Phood's Profile
Polished Cast Iron--The Way It's Supposed to Be
I used to use cast iron fry pans as sauté pans.
I've switched to carbon steel pans as sauté pans recently; because the cast iron pans have a rough textured surface that is not as silky as the steel and because the carbon steel pans have the rounded rim of a sauté pan rather than the angled rim of a fry pan. The weight is similar.
I know I could smooth the cooking surface of the cast Iron with steel wool, but that is a lot of work.
For real frying I also like my cast iron dutch oven, because the taller sides limit splatters somewhat.
Does anyone else have opinions on carbon steel as contrasted with cast iron?
Phood
What should a home cook buy at a restaurant supply store?
Some small stainless steel bowls for food prep.
One to scramble a couple of eggs, one to hold the chopped onion, one floating in boiling water as a double boiler to warm or reheat; useful things those 6" stainless bowls.
WSJ - Olive Garden tries to attract foodies - cautiously
I didn't tell y'all about the time I tried to be healthy at the churrascaria and visited the salad bar for something green, did I?
Stay with the restaurant's core competence, and don't dare them to fail.
Allow them to be other than what they are.
Thinking of trying homemade yogurt; 3 questions first
IMHO it's rather straighforward. The yogurt cultures are rather robust.
Take preferred milk, Heat to about 180 degrees F. to denature the protein (per Howard McGee). Mix in some powdered dry milk if you want to supplement it.
Cool it to warm to the touch (110-120 degrees F.), mix with a live culture yogurt you like (I like Trader Joes French Market plain) and keep warm overnight..
I use a heating pad in a cheap cooler. Than maintains around 110 degres.
Refrigerate and enjoy
after meal etiquette
Curious, and I don't think it has been mentioned:
Did the restaurant have no other 6 tops, allowing them to shift others back slightly, or was there only one physical table that could accomodate? Were there no smaller tables that could have been consolidated? Were there available solutions other than rushing the "camping" party?
It sounds as if the restaurant was attached to the one specific table for one party. A system that can improvise, adapt, and overcome will create fewer outcomes such as yours and threads such as this
Just my $.02
Phood
What would YOU do with 40 lbs of hierloom tomatoes?
I like to melt 'em down http://www.saveur.com/article/Techniques/Soft-Touch and freeze them. I'm just finishing up last year's crop and am eager to gather some new batches.
Phood
flank steak/London broil for chili?
Like Forunder says; sandwiches with the flank steak/London broil.
Chili calls for cheap cuts stewed 'til tender.
Phood
Tips for a stuck cork
Get it all the way in, inserting one blad at a time-flexing to and fro, (look out for Italian wine bottles wth their narrower neck) and when inserted, give it a twist to break the seal between bottle and cork; then the cork and ah-so are removed with a few more gentle twists (and moderately muscular pullng).
Is "flank steak" not a steak?
Flank steak, Pepperidge farms stuffing for herbs and to catch the juices, grilling...Brilliant. I can taste it now and I just finished my supper!
Best pizza west of the 405?
Pitfire Pizza has tickled my pizza taste buds a few times. The Westwood location (JEO 405) is slightly preferred, but both the west side locations are good.
Sustainable and farmers' market veggies, well sourced meats, reasonable beverages, good crust, too, IMHO. I've cornered two bosses (executive chefs?) and their passion and business model work for me. The flavor and choices speak for themselves.
Just my $.02,
Phood
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Pitfire Pizza
108 W 2nd St, Los Angeles, CA 90012
Barcelona - Everyday, cheaper restaurants
Just got back to the states, and we had more fun (and conserved those expensive euros) by eating where the locals ate.
Staying and wandering the Poblenou area we found many (I didn't get the names) places, such as the one where the guy was stirring up the aioli in a large mortar and pestle with a cigar in his teeth. Face it, the ash was probably the secret ingredient.
Lusitano, at Castenys 23 was a Portuguese restaurant, wine and cheese importer, and tourist agency with a pleasant vibe, good pastries, and no cigar ash.
Feeling "out of place" at a restaurant
The OP got poor service, even snobs have their culture. Pity, as some equate that with fine dining.
Here in Los Angeles, I have yet to find a casual, ethnic place where a sincere interest in the food didn't break the ice. Language and unfamiliarity with the options fade to irrelevance when the server, even a busy one, gets to play cultural tour guide.
A Vietnamese pho vendor in Little Saigon delicately asking whether we want blood in our pho, the Chinese restaurant waiter discussing that -animals we consider pets- are only used for medicinal purposes in his culture and not for mainstream dining, or the Hunan-Chinese restaurant staff wondering how we gwai found their restaurant when there are no western characters on their sign or menu (Chowhound!) all make for a richer experience. These are the locations where the food is as good as it gets until you can get invited into someone's home, and even then, only when grandma is cooking.
Tips for a stuck cork
imho, The rotation fo the cork by the inserted ah-so breaks the stickiness of the cork to the glass of the bottle, allowing the removal of the cork by the ah-so. corkscrews don't address this bonding as they don' t rotate the cork.
my $.02,
Phood.
P.S. for Italian wines, don't insert the ah-so fully.
Am I alone in the thought that EVOO...
I share Harold McGee's analysis for your contemplation.
I use Trader Joe's inexpensive oil (occasionally blended with butter or bacon fat for most uses, and a good imported Greek oil for the flavor and texture.
Bien Provecho!
Food Truck Frenzy...No More?...
As my Daddy used to say, "you pays your money and you takes your choice."
Use judgement. The Vietnamese tacos from the NomNom truck had boring toritillas: Cold and small. The fillings were ok. Bahn Mi next time.
The Dim Sum truck had quality dumplings. I will check them again and again.
A barbeque truck in Langer's square on the CycLAvia a few weeks back had a pulled pork that rocked.
It's nice to have options, and the trucks vary these options. I hope to try more, soon.
Phood.
tipping point for wine cabinet?
If you live in a metropolitan area, you may have commercial wine lockers available. Many larger wine stores have such spaces. If you get the aged, collected wine bug, you may find that your collection will exceed your expectations.
Beyond the delight of the furniture and display, there is the functional part. My calculations show that it takes about 10 years for larger home storage to be competitive on price, and that does not account for utility costs. Lockers here in Los Angeles come in different sizes and price points, from a dozen bottles to serious commercial space. When I started, I hadn't considered that my collection might exceed 50 cases..
The providers are responsible for maintaining temperature and humidity, and they are responsible to lots of folks with larger, more expensive collections than me.
Bedsides, my home is space challenged.
I find I have to plan ahead to keep a few older daily drinkers as well as a couple of special bottles on hand. Thusly, I cannot, after a particularly good bottle, open another one unless I have brought it home from the wine cellar.
Cellartracker.com is a free service that allows me to keep track ot the my collection, others' drinking notes on those wines, and when my collection grew, the drinkability of my wines. It has been worth it to me to pay for this service. I can browse my wines while staying a safe distance from them, keeping track of which wines are in a dumb phase and which are approachable. As someone said; I can pet my collection from a safe distance.
Enjoy,
Charles
Dream kitchen - cookware, gadgets, knives?
knives are coming along, gadgets are clutter. Give me a big sink (or 2) and a small wood burning fireplace with a spit and room for a dutch oven (OK maybe a pizza oven) and I would be content for a couple of years.
I am not close (except for the knives and the skill to use them)
Do you peel?
Recently I've been enjoying the cleaner flavor of peeled carrots.
Additonally, the meat of fatter asparagus seems to provide more flavor when peeled than thinner asparagus unpeeled.
Chinese broccoli peeled is texturally more pleasing to me. Thai broccoli, like the thin asparagus, is too thin to peel.
My $.02
Least Deserving Restaurant in Jonathan Gold's 99 Essentials 2010
I've generally enjoyed J. Gold's recommendations. If you have more, please share; that's why we're here.
Only Thi N. speaks more to my palate, and has ever since he was the editor of Chowhound's LA subscription service. I still reread his goodbye notes for inspiration.
Best Pizza in Orange County?
As someone who makes my own Neapolitan style Pies at home, These guys impressed me with their passion, dedication, and flavors. They rock!
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Pizza E Vino
31441 Santa Margarita Pkwy, Rancho Santa Margarita, CA 92688
Walking distance to the Venetian/mid-price range/good for a group/Saturday night?
I've walked from Lotus of Siam to the Venitian. Luscious Thai food and good wine list. I'm not mainstream. Cabs work, too.
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Lotus of Siam
953 E Sahara Ave Ste A5, Las Vegas, NV 89104
Pizza toppings - over or under the cheese?
I agree that the permutations are endless, and I prefer the cheese as the second layer above the sauce and below other toppings on my homemade wild yeast crusts.
The point should be that while topping choices are endless in the continuum between foccacia and pizza, a liberal layer of corn meal on the preparation surface helps prevent sticking, and a dry surface and a dry clean peel make all the difference in the ability to move the pie without dangerous adhesion. A good, elastic dough also allows one to "pull" the pie onto the peel like this guy does http://www.chow.com/videos/show/obsessives/54458/obsessives-pizza .
I prefer a metal peel, and I have tapered the leading edge with my whetstone, allowing the peel to be slid underneath the pie.
Yes, I have lost some toppings and yes, I have had some misshapen pies, but practice makes perfect.
Same name, two different things
Not OT, but parallel...
1970, young midwesterner on Cape Cod for the first time.
Ice cream cone dips in Chocolate, Vanilla, and Camel.
It was tan and tasty, yet only when I grew older did I realize that Caramel in Bayspeak had only two syllables. For years I was convinced it was named after the ship of the desert.
Food myths that are useless/annoying, but are "common knowledge"
Perhaps the difference is native food/grasses versus purina cow chow?
Just a thought...
A sourdough starter to share?...
Not to shill here, but the folks at sourdo.com sell inexpensive yet interesting worldwide sourdough (wild yeasts coexisting with lactobacillus) that I have had good results with. Ed Wood's book, available on the site or in libraries, discusses the care and feeding of sourdough cultures.
As a physician once said, "yeast happens." I captured one here in Santa Monica, Ca. that likes colder climes and has an interesting flavor. The procedures from Mr. Wood's book has allowed me to keep it happy for 10 years with minimal, but occasional attention.
Play with food, eat, enjoy!
What are you a stubborn purist about?
For me; bread.
wheat, water, yeast (preferably wild), salt, and heat.
Santa Monica Farmers Market (Saturday)
I'm a fan of the Virginia Park market @ Pico & Cloverfield. I find it much less chaotic than the 3rd & Arizona market.
Gloria's (mentioned above) has many varieties of strawberries, and I enjoy the choice. Sample and pick what works for you. The Asian folks at the northeast corner have wonderful veggies. Check out the long beans. Ha's apples, Lily's eggs, (Lily is the dog that keeps the chickens safe, I understand), Weiser's farm always has spectacular stuff, and if their melons are ripe, they are heaven on earth. Kenter Canyon greens...the list goes on.
Both Santa Monica markets are great assets to the community. I don't think you can go wrong with either one. Eat what's seasonal and local.
Just my $2- inflation.
What to pair with for a ragu bolognese?
I recently prepared the Bolognese Ragu recipe from Saveur magazine; a meat sauce without tomatoes, it was rich and meaty with no acidity. It contained a white wine that also paired well with the final result. I used the 2006 Tablas Creek Vermentino. The crisp citrus minerality cut through the rich meat sauce like a cool breeze on a hot afternoon.
The pairing will depend, then, on which style is being prepared.
Sauteed beef: why so much liquid emanating from it?? Couldn't get it to brown...
Consider also the source of the meat. Many providers "brine" or add liquid to the meat. That way it may be juicier, but also heavier. They are frequently selling flavored water at the cost of meat.
