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Cook the Book: Bolognese Sauce
If you think this is impractical, try the Heston Blumenthal recipe. It takes a long time, but it changed my life.
The 10 Worst Food Trends? Really?
Meat guy,
I would never complain about packaged food products using the same ingredients as MG chefs.
Transglutaminase, Sodium citrate, Calcium Chloride, Xanthan, Gelatin, Sodium alginate, and Lecithin all have their place.
And sure, the industry figured out the uses of a lot of those things (but not all) before hand. What exactly is the problem with that? Just because a technique was invented by science doesn't mean it's evil. Brining poultry and pork became popular because of the enhanced meat that the big companies were selling. Does that mean I should just buy the enhanced Butterball instead of brining my own bird? Just because xanthan is used to make a stable emulsion in that horrible bottle of Italian dressing I can't use it to make my home made dressing stable?
Sous Vide was invented for institutional cooking in France, but that doesn't mean that it can't make the tastiest steaks and duck confit I've ever had.
I'm sure cooking potatoes in a water bath to set their starch was invented by the instant mashed potato producers, but that doesn't make my potatoes inferior when I attempt it.
If we set our limits as not doing anything that any industrial producer has done before, our options are going to get pretty limited quickly.
The 10 Worst Food Trends? Really?
This quote just baffled me: "something feels disconnected when a chef has to buy a machine costing tens of thousands of dollars to cook."
Like an oven? Or a Stove? I'm not sure what piece of equipment costs outrageously more than any of the other equipment that you'll find in a professional kitchen. A thermal circulator is under $1000. An anti-griddle costs about that. I assume most kitchens already have a cryovac (if they don't they probably should). A smoking gun is like $75. This is nothing compared to the cost of other professional equipment. The only thing I can think of which someone might use for modern techniques is a combi oven, but I don't think many chefs feel they need one to do any special techniques (and they're useful for a whole range of other things).
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Recent Comments | Response to Comments
Mixed Review: Ad Hoc's Fried Chicken Mix
I've actually got to say that the mix isn't too far fetched in terms of price. Just the ingredients for the brine contain: 5 lemons, 24 bay leaves, 1 bunch flat-leaf parsley, 1 bunch thyme, 1/2 cup honey, 1 head garlic, 3/4 cup black peppercorns, and 10 ounces kosher salt.
Honey isn't cheap, I'd guess 1/2 cup would easily cost at least $1. If I'm lucky I can get full sized lemons at 3/$1. If you aren't growing your own parsley and thyme, you're going to spend a buck or so on each of those. Kosher salt is cheap, but you're using almost 1/4 of a box to make that brine. I buy black pepper at $1.50/oz, and I'd guess 3/4 cup is about 2 oz. I pay $2.00/oz for bay leaves, but couldn't tell you how much 24 weigh. I'd guess at least 1 oz. A head of garlic probably costs $.50 or so depending on it's weight.
So, some really basic calculations I might be paying as much as $10 just to make the brine. Sure they may be all pantry ingredients, but that doesn't mean I didn't actually pay for them. By the time we figure in the cost of the flour and spices in the coating, we might even be approaching the $15 for the mix. Of course, I'm probably using better fresher ingredients; but it's also much less convenient.
Cook the Book: Bolognese Sauce
If you think this is impractical, try the Heston Blumenthal recipe. It takes a long time, but it changed my life.
The 10 Worst Food Trends? Really?
Meat guy,
I would never complain about packaged food products using the same ingredients as MG chefs.
Transglutaminase, Sodium citrate, Calcium Chloride, Xanthan, Gelatin, Sodium alginate, and Lecithin all have their place.
And sure, the industry figured out the uses of a lot of those things (but not all) before hand. What exactly is the problem with that? Just because a technique was invented by science doesn't mean it's evil. Brining poultry and pork became popular because of the enhanced meat that the big companies were selling. Does that mean I should just buy the enhanced Butterball instead of brining my own bird? Just because xanthan is used to make a stable emulsion in that horrible bottle of Italian dressing I can't use it to make my home made dressing stable?
Sous Vide was invented for institutional cooking in France, but that doesn't mean that it can't make the tastiest steaks and duck confit I've ever had.
I'm sure cooking potatoes in a water bath to set their starch was invented by the instant mashed potato producers, but that doesn't make my potatoes inferior when I attempt it.
If we set our limits as not doing anything that any industrial producer has done before, our options are going to get pretty limited quickly.
The 10 Worst Food Trends? Really?
This quote just baffled me: "something feels disconnected when a chef has to buy a machine costing tens of thousands of dollars to cook."
Like an oven? Or a Stove? I'm not sure what piece of equipment costs outrageously more than any of the other equipment that you'll find in a professional kitchen. A thermal circulator is under $1000. An anti-griddle costs about that. I assume most kitchens already have a cryovac (if they don't they probably should). A smoking gun is like $75. This is nothing compared to the cost of other professional equipment. The only thing I can think of which someone might use for modern techniques is a combi oven, but I don't think many chefs feel they need one to do any special techniques (and they're useful for a whole range of other things).
Cook the Book: The Southern Italian Table
Beans, Sausage, Pasta, and Greens
The Food Lab: Perfect Boiled Eggs
@dre2112,
That won't work correctly all the time. It's highly dependent on the size and shape of your pot, and how much water is in it.
Zeeks Pizza: Seattle's Decent Mini-Chain Inspires Deep Pizza Thoughts
Living in Seattle, I have to say that Pagliacci is better than Zeek's. Especially if you order your crust well done at Pagliacci's.
The AHT Guide to Hamburger and Cheeseburger Styles
I've had good luck with making my own Waygu burgers at home. I simply grind Waygu brisket on the large die of my kitchen aid meat grinder, form a 6 oz patty, and griddle to medium rare.
Cook the Book: 'Zingerman's Guide to Better Bacon'
Because it's fun to make yourself.
Cook the Book: 'Big Bob Gibson's BBQ Book'
The last time I smoked a pork shoulder, I made the renowned mr. brown. It's great.
Cook the Book: 'Mrs. Rowe's Little Book of Southern Pies'
My baking is almost always a failure.
Cook the Book: 'The Barcelona Cookbook'
The first time I had tapas with my future wife.
Cook the Book: 'Bobby Flay's Burgers, Fries & Shakes'
Ground Waygu brisket with american cheese, on a fluffy bun.
Threadless T-Shirt Giveaway: Booty Fruit
ripe strawberries
Threadless T-Shirt Giveaway: Lemon Aid
I am lazy and open a jar.
Cook the Book: 'L.A.'s Original Farmers Market Cookbook'
Probably Olsen Farms... Maris Piper potatoes are the best. But I also like Skagit River Ranch and Foraged and Found.
Threadless T-Shirt Giveaway: Pancake Mountain
Does a dutch baby count?
Cook the Book: 'Seven Fires'
I love the Brazilian steak house.
Serious Heat: Where Do You Buy Your Spices?
World Spice Merchants in Seattle. I think they're better than Penzey's, and their 1oz increment method of selling really appeals to me.
Cook the Book: 'Modern Spice'
Thai is my achillies heal.
Cook the Book: 'Rustic Fruit Desserts'
Does a rhubarb count? If so rhubarb pie. If not, cherry clafoutis.
Who Makes the Best Vanilla Ice Cream?
I have a feeling these were ranked in inverse proportion to the number of ingredients. I remember chuckling when Haagen-Daz released their five ingredient ice cream. Other than extra flavors, that's all they've ever used. The ingredients for the vanilla are: Cream, Skim Milk, Sugar, Egg Yolks, Natural Vanilla.
The Blumenburger — The Most Labor-Intensive Hamburger Ever
@Kenji -- Have you had a Rosenfeld's bagel? Certainly best in Boston, and I'd put it up against any "New York" variety.
For the way a split-top bun is meant to be eaten, get a hot dog at Simco's on Blue Hill Ave in Mattapan. They sear both sides of the bun on a griddle, so it's golden and crisp.
Mixed Review: Ad Hoc's Fried Chicken Mix
I'd personally save the money and buy the cookbook, because it is fantastic and has a bunch of other great recipes and beautiful photos too.
However: It actually looks like the mix IS STILL AVAILABLE ONLINE.
Mixed Review: Ad Hoc's Fried Chicken Mix
The one time I ate at Ad Hoc it happened to be fried chicken night, and at first I was a little annoyed that I would be paying well over $100 for my wife and I to eat fried chicken with some fancy sides. However, it was definitely the best fried chicken I'd ever had in my life. I ate several pieces, and it didn't give me that heavy, full feeling that normally comes with any large amount of deep fried food. On the way out, I spotted Thomas Keller himself sitting at the bar eating some chicken.
The mix is expensive, but if it tastes anything like it does at the restaurant, then it might be worth it. I suppose the same money could be used to buy the cookbook, but buying the mix at SW would be kind of a fun treat.
Mixed Review: Ad Hoc's Fried Chicken Mix
I just tried the Ad Hoc recipe myself. And it was delicious. This from a girl who grew up eating fried chicken at least once a week. That brine is righteous. When I feel like scrubbing the entire kitchen again, I'm gonna fry some more chicken.
Mixed Review: Ad Hoc's Fried Chicken Mix
this is obviously not about saving time, it's about replicating something by thomas keller.
Mixed Review: Ad Hoc's Fried Chicken Mix
Am I the only one wondering if it's safe to let uncooked chicken sit out for 2 hours? www.satisfiedsole.com
Mixed Review: Ad Hoc's Fried Chicken Mix
Cultural heritage days are tricky, since kids aren't the most adventurous eaters. When I had to do that in high school I brought German potato pancakes. I was smart enough to choose the least intimidating dish I could find in the German cookbook. They went over quite well, once people figured out they were "a lot like hash browns" and were good with ketchup.
One guy brought something that he wouldn't admit what it was until some people had eaten it. I don't remember exactly, but it turned out to contain donkey meat or horse meat or something like that. I do remember that I ate some and didn't think it was that good.
Don't understand why cold fried chicken didn't go over well. I LOVE leftover fried chicken! This mix doesn't seem to actually save any time though, or at least not very much. It amounts to a package of seasoned salt and a package of seasoned flour, with instructions, right?
Arbeck, I seriously doubt that bag contains fresh lemons, fresh flat leaf parsley, a head of garlic, etc. That mix contains dried seasoning powder. Compare it in price to a can of old bay or cajun seasoning instead.
It sounds like just as much work as making it from scratch, and that's a bit too much work for me most of the time. I've made fried chicken from scratch about twice in my life, but Popeye's is just down the street. (And now I'm on a diet anyway, so oh well.)
This mix sounds like mainly a fun novelty, like those cookie kit jars people sometimes give people for Xmas if they can't think of something you might have actually wanted.
Mixed Review: Ad Hoc's Fried Chicken Mix
I must admit I was taken in with Keller's name so I tried the mix, there are two bags of mix and I actually threw the other one away. I didn't like the end result as all, a lot of time and effort for nothing. Short cuts are not the way to go when dealing with fried chicken. Never again. Next time it's old bay and flour-that's it!
Mixed Review: Ad Hoc's Fried Chicken Mix
@KB, i was invited to my friend's church social where we were invited to bring something from our cultural heritage. i'm jewish, so i brought my grandmother's chopped chicken livers. i was not a popular guest that evening. i will NEVER forget the look on the face of the host when i told him what was in the bowl.
Mixed Review: Ad Hoc's Fried Chicken Mix
Ugh I hate when you cannot find the products written about. Just checked in my area and WS doesn't have it. Who wants to be nice to me and send me some?
Mixed Review: Ad Hoc's Fried Chicken Mix
@LucyBaker- You had me laughing. We had an international day at elementary school once and were supposed to bring a dish from our heritage. Being Irish, I badly wanted to bring a green frosted cake! My mother insisted on making this grayish potato dish that no one ate. I remember being mortified. Thanks for making me recall that.
Mixed Review: Ad Hoc's Fried Chicken Mix
I love me my fried chicken as much as anybody, but given the cost in money and time here, I think I'll stick with cruising through the drive-up window at Popeye's, or one of a couple of local independent restaurants for those times I crave it pan-fried as opposed to deep-fried. It's difficult to imagine anything better.
Mixed Review: Ad Hoc's Fried Chicken Mix
Sorry, @gastronomeg.
Mixed Review: Ad Hoc's Fried Chicken Mix
@gastromeg: I laughed and thought "what a tease," when I read the last paragraph too.
Mixed Review: Ad Hoc's Fried Chicken Mix
You gotta love that packaging.
As with most things from Williams Sonoma, it makes a great gift. It doesn't matter how cheap it is to buy from scratch. Being presented with the pieces parts from a grocery store wrapped may work for some people, but to others, it doesn't look quite as presentable even though it's more efficient.
The Food Lab: Perfect Boiled Eggs
@bgruber
Thanks to SeriousEats convenient comment subscriptions, I get comments forwarded to my inbox, so yep. Still reading them.
As for the answer... em... because Cook's Illustrated readers like their salmon more well-done than I do?
shh... don't tell Chris!
The Food Lab: Perfect Boiled Eggs
Kenji, if you're still reading the comments on this...
"This is very similar to the gunk that seeps out of the surface of overcooked salmon."
When you did the poached/steamed salmon on ATK, you had white gunk, but made a point to say that it didn't mean the salmon was overcooked. Why the discrepancy? Was that a special case because of the cooking method?
Also, thanks for this and all of your articles on here. They've been great.
Cook the Book: Bolognese Sauce
I bet this would make a hell of a lasagna.
Cook the Book: Bolognese Sauce
My bolognese takes most of one afternoon, but it is worth it. 3 days? Gimme a break.
Cook the Book: Bolognese Sauce
Pork roast in milk, Marcella's recipe.
Cook the Book: Bolognese Sauce
I've got to agree with Kenji -- although this recipe sounds good, it does sound more like a version of Italian-American gravy than Bolognese sauce. From the introduction to the recipe in Italian Classics, by the editors of Cook's Illustrated (Boston Common Press, 2002): "Unlike meat sauces in which tomatoes dominate... Bolognese sauce is about the meat, with the tomatoes in a supporting role. Bolognese also differs from many tomato-based meat sauces in that it contains dairy -- butter, milk, and/or cream. The dairy gives the meat an especially sweet, appealing flavor."
I make Bolognese sauce often. My everyday version is based on Marcella Hazan's in the revised edition of Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking, and my fancy recipe is from The Complete Book of Pasta by Jack Denton Scott (Galahad Books, 1968). Hazan and Clark both use nutmeg as a key flavor (in small amounts), and they do not brown the meat, either. They also use white wine, not red. And there is NO garlic. Clark adds some mushrooms and chopped chicken liver. Either of these recipes takes about 3 or 4 hours from start to finish. When it's done to my liking, the sauce is salmon-colored. If it's red, I've used too much tomato or too little cream.
Interestingly, the recipe in The Sliver Spoon (touted on its cover as "the bible of authentic Italian cooking") uses butter but no milk or cream. In The Food of Italy, Waverly Root describes Bolognese ragu as "an unctuous blend of onions, carrots, finely chopped pork and veal, butter, and tomato." He adds that ragu is often richer than his description of the basic recipe, and I suspect the richness comes from liberal use of milk and/or cream. I usually use both -- adding milk toward the beginning, after I've taken the redness out of the meat but without browning it, and a bit of cream just before serving.
Cook the Book: Bolognese Sauce
Interesting. I've never seen a bolognese recipe that doesn't contain some dairy element.
It also seems like a huge amount of tomatoes for a bolognese, which traditionally contain very little. This seems to me more like a recipe for a 3-day Italian-American Sunday Gravy without the sausage and braciole!
Cook the Book: Bolognese Sauce
@mr guy - LOL this was my first thought too!
I bet each and every difficult and time consuming step is recognized in each bite! mmmmmmmmm
cant wait to make a batch this weekend!
Cook the Book: Bolognese Sauce
My favorite bolognese recipe right now is from Sheila Lukins 10 but now I'm definitely going to have to try this!
Cook the Book: Bolognese Sauce
I don't know if I am reading this recipe wrong but... when cutting the meat to marinade it states to cut the brisket along the grain in 2" pieces,(I'm thinking in strips) it does not say to cube the meat(which the author did) which would be much smaller pieces and much harder to fish out each time. Anyone?
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I've actually got to say that the mix isn't too far fetched in terms of price. Just the ingredients for the brine contain: 5 lemons, 24 bay leaves, 1 bunch flat-leaf parsley, 1 bunch thyme, 1/2 cup honey, 1 head garlic, 3/4 cup black peppercorns, and 10 ounces kosher salt.
Honey isn't cheap, I'd guess 1/2 cup would easily cost at least $1. If I'm lucky I can get full sized lemons at 3/$1. If you aren't growing your own parsley and thyme, you're going to spend a buck or so on each of those. Kosher salt is cheap, but you're using almost 1/4 of a box to make that brine. I buy black pepper at $1.50/oz, and I'd guess 3/4 cup is about 2 oz. I pay $2.00/oz for bay leaves, but couldn't tell you how much 24 weigh. I'd guess at least 1 oz. A head of garlic probably costs $.50 or so depending on it's weight.
So, some really basic calculations I might be paying as much as $10 just to make the brine. Sure they may be all pantry ingredients, but that doesn't mean I didn't actually pay for them. By the time we figure in the cost of the flour and spices in the coating, we might even be approaching the $15 for the mix. Of course, I'm probably using better fresher ingredients; but it's also much less convenient.