Moopheus

That's the thing--most commercial places--even dedicated ice cream shops and good restaurants, do not actually use the best ingredients. They all have to cut corners somewhere unless they are charging a crazy high price. I've never had a coffee ice cream, for instance, that tasted as good as what I make--I can't imagine a commercial shop using as much coffee, from good roasters, as I do. They almost all use stabilizers and emulsifiers. There are some very good ice creams out there, but they are not that hard to beat. The number of commercial establishments that serve really top-notch ice cream is very small. One place that home machines do fall down is that they generally can't freeze very fast, or give you any real control over factors like overrun.

Or not. I mean, most kids won't even know if he's a real person. When you were a kid, did you know that Chef Boyardee was based on a real person? Duncan Hines? Did you even think about it? Admittedly, those guys were long gone when I was a kid and Emeril is still on TV a fair amount, but I think for a lot of kids he'll be as real as Betty Crocker or Martha Stewart.

Yes, he's successful, but so what? Being a successful businessman and making a profit doesn't render one beyond reproach. It is not a shield for legitimate criticism. Just ask Lloyd "Doing God's Work" Blankfein. Rip away, folks.

I have the 3/4" board. It was slightly warped when I bought it. I've never noticed it changing shape in any significant way the entire time I've had it, but I've never put it in a dishwasher. Until recently, I didn't have a dishwasher to put it in. I wash it and put it away after use. I've never stored it flat. It is kinda heavy, but then, it doesn't move around on the counter. I can use both sides. I use one side for aromatics, and the other side for dessert. Except for the occasional piece of fish, meat is not an issue. It's easily the most knife-friendly material I've ever seen in a cutting board.

You can also flatten a Sani-Tuff board by sanding. Which you should do every now and then anyway to smooth the surface. (Okay--I've done it twice in five years with mine). Yes, it's ugly, but it works so well, I don't care.

They might think that if that jackass worked for the company that makes French's. I'd be willing to bet a dollar that all of the brand names mentioned are owned (or at least were at the time) by the same corporate parent. Unless the author happens to be Sandra Lee.

Along those lines I've been happy with my Sani-Tuff hard rubber board. One of the things I like about it that I can use both sides. One side is marked "dinner" and the other is "dessert." You might have to go to a restaurant supply house to get one, though.

Yes.

Indeed--from the diner's perspective, replacing cheese or lox with goop isn't likely to be perceived as an improvement. I mean, would you list it on the menu? Now improved! More goop! Less fish! Somehow, I don't think so. I don't know about you, but that's not really what I look for in a dinner out. And what is a "cream molecule"?

Sure, but then they're not really the same product, are they? You can't really be price competitive with the cheapest industrial products--there's always going to be someone willing to cut more corners than you are. I'd have to agree--the sauce I make at home probably costs me more than even the more expensive supermarket jarred sauces. But those sauces suck.

Yes, but at least you know what's in them. It's hard to make a direct comparison, because usually ingredients and methods won't match precisely with what's on the store shelf (and that means what's left out as much as what's put in). I mean, those cheaper hot dogs are cheaper for a reason, and not necessarily a good one. So, comparing the cost of your own product to an industrial one can be misleading, not a good way to judge the value of your own work. For one thing, you're getting a custom product, one that's tailored to your own taste. Or, to put it another way, to get a product that matched your own might cost quite a bit more than what's ordinarily in the supermarket.

Right. It's practically our sole purpose to discuss the acquisition of ever-increasingly rarified luxury goods. Though the fact that basically anything that's not a product of an inhumane industrial process is seen as a "luxury good" is an indication of just why our world is quickly going to hell in a fruitbasket.

I guess it depends on what you mean by "artisan," which is a word that gets thrown around very loosely these days. I bake my own bread, but I wouldn't call it artisan. It's just bread. Decent fresh bread doesn't have to be an expensive luxury item; it wasn't before factory-made bread took over the market. Bread doesn't have to be the most perfectest bread lovingly produced by master bakers, and it doesn't have to be cheap crap either. It can be just bread.

On my list of things to worry about, ridiculous luxury goods for the overprivileged ranks as a pretty low priority.

Indeed. Not only that, but many of us (most of us?) have more than one knife, because some knives are special-purpose, or at least better for some applications than others. I don't particularly want to clutter up my kitchen with gadgets that are basically substitutes for knowing how to use a knife or some other basic piece of kitchen equipment, but I am not going to give up my waffle iron, coffee grinder, etc., because, as noted, those things just do those tasks better and more efficiently than any other way.

Start here: Old House Journal Back when I lived in a Revolutionary War-era house, I read this regularly. At that time, the focus was mainly pre-WWII houses, but as time has gone on, houses from the 1950s have been getting more coverage. They have a pretty strong orientation to historically-sensitive restoration, not just the sort of gut-and-renovate you see on This Old House.

I don't know exactly how long I've been buying coffee in 12-ounce bags, but it's got to be at least 7 or 8 years. I think most of the independent roasters have been selling in this package for quite a while now--it's not new.

It would appear, then to be most likely from the later, less desirable years. Oh well. I still find it to be a useful pan. At least I won't be tempted to try and sell it. That means it was probably bought by the previous owner of the house when they moved in (early 50s).

I have a #8 Griswold skillet that we found in the attic of a house we once owned, but I don't know how old it is. I do use it all the time, and sometimes I wish I had a larger one. My Sunbeam W-2 waffle iron probably dates to about 1950 or so, but it's hard to be certain. We also have a handheld Sunbeam Mixmaster that still works pretty well.

If there is a label corresponding to one of the kosher-cop agencies, it means they had the plant inspected to be sure that no non-kosher-for passover ingredients were in there. Otherwise it means nothing; salt is by definition pareve.

Because Leviticus says so. The rules were handed down without explanation. If they don't make sense to you, tough. That's the way hashem rolls. Ex post facto rationalizations have been offered, which are just that: rationalizations.

Not to mention that we are not paleolithic people. It's not like the evolution of humans ended 50,000 years ago. In fact, we've continued to adapt, genetically, to our own civilization. Modern humans are more lactose-tolerant than paleo man. We have more starch-processing enzymes. We don't need to eat like them because we are not them. Yes, indeed--early agricultural man was a little guy who suffered nutritional deficits. Worked hard for his little produce. But so what? We aren't him either. Eventually we discovered tilling and field rotation and fertilizer and artificial selection and irrigation. It's easy for us to eat nutritionally complete diets from a wide variety of foods. Some might say, too easy.

Any kind of a cookie will do for me. I'm not keen on the plain digestive biscuit but Hobnobs are good. Of course, cannoli is good with coffee, or a napolean. A nice cappucino. Or cake. Cake is always good with coffee. Or pie. Ricotta pie! Biscotti. Pancakes. Chocolate chip pancakes. Waffles. Yeah, stroopwaffles (a coworker brought some of those in to the office one day, not realizing how they were supposed to be served!). Oh, now you've got me started.

No salt at all? That is pretty stupid--it clearly shows complete ignorance of the restaurant business, cooking, and basic physiology. Sure, a lot of places--fast food places in particular--really overdo it on the salt, but this is not the way to address that. I could see maybe a rule to provide some information for people on salt-restricted diets. But what are they going to do--arrest every chef in the state?

I could do it. I have a lot of experience rejecting people. I ran a literary magazine and read all the slush for one publisher. I mean, many thousands of manuscripts. My favorite rejection, though, was not slush, but a two-page letter shredding the thesis of a manuscript by a guy who'd been one of my professors in school, which fact was unbeknown to the agent who sent it to me! The agent even sent me a thank-you note. But I have to agree--it would have to be edited and organized in a way to be not just a random bunch of stuff. In fact, I'd almost go so far to suggest that maybe a cookbook by itself is not really the way to go. There's a lot of other stuff here that would make a better book--some of the essays and the eGCI material, for instance. And of course you will need to secure the blessings of the site owners, secure permissions for reprinted material, and so on.