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The only two professionals whose word I take as absolute gospel are Julia Child and Jacques Pepin. SB (The Good Book)

I'd forgotten about the Chicken Fried Lobster at Bibions. It may have been a hot tip, but damn, those steaks on the grill were mighty fine looking! Do you always get to order what you want, or is it "staged"? SB (not that there's anything wrong with that! )

Of course I'm going to watch Chris in Las Vega again! Afterall, I must have seen some Emeril and Iron Chef episodes half a dozen times each! SB (to say nothing of The Andy Griffith Show re-runs over the past 40 years!)

If you can find good French Bread, just slice, spread with a little high quality unsalted butter, and sprinkle with the salts. SB (not much better fare anywhere! )

Have you tried to do that lately? All the tuna cans I've seen in the last couple of years have one lid that's cuttable, but the other is rounded off so you can't do this trick. I think it's a cabal between the tuna can manufacturers and the exorbitantly priced stainless steel-ring purveyors. ← Well, you can buy actual English Muffin Rings, but they only come filled with air! SB (not as good a deal as tuna? )

I've made a pretty fair approximation of English Muffins using this recipe. Just make the batter on the thin side and fabricate "muffin rings" by cutting both ends out of some tuna cans. Fill the rings about 2/3 full and bake them for 15-18 minutes. SB

I feel more guilty over throwing away leftovers than about wasting food during prep. It seems disrespectful not only of the food, but of the person who went to the trouble to prepare and serve it, even if that person is me! I'm pretty good at estimating the correct amount to cook, and often actually plan on having a certain amount left over for subsequent meals, but occasionally I miscalculate. Sunday night is when I try to use up any surplus with dishes like soups, chef-style salads, or a quiche. SB (Dogs come in handy in this case too)

Some cookbooks are for instruction, some for education, and others simply for inspiration. SB (some are even worth it for the picturers alone!)

My Cousin Charlie would love the steaks, but even moreso the Butter Burger. He's one of those small guys who can eat anything he wants, non-stop, and never gain weight. He actually coined the term Butter Headache to describe the sensation of od'ing on butter! SB (Sorry about the nice weather. The sissy Vikings played indoors with temps outside in the 40's!)

I think this thread is actually exploring some interesting ideas, although maybe not entirely in line with the original intent? For example, my Grandson, like most three-year olds, tends to "waste" a lot of food, and then be hungry for a cookie five minutes after dinner. I often find myself finishing his meal....if he hasn't mashed it into oblivion. (This is where dogs come in handy! ) But is my eating food I don't really need or want, or feeding perfectly good human food to dogs considered "waste"? SB (chops up celery leaves for use in tossed salads)

I know the cultural knee-jerk response is to think that we would be better off if we wasted less food, but from an academic perspective, is this really the case? Is my wasting my asparagus stems taking food out of someone else's mouth? In this country of excess, does the wasting of food by some create a shortage for others? As I understand it, the US exports ridiculous amounts of food, it is one of the things we do very well in this country. If some people dont eat their broccolli stems, what is the issue? It isn't reasonable to think that all the "micro-waste" occuring at each meal should somehow be quantified, totaled, and valued as "macro-waste" that we should control. Either way, I am a selfish person. I hate the texture of chicken cartilage and won't eat it. ← That's somewhat similar to the reaction of young children to the "starving babies in Africa" argument for finishing their dinner; ie, that the "starving babies" would be quite welcome to their broccolli, or whatever, if the parents can figure out a way to get it to them. Many of us, perhaps due to these subliminal messages our parents implanted when we were young and impressionable, do see "waste" of food as wrong, if not quite "sinful", whether eating it is practical or really good for us or not. In fact, a lot of Americans, children unfortunately included, would be better of "wasting" more food than consuming it. Their problem is distinguishing between what to eat more or less of. SB (admits to having used the "Starving crack babies in Minneapolis..." line on his Grandson, but may be forced reconsider?)

What're you. . .trying to build an airplane? Walnut-meat shaped??? Yeah. Something inherently wrong. I think not enough eggs in the basket. So we should not count the meatballs before they hatch. ← Years ago when I worked with some friends in the restaurant business we used to have a spaghetti and meatball special on wednesdays. We'd make the all mearballs in the morning and keep half of them in the walkin cooler in the basement for the evening service. One week we'd hired a new kid to help out with prep, and Chef "Dirty Larry" told him to put half the meatballs on trays in the oven and take the other half downstairs to the cooler. You guessed it. The kid cut each meatball neatly in half, (which render them quite similar in appearence to walnut meats), and set them neatly on trays, half in the oven and half in the cooler. Everybody who ordered the Special that day got a funny story along with their meal. SB (wonders if the kid eventually went to work for MnPR?)

Perhaps herein lies the clue: Cut off ends of baguettes then cut each loaf into 36 slices about 1/2" thick. (Note: the specificity of the measurements for everything in this simple recipe is so very pronounced. Very engineer-like. I am assuming you will be pleased. ) Lay the slices on baking sheets. Blend together meat, soy sauce, sugar, and scallions in *large bowl with your hands*. Knead thoroughly! Thoroughly! Shape into 36 meatballs, each about the size of say. . . a walnut. Yes, the book specifies "walnut". Place each walnut sized meatball on top of each of the baguette slices and press down a bit to force adhesion. A little calculation indicates that either you end up with 36 slices of baguette left over, you top each meatball with a second slice, or you cut the meatballs in half yielding a total of 72 pieces? I suspect the meatballs are meant to be cut in half, rendering each semi-meatball "walnut meat shaped". In this form they would more easily adhere to the bread slices. Maybe the cut off baugette ends are supposed to be made into crumbs? Maybe the "missing" egg was lost when the Fed's cut back on NPR's funding? In other words, there is something inherently wrong with this recipe. Perhaps the recipe uses the transitive verb form of "becoming", in that the appetizers do indeed take on a charming aspect? SB

I don't know how "healthy" they are, but is you haven't tried Marlene's Peanut Butter Burgers you're really missing out! SB (I understand she got the recipe from her Dad?)

Ideas? ← Well, to further confuse the issue right out of the gate what we know as dog buscuits hews to the British usage. SB (has a batch in the oven as we "speak" )

One can never have too much good potatoe soup, assuming it can be frozen? How much experimentation did it take to come up with the combination and quantityof potatoe varieties you use? SB

Jesus! Really! I didn't know. I thought it was serious... ← It may lose something in the translation? SB

I scored 32, which may be either better or worse than 42?

The little rolls are kind of neat, but where did the idea for including maple syrup come from. (a genuine Canadian product I deduce from the red maple leaf emblem) What else do they use maple syrup for in Japan? SB (and what is the little kid in the circle saying?)

I order it from King Arthur Flour. SB (lots of other stuff too )

From the Australian Citrus Growers: "eat as much pith in citrus fruits as possible as it contains pectin, a great form of dietary fibre". In fact, orange pith is virtually undigestable, like corn kernal husks. People with compromised gastointestinal systems are advised to avoid it, since it enters the intestines in a clump. SB (not a Gastrointesinologist (?) but a pretty good Googler )

You might want to try: Bengali Thor 2 cups Thor (Banana Pith) 1 tsp Mustard Seeds 2 Green Chilies, slit 1 tsp Mustard Paste 2 tsp Yogurt Salt and Sugar to taste Oil for Frying Put mustard seeds and the slit green chllies in hot oil so that it sputters. Put the Thor (finely diced) in the oil. Stir fry for a few minutes. Add the mustard paste and the yogurt along with the salt and sugar. Cover and cook for a few minutes. Serve at room temperature. SB (I think banana pith is part of the stalk rather than peel, but it's a neat recipe anyway?)

Okay, you asked for it! Going way back in time now; what's the easiest thing to cook and eat? Soup or stew, (which is only a matter of thickness), can be made with fruits, vegetables, meat or any combination thereof. It's easy to throw together, uses up scraps and odd pieces and parts, and isn't time sensitive in that one pot can be eaten over a long period of time. What began life as soup often became stew, and later on almost a pudding or solid, at which point it would of necessity have become highly seasoned. (think mincemeat) A good way to get another meal out the resulting concoction would be to bake it in a pie shell. Hence, anything baked in or on a crust becomes "pie". (pizza thus qualifies) The only problem with pie, those little triangular TupperWare containers notwithstanding, is its nonportability. Completely encasing the contents within the crust solves this problem. When used for friut or nut fillings these are generally called "pastry". The quite similar word, "pasty", refers to a meat filling. SB (or, maybe not?)

BTW....my dog is always miffed when the bones go into the stock pot! ← Here's a "waste not, wont not" recipe for Dog Biscuits utilizing an oft-wasted, nutritional resource. SB

I suspect use of the word "sin" was an example of hyperbole? As far as bones go, making stock out of them would seem to be a good allocation of resources? SB (although my dogs might not agree )