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The Ten Most Recent Posts By seyo

From Talk

Has anyone received the Cook's Illustrated test recipes yet?

I signed up when SE posted the sign-up page. I guess it's only been a couple weeks, but still haven't received anything from them. Has anyone started getting any recipes yet? Am I just being ridiculously impatient?

From Talk

Advice for beef marrow bones?

I went to the butcher today and bought a couple pounds of beef marrow bones, to roast as Fergus Henderson does for his "Stonehenge" dish. The bones are served with toast and a parsley lemon salad. The recipe can be found on the NYTimes website, here.

So I did as directed, getting the beef marrow bones cut into 3 inch lengths. I roasted them, made a salad, and then ate them with some toast. They were pretty good. However, the marrow seemed to be more fat than marrow. It was mostly white with a few streaks of what I expected to have more of, the brown marrowy stuff.

I was expecting much more of the latter, as the brown marrowy stuff had much more flavor than the white fatty stuff. Is that the normal proportion, or did I get some bunk bones, should I have asked the butcher for something else?

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I feel like this could have been extremely delicious, but it fell a little short of the decadent intense beefy marrowy flavor I was hoping for.

Thanks!

From Talk

Lard, shortening, and other fats?

In the recent thread about the Cooks Illustrated pie crust recipe, someone noted that they replaced the shortening with lard, to great success. I was wondering if other fats could also be used in lieu of shortening. Could duck fat or goose fat be used for example?

Thanks!

From Talk

Buying bulk food in NYC?

I am more and more interested in buying certain food and cooking items wholesale, such as Kosher salt, pasta, oils (olive and grapeseed), butter, and even some dry spices such as black, white, pink and green peppercorns. I have started my own "research" but was wondering if anyone had any suggestions and experience in this. Thanks!

From Talk

Does anyone know the real Kobe Wagyu story?

I walked by a restaurant in NY that says it has real Kobe. They are selling it for $26/oz. !!!!! I checked how much it costs elsewhere and found this to be much more than the norm. Then, I found this.
He says its illegal to import ANY beef from Japan. Is this still true?

From Talk

best way for n00b to eat his FIRST REAL 12,5g black truffle?

I've never had a real truffle before. Plenty of the the recently-debunked "truffle oil", and the occasional black-fleck microshavings, but never the real thing. My dad just brought me back a 12,5G black truffle from a reputable dealer in Provence. It's in a little glass jar with maybe 1/2 tsp liquid in there, the ingredients say black truffle, water, salt.

How should I eat it? I've been told omelette, I was thinking of just shaving it up coarsely on a little mound of fresh pasta, maybe after heating it in some butter. Any other ideas? (aside from just eating it straight, which I will definitely do with a piece)

I know I'm probably making too big a deal out of this, but it's fun, so, let me know what you think!

The Ten Most Recent Comments By seyo

From Ed Levine Eats

Confessions of a Dumpster Diver: Ruth Reichl on NY1

"Reichl once engaged in Dumpster diving; it was in Berkeley in the '70s, so cut her some slack."

You seem to be implying that dumpster diving is a bad thing.

From Talk

Fresh whole wasabi root, kaffir limes in NYC?

Thanks everyone!

From Ed Levine Eats

Red Hook Taco Vendors: Sometimes the Good Guys Do Win

The good guys didn't win. The bureaucrats won. They always win.

From Ed Levine Eats

Choice Eats: How Much Peruvian Tuna with Potatoes Can One Person Eat?

I wish I couldve made it to this :( Stupid job.

From Talk

Corn syrup-is it really that bad? Replacements?

If the American Chemical Society releases a study indicating that HFCS has a direct effect in causing the onset of diabetes, I think that qualifies. There is no mitigating factor, no "other side".

From Required Eating

Alan Richman Slams Les Halles: Payback for Anthony Bourdain's Golden Clog Awards

jonfoxx, which review did you read?!?!?

He destroys the food:

"flavorless and fatty house terrine, tasted like truck-stop cuisine"

"escargots acrid from undercooked garlic"

"Steak au poivre [...] was another variation on the theme of acridity."

"the duck leg wasn't any tastier than those that come from a can"

""truffled potatoes" accompanying it were greasy diced spuds."

"choux pastry was inedible—cold, soggy, and undercooked."

"mushy crêpes drowned miserably in an alcoholic, orange-flavored bath."

From Talk

Corn syrup-is it really that bad? Replacements?

"for every scientifically researched article on the problems associated with corn syrup/HFCS, there is another proving the exact opposite."

One has to examine who funded those studies. The opposite is true for soy. We are bombarded every day with "studies" telling us to eat more soy for it's supposed health benefits, yet these studies are all funded by the soy industry.

From Talk

Corn syrup-is it really that bad? Replacements?

From medscape.com (free registration required):

http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/559344

I normally loathe fox news, but here's one from them:

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,294882,00.html

The summary of the American Chemical Society study is here:

http://portal.acs.org/portal/acs/corg/content?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=PP_ARTICLEMAIN&node_id=223&content_id=WPCP_006925&use_sec=true&sec_url_var=region1#P61_6961

An article by Dr. John Mericle:

http://ezinearticles.com/?The-Dangers-of-High-Fructose-Corn-Syrup&id=28535

An article by Dr. Nancy Appleton (free registration required):

http://www.mercola.com/2002/jan/5/fructose.htm


The information is there. The studies are not very well publicized and the scholarship is spread out and not much of it published online, mostly because this is a newly realized issue, and also because there are multi-billion dollar industry interests at stake.

From Talk

Corn syrup-is it really that bad? Replacements?

"There is no body of conclusive evidence one way or the other on the effects of corn syrup, high fructose or otherwise."

That is completely false.

From Talk

What to do with chestnuts?

This is a cool post from someone who has been methodically cooking every single one of the Keller's recipes from the FL cookbook:

Chestnut agnolotti with celery root and fontina cheese.

Responses to Comments by seyo

From Talk

Vegetarians: What dish could (briefly) turn you back to meat?

I am a vegetarian for a lot of reasons, so I no longer eat meat at all. For the first year or two, especially at Thanksgiving and Christmas, I would miss it, but now I don't "crave" any sort of animal protein.

Okay, maybe ONE THING still gets to me --- the smell of pancetta sauteeing in a pan, but even then, the smell has to be enough, because as much as I'd love a taste, I won't take one. Really. I swear. Honest and truly.

From Talk

Vegetarians: What dish could (briefly) turn you back to meat?

A NY Strip steak, lovingly cooked to medium rare or less, is a thing of beauty.
That, and anything you shove in front of me when I've been drinking. I get the booze munchies. Usually it's hot wings that get past my veggie filter in this state.
Strange that my meat concessions should be some of the bloodiest/boniest options, instead of something barely meat-seeming like a burger or chicken nuggets.
(Vegetarian for objections to the meat industry. So actually that farm-raised, ethically treated, happy cow that becomes my steak at a fancy steak place is fine with me.)

From Talk

Vegetarians: What dish could (briefly) turn you back to meat?

while I often classify myself as a vegetarian because its simply easier to do so, I enjoy eating meat when I do. I have given in to temptation with my mom's bbq pulled pork many times. She always makes it specially for me, because she loves meat, loves to tell me she loves meat, and loves cooking meat knowing the family 'vegetarian' will eat it.

From Talk

Fresh whole wasabi root, kaffir limes in NYC?

Yeah, it was in the far cooler on the left side of the store (if you are looking in from the entrance). Granted, this was about a year ago, but they also say they get them in often on their website: http://thai-grocery.com/

From Talk

Fresh whole wasabi root, kaffir limes in NYC?

The place on 104 Mosco street is where I went, they didn't have any, and said they never do, all they had was the powder. Are you sure that's where you saw them? Zach, thanks for the tip, I'll try the one on Mulberry.

From Talk

Fresh whole wasabi root, kaffir limes in NYC?

Yeah as everyone else said, I've seen both the leaves and the actual limes at Bangkok Center Grocery (104 Mosco St.).

I've seen fresh wasabi at Mitsuwa Marketplace (595 River Rd, Edgewater, NJ). Its about $100 per pound there for the fresh root. I've never bought it, because I can't afford it.

From Talk

Fresh whole wasabi root, kaffir limes in NYC?

Yeah, the Thai grocery store on Mosco hasn't had Kaffir lime leaves the past two times I've gone... however, I did find some this past weekend at the Thai/Indonesian/Malaysian(?) grocery store around the corner, on Mulberry btw. Mosco & Bayard (West side of the Street). Just ask the guys in front, and they have them stored in fridges behind all the fresh fruit & veggies. $3 for a small bag.

From Talk

Fresh whole wasabi root, kaffir limes in NYC?

A site I use a lot is food411.com - I have actually purchase both fresh wasabi and kaffir lime from resources on this site.

From Ed Levine Eats

Confessions of a Dumpster Diver: Ruth Reichl on NY1

OK. You got me, Seyo. I know you can get some good stuff out of the Dumpster. I suppose I will condone it for food but not for household items.

From Talk

Fresh whole wasabi root, kaffir limes in NYC?

This is a great website that offer the real plant and real wasabi powder.
www.realwasabi.com