Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

Not sure why it would seem better in a baked loaf. Perhaps it's due to the loaf loosing some of its tang and the crust becoming more chewy due to moisture in the air.

I can tell you that some bakers believe the older the starter gets for a sourdough the more refined and complex the acids become, similar to wines.

You may want to try asking Harold McGee or refering to his book "On Food and Cooking"

Beer?!

I smoke a turkey every year... and not only is it hard to hold, but it's a bitch to keep lit as well!

Seriously, You're talking about (I assume) a large bird, certainly larger than a chicken anyway. The turkey has a much larger mass, and more of it's own flavor, so the smoke won't be nearly as noticable. I use 1.5 cups of applewood chips done in stages (1/4 cup at a time) and baste with cider in the beginning of the process. I have always had great luck and never too smokey.

Good luck and let us all know what you do....

I saw this as a tweet from Michael Ruhlman... I believe it is a GREAT list! I can't wait to see the other 50... I don't go to restaurant's to be entertained by servers, or remember their names. I go to eat the food and to "dig the scene".

I think some folks have a problems with things on the list here because we have been trained by poor service. Restaurants should take more care in training their servers. I cringe every time I have a server introduce themselves, welcome me to "insert restaurant name here" (I know what restaurant I am at hopefully), make a quick joke (that I hear repeated every time they go to a new table) and repeat the specials like a robot.

I think we'll see bring new silverware with each new course in the next list... this as much as the intro, pisses me off more than anything when a server asks me to take my fork back "You'll need it for the next course". I sometimes inquire if they are out of silverware, Or I tell them it dropped on the floor.

I agree that some on the list apply to fine dining, as I don't believe I need the wait staff at Chili's to steam off a label for a bottle of Sam Adams... But going above and beyond is the wait staff's job and it's what makes people come back.

I don't understand the concept of keeping that many recipes. I probably have 6 or 7 recipes that I ever look at with any regularity, they are for things that I found to be flawless and didn't want to futz with. Having hundreds of recipes sounds crazy to me, unless they are in the form of cookbooks. Of course it may just be my A.D.D. talking...

This will also help warm you up if you're cold.... The bourbon that is... sans the other ingredients...

Bourbon Sauce
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup Light corn syrup Karo
1/8 cup butter
1/4 cup bourbon

In a small pan, Teflon coated pan preferably, combine the sugar, corn syrup and butter over medium heat. Bring to a simmer, cook 1 minute stirring constantly. Remove from heat and stir in the bourbon. Serve the Gingerbread warm with the bourbon sauce topping.

Yep, I gotta say... The 10 on that list are pretty sucky! Gotta agree with most of them. Don't much care for molecular gastronomy although it does have merit. Without the Grant A's of the world, how would we find the edge?

I'd also have to say that reviews and blogs are valuable no matter the source. At least the info is timely and in a lot of cases you can get feedback right from the source... unlike a magazine or so called "professional reviewer".

All the others.... I find them annoying. Hell I hate it when my table is in distance of another table, never mind communal. I do the communal thing at thanksgiving... and I don't think I'm alone in saying that once a year is plenty!

Media whore chefs... it was ok when they were actually chefs. But now there are media whore chefs that are whores, and not actually chefs... they annoy the shit outta me!

When given the opportunity to look in someone else's fridge (at a friends house or relatives) I do so willingly and with great haste. More times than not, I find myself horrified and asking myself, "how the hell do these people live like this?" Looking at the contents of someone else's fridge is kinda like going over to a friends house when you're a kid and asking yourself, "are all family's this weird or is my family that f@#$%! up?"

I guess we all have our little idiosyncrasies that make us...uh, special...

(think Oscar Mayer Wiener)

Oh You wish we were all happy little vegans,
Cause that's what you want the world to beeeee,

And if we were all happy little vegans,
cows and pigs would be in love with me!

Damn, I actually feel dumber for spending 5 seconds typing that....

I just flat out, don't understand vegetarians or vegans. I do however enjoy some of their dishes.... usually next to a piece of meat.

I Don't give a rip about what AB thinks of vegetarians, vegans or me... as far as what others opinions are about me and my eating habits, that's none of my business.

I think AB's view on vegetarians/ vegans stem from his time in the restaurant business. He worked in places not looking to cater to vegetarians/ vegans. So it was probably a big pain in the ass to cook special meals a la minute just for them.

actually @sailordave, you know the restaurant.... Portsmouth Brewery...

I do a spoon bread that takes 6 whole eggs, plus 4 egg yolks, 1 quart heavy cream, 16 Oz's. stale cornbread broken up and heated on the stove top with 2 sticks of butter (unsalted), diced sauteed onion, green/ red bell pepper (think stuffing), 16 Oz's. of cooked spicy sausage (could use breakfast, Linguica, Chorizo, merguez or andouille out of the casing and broken up) some sage, thyme and chives chopped fine and mix all the S#!% together, season it and throw into a large buttered casserole dish and bake @ 250-275 in a water bath until set. (knife inserted comes out fairly clean)

Needless to say, I only do it once a year....