Smithy

Happy birthday, Susan! I'm glad you were able to spend it at The Cabin. You didn't mention common tansy in that bouquet, but it sure looks like there's some in there. Your green beetle in the muffin liner is one of my summer mysteries. Those little guys are brilliant emerald green jewels with legs - truly lovely - and they're ubiquitous in this part of the world. They don't bite. They don't invade our food. I don't know what they do except look pretty. Do you know any more about them than that?

Sponge cake (I'm mentally substituting pound cake) and lemon curd sandwiches...now that sounds decadent and wonderful.

Daniel, what spices and what sauce would you use with your lamb schwerma? Mind you, I'm not willing to give up my chicken altogether, but I'd like to be able to rise above my second-class upbringing.

I think this is a good point: the use of the commercial box differs in a very fundamental way, I think. With the commercial box, the box is sitting on the counter next to the item you are covering. You reach across the item with your left hand (assuming the box is on the right, of course) and pull the wrap across, then use your other hand to slide the cutter. The action is almost the opposite with the consumer boxes, where I use them by picking up the whole box, grabbing the plastic wrap with my left hand and sweeping the box across the item I am wrapping. With the metal blade cutter a quick yank at this point sliced off the wrap and you were done. With the plastic cutter I have to set the box down, fiddle with getting the cutter and plastic wrap aligned, and then slide the cutter. Much slower and more frustrating. I can't say I can recall ever injuring myself with the metal zigzag cutter, but maybe I've just blocked the awful memories . ← You describe the motion with the home-use boxes perfectly, Chris. I've been thinking that when we remodel our kitchen I want a drawer or cabinet door that's designed to HOLD the boxes of plastic wrap, foil, and so forth to make them into more useful dispensers.

I called and complained about the first box of Saran Wrap™ I bought that had that stupid slider. The slider had come off and, as noted above, I was SOL. They made polite noises and sent me a coupon for a free box of either type of wrap. I bought the ordinary serrated-edge-type box. I'm not sure that stuff is available any more, though. How I do hate "innovations" that don't work.

Are there fish or shellfish for which the ceviche treatment isn't enough to make the food safe? I'm thinking particularly of parasites, but also diseases.

Thank you all for the answers and insights. I'm glad I can ask questions (don't have any more for the moment) and learn something!

I've been pondering this topic for a while now, and I have a question. It seems as though everyone who goes through gastric bypass surgery has to reprogram himself or herself to eat more healthfully, avoid certain foods, take vitamin supplements, and generally take much better care of himself or herself. The new, much smaller portion sizes are considerably smaller than would seem reasonable without the surgery, and would seem like starvation rations to someone with a whole stomach. Other than that point, however, I'm wondering what the difference is between reprogramming with the surgery vs. doing the same reprogramming without the surgery. Either way it seems to be very difficult, but very necessary. If one has to do the reprogramming anyway, can one do that without the surgery and still get the benefits of the weight loss? Please understand that I am not passing judgment or casting aspersions. I have been very fortunate never to need to consider such a drastic action. But the action is so drastic that I wonder whether it can be avoided by making all the changes without going through the surgery. What am I missing?

What is/are jachnoons?

Shawarma has been a beloved topic on the Middle Eastern subforum, and you can read a lot of discussion about it on this topic (clickety). If you look around there a while you'll also find some threads devoted to chicken kebabs, or shish tawouk. This thread is one example.

Are those red poaching cups made of silicone?

Wow, what a great blog! Thanks for posting that link! (Now I have 2 more versions of thoum to try. So much cookery, so little time... *sigh*)

Tupperware or the equivalent. The top seals tightly and I don't feel wasteful about the wrap.

I almost bought some bittersweet chocolate linguini a couple of months ago. The dry material had a pleasant but subtle dark chocolate bite to it, and was delicious uncooked. I don't know whether the flavor would fade into the background or become more pronounced when the pasta was cooked. I did not think it a perversion. I do think chocolate and orange are an excellent flavor combination. Unfortunately, I couldn't think of what to do with it then, and I didn't buy any. I'd suggest cooking one or two of the farfalle and tasting them to see how pronounced the flavor becomes. If it's subtle, it could be wonderful with a mole...or smoked duck or another deep, rich savory flavor. If it's very obvious and sweet, then the sweet angle seems the only way to go. Since I detest cold pasta I'd avoid the ice cream and go for a warm sauce or warmed fruit. Perhaps a sauce of warmed peaches, apricots and raspberries in heavy cream, tossed with the pasta? Sorry not to have better ideas, but I have faith in your creativity and ability.

Thanks for adding that note, Kim. With regard to freestones, it seems that most of the white peaches and white nectarines are freestones. Do you see the white varieties around? I've read that grilling not-quite-ripe stone fruits will help augment their flavor, so you might be just fine. When they aren't ripe they're more difficult to cut, and IMO they still don't have the right flavor, but all too many peaches are picked before they're ripe anyway. Let us know what you do and, if you grill them, how they come out!

The one I get looks like that, too, but the ingredient label says garlic, olive oil, and lemon. It might have salt, but I don't remember. It's rich, but light. I also thought there would have been more to it than just garlic, olive oil, and lemon, but there's not. I think you should try making it the simplest way, then if you find it doesn't match your expectations, start playing around. I can't wait to go to Minneapolis this summer to get more! ← Your description is pretty spot on with what I had too. I guess I'll give the basic garlic-il-lemon a try -I just have a hard time believing that's all there is! ← I'd also start with the simplest version, and try adding egg whites if that didn't do it, since the egg whites were what made the sauce at my favorite place in Cairo. Other things I'd try would be (as mentioned above) some mashed-up boiled potato, or white bread, or nut flour. Someone else can correct me if I'm wrong, but I really have trouble imagining lard in a Lebanese sauce. Presantrin, where in Minneapolis do you get jarred toomeh? And what do they call it? I'd like to get some!

Oh, good grief. When I got the level up where I liked it, then I kept going to see how well I could do. When I missed a word or two and slipped on the rating, then I couldn't stop until I got the rating back up. It's worse than a poker game. Thanks for the pointer, I think...

Just in case you're asking about taste instead of health benefits: I don't think that pinto beans and red beans are interchangeable in that respect. Their flavors are quite different, in my experience. If some red beans taste like pintos, or vice-versa, I hope the experts will set me (and you) straight.

Klkruger, that looks really nice. Ripe peaches that smell like peaches, absolutely. I'd add that buying freestone peaches, if you can find them, allows you to cut them in half easily and grill the halves. Paint the cut area before grilling with some balsamic vinegar, or a spiced syrup of some sort, and they'll be even better. Specks on the skin are called sugar spots and they're a sign of good sugar content. The fruit still has to smell like a peach, though, and have that heaviness and slight softness that indicates ripe fruit. This technique and discussion also applies to nectarines, by the way. I generally have better luck finding really good nectarines than really good peaches.

Right. For your case I am getting A = 72.5 sq ft and D=45 deg F. R is a variable, I'll choose 10 ft^2 F hr / Btu arbitrarily for now, which would give you 325 BTU/hr is heat coming into the chamber through your insulation. You need to counteract this heat addition by either using that heat to do work (i.e. to melt ice) or you need to remove the heat using a cooling system. If you are using ice you will need two more equations: one that calculates how much energy it takes to raise the temperature of the ice from whatever your freezer temperature is to 32 deg F, and one that calculates how much energy it takes to convert ice at 32 to water at 32 (melting energy). Theoretically, of course, you could add a third that calculates the energy that it takes to raise the water temp to 35 F, but I'd say that once the ice melts, time to put in a new batch. This calculation will give you the amount of heat that will be added to melt the ice: from this you can calculate how long it will take, based on the BTU/hr calculation, to melt a given mass of ice (by this point we've made quite a few idealizations, but it will give you a rough idea). Et voila! You know how much ice to add and at what frequency to add it to maintain a given temp. ← The energy to raise the ice temperature from, say, 0*F to 32*F is about 16 btu/lb, based on a specific heat of 0.5 btu/lb/Deg. F. (The number changes, as I noted above, but we're using back-of-envelope approximations here.) So if you really need to remove 325 btu/hr you're going to need 20 lbs of ice per hour. Note that this only accounts for the work to warm up the ice. The heat sink is much greater when the ice starts melting. I still haven't laid my hands on that number, but the idea is the same: lbs of ice needed = f / s where f is your number from Chris' equation and s is the specific heat of phase change between ice and liquid water, in btu/lb. I'll find that number yet, unless somebody else provides it first. That's how you figure it. I agree with Chris that, once the ice melts, it's time to change the blocks. That comes to the next point: every time you open the door to change the ice, you're going to let a good deal of heat in and have to start over. You need an air lock. (A chiller is looking better all the time, isn't it? I just caught myself trying to work out a series of tubes through the chamber, circulating very cold water...but then you need a heat exchanger out in the basement someplace, and...suddenly I was trying to build a refrigerator from scratch!) I went back up to the top of this topic and saw where you're planning on using 2 or 3 layers of fiberglass batting, R value 26 - 39. Arbitrarily choosing 30 as the R value with all that batting but using the same area (A) and temperature differential (D) that Chris used, I come out with f = 72.5 * 45 / 30 = 109 btu/hr to keep the interior temperature at 35F when it's 80F in the basement. That's a bit better than 325, and translates to 7 lb/hr of ice, again assuming that the ice starts at 0F and discounting the extra heat absorption from the ice actually thawing. Clearly, this is where your R value gets critical. But if you're going to use ice, you really need to be able to change it out without letting the heat back into the chamber. I hope some engineering prof stumbles over this topic and uses it to inspire her students. Practical applications of engineering principles are so much more fun than abstractions. I see C. Sapidus posted a link to the missing number while I was writing. Have fun!

f = A * D / R where f is going to be the heat flow through the insulation in Btu/hr, A is the surface area of the insulation in square ft, D is the temperature difference in degrees F, and R is the R value in English units (U.S. standard, ft^2 F hr / Btu). To maintain steady-state (i.e. assuming your chamber and everything in it is already at 35 deg F, your "cooling unit" will need to be capable of removing at least this much heat from the chamber. Of course, if your cooling unit is just a tray of ice, it can't remove any heat from the chamber, and then calculation needs to take into account the thermal mass of the ice, and calculate how long it will take to melt. I will think on that for a while... I'm not sure quite how to proceed. ← Actually, the tray of ice will remove heat from the chamber in the sense of absorbing it. As long as the ice is much colder than the basement, you'll get some chilling going on, and with enough ice - if you start out with very cold ice - you should be able to drop the chamber temperature and keep it there. Let's see... figure the 4 sides and the ceiling of the chamber to get the area. Use that in Chris' formula to get the heat flow. The specific heat of ice at these ranges is just under 0.5 btu/lb/degF (ranging from 0.471 at 0*F to 0.504 at 32*F). As that ice changes to water it's going to soak up a great deal of heat - haven't laid my hands on that number yet - and then the liquid water has a specific heat of around 1 btu/lb/deg. It won't want to warm up quickly, but given enough time, of course it will. If I'm approaching this correctly, you can use Chris' formula to figure how much heat needs to be absorbed to get the temperature you want and work that to how many pounds of ice you need to maintain that temperature. This assumes a well-chilled pig to start with. It seems to me that you'd want a great deal of ice (4 times as much as calculated? 5?) just to save yourself from having to open that chamber and let more heat in. 80*F in the basement? Ye cats, your climate is different than ours! Hmm. What about putting dry ice in the chamber? Would that affect the curing? You'd for sure have to vent the chamber well (and add a pile of heat) before going in, so you don't asphyxiate. Hmm.

"An admirably obsessive project..." I like that turn of phrase, enough to keep it for later use. Can you lay your hands on a lot of large containers like milk jugs, and freeze water in them? Or buy a bunch of gallon jugs of distilled water and freeze them? Then you'll have your ice covered, so to speak. I don't know how much drippage from a drip tray. I'll bet a largish Rubbermaid ™ tub would hold what you need. As for cooling the pig quickly: I wonder whether you should pack it in ice for transport. That would cool it quickly. Then, if you still wanted to pursue this admirably obsessive project, you could unpack it from the ice when you arrived and hang it. The comments above aren't intended to derail the very good commentary on how well this arrangement will work, by the way. There are a number of good points about the optimum temperature range for a particular refrigeration system, what exactly you should be doing with the meat, and so on. I'll be interested in reading along to see what you do and how it works. Great topic!

Welcome to the world of active posting on eGullet, Brody! I've never built a meat locker. I have a couple of questions about the air conditioner arrangement. First, to where will the A/C exhaust? Into the basement? If so, will there be much buildup of heat in the rest of the basement? Or do you have a window nearby that can be left open? Or are you building that meat locker on a basement wall with a window to the outside, where the air conditioner will go? Second: to where will the A/C water drain? Do you have a floor drain in the basement so you won't end up with a flood? Finally: to what temperature are you planning to control the locker temperature? I'm guessing something around 35F, give or take. I'd guess the A/C could do that in the small space you're doing, but I've never tried it. Maybe somebody else knows.

Soba, it's nice to see you here. I'm late to your party - been away from the computer - but now that I've caught up, I see you've been answering questions I might have asked. I have no questions at this time, just some applause: First and most seriously: I'm more sorry than words can say to read about the HIV, but I applaud your approach to living well. You're an inspiration. Wow, that kitchen! I applaud your ability to cook in it at all! Wow, your gorgeous produce shots and food photos! They're making me entirely too hungry! Keep on blogging, dear hobbit. You've got quite a well-deserved following.

Well, this is a surprise, disappointment, and congratulations all in one! Without knowing everything that goes into being an eGullet volunteer, I've been at least partially aware of all that's gone on behind the scenes at Susan's hand. RecipeGullet revisions. Foodblog Czarina. Reorganizing the entire forum contents. Holy smokes, it's a lot of work. She isn't gaining any free time; she's just cutting back on some of her overcommitments! There are so many fine postings from Susan - the eGCI course she shared, The Cabin, the Garden thread, braising, smoking and the inimitable larb/laab topic come to mind without my having to think about it. I do hope that getting a bit less committed time helps us to see more of her in front instead of behind the scenes! Thanks for all your hard work, Susan. Whoever takes the title Food Blog Czarina (or Czar) has some tall waders to fill. Have fun, enjoy your summer, and let's hear more from you on the forums!