Katherine

I'll have what she's having.

It's often the case that the food of wealthy people reflects a continental (ie French) influence. Fusion with less-spicy French food would probably result in a decrease in heat to match the increase in status.

My rule of thumb is, if it looks fresh I use it, if it's withered, I don't. Works for me.

My ex-husband used to eat raw potatoes. Are you sure you want to have something in common with him?

This is why you're supposed to use the broiler pan without foil. The pan itself is firesafe, and any grease will drip below into the outer pan, where it is safely protected from the heat. Pull the pan out when you finish it, don't leave it in the broiler to cool, where you'll forget about it. I've never had a broiler fire in my life.

But there's no stem to break off...

Your mission, SLK, is to test this and see if it is true. Please report back.

i'm assuming the kinds of pressure-cookers being talked about here are different from my stone-age pressure cooker from india--which releases a little to a lot of steam depending on heat. My former boss tried to tell me about pressure cookers in India, but since he didn't know anything about cooking, and his English wasn't all that good either, very little communication occurred. The old-fashioned pressure cookers I used to use had a steam port on top, with a rocker weight you set on it. Clamp on the cover air tight, put on the weight, and put the pot on the fire. When the steam discharge becomes so great that the weight begins rocking back and forth, you turn down the heat just enough to maintain that pressure. You want to make sure the pressure doesn't get too high, which could be dangerous. A pressure canner has a pressure gauge on top so you can read the pressure for safe canning. The modern one I have maintains its heat itself, and has two pressure settings, low and high. I use high for beans, and low for rice.

What's your point? I give up. I'll give it a try. It's fate. But it's gotta be chicken broth for me. I went to Walmart and picked up a 10# bag of chicken leg quarters. I decided to start 3 batches, each of merely 1lb 12oz of chicken leg quarters in 1 quart of cold water: Pressure cooker batch-30 minutes at high pressure Stovetop batch-bring to a boil, skim, then simmer gently for 1 hour Le Creuset in oven batch-leave in the oven at 200º until I get home from work at 9:45 tonight. What I'll do is strain each batch after it cools a bit, then chill, defat, and compare. I'll also be able to compare the eating quality of the chicken meat that will be a by-product of this process. But since the oven batch is not going to be ready to use til tomorrow morning, and I may be working tomorrow morning (don't know yet), the final test may be delayed until I have a free morning. If this works, it will be very interesting, because it may mean that we've all been operating on an untested incorrect assumption all this time. (C'mon, folks, how often do you really run two batches side by side to check some detail?) But I would recommend that anyone who wants to make stock this way for home use should invest in a significantly larger pressure cooker than mine. I believe the programmable ones do come in larger sizes, or at least I did see 8 qt and 12 qt at one time.

Nor small birds, nor moles... Though it's often the case I can get my cat to eat distinctly un-catlike foods that have been permeated with butter. By the way, if cats could speak, they'd tell you that all meat, fowl, and fish are their prey, unless I'm misinterpreting the begging that goes on at my feet as I prepare these things.

This is what it's going to take. All this talk about theory can only be settled by real-life testing. My pressure cooker is only 4 quarts in size, so it's going to have to be someone else. That and the fact that I'm not a stock person. Right. From a practical standpoint, you need one of these, and unless you do a lot of canning, you probably don't have one. I can't imagine what kind of cooker you'd need for restaurant-sized volumes of stock. But the idea could be tested in a smaller vessel. Are you sure we can't turn you into a temporary stock person? Jon: Microwave Gourmet. Actually, when I say I'm "not a stock person", what I mean is that I don't really like Western-style stock, with the infused vegetable flavors, bones, etc, and I usually make chicken broth. So even if I did make stock, I'm not sure if I would be a good one to run a taste test on the finished product, having tasted little or none of it. I could test two batches of chicken broth side-by-side, but I work two jobs, and after caucuses today, I have to go to work. Plus, my freezer is packed full of chicken and turkey broth already. Edit: I have got to start proofreading my posts.

Humans and prehumans have hunted large animals in packs, with the help of crude tools. Therefore, I consider beef to be our natural prey, and thus, the perfect food.

Any stand-ins for real food, be it junk, pseudo-meat that smells and tastes like dog food, or food bars that taste like the cr*p my mother used to buy us at the health food store, smelling and tasting medicinally of brewers' yeast, liver powder, and other things that you only ate because someone who thought "good for you" ought to be enough forced you to eat them.

Incredibly expensive restaurants whose reputation is based on the "artistry" of their creations, and the media industry that has grown up around it.

I recommend that you shell out for one of the programmable electric ones. Mine brings itself up to pressure (choice of two different pressures), stays for the length of time I set it, then calls me when it's done. Much easier than the fussy one I used to use on top of the stove, and it doesn't heat up the kitchen in the summer, either.

This is what it's going to take. All this talk about theory can only be settled by real-life testing. My pressure cooker is only 4 quarts in size, so it's going to have to be someone else. That and the fact that I'm not a stock person.

You're referring to the "special sauce" that runs down your chin and elbows and drips onto your clothing? Naah, just you.

I think you should go for Parker Posey.

There are an infinite number of perfect lasagnas that can be made. If you've made one, you can make another. Different, but also perfect. My mother used to have a skillet dish my father called "conglomeration". Basically, it was whatever meat and vegetables we had, diced, cooked, with pan gravy. He used to say, "we'll never have this again." Because there was no recipe, it couldn't be duplicated. But it was always a soul-satisfying dish. The lasagna I made that could never be duplicated had as its main ingredient a mushroom I cut off a stump in my neighbor's yard, then put through the meat grinder before sauteeing into the sauce. It can't be duplicated because he removed the stump the next year. Kind of earthy.

They taught us that in cooking school, twenty years ago. So does anybody do it? Nooo...

Gee, I just figured that you use what you've got, since the alternative is generally only available to people for whom money is no object. Chop wood, carry water.

Apicius, Sen no Rikkyu, Careme, and James Beard. As long as this is a fantasy, can I get them to cater, too?

I've found an easy really reliable way to make sponge cakes that require separation of eggs is to whip the egg whites with much of the sugar in the recipe. They will become high and firm, and won't collapse as sponges sometimes do when you're in a hurry, or don't make them very often. You need a mixer to do this properly, or a really strong arm with good endurance.

Don't forget potted chicken livers, the poor girl's paté. I steam chicken livers and drain, then sauté some onion in butter. When everything is cool, put in the food processor until fine and add enough room temperature butter to make a fluffy consistency. To die for.

There are women who fare well in professional kitchens. However, in my experience, most do not. I wasn't suggesting the women are "inferior," just that they tend not to be well suited to a particular agressive and physically demanding environment. Since women do plenty of "aggressive and physically demanding jobs", what is it about the kitchen to which most of them are intrinsically unsuited?