fiftydollars

Because I live in California, of course I prefer local, in-season, organic produce. But it would be awfully unfair of me to shut out produce from other markets when they so happily accept such huge amounts from us. So on the off-season I buy whatever looks, smells, and tastes best and I don’t worry too much that it comes from Mexico, South America, Israel, Holland, New Zeland, etc. Come July, I know where they will all be getting their peaches…

I have never found Chinese straw mushrooms, fresh, whenever I have needed them. So I have used the tinned variety and can't say I mind them... Are they necessarily that much worse than dried mushrooms?

What item would be the best test of a roasting pan? I just got two different roasting pans, the Le Creuset Oval Roasting Pan($139) from Williams Sonoma and the Calphalon tri-ply($69) from Amazon, after I returned an All-Clad roasting pan I received as a late Christmas gift. I would like to do a head-to-head comparison and need help selecting a good item to test them with. My first thought was a turkey. Mainly because they are cheap, but also because I can make gravy and test the pan on the stovetop. But I'm not really wild about turkey and I imagine another item might be a better way of comparing performance.

I made some Coq Au Vin that was just absolutely awful. I used a good recipe that shall remain anonymous for its own protection. The culprit was clearly the wine. Not wanting to spend too much I bought a bottle of cheap red wine and proceeded with the recipe’s instructions. When the dish was finally finished the sauce looked like I had used Welch’s Grape Juice. It had an unappetizing purple/gray color, but that turned out to be the best part, unfortunately. The flavor was just hideous and the smell was redolent of rotting trash. I could never have imagined just how bad that cheap wine would make the thing turn out. It was vile and nasty… and I am not one to throw those terms around loosely when I am talking about food (especially mine). The chicken, though (thanks to the recipe’s clever instructions, no doubt) was at the perfect point of doneness. I poked at it with my fork, marbled at how juicy the inside looked and how the skin looked like the bird had contracted skin cancer… then I tossed the thing after taking only a couple of exploratory bites (the smell had already told me that it couldn’t possibly taste good). It pained me to toss it… because I don’t like tossing food and because I was very hungry. I can’t think of too many dishes that turned out so bad that I wouldn’t even try to eat them… this was one of them.

I got the fabulous Eggstractor. The device is an absolutely craptastic invention that easily and conveniently mangles hard boiled eggs while keeping the shells more-or-less intact.

Wow. That is very interesting. Very nice job. I was a bit skeptical when you said you had painted your mixer. What kind of paint did you use? Did you do any disassembly?

I do agree with the idea that preparing food at home is the healthiest and most economical way to eat. I agree with the article's conclusion. But I also felt the article concentrated too much on trying to convince you how easy this is and missed an opportunity to be a little more accurate.

I used to cut a small hole into watermelons and pour in vodka. The thing would slowly soak up a whole 750ml bottle and slices off the melon were almost flamable. The fruit was still palatable although the whole purpose of the thing was to use the watermelon to sneak liquor when we were too young to imbibe lawfully.

Well you're in luck! There is now a Hooters near the wharf, if you are looking for some wings. In the mood for Mexican food? Try Chevy's in the Embarcadero Center #2. How about a hamburger? We have some of the finest McDonald's stores around! Brooks, feel free to contact me for more recommendations. I have plenty.

I would really like to go and check it out... but I am not a "pro." Can I still go?

I was a bit confused about the premise and the accounting. If I were starting out, as someone who only had $60.43 to feed myself and a loved one, it would take weeks before I could build up the pantry to put together simple meals. Breakfast on day one would practically break me because I don't have a store in my area that will sell you "4 tbspn olive oil" for "$0.16," or "2 c flour" for "$0.30." I would have to buy my olive oil in sufficient quantity to bring the price near the $0.04 per tablespoon, which in the example is $10 for a gallon and a whole lot of money to drop in a single week for someone on a $60.43/week food budget. Finding olive oil at a reasonable price then becomes the difference between making it on this type of budget, or not. If you didn’t find quality olive oil at $2.02/750ml, or didn’t like the quality of what that kind of money purchased for you in your area, and instead paid $0.26 per tablespoon at $13/750ml like I do, you would be spending $16.72 more per week just on olive oil according to the "Slow Food for the Poor Challenge" menus. That would mean skipping meals on a budget this tight. Of course, I could try poaching for a change...

I think it's usually ONLY on the high-end that they decide to slap every single dreamweaver feature into their websites.

You totally had me going there... what happened? Is this like a figure of speech... like when I tell people, "I'm bad," which I do, because I am.

You will absolutely need a grinder, if you want to make sausages. Of course you can use a food processor to "grind" the meat, but, as noted, it won't stuff it in the casings. I can imagine you could stuff casings by hand with a funnel or something, but that's not any kind of operation I want any kind of part in. And for various reasons that will become evident to you later, you don't want to handle the meat too much, especially not with your hot dirty paws. So the grinder is your best bet and you can find a hand-cranked model for about $25 (saw this on Amazon for $15). These are simple, table-clamped devices that will grind the meat and force it into a casing. If you have any suspicion that maybe sausages might be a long-term interest, spend a little more and get something nice.

Michael Mina might be a good choice for you.

When I was in college a friend of mine threw a keg-party that was eventually overrun by random people. Things got out of hand, the police arrived, and somehow someone walked off with the keg.

I hold doors open for people, gentlemen included, whenever appropriate. Some folks might take that the wrong way, but I feel that's better than letting the door slam in their face. Please don't poop on me.

Manners International website The 'brie question' was the one I was most interested in, and the link isn't working. Did anyone read the answer? Frankly, I have no problem with those folks that try to dig out the soft 'innards,' since that leaves more rind for me, and it's my favorite part. Heheheh. ← If the correct answer is that you should "just cut a piece from the soft part," I am giving up on etiquette altogether.

woodburner ← That goes double for me Is the shrimp pasta a regular item on the menu? I might be in the neighborhood next month and I would definitely like to try them.

"...Attach bacon to the surface of meat..." The site also says that you can use this to "cold bond" meat to other meat. The idea of welding meat sounds pretty interesting. I am not sure what other applications it might be good for, but it could come in handy when I am preparing a stuffed chicken or veal breast. I didn't locate any information about how to get my hands on this stuff... Anyone know? ...and how much does this stuff cost (there is an email link on the site, but I haven't gotten a response yet)?

Thanks, Chris. Great article.

Bourdain's Les Halles cookbook has a deceptively good recipe for a mushroom soup. I say it's deceptive because I didn't really expect it to be as good as it turned out given the ease of preparation and relatively common ingredients used. Only button mushrooms are used. However, the result has a solid mushroom flavor. Bourdain's soup is pureed, which I believe is different from what you describe. But if you like mushroom soups, you might want to look this one up.

Yes. Instead of going back to Masa, practically right after Hesser, why not go back to some of the restaurants on the NYT’s current list of 4-stars. I could be wrong, but according to my search of the NYT’s reviews, Daniel and Ducasse have not been reviewed since 2001 and Jean Georges and Le Bernardin not since 1998. I am much more interested in finding out what’s happened to Jean Georges in the last 6 years than what’s happened at Masa since Hesser ate there in June (of this effin year, no less). Did someone, up high, appeal Hesser's review? Bruni’s review of Masa is a second opinion on what is essentially the exact same restaurant Hesser reviewed 6-months ago. Bruni’s review is an entirely masturbatory exercise as he is pretty much the only one who enjoyed it or got anything useful out of it.

I think the damage you are describing is similar to what I found on a pan I managed to rehab after neglecting it in a damp place for a long time. I used an aggressive grit sand paper to get down to bare, smooth metal. Then I finished it with a finer grit, brushed all the loose material with a stainless steel brush, and seasoned it. I really don’t see any harm in breaking out the power tools either. This is, after all, cast iron. However, I did find that the sand paper, manually applied, was more than efficient at removing material, including rust, old grease, and cast iron. I should have been more careful with the cooking surface as my first pass with the sand paper ground small grooves into the surface that I later had to work out through a lot of additional sanding.

Are there any concerns about lead with Mexican coke like there are with Mexican candies? I have heard that the lead in the leaded gasoline still in widespread use in Mexico, often makes its way into commercial food products. The story I heard described how often candy is made in drafty factories and somehow lead just wafts in and settles on the product. It seemed kind of an improbable contamination mechanism, but the candy does test with a high level of lead. Could lead be found in Mexican coke? Uh... would it at least, uh, like, settle at the bottom?