LindaK

Amazing line-up, as usual. I'm dreaming of the shrimp toasts and balls, pigs in a blanket, and daikon rice cakes, but chances are good the idea I'll steal is the bbq pork in puff pastry.

As part of the book tour, Bourdain did an hour interview/call-in show today on NPR's "On Point." Listen here. There are the expected gushing phone calls but also some bits from the new book and reflections from his travels over the past decade. Whatever you think of the media personna, he does sound genuinely appreciative of the opportunities he's had to travel, meet people, and share their food.

I have very fond memories of the food trucks in Philadelphia when I was teaching at Penn...since then, I've heard that the city has cracked down on them, consolidating locations and enforcing code issues. Here in Boston, there's nothing like them. No place to park, for one thing.

That's soapstone, which we discussed over here. It does come in different colors, but all of them are dark, sometimes with marble-like veining. Not at all what I was referring to, nor have I ever seen this in a lab. The standard benches in student & professional labs I've worked in were a very sturdy solid plastic-like material, much denser and less brittle than formica. They look like this, although I don't know if this is truly the same material. Lab tops today are made from an apoxy resin material, but I read mixed reviews about their suitability for home use. Check out: Labtops For a similar look, slate is an alternative.

Good advice about the size of the gas line. The BS range requirement of 1/2" is already larger than a typical 6 burner gas range. If you're paying for a new gas line, it's best to think ahead if you imagine being able to add a salamander in the future. I love my 22K burners too!

In the case of Blue Star ranges, there is no constant pilot that would add to the temp. Unless they're ignited, the burners are OFF. I don't have a precise scientific answer to the original question. My experience with my Blue Star echoes the comments of shalmanese and slkinsey. Even on the simmer burner, eventually even a large pot of soup or ragu will bubble gently, more quickly if I transfer it already near the boiling point from a higher BTU burner. But I also use the simmer burner to melt chocolate or little pots of butter. Love it.

I don't know how long it takes to get these wines on the store shelf after bottling/packing, but if it's longer than six months, this reads to me as if the wine could already be heading downhill before the consumer even buys it.

The Danish Pastry House in Watertown and Medford, MA. I'd never heard of kringle or their other fabulous Danish pastries until they turned up at one of my local farmers markets. Oh my. Anything they make with their excellent marzipan is to die for, but the kringle is especially good. I never thought I had a sweet tooth until I tried it. I'm counting the days until the farmers market near my office opens for the season. Then it's kringle twice a week for me.

Turducken. I've only watched someone else do it, and that was enough.

My fridge is standard depth, but because of its location, I had enough extra space behind it that I was able to recess it completely so that it looks like a counter depth model (doesn't stick out). I don't know what's on the other side of that kitchen wall of yours, but it's worth investigating, you might be able to do the same.

Good idea. We went with a counter depth fridge when the best spot for it was on a wall where the depth made no sense. The inside space is the same, you just pay for having the thing assembled differently. Is the space inside a counter depth fridge the same? Some friends have one, it seems much shallower to me.

36" Range. six burners, one convection oven w/ infrared broiler. see specs here

When I was doing my kitchen reno, I also dreamt of a salamander, since like you, I use the broiler a lot. Alas, insufficient space and budget. I have a Bluestar 36" range, and the infrared broiler was one of its many attractions. I do love it--a wash of even, searing heat. If I have any complaint, it's that it isn't big enough--it's probably the same unit that they use in the 30" range, though they could fit a bigger one in the 36". btw, the Bluestar is same as a Garland. If I understand it correctly, at some point Garland decided to stop manufacuring their residential model, and sold those rights but not the name. It does indeed weigh a ton and needs a larger gas fitting than other residential ranges. When my plumber saw the specs, he figured it was an error. He called Bluestar service, who confirmed it, and assured him that they often get calls from plumbers with the same question. andie, your Garland sounds like a dream.

Lots of good advice so far. My two cents: You need a sink big enough to handle your largest pots and baking sheets. Don't think about a split sink unless one of them is sufficiently large to handle your basic needs. If you have the space, though, it would be nice. The offset drain is a good feature. Your sink options will also depend on your countertop material. You can't install an undermounted sink with laminate counters but can with stone. So decide on your countertop before you buy a sink. Most people think undermounted sinks are great. After all the hype, I was expecting to love mine, but oddly, i do not. I'm always whacking the edges of the surrounding countertop with my pans and worry I'll chip it one of these days, and kinda miss the old drop-in style sink. A good faucet is shockingly expensive but worth it, it gets heavy use. I have a pull-out spray and LOVE it. Countertop choices can drive you mad. Nothing's perfect, you need to think about what features are most important to you as well as your budget.

While browsing this afternoon at a local bookstore, I picked up a discounted copy of Julie Sahni's "Classic Indian Vegetarian and Grain Cooking." I don't own any of her other cookbooks, but I'm already a fan after a quick read. Not only do the recipes look good, but the first 100+ pages are devoted to detailed descriptions of some of the fruits, vegetables, legumes, spices, herbs, and kitchen equipment that are important to Indian cooking but are not well known in the West. I'm still new to Indian cooking, so I'm especially appreciative of good reference information like this.

A recent post on the Dinner! topic features pork chops with Raspberry Chipotle glaze: here. Scroll down a bit for the picture.

Sorry not to have posted in time for your Marathon bfast, but for future reference, there are some reliable choices in East Boston that might fit the bill. I've eaten at both, though not for breakfast. Both very casual neighborhood places. 303 Cafe. They have a weekend brunch menu as well as a breakfast menu. Angela's Cafe. Really good Mexican food, especially the moles. I don't see a breakfast menu on the website, but they open at 8 am. I'm making a note to myself get over there for breakfast.

Like others, I generally de-seed tomatoes but have never drained them--I don't want all the juices to go away. I don't always bother with peeling, either, but having learned the trick of peeling tomatoes with a swivel peeler--rather than the blanch/ice method--peeling is not much of a chore. Thank you, Marcella Hazan, who describes it in the first chapter of "Marcella's Italian Kitchen." It took a bit of practice but once you get the hang of it, simple. Nice because I always found the blanch/ice method softened the tomato too much if I wanted to use it raw.

Wow, that's an amazing kitchen. What a fun project. Check out Atomic Ranch magazine, there's probably good resource info to be found there. Find a link to the most recent issue here.

I love my fish tweezers. Until I discovered them (standard equipment in the kitchen of the Ritz in Paris, where I was doing a stage), I used needle-nose plyers. The tweezers work so much better, a great grip with the serrated edges, the thin stainless steel and the width of the tweezer make it foolproof to grab bones on first try--no more digging around to get those fine bones below the surface. I remember being shocked that such a small, inexpensive piece of equipment would be so fabulous. No brand name to report, unfortunately. I bought them at Dehillleran in Paris at least a decade ago for a few francs.

42390, great write-up, it sounds fabulous. I like your description of the restaurant, too. Fairfranco, you definitely deserve this after a marathon, congratulations. Question about the wine--from your description it sounds like you did not order the club menu, which included wine pairings. what did you think of the carte de vins--did you find some reasonably affordable options, given the level of the restarant? 189e for two menus plus wine sounds too good to be true.

So much depends on your space and what you can/can't do, either because of the square footage, architecture, or your finances. Me, I'd echo what Jaymes said about preferring some separation between the cooking area and dining/living area--but that's subjective. Before I renovated my kitchen almost 2 yrs ago, I had a tiny galley kitchen adjacent to a larger unfinished, unheated space. No place to sit, badly lit, and--let me repeat--unheated, which in the Northeast means very uncomfortable 5 months of the year. Another standard sized doorway opened to the DR and from there to the LR. Nonetheless, invariably, guests crammed themselves into the kitchen area while I was cooking. Needless to say, I used that empty area to expand the kitchen when I renovated (and added heat!), which means my guests can hang out nearby without being underfoot. But my reno also involved relocating the doorway between the kitchen and the DR. I could have eaasily removed the wall completely to create an open kitchen/DR/LR. But I did not. I like the separation. But I did enlarge the doorway significantly (both width and height) so that the flow between the two rooms is much more generous and dramatic, without sacrificing the sense of kitchen/DR being different spaces.

True story: two days ago I was browsing in a bookstore in Harvard Square before heading off to a meeting nearby. Two college-age students working behind the counter/register. Overheard, mid-conversation: Student #1: ... fruit pies, especially lemon meringue. Student 32: meringue, that's eggs, right? but chocolate cake, you like chocolate cake? Student #1: it's okay. carrot cake is better, I love the cream cheese frosting. Student #2: so you do like cake better than pie? Student #1: no. Srudent #2: I think you can get counseling for that at university health services.

I'm also a sucker for savory baked goods (quiche, croissants) that can work as lunch with a piece of fruit. But speaking as someone who does not have much of a sweet tooth, who can go months without tasting chocolate...the reason I both love and fear the advent of my local farmers market in another month is the fantastic baked goods filled with MARZIPAN offered by the Danish Pastry House in Medford, Ma. It's not very far away by car, but I don't own one, thank heavens, otherwise I'd be stopping by all winter. One word of advice: MARZIPAN.

What's the optimal relationship between pan size and oven size? Is there a need to worry about leaving space for air circulation on the sides, and does it matter if you have a convection oven? I have an oven large enough for full sheets but they'd fill the entire width--and I didn't know about 3/4 sheets, so I've stuck with my 1/2 sheets. Heavy, plain aluminum from the restaurant supply store is the way to go, regardless.