<http://schema.org/articleBody>
" Josh Ozersky is a James Beard Award-winning food writer, B-list food personality, and noted polymath and deviant. The founder of Meatopia, he will answer all your questions on meat, food, food writing, relationships, restaurants, or cooking. He is also available for private tutorials. Beef breast. Why do I see this cut on menus now?Mariam Parker, Houston, TX Because &amp;quot;beef breast&amp;quot; sounds more exotic than &amp;quot;brisket.&amp;quot; My first attempt with (bone in) veal breast struck me as overly fatty (and I recognize fat is flavor). Any suggestions on how to improve on my second attempt?Christopher Bailey, Philadelphia I know. It&amp;#039;s too fatty even for me. I would suggest getting it boned out, so you can trim the fat. The rest will render out if you cook it in a slow oven, as per his recipe by the Ideas in Food guys. Veal breast is a bitch, honestly. I have given up on it. Also, I am against eating white veal, so that worked out for me. (Avoiding veal parmigiano in restaurants is another story.) I would like your opinion/advice about the slicing of brisket. Do you cook it the day before you want to eat/serve it, slice it cold, and reheat? Or do you you cook it a bit, slice and serve the same day? Thank you for in advance for your advice on this matter.Grillbitch Beth Aretsky, New York City Grillbitch, I am assuming that there is some reason you are not serving the brisket fresh, which, really, is the least you can do, unless you are living in a fallout shelter or something. That said, I would slice the brisket cold and thin, if it was flat, and steam it back to life; or, in the case of the point or deckle, cut it thick and reheat, with great patience and a few drops of sauce, in a slow oven. Who is your favorite working food writer? You said before that you hate MFK Fisher (an opinion I don&amp;#039;t agree with) but who do you like now?Alice Colter, Benoit, WI I&amp;#039;m actually not a big fan of &amp;quot;food writing&amp;quot; at all, Alice, if you know what I mean. There are good writers and bad, and when good ones write evocatively and honestly about food \u2014 Nigel Slater, Peter Meehan, and our own Tom Junod come to mind \u2014 I&amp;#039;m most moved and inspired. Within the food media, I tend to enjoy writers most who write obsessively about food, rather than (say) how much they miss their grandma&amp;#039;s icebox cake, or what a warm welcome they found in some tribesman&amp;#039;s hovel. What foods do men consider sexy? (Apologies in advance if this has already been covered.)Daniela Galarza, Los Angeles Personally, I don&amp;#039;t consider any food to be sexy. I sublimated a voracious and ungovernable sex drive into the love of steaks and sandwiches, and won&amp;#039;t be switching gears anytime soon. But oysters, beefsteaks, and whole shrimps with the heads on are said to have a vitalizing effect, and put lead in your pencil. Really, though, all foods are sexy if they like you, and no foods are sexy if they don&amp;#039;t. That&amp;#039;s just how it is. Shark Week, Great Whites and Big Tuna in the Northeast - Any suggestions Big Game Surf &amp;amp;amp;Turf northeast style?Bill Branley, New York City My suggestion is not to eat animals that have been around for 300 million years and are almost extinct. What&amp;#039;s wrong with a nice piece of tilefish, or some salmon? How would you change KCBS judging?JoJo Price, Tulsa, OK This is the kind of question that I might be accused of making up. I have been inveighing against the KCBS judging system for years. For those who are happily ignorant of competition barbecue, the Kansas City Barbecue Society is the sanctioning body of the most important such system in the country, and their judging system is ludicrous. There are three categories: taste, appearance, and tenderness. All three categories are idiotic. &amp;quot;Taste&amp;quot; is utterly vague and hopelessly subjective, particularly in the case of judges who took a three-hour course and have little or no exposure to great barbecue. &amp;quot;Appearance&amp;quot; is completely irrelevant, given that everybody is forced to set six pieces of BBQ on a bed of lettuce. And &amp;quot;tenderness&amp;quot; is and should be a part of taste, and in any case is not a value in itself. (Most competition barbecue is revoltingly and inappropriately soft.) I have proposed an alternative system in which texture has been folded into taste, and smoke flavor has a category of its own. This, along with the &amp;quot;Bare Bones BBQ&amp;quot; manifesto that comes with it, is probably my proudest achievement as a BBQ expert. My system bans all gadgets, foil, and other contrivances, and forces everyone to cook on the same basic barrel-type cooker, IROC-style. Jello?Allen Salkin, New York City Yes please! What are some innovative uses for schmaltz? I have been saving it up, and I want to get the most out of it. Also, better to freeze or keep cold?Johann Larkin, Brooklyn  Schmaltz, or chicken fat, is to the Jews what olive oil is the Italians, butter to the French, and lard to the states of the former Confederacy. That is to say, it is a universal lubricant, cooking medium, and body wash. Typically, Johann, my people have used it to fry things in, especially latkes, which cannot be made correctly in any other medium. But I like to schmear it on crusts of old rye bread; to mix it with chicken livers, mashed up and adorned with fried onions and raw radishes; to perfume and flavor the oil used in fried chicken, which happens to go exceedingly well with latkes; to confit everything from kugels to capons; to add body and depth to stews and soups, there to form the &amp;quot;gold coins&amp;quot; beloved by bubbes; and much else besides, many uses, and not all of them connected with food, if you get my drift. Schmaltz can be frozen safely for an almost indefinite period. Have you ever forced regurgitation to make room for something that you loved but were too full to eat anymore?Paul Landolfa, Daytona Beach, FL Ew! Have a question? Write askeatlikeaman@esquire.com. I try to answer every question or comment that is sent to me, although it may take a week or two to get to it. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.esquire.com/food-drink/food/q-and-a/a24156/beef-breast-brisket/>