bleachboy

I gave my wife: Zojirushi "Neuro Fuzzy" rice cooker and warmer. (Looks good. Reviews soon in the relevant post in the "Japan" forum.) My wife gave me: A Bamix stick blender. Other people gave us: - A set of Amish-made wooden utensils. - A probe thermometer identical to one we already had. - A very high-quality extremely small balloon whisk. - One of those "chef wizard" combo flat whisk/tong things ("Lo! Marvel at how the CHEF WIZARD picks up this hard-boiled egg!") - A metric tonload of good stuff from my wife's aunt in San Jose, including unusual olive oil and balsamic vinegar and other notions. - One of those C-clamp looking apple peeler/corer/slicers (is this useful!?) - A very pretty Italian relish tray. - A Rick Bayless cookbook, and a free coupon for a "Whopper!" cheeseburger. Just kidding about the "Whopper!" ...

That's really not a bad idea. Also worth noting: I have a friend that works at a very nice upper-range-type restaurant. The type that has an actual chef and at least a seasonal menu. Anyhow, my friend works there and says, yes, there are "chicken fingers" and hot dogs in the freezer for the kids that come and just won't eat anything on the menu. So children are causing at least a small impact on the bottom line of one or more upscale eateries, in terms of having to stock menu items to satisfy their immature palates.

No doubt about that. I suppose what I meant by my post, but didn't properly articulate, was that the parents should be held responsible for their child's actions if they're bringing their child to a place where adult rules of conduct are expected to be enforced. That sends a clear message to the parents, which they will undoubtedly pass on to their children. Similarly, we would hold the parents responsible if, say, the child set fire to the neighbor's Bentley.

I'm relieved to hear that my mother didn't invent this dish! It's her specialty and is indeed mind-numbing in its insanity. One year she made one that was cherry Jell-o and green olives or something, and the top was slathered in about an inch-thick layer of Cool Whip - so of course I just spooned the Cool Whip onto my salad plate and.. lo! It's not Cool Whip, it's Miracle Whip! *retch*

Refusing service due to age (race, gender, etc) is probably not legal in the US. However, refusing service due to boorish behavior is, I bet, perfectly okay. So if you want to bring your four-year-old and his hyperactive friend into Daniel, that should be allowed. But the second the child throws something, the whole party's out in the street. If I went into Daniel (at age 31) and started throwing shit around, I wouldn't expect to be welcome for very long.

Frankly, I use the inexpensive Crate & Barrel steak knives that match the rest of my everyday silverware. They're serrated, which is all you really need from any steak knife. If your steak's tough enough that you need a Laguiole or Wusthof to cut it, you've got steak problems to attend to first! That said, fancy steak knives will certainly impress your guests, if that's the goal.

Oops! You lost the bourgeoisie there. What's "Baroloses"? Why's it a gaff? IANAS

Hey, I ran into some pastry chef a few weeks ago at Rumba that said she knew you and that you were doing good things at the Capitol Grille. I'll give it a try sometime. My wife works at the main library like a block from there, so we'll have to make it after work one day.

I'd like to see this question answered more thoroughly. I know what I like in a new wine. How do I know what it's going to be like in 5-10 years, say? Do I look for red wines that are a little too tannic, whites that are a little too fruity?

I was born and raised in Texas, and I have to admit I sort of miss Whataburger. I remember that everything tasted like onions there.

I think Tennessee may be the same way. I've never heard the bartender say "this one's on the house", and I'm on a first-name basis with a few bartenders in town. However, I have been grossly undercharged on a number of occasions, which I can only assume is deliberate. I always make sure to tip based on what I've had to drink/eat. Overtipping bartenders is always a good policy, if you plan to return.

Pogo, you're speaking my language now .. but under $15? How about under $10! I have zero skill at writing tasting notes. The wine experts would eat me alive. But here are three wines that I've had within the past week that I would buy again: $9.99 Chateau Gabaron Bordeaux 2000 $9.99 "Neonato by Marques de Murrieta" Rioja 2000 $9.99 Villa Maria Riesling 2001 ("New Zealand Cellar Selection")

When about 8 million of us petition McAppleback's (a phrase I like enough I'm going to try to incorporate it into my daily life) to serve better food, they'll change their tune. They serve the swill they serve because Americans have voted for that type of swill in spades, with their dollars. I am willing to bet that when introducing new products these type of places do tons of market research, and someone's telling them that what the American public wants is junk. So how do we convince the American public that they don't want junk?

Maybe not historically, but let's talk about today. You're making it more important than it is, because food is central to your life. Mine too, but there are a ton of people who don't see it that way. It's mostly an economic thing. 12.1% of Americans (and 16.7% of children) today live in poverty. They don't give a flying fuck about quality food. They care about using the small amount of money they have to get enough nourishment to sustain primary body function. They eat 99 cent loaves of white bread and jars of peanut butter. They don't "dine". (I've been there, I know). Of the rest who possibly could afford to spend time making food interesting, the percentage that do are the ones for whom it's a hobby, or who have enough money so that it's not a problem to focus on food a little. The rest spend their meager free time focusing on sports, or philately, or watch-collecting. When you're working 40 hours a week for an income of $42,000 (the current national average), with a wife and a kid, you don't have a lot of spare time to pursue interests. Sure, you'll get food-crazy around Thanksgiving and Christmas, but you'd spend the rest of your spare time doing what you love. For you and I, that may be cooking and dining out. But for most, I'm afraid, the key issue is -- get ready for it -- convenience.

One thing that is worth pointing out is that there are very good reasons why many of these "corporate foods" are the way they are. In 1924, iodine was added to salt to prevent goiter. With that change, the rate of goiter in Michigan, for example, quickly fell from 39 to 9 percent. Between 1906 and 1940 in the US, about three million cases of pellagra (symptoms: diarrhea, jaundice, dementia, death) were diagnosed before the government mandated that all flour be enriched with niacin, iron, thiamin, and riboflavin. How many people have you known who have had pellagra these days? Same goes for vitamin D (in milk) and rickets. On a global scale, trying to go "natural" or "anti-corporate" for food is reckless and inhumane. Agricultural researcher and Nobel Prize winner Norman Borlaug predicts that producing enough food on existing farmlands to feed an expected 2.3 billion more mouths by 2025 will require an astonishing 75 percent jump in productivity. That type of productivity increase is absolutely impossible without large-scale factory farming and, probably, GM foods. In America, yes, we have enough food. The majority of the world does not. This post may be almost as extreme as the "replacing food with pills" example, but it's worth noting that a return to an artisanal past and meals cooked with care in your own home from whole ingredients and fresh herbs, romantic as it may be, is probably going to be limited, at least in the present, to the affluent or passionate, not the common man in America, and definitely not to the common man worldwide. As much as I would love to see canned corn and enriched white bread disappear, it ain't gonna happen - and really, it shouldn't.

(Lots of great posts in this thread, BTW!) Well, it may not be quite as specific as a "quartz vs. mechanical" argument, but the invention of the first accurate timepiece (the marine chronometer), allowing sailors to accurately determine longitude, was considered (by folks like Newton and Galileo) one of the most important problems of the 18th century, for a number of reasons. You maybe don't think about that sort of stuff because your hobby is food, not watches. But I think you're missing my point as it relates to this thread, FG. "Quartz versus mechanical" is really a moot point, in the same way that "Applebee's versus French Laundry" is a moot point. Haute cuisine is no more important to our nutrition or anything else than haute horology. Sure, you can find tons of scholarly texts about food, but that's really irrelevant to the thread, "escaping banality in the Average Joe's diet". Last time I was in NYC, one of my travel companions suggested quite earnestly that we should go eat at T.G.I.Friday's for dinner. I was aghast, but there are many "food as fuel" folks out there, and people for whom the most important aspect of dining is a lack of surprises, as evidenced by the astounding success of McDonald's and the millions of cookie-cutter dining experiences that followed.

That's the point I was trying to make, I think - the thread was about surpassing mediocrity. The folks on eGullet are, by and large, the type of people that do make a distinction between good food and great food. However, most people aren't, and the majority of those that aren't interested in haute cuisine (or even anything better than Applebee's) seem to have no desire whatsoever to broaden their food horizons. Certainly no more than the average Joe cares to explore the world of mechanical wristwatches. I'm not saying that I get these people, just what I've observed... (I almost forgot what this thread was about... all the Wal-Mart talk distracted me!)

Wal-Mart is even more obscene than K-Mart. The categories listed at the top of the Wal-Mart website will give you a good idea. "Super" Wal-Marts also contain grocery stores. So yes, you can buy clothes, a "diamond ring", a fern, and a steak all at the same place. And it will all be super cheap and -- no big surprise here -- manufactured by slave labor in third world countries. Wal-Mart is constantly under fire for it's egregious mistreatment of employees, local communities, the environment, and suppliers. Doing a Google search for "Wal-Mart sucks" should give you a good idea.

Very interesting, and downright hilarious given that I hardly think of Anne Rice as a paragon of good taste. I think I have eaten at Straya's a couple of times, although isn't it now called something heinous like "Copeland's Cheesecake Factory...err, Kitchen" or the like?

Does anybody have any experience with the Hamilton Beach (these are really Euro mixers sold under the Kenwood name over there, I think) mixers? These have a tilt-up head (the whole body, really) and twice the power of the KitchenAid models. Click pic for manufacturer's info page

Homemade hoisin.. It'll probably be like the Steingarten "homemade ketchup" project -- your goal will be to come as close as possible to store-bought. Given the simplicity of the ingredients, I bet you could just sit down with a mixing bowl and work with it, using one of those recipes Anna N. suggested as a start. I really do think it needs some bean paste, though. I also think that if you omitted a lot of the sugar and caramelized more garlic and/or shallots than these recipes call for, you could probably get a pretty good balance without the sugar. Would Splenda work for this sort of thing?

Ooh, that does sound good. I would use a mild goat cheese, and definitely add some of Iowa's finest. Goat cheese also makes a fantastic souffle. I love quiche, although I should really make them more often. My problem is that I always insist on making the crust from scratch, and in my tiny apartment that requires a full cleanup so that I'll have enough space to roll it out. I need to learn to love store-bought crusts, I guess.

Actually, Copeland's was started by Al Copeland, the same guy that started Popeye's. It's awesome food as long as you think of it as a "Super Popeye's", and not the kind of upscale place they try to market it as here in Nashville. Thanksgiving in New Orleans was a blast! We had lunch/dinner at Mr. B's Bistro (the "B" is for "Brennan"). We ate early (1:30) so as to procure the choicest cuts. Two of us had the smoked free range turkey, myself included. I had never tried free range turkey before. It was served as two huge half-inch thick slabs of breast meat, and served with a scrumptious cornbread stuffing, pureed sweet potatoes, and haricots vert. I was really impressed with the flavor of the free range turkey. It was definitely richer in flavor, though tougher and less juicy, than the turkey I prepared last Thanksgiving (organic, brined, deep-fried). Next year, I'm definitely going to use eGullet to source one of these turkeys out! One of my other dining companions ordered a decadent pork "roll" - sausage wrapped in tenderloin wrapped in bacon. Oh my! She traded me one of her pieces for a piece of turkey, and I have to say.. well, what do you think? Three layers of pork heaven. My wife got a trout meuniere, being a vegetarian - it's exactly what you'd expect for a poisson meuniere in New Orleans. Tasty. The wines were not included, but that was okay given that the dinner price was very reasonable and included an appetizer (I had a delicious squash bisque) and a dessert. I sprung for a bottle of champagne and a bottle of pinot noir and a bottle of riesling. Some of our food plans were laid to waste by the Bayou Classic. This is the second time I've been in New Orleans during this stupid football game, in which the French Quarter becomes so packed with people as to be completely inaccessible, especially if you are like my wife and I and can't deal with huge crowds. So Saturday night we went to Cuvee in the CBD. I had been here before, actually, and was yet again impressed, especially with their sommelier and wine list. I was dining with four other people this time, and he helped me choose a bottle of sparkling, a white, and a red, that were quite delicious for right around $100 (for all three). Now that's a sommelier! Thanks again for the advice, Mayhaw man! We were not disappointed! Want me to give you a call next time I'm down there? Dinner's on me! (My employer's office is in Poydras Center, so I'm down there about 6 times a year for meetings and junk).

Wal-Mart is just plain evil. Here in Nashville, they wanted to dig up a prehistoric Indian burial ground to build a SUPER Wal-Mart. Just unbelievable. As much as it pains us all to admit it, the reason you won't get Americans to stop eating their McDonald's is that many Americans frankly don't give a damn about fine cuisine. And they won't give a damn no matter how much you "educate" them because they're simply not into it. I frequent TimeZone, a message board for watch-enthusiasts. Frankly, I'm shocked and appalled that many of you are wearing quartz watches instead of the vastly more interesting mechanical models. And I'm not being facetious, it really shocks me. However, many of you don't care.. at all. Nor do many of you want to pay three times as much for a less-reliable watch that requires more maintenance just because it has more soul. Similarly, the guy who heads out to Applebee's for the fucking repulsive looking Bleu Cheese Steak Skillet really, really doesn't know or care a whit about anything going on in the minds of most eGulleters. I bet we have all taken a friend out to a very good restaurant, one with delightful, inventive cuisine, and heard the dreaded words: "I'll have the filet, well-done please."

I drink it every so often. At least in the Southern United States, it's available pretty much everywhere. If my taste memory serves correctly, it tastes a lot like the punch you see a lot at parties that's made with 7-Up and Hawaiian Punch.