NulloModo
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Posts posted by NulloModo
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I actually have the opposite experience, I have never had lobster (well, fresh lobster anyway) anywhere outside of restaurant setting.
I remember several years ago every grocery store in the area had a lobster tank in the seafood section, now it is extremely rare. Lobster at home is tricky, just like crabs at home. There is the whole business of killing, cleaning, etc. At a restaurant that is all taken care of for you, and I have never had anything but perfect lobster in any restaurant I have ordered it in (well, sometimes they are a bit small, but other than that...)
It seems similar to the steakhouse phenomenon though. It is very easy to cook a great steak at home, and a lot easier to get a great cut of beef than a good lobster, around here at least, yet still steakhouses are quite popular. Steak is good, lobster is good, and if you are in the mood for it without going through the hassle, the restaurants are an attractive option.
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Even if it did leach a bit, one belt for an anniversary isn't going to kill/hurt you. Heavy metal poisoning takes time and multiple exposures, a lot more dose would be necessary than what a shot of scotch could do.
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Doesn't like Romano? What's wrong with him?
It looks pretty darn tasty to me.
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How 'bout Coke & peanuts?
I guess it goes into the "If they jump off a cliff, would you do it too?"-category, but as a kid, we saw some older kids open a bottle of Coke, take a drink from it, and then proceed to pour lots of peanuts into the bottle... To this day, I still occasionally do it, except in a glass (and with the diet, caffeine-free stuff). Makes the glass look extremely narly, mind you.
(Edit: Me niet spel gud).
I was reading Naked by David Sedaris the other day, and he recounts how as a child volunteering in a mental hospital he saw an attendant take a bottle of RC Cola, stuff it with peanuts (whole in shell I think) and then let it sit for a while before drinking.
Now I have heard two references to this habit inside of a week, I might just have to try sometime.
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I still have lot of leftovers from my first round of Moussaka, but I am already thinking about a potential second batch.
'The Smoked Joint', a BBQ place in Philly which has been gettings lots of attention on the local eG board lately, serves up a smoked eggplant babbaganoush as one of their apps. I'm wondering if I could do a smokey Moussaka somehow.
I could toss a small pork shoulder and the eggplant slices into the smoker, and maybe use a dry rub with some of the moussaka spices on the pork, the cinnamon, coriander, oregano, etc. I could always use smoked gouda for cheese, but that might just be smoke overload, perhaps something really tangy to cut the smoke flavor might be good for the cheese there. Then again, maybe the whole idea is too bizarre.
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So after looking at these photos of Moussaka all day I had to get home and do my own.
I used a blend of the recipes I have seen, and just threw in some touches of my own.
I used ground beef, no lamb, as I couldn't find any and beef was an sale (can't beat $1.75 a lb for ground beef).
I roasted the slices of eggplant in the oven with a little EVOO and salt, and in a pot I fried up an onion, some garlic, 2 lbs of ground beef, the remains of a jar of tomato sauce, a can of black olives (hey, the Greeks love olives, I love olives, seemed like a good addition), and a spice blend of coriander seed, clove, cinnamon, paprika, black pepper, allspice, nutmeg, and lots of oregano.
I layered it up along with lots of mozerella cheese (decided not to go the bechamal route, just layer of eggplant, later of meat, layer of cheese, rinse, repeat, etc). I also topped it off with some parm.
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Well, I love Bourdain personality-wise, he reminds me of who I would be if I just decided to not give a fuck about anyone or anything.
I also really like Bobby Flay, his asshole nature appeals to me, and his food looks tasty, though he does use too much honey.
I think Rachel Ray is cute, well, maybe more than cute, but I have little respect for her knowledge base after seeing some of her supposed 'low-carb' episodes where she uses refined wheat flour.
On a similar note, while I would love to love George Stella, I just don't. He reminds me of low-carb cooking a full year ago, it has gotten a lot better since then, he needs to be less afraid of specialty ingredients and needs to stop the low-fat and low-carb thing in combination.
Ina Garten and Paula Deen remind me a lot of each other. They are both grandmotherly and awesome, home cooking at its best. Who cares of it is greasy, southern cooking is supposed to use lots of grease, it is an official food ground in AL ;).
Sandra Lee I could take or leave. I tend to avoid lots of processed stuff, so I can't make much from her show, it looks tasty though.
I like Emeril a lot, and pork fat certainly is equal to god in nature. Still, I hate the audience in his live show. Reminds me too much of Oprah, and how do I hate Oprah...
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The best Moussaka I have ever had was from one of the worst diners in the area. My friends and I would usually go (drunk out of our minds) because they served an ultra-cheap 24 hour a day breakfast, and they had a 'sausage' there that came out nuclear red and if you stared at it long enough looking almost like it was breathing... (don't ask, it is appealing when drunk out of your mind).
Still, their Moussaka reigns supreme. Perhaps I will have to go back before I cook this one to get a good idea of what I am going after.
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Escargot is pretty hard to mess up. I have only had it at Steak and Ale, which is apparently a fairly second rate steakhouse, but still, the escargot appetizer is hard to beat. Then again, anything drowning in butter, herbs, and parmesan is bound to be tasty.
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What is the purpose of a gay hamburger chain? Is there some technique or preparation that distinguishes it from a straight hambuger establishment?
Well, for one, I am certain that some establishments make homosexual couples feel unwelcome, and such couple would rather patronize establishments in which they are not felt to feel second-class.
On another level, have you ever eaten at a gay-diner? My favorite diner I have ever been to is the 'French Quarter' in West Hollywood in Los Angeles. It is an extremely homosexually oriented places, almost entirely run and patronized by the gay community. The atmosphere, service, quality of food, and general feeling of the place is second to none. As much as I love greek and turkish diners, given me a gay diner anyday.... actually, I wonder what would happen if a group of homosexual greeks decided to open up a place...
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True, fission has led to some horrors as well as some wonders, but personally I'd say that the benefits outweigh the bad things with have done.
My head hurts. Seriously, I have a huge bruise on my forehead from smashing it against my desk after reading this tripe!
The benefits from nuclear fission outweigh the drawbacks? I'm sure the folks who "survived" Horoshima, Nagasaki, Chernobyl might disagree with you. But hey, I'm sure they're relieved that 20% of the world gets cheap electricity. We make mistakes and learn from them right?
If some people want to use their wallets to drag their feet, then by all means, that is their prerogative. I personally take solace in the fact that the major corporations would have a lot to gain from something like this, and that their pockets are much, much deeper than those of the activists.Give me a foot-dragger over a profit taker anyday. It doesn't take a genius to figure out which one has the best interest of the human race at heart.
A.
Cheap electricity is only part of it. Despite the difficulties in disposing of nuclear waste, Fission plants are far better for the environment than coal burning plants, and hydroelectric/dam-based plants are nowhere near capable of carrying this country's electricity needs at the moment. And sure, lots of people died from use of the a-bomb, but since then the threat of M.A.D. has effectively neutralized massive major power conflicts, something has to be said for that, but that is probably a topic for another board.
As for the latter comment: poverty is still the #1 reason of premature death across the world. If cloned foodstuffs could mean enough cheap food to feed the needy worldwide, how can that be a bad thing? Even if the donations were just for PR or tax-writeoffs helping people is helping people, regardless of the motivation.
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Well, everyone had their things that they don't like, or do like, even if all logic seems to point in the other direction. Just curious: are you a big fan of vinegar in general?
EDIT:
Also, from reading your other posts, I realize that you are trying to minimize salt intake. As most pickles seem to be incredibly salty, does that have something to do with it?
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I'd go with lemon bars. They are springy, they smell nice, and who doesn't love lemon bars?
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True, fission has led to some horrors as well as some wonders, but personally I'd say that the benefits outweigh the bad things with have done.
I'm sure that disasters relating to cloning are certainly possible, even likely. However, we will learn from our mistakes and move on. If some people want to use their wallets to drag their feet, then by all means, that is their prerogative. I personally take solace in the fact that the major corporations would have a lot to gain from something like this, and that their pockets are much, much deeper than those of the activists.
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You forgot a couple things that a professional kitchen has that a home kitchen doesn't - an entire brigade of trained cooks working 16 hours a day 6 or 7 days a week (many restos are closed on sunday), and access to the finest ingredients.
What you find in gourmet markets and farmers markets doesn't compare to what we're getting - Prime Beef, fresh, naturally raised pork and lamb directly from the farm where it's raised, fish that may have been caught hours ago (worst case, caught a day or two ago), etc... Not to mention the finest organic vegetables strait from the farm, lettuce picked the day we get it, wild foraged mushrooms, fresh truffles from France and Italy
I seriously doubt it's even possible for any home cook to source half these ingredients.True, the home cook doesn't have the bridage of sous chefs and prep cooks, but that is why it takes the home cook longer to do the same things.
And what the individual cook has access too is a matter of location, how far out of your way you are willing to go, and how much money you are willing to spend. My local butcher can get my prime beef if I ask, or I can order from Loebel's and get dry aged prime beef. I can go into reading terminal market in Philly and produce just as fresh and ripe as what shows up on the plates at Le Bec Fin, and there are plenty of online sources that will sell truffles, exotic cheeses, morels, etc.
A restaurant has the channels in place and can get the items far easier, and far cheaper I'm sure, and it would be prohibitive for a home cook to cook like a top end restaurant all the time, but for an occasional thing, there is no reason it wouldn't be possible.
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I think that is pretty much a myth. Alton brown even did a big test on one of his mythbuster episodes where he proved that mushrooms soaked pick up only marginal amounts of water.
I usually rinse mine off under running water then toss them in a towel, they never get mushy.
Now, mushrooms you wash, then refridgerate for a while while still wet, those can get sort of icky...
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I've eaten rare chicken before, but that was only because I can't grill worth a damn (I thought the chicken was done). That was before I discovered the joys of cooking thermometry.
To be honest, I don't really know of any hard data on prevalence of Salmonella etc in duck versus chicken, but I would suspect that the incidence is similar. Ducks and chickens are closely related species and both are typically raised in large-scale farms with plenty of oppurtunity for contact with pathogen-carrying droppings.
I googled around a bit on this, because I found the question interesting. I found a couple references to duck eggs having far lower instances of salmonella than chicken eggs, but no references to the animals themselves. I imagine what is true for the egg is likely true for the animal though. Perhaps ducks just have some natural immune defense against salmonella?
Duck and chicken farms are also quite a bit different. Ducks are generally allowed to roam about in pins, while chickens are often locked in small cages, one on top of another, such that their fecal matter can rain down, easily spreading more disease.
I also found that even cows can apparently carry salmonella, yet we never worry about salmonella from beef. There is no reason to fear the meat of an animal just because it is capable of carrying a pathogen, perhaps ducks are similar to cows in that they can carry it, but just do so so rarely that it isn't worth thinking about.
Then again, a chicken breast and a duck breast are two very different pieces of meat. A duck breast is more like a steak, a chicken breast, more like a piece of incredibly firm tofu. Perhaps there is no reason to cook chicken rare just because it tastes better fully cooked.
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Cooking at home cannot be compared to cooking in a restaurant.
I disagree with this. A home cook with enough money can source the same ingredients as any top restaurant. Most home cooks don't have restaurant caliber gear at home, but a cuisinart can do whatever a pro-line food processor does, it just can't, and doesn't have to, do it 18 hours a day 7 days a week non-stop. Home cooks can get the same knives used in restaurants, and can learn the same techniques. The same pots and pans are readily availible, I'd wager that many wealthier home chefs use pans quite a bit nicer than what you'd find in your average restaurant kitchen. In fact, the only thing that restaurant kitchens have that home kitchens rarely do is ultra-high BTU cooktops, broilers, and ovens, and even some home kitchens have those.
Of course the speed of the cooking in much different, in a restaurant the chef has to whip out the courses in minutes compared to the hours it can take the home cook, but that isn't to say a home cook couldn't or shouldn't do it if they have the desire.
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First attempts are always going to have low success-rates. If we stop now just because lots of the animals we are cloning are dying, we may never get all of the tricks down. Engineering cloned animals to be sterile does seem like a very good idea from a disease prevention point of view.
With regards to missing out on evolution via cloning, I think that the opposite is true, we could accelerate it, and only introduce the traits we wanted. As our understanding of manipulating and engineering the genome increases we could insure that every cloned cow had a perfect immune system, was made of 100% prime grade beef, and matured to slaughtering age in a fraction of the time it takes now. Heck, I'm sure it could even be possible to engineer them to have certain muscle groups be larger than they are on traditional cattle, just as chickens have been engineered through breeding to have larger breasts.
As far as milk goes, we could get cattle that give milk with extra high percentages of milk-fat, just think of the great possibilities for artisinal cheese making.
I think genetic engineering has just gotten such a bad wrap from hollywood and extremist activist groups that people are afraid of it for no good reason. Every major evolution in human society has been sparked by a discovery or a new technology that seemed scary or uncontrollable before it became commonplace. We can now see the world at the cellular and sub-cellular level, and are understanding it more every day. Controlling it at that level seems like a logical next step.
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And how did Applebee's get a hold of this photo? From the newspaper it ran in, perhaps?
From what I understand, when one moves into town they contact local high schools, colleges, universities, civic groups, etc, and ask them to just send over random photos, promotional items, cool junk, etc, and then just use it along with all of the corporate junk they toss up on the walls.
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Hmm, the Hamburger Mary's place sounds like it certainly has an interesting vibe to it, and I have to give props to any place that will serve a rare burger anymore. I might have to check it out... then again, I like russian dressing (and I suppose I'm about due to give Cher another shot).
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I will second the melting pot in Wilmington, DE. It is the only fondue place I have ever been to, but I thought it all tasted incredible, the decor and atmosphere is very nice (lots of dark wood, brass, brick and leather, totally my kinda place), and the service was top notch. Well, the waitress seemed to be under the impression that my best friend and I were lovers and kept asking how long we had been together and making other such comments, but no complaints about the actual food service, heh, I got more of a kick out of that than he did.
The nice thing about the melting pot chain is that from what I understand, each restaurant looks completely different on the inside. I like it when chains at least sorta try to differentiate the locations a bit to the local area. In fact, I think there is a photo of me in a HS marching band uniform in an Applebee's around here somewhere, if only I didn't hate applebee's...
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Vlassic recently put out two lines of flavored pickles: tabasco and lime. I picked up both first time I saw them, and they are pretty good, though I prefer the lime as the tabasco one doesn't have enough tabasco flavor (I guess I could always add more).
MMMMMM. Tabasco pickles! I'll have to watch for those in the store. And now I have to rummage in the fridge to see if I have any pickles left in the back. I might have some Kalamata olives too...
Hmm, yeah, the tabasco weren't bad, but they really do need more tabasco in them, it comes off as a faint hint of taste after you take a bit, just a barely lingering heat. Now, the Texas Best Hot Okra Pickles, those are something to salivate over...
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If it was tastier and/or cheaper than regular beef, of course.
If they could find a way to clone Wagyu cattle on the mega-farms for cheaper than they can raise the regular cows now, it could be a boon. Imagine, prime Wagyu beef strip steaks at $1.99 a lb or something... well, one can dream.
Which Pizza Stone
in Kitchen Consumer
Posted
Heya,
Wow, I started this thread a while ago. After I arrived home with my initial LnT stone (which was pre-shattered in the box for my convenience) I exchanged it for an indentical, non-shattered stone. Since then I have used it quite a bit. I still haven't perfected my LC pizza dough recipe, but it is getting there, and the thing is also great for flax bread.