jgm

About halfway into a bottle of red wine, I'm up for about anything. Whenever I have cleaning to do that I don't want to do. . .I get a bottle of wine. But make sure you don't need to run to the store for additional ingredients. This is not a rabbit; it is not a bunny; it is a HARE. Does that help?

You raise a very good point here. I guess the difference might have been that Andrea was more encouraging and gentle, and Stephen came across as the Wine and Food God Who Has Come to Bless Us With His Knowledge. I hate to admit it, but Stephen turned my opinion of him around a little bit when he apologized to her. I hope he learned from that footage, and saw just how obnoxious he was. He actually showed a glimmer of humanity. More of that, and I'll change my prediction that he won't go too far. The last time engineers failed to question, the Challenger blew up. Fortunately, things are less critical in the food world. But there is a bit of the "Emperor's New Clothes" stuff going on here. There's no doubt in my mind that there's a lot of tasting by the dipping of fingers going on out there. If it's a clean finger, and the pot will continue to be heated... I still don't like it, but it's not so bad. It's probably one of the industry's dirty little secrets. This scene reminded me a lot of that scene in the Wizard of Oz where they discover just who the Wizard really is. Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain. . . Ditto.

Speaking of herbs, I have some harvesting questions. Are there differences among the various plants, pertaining to how they should be harvested? Take the whole stalk of thyme, or tarragon, or just the top part? I'm also growing mint, marjoram, basil (genovese), and oregano. I've always just done whatever, but I saw a mention the other day about harvesting the entire stalk/branch. I'm betting someone here knows. . .

Stephen's "ethics" are a smokescreen. Ethics, my ass. He should have been in the kitchen, working to do the best with what they had to work with. This guy needs to learn some leadership. A friend of mine, in her e-mail signature, writes "Just because no one understands you, doesn't mean you're an artist." I've never seen that better applied than here. Stephen doesn't know how to get along with other people, so he doesn't even try, and covers it up with the need to use his so-called expertise in another area.

How about some extremely decadent brownies? There are several awesome recipes around, and they'd be easy to pack and carry.

Probably some of the more professional cooks on eG could give you better advice than I about testing ovens, but as a practical matter, I think I'd get several versions of one thing... perhaps small pans of cake batter?... and test them all at once, placing them at various spots in the oven. Baking is more of a science than an art; when something goes wrong, it can be difficult to sort things out. For pies, you could try covering the crust with aluminum foil to prevent browning, and then removing it about 15 minutes before the end of cooking time. The good news is, if you want to spend a couple hundred dollars, you can come close to eliminating your problem with this HearthKit. I've seen some published reviews of them, and they were quite complimentary. But if I were you, I'd do some testing first, make notes, and try to conquer the problem that way. The rest of the good news is, there are some incredibly talented and knowledgeable cooks and bakers on eG, who will be very happy to help you hone your skills. Learn to use the search feature, and you'll find a wealth of information here already.

If you get a chance to see "Rosemary - Castle Cook", episode 4 today on the Discovery Home Channel, she covers this subject with her students. My favorite part is where she admonishes them that "you MUST be humane" and then deftly, quickly rips the head off a langoustine. Actually, I like her philosophy; just because we are eating these animals, doesn't mean we get to torture them. Death should be as quick as possible. Her method, or a knife-to-the-brain method, seems a lot more compassionate than electrocution, which would surely take a few seconds. If you haven't seen this episode, it's definitely worth a look. She's one of my favorite TV chefs, anyway, but this episode really cemented my good opinion of her!

The prologue was when I entered the 4-H cherry pie baking contest at age 11. It was the third pie I'd ever made (but I'd watched Mom make a lot of them) and I received one of the few blue ribbons. The telling moment was when Mom took out a subscription to the Time-Life Foods of the World series, and I read them cover to cover. We couldn't get many of the ingredients required for the recipes, so there were many I couldn't try. The official entry was when my college boyfriend claimed he could cook better than I. He had, after all, taken cooking lessons in France. I began to read every cookbook and cooking magazine I could get my hands on. . .and the rest is history.

Most of the really bad coffee I've had has been from fast food places (duh) when I was just trying to find something - anything - hot to drink. But there was this incident when I was in high school. Like many teenagers, I had quite a bit of friction with my parents. My father worked rotating shifts; 3 days on one shift followed by a day off, then 4 days on a completely different shift, followed by another day or two off. Consequently, about the first hour after he got up was unpleasant and difficult. One morning before school, I was sitting at the table, reading the paper and having breakfast. Dad came in and fixed coffee in the electric percolator; it was the kind where water is sucked up through a central stem and allowed to drip back down through a basket at the top. On this particular day, he didn't put the lid to the percolator back on after putting the water and the coffee in it and reassembling it. He just plugged it in and walked away. And I just sat there, with the coffee spouting all over the counter, and pretended not to notice. I enjoyed that way too much, and I've never been able to feel any guilt about the incident, or about how much I enjoyed it.

A local Mexican restaurant has a soup very much like this. It has a chicken broth base, and has plum tomato, pieces of chicken, rice, and cubes of avocado. If you're interested in duplicating this, let me know, and I'll go do some research on it. The restaurant is far enough away that I always feel I need an excuse to go. Since it's cool and rainy here today, I may decide that I must research this further -- for the sake of completeness, you know.

A friend of mine who lived in South America for a few years, has a spectacular avocado dessert recipe. She said that in SA, avocados are always served sweet. Puree 3 or 4 very ripe avocados in a food processor; add a little milk and sugar, to taste. Also add a couple of tablespoons of port. I would think you could also add a tablespoon or two of lemon juice if you're concerned about the mixture darkening before you serve it. Serve as a pudding, in a small bowl, along with a quarter of a lime. Squeeze lime juice on top and enjoy.

Lee Anne's blog is a delight. And as I suspected, she confirms that a lot of stuff went down that didn't make it onto the tube. Probably explains some of Dave's tears. He's just sick of Tiffani. How come none of the TC chefs are eGullet members? Maybe we need to find some of them and correct that. I'd love to see Lee Anne and others weigh in on some of our topics.

We do a lot of grilling in summer, and quite a bit of dining out, too. When you're grilling, are you using the technique of putting the coals on one side of the grill, and the food to be cooked on the other side, and turning it every 20 to 30 minutes? We do beer can chicken this way, and get pretty even cooking from this technique. I try to fix a lot of cold things - salads, cold soups, etc. If you're going to heat up the oven, you could try to time it so that right after taking the dish out of the oven, you won't be home for a couple of hours. You could also do some planning ahead, and cook 2 to 3 things at once, to be reheated later in the week. We are fortunate enough to have a gas hookup in our detached garage, and we have an old gas range out there. We still need to hook the two together, and one way or another, it's going to happen this summer. It's not going to make cooking, itself, a cooler process; I'll likely be doing it in 95 to 100 degree heat. But at least I'll be able to go into the house to cool off.

This is really interesting information. I had figured that various editing tricks were being used to obfuscate and mislead, but I had never thought about the contestants being manipulated by the producers. I'm not surprised, though. I was really surprised, and not very happy, to see Le Anne go. Seems to me she's a good cook who has a high level of professionalism. I had expected her to be at least one of the top two, with either Tiffani or Harold being the other. I thought Dave showed a lot of courage with his choice of entrees last night. And I was happy to see that the judges appreciated it, too. When gauging his reactions, I think it's important to understand that this is his second career, so he probably feels more pressure to win in this situation, since he's older and may feel he has less time to establish himself. Plus, one career has already gone down the tubes for him, and he may be seeing this show as a second impending disaster. I love it that he's done so well. What can I say? He brings out my maternal instincts. I have a secret urge to bring him home and make him some hot tea.

By the time I graduated from college, I had a resume full of internships, etc., that were performed for no pay. They included stints I created for myself by walking into places and offering to work for free, for a particular project, a week at a time, or a month at a time. I made it clear I was willing to do anything in the profession, and at any hour. All it takes is one good, solid reference to get the first of these positions, and then things just progressed. I developed a reputation as someone who was capable and hard-working. I was also amazed at how many students wouldn't even consider working for no pay.

Most people aren't as good at lying as they think they are. I urge your brother to keep in mind that this is a mistake that could follow him for years, throughout this industry and others. Any employer who finds out he lied, is not going to give him a good reference. He needs to also understand that if he's branded as a dishonest person, every missing ... anything ... from any workplace, is going to get blamed on him, whether he had anything to do with it or not. An accusation like that may not stick in court, but it will live forever in the gossip mill. He's about to make a major mistake. I hope you can talk him out of it.

For me, there are about three types of food: 1. The kind that is so prefab and yucky, all I can taste is artificial flavoring. Most mixes, boxed foods, many frozen foods, etc. This category contains foods that are a far cry from what can be made from good ingredients, and ironically, don't really save all that much labor. I almost never eat from this category. These foods also often have more salt than I can deal with, anyway. 2. The kind that is already made, but is of passable quality, and I will use it when I am too tired or frazzled to cook. It's not the best in the world, and certainly not the best I can produce, but it's OK. This category includes food from certain TV chefs and certain chain restaurants that it's not PC for eGulleters to like, so I won't comment any further. It also could include some of the jarred sauces described here. 3. The kind of food that almost always, I spend at least an hour or more in my kitchen to produce, and it has some sort of special fresh flavor, or lovely texture, etc., that makes it obvious it's not "store bought"; and it's why I love to cook, and it's also why life can be so fascinating, challenging, and satisfying. I haven't bought any jarred tomato sauce in a long time. When in the past I have purchased it, I haven't found it to be very good. But in my area of the country, we have some limitations on the number of brands that are available, and it's entirely possible there's some pretty good stuff out there that I can't get. I see nothing wrong with eating from category #2, especially when I really don't have the time or the energy to do something really good.

Just curious. . .I'm not a pastry chef, so the term "rolled buttercream icing" caught my eye. I know what buttercream icing is; I understand fondant; so what's "rolled" buttercream icing?

Oh, of course not. And some tomato years will be better than others. . .lots of things will influence flavor. We could, theoretically, end up with better flavor than the genuine Italian tomatoes, for a year or two. We could also end up with watery crap that isn't worth picking, much less making into sauce. It depends on the year, the compost, and the mojo. Last year, for instance, was OK but not remarkable, except for the grape tomatoes. That one plant produced so much and grew so much, it almost got us in trouble with the local zoning authority. (OK, that's an exaggeration. But not much of one.) And they were incredibly flavorful. The previous year, the skins were tough and we threw away most of the tomatoes we picked from that plant. And then there was '99, when the tornado moved the garage on top of the whole crop. Needless to say, the tomatoes weren't very good that year. Come to think of it, one of my friends may have some Mount St. Helens volcanic ash left over from that glaze-making bender we went on in the early 90's. Since my hands won't throw clay anymore, that might just be a good use for that stuff. Life's like a box of chocolates... and it's always more interesting when you grow tomatoes... because you never know what you're gonna get.

She's 31 this month and I'm a Jack Bennyesque 39, but apparently she took me to be in my forties. Must have been my mature demeanor. ← If it's any consolation, I was about 35 when I realized I'd passed up several truly great guys for truly stupid reasons. She's not smart enough to deserve you. Kate, on the other hand, seems very bright. . .

Don't forget that your insistence is MUCH more forbidding with a big purse over one arm and an impatiently-tapping high-heeled shoe. ← Absolutely! And they're cute shoes, too! And of course y'all know the madderIgit, the fasterItalk.

Fresser, I'm going to have to know some more about this woman before I can approve her. First of all, does she eat grits? Has she ever even crossed the Mason-Dixon line? Does she eat most other things? I always think it's so sad when a lover of all things food marries someone who has a much less adventurous palate. I don't think it's necessary that she have good legs. She just has to be secure enough that she doesn't mind if you do, and wise enough not to try to compete. And last, but not least, does she love you as much as we do? When's the second date? She sounds pretty good so far. Don't let her get away! And don't you DARE not call her if you promised you would. I will walk to Chicago, if necessary, and yank you by the ear, over to the phone, like a good GRITS girl would do, and stand there with my hands on my hips, while you dial her number.

We'll revisit this in September, and I'll let you know what I think of fresh San Marzanos cooked into marinara, versus canned SMs. Doing a comparison like that will be tough duty, but hey --anything for eGullet! The two plants producing San Marzanos will be kept company by 12 other plants, so it's not like I'll be missing out on any BLTs or caprese salad, or just plain slabs-of-tomato-on-a-plate pigouts.

No... for two reasons: First, I don't begin to have the talent, knowledge, or experience to even think about holding my own against professional cooks. Second, I don't have much patience for game-playing, which that last episode seemed to be. If they'd had more time and opportunity to shop, I might feel differently about it. As a viewer, I truly would have enjoyed seeing them in a much more realistic situation, such as more time, a budget that a 'real' caterer would commonly have to work within, an opportunity to shop and maximize the use of the budget, and perhaps carrying out a theme, and having to cook for people with allergies and/or religious restrictions. Maybe that's why I've enjoyed "Behind the Bash" so much. It's cool to see what the really professional caterers can come up with, and how they carry it off.

At least this way, you don't feel guilty saying bad things about her cooking behind her back! How thoughtful of her, to make it easy for you!