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I haven’t subscribed to Eating Well in some years & actually thought that it had folded. As well as I remember, it was along the lines of Cooking Light, but thinner. I stopped both because most of the recipes didn’t appeal to me. I’m wondering how much longer Fine Cooking, Bon Appetit & Food & Wine will be around in print form...

Approximately how long does it last in the fridge?

Doesn’t anyone use bacon grease for the frying pan?

I ordered some from Formaggio Kitchen. Three small bottles, quite expensive, I forget how much. Now it's rationed. Over the years, I've ordered various items from FC & have found it to be very reliable with relatively quick delivery & consistent high quality. I'm on my next-to-last bottle & hope to bring some back from France next month.

Costco is now the biggest seller of organic groceries.

Many thanks! I really didn't want to throw them out & thought they were probably okay, but wasn't sure. I have now started an inventory system for my freezers!

Not at all sure this is the appropriate place, but I have a quick question about SV duck confit. In clearing out my freezer, I found three SV duck legs from 2013. They were sealed in a chamber vacuum sealer & have remained frozen since then. Will they still be fit to eat after 3 years or should I just bin them? I haven't been able to find an unambiguous answer on Google, so hope to find one here. Many thanks.

What temperature should the ice bath be?

I recently purchased a Vacmaster VP112 sealer. The first time I tried it out, the unit sealed properly, but the top remained locked down, making it impossible to open the lid to remove the sealed item. After approximately 30 minutes of speaking with three different people at ARY, I was told to use the canister tubing to release the vacuum. I was told to let the unit rest so that an internal circuit could reset. It worked properly the next time. The next day, I used it again & again the top locked down, requiring the canister tubing to release the vacuum. Given the weight of the thing, I'm inclined to just keep the machine & use the tubing to release the vacuum, but if the tubing stops working,I suppose I could just bale up the entire thing, send it back, & let them deal with the food locked inside. Has anyone else had this problem with the VP112?

Go to Modernistcuisine.com, click on "Find a copy of Modernist Cuisine Near You." It gives the nearest bookstore or library in your area.

Cut into thirds, wrapped in prosciutto pinned by toothpicks, brushed with olive oil, grilled, served with reduced balsamic drizzle or Saba.

First time at Tour d'Argent with my father in 1970. Four courses (just remember the pressed duck), good wine, grand view of Notre Dame, then tour of the wine cellars. Being quite young probably helped too!

I still can't part with Gourmet - complete from 1960 to its demise, plus a few from the first year it was published. Same for Saveur for the moment & a few Cooks Illustrated, although I no longer subscribe. I keep Food & Wine for a year, then buy the bound volume of recipes. And I bought the DVD of Fine Cooking, all issues from inception through 2010. Bon Appetit I access through Epicurious, so toss the magazines after I leaf through them. Trying to save all of them is impossible, plus almost all of the recipes are available on-line.

Northern VA suburban, impassioned home cook.

There are a number of good recipes in The Italian Slow Cooker by Michele Scicolone. Everything I've tried has been very good. Ditto for WS Esssentials of Slow Cooking. There's also Slow Cooker Revolution from America's Test Kitchen. Haven't tried anything from there yet.

We had dinner at Haven in November & found it to be one of the better places in Houston. The service was excellent and the food was above average & is apparently locally sourced insofar as possible. My only complaint was the noise level, but that may have been solved by now. My daughter, who lives in Houston, also likes Reef, Catalan, & of course Da Marco.

I've never had any problem with the powder clumping. Is it tightly closed, because any moisture from the fridge that got in would make it clump. And it should definitely be refrigerated after opening.

My grandson, now 7 months old, scarfs down kale, broccoli, turnips, and collards, among others, in addition to the usual peas, carrots, spinach, &c. - a budding foodie!

By all means go to Berthillon. We were in Paris last summer & went twice, well worth the wait, even though my favorite flavor (we used to live on the Ile St Louis a few doors away from Berthillon), fruit de la passion, wasn't available. They've also opened a sit-down tea-room type place next door to the main shop. Many other restaurants & shops on the Ile also sell Berthillon ice cream if the line is too long at the main store. Wish I had some Berthillon ice cream right now...

Great idea. I made the zucchini Musakka with tomatoes & chickpeas yesterday & we were very pleased with the result. My problem is deciding which recipe to try next.

November will be the last issue. They won't even finish off the year. What a pity.

I just got the book & have only had time to leaf through it, but it looks wonderful, like all her other ones. Now I just need more clay pots.

I only buy steak (not a big fan) from Costco - I've found that their strip steaks are well marbled & actually taste like beef, & the texture does not resemble a soggy wad of wet paper. I've never tried the frozen steak, though, only fresh. I also buy lamb & pork there, chickens for broth, chuck roasts for stews, chicken thighs. I've always found the quality to be good if not better than at the supermarket.

So far I haven't had that problem with the Kenmore Elite, but I do have a separate freezer that holds all the long-term stuff so the fridge freezer is never filled to the top. In my old GE with top freezer, I found that items would - again - get pushed to the back & neglected till I got around to emptying the freezer (infrequently - about once a year).

Two weeks ago we bought a Sears Kenmore Elite (can't remember model #) 25 cubic foot French-door refrigerator & are very pleased with it. It doesn't have exterior water & ice because we had problems with the ice-maker tubing on our previous 13-year-old GE fridge. Access to everything is much easier than with the old GE (things would get pushed back in the back to turn green between cleanings) & it's easy to see everything, even in the chest-type freezer. You're right about the vegetable bins - they are shallower, but so far that hasn't presented any problems. It's also very energy-efficient. To our surprise, we found that there are actually only 2-3 refrigerator manufacturers & that our Sears model is actually made by LG. I looked at all of the different models available at Sears (Kitchen Aid, LG, Kenmore, Amana, Samsung & probably a couple I've forgotten) & found very few differences in them. The Kenmore also has pull-out shelves so that I can easily get to all the stuff that's in the back. After 2+ weeks, I'm still delighted with it. Of course, I still have the old GE in the basement, so there's plenty of space.