shogun

Joel Robuchon's Pommes Puree. I don't think you'll be able to get anything better than that.

At the 'Post Modern Dinner', they did the Robuchon potatoes, but instead of butter they used foie gras.

Has anybody brought up drying the potatoes after boiling? Dry potatoes soak up more butter and cream. Baking the potatoes works very well, too. One of my chefs advocated boiling the potatoes whole rather than cutting them up, and that always produced very good puree, though now I don't remember the rationale (besides not having to chop up however many potatoes).

So...what was he doing with that immersion circulator in the first photo?

It was a demo of his olive oil-poached swordfish from the final episode. The demo and especially the Q&A were very good. Hopefully they'll have it posted online somewhere soon. Definitely got a warm reception here. Was playing to a packed house in the gym.

"Just a little extra salt to protect myself from Cat Cora"

"Girls did NOT look like that when I came to this school."

"Do you think I could hit you with this lemon from here?"

The new Iron Chef and some dork who can't take a cool picture to save his life

....and that's how I came to be known as 'The Man With The Melted Hand' around the nurse's office for about the next two weeks. Be careful when cleaning out ovens, folks.

What! It healed up really nice. Worst part? I got a 65 for the day.

....srsly, I need an extern. Actually, I might even be down there next weekend to talk to some people.

Come to think of it, I think 27 should be considered one of the 'special' birthday years (16, 18, 21, round numbers, etc). You only get so many symmetric exponent birthdays. Barring significant advances in medical science, nobody here is getting their 4^4 birthday. Kind of puts things in perspective, huh.

Happy Birthday Shogun!! (what are you cooking for your birthday?)

Happy Birthday JLK!!

Thanks! Oddly enough, I'm sous chef in class today, so other than mincing a ton of ginger and garlic (Cuisines of Asia, you know) I don't have any actual cooking to do. If anybody is looking to get me something, I could use a gift certificate to the Externship Store

Would you order that mit pommes oder brot?

Family meal leftovers: Six kinds of Korean food (and rice), mixed together in a bag.

On one hand, that's kind of funny. On the other hand, it feels like overworking his schtick, like a contrived 'Worlds Worst Outfit' some self-congradulatory fashion makeover show host might put together.

Alton will end up elsewhere if they let him go. He's too entertaining, smart and talented.

Exactly. That's his problem, as far as a future on the Food Network goes. He should work on sprucing up his table-scapes.

Well this would certainly explain why Iron Chef has been looking for someone new...

.....at school over break Had to inventory and pallet-wrap everything the last day.

This isn't surprising. They're done with chefs. They want more of what the public craves*: Rachael and Sandra. Emeril is safe because he has charisma and the female 32-55 in his pocket, and Giada has the sex appeal. Alton** is next. Probably Chiarello, too.

_{*not electrolytes}

_{**Being a regular watcher of Good Eats was easily worth 15 not-lost points on my final today}

Maybe this will be a way to set up opening his own restaurants in NYC at some point.

(Select all, delete. Take...four ) Jealous?

I didn't know you had children.

I know, and this wasn't how I wanted to tell you.

Alright, going to see if the RA would let me into the kitchen so I can do knife practice (Or not, in which case I'll bust into this beer I bought. Beer plus bruinoise equals bleeding).

Honored to be part of Post 3000, too.

It's raining, so no grilling, so nobody to bribe to let me use their grill. Considered bringing the Brats to the rec center and getting somebody there to grill them, but as this is New York, I all but guarantee there's a law about a food establishment cooking random things people bring in. Even though the school is closed, the rec is open (but out of anything good), but the dorm kitchens are closed: no pan-fried brats, and no knife practice.

Pack of Brats. The plan is to bribe somebody with a grill for grill space, using the Brats themselves.

Also, I'll be making six pounds of onion brunoise and five pounds of allumette potatoes. Knife practical coming up.

Can't believe I'm missing this

That has the look of the sort of powerful lameness people ready themselves their entire lives to face.

It's interesting...two fish with tasty cheeks, Halibut and Hake, we get here headed. Wonder if the cheeks are sold separately.

Thanks for all of your suggestions. We will actually be staying the night on the way in Stratford (next to Fairfield) so we may have to try the Super Weenie.

If you're going to be staying in Stratford, the one in Monroe might be closer. Super Duper Weenie Monroe listing on some site . On the other hand, superduperweenie.com doesn't mention it, so....not sure. Hopefully it's still there. Fairfield wouldn't be unreasonable, either, and I can only vouch for the original in terms of deliciousness, though I'm sure Monroe is good.

Holy Crap! This always sneaks up on me. Today is The Feast of Maximum Occupancy! To the Rec [center, for beer]!

Just before you get to New Haven, you'll go through Fairfield. Look for the Super Duper Weenie billboard on the right! Incidentally, there's a Pepes in Fairfield, too.

Not to complicate things, but maybe terroir ranks up there with umami? And pornography? As in, ya know it when ya see (taste) it.

I'd say that terroir is more like The Matrix. It's there, whether or not you know about it, or can knowingly experience it for yourself.

He's right: There is no terroir. Unless you know what you're looking for.

New York, you say!