emsny

I found the fit on the plastic guards to be a bit too tight, and I always felt a bit concerned about cutting myself when I tried to remove the guards. Those magnetized ones seem like a good idea, and I've ordered a set. In the meantime, I use cardboard and masking tape; works fine.

Consistency - difficult, sometimes, to describe these things. How about this: about the consistency of freshly made (not chilled) pastry cream.

I've tried 'em all, and without doubt I get the best results from type 3: the flat perforated rectangle with a sliding hopper on top. I quite like the method that kpzachary describes too, and it's fun. But the sliding hopper thing (which is quite cheap - I think I paid ten bucks for mine) is amazingly fast and yields nice spaetzle. It is dishwasher-safe as well.

Slightly off-topic, I heartily endorse ojisan's recommendation of www.japanesechefsknife.com. I've bought a few knives from them and they arrived from Japan astonishingly quickly. But more important, I was in search of something that was not listed on their web site and they speedily figured out what I was talking about (no mean feat as I did not know the correct name for the blade shape) and found a source for the knife. Back on-topic, I agree that for many western cooks (such as me) it makes sense to stick mostly to more-or-less western blade shapes while taking advantage of the terrific Japanese cutlery skills and steel.

jean_genie, when you find out exactly where you'll be living, post again and I'm sure many of us will have much advice to bore you with. It is true that lots of people have food delivered, but it is unlikely that many other US cities have as many conveniently located food markets of all kinds.

I think it would be fair enough for the host to speak up and say, "Do begin" or words to that effect, just in case the senior guest doesn't realize that it's his or her job to get the ball rolling.

Surely, Lia Bardeen is not executive chef at Jean Georges. The title that comes up with a bit of googling is executive sous chef.

The thing that struck me when I last visited NCL and Grainger Market - perhaps five years ago - was that the fishmongers in the market generally had a very limited range of fish, but that with careful shopping you could find the odd surprising creature from local(ish) waters. I suppose most shoppers are pretty well set in their ways.

Many thanks - we usually make a trip to North Shields and have a poke round Grainger Market, but I didn't know most of the other sources you mentioned.

Thank you, Naebody, for that useful link.

Many thanks. I see, Alan, that you are based there: any meat/produce or general food shopping favorites? We'll be cooking in more than eating out, and my father-in-law's garden produce is plentiful but limited in variety.

Are there any good, possibly interesting, new restaurants in or very near Newcastle-upon-Tyne, either plain or fancy? By "new" I guess I mean within the past couple of years. Thanks.

Yes. For a cosmopolitan city of, what, eight million people, there are few consistently good pastry shops of any kind. But that's fiber for another thread.

Thanks - no, I was aware of J'Adore being nearer Fifth Avenue. Glad to hear that the choc/almond croissant at Madeleine was good; we'll stop in next time we're passing by.

Thanks for the depressing but not unexpected assessment. (Depressing not because of this particular place but because it reminds us of what a lousy town New York is for excellent pastry.)

Don't St Alban and J. Sheekey take reservations up to midnight? That might do if you were having an early night.

Richard Vines (Bloomberg news) has written of this: http://tinyurl.com/yuv9sn. To wit, "Koffmann is at the Bleeding Heart, near the City financial district. He's mentoring staff while the moderately priced restaurant is between chefs, said Georges Dugarin, operations director. The eatery hasn't publicized Koffmann's presence because he's a friend who is temporarily helping out, Dugarin said. "... "I had a wonderful lunch at Bleeding Heart on Friday."

You are right: There is a danger that big businesses will appropriate the name, as they are doing with the term "organic" / "biologique". I am sure that someone has addressed this issue, as it applies to SlowFood, somewhere, and we should keep our eyes open for news. Certainly, Michael Pollan has written about the broader issue of industrial organic food compared with small-producer organic food, and a great deal has been written here in the US about government working with agribusiness to weaken the standard for what can be labeled organic. As you know, many small farmers who run impeccably organic, sustainable operations prefer not to accept the US government organic certification, feeling that it has been tainted. It would be a shame if the same were to happen with SlowFood.

On the grinder "spinning in place", some peppercorns are larger than others. If I remember correctly, some of the fancier grades of Tellicherry peppercorns are too big to get into the grinding mechanism of some mills. I believe the Penzey catalog, viewable on line, mentions this.

The one SlowFood-endorsed product I've seen (this was yesterday) in a New York brick-and-mortar store was a line of Italian-made ice creams and sorbets by the Turin company Menodiciotto (the name means minus 18: the recommended Centigrade temperature for storage). Each featured an ingredient from a particular "Slow" source/variety, such as pistachios from Bronte in Sicily. Each also contained the sorts of stabilizers that we expect in commercial ice cream - nothing appalling or toxic, but not something we necessarily associate with Slowness. We bought a mandarin sorbet and a pistachio ice cream, both delicious, smooth and in perfect condition, perhaps thanks to the stabilizers, but also to the good, though not very eco-friendly, packaging: a styrofoam container in a sturdy cardboard box. My impression is that SlowFood gets a percentage of the profits from this line of flavors - could such payments be at the root of these supermarket products with SlowFood labels? The store, by the way, was Buon'Italia in Chelsea Market. Come to think of it, doesn't the GROM gelato place on Broadway sell a couple of SlowFood flavors? That's different from buying a sealed package from a shop, though.

On this, can anybody direct me to a list of market days in that part of France? Hotel concierges probably have them, but if there were a more complete list on a national or regional government web site that would be better.

Only its presence and seeming newness. As I say, we were in motion as we passed, too laden with shopping to abort our journey and investigate.

We were riding along W 23rd between Sixth and Seventh (I think) and noticed a pastry shop or cafe called Madeleine. A quick google search didn't yield anything much - does anyone know the place?

One of the curiosities of modern life is that we in the NY megalopolis do indeed have ready access - at a price - to pork from pigs that have been allowed to wander around fields and woods. But jayt90's right that that's not the only way to get better, safer meat onto the table in a more sustainable way.

And once you've braised it, let it cool, pick all the meat off the bones with your fingers, season it cunningly, and use it to stuff quickly blanched swiss chard or other sturdy leaves; make little parcels like stuffed cabbage, put them into a baking dish, top them with the braising liquid (defatted and checked for seasoning) and cook in the oven for, what, half an hour. Serve with mashed potatoes or, maybe, polenta. Sounds like a pain in the butt, but once it's braised the rest is clear sailing - and the hard work can be done in advance.