Mallet

They probably get their own restaurants in the same sense that American Idol contestants get their own music career.

I don't know, I think it might be more insidious than that. Often the dynamics od the show seem more of a conservative/simple hardworkin' folk vs. liberal/lazy. When people with 'alternative' lifestlyles (who typically perceive themselves as open-mided, socially aware etc...) and people who they consider to be backwards get matched up, what usually happens is that the hippies/vegans/whatever get 'exposed' as being more close-minded than the supposed backwards hicks, who end up being honest, nice, hardworking folk. It is, like you noticed, a consistent message. It might not necessarily be all editing (which they undoubtebly do, and masterfully at that), but I think they choose their pairings carefully.

This was actually a rerun. If I remember correctly the plot is basically "Vegan mom goes to Louisiana for a week and cajun mom goes to El Cajon for the week. Vegan mom is portrayed as militant and hypocritical (she smokes yet tells her host kid that he will die when he's forty if he drinks pop) while cajun mom tries her best to understand the her host family". The mom from Thibodeaux ended up cooking a vegan gumbo for her host family (the whole family was extremely vegan ). The El Cajon mom spent her time telling everyone that they were horrible and unhealthy, at one point (during a party that her host family threw to show her how cajuns get down) she made everyone watch a PETA-type video about why killing animals is immoral. It's scary that I remember so much about that particular episode, but I remember getting really pissed off watching it (I guess FOX wins again...)

Er... no. There is no way the *small* time difference which *may* result from the percentage of dissolved O2 in twice boiled water would be greater than the time difference due to the starting temperature of the water.

Well it's well known that hot water freezes faster that cold water, so maybe she just reasoned that cold water must therefore boil faster that hot water? I'm just saying, it's not totally nuts .... Edited to add sarcasm

In Pépin's "Complete Techniques", he says to look at the way the bubbles form on the glace. When they become large (almost like a bubbling caramel) and burst without letting off any steam, the reduction is correct. I've never done it (preferring to stick with demi myself), but the directives sound reasonably clear.

I have spent some time this morning looking over the constitution (although I haven't read every single word), and am curious to hear your reasoning on why the constitution would not, at least potentially, affect production of certain artisanal products. It seems to me like some of the areas of proposed common policy, such as public health, could have an impact on artisanal cheese production.

It's glace de viande that doesn't need refrigeration. Since all the water has been cooked out, bacteria can't grow. It will keep almost indefinitely.

Perhaps it is time to revive this superb discussion; with France's recent "Non" vote on the EU constitution. Is this good news for artisanal cheese producers?

the ads on www.alpinelager.com have been making headlines in Canada...

I usually go to the farmer's market at around 8:00 am, before eating breakfast. Last Saturday, I went in for a quick stop looking for: -cranberry/apple cider -garlic and came out with - mizuna - japanese turnip - 2 sourdough baguettes and red fife wheat bread - dragon's breath blue cheese - fiddleheads - farm fresh eggs I didn't even get garlic or cider, so I had to go to the supermarket later that day and buy the rest of my groceries (plus more!) . This happens every single week.

Feeling homesick again? Seriously though, Propeller Porter truly is a fantastic beer.

My girfriend, who knows absolutely nothing about the world of food, immediately took on a profound hatred of Todd English....

Beamish Stout, Propeller Porter (local), Clancy's Amber Ale. And ribs, lots of ribs (first real BBQ of the season!).

Fortunately, I like goat cheese and love butter (who doesn't?)... thanks to everyone who posted such helpful information, who needs a guide when you've got eGullet?

Moderator's note: As this post was off topic in its orignal thread, we've started a new one on the subject of cheese in Brittany This may or may not be the appropriate thread for this, but there seems to be an unusually large concentration of French cheese and cattle experts here so I'll ask anyways. I'm going to France this summer (first time to Europe!) and will be spending a fair bit of time in Belle-Ile-en-Mer, in Bretagne. Does anyone have some info on cattle breeds/cheeses specific to the region? I'd hate to miss out on a local treasure...

But I'm one of those people ! I like my smelly french cheeses, which I my boulanger brings in weekly. While draconian regulations might not have a great effect in France (Chefzadi is probably right about the EU food police), I think we have the right to be seriously concerned about the spirit in which such regulations are made. Maybe the effect of similar legislation is more of a concern in here in North America, where something like raw milk cheese is not so ingrained in local culture and where the CFIA or USDA might actually come and shut you down? I sometimes get worried that one day I'll go to the market and not see the dutchman with his unpasteurized goudas.

While French officials may be willing to look the other way (and I for one pray that they will), do we really want a system where artisanal producers are forced to operate under the regulatory radar? I don't think that matters such as these are best left to market forces alone, because the markets involved are usually very small and/or vulnerable. It would be a mistake to assume that the products we love (and some we don't) will endure regardless of the pressures imposed on them by regulators or that the general public will always be there to jump in and vigourously protect endangered products. Artisanal producers need collective voice (to an increasingly larger extent we are seeing more organization; one small example being the various SlowFood presidia). More importantly, regulators should actively encourage the production of local/artisanal products, or at very least not create a climate which makes it more difficult to make them. I think governments can and should play an active role in preserving culturally significant (I know that's a really vague and not terribly useful term, so feel free to come up with a better one ) products. By the way, one of the products in Slowfood's Ark of Taste (Canadian Red Fife Wheat) has because available at our local farmers' market this week. A small but significant victory?

Typical fine-crystal table salt, in turn, is substantially denser (i.e., packs tighter) than kosher salt. I'm eyeing a new scale that's very precise and accurate, and if I get it I'll be sure to weigh a fixed volume each of several different salts and report the results here. ← Just be aware that salt is notoriously tricky to weigh accurately because it is extremely hygroscopic (the same volume of salt will weigh a different amount depending on relative humidity). Without getting too complicated (I can't help myself...), since these three salts all have different densities they might absorb water differently, such that the relative weight ratios would be different depending on humidity. It might be fun to weigh the three salts multiple times over different days and see how much of an effect humidity has (I'd do it myself but my digital balance only measures to the nearest gram).

I made my first batch of confit this weekend, this thread was an invaluable resource. The hardest part will be waiting for it to age properly... By the way, another use for leftover fat (with brown bits and herbs floating in it) is to use that instead of evoo in pasta with garlic and parsley. It's really good!

Maybe he will lay the proverbial smackdown too, while he's at it...

I find that the cookbooks I receive as unsollicited gifts (thanks mom!) inevitably end up unused; one outgrows generic cookbooks surprisingly fast.... On the other hand the cookbooks that I've purchased for myself (Pepin, Bourdain, Henderson, Batali) get heavy usage and prime shelf space!

I guess I thought that rare duck is safer because every cookbook I have insists that cooking duck breasts beyond medium-rare is a serious food crime (and I tend to agree), while it is common knowledge that chicken 'should' be cooked-through because of salmonella. Thinking about it, I'm not exactly sure what makes duck different than chicken, hence, the original question . Maybe chicken are more prone to carrying salmonella? Maybe we should all be eating chicken breasts like we do duck (you go first ).

While very true, this is a general issue with raw meats. It doesn't address why we shouldn't eat rare (inside or out!) chicken and what the difference is with another bird, like duck.

I had a question about poultry. Why can you eat rare duck breast, but have to obsessively clean anything which has touched raw chicken? What other poultry should or shouldn't you eat rare? This was bothering me as I was making seared duck breasts for the first time yesterday.