Kouign Aman

How did you cook the lotus root? and what turned some of it pink? Very pretty turkey.

I love your enthusiasm! What about Buddha's hand shortbread cookies? Might be a not too sweet way to feature the ?unique? odor and flavor of the peel? I think they look great, but havent been awed enough to buy one (to plant one, maybe).

My thoughts exactly!

We use gelato to refer to italian style icecream - that nice stretchy stuff. We think of icecream as the hard-serve stuff you can scoop into a 3" sphere and it will hold its shape.

I'm not sure you're saving much fat w 24 egg yolks. Is that more than you needed when using the heavy cream?

This is a place that studies its ice, and prides itself on the craft of cocktailing. I am not competent to say if they are good or not, but quirky? Yes. Their website is minimal,Noble Experiment website their entrance somewhat hidden. People seem to appreciate the drinks. Other aspects perhaps are not so consistent: description , reviews. There's a piece on NPR which discusses the right kind of ice for serving vs shaking, the sound of ice hitting the bottom of the shaker, and letting the ice warm just enough to be resilient during shaking instead of brittle. The preferred method of making a reservation is by text message, apparently. Cocktail aficianados, do please visit and report back.

the tomato chutney

Do you think you'll put hot rocks in the interior cavity to speed cooking?

Interesting. If I understood the above, the tax benefits exceed the risk of loss during storage (fire, rodents, mold, cost of storage space, etc) so that beans get bought and horded. This behavior is documented by the universities in publications available to investors and the industry. Question then - who checks the corporations are really using FIFO? Why not buy beans now, and hold on to them essentially forever, while preferentially selling off each new corp (using stored beans to make up shortfalls as needed, and replenishing those stores as availability suits), in otherwords, LIFO? I know the IRS checks on stock option purchases, but does someone (beside the beansellers) actually care enough to check which lot gets sold and accounted to which purchase price? interesting! Ok, but not about the food. Two things then that make beans never really finish cooking - age and ? in the water. Someone mentioned something... This may explain the total failure of a highschool attempt to make baked beans from scratch.

And to finish - if producers are in the habit of storing for years, why are growers still growing and getting paid?

This is not helpful. Country asked a reasonable question about the statement "RG beans are fresher". Country even expressly said that the quality of the beans was not being questioned, simply the logistics of how they could be fresher, given the nature of beans, seasons, etc. For this, you offer a dismissive attack. I too am curious how the US ends up with huge stocks of years old beans, if new harvests come every year. While it makes sense for commercial bean-product producers to keep some stashed against poor harvests, it doesnt make sense to pay storage for years when new product will be available. Its that whole 'just in time' inventory concept. Storage is expensive and risky. So, I too am curious where is the info on the age of the beans my grocer sells me. (I dont doubt I have beans in my cupboard old enough to vote, because I put them in that cupboard that long ago, but why would a grocer deal with inventory that way?)

Valid conclusions can be obtained from retrospective data, analysis of trends, and questionaires - these can be the source data in a welldesigned experiment, for example the identification and description of fetal alcohol syndrome. Do you propose we should design a double-blind randomized clinical trial to determine if maternal alcohol intake affects fetal development? I think not. I think the recognition by an OB that he was seeing a weird pattern of infant facial features, followed by a questionaire clinical study (experiment) to determine maternal conditions and other possible factors over several years to identify a cause was not invalid. So, studies for correlations and dause/effect relations between food intake and cancer are valid. The risk is that correlation will be mistaken for causation, as you acknowledge. To differentiate between cause and correlation requires care, and often additional studies, to further define the relationshp. So, do those who eat coffee beans also experience higher rates of stomach cancer? That would tend to support the 'grounds' intake theory. Of course, it could be the act of boiling the coffee that does it, or perhaps countries with gritty coffee also like smoked fish. Data mining is an awesome thing, in both what it can truely discover, and the awesome errors it can result in.

We all say that we think prepared food has too much salt, then on a cooking thread we'll all go on about how undersalting is a sin. Its kinda funny. Granted, salt is a cheap (these days) and easy flavor enhancer. What's wrong with that? Why do we think its 'too much' salt? Its detrimental to a small percentage of society with a genetic tendency to salt-sensitive blood pressure. The rest of us just need to remember to drink enough to flush the salt back out again.

In which case, chocolate covered espresso beans would be the worst. Anyone care to google?

Household vinegar has been shown effective if let to stand (~5% acetic acid). I dont put the tongs in my mouth, no, but people do pay for something, then eat w their fingers, or rub their eyes, without thinking about it. Its interesting to think where the sources of nasty are. Of course, most things dont actually grow on the dry hard surface of a spoon handle, where they might in the lovely moist environment of a saladbar. And then there is mold. I have no idea how low level aa works on funguses and molds, nor viruses such as HSV. hmmm - i wonder what we'd get if we started a thread on 'do you wash your hands before eating drive thru food in your car?' ? Some folks would, and then doubleglove to boot. Others wouldnt. It would get vigourous. It might even run half a page!

Wont swear to the concentration, but yes, dilute acetic acid has been tested and shown it is an effective bacteriocide. However, its still disgusting to sample that way, digging into the main stock w hands. If you are interested in germs, swab the little spoon/tong handles, eh? Most people use them, so they get the most germy.

Sounds like the stuff covering the new 'spatula' Andiesenji linked in the kitchen gadget threads. It moved swirls of mayonnaise and ketchup around, unmarred. The thought of a carefully sauced plate slipping about ... or trying to cut a piece of meat that will. not. stay. put. But so very nice for pre-plating, or transferring from one surface to another. Unless your birds roam freely in the house, or you have small or disobedient kiids there's no reason to avoid avocados. The teflon thing was a concern for us, because things like dry-frying could potentially cause sufficient fumes. We found that our general practice of watching pans so we didnt have fire also worked fine to keep from scorching teflon and killing the bird (macaw). Still, it was a long thoughtful discussion before we decided to use those pans, and I can see deciding otherwise.

I love that fancy automated spatula. One could shape foams, soft gels etc, and them move them into place (if one left enough width for working room). fun fun fun! Is anyone selling two matched steel bowls and calling them a Garlic Peeler yet?

Could be. None of my family members cook with a scale (in England or Australia). I get the argument for why its a good idea (tho my flour weight is different from yours, because of local humidity). However, "Someone in the US who has baked a lot of cookies but is dissatisfied and wants to customize results is probably already heavily invested in kitchen equipment and has probably gotten wind of the whole baking/science meme." maybe. Or maybe they do what I do, and what my friends do, and what my inspiration did, and just go mix things together without bothering with an app, since if they have baked a lot of cookies, they've learned a lot about the effects of various changes, and are willing to bake one or more test cookies along the way. anyway, whatever. you arent going to test the guys app for him and I'm not either because I dont use apps nor any longer bake cookies enough to care, and he's mellow about it, so there we are!

Sourced? or purchased? Or even bought? Is it reproducible? Mine claims one gram but its fooling itself. I put it at +- 50. So,you are cooky maker who isnt familiar enough with cookies to make up your own recipe. You are therefore looking for an app. You are first going to drop $40 on a scale? Doubtful.

The only reason not to drink it would be if you didnt like the way it tastes. The alcohol means you arent dealing with a food safety issue.

Given the garbage quality of the kitchen scales I see, I wouldn't bank on weight being more reliable, consistent OR accurate than volume. Aside from that, lets say you have a rock solid reliabe scale: at what level do you cut off from weight & shift back to volume? 1/4 cup? 2T ? 1/8 tsp? And how do you know your 1/4 tsp measure is the same as mine? The 5 I have are all different one from the other. So, test the app already, as it stands, then make your argument(s).

That is a beautiful egg plate!

I usually put lemon (juice and zest) in my cream cheese frosting which zings it a bit. Salt helps.

The little green 'spanish' ones that are stuffed with anchovies. Kalamatas chopped into things for little random zings of salt and richness. Jumbo black ripe olives. Love that butter-like richness.