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johnder

eGullet Society staff emeritus
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Posts posted by johnder

  1. This news is so sudden and tragic, it is a great loss and my condolences go out to his family.   Steven had a great passion for life and food and all the people that interacted with him throughout the years will surely remember this and hopefully carry through his zest for these things moving forward. 

     

    RIP Steven, you will be greatly missed.

    • Like 3
  2. If you are interested in a somewhat readable explanation of trichinella I would suggest you take a look at the FDA bad bug book available here Page 139 goes into some frequency of illness.

    7. Frequency

    Between 2000 and 2007, an average of 13 laboratory-confirmed illnesses were reported, per year, through the U.S. National Notifiable Disease Surveillance System. However, adjusting for under-diagnosis and under-reporting, the frequency of domestically acquired trichinellosis isestimated to be between 40 and 340 illnesses per year. Much higher infection rates per capita occur in less-developed pork-consuming nations and in countries that have disruptions in modernized pork production due to political upheavals.

  3. At least in my case is I am finding I am using my chamber sealer way more than I ever used my foodsaver. A few reasons I attribute to this:

    The foodsaver was stored in a cabinet and most of the time I was too lazy to bring it out for a quick job, cleaning / sanitizing it due to the high probability of it sucking in some liquid from the bag and putting it away. That combined with the fact I was never happy with the seals or vacuum level I got with it the foodsaver was never really part of my cooking ritual.

    Now that I have the chamber sealer out on the counter, ready to go at a moments notice am finding I am using it 2-3 times a day. That combined with the huge difference in the end product, I am super happy with it. Yes, it is huge and takes up a lot of counter space, but having it available and ready I think also contributes highly the usage it is getting.

    In regards to WS or Sur La Table selling 85 pound $900 chamber sealers, I am sure they would sell some especially bundled with with some crazy labeled "Pro" package (PolySci Prof Chef and VP215 or MiniPak, keeping the Vp112 and PolySci Creative as the "Home" package ) , but I feel they will go the way of the breadmakers that were all the fad 5 years ago. People used them for a few weeks, then they sat on the counter untouched for a few months and finally sent out to the curb as part of a yard sale or sequestered in the basement to reclaim the counterspace.

  4. The new whole foods in park slope does not charge for parking. I has 240 spots from what I was told.

    In regards to pricing, yes there are a few items that are higher but I find that is the case as many supermarkets in NYC. As a native New Yorker, I have just come to accept that as a cost of living in NYC.

    Yes, I can go to my corner Associated supermarket and get chicken legs for 69 cents a pound from some battery chicken plant, go to fairway and get bell and evans kosher legs for 89 cents a pound, go to WF and pay 1.49 a pound for organic air chilled legs, or to the farmers market or heritage meats and pay 2.25 a pound for a chicken with a name. It is all a matter of what you are looking for and willing to pay/consume.

    • Like 1
  5. Depends on the drink -- some are spritzed in the glass, others on top. A general rule of thumb is if it is a drink by Jim, 99 out of 100 times it will be a spritz in the glass. In the case of the Kin-Kan (my drink), my suggestion would be a spritz or two on the top of the finished drink.

  6. Ok. I want to try the Rapscallion, but can't get Lustau Pedro Ximinez, but could get Alvear PX Solera 1927. Will it work?

    It is so frustrating reading these threads and then not being able to find many of the ingredients in BC.

    Any PX sherry should work in that drink. You are really looking for something that has a lot of residual date like sweetness,

  7. Not sure if this question belongs here, or in the Sous vide topic, but I am hedging my bets and placing it here. I just purchased the sper scientific 2 channel type K thermometer and looking for a needle probe that can be submerged, at least partly while in the bath. Everything I am finding that specifically says waterproof is over 200 bucks. Does anyone know which one was used in the book or a good one they have worked with?

    John

  8. You can scale them down without much issue with the exception of the fat washing ones, specifically the Bentons. The fat is so strong that you have to watch it very carefully.

    In terms of the others, you should have no issue with the scaling, just keep an eye on the time and taste every now and than and adjust the infusion time. I have done the Bethula with as little as 6 oz without any problems.

  9. Hi Everyone,

    So I recently switched jobs and now find myself running technical operations for Gilt Groupe. While historically they have been focused on fashion "flash sales," we recently moved into a new experiment with what we are coining as an interactive food magazine. The premise is to wrap a selection of artisan purveyors in a site that will feature rich content in the form of recipes, editorials, and interactive videos. Needless to say I am very excited to be a part of this as a great side perk is having all these amazing products flowing through our office for testing on a daily basis!

    Currently we have a pretty amazing who's who line up of contributors, headed up under Ruth Reichl (full contributor list here)

    As we are still in Beta, we are constantly changing and tweaking our site to increase the value added to both people who want to enjoy the editorial side and also those who want to purchase from the product side. I wanted to provide a discussion area in which discussions can be directly passed back to the people involved and also provide a lens on some of the behind the scenes action.

    Given my long history with eGullet and knowing first hand the quality of the reader base here, it was my first thought to turn to this group to:

    a) be a place for me to provide some insight on the development and specifically the amazing food photography that is happening on the site on a daily basis

    b) be a place to open up a discussion line that can be passed back directly to the editors and managers of the group, both the positives and the negatives.

    Needless to say it is great to be surrounded by such hard core food people both day to day at work now, and also here on eGullet. As a side note, I am not here to promote the site, push never ending surveys or questionnaires on everyone, or otherwise gain or profit from it here. I just found the process of building this site and the work of the editors, contributors and food photographers to be fascinating and wanted to share.

    John

  10. Yes, it looked like it was wrapped around a few leaks and carrots as Mitch said, and I think it was caul fat then poached. There was some type of casing on the outside, although very thin, hence me leaning towards caul fat that was rendered away in poaching.

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