andiesenji

Fantes has a large selection of chinois/strainers for very reasonable prices. However, Linens 'N Things has some very inexpensive ones that are very fine mesh with plastic rim and handles. The only problem with them is that the white plastic discolors easily, particularly when straining blueberries, tomatoes, etc. If you need to strain things extra fine, one of the regular strainers with the addition of the extra-fine cheesecloth (nothing like the cheesecloth normally found in grocery stores) will do an excellent job.

Very cute CT. How about when growing up in a large family? No one has mentioned one rather important thing about holding the fork with tines pointing down. It is much easier to stab an encroaching hand sneaking toward your plate (which is holding the last pork chop) if you are holding the fork tines down. One needs to protect their own territory at table! I follow the same practice as *Deborah* in that if something requires cutting with a knife, the fork is in my left hand, tines down and other food is helped onto the back of the fork with the knife after the meat is speared with the tines. However, if knife is not required, I keep fork in my right hand, tines up and I too use my left hand to hold a book if dining alone. Fingers are used as needed for pick-up foods.

Instead of potholders, how about these for protecting your wrists from the racks. I have a very deep oven and use the extra long Nomex gauntlet gloves made by Coolskins Coolskins These are heavier than the "Ove Glove" and in my opinion are much better. I have ordered many times from this vendor in England and their services is excellent. My problem is with reaching deep into the oven to lift out large pans and burning the backs of my wrists on the racks on the sides of the oven.

How about this cute little item. Not very practical but really unusual.

It is difficult for me to part with some "stuff" - maybe it is psychological. There was an hour long report on (I think) CNN last week about "hoarders" or "collectors" and they showed some video of people who had piles and piles of all kinds of junk, papers, clothes they couldn't put away because they weren't folded correctly. I thought those were pretty weird. I grew up in a family who never threw anything away. I was born at the end of the depression and people, even those who were well off, had the mind set that one did not toss out useful items. Fortunately I have always lived where I could keep whatever I wanted and I love collecting certain things and can afford them. I save very few magazines, I get so many they alone would fill the house in a couple of years. I have given away a lot of small appliances over the years, mostly were gifts. If something doesn't work for me, I won't keep it, except for some oddball things that I think might become collectible simply because they aren't on the market very long. I never throw away books. Books are a particular passion and cookbooks especially. I still have books that were given to me when I was a child and they are in good condition. I never played with dolls and gave them away as soon as I got them. Kitchen gadgets are also a particular passion and I have a lot of really old ones and some extremely odd ones. It is amazing what people have thought up over the years and some make more work than they save... Anyway, that's my story and I am sticking with it, until they haul me away and stick me in a rubber room.

I am surprised that cooks are not allowed to take breaks unless they smoke. I don't think that is the case in California because the law mandates minimum breaks and employers suffer major fines if they are not in compliance and that is so even if they employ undocumented aliens and a complaint is filed by a 3rd party. The fast food place across the street from my office (a sub shop) was fined and closed for two weeks in 2003. The pharmacist in the building heard two of the employees talking about working without breaks and reported it. Shortly afterward the place had a new owner and the folks who work there now get regular breaks. Some California laws are ridiculous but we do have some good laws that protect most workers. Regarding taste, I have noticed that some people who smoke use a lot of salt in their food. After one acquaintence stopped smoking he remarked that his blood pressure had gone down quite a lot. I told him that I thought it had a lot to do with him using much less salt on his food. Apparently his doctor told him the same thing when he asked. His wife had some adjustments to make because he started almost obcessive exercising - to take his mind off nicotine cravings. He finally calmed down, but for a while would jump up immediately after a meal and jog around the block to make up for an after-meal cigarette! He says that everything tastes good to him now, and things that he really didn't notice have become very tasty. He can taste more subtle flavors now.

I got it for $79.00 more than a year ago but it is now $84.95 on all of the websites I have visited. Chef's Resource usually discounts stuff like this but they have the same price as everywhere else. I did both a BizRate and a PriceGrabber search and no one had it for less.

This built-in scale is on my wish list. I have so much stuff that most of my friends have given up on giving me anything other than gift cards. Many of the conversations I have with friends are somewhat convoluted when they are trying to find out if I have something or want something specific. It is often really funny because they mention that they have been looking at a particular item and I know quite well that they certainly aren't looking at it for themselves, because they rarely cook and would never use what they were talking about. I keep telling my friends that I would rather just go to dinner with them and visit, rather than get a gift, but they seem to feel that they have to do something in return for the homemade stuff I give. This year I have included a card in the baskets that suggests they make a contribution to hurricane relief, or for the doggy bunch, to pet rescue instead of a personal gift to me. I have reached the saturation point that I will either have to get rid of some stuff or add another room on to the house.

I ordered the Thermapen when King Arthur flour first showed it in their catalog and it is terrific. I also have one of the surface temp thermometers. This one has worked perfectly well and is reasonably priced. I find that it is especially useful in the barbecue grill and in the smoker where the temperature varies greatly from bottom to top and you can get a better idea of the temperature if you measure the temp of the inside rear wall.

With the cost of cigarettes going up all the time, I am surprised that so many people who aren't making big salaries continue to light up, including people in the food service industry. One local restaurant recently cracked down on all their employees and informed them that they could not smoke outside the kitchen door. A kitchen employee tossed a lighted cigarette into the dumpster after a break and a few minutes later there was a fire in the dumpster that spread to the back wall of the building. The place was closed for three weeks and lost money over a big holiday weekend. I stopped eating at another place where the main parking lot was in the rear and that entrance was right next to the kitchen door. One needed a gas mask to walk past the area where the employees smoked and I am very sensitive to tobacco smoke. I ran into the manager at Smart & Final last week and he asked why I hadn't been in for awhile and I told him my problem with it. He said his mother had also mentioned it and he is now considering how to handle the problem. Non-smokers far outnumber smokers in this area for some reason and people are used to going to restaurants and not have to contend with cigarette smoke. There are a couple of things going through the state legislature that would require smokers to stay at least 25 feet away from the exterior doors of any commercial building, 50 feet away from any medical facility. Personally, I am really put off when I see nicotine stains on the fingers of anyone involved with preparing or serving food.

Copper vessels should be cleaned well before using. If they have a gray or gray blue film or tarnish on the interior, scrub it off before cooking anything in it. Half a lemon dipped in salt and scrubbed over the surface will take off all this stuff right down to the bare metal.

I use unlined copper pots for cooking sugar and for low-acid fruit preserves. As noted above, minute amounts of copper are okay and even beneficial. Consider that the reason egg whites beat up to more volume in unlined copper bowls, with each bubble wall stronger because during the beating the whites pick up copper molecules. As I recall, this was described in detail by McGee in his first book. I have an ancient poaching pan (for eggs) with the large dimples in the bottom. It was tinned at one time but much of the tinning has worn away but I still use it because I use only water without the traditional addition of vinegar to poach a bunch of eggs. Incidentally, the depressions in the bottom of the pan were not to hold the eggs, one was supposed to swirl the water, with the handle of a wooden spoon, to form a localized vortex right above the depression and the egg was then slipped into the center of the vortex. I have seen these often in antique stores and some of the explanations given by sales people are comical. They have no idea how these were supposed to be used. It is indeed possible to get too much copper into foods if the foods are acidic. Oddly, if a person is taking iron supplements, the copper will not be absorbed. This was discovered accidentally when cattle fed on highly alkaline soil in ancient sea beds that also have high iron content, exhibited copper deficiency and were not gaining weight correctly. I agree with jsolomon. Heavy metal poisoning is nothing to brush off. I have worked for an orthopedic surgeon for many years and have taken x-rays and found lead lines near the ends of long bones in the legs and arms from people using vessels for foods that were made in Mexico with lead-based glazes. The chelation treatment is not fun. We also found similar bone deposits in stained glass artists who were using lead solder (which produces fumes) without any protection. Occasional exposure is not a problem, it is when one is exposed daily over long periods. Children are much more susceptible because body mass counts in how much can be unsafe. Heavy metal poisioning is not immediately symptomatic and we only found these cases because these individuals complained of joint pain unrelated to this. When other family members were x-rayed, we found they all had the same findings and all had to be treated. That is why many of these things in stores have a sticker that says "For Decorative Use Only" but when you buy them in Mexico, or at yard sales, these stickers are missing. There are test kits for lead available to check your pottery. On the other hand, I don't worry about glassware containing lead used only for serving food. I did engraving in leaded crystal for many years and wore a respirator because of the glass dust, not the lead. Several experiments have been done with various liquids, wine, liquor, beer, etc., leaving it in the vessels for varying periods of time. I wouldn't STORE wine or food in lead crystal but using a bowl or carafe for serving, or using wine glasses does not consitute a problem, the liquid is not in contact long enough to leach out an appreciable amount of lead. It took a minimum of 36 hours to show any leaching at all. High acid solutions took a minimum of 3 hours to show any leaching at all.

Most copper pans of earlier times were lined with tin. Years ago you could buy re-tinning kits which contained stuff that was like tin solder which you melted in the pan, then swirled it around to coat the inside. You could not use the pans over very high heat and utensils, even wooden ones, would eventually wear away the lining. However, beginning in about 1894, small copper skillets were made by a few makers and were lined with stirling silver and highly polished. These were made specifically for gently cooking mushrooms at the table because at the time it was believed that the silver would instantly turn black if a poisonous mushroom was placed in the pan. They are very rare. However, occasionally one of these appears at an auction, sometimes at yard sales, unknown because the interior is black because the silver has tarnished. One sold on ebay a couple of years ago for big bucks, the name stamped on the underside of the handle was "Rothschild" - unknown if this was the maker or the owner.

I have a collection of apple peeler/corer/slicers, some of which are over 100 years old. The same design has been around for a long time because it works. The original one was invented by the Shakers and were painstakingly made entirely by hand and sold in their shops. this one made by Villaware is reasonably priced and works nicely. You end up with a peeled apple sliced in a coil - you can make a single cut down one side to get rings or across both sides to get crescents. Another maker is Back to Basics but theirs is $25.00 and works the same. Both have vacuum bases - I use an older one which is a clamp-on but if I were buying one now I would get the vacuum base.

I also like the Bourgeat copper - the price for a set - at Chef Ron Askew's site (scroll down a little past half-way on the page) is very reasonable. I bought the set last year for slightly less and find that the 11 inch brazier is an excellent substitute for a saute pan and the two handles work well for me because I can no longer lift a heavy saute pan with just my right hand. The fact that these all come with lids is a bonus, as they are often sold separately. $845.00 is a real value, great bargain. I have some of the "professional" Mauviel also and they are virtually indistinguishable from the "Alliance" line of Bourgeat.

If you want one at a bargain The Gadget Source sells them for $99.00. They also carry the replacement blades which is how I found them. My Bron is more than 30 years old and I paid about $70.00 for it, at a restaurant supply store. The directions for use are not terribly clear but you can go to this site for some helpful hints. And this site for more detailed pictures and instructions.

He knocks politely at the door. I also have a double-barrel, 10-guage over-and under shotgun for anyone who might visit unexpectedly in the middle of the night.

You can also make an improvisde chimney out of aluminum foil - it will hold together long enough to get the charcoal going, then carefully remove it using tongs.

I still top my jellies and jams with parafin so always have it on hand.

You can make your own starters, if you get eggs in the cardboard cartons or even the flats. divide the tops from the bottoms or cut the flats into sections. Buy a brick of parafin, melt it carefully (in a double boiler to be safe) Then pour about a tablespoon into each depression in the bottom of the egg carton and spread some over the inside of the top. Make up a stack and keep them in a place well away from fire. Place one of the pieces in the bottom of your barbecue, pile the charcoal on it and light one or more corners. By the time the parafin has burned away the charcoal will be well started. Parafin burns cleanly with very little odor. As someone who once had two boys who were surfers and went through a lot of parafin melting, I can recommend a small, cheap crockpot as the perfect way to melt the stuff. I used to use starters like this to get a fire going in my fireplace, outside in the barbecue and in a hibachi.

Arne, your results are beautiful and I bet they are very flavorful. Incidentally, if the peppers are not fully ripe, if they have just begun to turn, you can pick them, place them on a screen or even in a wire basket, shaking once a day to mix them up. They will ripen if they are where the air can circulate around them. Anaheim chiles with their thinner walls, will ripen within a couple of days.

If you are looking for a corner cookware stand, there is this one. Not as fancy as the Le Cruset one but it works quite well. I can get my huge Staub oval roaster on the bottom shelf. It is also a lot cheaper. The new Williams-Sonoma catalog arrived in the mail on Tuesday and I have been perusing it cover to cover. Ditto the new Chef's Catalog, Cooking Enthusiasts, The Knife Merchant, Cooking.com, Chef's Resource and several others that are limited to nuts, cheeses (Cabot, for instance), meats and spices. Since I know more are to come, if there is something I think I might want, I simply tear the page out of the catalog and save just that, otherwise I would soon be knee-deep in catalogs.

Great stories, one and all! I think the thing on the menu that always gives me a twinge is when every name or description of the item has "organic" somewhere in it. Hey, I grew up on a farm, I know what "organic" means. I have no argument with "Certified Organic" if they also have a certificate on the wall but when I see something carried past me that looks like stuff I can buy in bulk packages at Smart & Final or Costco with the advisory that the contents are intended "For Individual Retail Sale" then I know I am in the wrong place. I have, however wandered into places that look a little run down on the outside but are squeaky-clean on the inside with friendly, smiling ladies serving real, home-style food at very reasonable prices. The original "Crazy Otto's" here in Lancaster was right next to the railroad tracks and when a train passed the entire, rather flimsy, old wooden building shook. However from 7 a.m. to 2:p.m. (closing time mid-afternoon) you had to stand in line to get into the place and parking was chancy at best. That building was torn down when the light rail line came in after the '94 quake but there are a few second generation places under the same owner/management and they are all popular, especially on weekends. People drive down from Tehachapi and Ridgecrest for breakfast on weekends. During the ten days of the Antelope Valley fair, you can't get near the place because the people who come once a year for the fair always have to eat at Otto's, especially the first of the new generation, on 20th street West. There are some imitators but they are all poor seconds. No other place makes 6-egg omelettes. By the way, the prices are very reasonable and the portions huge.

There are a couple of flavored liqueur recipes here I don't use alcohol myself, however I have it on good authority that these are all very tasty.

Just as an FYI, barley bread is not a good idea for someone with celiac disease. Barley is a gluten bearing grain. ← Evan is mildly affected and can tolerate small amounts of non-wheat gluten - however he is extremely sensitive to wheat, with dermatitis as well as intestinal response. His mom has a sister with extreme celiac disease and she was careful to give me a list of things that he could tolerate. I have several acquaintences who are allergic to wheat, dairy and other things and always consult them before I make anything they are going to eat. I have some severe allergies myself and am always careful to ask any guest what they can or cannot have.