Here is the story that went with the recipe.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/28/din...

It refers to pink salt and the difference between bacon made with or without it.

I'm planning on making some this weekend. I use lower amounts of garlic and red pepper than usually called for. I find it keeps the smell down but the flavor is still really good.

Interesting article by Michael Pollan in this weekend's magazine section of the NYT.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/19/mag...

Should make all the germophobes cringe.

So maybe we shouldn't worry about the 5 second rule. Pick it up off the floor, brush it off and eat. You're helping the body out. I'm going to worry even less about how pristine the kitchen is. Sanitized food isn't good food anyways in my view. Just pulled some asparagus from the garden and ate a few stalks as is. They were great. Going to have some more with lunch and maybe I should just use them raw in a salad. Got to feed the microbes.

I'm not bothered by the appropriate use of profanity or vulgarity. Especially when someone knows the difference between them and knows how and when to use them. I'm probably going to sound like a goddamn fucking prick, but fuck is not profane, its vulgar - a vulgarity. Goddamn is profane. Keep the two fucking straight.

By the way, the 4th commandment is thou shalt not take the name of the lord thy god in vain. So it's a sin to say goddamn but you won't go to hell for saying fuck. I find it curious that most people I know are much more bothered by someone saying fuck than goddamn.

What bothers me more than swearing on the boards is all the fucking baby talk. If you're grown up enough to use the naughty words, stop using words like sammies and delish. Sheesh.

I've had plenty of posts deleted where I used perfectly polite language. I guess I was off topic. Watch this one get deleted.

Use of concatenation in a non-tech setting. Admirable! Triple points.

Got it. You're not a fan of steak. No issues with that. I spend a lot of time at fine dining spots. Lots of client entertaining so I have eaten pretty much at every spot in NYC that appears on a every top 10 list multiple times. I have severe fine dining burn out. I can appreciate all those amuses that start and mignardises that end the meal, but honestly, I'm kind of sick of it. All the presentation and flourishes as a plate is placed in front of me and then someone explains the sauce that's being poured around the minuscule piece of whatever has become tiresome. I really don't need to have dinner take 3-4 hours. Give me a starter, my main and maybe dessert and I'm happy. No more tasting menus for me. Do that 2-4 times a months and it becomes wearing, and not a pleasure. That's when I appreciate the beauty of a steak, done bleu for me. No worse cooking crime in my mind than an over cooked steak.

This mini-rant has gotten me to think that I would add tasting menus as over-rated. Not a specific dish obviously. But if a dish on the tasting menu is so good, why isn't it on the regular menu? I'm sure I will get flamed for this. But after doing tasting menus dozens of times, it ain't special. At least not for me.

Balthazar

For me canned tuna doesn't taste anything like tuna and is a "whole new type of ingredient" to be viewed separately, so I wondered if canned salmon was similar.
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Fresh tuna is to canned tuna as fresh salmon is to canned salmon. Taste and consistency is totally different. You can't view them as substitutes. You can make salmon cakes/croquettes from both, but they will have very different taste and texture.

What do you think about steakhouses? Not the Outbacks of the world, but Peter Luger and its ilk. Shrines for simpletons and not chowhounds?

Ever notice that there are never any other customers at Freddy's? I guess that's why Frank has to over pay every time.

Syd Caeser? Is that Julius Caeser's brother?

Butter and a fried egg on top. Takes me back to grade school breakfasts.

Ha! That in a Freudian world would lead to lots of therapy. ;)

Lots of threads about cooking shows and dream restaurants. But I have not seen this questions asked, but what restaurant that existed only in a TV show, movie or book would you want to go to? Lots of people want to go to the Italian place in the Godfather which was a real restaurant. I'm actually thinking about a place that only existed in the TV show, movie or book. My nomination is Le Chateau Anglais from the BBC show Chef. Given the maniacal focus of Gareth Blackstock, the food must be fabulous there. Expensive I'm sure, but something that would be an experience. Close second would be Paradise from Big Night.

I wouldn't go near the diner from Two Broke Girls. Some what amusing show, but eat the food there?

Its not midtown, but one of my favorite places for whiskey is Brandy Library in Tribeca. According to the website, they have 4 Japanese whiskeys.

Butter easy to make and takes practically no time. Dump heavy cream into the stand mixer with the paddle. Wrap plastic wrap around the top to prevent splatters. Turn on medium high. Presto, butter in about 3 minutes. Pour through strainer to separate butter from buttermilk. Pack butter into plastic containers. From one quart of cream, I get one pint of butter and one pint of real buttermilk. You can't imagine how much better the butter and buttermilk taste than what you buy. Takes about 10 minutes.

I make bread from time to time too, but its more of a commitment. Even if I use the no knead version. So I don't do it very much.

Making vinegar takes time too. Easy, but not something you do on a whim. Don't usually have mother for vinegar sitting around.

But if you have a stand mixer, you should really try making butter.

Try the technique from the Good Eats cookbook by A. Brown. If you have a box fan, go buy the cheap air filters that are used in home HVAC system that is the closest size to the fan. You want the type with ridges. Place meat across the ridges on the filters and stack them up. IIFC, no more than 3-4 layers. Rubberband them together then strap stack to the front of the fan and turn on the fan at low speed and wait a day or two. Drying without the extra heat.

Silverjay - as always, thanks for the lesson on udon. Always thought it should be thick, but no reason to be. Udon would then be close cousin to korean kalguksu (sp?).

Kebabs! Couldn't help myself.

Caroline1, have you had non-instant ramen? I think of the packaged wavy ramen as the equivalent of Chef Boyardee canned pasta to home made pasta and sauce. Same family, but they don't look remotely related.

If you have a bowl of ramen at a ramenya, it will look very much like that picture with only 1/2 an egg. My problem with the egg is that it's overcooked. Should still be soft in the center. But if you have had a bowl of that with only 1/2 an egg, I'm pretty sure you won't be hungry. It's very filling especially with the cha shu pork and tonkotsu broth.

If a package that says udon contains skinny noodles, well that's just false advertising.

What do you mean by Udon Ramen? The link shows a container of udon. Why do you call it udon ramen? They're two completely different kinds of noodles. I can't get my head around that. It's like saying lasagna spaghetti.

We gutted our primary residence kitchen several years ago and put in a custom commercial hood that vents outside. The difference that makes is amazing. We turn it on anytime a burner goes on and it sucks out all the smoke, steam and greasy air out of the kitchen. Still get splatters on the range top, but we no longer have the film that covers the surface of everything in the apartment. Recently did the same thing at the weekend place. But I know that's not an option for everyone.

I think the basic under cabinet hood just recirculates the grease and spreads it evenly through your kitchen to allow a fine mist of stickiness to settle on every surface. Probably was designed by the makers of 409/Fantastic.

Venting outside and having a larger enough blower is the key.

Just wanted to point out that Totto Ramen line can be quite long. You can easily end up waiting 1 - 1 1/2 hours for a seat at lunch unless you are there at least 1/2 hour before they open and get your name on the list. So between waiting and ordering then eating, I would allot close to 2 hours for lunch if you can't get there by 11:30.

I like Gham Mi Oak. The sul long tang (sp?) is very good. Also like the modam bossam (sp?).

I guess we will just disagree about the pancake. I agree that the typical 32nd st version isn't that good. But I thought Kori's was way too thick and I couldn't even pick a piece up without it falling apart. It tasted more of batter than scallions. Recently, I met some buddies for beer and fried chicken at BonChon and I thought their pancake was better. But Kori's bibimpap is outstanding. The one dish that might entice me back. I guess when it comes to liquor, I am not a fan of infused flavors and I like plain soju served cold. Primary exception to avoiding infused liquor being gin of course.

Well that's the difference between what class a person is of versus a classy person. High or low class does not correlate with having class. r=0.

And did what? If she asked us to quiet down, we would. But 10 minutes later we would be back at full volume. If she dumped a drink on the table, I wouldn't be surprised if she got an un-lady like response back.

Ack! You've nominated some of my most favorite things to eat. Oh well, to each his own.

What I would add is anything cooked in a slow cooker/crock pot. Ease of execution does not make up for mushy over cooked grey greasy food. Sure you can do things to avoid any of those adjectives, but then you're probably starting in another pan and adding stuff to the crock pot for the final cooking and if you're doing that, what's the point of the crock pot?

Has your son heard about Lars Mytting?

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/20/wor...

I guess I don't think of Mesa Grill as fine dining. Its a nice place, but I tend to think of it as casual. Is that $150 per person all in? Do you drink or not? If you don't drink, $150 pp will cover a lot of places. Even if you do, assuming you order by the glass, you still have plenty of options. One of my long time favorites is Gramercy Tavern. The prix fixe is $88 if memory serves. Have a glass or two of wine, and the $150 is perfect. Much more of a fine dining place in my mind than Mesa Grill.

ETA - just checked the website. Prix Fixe is now $92.

I don't get this place. I tried it a couple of times after reading some of the posts here and I have to say I was disappointed. Unlike foodwhisperer, I thought the scallion pancake was a greasy mess. Did like the bibimpap a lot but the bulgogi wasn't that different than what I can get at the korean deli. What's with the flavored soju? No plain simple soju. Everything has some infused flavor. Never seen this place crowded. As foodwhisperer points out, you can walk in pretty much most evenings and get a table with minimal or no wait. Indication that business isn't doing well which is probably why they are having tax problems. I was hoping for better korean when they opened up since its so convenient, but I don't really see going back when they reopen.