Chris Amirault

Darienne, I think that's the sort of logic -- deeply felt but flawed -- that gets us into trouble, whether it be MSG, "food poisoning," you name it. There could be any number of other things that caused that reaction, and not all of them food-borne. Maybe it was something in the HVAC system, or a perfume at the next table. Maybe it was something that was in your body before you walked into the place related to sinus pressure. There's no way to know. But, because people have already tagged MSG having this effect, and because people are convinced that Chinese restaurants use more MSG than other restaurants -- and having been in the storage rooms of lots of restaurants, I assure you that it's used in many other places -- well, that's the conclusion that people reach.

I think you're asking a good question, one that food safety people want us to remind ourselves. We're always dealing with risk reduction, not elimination, and reduction involves an awareness of statistics that are a lot more complicated than "when in doubt, throw it out." In addition, given the amount of plastic that comes in contact with our food before you poke it with a fork, you couldn't throw it all out even if you wanted to do so.

so let's take BPA as an example. Here's the wikipedia entry on Bisphenol-A: Here's the Bisphenol-A advocacy organization -- and, if anything needs an advocacy organization these days, it's BPA -- on the matter: And here's the FDA weighing in: Needless to say, there are a gazillion articles, blog entries, and more out there that proclaim loudly that BPA should be banned. I'll let you wade through those.

The death of so-called traditional cooking has been exaggerated -- and it depends on a simplistic notion of what people across the world do in their kitchens to feed their family. A quick glimpse through books like Hungry Planet make it clear that Big Pronouncements about How We Cook miss the boat. Lots of people toss bags into microwaves and only smell the food when they lift it to their mouth while driving; others subsist on food that lacks aroma utterly. As for soulful cooking: well, those around here get a whole lot more from afternoon-long braises and freshly baked bread than subsistence, so I'm not too worried about it disappearing too soon, Sous Vide Supreme or no.

Every year I attend one convention with at least 20,000 other people. That means we meet in places that have massive convention centers (Dallas, Anaheim, Chicago...), megabuildings/microcities where I typically spend 10-14 hours per day. If you've never been to one of these places, trust me, they are horrible: cavernous, poorly laid out cities of cement, high ceilings, and cubicle dividers, filled with precisely the sort of awful food you are imagining. In addition, due to their titanic size, they are often in a part of town that's either completely isolated from everything else (Dallas) or are in a tourist wasteland filled with mediocre to bad food (Anaheim). Finally, this being the US, the public transit systems range from ok to non-existent. This coming fall, I'm heading to Orlando, and I can already feel the fear rising in my bones. (You can read more about Orlando, or chime in, here.) I have a few strategies that will still work -- Clif bars, nuts, and dried fruit in my bag; a sturdy bottle for water that I fill every chance I get; hunt down extra fruit and vegetables when "meeting food" is all that's available. But some, I fear, will not, especially the "one good meal a day" rule I live by, the dinner plan that gets me through the day, knowing that, while this "garden fresh salad" may be making me gag, I know I have a fine meal ahead. So, assuming that Orlando is not going to be building a subway system that reaches into a wide variety of fascinating food destinations between now and November, I need your help. What strategies do you use when you're out at a conference dead zone?

Any chance that there are four or five other places down there that meet your high standards, Chris?

And, while we're digging into these questions: says who? Whenever I've tried to figure this out, the references seem just as hard to sort out as the "science."

That butchering set-up was awesome.

Is it this guy? A bit smaller than the Waring that broke -- 16 cups to 12 cups....

But I'm not talking about whether they end up in restaurants. I'm surprised that they have no seeming interest in doing so. Unlike Mitch, who had to prove to himself on the line that a restaurant kitchen was not for him, these kids aren't wondering about it in the first place.

I can't speak to the specific equipment in question, but I have used a FoodSaver for years and it's absolutely fine for me. Many examples to show you if you want to see 'em. As for garlic: foods react differently in the low-heat, anaerobic environment of the bag than they do in a sauté pan or a dutch oven. Some become very intense -- Thomas Keller wraps some aromatics in plastic wrap to diffuse them, for example -- and others don't create their intended effects. Garlic is one of those, so most people who want the flavor of garlic use a high quality dehydrated garlic, which works well. Again, examples if you want 'em.

We're all big kids here. Let's see the full monty -- or Bambi.

Wow: 91C. (At 47, I must be finally learning metric, as I had to convert this to celcius to understand it.) That's way above the usual hard-boiled temps recommended. Are those whites solid enough to hold some tasty deviled yolk?

Might need to swing by the market tonight and see what's what. That curry dish in the Bangor Daily News seems a bit too much for the little buggers....

Around here, we tend to focus on culinary school as a path to restaurant work. But there's a massive, non-restaurant food industry that draws graduates as well, to catering, restaurant corporations, hotels, resorts, on and on. Until recently, I had thought that most culinary school grads aimed for those restaurant jobs. You know, interning, line cook for next to nothing, hopping from opportunity to opportunity, the whole romantic thing. But several conversations with chefs in town -- a town where Johnson & Wales is based, I'll add -- suggests something quite different. Turns out they can't get interns very easily, and the ones that they do get aren't interested in restaurants after they graduate. I'm not talking about lousy joints here, either; I'm talking about award-winning places run by great (and, I think, mostly non-psychotic) chefs. Seems that the students they meet are more interested in vague concepts like "starting a catering business" or, yes, blasting into the Food TV stratosphere. What gives? Can those in schools and kitchens both shed some light on this? Is the light from Giada and Tyler's pearly whites really that blinding? Is this a characteristic of J&W in particular, or is it happening in other culinary schools/programs as well?

Atlanta restaurants are apparently in a massive, bloody war -- over used grease: You think?

Over the holidays, I bought a couple of smallish pieces of ham from Vermont Smoke & Cure at Whole Foods and liked it quite a bit. They ran out of it pretty quickly, however, so I wonder what their supply line is like....

Does the dough just kinda glop down through the holes bc it can?

As I mentioned over in my foodblog, I made a batch of smoked pineapple syrup. Very tasty in the Regent's Punch last week, but I think that this drink, from my shift last night, really showcases it: Scratch Perry 1 1/2 oz Appleton 12 1/2 oz smoked pineapple syrup 1/4 oz Allspice Dram dash Angostura Stir; strain; coupe; no garnish.

I have been trying to figure this out in order to make deviled eggs. But given that you separate whites and yolks.... Perhaps they should be separated from the start! Posted from my handheld using the Tapatalk app. Want to use eG Forums on your iPhone, Android or Blackberry? Get started at http://egullet.org/tapatalk

Can we get some images here? I'm not sure exactly what I should be doing with this dough, what sticky means, etc.

Awkward phrasings such as...?

Another handy egg resource isthe CookingIssues SV/LTLT pdf here, which includes several great illustrated charts.

A julep strainer does this job neatly as well, something I believe you have on hand, Matthew? I think that we're talking about a continuum here, not really separate techniques. At issue is temperature regulation and transfer with a package containing (at least) two different elements with different properties. But there's no reason we couldn't do a hard boiled egg in an immersion circulator. I get the continuum point, and I know that theoretically one should be able to do HB eggs in an water bath. But does anyone have a recipe that works? I'd love one that does, but the recipes I've tried either leave the white flaccid or the yolk superball-rubbery. Or both.

It's finally out -- click here for a Society-friendly Amazon link. Anyone have it yet? Mine's just been ordered.