rvanrens

It's been my experience that Wegman's generally has a better selection of Indian foods than other grocery stores. Of course, that may be because the Dulles and Leesburg stores cater to a fairly large Indo/Pakistani/Bangladeshi population, so that may not be the case at other stores.

I've got a little red cheapy from Target that I bought for about 20 bucks, and I cannot be bothered to go look at the nameplate. I got it because my wife likes the fire-engine red color. I use it for steel-cut oats all the time. I often make porridge of half oats, half cracked wheat, with equal parts beef stock and white wine, with a good dash of honey and some mulling spices. Throw in a handful of dried cherries and currants. It makes this porridge beautifully, although with the honey you need to stir it every 15 minutes or so, or the sugar starts to scorch. I've never used a "fuzzy logic" rice cooker, and I've used my little red honey to cook virtually every grain known to man, couscous, pasta of various shapes and sizes, to steam veggies, rolls, and buns, to infuse liquors (the warm setting works wonders for this), warm baby bottles, boil water for tea, sterilize corks and bottle tops, and reheat leftovers. It owes me NOTHING.

Really? Why is this? He's been the most consistent chef on the show - I mean, I love Bryan, and I've been to Volt several times now (it helps that I'm local) and bumped into him at the Fredneck Farmer's Market, so I would love to see him win, but I still think it'll be Kevin. Michael Landrum's little linguistic litany aside, I say he's got both brothers beat on sheer talent. Like Michael, he has a definite vision, and like Bryan, he has the skills to completely realize that vision.

See, I think the grass-fed lamb I get locally has much more "lamby" flavor than ANZAC lamb, which I find to be like eating darker and more tender beef. I don't mind the imprted stuff, but I like the local better - more "muttony", I guess. And I've never had kid, or even young goat - mostly I've had used-up dairy goat, which is tasty, but pretty tough.

Think lamb, only not...think lamb, only bigger, better, more robust, more what you really want lamb to be, but almost never is. Passage to India served a goat curry that was one of the most delicious things I've ever tasted. I've also had it served in the style of Tex-Mex chili - braised for hours in tomato and chili and onion. Think assertive flavors. I've done the ribs slowly on a smoker/grill, stopping occasionally to brush them with a sauce based mostly on paprika and cider vinegar and garlic. I've had it marinated in yogurt and rosemary and lemon juice, then browned and put into a cazuela and slowly braised in wine with leeks until tender. Does this give you some ideas? Now you've given me some, and I'm going to go get some goat this weekend.

Not neccessarily to to the death, but to the point of serious injury. And if you've got a rooster and just a couple of hens, well, there can be problems with hens that get a little tired of being constantly poked with that damn thing... Yah, I keep chickens. Hens only - no need for a rooster except for breeding, and I can buy from an established breeder and avoid the hassles of keeping an already stupid animal that has had its brain rotted by an overabundance of testosterone.

That's fair. I don't really have a good feel for how good Jen is; I've been so busy paying attention to the boys I haven't really noticed her work, other than that she seems to continually do well. She's better than Mike Isbella, I have no doubt about that. It will definitely be a more interesting final than last season.

There seems to be three levels of contestant this season (and I REFUSE to sue th word "cheftestants). There were the weak, erratic performers, who stumble with every dish. The last of these is now gone - there should be fewer obvious, amateurish mistakes by competitors who were clearly competing out of their league. Next to go will be the pretty compentent but not neccessarily brilliant chefs, or those with too limited a culinary POV. Hector was the first of these to go - his problem wasn't that he was bad at what he did, he just wasn't good enough. Mostly, he had a great deal of trouble with anything outside his area of specialty;i.e. classical french. These chefs will be eliminated not through obvious errors, but from a lack of refinement, or poor technique, or shortage of experience. I expect the final five will be Kevin, Bryan, Michael Voltaggio, Jen, and Mike Isabella. I think Mike I. will have to seriously up his game to beat the other four - he's ahead of the rest of the pack, but seems to be a little less able than Kevin and The Brothers Volt. I strongly suspect that the final will come down to Kevin and one of The Brothers, but it's a little too early to be sure. As they say in football, "on any given Thursday..." I suppose Kevin could have a bad day, or Mama Volt might tell her boys to stop palying around, come home, and get back to work. Bryan Voltaggio should be quite happy with the uptick in business his success of Top Chef is generating. Shout out to my hometown boy...

I'll check Wegmann's..W&S has one on-line, but none of the DC area stores seem to have it in stock. *sigh* If only I could convince one of the local wineries to start making it.

I'm looking for a local source to buy verjus from; I'd prefer to buy something produced in the area, but I'd live with pretty much anything at this point. I'm trying to avoid mail-order, since our local post office is a study in incompetence and UPS is notortious for destroying anything fragile. Any thoughts?

Yah, malted barley has stabilized, but malted oats and malted rye just keep going up...when you can find them, which isn't always. And roasted or pre-gelatinized isn't they same. I can't get the guy who runs the local homebrew supply to understand the difference between malted and roasted grains - he insists that they are roasted after they are malted, and I keep telling him that those are roasted malts, not the same thing.

Have you smacked him for this? I would...

So, I'm finishing bottling Liquid Sunshine (aka Apricot Brandy - add apricots and honey to brandy, infuse for 6 months, filter, bottle, drink), cassis, and a spiced mead. I'm gearing up for ypocras, and I'll probably lay down a hazelnut liquer for bottling next year. In a couple of weeks, sour cherry brandy will be ready, and I'm experimenting with something like Drambuie (Blended Scotch with honey - someone gave me ten or so pounds of thistle honey, and I couldn't resist the obvious paring). I've been thinking about a saahti-style barleywine as well, if I can get hands on the neccessary grain bill - homebrewing beer has gotten expensive. They saahti would be for next Christmas. Has anybody else been working on something special at home? Beats fudge as a Christmas gift...

Yah, he was full of excuses last year, too...and the year before that, and the year before that. There's always a reason why the selection is so...odd. That's why I stopped subscribing.