Patrick S

That was true for a long time, but recently cryptozoologists at the Transylvania University have observed the emergence of cabbage-pickle-resistant vampires. They speculate that this is due to overuse and misuse of cabbage pickles. They fear that if the trend continues, surgical interventions, primarily cardiac puncture, may become the only effective way to treat vampirism.

Ling, how do those compare to the Bittersweet Deception Cookies? Do you like them more, less or the same?

I wonder if the antimicrobial properties of kimchi are due entirely to its lactic and acetic acids, which are present in many fermented foods, or by other compounds which are unique to kimchi.

That babba looks delicious, Elie. Good job.

Here's a thought: if you are inclined to go to the trouble, you could do a blind test. You could do this by having someone chop up the chocolate finely in a food processor, so you can't identify which chocolate it is by appearance, and return the chopped chocolates to you in bags with numbers on them. The person who chops the chocolate will keep a list of which numbers correspond to which chocolates. After you decide which ones you like best, your friend gives you the list. It wouldnt be too much trouble, and you could be absolutely certain that your judgements were based solely on taste. As far as test recipes to use, I recommend hot chocolate. Its quick to make. You can make it in small (or large) quantities. You can easily adjust sugar and milk to your taste.

Luckily there are many ways to study the relationship between IGF-1 and diabetes that do not require a time machine. For instance, you can do a prospective study of individuals and determine whether or not IGF-1 levels predict subsequent development of diabetes. Or you could administer IGF-1 to diabetics and observe that effects on glucose metabolism/insulin sensitivity. I did a quick PubMed search and got over 1200 journal article references on the subject. You're certainly correct in your view that there is a relationship between IGF-1 and diabetes; however the relationship appears to be the opposite of what you might think. That is to say, it appears that low plasma IGF-1, rather than high plasma IGF-1, is associated with increased risk of diabetes. I'll present a few representative examples of research, with quotes from the abstracts. Qiu et al, 2005. Maternal plasma concentrations of IGF-1, IGFBP-1, and C-peptide in early pregnancy and subsequent risk of gestational diabetes mellitus. American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology 193(5):1691-7. [NOTE: GDM is gestational diabetes, and IGFBP-1 is the IGF binding protein]Ali and Pinkney, 2002. Therapeutic potential of insulin-like growth factor-1 in patients with diabetes mellitus. Treatments in Endocrinology 1(6):399-410. Carroll et al, 1998. Recombinant human insulin-like growth factor-I (rhIGF-I) therapy in adults with type 1 diabetes mellitus: effects on IGFs, IGF-binding proteins, glucose levels and insulin treatment. Clinical Endocrinology 49(6):739-46. Dunger et al, 2003. Serum insulin-like growth factor-I levels and potential risk of type 2 diabetes. Hormone Research 60 Suppl 3:131-5. Janssen and Lamberts, 2002. The role of IGF-I in the development of cardiovascular disease in type 2 diabetes mellitus: is prevention possible? European Journal of Endrocrinology 146(4):467-77.

If you want a ridiculously easy tart, try this: 1 sheet puff pastry, thawed (store-bought is fine) 2 Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored, and sliced very thin 2T butter, melted 1T sugar 3T Apple Jelly, melted Lay out the puff sheet on parchment. Using a baking pan or plate as a template, cut out a 9" circle of puff. Dock it all over with a fork, except for a 1/2" margin. Arrange your apple slices, overlapping, in two concentric circles, again leaving the 1/2" margin clear. Brush with butter. Sprinkle with suagr. Bake til the edges of the apples start to get some color, around 15-20 minutes. Remove tart from oven, brush with apple jelly.

This bit is interesting. I'm a little surprised that there is no test that can tell the difference. Wouldn't a test for IGF-1 show a difference, per our discussion above? ← No. Though there is a small difference in the average milk IGF-1 concentrations between rBGH-treated and non-rBGH-treated cows, the range of variation is very similar for both groups. The higher the IGF-1 in a sample, the more likely it came from a treated cow, but for most samples you'd simply have no way to know whether it came from a treated or an untreated cow. According to the Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives, the ranges of variation in milk IGF-1 concentration in untreated and treated cows are 1-9ng/ml, and 1-13ng/ml, respectively. Sources differ as to the average difference in IGF-1 from treated versus untreated cows, but most recent sources report the difference as being less than 4ng/ml. By comparison, the concentration of IGF-1 in human milk is listed as 5-10ng/ml, and the concentraton of IGF-1 in adolescent human blood plasma is a whopping 180-780ng/ml -- somewhere between 13 and 780 times more rich in IGF-1 than milk from treated cows. And remember, the average differences in milk from treated vrs untreated cows is only a few ng/ml. . .

The cake looks pretty and sounds interesting too, Elie.

Fill the pig ear napoleons with bacon fat mousse.

It is a well-established law of cheesodynamics that cheese is never a no-no.

Do you have the recipe? ← Here you go. If you try them, please report back.

mikeycook, how did your undipped nougats turn out? How well did they hold their shape? I tried a different nougat recipe (not Montelimar) that had 1/4 of the sugar beat into the whites at 250F, and the rest beat in at 300F. These nougats cut like a dream with my chef's knife, no problem at all. But by the next morning, the cut pieces had flattened out quite a bit. I'd like to be able make nougats that hold their shape at room temperature, even without a chocolate coating. . .

Forgive me if this has already been discussed, but the one study I could find that actually examined the relationship between dietary milk consumption and serum IGF-1 levels found no association whatsoever (Allan et al, 2002). Of course, its is serum concentrations that are most important, because IGF-1 can only have an effect if it makes it to the serum and from serum to cell-surface receptors. Their table 6 shows that those who drank no milk had serum IGF-1 levels not statistically different from those who drank 1/4pt, 1/2pt, or even 3/4pt of milk a day. Interestingly enough, however, their results did seem to indicate that soya milk did result in a significant increase in serum IGF-1. Allen et al (p. 1446) wrote: Allen et al, 2002. The Associations of Diet with Serum Insulin-like Growth Factor I and Its Main Binding Proteins in 292 Women Meat-Eaters, Vegetarians, and Vegans. Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention 11, 1441–1448,

Sure. Just cut the top of the cakes off and proceed.

As a former child and as a parent, I have to confess that I have never felt that "disdain and hostility toward kids and families with kids" was a general feature of my society. If anything, I think people in my culture tend to view with suspicion people who, for whatever reason, decide not to have children.

Factoid: the reddish color of the Hawaiian salt is caused by the presence of iron oxide. Sea water around Hawaii is rich in iron because the "mafic" volcanic rock that makes up the islands are iron-rich.

Here's the recipe I use, adapted from Cook's Illustrated. Adjust 2lbs russet potatoes 3cloves/1.5t garlic, or to taste. 1 stick/8T butter (salted or unsalted) 1C half/half, warmed S&P to taste Cut up the potatoes and boil them till tender, 20-30 minutes. Mash them up a bit. Melt butter in small pan over low heat. Add garlic. Cook for about 10-12 minutes, until garlic just starts to brown. Let cool a few minutes, then strain out the garlic bits. Add garlic butter and half and half to potatoes, and S&P to taste, and mix til combined. Top wservings with garlic bits. ←

I tried the Torres recipe today. I added some almond extract towards the end of the whipping. The flavor is awesome. I love the combination of honey and almond extract. I used all almonds instead of almonds and pistachios. I poured/scraped the nougat into a half-sheet pan, which I think was too big -- the nougat is only about 1/2" thick. Next time I'll use a 13x9 or maybe even a 9x9. I almost had the same problem as you, mikeycook -- the honey was slow coming to a boil, while the sugar goes from 265 to 330F pretty quick. But I turned down the heat on the sugar and turned up the heat on the honey and was able to get the honey to boil in time. Cutting the stuff up is proving to be a pain though. I just tried an oiled chef's knife, and it worked, but the nougat was sticking to the knife pretty good, and I have to pull the strips off of the knife, so the cuts didn't look as clean as I'd like. I'm going to chill the nougat and do some more experimenting tomorrow.

True, teflon will break down and emit toxic fumes, but only if you heat it to about 600F. Teflon is completely stable at sugar-working temps, which are not higher than about 390F. ← What worries me is the way a sugar confection will group in one part of the pan, if there is a small amount, and the rest of the pan will heat up more quickly. It's not a risk that I would take if other saucepans with reliable characteristics, such as copper, were available. ← I understand what you're saying, but I think the risk really is pretty much zero that any part of the teflon is going to reach anywhere close to 600F. I make candy all the time using my digital thermometer, and I've never observed a temperature difference more than 20-30F between any two spots in the pan. As long as sugar is in its liquid state, you're not going to see much temperature inhomogeneity.

What's the best tool and method to cut nougat? Oiled chef's knife?

A question about these cupcakes (and I'm not a big baker - those gorgeous flower-bouquet ones just sent me running for the liquor cabinet). Could those with the ganache be made day before serving? ← Sure, these will keep for at least a few days at room temperature.

True, teflon will break down and emit toxic fumes, but only if you heat it to about 600F. Teflon is completely stable at sugar-working temps, which are not higher than about 390F.

No. I tried melting chocolate in the microwave long ago, but I ended up with scorchted bits. That scared me away from ever putting chocolate in the microwave again. I always bring cream to just under a simmer and then pour it over chocolate to make my ganache. EDIT: I suppose I could heat my cream in the microwave, but out of habit I always do this in a small pan.

Microwaves are great for melting butter and reheating leftovers, IMHO, but I humbly submit that these applications are the most fun. I mean, I don't think you can create plasma balls with a double-boiler. . .