Culinary term of the day – confit

Confit, roughly pronounced cone – FEE, is an old French technique for preserving game like duck, goose and other fowl and pork. A specialty of the Gascony region of France, but found in other regions as well, this was the way for a household to preserve meat over the winter. The confit would be stored in earthenware [...]

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow

So, we got about 4 inches of snow here Friday afternoon through the early hours of Saturday. For many folks, that’s a laugher of a snow storm. For us, it was the most snow we’ve had since one freak afternoon about 7 years ago, we got 7 inches in an hour (we were told by [...]

Molecular gastronomy costs German chef his hands

Blumenthal-Style Chef Blows Off His Hands 10:44am UK, Tuesday July 14, 2009 A German chef has blown off his hands while experimenting with a Heston Blumenthal-style cooking technique. The man, identified only as Martin E, was working on a recipe involving liquid nitrogen when there was “a huge explosion”, according to the Berliner Morgenpost. One [...]

An interesting statistic on delivery and to-go food

Fittingly, just as I post my tomes on tipping on to-go food, Nation’s Restaurant News’ Breaking News page has a just published article about “convenience” being a big factor that restaurants must consider in these challenging times. So, while value has been a big new counter to the challenges faced in this economic environment, restaurants need to [...]

Why should I tip for to-go food? pt. 2

In part one, I talked about what goes on behind the scenes of many “to-go departments” in mass market restaurants. Let’s talk about the considerations that you need to take into account when you order to-go food from your average mass market restaurant, and even if you do take out from high-end restaurants. First of all, [...]

Well Done Fillet is back!

It never actually went away really – it was subsumed into another larger site. But caustic Brit Manuel is free-standing once more “on his own”, as it were. Time for celebration! Just remember, it’s pronounced Fill’-lit over there. Haven’t you been watching Gordon Ramsey? You’ll find the link in ye ole blogroll.

Why should I tip for to-go food? Pt 1

I got into a back and forth on Facebook with someone during a general conversation about the question “Do you tip on take out orders”? This person is actually a Chef/Culinary Partner for a leading steakhouse chain. His irreverent opening bon mot was “isn’t McDonald’s take-out”? Well, that immediately put me on edge (and I [...]

Tangental thinking

The other night, a very simple little action got me thinking about some things that I didn’t expect to think about. Before I describe it, let me say that I’ve participated in more than a few a few discussions about tipping on the Internet, some of them quite rancorous (discussions which ironically don’t seem to happen [...]

Tip: Expected or earned?

That is the title of an article under the general “Sales tips and advice” page in the “Marketing” section at www.about.com. It’s written by Laura Lake, who uses a bad experience at a restaurant to not only act as inspiration for the article but also to illustrate her point. She boils down waiting tables to 4 [...]

Cookbook of the day – The Habanero Cookbook

The Habanero Cookbook by Dave Dewitt & Nancy Gerlach Publisher: Ten Speed Press; illustrated edition (March 1, 1995) ISBN 10: 0898156386 ISBN 13: 978-0898156386 This book, written by famed “hot food” writers, Dave Dewitt and Nancy Gerlach, is actually outdated, even though it was written in 1995. It declares the habanero as “the hottest pepper in the [...]