cjsadler

They don't serve Pilsner, but the Weisn beer is much lighter than most "Oktoberfest" you get here, even the German stuff (the Weisn version is not even remotely brown). The few times I was in Munich for Oktoberfest, I recall being generally happy about this after the fifth liter or so. Or perhaps I was just generally happy.

Interesting. I seem to remember the beer being copper colored, but I must have been drinking this Weisn beer (and a lot of it)-- never heard of it before.

Had a great dinner at the Chef and the Farmer, which is a Town House-style outpost in downtown Kinston, NC (a lot of shuttered stores). And definitely hit the nearby tap room of the new Mother Earth Brewing too.

As is 100% of the beer served at Oktoberfest.

I was at Oktoberfest a couple of years ago. Only went to the Spaten tent, but we were definitely drinking Marzen, not Pilsner.

Had a chance to try a lot of them this year.

Best: Ayinger

Good (in rough descending order of preference): Paulaner, Victory Festbier, Flying Dog, Brooklyn, Bell's, Hacker Pschorr, Harpoon, Spaten

Not Good: Great Lakes (too heavy, and not in a good way), Hofbrauhaus (odd... more of a pilsner), Star Hill Festie (blecch!)

Really like some of the harvest/fall ales too: Southern Tier Harvest, Goose Island Harvest, Sierra Nevada Tumbler

So I always wondered how the chefs were getting risotto out so quickly on Hell's Kitchen, but somewhat recently caught mention of them partially precooking the rice. Is this standard in restaurants and can it be done in the home without affecting the quality/creaminess of the risotto?

I ask b/c I'm hosting my monthly dinner club on Saturday and risotto may be on the menu. It would be nice if I could shorten the wait time in b/w courses by using this technique, but I don't want it to affect the quality.

Also kind of curious if anyone has tried/had success with the Cook's Illustrated no stir method. I don't have the article, but remember seeing it when browsing someone's issue and figure I can always download that article.

Thanks!

I've parcooked risotto a few times for dinner parties and it worked fine. Cooked it maybe 1/2 of the way or so and then let it sit until I was ready to finish it. Just allow for continued cooking while the risotto cools down. I'm still not exactly sure how restaurants do it.

Don't know about the CI no-stir method, but I've found that you don't seem to need to do much stirring for the first half of cooking-- doesn't seem to affect the finished risotto.

I've been trying to find this around (albeit I haven't searched very hard). Where have you seen / bought it?

I found some recently at Beers and Cheers in Germantown, so it's definitely still being brought into the area.

The liquor store at Connecticut and Q usually has a pretty good selection of Brewdog stuff (a guy named Al there does a great job with their beer selection). Love the Brewdog beers, but they aren't cheap. Been enjoying the 5am Saint lately as well.

Homemade gyros, following the technique here. It tastes surprisingly like that stuff you get off the spit. I always thought that was some weird processed meat product you couldn't really make at home. Pretty simple too, and would be great for a crowd (just slice and broil the meat).

This is proving to be a tough one: Sunday brunch or breakfast in or close to Olney. Is there anything? It doesn't look like it.

I'm liking the Red Racer IPA, made by Central City Brewing in British Columbia, which I've been finding places (most recently at DeVinos). Ska's Modus Hoperandi that the Black Squirrel had brought in was excellent (boo to that pun, though).

Oh believe me, I chill the mixture down in the refrigerator but good. And still....fail.

SO I am seriously thinking of adding the kitchen aid attachment to my xmas list. The upside is it can make 2 quarts at a time.

I'm pretty happy with the KA attachment. It seems to make smoother, less-icy ice cream than the Cuisinart.

I was so impressed with a cavatelli (ricotta dough pasta) dish that I had at the Little Owl in NYC, I went ahead and bought a cavatelli maker. Pretty fun device. Mine's a hand crank one that I got for about $35, but you can see a homebrewed electric one do its thing here. Used the dough recipe found here.

And there's http://sowhatsthedeal.com/

Been seeing some pretty good deals on Horton's 2009 Viognier... as low as $11.99 a bottle. I haven't opened any yet, but seems like a nice QPR (I've liked this wine in the past).

I've heard the York farmer's market, which is on Saturdays, is cool. You might find some good snacks there.

And don't forget Tröegs

You can get the Valrhona powder at Rodman's. It is totally, utterly, absolutely worth it.

How much is it?

Also, is there anyone selling Ghirardelli in bulk now that Trader Joe's doesn't anymore?

Speaking of soups...

My Cook's Illustrated gazpacho is too sour. I think I shorted the veggies but used the whole amount of vinegar. Is there any way to smooth it out? Maybe make a bit of very light simple syrup with some of the liquid and mix it back in? (I thought of that idea last night after a glass of scotch and I can't tell if it's a really, really bad idea or a really, really good one.) I'd like to avoid just putting in more vegetables because it's already quite a large batch.

Add more olive oil and bread?

Does anyone have a good basic ice cream recipe, too? Emphasis on cream? I prefer a creamy ice cream as opposed to a more icy ice cream. I'd like to adapt it to take advantage of all the berries coming soon. My strawberry rendition was too icy.

I go a different route and cook down the berries with sugar to get rid of some of the water content. A lot of the iciness is dependent on your machine, though. If you have a higher-end one with a compressor (I don't), it's much less of a concern. You get super-smooth ice creams and sorbets out of those.

So I take it the new menu is the one that Mark Furstenberg came up with?

As I was perusing this thread, as I do from time to time, I realized that I never posted about my experience at Abattoir.

I can't believe they named a restaurant Abattoir.

I'm still unclear sometimes on what's ok and what's not with returning corked bottles. Here's the situation: wine bought at a Whole Foods not in this area, was a closeout (so probably not carried anymore), purchased about two years ago, can't remember what I paid (no receipt). Corked.

Accept it as a loss (too long ago, no proof I bought it at WF), or attempt to return to local Whole Foods (I'd feel like they'd think I was some jackass trying to pull something)?

For lunch they have a pretty good deal with a choice between a salad and soup (today was mixed greens with balsamic or chilled tomato) then choice of sandwich (today eggplant and pepper or salmon). Both come with a small bag of cookies that you can eat in or take back with you. All of this is $15. Some other sandwiches and salads are offered as daily specials along with their normal pasta, pizza, meat options, etc.

Had the other lunch special they offer, the $26 'lunch for two', the other week. It includes a salad and a pasta, both family size. The salad size was fine, but the family that the pasta portion was intended for must have been a family of two orphaned four year olds. Pretty lame deal.

why would you tip to buy seafood at blacksalt?

I always tip the person helping me at BlackSalt (in cash). The service is great is there, and I figure they aren't exactly pulling a huge salary. I guess this leads to a general question of why tip anywhere? I used to bartend and was tipped most times for basically turning around (to grab a beer and hand it to someone). Why tip a bartender on a bottle of beer or say, the barista at a coffee shop and not the fish person*? Yet when I think about it, I don't tip a salesperson at Macy's who is helping me (nor does anyone tip in many other retail situations where you're being provided service).

*Edit to add: There's the salary issue with a bartender, so maybe the better example would be the people working at Starbucks. Why tip them and not the fish guy?