eG Foodblog: Chris Amirault (2010) - Holidays in Rhode Island

[Chris Amirault]

Dude, I follow your and Russ's advice religiously. I have it written on a laminated card. But I don't get consistently good artichokes by following it -- and based on Dave's comment, I'm not alone.

[weinoo]

Dude, I follow your and Russ's advice religiously. I have it written on a laminated card. But I don't get consistently good artichokes by following it -- and based on Dave's comment, I'm not alone.

I guess all those years I lived in California gave me some sort of second sense about chokes - because I never buy bad ones. Though I touch plenty of bad ones in the stores...and at $3 and up a pop, those just never make it into my cart.

I'm pretty sure that the freshness factor has lots to do with it. If you're getting an artichoke that's 3 weeks picked, even if it squeaks, even if it is heavy in the hand, etc. it's just not gonna be as good as one picked much more recently.

[Fat Guy]

My experience with artichokes is that the good ones stay together. In other words, if you have a produce bin of artichokes and one is good then they'll pretty much all be good so if you get one good one and grab others that are visually similar they'll all be good, and if one is bad then it's usually a bad bunch and you should just skip buying artichokes for the day.

For me the most reliable test is to pull off a leaf. If it snaps, it's a good artichoke. If it bends and is kind of limp, not good. This assumes that you've already picked up a heavy, tightly-packed specimen with good color.

[weinoo]

Produce guys love us.

[Fat Guy]

Yeah you don't want to be pulling off a leaf from every artichoke candidate, unless you want to get into a fistfight with the produce manager. But I think one leaf from one artichoke works well as a batch test to make the threshold decision, "Am I buying artichokes today?" I find this is a good general approach to product buying: only buy from a good batch. If you try to find the three good specimens in a bin of poor produce, you're fighting an uphill battle. Just cook something else that day.

[Chris Amirault]

Hey, I get in fights with baggers over my potato chips. I've got no problem breaking off a few artichoke leaves in the name of TQM.

A few shots from last night. A few months ago, I had a big score in Tucson:

First crack at that corn this week. I got it slaking last night for an overnight soak, following Diana Kennedy's advice and a few tips I've gathered on my own:

Meanwhile, Andrea was thinking about breakfast on Christmas morning:

I'm a baking dumbass, so she handles the breads, cookies, cakes and pies for all our big meals. She also humors then ignores my "advice" when I feel the need to point out some half-baked baking theory. Invariably, I appreciate her polite refusal to engage with me, given the outcome:

That makes three sets of fruit soaking in booze: the smoked pineapple syrup, the prunes in armagnac, and the rummy raisins for the cinnamon rolls:

[weinoo]

How did you get the 50lbs. back from Tucson?

[Fat Guy]

Am I mistaken, or are those cinnamon rolls resting on a sheet of dough? If so, what's that about?

[Chris Amirault]

How did you get the 50lbs. back from Tucson?

In ten of these ziplok bags:

Only one burst, and the family got over their back aches pretty quickly.

[Chris Amirault]

Am I mistaken, or are those cinnamon rolls resting on a sheet of dough? If so, what's that about?

The PC is putting in a few hours at work, so I'll have to get back to you on that. Perhaps someone else around here knows....

[Fat Guy]

That's really impressive (the bags). I underestimated you, and your whole family.

[Chris Amirault]

As the freezer indicated, we like our English muffins around here, and we like them in one particular preparation: a bacon, egg, and cheese sandwich. (Lots of hand-wringing about what that means over in this topic.) This morning, thanks to a cheese splurge for the onion soup tomorrow, we had a special treat:

I am too harried most mornings to make a perfect fried egg, and frankly my technique isn't always what it should be. But this morning, using a ton of butter and a pastry cutter, I took a deep breath and coaxed one through a slow cook.

Sometimes, the foodblog spirits shine down upon you:

Bull's eye.

[Fat Guy]

Chris do you utilize Trader Joe's at all? English muffins are one of many staple items I've switched over to the TJ's list. I think TJ's "British muffins" are slightly better and slightly cheaper than Thomas'.

[Chris Amirault]

Haven't tried them. There's a TJs down the (busiest retail) street from our new house, and we stop there once in a while. I'll grab a few and do a comparison later this week.

[abooja]

You mentioned here that you are jonesing for a Thermapen. As difficult as it is for me to believe that a guy with so much high end kitchen equipment doesn't already own a fleet of Thermapens, I wonder how its use might differ from the infrared thermometer.

Your blog has been ridiculously entertaining so far. Please keep it coming.

[Chris Amirault]

Thanks!

One main reason: you can't poke meat with the IR thermometer.

[Chris Amirault]

Just pulled out and then pulled the pork butt for tonight's dinner. Behold:

[Chris Amirault]

Am I mistaken, or are those cinnamon rolls resting on a sheet of dough? If so, what's that about?

The PC is putting in a few hours at work, so I'll have to get back to you on that. Perhaps someone else around here knows....

Here's the word from Andrea:

"Sitting on mixture of butter, brown sugar and (stabilizing) corn syrup: will caramelize as bakes an make the goo."

[vice]

Chris do you utilize Trader Joe's at all? English muffins are one of many staple items I've switched over to the TJ's list. I think TJ's "British muffins" are slightly better and slightly cheaper than Thomas'.

I've switched over from Thomas's too, but to the Whole Foods' store brand ones. I'm sure I've given TJ's a try some time in the past few years, but I'll have to refresh my memory.

[vice]

One main reason: you can't poke meat with the IR thermometer.

You can with mine -- similar gun but it accepts K-type thermocouple probes (i.e., the same fast response type used in the Thermapen). While I like the multitasking, it is a bit clunky to use. If I had to do it over again, I'd probably get this meter and a separate IR gun.

[Chris Amirault]

Chris do you utilize Trader Joe's at all? English muffins are one of many staple items I've switched over to the TJ's list. I think TJ's "British muffins" are slightly better and slightly cheaper than Thomas'.

I've switched over from Thomas's too, but to the Whole Foods' store brand ones. I'm sure I've given TJ's a try some time in the past few years, but I'll have to refresh my memory.

Sounds like I should get all three and do a side-by-side, eh?

[Fat Guy]

That's a nice touch on the cinnamon rolls. There must be other applications for that trick too. Also means you don't have to grease the pan or use parchment. Do you happen to have a photo of the finished product?

Those flour dispensers are so amazing, they could be the basis for a whole religion or something. I have to look into whether there's a comparable device that can be acquired today.

My thought on English muffins is that it depends how you define the standard. If you make Thomas' the standard, then nothing gets you 100% of the way there. Thomas' have a certain texture and thinness that nobody else quite replicates. And once you're used to splitting and toasting Thomas', nothing else behaves exactly that way. Most of the competitors are slightly thicker and require a little more toasting time.

Probably the best English muffins in the universe -- at least the best I've had by a very significant margin -- are the ones served at La Grande Orange Grocery. I've been to the one in Phoenix a bunch of times and I think they originate in the LA area. But I have one friend who was like, "What is this crap? I want a Thomas'."

[JAZ]

While we're on the subject, someone recommended Bay's brand of English muffins recently. I've never tried them, because I distrust refrigerated bread products -- it seems like they'd be dried out before you even got them home. Has anyone tried Bay's, and if so, how do they compare to Thomas's?

[Fat Guy]

Around here they sell Bays at Walgreens. I have no problem with the refrigeration since English muffins generally wind up in the refrigerator or freezer anyway. It has been a long time since I tried one so I don't have a real basis for comparison but I remember them being fine. And I think they're the ones that come pre-split, which is convenient.

[hsm]

I eat Bay's. Toasted Bay's aren't doughy, have tons of nooks and crannies, into which the butter and jam deposit nicely, I like their combo of crunchy (around the edges, which tend to be flatter than the middles) and chewy. Haven't had a Thomas' in so long, I can't remember how they were, although the props make me curious.

Chris, this blog is a-mazing. Thank you for the great ride.