Philadelphia Tasters' Club

[Vadouvan]

Oh. Baby.

I think I remember you saying that, as far as preparation, you wanted to sear them? It might be interesting to do the lobes in each one differently: sear one, torchon the other?

You pain in the asses.

I suppose you are right but do you know what that involves.

DAY 1

1. Get all 6 lobes.

2. Portion 8 pieces of foie from each lobe for searing from the large half.

3. Devein the small half and remaining scraps of large half and scraps from larger half.

4. Marinate part 3 for 24 hrs for terrine.

5. Cryovac all of part 2 on a flat plate and hold at between 25 to 38 degrees in the refrigerator.

DAY 2

6. Pack,label,cryovac and cook 6 individual terrines (1 for each lobe)

7. Let them sit overnight chilled in refrigerator

8. Check that vacuum and color retention is retained on pieces destined for searing.

DAY 3

9. Unmold and taste test terrines.

10. sear and taste test portioned pieces.

11. Call the ambulance.

Seriously this means they all have to be marinated and seasoned by weight.

Are we up to this challenge ?

Gordon, this time you are getting Balthazar's Brioche.

Edited February 13, 2007 by Vadouvan (log)

[percyn]

You can avoid step 11 by taking 2 lipitors before step 9

[KatieLoeb]

Y'all are crazy. I want in.

Pleeeeeeaaaaase do this on a Sunday or Monday evening so I can join you.

I'll refill my new Zocor prescription before the appointed day.

And let's keep this on the down low, please. Last thing we need are the roaming band of sign carrying and chanting Foie Gras protesters that have been hounding Amada and M lately stopping by to ruin everyone's fun.

[cdh]

Indeed. IF there is a seat open, do discretely pass the word.

[MarketStEl]

What Katie and Chris said.

You should consider renting a hall, perhaps?

[TarteTatin]

We'd like to be there!

I have to go back and look, but are we doing goose vs. duck?

I have time to help prep, if need be.

I follow directions really well, from past years of wine stewarding, bartending, and waitressing.

(but then there was the time when Chef chased me through the restaurant, threatening me with a huge kitchen knife, for rinsing raspberries in water when I was prepping a table's dessert-in the middle of winter.

"Do you know how expensive that pint of raspberries is?

Don't you know you never wash raspberries?"

AAGGHH.

Remember Cafe De Costa down below in Newmarket?

Mr. Tarte Tatin was the Maitre'd/Manager/Sommelier there too.

Very romantic place it was. Usually.)

[TarteTatin]

Yes, I see, there's one goose...

[Vadouvan]

And let's keep this on the down low, please. Last thing we need are the roaming band of sign carrying and chanting Foie Gras protesters that have been hounding Amada and M lately stopping by to ruin everyone's fun. 

Your point is a good thought Katie however since we are a group of friends who get together to cook and eat without being a commercial enterprise, organized protest strikes me as a silly invasion of privacy. I dont think anyone needs to worry about that.

That isnt even remotely close to the problem with this endeavor assuming it occurs.

It has a 4 day lead time, could be expensive as sin if one has to use two of each liver.

I am on the hunt for some terrine molds just a little bigger than the size of a stick of butter.

That is the key to making this work.

I think the Crate and Barrel on Broadway and Houston may have the best ceramics selection.

We shall see.....

[Andrew Fenton]

And let's keep this on the down low, please. Last thing we need are the roaming band of sign carrying and chanting Foie Gras protesters that have been hounding Amada and M lately stopping by to ruin everyone's fun. 

Your point is a good thought Katie however since we are a group of friends who get together to cook and eat without being a commercial enterprise, organized protest strikes me as a silly invasion of privacy. I dont think anyone needs to worry about that.

Plus, I'd love to see a bunch of protesters standing around chanting outside in that neighborhood. They'd get a leeetle less attention than they would standing outside of Amada, no?

[Vadouvan]

Has anyone actually had the Gachot Ribeye at Barclay Prime ?

[Tim Dolan]

Has anyone actually had the Gachot Ribeye at Barclay Prime ?

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Yes sir. For me, it was one of the best steaks I've ever had. It should be noted that I've never had a steak from Lobel's or Luger's. And to put that into further context, of the steaks you had in your tasting I have bought steaks from Harry Ochs and Whole Foods with some regularity. Not surpringly, the Barclay Prime ribeye blew the doors off of anything I have purchased for myself, but at the same time, I'd be lying if I said I didn't expect that from a $50 steak.

[Yannii]

i had the gachot rib eye at barclay prime and loved it as well. the texture (related to cooking technique i'm sure) was pretty close to perfect. buttery and rich with fat but toothsome and not mushy. flavor wise, all i remember (it's been a while) is a wonderful lingering meatiness that held up through the wine flavors. does that make sense. anyway, it's very good, and i was mildly surprised you guys didn't test it out.

i would also like to add my thanks to chef v and all the other generous (with time, money and effort) contributors to this thread. it's a fabulous resource and a pleasure to read. thanks very much, and keep up the great work (i, personally, would love to see duck breasts and/or butter annalyzed, as their seems to be vast differences in type / cost etc..)

[Vadouvan]

Hey hey...cut that chef stuff out...

We are all comis.....

Yannii butter is easy, let me save you the trouble.

Unsalted......Lescure

Salted .......Lescure with crunchy salt.

Truffle..........Lescure with black truffle.

I have had Animal Farm Butter at Per Se, excellent but my best bread and butter experience of all time was at the first iteration of GILT.

Gilt's brioche and lescure rocked.

[dagordon]

That isnt even remotely close to the problem with this endeavor assuming it occurs.

It has a 4 day lead time, could be expensive as sin if one has to use two of each liver.

I am on the hunt for some terrine molds just a little bigger than the size of a stick of butter.

That is the key to making this work.

I think the Crate and Barrel on Broadway and Houston may have the best ceramics selection.

We shall see.....

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Well, if this is going to be a hassle, then we could always just sear them

But if you were going to get whole livers anyway the idea was that we would just do the two lobes of each differently; it wouldn't require getting double... or is this not doable?

Also, there are now three prep methods on the table: torchon, terrine, and just seared... with torchon at least you don't have to go out looking for terrine molds

[Vadouvan]

Not so Gordon Liddy.......

People will disagree but torchon and terrine of foie are identical preparations.

Long ago before the French Laundry cookbook was written, French people had been making torchons of foie for a hundred years.

Keep in mind that as a general rule, the frenchies name preparations after the vessels they are made in.........."savarin"............"Cocotte"............"Casolette" which is something entirely different from "cassoulet".

BUT.....anyway, my point is a terrine is called a terrine because it's made in a terrine mold.

A "torchon" refers to the tubular shape such that it could be held like a "torch".

Otherwise both are foie gras, marinated, seasoned, barely cooked, rested, sliced.

Flavorwise exactly the same.

Shape...different.

Pardon my French but the name "torchon" only became "de rigueur" after the Laundry book was published.

[wkl]

v, is buerre de lescure available in philly? or just new york?

[Vadouvan]

No sir.......

Dibruno should have it though.

President and Isigny are very good too.

The only pleasure derived from landing at Heathrow is running to the nearest grocer and checking out the butter and bacon aisles........yes entire aisles of bacon and butter at Waitrose

But Sir Townsend at 20/21 uses it.

Now thats a great reason to hit 20/21, a solid wolfe neck ribeye topped with lescure......

Also Heston from old gullet chats.....

http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=11925

The Salted one "demi sel" is what you want for bread.

Some restaurants (did i say Rouge) inaccurately use grey sea salt on cheap butter and call it "fleur de sel" which isnt Grey, it's white.........so what they in fact use is "sel gris" which is far cheaper and does not taste the same.

Edited February 14, 2007 by Vadouvan (log)

[percyn]

As a reasonable compromise, how about doing a torchon with one batch (no special mini terrines needed) and searing the other batch?

Cleansing of the palate would be essential for this tasting....what can we choose that is neutral in flavor but can cut through the richness? Vodka?

[wkl]

yeah, i love isigny. avec and sans sel. had it last night on toast (done over bincho tan, thanks for the idea, btw) with '05 chablis. magical.

[Vadouvan]

Dibruno butter selection is very good, the butter made from Parmigiano production is awesome.

[dagordon]

Not so Gordon Liddy.......

People will disagree but torchon and terrine of foie are identical preparations.

Long ago before the French Laundry cookbook was written, French people had been making torchons of foie for a hundred years.

Keep in mind that as a general rule, the frenchies name preparations after the vessels they are made in.........."savarin"............"Cocotte"............"Casolette" which is something entirely different from "cassoulet".

BUT.....anyway, my point is a terrine is called a terrine because it's made in a terrine mold.

A "torchon" refers to the tubular shape such that it could be held like a "torch".

Otherwise both are foie gras, marinated, seasoned, barely cooked, rested, sliced.

Flavorwise exactly the same.

Shape...different.

Pardon my French but the name "torchon" only became "de rigueur" after the Laundry book was published.

←

Fair enough V... though as a matter of current usage (correct or not) most of the terrine recipes I've seen call for substantially longer cooking times (like 40-60 minutes in a bain marie) than the torchon, which is poached for like a minute in the French Laundry recipe. That is, regardless of terminology, we've got to decide how we want to do the non-seared foie, if we want to do non-seared foie at all.

[dagordon]

As far as butter, if you want a real treat, try to get your hands on some Smith Creamery Butter (www.smithcreamery.com), from Louisiana. They'll ship to you directly, though production is so small relative to demand that it took them many months to ship out my butter after I initially expressed interest. But very much worth it.

[philadining]

Yo V, G. Liddy, do I detect a butter tasting on the horizon?

[brucedelta]

Ok this thread has me very interested on a couple of fronts:

1) In technical terms how is it that one vendor’s steak can be so far and above the others. Do they raise their own cows, control the feed, or are their buyers just really good at spotting the best.

2) I do not consider myself a steak connoisseur, but if Lobels charges 95 for a steak, do they also supply restaurants. I very rarely see a steak on a menu at that price point without the word Kobe next to it. Where and at what price would I find their steaks.

3) Am I reading the Induction comment by V as indicating they were cooked on a induction hob. As the owner of an induction cook top I would certainly like to know what pan temp to use for this style of cooking, maybe I could improve my steaks. Additionally does French Carbon work on induction?

4) I love Foie, but do not ever think of it as a make at home item. Probably because I am too much of an amateur cook. So I think of Foie as reflective of the establishment serving it (kind of line the DeBruno's /Rassili's issue). I can not help but wonder how to use the information your tasting might produce. On that front might I suggest providing data on local establishments serving given products, if the data is easily available.

And finally while I indicated I am not a huge steak person, I would probably select a Dover sole or Maine lobster first, but the post about butter has me very interested. I treasure my buttered English muffin every morning. Since I already know Gordon to be discriminating about steaks, I must trust that this butter is something special. I am going to embark on ordering some and if anyone wants to join maybe we could do a case or such as a group effort.

As far as butter, if you want a real treat, try to get your hands on some Smith Creamery Butter (www.smithcreamery.com), from Louisiana. They'll ship to you directly, though production is so small relative to demand that it took them many months to ship out my butter after I initially expressed interest. But very much worth it.

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[murkcury]

here's one vote for echire butter.

also, torchon is the french word for (kitchen) towel and in regards to foie gras torchon it refers to the item in which the foie gras is wrapped thus resulting in the cylindrical shape.