tim

Thanks for the good info, Bob. I just read the reviews on this machine at Amazon and one review would have made it a deal-breaker for me: "The first cup is good but the carafe isn't even an insulated one! Your coffee has gone cold within 20 minutes even after the hastle of running the hot water to preheat the carafe prior to making the coffee every morning. For $150 you think they'd at least provide an insulated carafe!!!" Let us know if that critique is correct! Marge ← Marge, The MT500 has a stainless thermal VACUUM carafe with stainless in the inside and outside. Technically, you could say it isn't insulated but much better. Tim

Glen, Bring that stock to a boil for ten minutes and you will destroy all of the bacteria. Tim

Hi, The Dixie Kitchen and Calypso Cafe are both in Harper Court and have good food at fair prices. I remember the Coop as a really good food store. There is also the Moo & Oink, if you are really into pork. Tim

Hi, For a number of years, I have schmoozed with small slaughter houses, meat packers, processors, locker plants and the like. The goal is to get that special cut of beef steak, some caul fat or leaf lard. The problem has always been describing where the butcher will find the hanging tender or oyster steak. A few weeks ago, I was allowed to go into the room with ten steers hanging from the ceiling. I pointed at the very spot that contained 12 ounces of wonderful oyster steak. It was wonderful and now I have a picture. The Oyster Steak is that small circle of meat in the hump above the backbone. (click on the photo below the drawing) I still don't know the name of the muscle. The University of Nebraska's website U of Nebraska Bovine Myology includes a treasure of information on beef. This includes muscle descriptions, bone descriptions, cross sections, 3D/rotating pictures, fabrication videos and more. It is a wonderful educational tool. Take you laptop with you the next time you visit your local slaughter house. Tim ps: I wonder if there are comparable sites for hogs?

from Harold McGee's "On Food and Cooking", page 634: emphasis mine. ← Alana, Different experts offer different opinions, of course. From Cook's Illustrated, July, 1998: "Several food scientists with whom we checked offered theories regarding the effect of chilling on emulsions. Dr. Bruce Watkins, Associate professor of Food Science and Nutrition at Purdue University, mentioned that chilling changes the behavior or some of the components in the egg yolk. For instance, lipoproteins gel at lower temperatures, and triglycerides, which are crystalline in structure, grow larger and more stable. Both of these factors might well contribute stability and body to the emulsion. Dr. Watkins also mentioned that these substances become less hydrophobic as temperatures decrease, which means they are less resistant to water. Their increased willingness to accept water would also add to the stability of an emulsion." "Dr. Kenneth Hall, Professor in the Department of Nutritional Sciences at the University of Connecticut, added that chilling slows down molecular activity, which, in effect, makes ingredients thicker. The thicker the ingredients are to begin with, the thicker and more stable the resulting emulsion will be." And I thought McGee put me to sleep with too much information. Tim

Andrew, Click on the Fabrication Videos. These include a Loin Split in which you can see the chine bone. These videos do not include a chine removal. Bovine Myology - Click on the Loin Split ( You have to hold the fast forward/rewind button to move around) Tim

Andrew, No video but, you can use a hack saw with a bone blade ($1.50) and cut through the chine where it meets the ribs. You can use a knife to remove the chine. You may also want to cut between the ribs if there is any remaining bones. You can take your roast into a butcher and ask where you should make your cuts. It is best to do the removal at home. Butchers use large band saws and they tend to hack up and ruin what should be a nice roast. There is a website, Beef Myology which has videos of breaking down a carcass. Unfortunately, they do not do finish trimming. Tim

Sam, I used to enjoy a well made daiquiri while sitting at a well stocked bar in a warm climate. I still remember a bartender in really classy Tijuana bar making a daiquiri from scratch and straining it into a nice stemmed glass. 1963 was a good year. I was sad when they were made with powder and chipped ice in a blender. They they were bastardized with all sorts of fruit additions, kind of like todays margarita. I even disliked the Bacardi Cocktail. I switched to dark rum, lime juice, falernum and ginger beer. The Derby Daiquiri was really nice. I think it had an ounce of fresh orange juice added. Tim

If you can taste it, then the terroirists have won! Tim

Hi TSG, Consumer Reports had a wine tasting of wines. The best buys: Cabernet: Columbia Crest Grand Estates 2002 $11 Rated: Very Good Zinfandel: Cellar No. 8 2004 (By Beringer) $10 Rated: Excellent Chardonnay: Stone Celloars by Beringer 2004 $8 Rated: Very Good Alamos 2004 $10 Rated: Very Good Columbia Crest Grand Estates 2003 $11 Rated: Very Good Rosemount Estate Diamond Label 2004 $11 Rated: Very Good If you want to look for smaller wineries with hidden gems, see your local dealer and look at ratings from the Wine Advocate or The Wine Enthusiast. Samswine.com (Big Chicago store) allows you to search by color, price, rating and so forth. This allows you to find the unusual bargains. Tim

Dave, If "it strips a lot of the fruit" could we use Saran to turn Mogen David into reasonable plonk? Tim

Hi, It may be a dumb question, but what is the meaning of adjunct beer? Tim

Cosette.

Hi, The nice lady at SC Johnson in Racine tells me that both the original saran (Saran Premium) and the Saran Cling Wrap are made of polyethylene. Tim

Hi, I ahve only tasted "corked" wines three times in the past 15 years. I may have to wait a long time to try this cure. My first "corked" wine was a 15 year old Lafite at a tasting of first growths. None of us knew why there was an aroma of barnyard compost. Most thought that the wine was getting better as it breathed - IT WAS NOT! The purchaser was convinced that it was improving to the end of the evening. We had 6 old first growths and nobody finished the Lafite. I thought that Original Saran was not made of polyethylene. Do we use the cheap wrap or the original Saran???? Tim

Hi, I make maple sugar from maple syrup. You heat maple syrup to 258 degrees and stir it to add ir and to promote evaporation. It can be difficult on a humid day. 1. Place the syrup in a dutch oven not more than 1/4 full. 2. Bring to a boil over moderate heat. Continue with a steady slow boil. You want more than a simmer but, DO NOT ALLOW THE SYRUP TO FOAM OVER THE TOP. Excessive foaming can be eliminated with a drop or two of vegetable oil. 3. It takes a long time to bring the temperature to 258 degrees. You are eliminating a lot of moisture. I will stir occasionally with a wooden spoon equalize the temperature of the syrup. 4. It helps to stir the syrup as you approach 258 degrees. Just make sure that all of the syrup is up to temperature. 5. Remove from heat and transfer the syrup to a large flat pan or a wooden bowl. Begin stirring with a wooden spoon to promote evaporation and to add air to the syrup. This will change the texture of the mix from a liquid to a a brown sugar consistancy. 6. You may use a coarse sieve to chop the mix. I find it easier to chop it with a pastry scraper into a fine texture. After two and a half hours you will have converted your quart of syrup to more than a quart of ambrosia. Now, make some maple ice cream, maple creme anglaise or maple creme brulee. Tim I

Jon, Note that the eGullet course suggest well chilled ingredients. If there is a secret it is that emulsion are easier to develop at LOW temperatures. (I always put vniaigrettes into the freezer before adding an oil emlulsion.) All of the commercial mayo's use extremely cold ingredients for a reason. The other well known secret is the importance of beginning the emulsion successfully with the very first few drops of oil. Once the emulsion develop, you can move a little faster. Tim

Linda, The All-Clad Masterchef was 3.94mm thick. All-Clad introduced the MC2 as an improvement with the polished handles. Actually they put the MC2 on a diet and it is now just over 3mm. Recently, I saw some All-Clad MC2 cookware with the thicker Masterchef pan bottom. Figure that! You might want to look at Vollrath's Tribute cookware. Tim

Hi, When I grew up my Mom made maple syrup and we always had maple sugar. It is hard to find and the maple groves tend to sell maple candy. A few years ago, I began making maple sugar. It is wonderful for finishing desserts. Maple creme brulee.... Tim

The wedding rehearsal dinner was in "the finest Italian restaurant in central Illinois." The groom said "the food is so good that people drive down from Chicago." The salad was iceberg lettuce with green peppers and that red bottled dressing. The wine was pink zinfandel. I decided to go to the bar and buy a nice bottle of chianti. "Red wine? Do we have any red wine?" There was not a basket bottle in the house. They did have some chablis or "Chablee Blank" as they called it. The Italian dinner included fried chicken, fried ravioli and Chef Boyardee canned spaghetti. Spumoni ice cream, of course. And, SANKA! The marriage was even more disastrous than the meal. She deserved better and is now living her dream. Tim

Sam, We should be able to calculate the thickness of the copper in these pans based on a weight comparison of identical pans in All-Clad's Stainless and Copper Core lines. This would require an A-C Stainless pan with a pouring lip with the same dimensions as a Copper Core pan. We know the weight differences between aluminum and copper and these two lines should have nearly identical amounts of stainless. We also know that the Stainless pans are 0.028" thicker than the Copper Core pans and this extra thickness is all aluminum. If we calculate the total square inches of the pans, it would be easy to calculate the thickness of the copper. I think that would be a nice project for an engineer in the audience. Tim

Sam, This would definitely be worth trying. There is a possibility that crab meat would lack the oil to blend into a paste. Tim

Hi, This reminds me of looking at some Cabrales in St. Louis. It was one of the largest cheese/wine shops in St. Louis with three stores and I was intrigued by the German label, which I could not understand. The manager insisted that it was Spanish Cabrales even though those words did not appear on the label. I have since spotted the same cheese masquerading as Cabrales in a high end wine store in Illinois. Alas, I have never tasted this fine cheese! Tim

Scott, I have used shrimp as a binder. Blend a few shrimp to a paste like consistency. I suggested this to a Chef friend. She was aghast because that would increase their costs. Tim

Jaimei, Cosette Bistro is very small and run by a French man and his daughter. It is located on 34th just west of 3rd Ave. Tim ps: Like they said, there may be hundreds of others.