jayt90

I hope some of these prawns will come my way, regardless of origin. Recently I have had Alaska King Crab, shipped from Seattle, but clearly marked "Product of Russia". Very tasty, too. In Atlantic Canada (P.E.I., I think) the government had to bring in Russian crab packers because the locals would not do the job.

Are they really that special with regard to sharpness? Something tells me that steel knife can always be sharper if sharpened properly... As for lettuce - great idea, I'll consider getting one... ← I don't have one but they are supposedly extremely sharp on delivery, and will maintain the edge for a long, long time without maintenance. But re-sharpening has to be done by Kyocera or their associates. Does anyone here have any experience with them, pro or con? A 3 year warranty from Ashton Greene is interesting, but we need to know details about dropping it. This is an expensive mail order store, and they dropped me from the mailing list long ago.

It is puzzling to see recipes from Mondavi (prawns, scallops,salmon, halibut) supporting only Alaska, when all of the fisheries in the north Pacific are also producers.

It's 5PM and I have an absloute craving for sole mornay. There is no sole to be had, but I have a sockeye fillet, sorrel, and enough cream and cheese to make a sauce. Not every seafood dish has to be Italian.

The value and longevity of enamelled cast iron made in China has been discussed on other threads. If there is a consensus, it is that they are remarkably good for the price, maybe not as well designed and finished as Le Creuset. Some egulleters suspected there might be more chipping with the cheaper pots and pans, but this was just a notion. But when Batali enters the fray, the balance leans toward the cheaper set. There are some new designs, like the pannni press lid, and the number produced can be very high with Mario's marketing, hence economies of scale. And most of the production will be aimed at markets where Mario is known on TV. Le Creuset does not have those advantages, and they have to deal with high labour costs and worldwide marketing. Their products are very fine, but Mario's may be irresistable to most.

Leek and Stilton soup was popular in the 70's. The outer part of the round can be used this way.

You are right. The Loblaws group includes Fortino's, Loblaws, No Frills, Ziggy's, Real Canadian Superstore, and some others. They all promote Weston's baked products, such as Dempster, Entenmann, Weston's etc.

In a large store that is basically self serve, I don't see a problem in removing a product from shrink wrap to examine it. If I reject it, the vendor can send it back to the distributor with no loss. I definitely do not have a problem opening seafood trays before deciding to purchase. If they had enough knowledgeable staff around, it would be a different matter...

Well, I am puzzled by this repartee. Russet is a variety, but not all Russets are high S.G.? But Idaho Russets are apparently OK because MacDonalds mandated it (surely not world-wide)! I think Carey has backed HM int a corner.

Thanks, Marlene. I have been impressed with some PC non-food items and utterly disappointed in others. I avoid anything with moving parts! ← Lee Valley has brought in some Portuguese knives, and they have been quite good for the price. Try one of the PC's on something severe, like several cabbage heads for kraut, then see if it responds well to a steel and/or stone. If not they will take it back. I took back the PC burr grinder, no questions asked, and got a KA.

I am amazed that no one has tackled this for two days. I would suggest a variation on an Italian tomato based soup, a zuppa de pesce, with very little olive oil, in respect of the salmon fat. Start with chopped vegs (celery heart, onion, garlic, carrot, fennel branches, peppers, and a small handful of rice or pasta. Add S&P, a tbsp of EVOO and melt the main parts. Add 250ml white wine or dry vermouth/sherry, and boil off the alcohol. Add the fish head, water to cover, and one 28oz can Italian or Spanish tomatoes. Simmer until the fish head is nicely cooked through, about an hour, then remove it and take out the meat you would like to put back in the pot. For me this this just the upper neck and cheeks, but you may want more. Finish with fresh herbs on top of each bowl.

Which Iron Chef series?

I pick all my green tomatoes for indoor ripening, every year in October, especially when a killer frost is forecast. A half dozen or so to a brown paper bag, vines included if there is room. Then into a cool basement room for two weeks or so. Then I harvest from the bags, until well into December. A few will rot, and the small, hard ones will never ripen. But what I get is much better than Calif. or Mexican imports, which atr shipped green, gassed, and bred for hardness rather than flavor.

Got that cookbook, used it for a couple of recipes, the technique works fabulously if you want to proof bread really quickly (so for stat pizza dough), but it develops NO flavour at all. Oh yeah, and by the way, I use my processor to mix almost all my bread doughs. I like the speed. So what you do to proof, put a cup of water in the microwave along with your bowl of dough. You then microwave on a very low power for a very short time, then let it rest a while before repeating. I'm not a home right now, but I can send you exact info from the cookbook when I get back next week if you want. Just PM me. ← I borrowed a book like this from the library two years ago. There was one additonal instruction that seemed to work: The dry ingredients went into the processor and a cup of very hot water was added slowly through the tube. In about a minute the dough ball was ready, and kick-started. I used the low power (#1) microwave method to keep the mass growing, but flavour development was not the objective in these quick breads. It could be, however, if a skilled baker could spread out the process and let the flavour develop.

Plastic gears are the bane of the Whirlpool KA's. This was pointed out in earlier threads. But poor wearing plastic parts appear in many so-called professional items. I saw a Waring Pro slicer dispayed in a big box store, at an attractive $130 price. When returped to possibly buy it a few days later, the blade had been removed on the dispay model, revealing a totally plastic gear train, back to the motor. The use of these gears is understandable, since they can be produced with high accuracy and low cost. But there seems to be little thought in making the power train last much longer than the warranty period. Caveat emptor

I have also seen Staubs consistently stocked at Costco at great prices. ← Not so bizarre.

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Only once, on a visit to a fine country restaurant in Conn., years ago, did I have Silver Queen. But it was memorable, and never duplicated. It was at Albert Stockli's Stonehenge, and it was delivered by a local farmer to the restaurant several times a day. Superb, big white ears, sweet, but with a real taste of corn and starch. That is what is missing in toaday's super-sweet varieties. Too sweet, and not a lot of corn flavour. For sure, I'll be scanning the seed catalogues this winter for the original Sikver Queen.

Can you tell us about the people on the island? Some of the locals, or ER drop ins? And the fall produce, and what they like to do with it?

It has been awhile, but I read that worms can live in pickled herring, and the parasites may be found in humans who eat a lot it, as in the North Sea area. The vinegar and brine do not kill the worms.

last Thanks for the tip on chicken carcasses. I get frozen beef bones fom my Korean mart, and fish markets (even in supermarkets) are a good low cost source of fish heads and carcasses. I am going to start making tabouleh now, having purchased too many soggy ones, made with concentrated lemon and dried onions. Parsley bunches are now priced as a commodity, all winter long. Then there is that huge cabbage I got for a dollar. Sauerkraut? or kimchi? Whatever I do, I know I can get good advice from egullet, just as in the refridgerator pickle thread in August.

Several posts including this one, zoe, and missAmy, refer to superior nutritional benefits of brown rice. The source url provided here is useful and informative, though leaning toward a health food bias. But now that we have nutritional labels on packaged foods, I can compare basic nutritional levels between brown ice and white rice. There is not much to choose from, except in fibre. Carbohydrate, fat, protein, Vit. B, and iron are about the same. Fibre content is better, but well below bran cereals, or Ryevita biscuits. Until the nutrition labels yield more information, I am going to stay with rice that offers good flavour, scent, and texture. Including some (say one quarter) short grained, green tipped brown varities.

Is there a causal relationship between liver cancer and wild mushrooms, or is this an alarmist warning?

I'll bet they have thorns to keep predators like us at bay. Birds only need apply, the better to spread the seed widely!