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The best dish you cooked in 2012


David Ross

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I will continue to make this dish during the cooler months - the lamb shanks I described here. The shanks were coated with a mix of crushed peppercorns, homemade saba and Dijon mustard. The fresh rosemary and smashed garlic bed were a big flavor factor as well.

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I don't think it's a contest. I understood this to be a sharing of what we did that we're particularly proud of. Maybe creative or complicated is one persons idea of "best". Maybe something simple with a loved ingredient is another persons idea. It's all good.

Yeah, interesting. The dish I posted was my favorite flavor combo. I plate all my dishes to the best of my ability and take a picture for others to enjoy it just so happened it looks nice. Hmmm :hmmm:

Maybe we're reading this wrong.

Sleep, bike, cook, feed, repeat...

Chef Facebook HQ Menlo Park, CA

My eGullet Foodblog

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Mine would have to be the beetroot consomme I made for Valentine's day. I used a traditional borscht recipe, but then removed all the vegetables after cooking, then filtered and clarified it. I made up more vegetables, all cut into heart shapes. Some were lightly steamed, some were left raw. The result was a beautiful light, clear, red, and refreshing broth with the crunch of fresh vegetables. I am even more proud because I came up with it myself :)

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There is no love more sincere than the love of food - George Bernard Shaw
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I don't think it's a contest. I understood this to be a sharing of what we did that we're particularly proud of. Maybe creative or complicated is one persons idea of "best". Maybe something simple with a loved ingredient is another persons idea. It's all good.

Yeah, interesting. The dish I posted was my favorite flavor combo. I plate all my dishes to the best of my ability and take a picture for others to enjoy it just so happened it looks nice. Hmmm :hmmm:

Maybe we're reading this wrong.

Yes, it is in fact your best dish of 2012. It doesn't have to necessarily look as if it was served at Robuchon's L'Atelier or served on your back porch in July. It could be a more intricate dish like the one I started off with--foie gras, ice wine and huckleberries. Yet then again, it could a a delicious spaghettie carbonara or a warming stew. The photos simply depict what we've created, but the true heart of a cook, I think, is the pride in knowing you created something absolutely delicious and it left you with a memory that it was your best dish of 2012--and something you'll probably make in 2013.

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Mine would have to be the beetroot consomme I made for Valentine's day. I used a traditional borscht recipe, but then removed all the vegetables after cooking, then filtered and clarified it. I made up more vegetables, all cut into heart shapes. Some were lightly steamed, some were left raw. The result was a beautiful light, clear, red, and refreshing broth with the crunch of fresh vegetables. I am even more proud because I came up with it myself :)

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Looks delicious. Unfortunately for me I suppose, I've never gotten over my aversion to beets. I think it goes back to when I was a kid and my Mother served us pickled beets with cottage cheese. What is the flavor profile of the beets in your dish? Are they overly sweet?

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David, the consomme was beefed up with some beef stock :) So there was some meatiness in there, as well as the usual veggies and bouquet garni. The beets contributed the colour. You don't need a lot of beetroot to make the thing dramatically red. And no, it wasn't too sweet.

There is no love more sincere than the love of food - George Bernard Shaw
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Yes, it is in fact your best dish of 2012. It doesn't have to necessarily look as if it was served at Robuchon's L'Atelier or served on your back porch in July. It could be a more intricate dish like the one I started off with--foie gras, ice wine and huckleberries. Yet then again, it could a a delicious spaghettie carbonara or a warming stew. The photos simply depict what we've created, but the true heart of a cook, I think, is the pride in knowing you created something absolutely delicious and it left you with a memory that it was your best dish of 2012--and something you'll probably make in 2013.

That's how I understood it. Now I'm just trying to decide if I did anything in 2012 that I'm that proud of or excited about. Embarrassing as it is to admit, I feel like I spent 2012 on autopilot and was a bit negligent on the creativity end of things. I'm hoping to put that behind me this year. Critics and pundants, in their infinite wisdom, dealt a crushing blow to the excitement, fun, creativity and will to push beyond the familiar that was going on in so many kitchens (professional and home). It's like everybody had to take a small step back to avoid bad reviews or negative comments that were based on perception of ingredients or techniques instead of what was on the plate. Maybe that wasn't actually the case but that was my perception of what I've seen going on over the past couple years or so. Kinda took the wind out of my sails for a bit... but I think I'm ready to jump back in the ring with a new outlook. In the meantime, I'll see if anything I did comes to mind that is worthy of this discussion.

It's kinda like wrestling a gorilla... you don't stop when you're tired, you stop when the gorilla is tired.

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From the Eleven Madison Park Cookbook: Qual Roasted with Endive, Dates, and Juniper

-Sous Vide Quail with Honey-Soy Glaze

-Red Wine Poached Endives

-Saffron Poached Endives

-Date Quail Jus

-Orange Puree

-Orange Juniper Crisp

Nice! What's the trick with getting the orange puree so thick?

The recipe has you simmer diced oranges (with peel) with sugar, spices, and a small amount of water for 40 minutes, until it is very thick, then you puree it.

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I therefore nominate a once a year favorite of mine: a first-of-season homegrown not-so-green tomato ( streaks of pink) sliced, seasoned and floured, fried in fresh bacon fat, sprinkled with brown sugar and turned to glaze on both sides. Served with the bacon and a cream gravy made from the pan drippings.

I do a very similar version of fried green tomatoes, but add them to a BLT once we harvest a few ripe beefsteak tomatoes for slicing. Amazing how complex that sandwich gets with the green tomato added.

I didn't take pics, but did pull off an osso buco that got rave reviews a few weeks ago. Most of the credit goes to our butcher who scored the most incredible veal shanks I've ever seen, as good as anything we've ever got from Lobel's.

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I've been thinking about this for a couple of days and I have come to the conclusion that the BEST dish I prepared this year, the tastiest and the most appreciated by my guests (2) was the Lasagna Timpano I prepared last February.

It sounds complicated but is really just following the step-by-step instructions and I used an easier method than the traditional.

It looks spectacular, tastes wonderful and I have yet to find anyone who doesn't like it or even love it.

"There are, it has been said, two types of people in the world. There are those who say: this glass is half full. And then there are those who say: this glass is half empty. The world belongs, however, to those who can look at the glass and say: What's up with this glass? Excuse me? Excuse me? This is my glass? I don't think so. My glass was full! And it was a bigger glass!" Terry Pratchett

 

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some awesome stuff here! Love that beet broth with the heart shaped veg, what a great idea for V-day! And I love beets, I'm convinced that most (if not all) people that "don't like beets" just never had good ones.

Don't have time to look for images right now and I made a lot of good stuff (never once the same though), but a highlight was my first experiment with planking salmon on the grill. Best salmon I've ever had, ever. And so simple. Can't even remember what we had with it, the fish was so good.

Two other discoveries that are high up there: "board dressing" from scruffed and charred (or the other way round), basically herbs and chopped garlic, rough sea salt, pepper, olive oil. Mixed and crushed right on the cutting board that then will receive your steak. The bomb!

And herb salad, a salad made only of herbs. Parsley, cilantro, green onion, mint, (add/replace/adjust) and a simple dressing. So super flavorful with anything off the 'cue!

"And don't forget music - music in the kitchen is an essential ingredient!"

- Thomas Keller

Diablo Kitchen, my food blog

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The new dish we liked the best was Mafe (needs an e acute but I don't know how to do one in this format).

For a PC, hold down the Alt key whilst pressing 0233 on the numeric keypad (usually written as Alt+0233). Like this: é.

Here's a nice resource for using Alt+. There's a link on that page for Mac users.

"There is no sincerer love than the love of food."  -George Bernard Shaw, Man and Superman, Act 1

 

"Imagine all the food you have eaten in your life and consider that you are simply some of that food, rearranged."  -Max Tegmark, physicist

 

Gene Weingarten, writing in the Washington Post about online news stories and the accompanying readers' comments: "I basically like 'comments,' though they can seem a little jarring: spit-flecked rants that are appended to a product that at least tries for a measure of objectivity and dignity. It's as though when you order a sirloin steak, it comes with a side of maggots."

 

"...in the mid-’90s when the internet was coming...there was a tendency to assume that when all the world’s knowledge comes online, everyone will flock to it. It turns out that if you give everyone access to the Library of Congress, what they do is watch videos on TikTok."  -Neil Stephenson, author, in The Atlantic

 

"In questions of science, the authority of a thousand is not worth the humble reasoning of a single individual." -Galileo Galilei, physicist and astronomer

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I'd say the best (which I interpret as "happiest with" + "great reception") dish I made last year was just a few days ago, for a small gathering of friends: locally smoked Lake Superior whitefish cakes with an avocado-jicama salsa, accompanied by a Domaine Carneros Ultra Brut sparkler. The kicker was using fresh basil in the cakes.

"There is no sincerer love than the love of food."  -George Bernard Shaw, Man and Superman, Act 1

 

"Imagine all the food you have eaten in your life and consider that you are simply some of that food, rearranged."  -Max Tegmark, physicist

 

Gene Weingarten, writing in the Washington Post about online news stories and the accompanying readers' comments: "I basically like 'comments,' though they can seem a little jarring: spit-flecked rants that are appended to a product that at least tries for a measure of objectivity and dignity. It's as though when you order a sirloin steak, it comes with a side of maggots."

 

"...in the mid-’90s when the internet was coming...there was a tendency to assume that when all the world’s knowledge comes online, everyone will flock to it. It turns out that if you give everyone access to the Library of Congress, what they do is watch videos on TikTok."  -Neil Stephenson, author, in The Atlantic

 

"In questions of science, the authority of a thousand is not worth the humble reasoning of a single individual." -Galileo Galilei, physicist and astronomer

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I didn't take a picture, but we slow roasted a pork butt over three days. Between marinading, cooking once, chilling it overnight, then cooking again, that was the best DAMN pork butt I ever had. It was a technique I saw on the food network from Constantino that he uses in his restaurant on a leg of lamb, I didn't think it would come out as good as it did.

"I eat fat back, because bacon is too lean"

-overheard from a 105 year old man

"The only time to eat diet food is while waiting for the steak to cook" - Julia Child

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Grilled lamb rack chops, glazed garden carrots and MC@H Barley with Wild Mushrooms and Red Wine.

I didn't eat as much lamb in 2012 as I would have liked. It's my favorite meat, and this has encouraged me to eat more lamb in 2013!

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We love lamb and manage to buy a free range lamb every year. The lamb is so tender and flavourful compared to what we can get in the supermarket here. We get the animal whole and cut it up into the pieces we like seeing there's usually just two of us eating. I've done different cuts sous vide but I am leaning towards roasting to get that lovely brown on the outside. Besides, I miss the smell of the lamb roasting. It's part of the whole sensory enjoyment of food...that's my kick at sous vide cooking.

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Southern Mussaman curry of beef from Thai Food, served with steamed eggs and raw vegetables. This was “best” because it reminded me how ridiculously good Thai curries can be with homemade curry paste. Quoting myself:

This is one of the most delicious curries I have ever made or eaten. Tender beef and eggplant, rich coconut cream and peanuts, sour tamarind, a touch of sweetness, just the right amount of chile heat, and beguiling aromas of ginger, cinnamon, and roasted coconut, cardamom, bay leaves, and cloves. Everything that a curry should be.

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This is my best/favourite dish of the year. Chargrilled lobster with alphonso mango. Both of the main ingredients were at their peak around May, it tasted simply amazing. Can't wait to cook this again next May. It's also special because we won the Chefs Choice category with this dish in my first ever BBQ competition!

The lobster is split and chargrilled with lime leaves and lemongrass. The alphonso mango is carefully diced with tomato, daikon, cucumber, chilli and coriander. It's dressed with sweetened fish sauce and lime juice. Really fresh and delicious. I'm kinda salivating thinking about it.

OMG - that looks and sounds incredible!

There's nothing better than a good friend, except a good friend with CHOCOLATE.
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The best thing I made in 2012 was David Lebovitz's French Vinaigrette. Deceptive in its simplicity, a great vinaigrette is not so easy to find. After years and years of experimenting, this one beats them all. It's perfectly balanced, beautifully flavored, and I've never found anything that works better with my greens. Thanks, David!

http://www.davidlebo...ch-vinaigrette/

There's nothing better than a good friend, except a good friend with CHOCOLATE.
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This is one I've taken years of trial and error to perfect:

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Chicago-style deep dish pizza with artichoke hearts, mushrooms and black olives.

Is that cooked in a springform pan?

I'm attempting deep dish pizza for the first time this weekend, and I've been trying to figure out what pan to use - the recipe says cake pan, and I was going to use a 9 inch pyrex pie plate, but if I can use my springform instead, that would be awesome!

"Nothing you could cook will ever be as good as the $2.99 all-you-can-eat pizza buffet." - my EX (wonder why he's an ex?)

My eGfoodblog: My corner of the Midwest

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