phatj

I haven't experienced this myself, but I hear that baby vomit from babies that are fed goat's milk is exceptionally nasty-smelling. My brother-in-law was allergic to cow's milk when he was an infant and was fed goat's milk for a while.

I'm afraid that "good quality" and "low maintenance" may be mutually exclusive. High-quality knives, while not difficult to maintain, do require frequent and correct attention. As someone else has noted, they should be washed and dried immediately after use. Also, they should be steeled before each use, and will need to be sharpened occasionally as well. If you mother can't or won't put in the time to keep good knives in good condition, she probably shouldn't be given good knives. The fact that none of her existing knives are sharp makes me wonder. Maybe she just never learned how to take care of them?

My problem with cooked vegetables in general is texture. I like the crispness of fresh veggies -- the crisper the better. In most cases, I don't find that the flavor is improved enough by cooking to make up for the mushier texture. Of those you listed, I do like tomatoes, carrots and celery cooked. In the case of tomatoes, it's because they're normally fairly soft in texture when raw, and plus their flavor becomes transcendent with certain cooking preparations. Carrots and celery have enough structure that they can stand up to quite a bit of cooking and still have some toothiness.

Forgive me for going off-topic, but I'm curious if it's actually impossible to season stainless steel, or whether it can be done but people don't because A) it's unnecessary to prevent rust and/or B) it spoils the pretty finish. In my experience, grease certainly can be burned onto stainless in a manner that's extremely hard to remove without badass solvents. If grease were intentionally burned onto a stainless pan in a uniform manner, would this not function similarly to the seasoning on a carbon steel or cast iron pan?

I don't have proportions handy (mostly I do it by feel), but I generally whisk some grated or pressed garlic, minced fresh parsley, minced scallions (green parts) and freshly-ground black pepper into buttermilk and thicken with sour cream if desired.

I like most vegetables raw, and I find that most cooking preparations make them worse.

Anyone have any thoughts on what scissor-type shears would work well for a lefty? Those Messermeister ones look like the handle is "polarized," if that's the right word.

I think the reason I rendered the fat the way I did is so that I would get cracklings. I don't recall any significant browning during the rendering. After rendering I crisped/browned the skin in the oven, then salted and ate those cracklings like duck candy. Boning the legs beforehand was too much trouble. I confited them whole, after which of course removing the meat was easy. I haven't browned the breasts before roasting them, although you certainly could.

For Christmas dinner I did a Duck Three Ways that could be adapted for chicken. This was pretty involved, though, and the assorted prep and cooking was done over three days. I did the following: Skinned entire bird, except for the breasts Removed breasts and legs Made stock with remaining carcass (I stripped some additional meat from the carcass after simmering a while) Rendered fat from skin and added to fat skimmed from stock Confited legs Made soup with stock and meat removed from stock Made pot-stickers with leg confit Seared breasts, and served sliced on green salad If doing this with chicken, I'd treat the breasts differently, but everything else should work fine. I like whole bone-in chicken breasts oven-roasted with herb butter over a bed of thinly sliced onions. Deglaze the roasting pan with a little white wine for a yummy sauce.

My single favorite utensil is a wooden spatula with an angled end and a chiseled (bluntly, of course) edge. Perfect for scraping, great for getting into corners. It cost 33 1/3 cents (came with two other wooden implements) at a grocery store. Unfortunately, it's getting worn down and I haven't been able to find another.

The chef at my fraternity (who actually made pretty good food, given the institutional context), used exclusively aluminum pots, and his tomato sauces tasted fine.

That's an unusual mixture of spices for the Pacific Northwest. I wouldn't think cumin, peppercorns or chili peppers could be easily found in coastal regions there.

In my very limited experience, the "tin snips" type shears are more efficient for cutting poultry because the way they're laid out makes it easier to exert force, and you need a good bit of force to cut through chicken bones. I'd recommend something else for lighter-duty work, though. Those Messermeister shears look nice.

Forgive me if this was mentioned, but anyone in or near the Pennsylvania Dutch region should seek out Grandma Utz's Handcooked Potato Chips, or as I like to call them, Potato Crack. Thick-cut potato slices cooked in lard, with plenty of salt. No dip needed.

And in which category does garlic fall? Garlic is the flavoring additive I use most. Of the things that I think of as "spices," I'd miss black pepper the most.

I recall getting this weird idea when I was a teenager that bananas would taste good with mustard. Turns out I was wrong.

Has anyone looked at the side-by-side models that have a "step" built in, such that the fridge is wider at the top, but the freezer is wider at the bottom? Seems like this would be the best of both worlds. I, unfortunately, do not have enough width for even the narrowest of side-by-sides. Even most top/bottom models are too big. I'm hoping to find a bottom-freezer model to replace my current fridge some time soon, but they're harder to find, especially in smaller sizes, and more expensive.

This thread is hilarious. I wasn't really a foodie back in my smoking days. My ideal munchies was Raisin Bran. I did eat a cigarette once, but that was because I passed out drunk with an unlit cigarette in my mouth. As a side note, I would like to point out as a public service announcement that ingestion of a large amount of nutmeg A) doesn't make you hallucinate, and B) is extremely unpleasant.

My favorite timer: Amazon (I actually bought this at a discount store, for about $5 if I remember correctly.) Set the time quickly and easily by spinning the bezel -- so much better than having to push a button over and over for long-cooking stuff. And it does count up after it goes off. My only complaint with it is that the magnet could be stronger, and the glue that holds the magnet to the back of the timer could be stronger. I lost mine through dropping on the floor, because the glue failed. Ah, well.

For Christmas dinner I made a meal revolving around duck. Pate de foie gras on toast for snacking during cooking Egg drop soup made with duck stock, with bits of duck meat added Pot stickers containing duck leg confit and shiitake mushrooms, served with a dipping sauce of soy, rice vinegar and superreduced duck stock Seared duck breast over mixed greens with crumbled feta cheese and orange-balsamic vinaigrette, served with potatoes roasted in duck fat. The pot stickers were phenomenal, as was the breast meat.

Ditto to this. I will also add that the store brand versions of these are of similar quality for a bit cheaper. My only caveat is that I've found that they generally don't seal perfectly, so be careful if using them for transportation of liquids, for instance.

Have there been revolutionary advances in canned pea technology since I was a lad (the last twenty years or so)? Because I remember them being pure evil.

Alexander's Stew Serves 8 as Main Dish. This is a deliciously different beef stew. Highly recommended for people tired of carrots, celery and potatoes. I have also made it with lamb instead of beef, thinking that the seasonings would be great with lamb, but somehow, the "lambiness" is mostly lost in this dish, so I'd stick with beef chuck because it's generally cheaper and easier to deal with than lamb. 3 lb beef chuck roast, cubed 2 large onions, chopped 5 cloves garlic, sliced (optional) 1/2 c dry white wine 1/4 c red wine vinegar 1 tsp cumin 1 tsp cinnamon 1 tsp dried oregano 1/4 tsp salt, or to taste 1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper 6 oz tomato paste (1 small can) 1 c fresh parsley, minced 1 bay leaf 1/2 tsp sugar 1 c chopped walnuts or toasted pine nuts 8 oz feta cheese, crumbled Easy version: 1. Preheat oven to 325 F. 2. Combine all ingredients except cheese and nuts in a bowl. Transfer to a casserole dish or dutch oven, cover and bake for two hours or until meat is tender. 3. Serve over hot rice or noodles and top with feta and nuts. Better version (still pretty easy): 1. Combine cumin, cinnamon, oregano, salt and pepper in a small bowl. Toss beef cubes with ~1/2 of spice mixture, reserving remainder. This ideally should be done several hours to one day in advance. 2. Preheat oven to 325 F. 3. In a large (5 qt or more) dutch oven or other heavy pot over medium-high heat, brown beef cubes in batches. Use a small amount of olive or neutral oil. Set beef aside. 4. Add onions to pot along with a little salt. Saute until slightly browned. Bottom of pot should deglaze as onions give up moisture. 5. Return meat to pot and add remaining ingredients except nuts and cheese. Mix well and bring to a simmer, then cover and bake for two hours or until meat is tender. 6. Serve over hot rice or noodles and top with feta and nuts. Keywords: Main Dish, Easy, Beef, Dinner, Mediterranean ( RG1919 )

Amen. I guess I missed the memo that said they were "out." Egg noodles tossed with butter, parsley and a little garlic are among my favorite foods on earth.

I have a co-worker who pronounces Le Creuset "lay-crew-set." Is there an accepted pronunciation in America? Should it approximate the francophone pronunciation (which I don't know how to "spell" using English phonetics)?