked in chicken stock with carrot and celery and then had some vinegar added. This was an excellent combination-- one of the most inspired brunch dishes I've had in awhile. As Vengroff reported, the ramekin of cheese grits was top notch-- everything they should be. My girlfriend had some wheat waffles which were unfortunately a bit cold, but came with a nice pecan-orange butter and some crisp bacon. A nice brunch with great service as well. I'm definitely looking forward to having dinner here soon.

  2. I wasn't sure what happened there at the very end with the check confusion and whether we covered it or not. That wine bill was a shocker! Let us know what we need to do to even things out.

    That was a fantastic dinner and I really enjoyed everyone's company.

    Chris

  3. So I'll try the slkinsey and Evan Lobel method:

    Get the pan hot as hell (either via stovetop or broiler) and then slap the steak in the pan and toss the pan under the broiler to simultaneously sear and broil the steak, then flip. Right? Will report the results.

  4. Inspired by the steakhouse thread elsewhere on egullet and lacking a grill in my current apartment, I thought I'd finally give searing a steak a try. After heating up my cast iron pan (one of those pre-seasoned Lodge Logic ones) on med heat (gas range) for awhile, I turned it up a bit past med-high (about 80%), at which point the empty pan soon began smoking quite a bit. I didn't think this was good, so I turned the heat down slightly. Everything I've read says 'turn the heat as high as it will go'. But here's the following, from the Le Creuset website, regarding their cast-iron grill pan:

    "Because of the heat retaining properties of cast iron, Le Creuset products do not require high heats at any time-- use medium to low heat settings to maintain ideal cooking temperatures. High heats and subsequent overheating will permanently damage the surface."

    So I'm wondering:

    a.) How hot should I be getting the pan? As hot as possible and forget the smoking? (Is the Le Crueset warning too cautious?)

    b.) Will broiling achieve better results? See the following from Eval Lobel (which is a combination of searing and broiling if I read it correctly):

    http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?act=ST...&f=111&t=27814&

    Oh, and the steak ended up ok after finishing it in the oven to cook it to medium, but the crust wasn't as good as I'd like to achieve. I patted it dry, put salt and pepper on it, and misted a bit of canola on it before searing.

    Thanks in advance,

    Chris

  5. Malawry-- I'm hoping the Wegman's outposts here will offer beer and wine, as the Princeton location's beer and wine selection was great (due to whatever NJ liquor laws, they opened a 'seperate' beer and wine store next door to the actual grocery store). I couldn't get over some of the beers they had. Westvleteren at $3.50 a bottle? You can't find that stuff anywhere, let alone at that price. Steve's right-- I used to work on a project in Princeton, where I lived during the week, and the Wegman's there is amazing.

  6. PS-- This would make a great eGCI topic!

    I'm writing it now.

    What would you like emphasised?

    Traditionally you reduce the liquid you add by about half, then mount with butter - essentially you are making a sort of beurre blanc or brun. Maybe you are not adding enough butter? Its different from finishing an already thick sauce with a knob of butter. You need about twice the amount of butter to liquid in the pan you are adding it to.

    Beurre manie (butter mashed up with flour) may be your secret weapon.

    Jack-- that's excellent, thanks! (been really enjoying your eCGI contributions thus far). I'd really like to see a step-by-step of a basic reduction sauce that needs thickening without starch/flour..... so of maybe only wine, stock and butter (with shallots, herbs, whatever). And perhaps a demonstration of an already thick sauce (forgive my ignorance here, but I'm not sure what an example of this is-- most the sauces I've been doing are liquid that seems to boil away to nothing, as mentioned in my previous post).

    I am not adding nearly enough butter going by your ratio, so I imagine that's a big part of my problem (I guess recipes don't want to scare you).

    Chris

  7. In trying to improve my cooking skills over the past few months, I've found that there's a ton of bad advice and poor instruction in cookbooks (I guess I shouldn't have been all that surprised). Lately, I've been trying some pan reduction sauces (following sauteing) and have been having a hell of a time thickening them without reaching for the cornstarch. A typical recipe tells you to deglaze with wine, reduce, add stock, reduce, and then finish with a Tbs or two of butter. But I find that even after reducing to the point of nothing, it's still a watery sauce (not surprising, as the wine and stock were mostly water to begin with). So far, I've picked up the following key tricks, which I have yet to test:

    1. No dummy, they mean to add already reduced chicken stock (why does no recipe or book ever say this!)

    2. When finishing with butter, take the pan off the heat and shake in chunks of cold butter... which in essence, cools and thickens the sauce (there is an interesting discussion of this on EGullet in reference to an Eric Ripert recipe-- I can't seem to find it right now, though)

    Any other advice?

    Thanks,

    Chris

    PS-- This would make a great eGCI topic!

  8. Recipe and Technique:

    ½ veal bones (knuckles) and ½ chicken bones: do not roast!

    Put the bones in a kettle and just cover with water. Bring to the boil, drain and rinse with ice and water.

    Refill the kettle to just cover the bones. Add a traditional Mirepoix, un-roasted and with ripe, raw tomatoes instead of tomato paste. Simmer for eight hours while skimming. Strain through cheesecloth and cool.

    Reduce the stock (no need to strain) until 1/4 the volume. It is like magic, the stock is a beautiful rich golden brown with lots of texture and body. Absolutely no bitterness and lots of gelatin.

    On a daily basis the stock can be refreshed with a small Mirepoix and your choice of carcass (roasted duck, lamb, venison, veal, rabbit, etc). The alcohol and bones used really shine through. The flavour is rich while not being over-powering or of a tacky texture.

    I guess I need to go back to Europe for a refresher course. This has truly revolutionized my thoughts on cooking. I hope everyone enjoys the recipe!

    Did I miss the alcohol in the recipe?

    Can someone reply to this? Chef Fowke? The alcohol is missing from the recipe.

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