Post: #1

Who here considers themselves such? There are threads on 'cooking for playboys', and cooking to get you laid, but I haven't found a thread focused on the love of food and fine dining as a pleasure in itself.

Post your favourite things to cook, your twists on classic dishes, the ingredients you swear by, how your cooking changes by season, etc etc. If you have recipes you'd like to share then that would be awesome. If you've eaten something amazing in a restaurant that struck all the right notes for you then share it here. It doesn't have to be flashy, but it does have to be delicious.

For example, one of my favourite meals in the past couple of years was a big plate of spaghetti alle vongole, eaten on the seafront in Liguria in early summer. It was a little family run place, with only a couple of basic tables outside. The breeze was coming in of the Mediterranean, and you could smell the salt in the air. The pasta itself was very basic - freshly made by the Italian mama, and the husband came back from a fishing boat just as I got to the restaurant with a sack of the clams over his shoulder. It was testament to just how good food can be with just a few really fresh, fantastically high quality but inexpensive ingredients.

One of the things I'm looking forward to doing for a dinner party once we hit the autumn is rack of lamb, served with salsa verde, on a bed of greens, with a butternut squash crumble (with a parmesan and walnut crust). This is a really great meal. I first had it with an ex-girlfriend in a restaurant in London, and I've tinkered with it since. The variation on the crust of the crumble is my own invention, and works really well. The crumble is a fantastic thing to make if you are ever forced into cooking for a vegetarian. It is a rich and aromatic dish, which is very low fuss to make. It can be made in quantities in advance, and frozen, and only requires one pan (plus the oven dish). If people are interested I'll post the recipe.

All you chefs, amateur and professional, share your love and knowledge so that we can all prosper from it, and we'll raise a falafel in your honour as we do.

Post: #2

(09-07-2016 03:40 PM)H1N1 Wrote:  One of the things I'm looking forward to doing for a dinner party once we hit the autumn is rack of lamb, served with salsa verde, on a bed of greens, with a butternut squash crumble (with a parmesan and walnut crust). This is a really great meal. I first had it with an ex-girlfriend in a restaurant in London, and I've tinkered with it since. The variation on the crust of the crumble is my own invention, and works really well. The crumble is a fantastic thing to make if you are ever forced into cooking for a vegetarian. It is a rich and aromatic dish, which is very low fuss to make. It can be made in quantities in advance, and frozen, and only requires one pan (plus the oven dish). If people are interested I'll post the recipe.

I'd be interested in the recipe.

One thing I absolutely love is having my own fresh herbs right in the kitchen from my hydroponic tanks. Makes every dish I create at home that much stronger in flavor. I recently dedicated one tank entirely to basil. I'm looking at fresh pesto and pho all fall/winter. It's gonna be absolutely amazing.

Post: #3

I've been making a chicken salad lately trying to cut down my belly.

Spinach or mixed greens
Cucumber
Baby tomatoes
Baked chicken breast, usually marinated in something like honey, pesto, Mediterranean, or curry
olive oil mixed with curds of goat cheese
parmesan

preheat the oven at 450, then bake the chicken breast on each side for 10 minutes

while the chicken is cooking i'll pull a couple handfuls of spinach out and put it on a plate, chop up a third of a cucumber and add a handful of baby tomatoes

as the chicken is about done i add the olive oil with goat cheese and parmesan and then top the whole dish off with the baked chicken breast

no idea how many calories or what ever this plate has but i'm definitely getting a good amount of vegetables and protein in there. makes eating veggies taste good.

Post: #4

Definitely in on this. Over the years I have focused on buying higher quality ingredients or making things from scratch. Im in the military so I often have to eat dishes that are prepared with substandard ingredients and in very poor form, which tarnishes the mental image I have of it. This leads me upon return to recreate a "no expense spared" version to bring said dish back to a worthy status in my mind. The latest is as follows...

The Not-So-Humble Tuna Sandwich
Being out on a ship for weeks at a time, tuna sandwiches consist of Starkist tuna with industrial quality mayo on hard moldy bread. Low class!

The prep
- I started with a 6 oz sashimi grade ahi tuna steak, which I poached in olive oil for 30 minutes while I prepared the rest of my routine.
- I made a fresh mayo from avocado oil seasoned with garlic, chives, and paprika. Finished with some California olive oil for taste.
- I bought a fresh Italian sesame loaf and cut thick slices which I then toasted on both sides in a buttered skillet.

The execution
- After cooling I flaked the tuna into small and large pieces adding himalayan sea salt, shaved red onion and chopped kalamata olives.
- After letting things come together and the bread cooling down I piled the tuna onto the crispy, buttery bread and cut diagonally.
- I finished off my last bottle of 2011 Viognier from Williamsburg Winery, the tropical notes pairing perfectly with the salty, earthy tuna salad.

That my friends, is a fucking tuna sandwich.

Relevant to the topic Ive found Serious Eats to be both an inspiration and an education, especially "The Food Lab" where they use a bit of science in the quest for food nirvana and in the recreation of various popular food staples. Coincidentally, I have a rack of lamb in the fridge for Friday.

Post: #5

I have a confession to make (and in the context of this forum confession is probably the right word). I love great food, and exceptional booze pairings, perhaps more than I love pussy.

I dated an extremely pretty girl many years ago, who I went to Alain Ducasse with, and whilst the memory of her conjours up very little, I shall never forget the sautéed fois gras in wild mushroom consommé, or the lobster tail in langoustine broth that were truly *epic* culinary experiences.

As much as I love food itself, I dread finding myself in the kind of fussy restaurant that promises so much, yet delivers so little. I went to a talk by the guy who runs Noma once (with a date who was doing a fancy cooking course), and it was torture. To my mind their style is the reductio ad absurdum of all that is worst in high cuisine. Excessively meticulous and consequently pretty sterile (they also have a dish which is a carrot left in the ground an extra year so that it turns then cooked in goats butter - quite who pays for this nonsense is beyond me).

I was delighted to see the humble chicken salad given the airing it has been crying out for as a gourmand's delight. I have a salad staple of my own that is very fine with fish, chicken or pork, and excellent cold or warm. It's puy lentils cooked in chicken stock, with a 1:1 ratio of all the following veg: sundried tomatoes, celery (this must be chopped extremely finely), roasted red pepper, carrot (also chopped very finely) and some capers if you wish. Served cold or warm with plenty of good olive oil and balsamic vinegar, it's another that far outperforms the relative humility of the constituent ingredients.

I tend not to serve it with capers in the salad, as I frequently eat it with fish. And with my fish I like to throw on a rough chopped salsa of hazelnuts, garlic, capers, roasted red peppers (sweet peppers are excellent for some effective variety that doesn't alter the dish too fundamentally) and a tiny bit of basil, all in a slug of olive oil.

This salad is great - full of protein, healthy, and completely delicious. Chicks love it too if you feel the need to lower the tone of the whole experience.

Post: #6

As far as vegetables go, they are an essential part of any good meat dish (leaving aside pastas etc). They are a perfect complement to the richness/sweetness of the meat. When fresh, and seasonal, they provide an excellent counterpoint to the meat. They add bitterness (it is important to taste a little bitterness), which in turn gives a greater sensory effect to the meal as a whole. Good vegetables, if you have a lovely piece of meat to cook, are essential to extracting the full flavour from the meat itself.

Post: #7

Why am I not surprised H1N1?

Let me know when you're on this show:


To answer the question, my favorite all time dish would be chicken cordon bleu. I make it with hollandaise sauce and a side of veggies. Simple, but it's so good in the middle of winter.

Post: #8

Rec: https://www.amazon.com/How-Cook-Without-...0767902793

Post: #9

(09-08-2016 12:27 PM)The Beast1 Wrote:  To answer the question, my favorite all time dish would be chicken cordon bleu. I make it with hollandaise sauce and a side of veggies.

I was taught that real cordon bleu is prepared with veal, to each his own though.

But Schnitzel with sauce?
Unspeakable, what a twisted mind comes up with that.
The horror!

Post: #10

(09-08-2016 12:56 PM)Belgrano Wrote:  

(09-08-2016 12:27 PM)The Beast1 Wrote:  To answer the question, my favorite all time dish would be chicken cordon bleu. I make it with hollandaise sauce and a side of veggies.

I was taught that real cordon bleu is prepared with veal, to each his own though.

But Schnitzel with sauce?
Unspeakable, what a twisted mind comes up with that.
The horror!

Next week i'm trying this. Thank you for letting me know!

I always eat my schnitzel with apple sauce. So good.

Post: #11

(09-09-2016 10:57 AM)The Beast1 Wrote:  I always eat my schnitzel with apple sauce. So good.

Warm schnitzel, cold apple sauce - perfect combination.

Post: #12

If you like red meat, I'll let you in on this little secret:

Prime Cap of the Ribeye at Costco.

If you look at an individual ribeye steak, the center is called the eye. Above the eye is typically a small chunk of fat. Above that chunk is a rainbow shaped piece of extremely tender meat called the Cap.

Imagine if you were able to get an entire steak completely comprised of the Cap. Well, you can! Put 10 ribeyes together, standing up on their side and put them together. This is called a standing rib roast, at least before it is cut into individual steaks. The butcher comes in and takes the entire Cap offf of the roast, rolls it, ties it, and cuts it into individual steaks. Butchers call this cut "meat butter" because it is so tender and flavorful. It has the beefy flavor of the ribeye and the tenderness of a filet.

I use montreal steak seasoning a apply it heavily to both sides. Use can also use kosher salt and fresh cracked pepper with a little bit of Italian seasoning. Use a screaming hot cast iron skillet, and cook 2 minutes on each side to from a crust. Finish in a 375 degree oven to desired temp. Trust me, don't cook this past medium rare.

_______________________________________________________________
Sometimes I take notes, sometimes I take hostages. It depends on what day it is.

Post: #13

[attachment=33366]One item I love for cooking is the egg style charcoal grills. Unfortunately, mine recently rusted out (cheap one I got from Lowes). I found a really good replacement (made in USA) with ceramic insulation (to better control heat). I just don't have enough $$$ right now to get it.


A simple dish you can do that taste great and has low prep time is Memphis style ribs. I cook at about 225 F for about 3 hours. Typically you are supposed to use an indirect fired smoker and cook for 8 hours (at a much lower temp). I found out that 3 hour works fine with baby back ribs. If you use the less expensive ribs, at the end of the cook cycle, wrap in foil with some apple juice. Cook the ribs in the apple juice for about 20 minutes (oven or on the grill). Pour out the apple juice, mix with maple syrup, reduce the apple juice and syrup in a pot on the stove. Then glaze the ribs with the apple / syrup mixture. Cooking in apple juice will make the ribs very tender.


   

Post: #14

Those ceramic big green eggs are a big investment, I have yet to buy one because I move a lot and they are pretty impractical for that. But there are inexpensive alternatives, one that I like is the Smokenator attachment for a Weber Kettle, here is what they look like:

You keep that insert full of water and fill the bigger chamber with lump charcoal/briquettes and your choice of wood, and it does a good job of maintaining a temperature in the low 200s, while permitting a humid, smoky environment. I just put ribs that way on a rib rack, with apple cider vinegar and apple juice in a spray bottle to cover the meat periodically.

Another cool addition for Weber kettles is this A-Maze-In sawdust holder. I fish for salmon a lot and nothing beats cold smoked salmon (smoky lox style). Here is what they look like:

Basically just fill that with sawdust and start smoldering it (I use Alder, good Pacific NW wood). Keep the smoke going for 24 hours (preferably on a colder day with not too much wind), I actually have 2 of these units so I can just switch one out before I go to bed. All you need to do is use a good piece of fresh salmon (sockeye is best but coho or smaller springs are fine), fillet it (leave the skin on) remove bones with tweezers, then cure in a mix of seasonings, you have to use salt and it tastes better with sugar too, but also things like lemon zest or Dill work well too. Cure for a day and rise/dry the fish then put in the Weber. I have tried a few techniques and find that vacuum sealing the fish after the smoke and leaving it in the fridge for 24 hours helps it maintain integrity best. Some people say you should freeze then thaw the fish before doing anything to make sure you kill all the worms but whenever I do that it comes out fall-apart mushy, I can't replicate the true smokehouse cannery style. I have looked at freshly caught fish samples under my microscope and never saw any worms but then again I don't know what I am looking for half the time! I figure the 24 hour salt cure does a good enough job for preservation. Then try to slice it like you see in stores and serve it up with cream cheese, capers, onions and a good piece of bread!




The Weber Kettle is a great versatile piece for grilling and smoking if you do enough research and experimentation, but I do dream of the EGG, if I ever live in Suburbia with a white picket fence and a 45 minute commute to work every day with a nagging wife to greet me at home, I will at least have my $3000 EGG to seek refuge with!

PS: Check out http://www.amazingribs.com for all BBQ related stuff, the guy MEATHEAD is a true legend!

Post: #15

I had an amazing dish last night. A friend of mine's mother is one of the finest cooks (professionally) you could hope to come across. I was having supper at this girl's house, and her mum had made us, as an entrée, a tagliatelle of squid (as in, squid ribbons as the tagliatelle), with crisped chorizo, in a very gentle lemon, caper and olive oil sauce, with a dash of powdered squid ink to add drama to proceedings. It was only a few mouthfuls, barely more than an amuse-bouche, but it was completely glorious.

Post: #16

(09-08-2016 11:46 AM)H1N1 Wrote:  I have a confession to make (and in the context of this forum confession is probably the right word). I love great food, and exceptional booze pairings, perhaps more than I love pussy.

Post: #17

I love good food. The only problem with this thread is the word gourmand. Sounds like something Milo does with his boyfriends.

Post: #18

I usually have great results with a dish I like to call "Dick in a Box."

1, cut a hole in a box
2, put your junk in that box
3, make her open the box
And that's the way you do it

Post: #19

I'm reading this thread while eating a bowl of homemade Tofu hotpot (is that beta?)

Japanese food always represented this sort of final frontier for me in my culinary education. Over the years I've seen plenty of my peers screwing around with soy sauce, ginger, sesame oil, yuzu juice, pretty haphazardly and I knew there was a hell of a lot more to Japanese cooking than that. Ultimately they were still cooking in a Western manner but with Japanese ingredients. There's nothing inherently wrong with that but eventually you do miss out by not delving deeper into the culinary history and soul of a culture. I've always felt adequate in my understanding of French, Spanish, Italian, Indian, and Thai cooking, but Japan and China remained (and remain) this treasure trove of unknown techniques and recipes.

I've also had a number of incredible Japanese meals over the years, starting with my first sushi meal eaten in Aspen 16 years ago and reaching an apex at a couple of meals at Urasawa in L.A. and a meal at an eel restaurant in Narita. Along the way I'd eaten at countless Japanese restaurants specializing in noodles, hotpot, izakaya, kaiseki, okonomiyaki, etc. But I always appreciated it as an outside thinking, "I'll never understand this or be able to do this."

Picking up another country's cuisine also requires a pretty hefty investment, turning my already-stocked pantry into a deeper state of chaos. So now I'm sitting on 2 different balsamic vinegars, wine vinegar, 2 different rice vinegars (white and brown), Filipino sugarcane vinegar, apple cider vinegar (RVF represent), homemade peach vinegar...the list goes on. I've got dried shrimp, shrimp paste, fish sauce, 2 different types of Konbu, malted rice fermenting on my kitchen table to make Shio Koji, homemade kimchi, sourdough starter, cured egg yolks, sparkling mead, apple cider that's bottle fermenting, and any other number of odd ingredients and kitchen experiments I have going on that require babysitting.

It's really a hell of a lot of fun, if you're into this sort of thing.

Anyway, I no longer feel like an outsider regarding Japanese cooking, largely thanks to these three books:



This book is considered a classic and starts from the very basics.



This cookbook was authored by a Japanese woman and a well known chef that ran The Fat Duck for a few years (and was incidentally one of my cooking instructors)



Authored by a snarky white woman that married a Japanese man. She can be a little grating at times but the book is a vital resource for traditional Japanese cooking.

Anyone looking to do Japanese cooking at home, I highly recommend these three.

One thing I appreciate about Japanese cooking is that as I get older, I really crave lighter food. Truth be told I've had enough butter, olive oil, and animal fats to last me a while. I know we need a certain amount of saturated fat for hormone product and I'm confident that I get plenty of that. At the end of a long day or a particularly grueling week, I crave hot broth.

Whereas the bulk of European and Western cooking is based on fat, I'd say you could summarize Japanese cooking by saying it is based on dashi, the broth typically made from seaweed and optionally dried bonito flakes. You could actually further simplify it and say that Japanese cooking is based on water. Many traditional dishes are simmered or steamed, techniques not often used in Western cooking. Even a French braise or American stew start out by cooking vegetables in fat. There is tempura, which is judged in quality by the lack of grease left on the fried foods, and there is tonkotsu ramen, which is rich from emulsified pork fat, but these dishes make up a very small portion of the Japanese repertoire.

I need to spend some time in Japan.

Post: #20

Awesome post, Veloce. I could get into something like Japanese food when I get a solid recommendation on a couple books instead of having to wade through all of this on my own.

One question. I have heard it said here and there that Chinese food is the most creative of all cuisines. Would you steer someone towards Japanese food over Chinese, and if so why? (That is if there are other reasons besides moving towards lighter eating.)

I was making fun of the word gourmand earlier, but I caught that Fat Duck reference and was impressed, and actually remembered that a few years back I made some of that Heston Blumenthal bacon and egg ice cream just for the fun of it:





Fuck, maybe I am a gourmand after all.

Here's something I have made for a Parisian girl and got her raving. It is just the best chocolate mousse you ever tasted, and the recipe sounds insane:






http://www.waitrose.com/home/tv/heston_b...ousse.html

Quote:Ingredients

350g dark chocolate, 70% minimum cocoa solids, finely chopped
270ml hot water



Method

1 Place the chocolate in a bowl and add 270ml of hot water. Using a whisk, mix until the chocolate has dissolved.

2 Place the bowl over an iced water bath and whisk until the mixture begins to thicken.

3 Remove the bowl from the iced water bath and continue whisking until the mixture just becoming soft set. Serve immediately.

Making this with organic chocolate is the best, and I don't serve immediately, I put it in the fridge and let it harden up. It tastes great, is as light as chocolate mousse gets, and the only ingredients are a couple of chocolate bars and some water.

One final question.

Veloce, what is your opinion about Molecular Gastronomy?

Fad or real deal?

Post: #21

I don't remember how but I came across this guy's "How To Make Sushi" youtube channel last night. Some very high quality content from this dude.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCosny7d...-GWR1RKxsg

Here are some cool videos:

Since I love soft shell crab




Low/no carb diets




Artistic sushi

Post: #22

(09-21-2016 01:00 PM)debeguiled Wrote:  Awesome post, Veloce. I could get into something like Japanese food when I get a solid recommendation on a couple books instead of having to wade through all of this on my own.

One question. I have heard it said here and there that Chinese food is the most creative of all cuisines. Would you steer someone towards Japanese food over Chinese, and if so why? (That is if there are other reasons besides moving towards lighter eating.)

I wouldn't necessarily say it's the most creative. I'm by no means any authority on Chinese food, you'd have to get Global Entry into this thread or Suits. But Chinese food, like many foods across the globe, is hyper regional. Like other international cuisines, you also have to clearly differentiate between home cooking (peasant cooking) and cooking for royalty. You have to factor in China's geography and immense population, you have to figure in China's poverty and the fact they'll pretty much eat anything. You could summarize Chinese cooking as "Ginger, Scallion, Soy" but in order to learn the depth of the cuisine you'd have to spend some serious time delving into Cantonese dishes, Sichuan, Peking, Hunan, etc etc. When I think of creative cooking, I think of trendy chefs that push boundaries and keep this industry moving forward (like Noma and new nordic cuisine). I talk a lot of shit about 99% of it, but every once in a while there's a breakthrough that makes the rest of us chefs better because of it.

My impression of Japanese cooking is that it's just better quality than most Chinese cooking. After spending a few weeks in China, I don't necessarily trust their commercial food products and Japan seems to have a higher awareness of organic and quality food production.

Quote:One final question.

Veloce, what is your opinion about Molecular Gastronomy?

Fad or real deal?

Like any trend, a bit of both. Molecular Gastronomy was huge about 10 years ago, with many chefs screwing around with spherifications, fluid gels, liquid nitrogen, glass transparencies, etc. Basically you had a few leaders like Grant Achatz and Wiley Dufresne at the front of the pack and a hell of a lot of mediocre copycats. 10 years later, many chefs still utilize these techniques but in a more pragmatic way, so molecular gastronomy left some good things behind. Liquid nitrogen ice cream is probably the best way to make ice cream. The most popular fluid gel is a little condiment called ketchup; if you understand how to make ketchup you can make some really interesting and cool sauces/condiments. I mean really think about ketchup; it's perfectly smooth, homogenous, it mimics a solid when it's dormant, but when it's agitated it pours like a liquid. Pretty incredible really. There are other good tools like making hot custards, foams, emulsions that would normally be impossible without these hydrocolloids and techniques popularized and refined by Ferran Adria.

The new trend is foraging and flowers. And in a similar vein it's 99% bullshit. However some flowers and wild herbs add a legit punch to your cooking. Try adding a few raw nasturtium leaves or flowers to a salad, or borage flowers or chive blossoms or sea beans. [/quote]

Post: #23

I had a mackrel tartar the other day, with a light horseradish cream and some samphire. Samphire is one of those foraged leaves which really works fantastically with fish dishes - I'm a huge fan.

I've been enjoying one of Frances Mallman's cook books recently. I like his cooking, and his emphasis on great ingredients that haven't been messed about with too much.

Post: #24

Cool thread and timely for me since me and my gf recently booked a dinner at Daniel in NYC. It will be my first time ever in a Michelin-star restaurant and I will relay my first real experience with fine-dining.

Veloce, I wonder if you've dined there and what were your impressions?

Post: #25

Last year I discovered some great meat I never ate prior : Duck breast