DerekW

Most if not all of the shrinkage is related to water loss, I think. Home cured bacon shrinks in the pan maybe 5%, if that. The polysorbate-pumped pigbits from the supermarket can reduce to 25% of their original surface area. Perhaps the German Butcher's bacon is not all that it might be?

Fillet it? Your post mentioned skate, one of very few items to be encountered at the fish-mongers where an ammonia smell might be other than a 'decay' warning. That's not to say that the skate you got was fresh, only that it might have been. I'm no marine biologist [don't even play one on TV] but there's an interesting overview of recent research into urea disposal and osmotic balance to found in this PDF file on Nitrogen Excretion in fish We're getting a long way from stinky chicken. Sorry for the hijack.

Bovine Myology

Skates [and sharks] dispose of excess urea through their skin - an ammonia smell from these fish is often indicative of poor handling after catch, rather than being a decay byproduct. An acidic wash before cooking will neutralise it; it would probably be preferable to avoid the problem in the first place though..

Interesting. A little internet hunting to refresh the 'long ago and far away' chemistry classes suggests that Tin will indeed react with acidic sauces. A little less so than would aluminum. And yet, isn't the purpose of the tin lining primarily to reduce such interactions? Where's my copy of McGee when I need it?

Right. Ours is the convection oven 30. I've fired the oven broiler up as a test, but haven't used it 'in anger'. The previous range's broiler was so sorry that I rather got out of the habit. As with the oven burner itself, there's a delay between turning on and start of flame - the ignition system is a glow rather than the spark of the top burners. We're talking about seconds, not minutes here, but it's not instantaneous. The ceramics get hot very fast after ignition, and I doubt I'll have any problem with insufficient output - that thing is hot. Authoritative The 22ks deliver. What surprised me more was how much better the even spread from the big burner made other processes. Most of our cookware is pretty decent stuff now but even so the burner design gives more even temperatures, faster. Bottom line: This thing was a really major purchase for us, and it had an awful lot to live up to; so far we're really pleased with it.

Our BlueStar is too new for me to have any long-term or servicing answers for you, but it's been a joy to use thus far. Of course it replaces a thoroughly sucky electric range so the side by side comparison wasn't too taxing. That said, I've cooked on a few other [domestic and commercial] gas appliances and the BlueStar is, as noted, a joy. Not sure what to tell you about the simmer burner. It's low, and reliable, but simmering being so dependant on volume and pan type I find it hard to generalise. If the volume of liquid to be simmered were too small then the burner would be too high even on the really low setting I suppose, but then I'd just slide the pan over a bit.... The oven temperatures are spot on across a wide range. Are you talking about the in-oven broiler, or a broiler [grill] top?

Color shifts: Dye spaghetti vivid red and serve it with a white veal sauce Anything dyed blue is always pretty unsettling - perhaps tortellini in a cream sauce, all of which would take blue dye. Context shifts: Main course as dessert - If you have time to make your own pasta then make fruit filled ravioli [easier than folding lots of little belly-buttons] and have a red sauce from fruits and berries, possibly whipped into yoghourt. Pasta shapes I find more challenging - what is surreal in that context? Apparently it's still possible to buy the "Play Doh Fun Factory" which might offer some options. Ikea sell pasta Moose heads! Pictures of the final results are of course obligatory

A small pan of sauce will simmer nicely if placed over such a vent while the oven is running moderately warm. And congratulations on getting an oven which is consistent in its error - our loathsome coil stove [now replaced with gas, Yay!] used to be too hot at cool temperatures, and decidedly under temperature at 'high' levels. No doubt there was a point in the middle where it was 'just right' but I never seemed to need to cook at that temperature.

Check out "Lobscouse and Spotted dog" for more information. Basically, Dog, duff and dick all appear in these names as a corruption of 'dough' Many of these 'name confusions' turn out to be urban legends, by the way. Snopes is usually worth a look.

Just as a point of information, the "pink salt" [in the nitrited-salt sense used in Mr Ruhlman's excellent 'Charcuterie] which I have obtained in Canada from a couple of different sources is not pink at all. Nor was the stuff I obtained in the UK. Both were an off-white, slightly more yellowish than ordinary table or kosher salt. For your Foie I would think that #1 cure would be the one to use - the #2 stuff is a sort of 'time release' version intended for long-curing items like dried sausage or hams.

Salt pig, of course I was mildly surprised to find that most salt pigs lack ears and tails, but these ones are adequately equipped.

Try Okanagan Harvest cheers Derek

Mostly Islay or thereabouts, sipping about 80:20, unless it's a cool, patio pre-dinner 60:40. Cask strength indoors usually about 60:40. Always well-cold water. Blends? Toddies and cocktails. We can't get Black Bottle over here. Slainte!

Okay Anne, I'll have a go... For what you get, it's stupidly overpriced - that's a $50 'turkey fryer' burner on a $100 Gas grill frame with a griddle on top. Not only would making your own save about four figures, but home-made [pronounced "custom built"] is way cooler. Good luck, it sounds like there's a porta-thingy in your future cheers Derek

Can anyone recommend a real butcher in the Kelowna / Vernon end of the Okanagan? By 'real butcher', I mean somewhere like Windsor Packing in Vancouver, where they hang and cut the beasts, rather than a vendor of shrinkwrap and plastic trays. We're happy to buy pork and lamb as primals, and I'd like to be encouraging local suppliers, and those who are raising their beasts with a decent quality of life. cheers Derek

Ribeye Cap [or Rib Lifter, or Ribeye lip muscle, or Deckle]: "...fatty but very tasty meat .... which lies between the eye and the the thick layer of fat that covers the rib", Field Guide to Meat

Flexitrack halogen lighting is a pretty low cost way of getting useful task lighting over the counters without re-wiring. As an example, Ikea sells them. Mount the transformer where the strip light picked up its power and run the track in a lazy S to place the ends over the work areas. Refinishing cabinets rather depends on what's under the laquer, and how much grunt work you want to put in. I'm guessing you mean laquer or a plastic foil finish over some kind of composite board? Brush painting the cabinet carcasses should work fine. You might contemplate spraying the doors for a more 'professional' look. Auto paint places can do a very nice job on kitchen doors, if they're so inclined. I'd wait for the appliances to cross the threshold of viable repairability before color co-ordinating a rental.

You could start Here - the remote probe temperature controller I use is a Ranco. As Bud notes, these are a commonplace industrial item. Where are you?.

Check into your local Home Brew supplier's stocks - there are food-grade contact sanitising solutions such as 'Starsan' which are effective at concentrations low enough to permit 'no-rinse' use in direct contact with the beer. They work well for me as a general purpose charcuterie sanitiser too cheers Derek

Peterson's Fish & Shellfish got several votes in a similar posting recently. I'd add my vote to those - Readable, comprehensive, useful. cheers Derek

Most brass alloys contain a percentage of lead. The percentage varies with the intended original purpose of the alloy. Forging brass [C377] runs about 2% lead. It is possible to "pickle" the surface of a brass container or fitment to remove the available lead from the surface layer of the brass - John Palmer is a metalurgist by profession, and a brewer and author by avocation. His Webpage describes the process. Nice looking woks. cheers Derek

Writing as a 'civilian'..... This [second] time they pull that? Nothing. Next time? "Sorry, we have no tables available at that time. No, sorry, we're fully booked then as well. " &c. &c. The joy of reservation systems. Or am I out of line here? cheers Derek

I wonder if there are enough interested eGulleteers in BC for us to get together and split a case? You could count me in for a couple of bottles. If the three of us [jlo mein, Beebs and I] did that then we're at half a case already. Perhaps a cross-post to the Regional forum is in order? cheers Derek

Welcome to eGullet! I've never seen gizzards for sale which had not previously been split and cleaned. Not to say that it doesn't happen, but the odds are that yours have been "de-rocked" already. The gizzard muscle [which is what you'll be eating] has 'silverskin' on the outside You probably want to remove the denser part of that at least, since it can be pretty chewy. These ones are out of a duck, so they're a bit different, but hopefully give the idea. That's two half gizzards to the left and a duck heart to the right. At the top of the image, the half-gizzard has its cut face to camera, exposing the muscle grain. The 'silverskin is seen on the exterior face of the lower half-gizzard [cut face down]; the stuffalong the ridge is soft & fatty. I can't remember the plumbing layout of the chicken, but the softer stuff you describe as adhering sounds more like a bit of the liver than the [relatively dense muscular] heart. cheers Derek