tino27

I agree, this is a great way to save a bunch of money ... at the local Acme every once in a while they will sell the entire loins for a fraction of what they charge normally. Out of a 9 pound loin, I usually cut 2 2.5-3 lbs roasts and then nice thick pork chops. The only different that I do is to trim them before freezing them (two layers of plastic wrap AND a freezer bag). That way when they thaw, they are ready to be used. The only problem is that your freezer will fill up pretty quickly.

From Pat's? Well, maybe. The hard core foodie route would be to skip the obvious (or even historically important) steak and go for the best steak, from Steve's, or Tony Luke's, or Dalessandro's, or (insert list here). And the real black belt foodie would skip the cheese steak entirely, and instead focus like a laser beam on a roast pork sandwich. ← The point I was trying to make wasn't that it was from Pat's, Geno's, or any of the other numerous places in Philly to get a good cheesesteak sandwich. The point was that I was willing to drive from Cleveland to Philadelphia in order to buy an authentic one. That being said, I've only had Pat's and Geno's ... but I know about Dalessandro's and Tony Luke's ... perhaps my next visit to Philadelphia will be about doing those two. Then again, I still love the roasted pork sandwich at George's Sandwich Shop on 9th Street.

I make a roasted tomato spread that you can use simply as a dip for toasted bread. I also use it instead of pizza sauce to make pita pizzas that I can throw into my toaster oven. Yummy snack! It's quite simply really, once you have the oven roasted tomatoes. In a food processor, put the tomatoes, a clove or two of raw garlic, fresh basil, grated Parmesan cheese, red wine vinegar, extra virgin olive oil, salt & pepper. Whiz until it is broken down but still has a little texture. It's AMAZING how oven roasting tomatoes really brings out their tomato-ey goodness!!

I make a lovely brown rice/bulghar wheat pilauf with chicken or beef stock, golden raisons and currents, some sauteed onion, garlic, and fresh thyme. Cover tightly with foil and bake for about 50-60 minutes. It also helps, too, if you let it rest for about 15 minutes before serving it. Even my grandparents (who come from an age of completely pre-processed foods) like it.

You might also try some pre-dinner appetizers -- perhaps some hummos, taboule, or tapenade. To me these are more "adult" or adventurous kinds of tastes than your standard chip dip.

I like it quite a bit. It has a subtle nuttier flavor, in my opinion. Plus, you can't beat the extra nutritional content of brown rice. I usually do a 1:1 substitution in dishes calling for white rice without any problems, although you do have to take into account that brown rice takes about 45-50 minutes to gently cook on the stovetop. Any restaurants that offer it, I usually get that over white rice. Although I've found that you have to be careful -- some places that offer brown rice actually mean fried rice.

I just re-read the entire thread looking for address information of the various events and didn't see anything. Would someone mind posting the information (or even a website link would be good, too) so I can download the appropriate maps? Thanks and I'm looking forward to this! Tammylc -- what are the latest numbers looking like?

My take on "foodie" is someone who is seeking out very specific dining experiences, whether it involves travel or not. Also it can be someone who is willing to take the time and expense of tracking down authentic ingredients, again travel or no travel. The fact that I'd be willing to drive 8 hours to get an authentic Philadelphia cheesesteak sandwich from Pat's or 4 hours to get an authentic deep dish pizza from Chicago makes me a foodie. The fact that I drive 30 minutes to get farm fresh eggs twice a month instead of getting eggs at the local supermegamart which is only 5 minutes away makes me a foodie. I think it's the dedication to authenticity that makes one a foodie.

See ... you thought I was nuts until you counted your own! My roommate still thinks I'm nuts even though he enjoys the results of my baking. Then again, he's definitely not a foodie.

I'll put my vote in for Grum's. In fact, I was up in Cleveland just last weekend and took a few Turkey Ridge sammies home for myself and my roommate (we both went to Case Western for college). They've changed the hoagie bun since I was in college, but it's still about 90% as good as I remember it to be. Grum's is located very near the corner of Mayfield and Coventry. Right next to Record Exchange.

It can, but most recipes you find in cookbooks call for AP flour. You might need to play around with the amount of cake flour to readjust the final texture to your liking. Unfortunately I don't have any conversion formulas for you between AP flour and cake flour. Perhaps someone else can suggest some.

In his honor, I'll have a whiz 'wit. This news makes me very sad.

Definitely different flours for different jobs. For breads, I use the high protein bread flours in combination with some of the lower gluten flours like whole wheat or rye. For cookies and sauces (think roux), I usually use AP flour. For delicate things like cakes or biscuits, I'll use a pastry or cake flour. AP flour tries to be the best at all things, but I think if you are serious about getting repeatable results, you need to choose the right flour for the job. I think it drives my roommate nuts that I have at any given time about 8 different kinds of flour in the cupboards. Then again, he certainly doesn't complain as he's scarfing the baked goods down.

See previous post for my rant (and yes, I realize it is a rant to some and obnoxious to others ) about the size of their menu. To me, it's ridiculously huge. And I agree, having 14 salads seems overly complicated. So does having two pages for appetizers. I've seen shorter card catalogues. As for the taste ... I guess we all have to experience that on our own in order to decide whether CF is the culinary utopia of middle class existence or pure and ultimate evil. Ok, maybe I got carried away with that last statement.

I'm just glad I found this thread in enough time to reserve my spot! I'll make sure I do my party ... oops, I mean part, to represent Akron.

I'll chime in on the pre-ferment as well. I've been doing poolish/bigas now for several months (I did direct doughs before that) now and it I think it adds both flavor and longevity to the resulting bread. And it's wicked simple to do. Before I leave for work, I mix up 250g bread flour/250g water/5g fresh (or 1.5g instant) yeast in a bowl, cover it with plastic wrap and a tea towel and just stash it in a corner. By the time I get home from work that evening, it's ready to go. For added convenience, I do the poolish in the same bowl I end up making the dough in - only one bowl to clean. As for the science of growing yeast ... I read in Reinhart's BBA that yeast activity halves or doubles for every 17 deg F of difference in the room.

Ugh. I got lulled into a T.G.I. Friday's under premise of a business meeting only to find out that my new colleagues had also enlightened the staff about my birthday (which happened to be the same day). When someone slipped and mentioned the fact that the staff knew, I immediately informed the server that there would be absolutely no singing. And there wasn't. However, about six different servers came over to give me a ballon. What a 34 year-old needs with helium filled balloons at a Friday's, I'll never know. Fortunately, there was a little kid at the next table who was more than HAPPY to take them off my hands.

I agree with merrybaker. Consistency in the protein level of the flour is what you are looking for. KA has always been very consistent in my recipes. I occasionally visit the health food stores and pick up a bag of "high gluten flour" (as opposed to vital wheat gluten), but I normally stick with KA for my bread flours. Then again, if you are only baking every so often, you might not notice that big of a difference.

To be clear, enough for 35 eGullet Society members equals enough for 175 normal people. ←

Agreed.

Sorry for coming to the game so late, but I would like to come on Saturday starting with the wine tasting and continuing through all of the events on Sunday. I just finished filling out the survey. And since no one has offered yet to bring bread, please allow me to offer my services to bake some fresh French batards and honey whole wheat boules for the dinner on Saturday night. I saw the numbers on dinner and it was 30(+1 tentative) + me, so I will make enough bread for 35 people. I'm excited to meet a number of the local eGulleters that I've seen posting here. Tammylc -- should I bring baskets for the bread, too? Or would you have that covered already?

Alas, this, too, has been my problem. When I try and show people that they have choices and that they can make a difference in what they spend their money on, most people also pass me off as a food snob or worse yet, a "gourmet". I've almost come to loathe that word, "gourmet". mmm_chocolate: It certainly isn't for me to say whether anyone else should like the food at Cheesecake Factory (or any other establishment for that matter) or not. I've paid for a meal there twice now and I don't particularly think what I had was all that good. That aside, my main issue with these types of establishments has always been the size of the portion AND the resulting cost. Why can't I get a human sized portion at a more modest price? Instead of offering me a pasta dish with chicken and pesto that could serve 2 and costs $18, why not offer me 1/2 the amount for $9? I suppose part of it is market analysis and demographics. When people go out for dinner, they expect their entrees to be somewhere between $15-$20. Chains will cater to that and with pasta being as cheap as it is, you end up getting what you paid for -- lots of pasta. (Note: Those are Ohio prices. Your mileage may vary. )

I honestly believe most Americans (at least the ones I know) just don't care. They don't care about the quality of their ingredients. They don't care about the authenticity of the ingredients. I think as a society we have been conditioned not to question anything -- including the rationality of waiting two hours for a table at a chain restaurant. Mediocrity is king. Speaking of OG ... it had been quite a long time since I had been to one. My grandfather decided he wanted "Italian" and suggested we go there. No wait, thankfully, but I soon was reminded of why I don't frequent the place. Salad is served. "You want cheese on that?" Soup is served. "You want cheese on that?" Breadsticks with marinara dipping sauce are served. "You want cheese on that?" Pasta is served. "You want cheese on that?" I surmise you could probably order a plate of cheese and the server would actually ask you, "You want cheese on that?" Cheese is good. Just not on everything.

It makes me wonder ... is a place like the Olive Garden in Times Square frequented more often from tourists or natives?

At Cheesecake Factory, you have the biggest selection of food I've ever seen anywhere, which is great for diverse diners, or if not sure wat you're in the mood for. And not that I'm a big eater, but the typical American diner likes whopping portions, which is what you get there. ← Prepare for soapbox ... I know this thread is about waiting for service, but since the Cheesecake Factory has come up so much, I'd like to offer a thought or two. 1) I thought the menu was HORRENDOUSLY huge. In typical American fashion, instead of offering a concise, well thought out menu, they offer a myriad of ways for preparing a single ingredient (like chicken breast), none of which are very stellar -- I mean seriously, you need how many pages of a menu to describe JUST the appetizers? 2) I just don't understand this American obsession with getting huge amounts of mediocre food and then charging you $18 a plate for the experience. Cheesecake Factory isn't alone in this, but when the first words out of the servers mouth are, "The portions here are huge," it doesn't bode well for the establishment. However, why anyone would wait for a table at the Cheesecake Factory is beyond me. It seems to me to be the best example of how bad the American chain restaurant experience can be. As for the waiting, I suppose my tolerance depends on the situation. If I've made reservations at a restaurant, I expect to be seated within ten minutes of pre-arranged reservation time. If I show up at a restaurant sans reservations (or at a place that doesn't take reservations), I'll usually make the call on the spot -- but I don't think I'd ever wait more than 30 minutes. OK, done ranting now. End of soapbox.