jaybee

Oh jebus, awbrig. You shouldn't have admitted to using Essence. You're dead meat now. Fundamentally there is nothing wrong with the composition of Emeril's seasoning mixes. I'm partial to "Joe's Stuff" though, which is a creole/cajun spice mix that comes from New Orleans School of Cooking. Tony Chachere's and Zatarain's works well too. Joe's Stuff (click) Yeah, if you want o make meat loaf that's fine. But it ain't a burger to me with that stuff in/on it.

I never do, except I sometimes put salt inside the patty when I am forming it. This distributes the salt throughout the meat more evenly. But now I have this delicious gray Fleur de Sel with large crystals that I love to sprinkle on top if i haven't salted it. I like to have a slice of sweet onion and good tomato, but often eat it as a side, since the tomato makes the bun all mushyand the onion often slides out and falls on my lap. I do like ketchup on my burgers, but sometimes switch to dijon mustard. Jeez this is getting me hungry.

We asked Yasuda to divide the serving 60% sashimi then switch to 40% sushi. So more than half was just fish. Some of the servings were just one piece. I guess we had about 15 different sashimi servings, and 15 sushi.

i think for sure that thinner patty is the way to go, rather than a fat one at least. although a fat burger is romantic, i've had horrible results. like stone, i've had (nicely) charred outsides, but raw and cold insides. cast iron grill pan for sure, however. I agree. 1/2 pound is about as big as you want to go, and you don't want it too thick--maybe 3/4". 1/4 pounders tend to cook too fast using my method, since I like a rare middle, unless you make a rounder patty, sort of like a somewhat flattened baseball. The mavens also say that you don't want to compress the meat too much, but to form it loosely into the right shape. This helps cooking and juciness. My experience says they are right.

Sharing a corner of Yasuda-san's station at the bar, another eGer and I enjoyed a parade of perhaps 30-35 portions of sashimi and sushi Tuesday lunch. We told him to "cook" for us. I said to another familiar with Yasuda that I had not enjoyed sushi more since the hey day of Hatsuhana. She told me that Yasuda- san was Hatsuhana and a customer backed him in the new place. All I can say is if you really appreciate sushi, go.

I've developed an appreciation for a a mixture of ground brisket and ground chuck, about 1/3 : 2/3 ratio. The brisket adds a real beefiness and handles the fat in the chuck well.

Place a nicely formed 1/2 pound patty in a superheated cast iron pan and cook on each side for about 1 to 1.5 minutes to form a nicely browned crust. Remove pan from heat and place in oven preheated at 450 degrees for 3-5 minutes (depending upon desired degree of doneness). Remove from pan and place on home made onion roll. Spronkle burger with grey sea salt, open a bottle of '69 Chambertin, put your computer to sleep, put your dog to sleep, turn on your favorite Thelonious Monk disc (maybe Ruby My Dear or 'Round Midnight, eat burger, sip wine, eat burger, sip wine, eat burger sip wine...... Then join her in the next room..... On second thought, skip the wine, music and stuff and just chow down with glass of icy root beer. Edit Note: spronkling requires some technique.

We had a similar experience in Paris at L'Ami Louis. This was in its heyday when Magnon (sp?) was in the kitchen cooking over the small wood burning stove. For several years we failed to secure a table for four. Finally, in year four, we got one. Happily seated in the small, dreary place, crammed into a table for four that was good for people half our size, we discussed exactly how we were going to get the most out of this long-awaited experience. While we sat sipping a coup de champagne, the door flung open and three "goils" walked in, saying they had been looking for a place to eat and thought this looked good. Presto, a table was set for them! We asked if they had called for a table. No. They's never heard of L'Ami Louis. They had no idea where they were or what anyone would want to eat there. These were walk-ins in every sense of the word. We thought ruefully of all those years when "NO" was the answer to our calls, faxes and letters. All we needed was to be ignorant, giggling American girls from the fashion show and the place was ours. Go figure. The food, by the way, was spectacular. But that's another thread for the French board.

That is why I used the term "margin" when discussing the corkage fee. The margin is the gross profit. Operating costs, overhead, etc, must then come out of that to arrive at profit before taxes. By the time you finish calculating, it beomes clear that corkage fees based on the concept of a lost sale of their highest tier wines, for a restaurant that depends on wine as an integral part of their revenue, are reasonable and fair as we've discussed. For the cutomer, who brings a wine frm their cellar that cost £20 and retails for £150, a £25 fee is not out of line.

Clearly you aren't speaking about Italian food. No fair. This is LXT's party.

Thank you LXT for that wonderfully detailed report, including the atmoshperics. (Fading ladies and hanging flesh--worthy of a scene in a Visconti movie). Aside from the venison, did your consort enjoy the meal as much as you did? One criteria I use to rank cookery is whether a chef peforms alchemy--creating a taste and experience that transcends and transforms the ingredients. David Bouley, at his early peak, did that. Jean Troigros as well. I suspect Robuchon, too, but alas I have not had the pleasure. Your description of the skate implies this transformation. How did you rate the wines? Was there a stand-out?

Fred and Ginger Gable and Lombard Tracey and Hepburn Hepburn and Grant Stone and Cabrales at the French Laundry. A thread worthy of praise and thanks. These posts are classics. Yountville will be on my itinerary next I am on that side of the continent.

Was the £400 wine an odd man out or was it one of many in that price range? If a place has a large cellar of £400 wines, it suggests that they do a good business with them. I'm not suggesting that they charge £100 corkage, though some places in NY that average $300 bottles per two top could make a case for charging $75 corkage. (note, I said average). If they averaged $100 bottles, then corkage exceeding $40 would be hard to justify. (note, I've found the £ sign-- )

Corkage fee should be set around the margin the restaurant makes on the its top tier wines. If their top wine (not the odd super bottle) is, say 50 pounds, and their margin on it is, say 25 pounds, then their corkage fee should be around 25 pounds. That is assuming their food prices justify that. If we're talking about a 5 pound (sorry, I can't find the pound sign) main course average, then corkage should be in line with that. If their top tier wines are 100 pds, then I can see a corkage of 30-40 pds as justifiable (assuming that's their margin on them). We had a debate recently with a new restaurant in Brooklyn that wanted to charge $30 per bottle corkage. Their most expensive wine was $40. The average main course was $14. After making the case, they reduced the corkage charge to $25 for all three bottles.

I like to eat a huge plate of brussel sprouts, asparagus and brocoli and with garlic, then go out and play Terrance and Phillip.