vchase's Profile
Acetate sheets for Momofuku Birthday Cake
Looking to make a birthday cake from the Momofuku Milk Bar cookbook and it calls for the use of acetate sheets. Having looked at a couple local places for this product unsuccessfully, I turned to Google only to find out they come in a million different sizes and prices. I double-checked the book to see if there was a specified size and didn't see one, and every blog that I came across that did cakes from this book didn't specify either. Can anyone give me some advice on what I should be getting? I can't visualize how 'tall' this cake will be ultimately. I appreciate any feedback!
Homemade lobster stock question
I went to a fish market/restaurant that sells lobsters yesterday and asked if they had any frozen lobster carcasses for stock making and they were happy to oblige. The lady told me they usually save them for some of the local restaurants who ask for them too to make bisque. By the time I got home they had thawed a bit and when I opened the bag the smell was horrible - like really awful trash. I sifted through some of the bodies and none of the gunk was cleaned out which I'm presuming was the cause of the odor. My common sense told me to chuck them, which I did, but I'm just curious if these could have been saved by any chance or should I give them a call and say, you might want to double check what you're selling because you gave me a bad batch?
Using dried chile's
Thanks for the responses, everyone. I want to say I heard Rick Bayless make the remark about avoiding brittle chiles. I actually posed this question to Michael Ruhlman on Twitter a few weeks ago, whether or not they're not to be used or just not the most ideal product to use, and he said that it depends. Sometimes when I'm at the grocery store, I'll try to test the pliability of the chile's through the packaging and I'd say most of the time the chile's break. One poster in this thread mentioned he had chile's from a year ago that are still pliable and that suprised me - I got some ancho's and pasilla's from Terra Spice (a pretty reputable spice company) over the summer and they're pretty brittle now even after storing them correctly.
Anyways, I'm just glad to know they're still good!
Using dried chile's
I remember reading some time ago that dried chile's that are brittle and break instead of being pliable aren't any good. Does this mean they are inedible, or just not ideal to use?
Advice for making Bo Ssam (Aka Korean pork shoulder)
I actually caught that article but thanks for looking out! I'm sure there are some on this thread that probably didn't catch it.
Advice for making Bo Ssam (Aka Korean pork shoulder)
Schnapp,
Funny I found this thread as I was going to post something very similar to your experience and I would love to hear others' feedback on this.
For starters, I actually left the salt/sugar 'brine' on this and it ended up being the downfall for me. I can double check my book but it didn't say to remove this and a few other blogs and websites that I saw who did this bo ssam dinner were divided on whether or not to remove it, with something saying they left it on and enjoyed it while others said it ended up being too salty for their tastes. The skin was inedible to me, and I also didn't get the nice lacquered crust either (not that it would have made a difference considering the salt).
We did the ssamjang and ginger-scallion sauces he recommended and they were extremely potent on their own but when in the bo ssam it strangely seemed to work. The ssamjang recipe, I believe, has an error as many complained it was too vinegary so I upped the ssamjang and gochuang content by about double and still found the sauce too vinegary on it's own. The ginger-scallion on it's own I didn't love but like I said, it did work in conjunction with everything else. Chang says he's put that stuff on everything and a lot of people have called it addictive, but I just don't find two raw veggies like that all that interesting. Finally, we did his Ramen Broth and that also wasn't spectacular. I used all the proper ingredients, the konbu, pork neck bones etc. and just didn't find it to be that great. The company we had by seemed to like everything but my girlfriend and I didn't think anything was that spectacular and worth making again.
Soy sauce and sugar question
Believe it was a cup and a half of water, same amount for the wine, and 3/4 a cup of balsamic
Soy sauce and sugar question
I'm following a Ming Tsai recipe for a slow cooked pork shoulder and it calls for 3 cups of soy sauce along with a pound of brown sugar, among other ingredients. My main concern is the salt and sugar levels in this recipe and know that the 3 cups of soy will reduce over the duration of the cook and be way salty and I'm sure the whole box of sugar was needed to balance that. I picked up some low sodium soy instead and was wondering what you guys would reduce the brown sugar level down to. The other liquids in the braise are water and balsamic vinegar, fwiw.
Waxman's chicken
My girlfriend and I spent a couple days in NYC a few weeks ago and we made reservations for a lunch at Barbuto. I've been a fan of JW from his Top Chef Masters seasons and, being a fan of Flay's cuisine I was eager to try out his mentor's restaurant. I have heard and read from the 'who's who' that he arguably does the best chicken in the US so I didn't even bother looking at the menu when we arrived.
Look, I get simple, but this chicken was so absolutely pedestrian in my eyes. The fact that I was in NYC, a place that I sort of consider to be the 'major leagues' of cuisine, I absolutely expect properly executed food, and yes, the bird was juicy and the skin had crunch, but that's all I really have to say that's positive. The salsa verde felt flat for me and subsequently the bird felt underseasoned (not sure if the capers were supposed to add the salty component). There were no salt and pepper seasoned underneath the skin. I was hoping the chicken would take on a subtle smoke taste from the wood burning oven but I didn't get that.
Epically disappointing for me. Maybe I got too worked up about a chicken - I mean, it's a chicken, how memorable can chicken be? I just feel I have come awfully damn close, if not fully replicating the juiciness and crispiness at home and I think anyone with an instant read thermometer and the know how to make a quick brine could do the same. I expected more for a $19 half-chicken with no sides.
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Barbuto
775 Washington St., New York, NY 10014
Yuzu juice.. how much?
Looking to swap out lime juice in a key lime pie for yuzu juice that I picked up in NYC. Normally I use around a half a cup of fresh lime juice and just am not sure how much of the yuzu to use. It's a really tiny bottle from Kalustyans, 3.3 oz that cost $20 so I'm hoping I can get away with a few tablespoons but am deferring to the Hounds here. Thanks!
Food pro necessary if you own Vitamix?
I bought a Vitamix last year for a couple reasons: they can last a very long time with proper care, they're powerful and used in professional kitchens, and to me it seemed like it could take the place of a few kitchen gadgets, including a food processor. I never owned a food processor before and when I got the Vitamix, I primarily looked forward to making puree's with it. A few recipes I've dog-eared call for the use of a food pro, with a disclaimer of 'Be careful not to puree.' Because the Vitamix is so powerful, I'm not sure that's possible (my Vitamix has only 2 speeds). For those who own a Vitamix, do you feel it completely takes the place of a food processor, or do you still use your food processor for certain things?
Who went to the Foxwoods Food and Wine Fest?
We went yesterday and were fairly let down. For $125 a ticket, I expect a higher level of cooking, technique, innovation, and ingredients and while there were some booths who demonstrated this, I felt on the whole there was not a lot of 'wow factor' here. Pardon my French, but crostini's are a bullsh*t plate to serve with the price tag as high as it was. An Indian restaurant served a shrimp and chorizo skewer with really familiar BBQ flavors - I'd just expect to see something more elevated, something that would showcase your restaurant and Indian flavors and distinguish it. Standout dishes for me were a venison with blackberry sauce, a beef and cheddar horseradish dumping, and an arepa. A few dishes I thought were overcooked - we had a butternut squash gnocci that was extremely chewy and a braised pork belly that was really tough. The wine aspect was good and I'm not a wine drinker by any means.
I've been to the last Foxwoods Food and Wine Show and remember being blown away with really cool dishes and things I've never had before, like sea urchin. We went to the Celebrity Dine Around at Mohegan last January and thought that was a way better deal considering it cost only $25 more than what we payed yesterday. They had seemingly no budget when it came to high end ingredients with items such as lobster, kobe beef and kurobota pork. Chefs like Bobby Flay, Todd English, and Jasper White all cooked here and you were served by them and had a chance to say hello afterwards, whereas the big names like David Burke weren't anywhere to be found in the ballroom. Last time around Foxwoods was able to get Guy Fieri there, who was rapidly rising to mainstream fame, while the headliner there was Aaron McCargo (who was actually a nice guy but still not a 'draw' - his demo was 1/3 filled with people).
I'm not sure if I'd go again if Foxwoods put on another event. This last one had its date pushed back 3 or 4 times by my count, with no explanation or reply given when I e-mailed them earlier in the year. In July or August they had finally announced ticket details and put pictures of Tom Colicchio and Michael Schlow on their site but offered no other details, and it wasn't until about 3 weeks ago that they finally updated their website with the full itinerary of events going down. Judging by the crowd on Sunday, I think this really hurt them. For comparisons sake, Mohegan's 'Sunfest' event has been planned and announced on their website since the summer and the event isn't until January.
Nat Hayden's Barbecue Windosr, CT
Masha, if you're ever in Enfield, look for a place called Backyard BBQ. I enjoyed the ribs there. The pulled pork didn't have any smoke flavor though. Curious to hear your thoughts.
Nat Hayden's Barbecue Windosr, CT
I'm a BBQ fanatic and found Nat Hayden's to be a let down and took issues with the dishes you had. My pulled pork had no sign of smoke whatsoever and came heavily sauced - not that I have a problem with sauce but it just makes me think that maybe they overcooked it and tried to add moisture back by burying it in sauce. The mac and cheese was your run of the mill mac and cheese. I'd recommend a sharper cheese and better seasoning to really pick up the flavor. I thought it was bland and uninspiring. Not trying to be a food snob but I just felt like there wasn't anything that separated this place from any other BBQ joint.
Review of Cava in Portsmouth
Thanks for reading and taking the time to post. I'm really surprised about your experience there when the staff was off in Spain and I couldn't agree more that the place should have been shut down for the week they were away. I wish I could say it's amazing they know people that they trust their business with but your trip there reflects something else. It's not the cheapest place to dine and to not have the proper staff and chefs on hand was an irresponsible decision, IMO.
My GF got sangria the night we were there, and I got a cocktail with bourbon and peach puree. My drink alone was $14 and I only justified the price tag because we were on a weekend getaway. I thought it was good but nothing I'd ever pay that money for again. Come to think of it, I paid close to that money on a cocktail at Daniel in NYC.
Basing my experience with yours, maybe this place has a bit more 'maturing' to do before it can be something really special.
Review of Cava in Portsmouth
After our yearly weekend trip to Ogunquit, my girlfriend and I spent the day in Portsmouth on our way back to Western Mass last Monday. We enjoyed a beautiful day walking around the city and stumbled across a cozy looking wine bar and restaurant called Cava down one of the alley ways. After scanning over the outdoor menu board, we knew where we'd be eating for dinner.
We elected to go for the tasting menu for 2, which was $29 a person. Overall, I'd give the experience 3 stars. Like I mentioned, it was a very cozy space with a nice outdoor seating area and our waitress was extremely friendly and personable, in a professional way. The food presentation was gorgeous but ultimately we really only enjoyed two or three of the eight courses.
Some of my gripes:
- Our first course was a crostini with dark chocolate, sea salt, and a pistachio. I remember Michael Schlow talking about amuse bouche (a small, free 'course', usually served at higher end places), saying it should be really light and crisp. He mentions restaurants that serve cheese and crackers and says that rich, creamy cheese just coats your taste buds and dulls them to the delicate nuances of the courses to follow. I think serving chocolate as a first course would go against what Schlow preaches. On top of the thick chocolate dulling the taste buds, I really didn't care for the crostini being the vehicle to showcase the chocolate and to have what could pass as a dessert first was very puzzling.
- I remember reading an article where a study was done on how restauranteurs word their menu and how customers react to it. Two restaurants had basically the same menu but one used fancier words - 'haricot verts' instead of string beans, etc. The dishes off the menu that had the fancier words were ordered more often then when they were referred to by their usual American name on the other. It bugs me to no end when places calls fries 'frites' - please!! If you're eating them in this country, they're fries. It's like the people who call Target 'Tar-shay'. With that being said, patatas bravas, garlic aioli, herbs & sea salt sounds really interesting, but what we got were freaking home fries. Come on!! I don't have a problem with home fries, but don't call them something they're not, don't serve them outside of breakfast, and if you're a more upscale restaurant, I don't know why they'd be on your menu.
- Our scallop dish was really good, with a beautiful sweet corn puree, but they also served something on top of the scallop - like a shortbread cracker or something. I just didn't understand what its place was on the dish. Maybe for texture, but it really had a bland taste and took away from the beautiful puree, scallops, and chanterelles.
- We took some issue with the most beautifully presented dish, our hanger beef with bing cherries, cipollinis, and goat cheese. The steak was cooked to a beautiful uniform pink, perhaps sous vide'd, but was really lukewarm at best when it was served to us. The cherries were quite sour. The goat cheese really worked to counter-balance this and found that I had to first eat the steak with the onion, then finish with the cherries and goat cheese.
My favorite dish was probably the roasted dates with manchego cheese and serrano ham, as well as the desserts of berries with lemon curd and white chocolate, and golden pineapple, lime, and pomegranate molasses.
I understand their was a lot of time involved in putting together our courses so $60 seems like a fair price tag. We weren't particularly full leaving, and the fact that we took issue with a few of the dishes left us feeling like it was a middle of the road experience, although we were both excited to have taken part in our first tasting menu. We enjoyed our service and atmosphere and the issues with our food don't seem like it would take a lot to fix. I'd recommend stopping in and ordering off the tapas menu but would hesitate telling someone to get the tasting menu.
Crawfish in MA or CT?
Anyone know where I could purchase crawfish? I live in Western MA and have never run into any here, save for that one time the Whole Foods in Hadley had already-cooked ones. I'd really prefer the crawfish in the shell so I could make stock with it, but will settle if tail meat if that's all that is available. I wouldn't mind traveling either, so if you have seen them somewhere please let me know! Many thanks in advance
Foxwoods Food and Wine Fest
Anyone know what's going on with this event? It was supposed to go down in the last week of August last year, then the dates got bumped to this coming April and when I just checked their website it now says September. My girlfriend and I went to the last one they had and had a great time. There definitely seems to be a lot of interest in these festivals, so I can't imagine what's holding this up.
Flo's Hot Dogs - huge dissapointment!
Maybe my expectations were too high, but I couldn't believe how average I thought Flo's Hot Dogs on Rt.1 in Cape Neddick, Maine, were. It was one of our last stops on our long weekend trip to Oqunquit and I had seen Samantha Brown rave about this place on her TV show, which in turn led me to read glowing reviews everywhere on the Internet about this being one of the 10 best hot dogs in the country, if not the best. The hot dog itself was not unlike any hotdog you can buy at the supermarket, and her signature relish was just 'eh' - not bad but nothing to get excited about.
Me, my girlfriend, and our two friends all agreed it wasn't a bad hot dog, but the fact that this place has constant lines around the door and waits up to two hours, on top of the national press and notoriety is something we'll never understand. I'm from Western Mass and think Nick's Nest in Holyoke, or even a dog from Rondeau's in Palmer easily surpass what we had today. I realize I'm in the minority with my opinion so maybe I'm the weird one!
Restaurant Recommendations for Ogunquit, Maine
I actually just got back from a nice relaxing weekend up there! Last year was the first time I had gone and couldn't wait to get back. We had an excellent meal at Jackie's Too, and the friends we were with said they've never had a bad meal there. I had the seafood fettuccine, which consisted of lobster meat, giant scallops, and shrimp in a garlic parmesan sauce.
If you're into sushi, you have to check out a place called Black. They have a lobster sushi roll, which if you get 'times two', has extra lobster baked on top. I have craved this since last year and it was just as good as I remembered it. The oysters kicked ass there as well, and everyone was really friendly. We took some pictures of the roll and some with the sushi chef, so I'll have to upload them and provide the link.
If you love pie, also check out a place called Pie in the Sky on Rt. 1 in Cape Neddick. Awesome, awesome pies. We bought a Jumbleberry Pie (Maine blueberries, blackberries, and raspberrys) and it's almost gone already.
Major dissapointments there were a breakfast place called Amore and Flo's Hotdogs. We also didn't have time for a restaurant called Gypsy Sweethearts, which had a really cool menu and great reviews.
Enjoy your vacation!
