Stone

What's best wine to drink with smoked meat?

Is pico de gallo the same as salsa, or a specific type of salsa.

Thats a black and tan. Black and tan is Guiness with ale, or more specifically, Guiness with Bass.

Either Guiness and lager or a carton of half cream/half milk.

Can this be made in baking dish instead of ramekins?

About how long does this process take? I re-read my posts and saw that I had an internal temp around 180 at 7:15 a.m., but only about 190-200 five hours later. Is it normal to rise that slowly.

Bud.

Read about them here. "The shows are "How to Boil Water," "Everyday Italian," "Lighten Up" and "Cookworks." They will range from simplest instructions as in "How to Boil," which takes a look at kitchen basics, to more challenging fare -- "Lighten Up" reimagines low-cal versions of classic recipes."

This issue has been discussed a bit elsewhere on the boards. (That is, using a "classical" name with a specific meaning to describe anything similar. I'm drawing a blank on examples.): Ah hah! It seems that chefs and cooks in the U.S., and a few in France, are stretching the definition of confit farther and farther all the time. I'm used to a pile of slow cooked onions to be referred to as a fondant, as in melted, such as in this recipe. The process of confitting implies cooking the material in fat as part of a preservation process, not just a means of preparating a dish. Afterall, traditional confits of meats are stored in the fat and then reheated for serving. I think it is inappropriate to apply to term to just any slow cooked dish. (Not that you were, but a lot of chefs are doing that.)"

I saw Alton Brown reduce some jus in a Pyrex baking dish (the rib roast episode). But the dish itself (or the two I have) specifically say not to use on a stove top. And a friend of mine freaked when I did.

Didn't it win the Cook's Illustrated prize?

This is the place at 83 and 2nd? (Ish.) I agree with FG, and prefer Carmines. Tony's is a tad more formal, but for that food, I'd rather be in Carmine's raucous dining room. And eating their calamari.

Yes to both Cathy and Dave. I've got a 22" also, and I doubt I have the attention span to monitor the heat with such a small fire long enough to smoke a decent butt. The Bullet is so much easier because you fill it up, and after an hour or so the temp is stable enough to pretty much ignore it.

O.k. Berkely -- Shen Hua (College Ave?). One of the best Chinese places I've ever been to. SF -- Jasmine Tea House. Darned good delivery. Never saw the actual restaurant. It's probably not anywhere near a "best 5 in the US" level, but I'd give it the "best in SF" moniker. Erics. Pretty good, but again, not near a national sensation. R&G Lounge - Very good, and not of the sichuan/hunan ilk.

I would think that a kettle grill (I'm assuming that's what you have?) difficult for smoking because 1) there isn't enough room to keep the meat away from the coals, and 2) it's a pain in the ass to add more coals under the grill.

I like them, especially when used with morels.

I was at a party the other night (in SF), and overheard the following: "People here get so upset when I tell them that there aren't many good restaurants in this City. I try to explain that what passes for great and receives all the popularity doesn't come close to great food or great service in NY. They just don't understand. And the Chinese food? What's with that?" At that point in the conversation I joined to suggest my sichuan/hunan v. cantonese/mandarin theory. The four or five NY's (all living in SF and enjoying the city quite a bit) thought it provided a good explanation.

I think it would be difficult to come to some measure of agreement on the top five restaurants in NY, how can consensus be reached on the broader question? How many people have enough Chinese restaurants in enough cities to make an informed judgement? (Probably an easier question to answer w/r/t San Francisco, because there probably aren't more than 10 restaurants that are even worth of consideration.)

Didn't there used to be a cooking show where a guy cooked a dish in his microwave side by side with someone cooking conventionally?

This is all very interesting. Perhaps I'll need a second probe to monitor my internal temp against my external. But how can you get a Delta of 35-75 consistently? If you start with the meat at 40 degrees (from the fridge), you can only heat the smoker to 120 or so; raising it very very slowly as the meat heats up. I would think it's almost impossible to maintain those temps, and would take days to cook.

In NY I got my bulk tofu on Mott Street. About a block and a half south of Canal, left side, red sign, before Peking Duck. Great for fresh rice noodles (for chow fun, pad s'eeyu) and other little goodies. In SF, there's a place on Jackson, just above Grant (I think). South side of the street, no English.

In my previous attempts, I found that the meat towards the outside was nicely textured, but the interior hadn't gotten far enough. Can you explain more about the temperature stalling?

It's not a question of time but of internal temp. The goal is to get the internal temp to a point where the collagen and connective tissue break down. That turns the piece of meat from a regular roast to "pulled" pork so it shreds. But I defer to Colonel, =Mark and CathyL on this subject. The shoulder I did last night was about 7 pounds, blade in. I put it on at 2 a.m., and took it off almost 11 hours later. Actually, it probably could have used another hour.

I think Steve just likes French food better than Indian food. Personally, I like Thai better than Vietnamese, and Chinese best of all. I like Ethiopian alright, but not as much as Italian. BBQ is pretty darned good, but I don't like it as much as Indian. It's a matter of taste.

Mmmmm. Beef. I took it off at 1:45, with an internal temp of anywhere from 190 to 200. Let it rest for about 45 minutes as I snoozed. It's a tad dry where there was no fat cap. But incredibly tasty. The rub gives an explosive flavor, followed by the beefy goodness of real food. The fat is not as icky as I thought. It's actually got a nice velvety feel to it. Gotta get me some Wonderbread and mayo! Mmm.