MichaelB

I visited a few places today and saw a few ovens. Of course, no showroom in this town shows 27" ovens on the floor; so I have no idea how the cavity capacities compare to my existing oven. I am smitten right now with the idea of a Miele oven and replacing the existing microwave with a Miele Steam Oven. I would add a counter top microwave hidden away somewhere. Link for the Miele Steamer: http://www.miele.com/usa/cooking/steam-ove...subcat=19&cat=3 I know I should just replace the oven with current model Jenn-Air. It would be a slide-in swap. The Miele might be a tad too wide for the space (70cm is just over 27") and it is much shorter than the Jenn-Air. I would need to build up the bottom of the cabinet by 6 inches and put a stainless cover over the built up area. But, I would have a STEAMER in my kitchen! Please help save me from myself. Note, that my wife may also help save me too.

HC, I do not need a double oven there. There are a few threads around with descriptions of my kitchen (and even a thread where I promised pics but never have gotten around to it). The electric wall oven is in the "pastry area" of the kitchen. I already have two full sized gas ovens under the 60" range on the hot side of the kitchen. That said, there is a microwave oven that is little used above the oven. I have some thoughts that I will share below.

I thought I would open my situation up to the board for suggestions. My 16 year old Jenn-Air single wall oven (model W188) has fried its main controller board. I can pay $425 or so to have a new board installed. Or I can probably scrounge around the web for the part and install it myself for somewhat less. OR -- I can take the opportunity to buy a new oven. (Any ideas which way I am leaning?) So, give me your suggestions. The requirements are: fit existing 27 inch opening electric convection no water or drain line on that wall (which rules out what I really want, a Gaggenau Combi Steam/Convection oven) I haven't been in the market for 16 years, so I have little idea what's out there.

You got me with this one. Would those be fingers of monks or nuns? In either case, pretty difficult to source these days.

If I had my heart set on dining at the Franch Laundry -- and I would if I thought I might not get back to the area for a while, I would make hotel reservations in Napa Valley for at least two nights at one of the other two Relais & Chateaux properties in the valley, Auberge du Soleil and Meadowwood. The meal is probably better at Auberge if your friend has a choice of where to stay. Then, I would call the concierge and ask for reservations one of the nights in the hotel's dining room and the other at the French Laundry. He or she can probably get that done particularly if your friend is flexible on both date and time. The real problem is that she wants to be in Napa Valley over Memorial Day weekend. I am betting the hotels are packed then too. I second the visit to La Toque. Note that LaToque is closed Monday and Tuesday.

I put a knife case in a checked bag. Only had one problem when a knife obviously fell out during a TSA inspection of the bag. The airline bought me a new knife. Interestingly, that is the only time TSA has opened my checked bag to look at the knives -- they were in a bag full of other cooking tools on that trip.

We had a slightly diffferent rule. The second most senior person pays and the most senior person signs off on the expense report. Jim ← Many companies -- and now most large companies -- enforce a "senior person pays" rule. This assures that someone not present has to approve the expenditure.

Now you did it. I cannot get out of my head the Du Droppers singing "Can't Do Sixty No More" (1952, Red Robin Records [i think]).

I have a 60 and use the daylights out of it. I really don't know if I could ever do without 2 full sized ovens again -- and I do have a standard wall oven (electric convection) in addition. As I said in another thread, I made one big mistake with the range. I have 6 burners and a 24 inch griddle. I almost never use the griddle. Where, oh where is the salamander I really need?

Glad you got to go Doc.

Sure the wine is expensive, as is the entire experience. I have not studied the list to find wines I could buy elsewhere. I have only looked for things I haven't seen or drunk before. Also, please remember that the current wine list prices are inclusive of service. So, the wine listed at $100 is really $83 plus a 20% "tip." Now, if you are a person who is not in the habit of tipping 20%-ish on the wine portion of your meal, the prices are going to appear even higher to you.

Absolutely look at induction. The downsides are higher initial cost and limitations oh the cookware you can use -- cast iron or magnetic steel. If you also need to purchase new cookware, it makes going to induction easier.

You have several options here. You can put a hard sear on both sides of the duck before service, then finish in a 400F oven for around 10 minutes (to just shy of med rare). Or, what I would do -- Finish cooking the duck just as the pasta course goes to the table, remove the duck from the heat and let it rest. You can combine this with the sear and roast method above. Enjoy the pasta course then, slice the duck and plate it. Just make sure your plates are warm and and the sauce is ripping hot.

I can't help you, but those reports give me some solace in not getting my own reservation. We will be dining at Cyrus instead. ← I disagree. I dined at the Laundry on Tuesday (yes, the second time in 4 months). It is, overall, as close to a perfect dining experience as one can have. No, the food isn't cutting edge -- how can it be when everyone and his brother are copying it -- but it represents flawless execution using top-notch products. The service raises the experience to another level all together. On a note that I have not seen reported here, the Laundry has changed its pricing from $175 plus automatic service charge (19%, I think it was) to $210 service compris. Do the math, that is essentially the same price. Per Se instituted the pricing last year. I am guessing the Laundry did it after the January break. Oh, and the reception foyer was remodeled. There is no longer a small bar but instead a small seating area.

I have had a 60" US Range for more than 15 years. Two ovens, 6 burners and griddle. I should have put a salamander where the griddle is but my wife argued for the one level top that the grill permitted and I didn't push it. The pluses: It works like a charm. I just had my first service call on it this week. A burner pilot wasn't working and the line had to be blown out. I don't know that I could ever go back to something less than a full sized oven. It is extremely easy to clean because it comes apart so easily. Of course, there is no "self cleaning" feature -- I am the self. The issues: You have to consider ventilation -- and the routing of the vent lines. You might even consider separate make up air so you don't suck all your heated or cooled air out of the house. Installing to code is a royal pain. Temperature control in the room can also be a problem. (I have a separate zone just for the kitchen.) My range has 10 pilots running all the time. The ovens sit around 130 fully cooled. Even when it is off it generates a lot of heat. I am not sure I would want a commercial unit in a house with smallish children. Any more questions, ask away.

I didn't know my wife was posting under an alias. She has exactly the same reaction reaction to bell peppers. We do not express it as an allergy; in large part so that I do not dilute the seriousness of her real allergy (sunflower seeds; get the epi pen NOW! allergy). I tell people that she is allergic to sunflower seeds and that bell peppers "bother" her.

No, but I spoke with the sales rep for the midwest on the phone the other day. He offered to have me talk to the chefs at the Greenbrier Hotel and the Greenebrier Sporting Club who each bought one from Julabo. I think it is safe to say that any of the products that meet the exacting standards required in a lab are more than what we really need for culinary uses. The one thing I did not see on the Julabo (which you can find on the data sheet for the Polyscience, for example) is the media quantity in an open bath that the heater can hold at a given temperature.

I am not a professional and am self taught, essentially. I have never worked a minute in the industry, at least for pay. A close friend is a prominent chef and I have done a lot of work for and with him on a volunteer basis. So, I readily admit that I have taken away much from professional kitchens. The range is all gas. No electrical power to it at all. Ten pilots running all the time (well, for the last two days, nine pilots; first service call on the range was made yesterday). The range does put out a bit of heat and we had to do some fancy footwork to fireproof the adjoining cabinets and the wall behind. In the summer the air conditioning works fairly hard to keep that room cool. The kitchen has its own heating and cooling zone. I have nothing on the floors. My legs and back do not bother me at all, even after several 12 to 15 hour kitchen days in a row. I ought to own stock in Dansko clogs, however. I hate mats on kitchen floors even in a restaurant kitchen.

Oh, geez, you know I cannot resist your most winning smile. No pictures of the kitchen, but I'll check this weekend if the battery in the camera will hold a charge. The stories of the kitchens is not that interesting. Our home is about 30 years old and my wife is the original owner. We began cooking seriously as something we could do together. Today, I do all the cooking; she is an accomplished baker. In connection with some other remodeling about 20 years ago, we tried to reconfigure the kitchen so that we could both work in it a the same time. We put in a wood floor (as we were doing in several other rooms at the time), changed the counter tops (solid color laminate; what was I thinking to permit MAUVE), and added additional cabinets. We came up with the space by extending the kitchen into the breakfast nook. Two problems. First, the space really wasn't wide enough to permit separate work areas for each of us. Second, we couldn't so much with the equipment. The house was all electric with no gas service. We had room only for one wall oven plus a warming drawer and a 4 burner cooktop (Jennair downdraft with the drop-in modules). I did replace one of the 2 burner modules with an induction module (way ahead of the curve on that one). We never were really satisfied with that room. Sooo, we started looking for other solutions, including a different home. We ended up using the garage space and adding a new garage to the side of the house. The old kitchen became a gallery/hall. We reused all the cabinetry from the old kitchen and added additional cabinets where necessary. So, I have three generations of white laminate cabinets. The room does have a granite floor and granite countertops. We brought gas service to the house and replaced furnaces and the hot water heater as part of the work. The room has four fairly distinct areas -- cooking, baking, gathering/watching and eating. The eating area is contained in a bay at the front of the house. There is a table for 4/5 in the bay. Equipment consists of a 60" commercial US Range (6 burners, griddle [the only real mistake; I should have put a salamander in that slot] and 2 ovens (nonconvection, I didn't have clearance for the fans out the back) with a gas grill (Thermador, I think) beside, an 84" Vent-a-hood above, a warming drawer below the grill (unnecessary, the ovens hold at 125 degrees with just pilot), one electric convection wall oven (Jennair), a two burner induction top (Jennair, see above; near the wall oven), a 48" Traulsen refrigerator/freezer (see FFB's separate thread), one dishwasher, a double sink and a single sink. I'll try to have the layout make some sense with pics in a few days.

My favorite story (that I may have repeated here already) along these lines comes from a chef friend in New Orleans. He had donated dinner for 12 cooked in the winning bidder's home to a charity auction. The winner had spent upwards of $300,000 on a kitchen remodel 2 to 3 years previous. Chef visits the kitchen to plan the meal and determined that it has everything he needs and then some. Oh the day of, he arrives and gets to work; fires up an oven; and shortly thereafter smells a petrochemical type odor. Opens the oven door and finds . . . you guessed it, the plastic zip lock bag containing the oven manuals melting onto the rack and oven floor. My kitchen gets used every single day. It is the third kitchen we have had in the house (takes time and effort to get it right!) and is the space that was formerly the two car garage. It is not a showplace; it is a working kitchen. Everything in its place and I can have 9 or 10 people working in it without a problem.

The best advice I have ever read for newly minted party givers appears in Patrick O'Connell's first book. He advises to pick a 3 course menu. Cook each dish separately and together for family, a close friend, etc. Cook these dishes for them until you have made every mistake possible and your family is sick of this food. Make your audience critique the dishes every time you serve them. Cook this 3 course menu until you have the timing down so well that you can get it out in your sleep. Then serve this menu to your boss or friends or whomever at a dinner party. Most importantly -- keep your mouth shut! Your guests don't have to know that these three dishes are the only things in the universe that you can cook. In fact, they will likely think that you are a bona fide world class cook. Add two more appetizers, main courses and desserts to your repertoire and you probably are.

You have one in your home??? [jealous, jealous] What about noise? How in the world did SZ manage to make a home version of this, which is what it looks like to me ... and make it heavier? I don't understand the electrical stuff; does this mean it works with standard household electrical? (We already know we'll have to do some electrical revamping, but the house probably needs it anyway. ) My kitchen is going to be open to the wet bar/sitting room, the front foyer, and the outside. Trying to decide now if 40 acres of stainless is going to work. We need to keep it professional but soft. I'd considered glass doors, which I love. My last SZ was built into cabinets and I loved it. ← Yes, I do and have had it for 16 years now. I have never noticed any noise to speak of. Electrical is the same as every other refrigerator -- standard 120 volt, 15 amp circuit. When I bought mine, glass doors were available on the unit. There is even a front panel switch to leave the light on all the time. I could never keep my fridge tidy enough to get by with glass doors.

You need a 48" model? Get the Traulsen shown here: Trauslen pdf datasheet I have had this model for 16 years with nary a problem. Well, once with the icemaker but we won't go into that. I do hope that you were looking at stainless for the face of the SZ.

Grrrrr. I have one extra night in SF in March and wanted to go. Sold out the house to a private party that night! If the host is anyone here, I am not happy.

Doc, I had a terrific experience at Danko in November. So much so, I intend to return in mid-March. In Napa Valley, I had likewise experiences at TFL and La Toque. Which "specific spot" in Napa are you considering? Edit: spell