johnsmith45678

While I do enjoy the show, I also had an experience that made me doubt some of his "scientific info". There was an ep. of GE that was about homebrewing beer. As a homebrewer myself, it was disheartening to hear the numerous errors and amount of incorrect information in that show. Since then I've always taken the info in that show with a grain of salt... ← Like what?

554 views already on the "largest internet food discussion forum" and growing. give those marketers a raise. i just wish i were as effective. maybe i'd make more money. ← It's too bad this topic isn't titled "Healthy Choice: Adding Flavor to Taste -- WTF?" so that the brand and slogan show up high in search results. (maybe the mods can help )

That really is a retarded slogan.

IIRC, Da Vinci won ATK's taste test.

Ripert seems like a nice guy.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,43...34000_2,00.html What does Ripert mean?

I've found the staff at Whole Foods to be rather knowledgeable.

I've watched the first three episodes and think I like it. I watched some of last season's episodes and didn't care for it. Marcel obviously has a Wolverine wannabe fanboy complex. I think he's pompous and annoying too. But I admire/respect/like him a bit. edit - actually I take that back - his frog legs lolly pops, avocado & bacon ice creams, and uncooked soggy onion rings were all horrible. I don't like the tattle-tale pastry chef chick. I think I like Sam to win. Good riddance to Emily, who was too snobby ("I only cook high-end food.") I wish Suyai had stuck around for at least a few more episodes. Ilan seems like he might be a contender. The rest of the group seems okay -- wouldn't mind hangin' with them. Ming Tsai was good. TGIF -- ho' hum. Looking forward to Ripert. Hopefully Bourdain's not all schtick. I'll be watching, unlike last season (whose winner seemed rather stiff).

Don't worry -- we can all grow fish in our basements!

Yeah, I don't trust Good Eats/Alton's recipes. He's of the Shirley Corriher variety (food scientist) -- a common complaint of her book Cookwise is that it's all about the science, and misses the boat on flavor, texture, etc.

The crab fishermen off Alaska can only catch so many crab per season. It used to be an all out race, but now quotas are assigned per boat. I'm not worried -- people who make predictions like this, and so far into the future, are so often wrong. I did read something the other day about how more and more sharks are being killed for shark-fin soup (at $100/bowl). I think cutting fins off sharks and throwing them back, all because they're supposedly an aphrodisiac is despicable.

I fear Good Eats may have jumped the shark. The two-part episode about water really made me wonder if they're running out of ideas. It didn't have any recipes either. The behind the eats episode (which I did enjoy) also hints that perhaps they're running out of ideas. Then the episode about okra had really basic recipes that I have no desire to try. Ditto for the recipes in the popcorn show. The tortilla show - get a tortilla press and make tortillas! (no thanks!) And in the barley episode, he broke his cardinal rule by recommending an expensive uni-tasker (the miller).

Cheap Thrills Cuisine Cooking instructions in comic form -- roasted steak mushrooms, lamb noisettes, easter almond truffles, chicken yakitori, souffle, ...

Forget the restaurant -- just open a strip club (which could have a kitchen in it!).

I don't know if it has a good wine list, but Panzano is close by (17th street) -- and seems like a cool/happening place.

http://muller.lbl.gov/

You're living in Calgary currently? How are you going about looking for work? And places to live? I had a CIA grad friend who worked his way around Europe after graduating -- sounded way cool. I've thought about doing the same, but am not sure how I'd go about it.

In my cooking career I had many jobs at many places. Looking back, my favorite jobs were: Country club: worked with my best friend. Got away with murder. Everybody got along. Plenty of cool people. It was really pretty laid-back, but we busted our asses during the holidays. Partied hard. Hotel: Pretty much the same as above. Small mexican restaurant: Worked hard, played really hard. Yup, that about sums it up! My least favorite: Small fine-dining Italian restaurant: Worked really hard. Got treated like shit. Fast Food joint: BOOORRRIIINNNGGG! It really makes you aware of just how many lame rule-following people there are out there -- bunch of button-pushing monkeys. Chain restaurant: Slave labor. I worked at various other places, and they fell somewhere in between. So, what are/were your most and least favorite places to work? I'm curious about the experience people have had at high-end restaurants (which wasn't me!).

These are old...I'm looking forward to a new season of Kitchen Nightmares!

WTF? Any idea why?

IIRC, using the same grinder for spices and coffee is not recommended. I think it's the other way around -- all your spices with have a coffee flavor.

I'd say cowboy coffee is probably the way to go -- make the coffee in a pot on the stove, strain and serve. If you're planning on keeping the coffee long-term in the freezer, I'd also say go with whole beans, but then you'll need a grinder too.

A noted chef around here (who worked at The French Laundry) did a cooking demonstration wearing a baseball cap. I think getting hung-up about hats/no-hats is silly. And, you know, the exec chef can do whatever the f he wants!

Another stupid cook trick: Robbing the place and not getting caught. Or hopefully even noticed. I never took more than enough for a meal or two. But when I worked at a hotel one guy (who incidentally graduated from CIA -- do they teach this there? ) stole tons of stuff all the time. Whole boxes of produce, whole tenderloins, chafing dishes, whole cheesecakes, bulk cans of veggies, bulk bottles of sauces, etc. etc. etc. We used to go to parties at his place and it was a veritable banquet! He had also stolen fine china (silverware, dishes, glassware) from very high-end places he had worked. I was amazed at the amount he had stolen, and that he'd never gotten caught, or noticed, or had anything other than a good reputation (everybody thought he was great).

What does vegemite taste like? Like yeast? Is it as nasty as its reputation? And why do Australians like it? Finally, where can I get some in the US?