oraklet

nice to know. thanx!

once more, thanks a lot for your elaboration. it's really nice to recieve answers that do not just tell one to do this or that, but actually tell one why. by the way, the drop-in-a-hot-pan phenomenon can be seen on cast iron, too. at least on the very thickest and heaviest of mine. heh, one last thing - stainless steel is about as non-non-stick as it gets, right? so, at least for danish meatballs - which are rather big - i think one needs a spatula. ?

thanks for a detailed and very informative answer. it'll be aluminium bottom, then. i'm still a little doubtful about the shape (though not the size). it's my impression that it will be easier to use a spatula in a frying pan with relatively high sides, than in a sauteuse. you are of course right about the ragus etc., though i've become accustomed to using a large non stick frying pan (which i ruined...). but the rondeau you linked to sure is a beauty! i guess my large cast iron skillet is still the best choice for steak? er...why is it that one should not "crowd the pan"? i've experienced that meat may start boiling instead of frying, but why?

slkinsey, that was a grrrrrreat lecture! one question: traditional danish meatballs (and lots of other things, of course)should be slowly fried on medium heat. now, if i want to make a lot at a time - and i do, cause we are 6 in the family, and with frequent guests - i'd like to make them all in one pan. i've been thinking of buying a very large (sitram) copper-bottom frying pan for such cooking, feeling that it would serve well for my bolognese or curries, too. as i read your lecture, this seems to be the right choice. am i right in thinking so?

yes. but be careful, or you'll ruin the curvature of the edge if it's a chef's knife. it's supposed to be one tangential(?) curve, but often won't be when it has been sharpened by someone who doesn't know how to.

for most home cooks, i'd say once every 6 months.

no banneton. should there be? bake from cold? i might try with one loaf, but in general it's not practical for me as i make 4-8 loaves every time i bake, once a week.

dough definitely not too dry (75%+), nor oven or stone too cold. perhaps overproofed dough. but i've got this dilemma: either they're quite "tall", but with poor texture - or i let them proof a little more, and get a flatter loaf but better texture. i thought maybe a better oven spring might remedy that. slkinsey's advice sounds good. the more heat retention, the better.

oven spring, differs. between 1/2 inch and 2 inches. deep enough? like, 1/2 inch. perhaps the damp cloth i use for covering the loaves is too damp, cause it isn't "slightly dry". the slashes seem to work best if made in loaves that are rather heavily dusted with flour. ?

this is what i do for bread: loaves are placed (on baking parchment) directly on baking/pizza stone on middle rack, with one of the baking sheets or pans (the deep ones) on bottom rack, into which i throw, say, 150 ml. water at start. parchment removed when bread has "settled". i don't see any reason for rinsing the stone after using it. this is what i'd like to know: why don't my slashings produce a "professional" rift? not that it seems to matter that much, but still...

40 years ago, i was supposed to eat everything with convexed fork. peas, too... very old school parents, mine.

there's no need for oil in the dough. just make sure it is fairly sticky from plenty of water (baker's percentage c. = 75, or more), is made with very little yeast and rises for at least 8 hours. don't rework it, just pour from bowl onto flour dusted counter top. don't roll; press or stretch (dust flour on top, too). don't prebake. top sparsely. tipo 00 gives you a rather soft crust, however hot you bake it. mix in, say, 15% of durum semolina for a more ciabattaesque crust. baking stone/tiles. hottest attainable oven. i bake pizza once a week. 9 out of 10 times, it's probably the best in town, and certainly the best i've had any place. but then, i've never been to napoli...

yes. what i'd like to have, had i been able to find a size that would fit into our kitchen. costom made was way too expensive. i don't get that, though. what works well, looks good!

That's a bold statement. Which food group do you think is missing there? fruit, for one thing. but there's the problem of white bread, of probably-unhealthy fats, and in general, lack of vitamins. and then i think it can be argued that the amount of greens is hardly sufficient. not only will you be malnourished, you will probably get diabetes, too, as the only bread is white and the only thing to drink is soda pops. (oh, sure, you can drink tap water, but that can be a very nasty alternative in some places) and by the way, coca cola and other "easy carbs" are causing lots of diabetes in, say, mexico. it's basically a stupid way of getting your calories. if it's to get clean water, there are, after all, better ways of doing that. but of course, those ways involve redistribution of income, and that is taboo, i guess.

if you eat only at md's, you will suffer from malnutrition. not so if you only eat at, say, chez panisse. what we normally label as junk food is not item for item bad for us. it's a matter of these foodstuffs belonging to a group of food that is consumed in overabundance by more and more people, because it's easy to get hold of, and cheap. and it's cheap for the most part because it's highly processed. junk food belongs to a bad life style, if you see what i mean?

it would be reasonable, i think, to distinguish between "personal responsibility" as used in court and as used when thinking in existential terms. in the first case, it's what makes it possible to uphold a civilized society. in the second, it's use is more doubtfull. how many burger consumers or office workers or car drivers or... have actually taken the decision to live the way they do, resulting in overweight or obesity? as enthusiast says: "in my view the option of doing nothing and insisting that everyone is free to make their own choices without recognising that those choices are actually made in a jungle of misinformation and ignorance, is not a good option." but it can be taken further than that: to a large extent we can't help living the way we do.

This "stubborn individual" is through communicating with you. and my dad can beat up your dad. so there. take that. nyah nyah.

It's easier for a society that deemphasizes individual responsibility to blame those structures and corporations in the first place. and a lot more realistic, too. forgive me for saying so, but your "stubborn individualism" has a taste of "übermench". please remember that the typical modern western individual is in a setting of eating habits that seem normal to him, even though his situation is in reality partially harmful. and remember that this is a situation that is created by big corporations (and not only the mac d.s of this world, but the producers, too), by where we live (work far from home etc), by our having to work long days, by...the list has no end, but there are a few places where government can step in and change things. like consumer protection, by making it easier to walk or ride a bicykle to work or to the train station (and of course by improving public transportation), by limiting the allowed size of shopping malls, by... problem is, this means taxes and limitations, and that's difficult when the state is basically seen as an enemy.

fat guy, the stubborn individualism i was talking about was in the context of your discussing personal responsibility. all other things equal, it must be easier for a state to take action against harmful societal structures and big corporations that can be largely blamed for the "obesity epidemic", if that society does not see the individual as absolutely and solely responsible for himself. had you been reading a little more cautiously, you would have noticed that i, too, wondered about the russians. so, no need for the tirade.

sure, but - the difference between men and women? that the men drink vodka instead of eating potatoes?

sure, the avant garde will always be blamed. but, fat guy - what you take for anti-americanism is really in my case a mix of being worried about some trends in modern societies in general (more cars, scattered families, overindustrialized food) and a critique of the back side of the archetypical american stubborn individualism. i haven't read all the series yet, but the idea that birth weight problems are caused mainly by dieting is in all probability silly. rather, it's probably caused by smoking, drugs, alcohol, stress AND malnutrition (which MAY be caused in some cases by dieting, but also by bad habits like eating too much fast food...) etcetera. and it's true that the female ideal has changed, but not so much in favour of skinniness as in favour of slender youth. perhaps this is caused by men's fear of the modern independent mature woman? or perhaps it's a reaction to the general obesity? or the fitness trend (it's easier to run 10 miles without having to carry round a lot of healthy fat)? by the way, did anybody notice the russian figures? how is that to be explained?

but i wasn't talking about you. it's all the others.

and yet they eat it. so, 1) either they wish to be fat, or 2) they can't control themselves, or 3) they are victims of some force majeure. lets rule out 1) 2) would tell us that most americans are not very good at being true americans in your sense. they should all go through therapy. of course, they must pay for it themselves. 3) would tell us that something has to be done by your government about some of the structures in your society. this is radical socialist thinking, so that leaves us with 2). heh.

If its goign to be a bit coarser because of hand-stirring make a virtue of it and do a sorbet or granite instead! As an alternative I don't think frozen parfaits need churning because the bubbles in the whipped egg whites mean it doesn't freeze as solid J if you want your parfait to attain some similarity to a real ice cream, don't whip the cream (hey, you wrote egg whites??!!??) very much (that is, to the consistency of a creme anglaise). you will have to churn every 15 min., though, but at least won't have to make a creme anglaise (and i for one can't make a creme anglaise if there's anyone around in the kitchen to disturb me).