rgruby

Anybody gone the Ikea route for cabinets? On some of the other kitchen reno threads, Ikea has been mentioned as good bang for the buck, but also quite good on the quality end of things as well. I'm assuming the product we get here is the same as in the US? Cheers, Geoff Ruby

GE fridges are garbage. Mark ← I hear you about the sense of humour. I'll add monk-like patience as another thing that might come in handy. The reno is to a reasonable sized (15ish by 11ish) but storage short - space in a house we'll be moving into in a couple of months. I'm going to try and keep what I can, as I think it is a very workable space with a couple of additions. (In other words, this isn't quite like Varmint's ordeal that is being described in great deal elsewhere here on egullet. Not even close. Varmint's kitchen reno - the sequel) There is an obvious area for cupboards/ pantry that is now open shelving. I think there is enough space for an island. Perhaps with a bit of above counter cupboards as well, my storage needs should be very well taken care of. With an island, even a smallish one, I should have enough countertop work & plating space. Work and storage space are the priorities. Re: the appliances - there's a Maytag dishwasher in there now. It'll probably be staying for a while unless it is total junk. Not sure what the fridge is, but it is bigger than what I'm using now, so it'll probably stay at least for a while. (I'd heard mostly good things about the GE fridges by the way - at least the upper end ones). The oven and cooktop have to go. Glass top. The gas line extends under the kitchen, so I'm thinking switch the cooktop over to gas. I'd want to anyhow, but as it'd need only 6-8' more gas line, it's pretty much a foregone conclusion. I prefer electric ovens, but we'll see. There's no vent in the kitchen right now. I'll need one of those, gas cooktop or not. Right now, the stove sits on an outside wall, so shouldn't be a major problem to put a hood up there. The stove sits right beside a window at the moment. Actually, it doesn't quite fit. It may be tricky to fit a stove and proper backsplash in that area. If that proves the case, a rethink of the whole kitchen may have to happen. And, as much as I'd love a gas stove, if it is going to be difficult or make the the whole layout of the kitchen more difficult, I can live with electric. Not ideal, but I can live with it. Ok, thanks for all the ideas, advice, debate, sources etc. Keep 'em coming folks. Cheers, Geoff Ruby Edited to add link to Varmint's kitchen reno thread

Made it for the first time tonight. Very simple, very delicious. Just do the shrooms and onions over lowish heat so they soften up but don't take on colour, and you should do fine. Cheers, Geoff Ruby

Has anybody in the GTA reno'd a kitchen recently? I'd be grateful for any suggestions on places to look at for appliances, cabinets, kitchen design advice, etc. I'm at the very early stages of deciding what I'm going to do. New cabinets are a must - the kitchen has almost no storage. Thinking about an island. I would like to put in a gas range, but might live with the current electric stove for a bit (will likely depend on how much of the budget goes for cabinetry). Thanks, Geoff Ruby

Chiado - an upscale Portuguese place on College that is known for its fish might be worth a look too. Can anybody tell us how Chiado's wine selection/ pairing is? For sushi, in the downtown core Hiro on King St. W. is good, but I've never had wine there so I have no idea about that end of things. I'm having a bit of a difficult time thinking up a fish-focused resto in town that would also have a decent wine cellar and expertise in pairing their food to the wines. Joso's is a seafood place on Davenport that is perhaps more well known for its decor (breasts - everywhere apparently) and clientele (the rich &/or fabulous) than it's food. I've never eaten there though, so I don't know about the food or the wine. But it did pop into my head as a place that is seafood focused and likely to have a decent wine selection. Hope this helps. Cheers, Geoff Ruby

If you do get the furniture polish smell, are the lemons still safe to eat, or are they just not worth using due to the taste and /or smell they give off?

Around the Pesaro Italy area they make a pizza called the Rossini (for the composer who was born there) that includes mayonnaise among its toppings. I never tried one, but it seemed rather popular. Cheers, Geoff Ruby

Stadtlander is one, can anybody name another?

The next question is, are there any chefs here making use of this bounty? Cheers, Geoff Ruby

A few more: Fast Food Nation Craft of Cooking Les Halles The Art of Eating, 50th Ann. ed. Gowing up in a Korean Kitchen How to Cook Meat So, 6 more. Cheers, Geoff Ruby

Hey, we wouldn't hibernate (as much) if we knew what was going on! How'd you learn all this from Rochester now that the ferry is kaput!! Erm, tell me more about Thuet's joint. Please? And, Thanks for letting us Canucks in on the foodie faves (um, really- I think you know this town better than I do). Cheers, Geoff Ruby

I'll third that. Tastes kinda like regular Pepsi mixed with Dr. Pepper with maybe a touch of allspice. That said, I kinda like it. Cheers, Geoff Ruby

He was supposed to be on Christine Cushing this evening. Did anyone see it? Does anyone know when they repeat it? Cheers, Geoff Ruby

How big are these? What does the skin look like - is it about the size of a ping pong ball, and relatively smooth? Have you cracked one open to see what it looks like inside? It sounds like it may be what I have seen labelled here as dried lime. If so, they can be added to something like a braised lamb stew. A local Persian place near me does just that, and after long slow cooking in the stew they soften and the whole thing becomes edible. I found them quite pungent and bitter - concentrated lime, but the sweetness seemed to have dissipated. They added a bit of flavour to the dish, but it was pretty subtle, and some citrus aroma, but not quite like fresh lime juice either. Muskier or something. I recently added a couple to a lamb stew I did, but I took them out before I served it. I'm new to them too, and made the stew before I ate at the Persian place. A quick look in New Food of Life, an Iranian cookbook (and excellent by the way) refers to limu-omani as dried Persian lime, and has a recipe for dried lime powder. I think you've come across dried limes. Cheers, Geoff Ruby

It appears we are! I'm still not sure if I'm going to be in town that weekend. Anybody out there want to take the bull by the horns and PM Mr. Bourdain to see if he's even available and/ or interested? I'd do it but I'd feel a bit akward in the end if I needed to bow out. So, someone, anyone. Is there even enough interest among TO area egulleteers? Cheers, Geoff Ruby

Edward, I'm wondering if you could elaborate a bit more about some of the subtle (or even not so subtle) things you learned in this course. Cheers, Geoff Ruby

I don't think any of This's books have been published in English yet. I asked about that here a couple of months or so ago to no response. I wonder how much they add to the kitchen science literature in English now that the new edition of McGee is out. Cheers, Geoff Ruby

I remember one of the tests to potential recruits for Jamie Oliver's restaurant 15 involved cooking a fish fillet (with skin on) in a pan on top of the stove. I remember him advising the recruits to oil the fish only, and NOT the pan. I think the reason was basically that oiling the fan would be excessively smoky - ie there would be a lot of area in the pan not covered by the fish, and that you really only need the oil where the fish is. I seem to recall the pans not being overly large, and they may have been cast iron rather than non-stick, but I'm not entirely sure. In any event, it seemed to make sense to me at the time, but I tried it a couple of times, ended up with the skin sticking to the pan, and went back to adding oil to the pan and not the fish. (On the show, at least some of the recruits ended up with some ok looking, non stuck to the pan fish.) Anyone have any comments/ opinions/ advice on oiling the fish and not the pan? Cheers, Geoff Ruby

Mr. McGee, Again, thank you for joining us. Just want to add a couple of obvious things to your response. First, we should all use meat before it gets to the point that you have to throw it out. To not do so is not only a waste of your time (shopping) and money, but also of the efforts of the farmers, shippers etc. In North America big hunks of protein are relatively inexpensive, but that doesn't mean we should be nonchalant about waste. Second, even though the bacteria that cause meat to smell off may not kill us, proper storage and appropriate cooking methods are still essential for the reasons pointed out above. One question I should have asked - uncooked meat gives us notice that it is off, because the bacteria smell offensive to us. Assuming meat or poultry is cooked correctly, cooled quickly and stored in a fridge, is there any hard and fast rule regarding how long it remains good? I've had cooked chicken in my fridge that has been in there for quite a while - like more than a week - that looks ok and doesn't smell off. Will that be dangerous to eat?

This might be an excellent question to ask Harold McGee in his Q & A going on right now. I've already posed a question, so if somebody else would ask him this, I'd definitely be interested in knowing the answer. Thanks, Geoff Ruby

Thank you Mr. McGee for joining us here! I've just received my copy of the revised version of On Food and Cooking. It looks fantastic and I'm sure it will be a valued and frequently used resource in my kitchen. So far, I've read up to the beginning of the chapter on eggs and had a rather cursory flip through the rest. One thing that did catch my eye was the section on the ageing and storage of meat. Certain animal flesh, such as that from cows, is improved immensely from a fairly lengthy ageing period in conditions which are not all that dissimilar to those found in the average fridge. Yet when I buy meat (lets say thin cuts like steaks or chops - not ground or roasts), and leave it in the fridge for more than a couple of days, it gets noticeably stronger smelling, may feel a bit slimy, have a bit of an oil-slick like rainbow colouration to it etc. (Most of the time I purchase meat it would be wrapped in butcher paper, and not in a styrofoam tray wrapped in plastic, if that matters). My inclination would be to throw that meat out at that point. Am I being way overly cautious? Avoiding the subject of ground meats, is there anything there that could kill me? My experience in restaurants has been that if it looks ok (i.e. not fuzzy, dried out) and smells ok (and the tolerance for what smells ok may be a bit wider than what I personally would accept), then out it goes. Is a quick visual and smell test sufficient? If so, is it equally applicable to flesh four-legged, feathered and finned? Thanks again, Geoff Ruby

What's the name of the place you're talking about? ← I was thinking of the Fat Duck - not really sure how far from London it is (but for some reason 80 popped into my head - could be that Bray is actually somewhat further. My apologies if my laziness in not looking this up were misleading), and I haven't actually eaten there - the "seems to be" referred to my knowledge of the place from what I've heard about in the media and here at egullet. I'd certainly like to eat there!

I'm thinking of going as well. could be fun. Cheers, Geoff Ruby

My vote would be NYC. For me, the most intersting city food-wise would have everything from a wide variety of street foods, ethnic restaurants from as many areas of the globe as possible, a variety of high-end places, and a populace that supports restaurants - i.e. a somewhat food educated or at least interested population. This probably means a fairly large number of people with discretionary income willing to spend it on food. On the other hand, restaurants must also be reasonably priced. And, obviously, that city would also need experienced chefs, managers, front of house staff, and also enough people willing to start at the bottom - dishwashers, busboys etc. to start at the bottom and make the whole thing run. The city would also need extensive transportation networks to supply the foods of the world to allow the ethnic places to make a decent approximation of foods from their native lands. I haven't talked about creativity amongst the chefs yet, but that is also important to me. The availability of a wide range of ingredients will help facilitate that, but the willingness of the dining public to try new things is also important. My most interesting city would also have great markets, cheesemongers, bakeries, wine merchants, etc. Of all the cities I've been to, New York is really the only one that would meet all my criteria. London, to me as a North American, fails the reasonably priced test - so I haven't sampled it widely enough. Mostly I've stuck to curries and pub-grub. And, the most interesting place in the UK seems to be 80 km or so west of London. Paris? Fantastic french, reasonably priced at least in the low to medium range, great wines, markets, but perhaps not varied enough in non-French cuisines, and outrageously expensive at the high end, but of all the places I've been Paris might be no. 2. Barcelona - how can you not like Barcelona? Again, I think it lacks the variety of some of the other places, and that is perhaps the most important thing for me. But creativity is also very important, and Barcelona may be the tops in that regard, right now. Never been to Asia, so no comment, but HK and Singapore sound very appealing foodie-wise. Tokyo too. Another city that I've heard good things about, but have never visitied is Sydney. Hell let's add Melbourne too - so Aussies, any votes for Sydney and/or Melbourne as the most interesting food city? And a vote of potential for my city - Toronto. It has a lot of positives - among the most multicultural and liveable cities on the planet. Lots of ehtnic restaurants and markets. Reasonably priced restaurants and food in the markets, increasingly skilled (restaurant-wise) workforce. Good markets, butchers etc. But we still might not be the most interesting food city in Canada, let alone the world. First, no street food other than hot dogs. That bugs the shit out of me. Second, at the high end, with a few (and growing number of) exceptions, it's still pretty conservative. Up until about ten years ago the best joints were French or Cal-Ital and might have been located in a hotel. Maybe good restaurants, but interesting? Things are changing, but again, with a couple of exceptions, I don't think our high end joints (or the level under that even) are as creative as what I hear about from Barcelona or what was happening at WD-50 in New York or Trio, for example. And, one thing that differentiates us from Montreal perhaps, and Vancouver and the Island on the west coast - is that there doesn't seem to be a movement toward a defining local "Toronto" style of cooking focusing exclusively on local and seasonal ingredients. There are exceptions to this as well - most notably Stadtlander's place - but I don't see it to the degree I did on the west coast. Again, maybe that's coming. And, in some ways an interest in such a locally grounded cuisine goes against what I said my interests were above - variety in ingredients, products from all over the globe etc. But in some ways, getting the most from the ingredients that are immediately around you can definitely make for a very interesting food city - such as Bologna or San Sebastian. Another place that perhaps should be in the mix, but I don't think has been mentioned yet is Lyon. I have never been, and perhaps it has lost some or even much of its lustre as an interesting food city. Anybody want to comment? For me, a fascinating thread. Cheers, Geoff Ruby

The place on Spadina is probably Fortune. They don't sell whites and I don't know about burr grinders either, to get back to the original question. Food mills and conical sieves, yes. As for Nikolau, you can haggle, tell him you're in the biz etc., and generally they'll reduce the price 10 or 15%. I've had them order me stuff they didn't have. Perhaps we should also mention Tap (Tai?) Phong, a housewares place in Chinatown - well on Spadina actually a block or two south of Fortune, that has a wide variety of kitchenware, often at rock bottom prices (often times there's a reason for this - quality varies). Pretty sure they don't sell whites though, and not sure about the other items mentioned either.