oraklet

i'm terribly sorry: my first estimate was wrong. i've now counted them, and there were only 32. 20 less than i thought.

now the babylonians, they could cook.

let the cat have it. remember to take at least 5 photos while it meows, rubs its head against your ankles, eats, and cleans itself, and then post it here! (not on tommy's bio, as i'm rarely in that neighborhood)

incidentally, maybe I'm being dense, but why on earth would anyone want *cold* frothed milk on their cappucino? i want you all to know that i certainly wouldn't. but the gadget is dirt cheap, anyway !

but wasn't steve klc's "...smaller versions of the blender with whipping disk in department stores - people are using them to froth milk for espressos and cappuccinos." the right gadget? and dirt cheap, at that.

that's what i've heard from a few pro cooks, too. though they'll boil it down a little more. one italian cook even said that there's so much fraud going on in the balsamico business that you can't really be sure what you get (adding that the amount of "balsamico" on the market should be enough to make anyone suspicious...). based on that advice, my sister tried a reduced industrial brand with some strawberries, and it was delicious.

stamped knives are lighter than forged ones - this makes them easyer to handle for delicate task. besides, the blades being so thin, they need less force to, say, "pre-cut" an onion prior to chopping it. if they are sharp, that is. and they sure can be sharpened if they're forschner/victorinox. (i just bought one for 3$!) my sabatier paring knife is beautiful, but i hardly ever use it.

"Now that we're finding out the general number of books owned within this group, I'd like to know how many actual titles are represented!" (kitwilliams) anything any one of us own will probably be represented in heyjude's and vanessa's collections - with the exception of a few books in finnish, danish, inuit, urdu...? so, an unscientific guess would be around 4000. or perhaps a little more.

as i have absolutely no knowledge of turkish or greek cuisine, i'll refer to my newly acquired "culinary artistry":smile: , with its amazing charts - one of which lines up the typical flavours of countries and regions of the world. according to this, the "flavour profile" of turkey and greece are quite divers. (i haven't got the book here, so can't quote it, sorry)

wellcome EJRothman! you're right, everyone is his own expert when it comes to knife brand, 'long as it's a decent quality. you might consider carbon steel, though, as it tends to sharpen better. but just a bit of advice, most of it learned from e-gullet: "8" Chef's Knife": - make that 10" or make do with your "6.5" Santoku Knife (I like this shape for chopping vegetables)," only larger. "7"-8" offset bread knife (both Wusthof and F. Dick make stamped models for about $30, and Wusthof also makes a forged model but it's expensive and I can't find a good deal)." - do check out the stamped forschner/victorinox, wood handle. they are formidable. "6"-8" filet knife (I am used to a flexible boning knife shape for a filet knife, but Wusthof filet knives aren't tapered like a boning kinfe...Wusthof also make a very expensive 7" "Culi-Prix" filet knife, but this may be over kill...clearly I need the most guidence on this front.)." - i have lived to regret thet i chosed a 6". make that 8". "3"-4" Paring knife" - surprise: make that a cheap stamped one, or rather, 2, one of them beak shape (for peeling etc.) Sharpening steel (I plan on sending my knives out to get sharpened, hopefully I can find a reputable source): - or perhaps a stone. or the spyderco set. once you've learned it, it's much safer than having someone else make a mess of your fine tools. what about a cleaver?

haven't counted, but would be c. 50, mostly used for reference. or let's say 52, cause i just recieved "compl.tech." and "culin.artistr." from amazon. "culinary artistry" is an amazing book. haven't read anything like it before. it's as eye-opening as "masse und macht".

depends on the tempering, i think. the japanese make some very hard carbon steel knives - and on the other hand, my s.s. sabatiers are quite easy to sharpen. (not as easy as my two french carbon steel knives, though.) by the way, most manufacturers of s.s. knives advice against leaving their knives wet for long, saying that they WILL stain.

oh jaymes! and you know, i haven't got the faintest idea of what 99% of all this food is. might as well have been sudanese, for all i know.

tommy, the spyderco is a "knife sharpener for dummies", as long as you can accept the fixed angle they come with (i believe it IS fixed?). i don't think they'll fix notches and hollows, though. only a stone can do that.

Heaven help us. Let's hope the chefs sort it out first. hehe. i can understand your feelings, but please remember that vasari and gombrich have done more for coherent thinking in the visual arts than have michelangelo or klee. not all human sciences stink!

in denmark, gevalia is known for great advertising and poor coffee. they have this never-ending-campaign "which coffee will you serve unexpected guests?" and one of the ads showed the ussr submarine that got caught on a reef in the swedish skjärgård near a naval base. personally i'd reserve the coffee for unwelcome guests.

the theoretical apparatuses of music or the visual arts are, as far as i know, pretty well advanced compared to that of food and wine. so, when trying to describe what's going on in a fine meal, it's tempting to use the vocabulary of music or visual art. it's never the less inadequate, and probably wrong. gastronomy will have to find it's own ways of theorizing - without analogies. it will perhaps be developed, now that accademia seems to have finally discovered it.

"Same with the old tupperware. If it's stained with tomato and the lid no longer fits well, if at all, then throw it AWAY. When my stash begins to overflow the cabinet it's in, then I know it's time to reduce the stock. " right, and there'll always be 2 lids with no matching container, and 3 containers without lids.

anna, i've never made gravad laks myself, but at least i can tell you that your procedure is in accordance with my danish cook book (your husband will know it: "frøken jensens"). no acid. no liquor. two filets, head end on tail end. salt, white pepper, sugar and dill. pressure. c. 48 hours. the traditional sauce is an emulsion of mustard, sugar, vinegar and oil, with lots of dill. i'll see if i can find a swedish recipe. after all, it's a swedish word, "gravad" meaning "buried", i think. edit: found some recipes. only difference is that they say to put the filets, skin punctured with a knife, on top of 1/4 of the curing(?), with 1/2 between the filets and the rest on top, and let rest at room temp for 2 hours before putting in fridge. one recipe actually mentions brandy...

as if food wasn't produced in a manner to be too cheap already.

"Of course the processor would toughen the dough if you left it in there" i'm not sure i get this. i let the machine work the dough until it comes together, and at that time it should be taken out, (cause if it's worked any further, the machine will probably blow a fuse...) but by then it's fine, and don't need any further handling. well, perhaps a little pushing together. i don't even let it rest, just take it to the working table, cut slices, roll them out a bit and then: through the old atlas. perhaps this very plain method works well because i only use eggs and durum semolina. never tried anything else... but "toughen the dough", what does that mean? gluten development?

i've got a henckel's ceramic rod. it sure sharpens. almost grinds. i used it a lot before i bought a good stone.

craig, "This demand means there is a lot of lousy Amarone out there to avoid." what kind of lousyness can one expect in a lousy amarone?

claire, "Place pizza on a cutting board; let stand 5 minutes." why? sparrowgrass, 1) sounds like a great deal. perhaps marble is best as it is more porous - and 2) yes, i'd heat it slowly. (i once removed a very hot pizza stone from the oven, and 2 minutes later it was 2 smaller pizza stones. the thicker the stone, the greater the tension when heated)

there's our very own bouland / peter hertzman: http://www.hertzmann.com/index.php?xref= lots of classical french stuff.