Chris Amirault

Been working more with that pineapple shrub and have started thinking about a slightly less pricey version. I also thought I'd try to give it a cleaner, sharper pineapple taste, and thus eliminated the piloncillo/brown sugar. I just vacuum-sealed this package: 350 g pineapple 350 g white cane sugar 450 g coconut vinegar Overnight at 85C. Will test tomorrow when chilled.

"Dunking"? Does that mean what I think it means?

I went the St. Julia route for years, too, but I now routinely ignore this: What's the rationale behind not "overbeating" the eggs? It feels like lore grounded more in gluten than in protein, but perhaps I'm missing something.

We can, I'm sure, agree to disagree, E. Question for the not-yet-owners of the book: has the errata publication made you more or less enthusiastic about it, or do you feel like it's not relevant to your anticipation?

Belated thanks for this, Hiroyuki. I will again state that this knife is a godsend. However, due to it getting a small nick from careless washing, it is now the one knife in the house that may only be touched by me. I'm thinking of going the Nigel Tufnel route and instituting a "no pointing, no looking" policy....

Maybe I'm wrong. I mean, if you're the canola oil council, wouldn't you be telling people you've reconfigured the stuff to take care of the problem? Does anyone have some science handy that we can use in this discussion?

The article's claim is about farmers' markets, though, not CSAs. I'm sure that CSAs can offer more food at lower prices, -- that is part of the point of CSAs for farmers and consumers both -- and as a long-time CSA member, I appreciated that savings to a point. That point was reached when I was forced to find uses for another ten pounds of zucchini one late August.

That's not my goal in the least. As I've repeatedly said in this topic -- and skeptics can see evidence of this claim in my recent foodblog -- I am precisely the sort that wants to purchase these products and I will do so at a mark-up that I consider absolutely fair. The Atlantic article and related report suggest that the price differential is a myth. I believe it is far from a myth, even if there are exceptions here and there.

But of course. I have three: a Mac paring knife, this Gekko nakiri 165mm from JCK (search for "GE-3 Nakiri 165mm"), and a pointed-tip nakiri from Tsubaya in Tokyo. You can read about them over in the Nakiri topic.

Over the course of the last few years, apparently. Let's remember to distinguish "fishy because canola" from "fishy because rancid."

It's been a while since we had an exhaustive scrambled eggs topic, and a lot of us have new tools and toys for the enterprise. I've yet to try any SV scrambled eggs, though that's likely for later this week. However, I have been using an immersion blender regularly: at first I thought it was swatting a fly with a cannon, but the thorough mixing and aeration seems to produce a significantly better product. Ditto using plenty of butter, not surprisingly. So the go-to method these days is simple, and aims to produce small-curd, moist eggs: 0. Prepare whatever else you're making, including toast, and keep it warm. 1. Put a pan on the stove on low-to-medium heat. 2. Blend 4-6 eggs with a couple ounces of water, salt, and pepper. 3. Throw a knob of butter (maybe two ounces?) into the pan and let it melt. 4. Add the eggs all at once and immediately begin stirring the bottom of the pan with a spatula, stopping only when you're done. I'm sure there's room for improvement and variation there, and therefore debate. After all, we're talking about scrambled eggs here.

For years canola oil got bad press involving it's purported fishy smell and taste, and there are plenty of discussions out in the internet pushing the bad press. However, a food industry friend told me the other day that the production of virtually all canola oil has been rejiggered to isolate and remove that compound, meaning that a new bottle of canola oil is unlikely to have that problem. So what's the science here? And if that problem no longer exists, isn't it time to give canola oil some love?

I don't know at whom that's directed, but I certainly don't have disdain or contempt. Rather, I think that Pollan is correct: there's a bunch of rich farmers making food for poor people, and a bunch of poor farmers making food for rich people -- who pay more for that food. I ain't rich, but I care about the food I eat and I know that I pay more for that better, farmers' market food than I would at a supermarket. The article argues that I'm suffering from a myth; my checkbook argues otherwise.

So would, and do, I. And I pay more, not the same or less, for that.

Interesting follow-up tweet: Uh, yeah, what he said. The second time, at least.

Wow. I'm surprised that Ruhlman -- author of the beloved and flawed Charcuterie -- would stoop to such a tactic. My copy of his book is filled with adjustments and corrections, and I don't remember there being an errata list or second corrected edition of it or of any of his other cookbooks. All of which, of course, have lots of errors in them, just like any book. There seems to be a belief out there that, if a cookbook author doesn't say there are errors, and if no one has found any errors in a cookbook, then a cookbook has no errors. Anyone who's been an editor or copyeditor knows that's idiotic. One would think that a cookbook author wouldn't support such a position.

tim, your information supports my point. How can someone buy their groceries for the same or less at the farmers' market if none of them are available?

Good point. Let's all agree to compare accurately and avoid "bunch" and so on. I suggest weight.

Up the Bouche topic a bit, I described our host recruitment and probation process using Dave Viola, aka vice, as an example. He's off probation now and a full-fledged host. Please join me in welcoming him by sending him a PM! As always, don't hesitate to send me a PM if you're interested in supporting the Society as a volunteer.

Go for it. Perhaps I'm misreading Jason's post, but I'm not sure that he made the recipe, exactly, given that he cut the marinating time by 96%! What does the book say about the ginger and garlic? I don't have it handy.

I do the 15/20 angle on all my Western chef's knives because they're softer and thicker than my Japanese knifes and I use them, not the Japanese knives, for tougher tasks.

So, just to summarize thus far, our aggregate experience is directly contrary to Estabrook's claim.

I'm hoping to serve a dilled potato salad later this week. Any updates from the Research Departments?

So far, those on a cuke-only diet have a case. Others... not looking so good...

LizD518 and DanM, let's collect some hard numbers: price per pound at the markets, groceries, WalMart, whatever.