Lardons are called "chicharrones" in here, you gotta watch out for those if you have a light stomach...they are heavy!

Snipe, why not just buy the squid ink straight up?

Also, what was in the filling?

Snipe saw you mentioned mozza. Have you been to that restaurant?

every time i go there the food gets worse and worse.

Visually, I like the second ravioli, but it suffers (and the third picture more so), by looking lost in the 'soup' bowl. A broader bowl, where the ravioli would appear more to have more of a sauce would be really attractive. You could then dot a ring around the ravioli, increasing the color contrast.

But, really, if I made anything that looked like that, I would be sending pictures to my local news stations, those plates look astonishing.

Yeah, getting a puree to 'swoosh' nicely is pretty tough. Constructing a puree is pretty difficult in and of itself, and is something I'm working on.

Next time I try to make squid ink pasta, I will absolutely buy squid or cuttlefish ink, however I just kinda wanted to try to harvest it myself this time. The squid I bought was pretty huge and only $2, so thought it would be worth a shot as I'd never broken down calamari before. Thought it would be a good opportunity to learn. They're pretty funky little critters.

The filling was ricotta, parmigiano reggiano, heavy cream, and prawns, processed to a thick paste. I looked for a good baseline recipe briefly, but unsuccessfully. Again, flavor was good, consistency was not what I was looking for. I think the secret here would be to basically make a creamy cheese ravioli and then add maybe 1/3 - 1/2 of the total filling by weight worth of shrimp for essence more than volume (don't quote me as I've not tried it).

Never been, but I'm certainly sorry to hear that. I've wanted to go for quite a while as my gf is from LA and loved the place (though her last visit was more than a year ago - perhaps 2 - 3). I've loved almost everything I've made from the book (the fennel ribs I posted here are still one of my favorite dishes as were some fennel rubbed pork chops done in a similar fashion I have yet to write up).

Are you from LA? What have you had that you felt was lacking?

I always appreciate the kind words as I'm really just learning all this stuff, so thank you very much.

As far as the pic goes, I think I understand what you're saying, but am not sure. I actually just bought that bowl as I love it's ridiculousness. It's a pretty small (appetizer) bowl with this GIANT freaking rim, and something about it says 'hey - this may just be an appetizer, but just so we're clear, PAY ATTENTION, as it's a really good appetizer. Bon appetit bitch."

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More details? This sounds interesting..



* I did a quick Google search, and there many recipes for quick pickled cucumber. I am going to have to try some of these!

Winner

Total, 1.5ish days. Active, probably around 4 hours. Make pre-ferment, mix bread, chill bread, form foil rings, put mixture in foil rings, cut meat, salt half the meat, grind meat, form log, chill log, cut patties, brown butter, pickle cucumber, make mayonnaise, par cook patties, finish off patties, grill buns, assemble burgers, eat. That's the rough order of things. Making ketchup and making a fonduelike cheese slice has been left out, which would certainly add a good amount of extra time.

Having typed that I realise it likely took much more than 4 hours active time. I don't really pay attention, I enjoy cooking.

The meat grind method/pattie making/pattie cooking method are top shelf. The buns are delicious but a bunch of hard work. I won't be making or cooking burger patties any other way from now on.

I will fight you good sir.

Thanks

i feel like i need to see snipe's pics from further away or something.

Haha, you kinda caught me.

I really like super close up shots for a couple reasons. First it's my belief that they really suck you in and force the viewer to focus on the components of the dish. Second, staging a food photo is difficult and very expensive as not only do you have to have adequate lighting, but you also have to have props. Seeing the exact same table cloth, napkins, flatware over and over is kinda boring. By moving in, I don't require nearly as much gear.

I plan to try my hand at setting up shots from further out, but again, the cost of lighting, camera equipment, props really is prohibitively expensive.

(for reference - the flash I want for my camera - a Canon 580EX II is $600 - it's unbelievable how much photography costs)

So Re: the olive oil conversation earlier, I just read an interview with Graham Elliot who noted that he uses Olio Verde EVOO from Sicily.

Might have to give it a shot.

just posted this in the life tricks thread, but thought i'd share it here as well.

need to separate yolk from white? grab a plastic bottle:

Those crazy asians


Fish move cracking the egg on the edge of the bowl though

Bottle thing seems cool if you need to quickly separate a bunch of eggs, but impractical for only a few.

my egg was separated by the time that thing hit the dish.

Yeota (and others),

How do you crack your eggs? I prefer the one handed hit on a flat surface then crack into the bowl/pan.

So what are you saying 27offsuit? that you can do it faster than instructional video can explain something then do it in super slow motion? that is inspiring.

I crack them on the edge of the stove or counter usually.

If you guys want a cooking (sub)forum, post here: http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/55.../#post34436010

I love food and have been inspired by a lot of the posts in here as well as the 2011 oot cooking thread so I wanted to give something back

Only way to crack eggs imo.

+2

no ohead, it was more saying that that way of separating eggs is ****ing stupid.

How you guys separate eggs? I just crack the egg in my palm, works pretty good.

Crack the egg and pass the yolk between the shell halves until it's separated.

I really like this show. Gotta get me a pressure cooker.

Have you made the chicken stock like he describes?