Steven Blaski

Death by Donut. Wow.

Thanks Wendy. I didn't know this. How much cornstarch would you recommend for 5 cups of mixed berries weighing about 1.5 lbs? I used tapioca flour because I had it available and figured I'd give it a try. Now I'm anxious to learn more about it. If I have time this weekend, I'll make a few pies using different thickeners and report back. ← Beanie, you might want to give Instant Clearjel a try for fruit/berry pies. It's a modified cornstarch that thickens fruit fillings beautifully. I think most commercial fruit pies contain it or something similar, such as Therm-Flo. A local Mennonite business near me sells read-to-throw-in-the-pieshell homemade pie fillings and they thicken theirs with Therm-Flo. There is absolutely zero runniness. Actually, it's a little TOO firm for my taste so I usually buy my own fruit and thicken it with ClearJel. I believe I recall that Cook's Illustrated recommends thickening berry pies with ClearJel. Potato starch is my second favorite fruit pie thickener. I find the fruit in the pie is less cloudy and more pure tasting using potato starch rather than cornstarch. You can substitute it in equal proportion.

A couple times a month in the winter I make a sublime, simple pot roast in my bright red Rival slow cooker. Saute 1/2 c each of onions, carrots, turnips/potatoes, and celery till soft. Dump that into the cooker. In the same pan, brown a 3-pound chuck roast that you have presalted -- a la Judy Rodgers -- by at least one day. Place that on top of the sauteed veggies. Deglaze the pan with 1/2 c red wine, reduce till slightly thickened. Pour that into the cooker, along with a cup of boiling water. Turn on low. Cook for 8-9 hours. Strain sauce, and refrigerate overnight *separate* from the roast. Next day remove the layer of congealed fat from the sauce and any fatty bits from the roast. Pour a bit of sauce into a large saucepan and place roast on top. Cook, covered, over low till heated through. Meanwhile, heat sauce, thicken if necessary with a bit of potato starch slurry (I don't find it necessary). Steam some root vegetables to serve with the roast. Soul-satisfying! A chuck roast is essential for a flavorful, meltingly tender result. A flat, steak-shaped one with plenty of marbling is best and easiest (only two sides to brown). Avoid anything from the round -- its lack of marbling makes for a dry flavorless pot roast in the slow cooker. Brisket is too chewy for the kind of meltingly tender texture I want.

This -- the tofu's texture -- has always been my downfall as well through many frustrating years and numerous recipes to try to create the Ultimate Ma Po Dofu at home. I've tried silken tofu but I find it too ... silken. The texture is too glassy; it lacks a toothsome quality I want. If I can find some "soft" tofu (much harder to find in my area than firm or extra firm or even medium) I'll try that with the suggestions in this thread of not browning it or cooking it much other than adding it toward the end to heat it through. My gold standard for the dish is Brandy Ho's in SF -- they call it "Bean Curd with Meat Sauce." The meat sauce is extremely savory and gravylike. The bean curd is soft and custardy -- but not silken-y. Another thing about their version I love is that they use peas in their sauce. That vegetable's color and sweetness make for a nice contrast with the beige-brown and the heat. My quest continues ....

Slow Cooker Pot Roast Serves 4 as Main Dish. This recipe is adapted from the book "Not Your Mother's Slow Cooker." One to three days before cooking, salt the roast. For a 3-pound chuck roast, use 1-3/4 teaspoon fine sea salt or table salt. Ingredients 2 T olive oil 1/2 c each (diced): onion, carrot, potato, celery 3 lb chuck roast 2/3 c red wine 1-1/3 c boiling water 1 lb steamed root vegtables 1. In a large skillet, saute the diced vegetables in 1 TB oil till soft. Scrape veggies into the slow cooker. 2. In the same pan, add remaining oil. When hot, brown the pre-salted roast lightly on all sides. Place roast on top of the sauteed veggies. 3. Deglaze the pan with the wine, loosening all the tasty browned bits, and reduce it till slightly thickened. Pour the syrupy wine into the cooker, along with boiling water. 4. Turn slow cooker to Low. Cook for 7-8 hours. 5. Strain sauce, mashing solids against the strainer, then refrigerate sauce and roast overnight in *separate* containers. 6. Next day remove the layer of congealed fat from the sauce and any fatty bits from the roast. 7. Pour enough sauce into a large saucepan to cover the bottom and place roast on top. Cook, covered, over low till heated through. 8. Meanwhile, heat the sauce; thicken, if necessary, with a bit of potato starch slurry (I don't usually find it necessary). Place sauce in a gravy boat. 9. About 20 minutes before serving, steam some root vegetables (such as quartered Red Bliss potatoes, halved baby carrots) 10. Place roast in the center of a platter. Surround with steamed vegetables. Drizzle sauce over everything. Pass the extra sauce. Keywords: Beef, Crock Pot ( RG1441 )

For Mac OS X users, here is a list of 40 freeware, shareware, and commercial recipe, food & beverage tools: Recipe software on VersionTracker

For the unusual food or food product, these two are great: Asian Ingredients : A Guide to the Foodstuffs of China, Japan, Korea, Thailand and Vietnam - by Bruce Cost Uncommon Fruits & Vegetables : A Commonsense Guide - by Elizabeth Schneider

steven, i can't tell--do those have a disc bottom, or is the disc encapsulated? i'm curious because i have a couple of old pots that are a similar shape, but they have a disc bottom. and the disc isn't big enough--the flame on my stove (which is no big fancy stove, just a regular crappy old one) hits the pot on the curved part outside of the area covered by the disc, and burns things around the edges if i turn it up too high. it's maddening. i'm saving up for a new 3.5 or 4-quart pot to replace it, but haven't done so yet... ← Since I have a glass cooktop (not by choice) this has never been an issue. But you'd never want your flame to exceed beyond the base of the pan, so you would avoid that anyway, no? If it helps, here are a couple of pix of the 8.5 quart pot:

Yes, I know Kirkland = Costco but I was just wondering if anyone knows what company in Italy actually makes the cookware.

Sam (or anyone) ... Do you know who makes the $199.99 Kirkland stainless set? I bought it a few months ago and love it -- it's both beautiful (those curves and lips!) and cooks evenly. I prefer it to the pieces of All-Clad I have. I chose it over the $50-cheaper Costco Sitram set because the particular pieces in the Kirkland were much more useful to me -- I actually use them all. Also it's more handsome than the Sitram. The stamp on the bottom of each of the Kirkland pieces says "Made in Italy." Here it is: Kirkland Signature 13-piece Stainless Steel Cookware Set Thanks.

I've never found this necessary. I take the butter cold from the refrigerator, cut it up into dice, then put it back in the fridge or freezer for a few minutes while I measure the dry ingredients. It actually has given me more problems when the fat is super frozen as AB suggests. It's caused me to over process in compensation. Most recently I've gone back to the KA mixer for making pie crust. I started doing this years ago with the Baking with Julia pie crust recipe, then gradually switched to the quicker food processor method. But after trying Sherry Yard's all butter pie crust, which uses the mixer, and getting such great results, I'm eschewing the food processor from now on. The KA gives you much more control since the process is a bit slower and you can actually *see* the pieces of butter progressing down to the right size. The problem of possibly overheating is also lessened. If you haven't tried the stand mixer for pie pastry, give it a try.

They're different apples, actually. This past weekend at a local orchard I bought a bushel of Stayman (discovered by a Dr Stayman in 1866 -- they're very popular here in Virginia). I had gone purposefully to buy Winesaps and when I asked for them they said Winesaps wouldn't be in season for a couple of weeks. But they're both excellent sweet-tart apples great for baking.

Kaufman did a radio interview on this topic that we've been discussing here. Also, there's been a discussion recently of Sarah Moulton's switch to PBS this thread.

left to right: ambercup or gold nugget, butternut (tall beige guy), carnival or maybe sweet dumpling (the little heart-shaped green-striped one), delicata (torpedo-shaped one in the foreground), and 2 buttercups (dark green guys in background). Click here for pix and suggestions.

Looking more and more interesting, no? ← Well, no, not to me -- but then I'm not a fan of Cooking Light or of "healthy cooking" recipes/articles. But I understand why they'd want such an editor and slant for a mass audience in a country whose citizens keep getting fatter and fatter while they make fad diet books and tomes by Sandra Lee the best-selling "cookbooks."

Dude, taco bell is awesome. It's also the most sanitary fast food place because nothing is actually cooked on the premises. I think Dateline did a report on all the national chains a year ago, and Taco Bell was found to have the least health violations of all the nationa chains. ← Taco Bell's Chalupa Supreme is my guilty pleasure. I always get a couple with a side order of pintos & cheese. McD's is horrible, to my mind, and is the last FF joint I'd visit. When I lived in California I liked In-N-Out; Carl's Jr. would do in a pinch. No Carl's here, but its sister company Hardee's is pretty similiar and better than I remembered from many years ago (before it changed hands). Every once in a while I get a hankering for A&W. It was the first and only fast-food place in my hometown when I was a kid. I always get a root beer float and a chili dog. Why is it that most FF chains eschew the noble hot dog?

Abra, there's a Best Butter Cake thread on the P&B forum and one of the posters, after making one of the recipes tested, claimed: "I think this is the alternative to a cake mix (as long as people don't want the chemical taste). It has wonderful tight crumb, very soft and moist and very comparable to a cake mix in texture." I can't vouch for this, but it might be worth a shot. Click here.

It didn't strike me that GG was revealing any ill will, but rather revealing her curiosity about one of the most famous food personalities of our time, who happens to be connected with NOLA but who seemed nowhere to be found amidst the crisis. I, too, was curious about Emeril's whereabouts and what happened to his businesses, etc. in the aftermath. Finally, the other day, I saw a PSA on the Food Network in which Emeril was urging people to contribute to some food-related Katrina charity. But who knows -- maybe he was involved with Katrina efforts all along, behind the scenes? Maybe someone can enlighten us.

This link gives eGullet a cut when purchased: The Ultimate Rice Cooker Cookbook

Kent, here's some interesting opinions for you in this article that might be helpful: The Spring 2005 Shanghai Xiao Long Bao Survey.

Torakris: I've never tried them, but "The Ultimate Rice Cooker Cookbook" by Beth Hensperger includes 4 recipes for rice porridge/jook using the porridge/okayu cycle. She says it works extremely well in the rice cooker -- so you should give it a try. It would be faster than a Crockpot too. The rice porridge recipes in the book are: "Plain Rice Porridge"; "Thanksgiving Jook" using the leftover bird; "Savory Rice Porridge with Shiitake and Preserved Egg"; and "Rice and Sweet Potato Porridge." PM me if you want any of the recipes.

You're welcome, Eileen. BTW, I just visited your website for the first time -- congratulations! It's very elegant and looks quite useful, too. I've bookmarked it.

These plates are amazing! -- this is the first I've ever heard of SK. My only reservation is the foam/froth gildings on a lot of the dishes. It's probably because I live in a multiple-cat household whose felines are wont to lose the contents of their stomachs all too often. A kind of bubbly residue that looks just like "portobello foam" above usually accompanies. I know, ewww. But there it is. So I'm hoping this is a passing trend in fine dining.

Tonight I made "Autumn Squash Soup with Country Ham & Garlic Croutes" (p. 67) I used local Virginia country ham in lieu of Bayonne. For the squash I baked a hefty butternut. The dish is extremely easy to prepare and very satisfying for a simple fall supper. Along with it I served cheddar biscuits from a recipe out of James Villas's "Biscuit Bliss" book. I highly recommend the soup (and the biscuits).

KA been using that quote about Merckens in their catalog for years and I've always wondered about its credibility. I, too, looked for the report but Google turned up nothing. Taste tests are of questionable worth, but FYI here's a summary of a bittersweet/dark chocolate test Cook's Illustrated conducted in 2004 and of unsweetened chocolates in a 2002 test. DARK CHOCOLATES Overall Favorite: Ghirardelli Bittersweet The runners-up, listed in order of preference based on combined scores in three taste tests (raw, chocolate sauce, and flourless chocolate cake) in each category: Sweeter Dark Chocolates: Callebaut Dark “Bittersweet” Hershey’s Special Dark Mildly Sweet Baker’s Bittersweet Baking Chocolate Perugina Bittersweet Chocolate Disinct & Bitter Dark Chocolates: Lindt Excellence Dark Chocolate El Rey Saman Dark Chocolate Valrhona 70% Cacoa Dark Scharffen Berger Bittersweet Pure UNSWEETENED CHOCOLATES (Chocolate was tested raw and in brownies) Recommended: Scharffen Berger Unsweetened Pure Dark Chocolate Callebaut Unsweetened Chocolate (2nd place in both tests) Ghiradelli Unsweetened Chocolate Baking Bar (1st place in the brownie test) Valrhona Cacao Pate Extra Nestle Unsweetened Baking Chocolate Not Recommended: Baker’s Unsweetened Chocolate Hershey’s Unsweetened Chocolate