jayt90

I remember some Saturday morning line ups at QQ on the day of a Vintages release. The staff were quite busy, and harried, and had to put quotas on three items, which sold out quickly.

many stews have acidic ingredients such as tomatoes and wine (a must in my beef stews), and both are acidic. Most pressure cookers I've seen are made of aluminum, and combining raw aluminum and acidic foods is a no no. THW ← Most of the currently available pressure cookers are stainless steel with a thick alum. bottom. The aging Presto alum. is still available and often second hand, but it is hard to recommend with so many SS models around. The safety factor has been improved dramatically as well with new blow valve materials. I have used my Lagostina SS for twenty years, and found it to be very reliable, and a real time saver.

If they make there way eastward (usually cooked and frozen) how can I tell the difference between King Crab and Dungeness?

The critical point for a pressure cooker will be the timing: depends on the sinew, gristle, and larding in the meat, the size of the chunks, and the temperature at peak pressure. I would start with 20-25 min. with my Lagostina (fairly low pressure, not adjustable) and go from there. If it comes out just done, but not stringy, it could be thickened with some cream and flour.

Do you have any favourite LCBO advisors or consultants in any of the Vintages corners or stores? I generally had great suggestions from Peter St. Pierre when he was in Pickering. He is now in Oshawa or Bowmanville ( I haven't seen an up to date list). There are always good, knowledgeable advisors at Queen's Quay, Bayview Village, Summerhill, and other big stores, but sometimes they are hard to find or short of time. I asked this question a few days ago on another site, called Yahoo Groups: LCBO. So far no reply, so I hope this thread is more active!

SS has a scorching or hot spot reputation. I wonder if copper and silver coating are still made, in Switzerland, at 'price doesn't matter' cost.

With all the constraints you've mentioned, and given the usual stress of the holiday weekend situation, I would opt for the canned whip cream. I remember buying whipping cream at the last minute at a Costco on a holiday weekend. They were out of canned cream, and they had a lot of bewildered customers who could not deal with the cartons of whipping cream available. How frustrating!

Thanks, I didn't get a good look at the All Clad copper on Amazon. /There are a lot of copper bottom saucepans appearing on the market now: Lagostina and manyof the dept. store brands. The Lagostina blurb says there is copper on the bottom, with a layer of aluminum, then a stainless steel finish. This will allow the company to use a thin sheet of copper, augmented by a thicker and cheaper aluninum core. Not much thermal advantage here. But better, I suppose than the old Revere Ware scorchers!

Thanks, I just looked at All Clad from Amazon. It is pricey but more rerasonable than department stores. I'd put it way back on my burner..

That's why I'm always looking for tinned copper in second hand stores, flea markets, garage sales, ebay etc. You got a very good deal, and they should work well for you. What I don't understand is the reference here, and many other threads on eg, for All-Clad? What is it? Why is it coveted? How is it better than say, top grade Lagostina? Just curious...

Well. we know it is not Teflon , or cast iron on the inside, but we still don't know what it is, or why they stopped. I can assure you it was not a Teflon knock-off, it was more like a roughly sanded ceramic. It was described by LC as the latest coating material, less likely to stick and easier to clean. After that purchase, I avoided any Creuset for at least 20 years, until they demonstrated long term sensibility. Even now, I would look at Creuset knock offs, such as La Campagne, at Hudson's Bay. These are Chinese, 1/3 the price, and not as well finished. But they may do the job as well as my '75 Creusets.

Well, restaurants receive a number a returned bottles and where do these go? Into the stew? coq au vin? au jus? or something au currant? I would guess that most average wine returns get cooked, and the best go to the staff...

My Creusets were neither cast iron on the inside, nor were they enamel. They were definitely not Teflon, aand they did not scratch, they peeled . The product is not well known, and it disappeared by '75. But they flaked and deteriorated with use, the cook-ware stores in my area did not continue to sell them. When the flakes came off, there was cast iron exposed. I can't see the point in defending Creuset for a bad product sold over a short period of time.

The above is imply not true. I have several Le Creuset pots and pans, from the early 70's, which are lined with a semi-smooth black surface designed to imitate Teflon, although it was not supposed to be non stick. After some use, it flaked and scaled and went to my basement, or under a plant. But it was stamped Le Creuset, and it did not have a smooth creamy enamel lining...

Maybe it is the same Nella supplying a knives service to the meat cutting industry. The knives are serviceable stainless steel, and when they are abused enough Nella will send a truck to the shop to sharpen or replace the knife.

What's the one ethnicity of New York, jayt90? Sorry, Pan, but I'm showing a bit of anti-American sentiment after the election... I do have an objection to the number of large cities appearing on the thread: It is difficult to get fresh, high quality food supplies into New York, Tokyo, Paris, etc. the same day they are prepared, caught, or harvested. Fresh seafood, lake fish, herbs, vegetables, produce, can be easily found at the source, but are not as good when delivered to a large center having good restaurants, chefs, and clientele. The 'best' city for food would have better access than New York or any large megopolis, more like Lyons or Barcelona.

The number of proponents of New York, Chicago, and New Orleans in the above posts seems to be more ethnocentric than ethno-inclusive...

I like fryguy's recipe for sheer simplicity, but it may be a little thin. Other recipes would add a small amount of heavy cream at the end, and some would thicken with a bit of flour, or two egg yolks whisked into the cream. Edited: to say that I just realised that the above turns a stock into a bisque, and there is a lot of personal preference at this stage...

I stopped using my Rival years ago (the old cylinder shape) because it was not immersable and the cord attachment did not fit well. The new ones are a vast improvement, and not very expensive, but they take up a lot of counter space, so I bought a Korean made earthenware casserole a year ago, for $18. in an ethnic market. It is clam shell shaped, and works well over a slow gas flame. I think the closeness of the lid to the food helps a lot. The material is almost .5" thick, glazed on the inside, and a little more robust than French or Italian casseroles I've used. I would rather have a small selection of earthenware in the cupboard than one large Rival on the counter.

Some people live to eat, then there are the rest, who eat to live...

I don't know what quality of knives will get you by, but in an outlying area, mail order from LeeValleyTools.com is always an option, They have a selection of Sabatier, Grohmann, and a few Japanese laminated blades. They introduced micro plane rasps to us. And now they have DMT diamond sharpening stones and steels (some portable). The shipping charge is $12 for $100. or more.

When Natalie introduced her new rating system several months ago, I noticed a few wines that raised an eyebrow, dramatically up in the 90's. Then there was the 99 rating for a Mission Hill Oculus that generated a thread in the egullet wines section. But recently, since September, Natalies's monthly ratings have been more conservative, and I think they offer good advice prior to the Vintages monthly releases. We need all the help we can get when we have to consider joining the Saturday morning line ups at a select few Vintages stores when something special is released. Natalie has been a good sport about all this, especially in the bantering and repartee in this thread. And I'll continue to read those monthly reviews along with Beppi and the others...

There is is danger when acidic foods are cooked on copper with no lining, or a flawed lining. A green coating which is toxic will result (Cupric sulphate?), and may get mixed into the food. If the copper pan is slightly untinned from wear and tear, it is still possible to cook bland non acidic foods, such as fricasee, or fish finished with cream. Just don't add wine or sherry vinegar at the last minute. I have had no ill effects using pans at home with slight tin imperfections as long as I keep tomatoes, lemons, wine etc. out of the mix. As far as preserving the tin is concerned, I treat it like Teflon: but eventually it will wear down and retinning is neccesary. A small price to pay to get copper's thermal advantage. Confectioners can use unlined copper vessels with no danger, as the sugar will neutralize any acid introduced.

If you're looking for copper pans and pots on the cheap side, the lining will probably be tinned, as this can be done in a small shop. But many cheaper copper pans from third world countries such as India, China, or even Portugal, use too thin copper, and the tin may wear out quickly. My French made tinned pans have lasted for several years before re-tinning was necessary. I once acquired several well made pans made in Chile, $20. each, from Presidents Choice. They are superb, but it was a one time deal when PC Dave was still travelling extensively to find gems like this. (Apparently the travel expenses were too great for Weston's appetite, and Dave Nichol was forced out.) Perhaps one reason copper pans have not caught on in North American kitchens is the poor performance of copper bottomed stainless steel pans made by Revere and others. They were real scorchers, as I recall. The current trend to a copper/aluminum sandwich on the bottom of a stainless pot may be better, but there is a lot of cosmetic hype that goes with it.

I know this is off topic, but there are discerning steak eaters in this thread with more knowledge than I. I keep thinking about the N.Y. Times magazine article following a steer, from birth in Montana to a massive finishing farm in Iowa. The author owned the steer, and managed to eat some of the steak back in New York. He was appalled by the sight, smell, food (corn and protein mash) for the final 2 months of the steer's life. It was kept alive with large doses of drugs and antibiotics. But the steak was good. There is no reason to think that Canadian finishing stalls are very different from U.S. practices. But I think it is now possible to get grass fed steaks and roasts, probably from Whole Foods, or other sources. Has anyone tried grass finished beef? Good cuts, well aged etc?