col klink

I wouldn't go with the $100 one, but I just don't trust plastic meat grinders. If you're going to large amount of sausage on a regular basis (like 50lbs) then a small one won't cut it for very long. You want something like this dinosaur: Unfortunately I have no idea what the manufacturer is let alone the model. I just know the history of it. A friend got it for free from a nursing home that no longer needed it. The grinder went through 25 lbs of venison and pork in less than five minutes. It took longer to feed the bastard than to grind the meat. It makes making sausage very easy.

That's too bad about the Butcher Shoppe, I liked those guys. Unfortunately they didn't have a wide selection under the glass and they didn't have competitive prices. They could however get you a whole hog of any size, that was sweet. They also knew their stuff. I liked A & J Meats a lot since they had a great selection and great quality. Veal, lamb, short ribs, poultry and limited seafood. Plus they have their own smoker and they smoked their meats well. It's just too bad they use applewood when they could be using a wood that gives flavor. But I can't blame them since they get their wood on the cheap from orchards. The meat counter at Central Market in Shoreline is just as good as A&J's (actually, even better) and they have better prices though they have organic chioce beef as well as prime cuts. They just don't have a smoker or make their own sausages. But if you need a duck on the quick, they always have one that's at least thawed if not fresh for around $2/lb AND they have rabbits as well. (If you get a chance to deep fry a rabbit, by all means do). Anywho, when I was in Seattle I was getting to the point where I needed to buy in bulk and so I started going to Cash & Carry. They have whole untrimmed brisket for $1.39/lb, corned whole untrimmed brisket for $2/lb and whole sirloin roasts for I can't remember but for a heck of a lot less than any meat shop. Plus, when you buy the whole roast you can smoke it whole! One of my favorites at C&C is a case of boneless pork butts for $0.89/lb. But most people would need an extra freezer since a case is about 60 lbs.

Dignan, you're all right. If you're interested, I've written a course on smoking - Smoking Meat at home. The corresponding Q&A has some good tips for the Weber Bullet style of smoker which sounds like what you have. By the way, great stories.

Susan, your ice chest is absolutely beautiful. I have always been enamored with the old iceboxes made with wood. Does it still run or do you actually have to put ice in it?

I certainly don't mind the aesthetics of the patina, what I mind is during sushi service the rice sticks to knife and makes it difficult to cut through rolls despite thoroughly wetting down the knife. I'll find out tomorrow if my honing was adequate which I'm sure it will be at least better than before. I'm betting that the patina on the back won't cause too many problems because it's concave. But thanks for the advice, my father-in-law just sent me home with a dremmel!

Ah, don't worry. It was only a $25 knife. But I've don'e a pretty decent job of re-polishing it with the wetstone. Of course the back is concave and I can only get the edges.

I've been inspired too and I've purchased a 1000/4000 Japanese water stone. I've been sharpening knives like a crazed monkey ever since it came in. I have to say that I've really been enjoying the freehand sharpening and I even was brave enough to tackle my sushi knife which has been somewhat scared since I cut some lemons with it and wasn't too quick with the cleaning.

At this point I'd be happy to just have an ice cooler because like Carolyn mentions, the sifter is really cool and I'd like to keep it as authentic as possible -- meaning I'd only take out the sifter for parties. The problem is making the cooler leak proof or some way to make sure the wood doesn't get damaged. I'm sure I'll have to fabricate something myself which would be a fun project.

I remember my first Shiner. I visited Austin, TX a little over 6 years ago and asked for a local beer. Now you do have to keep in mind that I was a horrible beer snob at the time since I was living in Seattle and even brewing my own. Here is what I recall thinking about Shiner Bock - "I'd rather lick the scrotum of mule that just climbed out of the Grand Canyon in August." Mind you, I'm no longer the beer snob that I used to be and I wouldn't make that choice now if given the opportunity - I would definitely opt for a Shiner Bock. But at the time, that's how I felt. Good for Shiner, I'm glad their business is growing. Not only to the PacNW (where I'm sure it will only be popular among Texas-ex's) but in Texas where Budweiser rules the land and tries to smash every competitor with ridiculour beer laws.

My wife was lucky to inherit a hoosier cabinet from her great-grandmother (this is what you did all of your kitchen work on before counters and cabinets were built in) and even luckier that my mother-in-law held on to it long enough for us to find a home where we can keep it. So we picked it up this fall and my parents were extremely gracious to have it refinished in time for Christmas and it's simply breathtaking. As soon as we saw the pitiful thing (many layers of paint and it lived through 10 years of brutal winters and summers in Minnesota, not to mention playing house with a number of mice), we knew that it was going to be our liquor cabinet. There's only one modification that needs to be done before the cabinet is complete. Like a lot of hoosier cabinets, it has a pull-out flour bin with a sifter at the base. All I need to do is put an ice storing device and have the ice come out of the bottom. Then it will be ultimately cool instead of merely penultimately cool. Here she is! Here she is as she normally sits (the rooster pitcher is our wine decanter). Here she is with all of her cabinets open, you can see the flour sifter on the left. And here I am making our new liquor cabinet's first drinks - Manhattans (perfect of course). So, what about your liquor cabinets? Have you done anything cool like Quagmire's in Family Guy? (Quagmire's liquor cabinet is a whole bar that rotates out of the wall) Or have you picked up one of the bars made out of bamboo? Whatever you have, I'd like to see it!

For once I'm not worried about the meat, what I'm worried about is the oven going out and flooding the kitchen with natural gas and possibly blowing the place up. I'm sure the pork is devine. Lord knows I've cooked shoulders almost that long on my smoker (18 hours is the record).

Is your oven relatively new or old? I have an ancient gas range and oven and I'd be worried about leaving it on whilst I slept. But then again, I'm a pantywaist.

Scrub and clean well then throw right into a 450 oven. After 25 minutes, THEN poke holes and finish off for another 20 minutes. This will result in a very fluffy baked tater instead of a dense baked tater.

Great review Brad and thank you. I'm so relieved to hear that there's better Italian in St. Paul than Cosetta's.

D'oh! You beat me to it. 1) Foie gras with carmelized pumpkin at Harvest Vine 2) Salmon ribs or side of salmon from Mashiko's 3) Proscuitto with fig confit and goat cheese sandwich from Salumi 3) Apparently the old bbq pork banh mi from banh mi 88 4) #10 pho from Tanh Bros.

I've tried making a pie crust out of duck fat but it wasn't as successful as the lard/butter combo. If you want pungent, try cooking with rendered venison fat. I like cooking with beef fat but I hear that it's not really that healthy.

But on a broader note, how many different types of drinks are there on the shuttle when it's in orbit? And, are the drinks reconstitued in orbit or are they brought up as is? Thanks, this is really cool!

Don't forget about Chef Fowke's Great Pastrami/Smoked Meat Experiment which has a three-day recipe for corning beef which works very well. About 1/2 way down the 5th page he has the recipe.

So how was your pho? And where did you get the recipe?

That's the price to you pay for good chicken. Or, some of us have self cleaning ovens. I like to roast my chickens at 475 - 500 F.

Wrap them in cellophane and throw them into the fridge. Half an hour to 45 minutes before you want to serve them, put 'em on the counter to warm up and the rice won't be so hard. I'm doing the same thing for tonight.

It's very easy. After pulling the steaks off of the pan, I turn off the heat and then deglaze with about a 1/2 cup of whatever red wine I'm drinking (I've also been known to use 1/2 dry and 1/2 sweet vermouth) and let that reduce by at least half, preferably more. Then I add about a half-stick (4 tbsp) of butter. As soon as the butter is melted and incorporated, I pull the sauce. If it gets too hot, the butter seperates out and it's an ugly but tasty mess. You can jazz up the sauce by adding minced shallots and/or garlic and/or herbs of perference.

I know what I posted above, but I've now switched my method for steaks. I now throw the cast iron on the range and get it as hot as I can instead of throwing it in the oven. I find I get much better crusts on the steaks and more fond in the pan for the finishing sauce.

It's not going to work as well as on regular pans, but the boiling water does most of the work, making the job much easier in the sink with a scrubber. However, I will say that I've never owned a grill pan or even used one so I may very well be writing out of my ass.

I can't believe no one has mentioned deglazing for cleaning your cast iron -- it's not just for making pan sauces. But let's say you're not making a pan sauce, after you remove the food and the pan is still hot (the hotter the better), throw in some water and use your thin metal spatula to pick everything up, it works like a charm. I then just rinse out the pan and wipe down with a sponge like Rachel's. Then just throw it back on low heat and it's dried in a couple of minutes or by the time dinner is over. Of course if you do make a pan sauce (mmm, wine and butter), you've already deglazed and all you have to do is rinse and dry. This would work well for grill pans too though without the spatula. The last time I had to season cast iron, I threw them in the oven upside down for 4 hours at 350F after cleaning them and adding crisco. Then I left them in there for a couple of weeks since I didn't need to use them and then whenever I used the oven, I'd get more seasoning out of them. But these were for smaller, rare us pans. If you use your cast iron almost every day like I do, you don't need a seperate "seasoning" once a year. If you loose some seasoning (let's say you forgot you left it to dry on too high of a heat or you're heating up some steaks), the next time you use it, throw in a little extra of your lipid of choice, it'll be fine. With constant usage, cast iron reseasons itself. I absolutely love my cast iron -- so much so that I'm taking it with me when I visit my folks because they're annodized aluminum cookware that was so expensive doesn't hold a candle to my cheap ass pan.