Long blank video (1:46:39)

I created this video with the YouTube Video Editor (http://www.youtube.com/editor) by duplicating several times the one in http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IFbc7LWUL8g . This one too is completely empty: no images, no audio. It is uploaded here for experimental reuses in closed captioning platforms. Obviously, it is in the public domain, even though YT does not offer this licensing option.

Update Jan 14, 2012: As I tried to explain in the comments to irate/baffled/amused viewers. I uploaded this video for a purely instrumental purpose: seeing how online collaborative subtitling/captioning instruments can be diverted to collaboratively translate normal texts, and to then export the translation, as you would export the file of translated subtitles.
Of course, you can also collaboratively translate on a wiki page, but the advantage of doing it in a subtitling app is that the original text above the translated part cannot get deleted: this makes revision easier.

I started toying with this 2 and half years ago with DotSUB: see http://etcjournal.com/2009/04/05/collaborative-text-translation-with-dotsub/ . But the problems with DotSUB for that are that a) it does not allow you to have subtitles longer that what its programmers deemed suitable; b) subtitles HAVE to be time-coded and can only be exported in time-coded formats, and it's a bore to have to delete all the time codes if what you want is just a plain text translation of a normal text.
So I decided to try again with Universal Subtitles, where you can transcribe without time-coding. and where you can translate the "non time-coded" transcript, and export the translation as a .txt file.
So I used this irritating blank video to create http://www.universalsubtitles.org/en/videos/xHZzawTR9MLF/ , to which I added, as if it were a transcript of the video, Cory Doctorow's "Constitutional Crisis" short story (1). And then I started to translate it in Italian in the http://www.universalsubtitles.org/en/videos/xHZzawTR9MLF/it/222759/ subpage: click on "Edit Subtitles" if you wish to see the translation interface.
That's all this empty video is about: just a means to create a translating interface for a text that is just a text.

Update Nov. 7, 2012 Changes to the Amara software made it impossible to re-use the already used "subtitle sets": I therefore asked for the deletion of the above-mentioned page, and made a new one in http://www.universalsubtitles.org/en/videos/69iJjyH8euXi/info/long-blank-video-14639/ .

(1) from his "With a Little Help" collection, whose text can be bought in print or downloaded under a , under a http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/ license as a digital file from http://craphound.com/walh/e-book/browse-all-versions
----
Update March 5, 2012:
As people inexplicably continue to view this empty video, I'm annotating it with links to real videos of interest. So far:
- Say NO to ACTA: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=citzRjwk-sQ
- " Se la mafia... Il mulo de Paniz" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yG8m7-pMJ_c (see description for interesting links)
- "Listening is learning" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o67wV-MhlY8
- V4B - Video4Blind ("Ho scelto il Costa di Lecce! (V4B)" http://youtu.be/K_BidSCokLc

(June 16, 2012)
And now: Don't Leave Me Out, with subs so far in English, French, German, Hebrew and Italian: http://youtu.be/w91A_nB4rx0 .
The video can be subtitled into further languages at http://www.universalsubtitles.org/en/videos/zBpewNm5P8GV/info/dont-leave-me-out/ .

# Exported by Aegisub 3.2.2
Funding for the Story of Cooking is provided by:
FIT4MOM
Walkabout Outfitter
Biagio Cru and Estate Wines
Chef Revival
FOODYTV
Chefs in the Kitchen
and Taste This TV
Hi and welcome to the Story of Cooking\NToday we're here at Delmonico's
Which most people know because it's one of the \Noldest restaurants in America
It opened up its doors in 1820 when Swiss brothers\NJohn and Peter Delmonico opened a restaurant
that served french pastries
it didn't become a full-fledged restaurant until\N1837 when John and Peter Delmonico
along with Lorenzo opened a nice big fine dining\Nestablishment
In the 1700s New York was littered with Oyster\Nsellers and coffee shops
but there wasn't any fine dining
and Delmonico's was the first to do that
in fact they were the first to use the word \Nrestaurant, which was a French term
so that's why they're credited with opening \Nthe first restaurant in America
So let's go inside and check it out!
Hi and welcome to the Story of Cooking! \NI'm Sarah Nicholas!
Hi chef, nice meet you!
Hi, welcome to Delmonico's
Thank you, we're here with chef Billy Oliva
and he's the executive chef and you've been here\Nabout six years
Almost seven years, yeah, six and a half years
And we're here to try some classic dishes \Nand we're going to learn a little history about them
Sure and there's loads of history here, lot of firsts:\NBaked Alaska, Bggs Benedict, Lobster Newburg
You name it, all kinds of history as well
Awesome, well let's do it!
Why don't we head back to the kitchen
Okay!
All right chef, so we're back in the kitchen
and you're going to show me some of the dishes \Nthat were invented here
and obviously probably signature dishes \Nof Delmonico's
Absolutely so we're going to start with \NEggs Benedict
Why don't we start with our brio, \Nso we're just going to
Do you make your own brioche?
We do downstairs, actually. We make all our own\Nbread all our own desserts
ice creams, everything is here
Wow!
And so, again, this was invented at \NDelmonico's, correct?
Invented in Delmonico's
So the Delmonico brothers liked to name dishes \Nafter their patrons
so Mr and Mrs Le Benedict used to come all the time,\NThey were regular customers
and one day they says, you know \Nwhat we come here all the time
we're bored of the menu, create us a dish
and this is what the Delmonico brothers \Ncame up with
Well, thank you!
and it's been around ever since
so we're just going to pop this in the oven
Okay
and the next thing we'll do is
first thing we have to remember is not \Nto forget that
Okay, yeah, that's usually what happens right?
It's always what happens!
And then we're going to start our hollandaise
so here we have just some egg yolk that we cracked\Nalready
I will dump that in
and we have a little Tobasco
You want me to put some of this in?
Yeah, absolutely. We'll do a little lemon juice.
Couple dashes?
Yeah a couple dashes
And we'll put a little tarragon vinegar
So this is a tarragon vinegar reduction \Nwith pepper corn shallots
Tarragon obviously
Worcestershire
(Sarah) Worcestershire sauce, okay
So now the fun part
Now we're going to whisk
so if you want to do that we'll go over here to
without you burning your hand you might want \Nwant to take a towel
and just a figure eight motion, as kind of fast as \Nyou can
Figure eight? Like this?
Yeah
So now we're going to add our butter
and then here we have just a little cold water\Nif it gets too thick we'll just thin it out a little bit
So, shall we go together? Yup
Is my hand in the way?
No
And that looks about good
Now the trick is to keep it so it doesn't break
(Chef) Keep it warm
First we're going to season it \Na little salt and pepper
and then we'll just take that
how are we going to do that without
actually got the right consistency
Am I hired?
That's it! When can you start?
If this is my only job I'm sorry I have to decline
I will keep that warm for a minute
So, we have to lightly grill the prosciutto cotto\Nso for that we have to go down to the broiler there
Already?
Make sure we have all our tools
so we're going to come here
Okay
and we're just going to... this is cooked already \Nso we just want to warm it up
Sure
That's going to go on the grill for a second
Just flip it
Okay so we just want to cook that, just want to \Nwarm it through
So that's good, we don't want to dry it out too much
Just going to grab our plate
and we're almost ready to... you can actually \Nsmell the rosemary and the thyme
Okay so we'll go back down on this side
where we have our ham, we have our brioche
so we're going to put this pot out of the way\Nwe'll slide that little one over
On the flame, or no?
Right on the flame, yup
Oh we're going to reheat our eggs?
We're going to reheat our eggs
So we poached these earlier just so it will be\Na little bit easier
when we poach them we use a little vinegar,\Nwhite vinegar
Do the swirl?
Do the swirl
and we crack the eggs into a small cup and they go in
(Sarah) Just dump them all in?
(Chef) Dump them in nice and easy
All four?
Yeah, this way in case we have an accident with one
(Sarah) Poached eggs are very delicate
So while the eggs are heating up
we can start to plate the rest of the Eggs Benedict
Perfect
So, we'll move some of this stuff out of the way
And bring this over here
If you want to do it, or I can do the ham
Okay
(Sarah) Is this on you brunch menu?
(Chef) This is on the menu all the time, never cut\Nlunch, dinner
and we sell tons of it
So, that's ready and now we just wait for our\Neggs to get hot
and because they're already poached we don't need\Nto cook them for a long time
we just need to warm them through
The reason we do this is because \Nwe just sell so many of them
Yeah, you would have to do it in \Nadvance I would think
This is all the space we have, so
Eggs Benedict is one of my favorites so I'm \Nreally looking forward to trying this
I'd say these are probably hot enough
Just drain the water really well
and whenever the egg doesn't roll off \Nthat's a good thing
(Sarah) You want to just?
(Chef) Yeah right over there
(Sarah) Well that failed
Are you going to wipe the edges?
(Chef) Yeah, we'll clean it up. We could change the plate
That's good.
(Sarah) Obviously I like a lot of hollandaise sauce
(Chef) We might need to change the plate!
So now what we're going to do, we're going to
-Do you like truffle?\\N-I do, I do
-A lot of truffle? \N-I do
Do you want to shave the truffle or do you want\Nme to shave the truffle?
You shave the truffle I don't want to ruin anything
Okay I'll shave the truffle
(Sarah) You had me at truffle when you said it earlier
It's a rich dish
(Chef) and then we're going to finish it with just \Nlittle caviar
So tell me about the truffles and the caviar
So these are Périgord truffles from France
they're in season now until about... I think they're\Naround for about another month
and the caviar is just an American caviar that \Nwe use to garnish stuff with
(Chef) Might as well go all out
and then just a little bit of green and that's it
Perfect. Beautiful.
Besides my mess up on the side of the plate
other than that that was beautiful
All right, this looks fantastic, now how\Nabout a Delmonico steak?
That sounds good, let's go to the grill
All righty!
Okay so this is a lot of beef, it's beautiful. \NGo through your different cuts
So here we have the boneless Delmonico steak
this is a bone in Delmonico steak that's dry aged
and this is our double Delmonico steak
All right so how do you dress this up?
It's very simple and we don't do a lot to these steaks
it's just salt, kosher salt, and pepper
and we'll just grind it up
So we're just going to pull it out
let's throw these on in the back
Should we put this guy on?
(Sarah) So do most people come in here and want\Nmedium rare steak?
Always when I go to a restaurant that has good steak I \Nalways ask, well what does the chef like to cook it to?
I would say probably the most is medium rare
but we get well done and medium well and
Yeah
Sometimes... they're paying for it so it's their choice
So these are just about done, so we'll have our guys\Nfinish them and we'll move on to the lobster newberg
Perfect, thank you
Awesome
We'll get started
So what we're going to do we're going to just take \Na little bit of oil and the lobster
Just tell me what you need
The lobster has been kind of cooked already \Nso we're going to start with the lobster
I'll take him
And you said that it's been cooked in \Nthe sous-vide machine
Yeah we cook it at a very low temperature
and we cook it about say 50%, and then we cool it\Noff really quickly and then we finish it to order
Just because it would take too long, oh I'm sorry
No you're fine
So next we're going to take a little bit of \Nthe butter now
And you can see as the lobster is finishing cooking\Nthat the shell is changing color
and then we're going to go with some \Nhedgehog mushrooms
The next thing we're going to do is, we're going to \Ndeglaze it with a little bit of brandy
This is the fun part
Watch out (laughing)
Staying back
(Chef) Okay, so, put in a little brandy
(Sarah) Flambé, right?
(Chef) That's the fun part, that's actually why I \Nwanted to become a chef
So have the lobster there
Very dramatic
We have some lobster stock in that copper \Npot there
So we're going to add that
(Sarah) and there's no cream in that? \NOr just a little cream?
(Chef) This is very little cream in this
this is just the richness of the vegetables
we use a little bit of star anise in here
Oh wow, okay
The star anise, fennel, onion, celery
garlic, a lot of herbs
(Sarah) It smells good
And now we'll take all our vegetables, we'll take \Na little bit of asparagus, a little bit of carrots
and this is really just for garnish
the original dish was just lobster and toast and \Nsauce
So the vegetables just give it a nice...\Nmake it more interesting
Lighten it up make it a little more... have a "fear"
So next thing we're going to do is we're \Ngoing to throw our brioche in the oven for a minute
So you hand me that and I'll grab a tray
So what are the menus that you always have,\Nhow often do you change your menu?
We try to change about four times a year
(Sarah) Just based on whatever is in season?
(Chef) Yes
and occasionally if I get bored every now and again\Nit will change
Have you invented any recipes here at Delmonico's?
The bacon that we do on the menu now is mine
one of the chickens, we do a \NHimalayan salt brick chicken, which is mine
This?
Yeah I take the rest of the lobster
Oh Himalayans, I love cooking with Himalayan salt
Yeah so we actually have bricks and we press,\Nit's kind of like a brick chicken
That sounds delicious
(Chef) We press it with the Himalayan salt
(Sarah) Nice
(Chef) It comes out really well
We're going to grab just a little cayenne and some\Nof the herbs
Chives?
Yup, chives and Italian flat leaf parsley
And in the sauce, when we make the sauce, there's \Na little bit of tarragon as well
Kind of bring out that star anise flavor?
Yeah. I kinda like that flavor
It smells delicious
This is just little bit of stock to \Njust to thin it out a little
so we can thicken it back up \Nand make it a little richer
(Chef) All right so we're about ready
our butter is kind of incorporated into the sauce
we're going to plate it, take our brioche out
it's kind of a dish that gets a little messy
so we're going to slide over just kinda to the \Ntable there
and we'll use this dish here to plate it up
So our brioche is going to go on the top
Oh it really does smell really good
Going to take this out
So you can see that
We leave it in the shell
the reason we leave it in the shell is we \Njust think that the shell protects the cooking
protects the meat, keeps it from shrinking
-and then sometimes the waiters\N-Will take it out?
(Chef) Will take it out
So I need a spoon from back there
Oh sure absolutely, here you go
It's a little big but it will work
Let me just get some of the sauce
Think we have enough sauce
Okay, we're good
Now we're going to finish it
Kind of like we finished our Eggs Benedict
Oh, so delicious
This really is a rich dish
When the truffles are in season we try and \Nuse them as much as we can
Well people love truffles right?
Yeah they go crazy for them
The white truffles even more
and then just a dollop of caviar on top
clean the plate and that's it
This looks beautiful, I can't wait to try it all
Let's go out to the table and we'll talk a little bit\Nabout the history of the three dishes
and obviously enjoy some good food
Sounds good
All right chef, so again everything looks beautiful,\Nlet's kind of start somewhere, where would you like to start?
Why don't we start with the Eggs Benedict
It's definitely a popular dish in the south too
I kind of always thought of it as being a \Nsouthern thing until I came here
And Sunday brunch and hangover food and all \Nkinds of stuff
Yeah it's good hangover food, that's true
Gotta get everything in there
Tell us again what's all in the dish as well
So we have Périgord, we have some nice toasted \Nbuttered brioche, we have a little prosciutte cotto
a cooked Italian ham with rosemary, thyme
we have some American caviar and some \NPérigord truffle
That ham is really delicious
Yeah it has nice flavor. It works really well with\Nthe eggs
And that hollandaise sauce is second to none!
That was yours!
That's delicious I like that a lot
So let's move on to the lobster newberg \Nand we'll save the steak for last
So we have a lot of history about this dish
It was Captain Wenberg who was a good, he was a \Nfisherman, spent a lot of time in the ocean
in the 1800s, he was also friends with, he\Nwas a trader, an importer/exporter
He spent a lot of time here when he would be in\NNew York with the Delmonico brothers
they became very good friends
and he brought this recipe to them
and he says well, you have to make it for me \Nand they did
and they loved it
then the Delmonico brothers had a falling out
so they took the dish off the menu and their\Ncustomers complained
so they said okay, we have to put it back on the menu
but we're not going to put it back on the menu \Nas lobster ala Wenberg
because we don't want to speak to him anymore\Nand we don't want to associate with him anymore
so it became lobster newberg
That is delicious
That sauce is amazing
That star anise really comes out
Yeah it comes through, and a little bit of the cayenne
It's a little bit of a process to do but it's worth it
We're going to save that for later
and then the last one is the Delmonico steaks
And this is the...
This is the wet aged boneless rib eye
Okay
And it's just grilled salt and pepper, and we\Nfinish it by brushing it with a little bit of butter
and some fried onions
and there's a history behind this?
Well what I know about the Delmonico steak was\Nback in the 1800s
the Delmonico brothers, it wasn't always a rib eye
it was whatever they thought was the best that\Nwas available to them at the time
Today it's the rib eye just because of the \Nfat content, the richness of the steak
and it works really well for us, \Nwe sell hundreds of them
Oh I bet
I'll push those to the side
Okay
So this isn't steak related but I hear there's\Nsome supernatural history as well?
Oh there is a little bit of supernatural history
Is it haunted?
They say it's haunted
Back in the 1800s the restaurant was actually\Nnine floors
So there was a restaurant, there was a hotel, \Nthere was all kinds of things going on here
And the rumor is that somebody was murdered\Nupstairs and a lot of ghost stories
There was another gentleman who used to clean \Nup here at night
and he said every night the ghosts had \Na party here down in the basement
Well this place actually was a site for a lot of \Nparties, cotillions, balls back in the day
it was where the rich elite Europeans and \NAmericans came to visit
Sure, there was a lot of firsts here
The first lady's luncheon was held here
It was the first restaurant also to hire a woman
it was the first restaurant to \Nallow women to congregate
as well as all the different firsts on the \Nculinary end
And it was the first place to use the term restaurant
Restaurant, printed menus
This steak is delicious by the way, if I didn't say so
All right so these are Abe Lincoln's \Nfavorite potatoes, correct?
That's it
and there's a lot of history too about people who \Nwere patrons here, correct?
So a lot of favorite people. Mark Twain, every \Npresident since Abraham Lincoln has been here
Charles Dickens, the Wolf of Wall Street was \Nanother one that used to frequent here
I bet you have people that come back here \Neveryday for lunch too
Not necessarily famous people
We get a lot of regulars, yeah
The bar is filled with a lot of characters that \Ncome in every single day
So these are the potatoes, the Abe Lincoln potatoes
So the story about this is Abe Lincoln loved\Nthese potatoes, and I'm sure I'm going to as well
Oh I thought there were going to be mashed
There's just a few calories in here
Oh my goodness
That's amazing
Can't really go wrong though
Cheese baked and cream, butter, potatoes
Awesome
That would go good on the side of a steak
It works perfect
And the next dish we have is our dessert
Baked Alaska
And it was invented here by Charles Ranhofer
who was one of the first celebrity chefs
so it's a layer of baked meringue and inside is \Nwhat we call, it's kind of a cross between
an ice cream and a semifreddo, so say \Na banana semifreddo
There's an apricot jam
Nice
underneath that, and then on the bottom is \Nwalnut sponge
Wow I'm kind of embarrassed to say I've never \Nactually eaten one of these
We're going to cut it open
So you can see the meringue, then you have the banana,
then there's the apricot jam \Nand on the bottom is the walnut sponge
I'll turn it around so we can get a better look
and then from there just dig in
That's never a problem
The perfect baked Alaska, you should be able to,\Nwhat we tried for anyway,
you should be able to get everything
the middle part can't be too cold, otherwise if it's\Ntoo cold you won't be able to go all the way through
It's delicious
and the apricot and the banana go really well \Ntogether
They do, they really do; and the walnut cake
Thank you so much, chef, everything has been \Nabsolutely delicious, beautiful and great history
and I've really enjoyed myself thank you so much
Thank you
Thank you so much for joining me on this \NStory of Cooking
I'm Sarah Nicholas and just remember behind every\Nstory is a great recipe!
Funding for the Story of Cooking is provided by
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Biagio Cru and Estate Wines
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