koan's Profile
What are these 'knife skills' of which you speak?
The key to having "knife skills" is understanding the importance of the left ( or non-dominant) hand. Position your material correctly and keep your darned fingertips out of the way...
Everything else is just maintaining a sharp knife and knowing that it makes straight cuts.
Duck Confit sauces
Not a sauce or glaze per se, but I like to poach then glaze cherries in red wine and serve them with the confit.
Source for Szechuan peppercorns?
Asia Supermarket 143 N. 11th Street has what you need and more. It's a pretty well hidden (in the basement) Asian market right around the corner from RTM
Rockland, ME Lobsterfest
An interesting perspective was provided in a somewhat famous essay by the late David Foster Wallace that was originally published in Gourmet.
http://www.gourmet.com/magazine/2000s/2004/08/consider_the_lobster
canning roasted red peppers?
Personally, I find it much easier to freeze roasted peppers...
Apple skins
My mother would always make applesauce from the peelings and cores when making apple pie. She'd cook them for a bit and then put them through a food mill.
Her's is still the best applesauce.
Picnic food suggestions
For a picnic, my preference is to bring a few hunks of good cheese, some olives, roasted peppers, a couple of loaves of fresh bread and a bottle of wine. Add other antipasti type stuff depending on whats available or you want to make (eg. cold roasted veggies in olive oil, dried sausages, etc.) It's simple and is one of the greatest lunches ever plus no "mayo worries"
Cheese Combos for Mac and Cheese
Lately I tend to make mac & cheese whenever I need to move some of the odds and ends that seem to accumulate in my cheese drawer. Sometimes that means that I'll have 6 or 7 types of cheese in my mac. It always works well. I will avoid the blues or any particularly strong flavored cheeses and shred up whatever I have that's become too meager to serve, add to a bechamel and go from there.
So to answer your question, I think they'd all work well together. I'd add the parm to some panko or other bread crumbs for a topping.
So I want to make a wiseguy pizza...
For pizza, here's a couple that'll instantly make your pies better.
Always age your dough in the refrigerator before the initial rise--at least overnight-- to allow the enzymes and stuff to work on the flour before the yeast hogs it all.
A good pizza dough is usually pretty wet and sticky. The more water in the dough, the better rise (flaky, better and more bubbles) in the oven.
That should get you started in the right direction...
So I want to make a wiseguy pizza...
The class was great. Lots of tips that have certainly helped my final product.
So I want to make a wiseguy pizza...
An interesting tip I got from a class with Peter Reinhardt was to mix a small amount of smoked gouda with the other cheeses that you're going to use in order to approximate the flavor of pizza made in a wood or coal fired oven.
It's certainly not authentic to the recipe, but it will give you some of the flavor that you're looking for.
Fresh tomatoes on pizza
Roasting works great, but you no longer have "fresh" tomatoes.
Try dicing them, then place them in a strainer and salt them (heavier than you think--most will drip away) This will gert rid of excess moisture. Mix with olive oil and some fresh herbs for your pizza topping
home made pizza dough
there's a big difference... Refrigerating the dough and allowing it to age for a day or more prior to the initial rise allows the other organisms in the dough to flourish before all the good stuff is eaten up by the yeast. This adds to the complexity of the taste of the eventual crust. As an added benefit, if you make a wetter dough, gluten will develop on its own, so you have to kneed less.
Best Philly Italian BYO
L'Angolo in South Philly is my personal favorite. I haven't been since the owners opened their second place though...
Soda in high end restaurant?
My teenage son still waxes nostalgic about the green apple soda that he had at Chez Panisse a year and a half ago. IMO, most restaurants don't consider how creative and tasty non-alcoholic drinks can be...
Proper oven temp for pizza
550 is what I use for thin crust pizzas. Stuffed and or thicker crust pizzas should bake at a lower temp IMO. ( I use 425)
Try stretching the dough if rolling doesn't get it thin enough.
Seasoning Cast Iron WITHOUT Crisco?? [Moved from Home Cooking board]
Making a batch of fried chicken is, for me, the best way by far to re-season my favorite cast iron pans.
What did I do wrong with my clams?
I find that some clams are more salty than others, I suspect based on the salinity of the water they grew up in. I also soak in cold water for a few changes until I don't see any sand on the bottom of the pot I'm soaking them in. I tend to not use cornmeal, as it seems to make the clams turn a funny yellow color.
IMO, the solution is simply to add more of the pasta water to the dish to decrease the saltiness.
BTW, what type of clams did you use?
Cancun
What's the Chow story with Cancun? I'll be travelling down there to meet up with my three brothers and have four evenings to fill with good eats. I'm assuming that most of the places to eat will be touristy and trite, but hoping that there a few places that a Chowhound would enjoy...
Are there any places that I should know about? I'm hoping for some good Mexican food and perhaps some good seafood.
What to do with leftover fresh-squeezed lime juice
Are margaritas out of the question?
Cheese cloth & alternatives?
No need for the cheesecloth, it's simply to make the eventual removal of the herbs easier. I normally tie them together with a small piece of string,or fish them out later.
When making short ribs, I normally do everything that I can to keep the bone attached, mostly so that it looks like a piece of rib on the plate. You do most certainly want to skim off the layer of fat that accumulates on top after cooling though. BTW, I prefer to do most of the braise in a slow oven after you've finished the browning. I find it easier.
