AskTP – When Chickens Attack

This is dangerous territory. I’m on the verge of chicken oversaturation. This happened to me with donuts back in college and I couldn’t even look at one for years. It’s the predictable outcome of overdosing on one of your favorite foods.

The chicken thing started innocently enough with the usual rotisserie bird picked up from Hannaford on Friday. But that chicken didn’t get eaten and was held for another day. Then on Saturday, we had a chicken feast down in Great Neck from Poultry Mart. The family sent us home with leftovers. With a refrigerator full of chicken already, on Sunday I went to Mr. Pio Pio to pick up yet another whole chicken for my All Over Albany feature.

I’ve got chickens up to my ears.

But we’re not here to talk about my problems. Today is the day I answer the two week stockpile of reader questions. I committed a long time ago to answer all questions that were asked in the comments section of the blog, just so long as they use proper punctuation. They aren’t always answered well but they are always answered. And now each question is preceded by the mystery link of the day.

Nobody has fun like the profussor. Now, onto the question.

AddiesDad had a lot of questions about the Times Union Best of the Capital Region poll:
I think this year’s results, more than other years, point to two things: 1) the Capital District is slowly splitting asunder, with a deep division between Troy and Albany and Saratoga and south of the Mohawk. That so many of the choices are centered between 787 and the Northway points to that, I think. 2) The “vote rigging” (I know that’s strong) that appears to be happening. I don’t see it as a coincidence that the timesunion.com won best local website and their bloggers were so heavily favored. What was the last original thought/idea Steve Barnes posted on Table Hopping?
Daniel, what are your thoughts on these points? I thought this was one of the most depressing BOCD poll results in some time, what do you think?

1) Or it could point to the Times Union’s declining relevance to residents of the other cities in the region. Saratoga doesn’t gain anything by more closely associating itself with Albany. But Albany could gain a lot by pretending that Saratoga was an integral part of the area. However, my understanding is that the split between the cities is nothing new. In fact, it’s quite old.

2) I don’t know. But his scathing review of Robert Irvine’s stage show seemed to be pretty original. From what I could tell a lot of his readers really enjoyed themselves at the performance.

As far as the poll goes, I really do think it’s an improvement from past years. The big national chains are largely vacant from the restaurant categories. And there are great old school places that get some love from the community. Yes, it could be better. And I hope when the cuisine of the Asian countries get divided into their own categories, we’ll get a better representation of the region’s diversity.

Todd was also displeased by this year’s Times Union poll results:
This is really so absolutely pathetic and depressing!!!! REALLY…JOES CRAB SHACK!?!?! That is beyond ridicules! I just find the whole list to be a joke. At least one or two names in EVERY catagory fall under the ‘one of these things is not like the other’ . I see no point in ranting, so I’ll just voice my broad, sweeping displeasure—’YUK’!! Bombers? really?

Joe’s Crab Shack was really the most upsetting part for me too. We do love a good chain out in these parts. And I’ll lump myself in there too, since I was thrilled at the arrival of Five Guys, Chipotle and Trader Joe’s. Chains themselves aren’t inherently bad. They are not.

But I really do think the Bombers win points to a lack of general knowledge of international cuisines. It’s not just with Mexican food, but Asian dishes as well. If you went walking around downtown Albany, pulling over people and asking them if yakisoba was Chinese or Japanese, what percentage of respondents do you think would pass the test?

Burnt My Fingers ate a burger and did not achieve a higher consciousness:
I had Max’s burger today for lunch, as it happens. (And I believe it’s only served at lunch, not dinner?) It is fine but nothing special. For meat massiveness, Juicy is at least its equal. For interesting prep, Comfort Kitchen in the same block is at least as good. I do agree it’s a good value, at $13 with a nice salad and a side of house made pickles. But not transcendent.

In the end it’s still just food. But I think you are correct that the FLB should endorse a different burger in future ventures.

Lorre was either confused or simply just couldn’t believe a statement I made:
“We’re actually getting a little bit of a coffee culture here, and I’m leaving just as it’s launching.”
Whuuut???

It’s reasonable that most people might not notice an emerging coffee culture in the Capital Region. That’s because it’s not here yet. It’s emerging. But if you know where to look, you will find the signs encouraging. I even spied a doserless grinder at Villa Italia recently. But more than that we’re getting local coffee roasters who are sourcing microlots of beans (Tierra) and local roasters who are honing their craft and investing in training and equipment upgrades (Uncommon Grounds Saratoga). The Lucas Confectionery has brought Blue Bottle Coffee up from Brooklyn, and I really want to check out Spot. Tierra held a public cupping and offer a chemex brewed pot of their coffee made to order.

Yes, there are still far too many places burning their beans, using push button espresso machines, pre-grinding, sullying espresso with flavored syrups, and overaerating milk foam. But there is an undercurrent of change. And that’s exciting.

Burnt my Fingers wants to know the difference between two similar items:
Can you tell us why the natural nitrates in the celery cure are better than the curing salts used in standard products?

This is plucked from the Internet, so take it with a grain of pink salt. But I thought I remembered fact checking this statement in the past. It’s too late now for facts, so here’s the blurb, “While the nitrate chemical itself is the same, according to the Food Chemical Codex (3rd addition, National Academy of Sciences), industrial sodium nitrate (synthetic) is allowed to contain residual heavy metals, including lead and arsenic.”
You can read the whole article here.

albanyjane must have been predicting the future:
What, no cold chicken for dinner? My criteria for dinner last night was “What can I make without turning on the oven?”

That came later. Luckily when I was eating some of the leftover chicken cold, I had some of Mr. Pio Pio’s green sauce to perk it up.

Burnt My Fingers had a great idea that wouldn’t have worked for me:
Here’s a wacky idea: next time you are at Ala Shanghai and interested in Chinese takeout (I will presume the idea was percolating in your grey matter earlier in the day, though not fully formed), why not get takeout from Ala Shanghai? (That is a question.) It’s pretty good, other than the salt and pepper squid which alas doesn’t travel well.

When I was at Ala Shanghai for lunch, the plan for dinner was still roast chicken. We are creatures of habit in the Fussy household. Getting take out for dinner is almost never planned, but rather a last minute hail mary when something has gone horribly wrong.

mr. dave is dripping in sarcasm, brown salted water, and orange HFCS:
Oh my god? You mean those free plastic packets that come with inexpensive Chinese food do not contain authentic versions of the advertised condiments? Next you will be telling me that the fortune cookies aren’t baked at a French patisserie…

I’m not looking for traditional shoyu or tamari. Nor do I think there should be duck in the duck sauce. But soy in the soy sauce would be nice.

Burnt My Fingers must have no faith in me at all:
If HWC, in its zeal to have a blinding variety of happy eggs, orders so many that they sit around… that’s a problem. We get our eggs from the lamb lady at the Saratoga Farmer’s Market and they’re always very fresh. Less variety, but what we want. Also, how long after the HWC visit did you do this test? If they sat around a few days, that’s giving Stewarts an unfair advantage.

This was why I was pleased to think of this showdown on opening day. My hope was that all the eggs would have just come in recently, and I wouldn’t be taking a gamble with an ageing rotating stock. So I brought my eggs from the HWFC home and conducted the poached egg showdown later that same day. My methods were as sound as they could be for someone who is drawing conclusions from an n of one.

Mike H had a burning question from the egg battle:
But you did not adress the most implrtant question. How did the taste compare?
enough already! wanted to assure us that Mike H. wasn’t alone:
I second mike h’s query regarding taste. From my experience, the darker and more orange-colored, the tastier. Soooo…how did they taste?

This is tricky, because I know how deceiving the brain can be with things like taste. The only way to tell for sure would be to conduct a tasting as a blind trial. My hunch is that these two specimens were close enough in flavor that one would not be able to pick the Stewart’s egg blindly with any statistical relevance over random chance. But with my eyes wide open, I had the distinct sense that the egg with the darker yolk had a richer, fuller flavor.

LB is pushing me to be a better journalist:
I would be curious to learn what HWFC’s farmer supply chain is, and how the eggs get from these far-flung farms to their shelves. Is there a distributor who picks them up from the small farms? Do the farmers make weekly egg drops at the co-op if they want to?

Those are great questions. So I forwarded them along to the HWFC. Now we’ll see if they answer. Should they get back to me, I’ll make sure to keep you posted.