Stone

Yeah, that was unintentional. What kind of wine would be good for a reduction to serve with lamb? Or should I stick to a stock? Anyone ever try Better than Boullion? I've used it for brisket, but I'm hesitant for something where the stock is the main flavor. Thanks for the advice everyone.

Perhaps that was one of the problems. I had bought some good blue the day before, and wanted to use it up. But anyone have comments on whether I made the sauce correctly? The few times I've done wine reductions, the end product came out more purple (from the wine of course), than brown.

Stone- Your sauce is what interests me. How did the blue cheese go with Port in a sauce?? I would think they would be two strong flavors working together (or not!!). did it taste ok?. Even blue cheese and lamb does not strike me as a good combination (beef is another matter ), but that's just me. skillet not hot enough? I normally would heat the skillet until a drop of water evaporates in two - three seconds to sear/finish in oven type dish. Maybe use shallots instead of onions next time for a smoother flavor. Hope this helps FM

Rack of lamb with port wine reduction and blue cheese sauce, and wilted garlic spinach. O.k., it looks kind of gross in the picture, but it tasted pretty good. Here's what I did, what I did wrong and what I didn't like. S&P the rack, seared it. Skillet should have been hotter, but I've got btu issues. I'm always worried about overcooking the meat. Stop. Took it off the skillet, put it in a different pan and bunged it in a 400 degree oven. Deglazed the pan with a good shot of cognac. Whoa. Flames are cool. Threw in about 3 tbls chopped onion. Too much. Didn't let the onion get brown enough. Added about a cup (and a half-ish) of port. Let it reduce. Crumbled a few tbls of Cowgirl blue cheese. It melted well. Whilst doing this, sauteed some garlic and onion in a little evoo. Should have given it more time. Added a pound of spinach and wilted it. Should have drained off the excess water (or let it cook off). The meat was up to 140 in the center. Took it out to rest. Finished the sauce by taking off heat and adding two tbls cold butter. Whisk a bit. Cut the rack. Very rare, but no problem for me. Threw three chops back on hot oven pan for the friend. Plated. Crumbled a little more blue cheese on top. Meat should have been seared more, cooked longer. Too many onion in the finished sauce -- thought about a blender or my little Braun hand-mixer processor. Too much effort. The sauce wasn't dark or meaty (complex?) enough. I used a regular calphalon skillet (not non-stick), but didn't get a lot of fond. Maybe need beef stock? It was a purplish red. A little too sweet -- probably from not browning the onion enough. Very rich from the cheese, but not creamy enough (not watery, but wouldn't have coated a spoon). Spinach had too much liquid. Suggestions? Comments?

Jason's right. I don't think someone could just "figure it out." That's why so many pho places are mediocre. I remember reading an article on the wall at Pho 75, my first pho joint on Wilson Boulevard in Rosslyn, VA. They described the years of training the pho cook had, and the hours and hours that went into making the stock. Still some of the best broth of any kind I've ever had. I had some pho yesterday out in the Avenues in SF, it just wasn't that good. The stock was a cloudy grey, and it was sweet without the beefy flavor.

Set up my bodum santos vacuum coffee maker, pour the grounds in the top and realize that I hadn't put the filter in.

Except for the part about the Jews in NY, what the bleepity bleep does that mean? As far as the Jews go, you're implying that the presence of Jews contributes to better Chinese food? Well, from my observation, the majority of Chinese restaurants in NY, and certainly the ones that I visited growing up in the suburbs, were Hunan/Sichuan -- thinner, spicier sauces (generalized observation), than the Cantonese, Mandarin that predominate in San Francisco. I find that people who are used the first style do not enjoy the second as much. As for Jews, there's a long-running joke/stereotype/whatever that Jews in NY have adopted Chinese food as their own. Just joking.

Sure, send me a check for $100, and I'll give you access to all my posts. Then we can discuss.

I recently had both a crab (salt & pepper) and lobster (roasted in special sauce) at R&G Lounge in SF's Chinatown. Both were excellent. The crab was large and flavorful. The meat was easy to extract and moist. The lobster was spectacular. (But I still think they swiped some of the tail meat.) The only problem is that with all the other stuff you don't get as much of the pure, unadulterated lobster taste. If I can throw him in the mix, Mr. Keller's lobster in the peas & carrots was quite tasty. Maybe not Chinatown standards, but . . . .

I tend to use "house special" and "yang chow" interchangeably. But if you tell me yang chow means only shrimp, ham and peas, I can buy that. As for the use of soy -- stick to mcnuggets.

O.k. This place rocks. Sesame Beef -- Many people just don't like this dish. It can be heavy, overly sweet, gloppy. O.k. JTH does a great version. Irregular shreds of beef, breaded and deep fried. Enough to be crispy, but not gloppy or oily. In a relatively dry sauce that's sweet, caramelized, and yet delightfully piquant from vinegar. Like strips of meat candy. Jasmine prawns. Plump prawns sauteed in white sauce, served with slices of chili and carrot and the greatest mushrooms ever. They're identified as wood ears, but I think they're actuall crystal mushrooms or crystal fungus. At first glance they look like ribbons of rice noodles, but their crisp and crunchy. Yum. Shredded pork and/or scallops with garlic sauce. Terrific. Thin, piquant brown sauce. Copious amounts of meat and shredded wood ears. Great fried rice and lo mein (called chow mein out here). And if you order two entrees, they give you full order of rice or lo mein for free. Gotta love free food. (Still having trouble with the door code though.)

Dude -- you got a license to produce and distribute meat? FDA/Dept. of Food and Agriculture approval? Insurance?

Why does chicken need an anti-foaming agent?

Chef, I'm not certain what percentage of people that set out to be chefs actually meet their goal. Given the competitive nature of the industry and the relatively limited number of spots available, do you think it's wise to forfeit (or even postpone) college to pursue this dream? Is there any way for someone finishing high school to evaluate his or her talent to determine whether they have a realistic chance of success? (For example, a high school athelete should be able to evaluate whether their talent justifies sacrificing a real college education.)

Andalu serves decent tapas, but nothing particularly interesting or particularly good. They get raves over their "ahi tuna tacos." These are diced tuna in a mild wasabi mayo served on a peking-duck like pancake. There is nothing special to it. The restaurant is average, average average. The only other places on the list I've been to are Slanted Door and Limon. I think SD is good (much better experience my second time around), but does not nearly live up to its reputation as one of the best places in town. I've really enjoyed both trips to Limon. I will hit 5th Floor when I get over my illness and can taste again. Everyone says it's the best in town. (I've not been to Chez Spencer, but I don't think it's in the same class 5th Floor or Fleur D'Lys. It's supposed to be great, but it's a bistro, not a fine-dining experience.)

The fact that Andalu keeps popping up on "best of" lists drives me nuts. The place is filled with giggly 20 year olds for a reason.

I didn't pay much attention to the bill at rnm. I was busy flirting with the waitress. I agree that Limon serves some great food. Excellent meat dishes. Great Sangria. (But very different place from rnm?)

RNM.

My one real camping trip (7 days in Wind River, Wyoming), we packed all this freeze dried pasta crap in foil. The day before we left, I ran to a little sporting goods store on 23rd street and a bought a $20 dollar folding fishing rod and $20 worth of plastic worms and lures. The first evening, we set up camp and I went to the lake. On my very first cast, I pulled in a 5 pound brown trout. These two guys were fly fishing about 5 minutes away and when they saw me reeling in my fish they ran over to ask what type of fly I was using. One of the guys had flown in from Rome to do fly-fishing, but they hadn't caught anything. When they saw the long, pink worm sticking out of the fish's mouth, they nearly cried. I offered them the fish, explaining that I was a New Yorker and forgot my mother's recipe for gefilte fish. (The Italian guy was named Finzi, he laughed.) They showed me how to clean the trout, and whilst they were doing so, my girlfriend caught another trout, which we gave to them. Fresh trout good.

I left my leftovers out on the counter overnight. It was neither tough nor particularly unpleasant the next morning.

Lifting the top off is pretty easy. Although I would have thought the same about sticking some more wood in the fire box. The big difference to me (having only used the bullet), is size. The bullet doesn't take up much space, but then again, it doesn't fit as much food. The fire box will also take larger wood chunks -- this may require more attention to keep the wood burning? I'm guessing. If I smoke again in the near future, I'll let you know. You can bring the budweiser.

But won't the smoking overpower the brining flavor?

Can you splain what smoked corned beef is? I thought the corning process required boiling the brisket with salt-peter (or something like that to explain why the Irish . . . . ).

But here's a shot of the bullet: You can see the three sections above -- the top lid, which fits over the top rack. The middle, which holds the water pan with the center rack just above it (that's where I put the ribs, standing on end in a rib rack), and the lower section, with the charcoal bin. The top grill fits right at the top of the middle section, the dome of the lid is high enough that the 7.5 lb shoulder fit with no problem. The whole thing is about 4 feet high. Here's the charcoal bin, with the top two sections removed. They're pretty light, so it's easy to pull them off during smoking to add more charcoal if needed. (You don't lose much heat because the top stays on.) Wood chunks can be added through the little metal door, but the water pan is right behind the door -- there's not a lot of room to stick your hand in. (Don't worry, at 230ish degrees, the smoker is not very hot if you're just pushing in wood chunks. It's not like dipping your hand in boiling water.) This is looking into the middle section with the top grill rack removed. You can see the lower grill and the dirty water pan: (If I was smarter, I'd wrap the water pan in foil. Next time.) I got mine at Action Rental, a big rental place at 16th and South Van Ess. They're a full Weber dealer -- I got the rib rack and the Weber chimney (it's bigger than standard) there, as well as a scraper and two bags of wood chunks. Each item was probably $2 more than Amazon, but instant gratification is worth something.

My fault. I screwed it up. But here's a shot of the bullet: You can see the three sections above -- the top lid, which fits over the top rack. The middle, which holds the water pan with the center rack just above it (that's where I put the ribs, standing on end in a rib rack), and the lower section, with the charcoal bin. The top grill fits right at the top of the middle section, the dome of the lid is high enough that the 7.5 lb shoulder fit with no problem. The whole thing is about 4 feet high. Here's the charcoal bin, with the top two sections removed. They're pretty light, so it's easy to pull them off during smoking to add more charcoal if needed. (You don't lose much heat because the top stays on.) Wood chunks can be added through the little metal door. This is looking into the middle section with the top grill rack removed. You can see the lower grill and the dirty water pan: I got mine at Action Rental, a big rental place at 16th and South Ven Ess. They're a full Weber dealer -- I got the rib rack and the Weber chimney (it's bigger than standard) there, as well as a scraper and two bags of wood chunks. Each item was probably $2 more than Amazon, but instant gratification is worth something. Klink, how'd you get Ben Affleck to model for your meat?