annabelle

I can remember (back in ancient times) my grandmother running a freshly killed chicken over a gas flame to singe off any feathers she was unable to pull free when she dressed a bird. If the goal of this piece is an entirely germ-free kitchen, the author may want to live on the food the astronauts eat: cooked within an inch of its life and vacuum packed.

I thought Brits called canned items tinned? Instead of jarred, I would think bottled would be a better description.

I just dry it off with paper towels. Same deal with beef and pork.

Nachos and pot stickers aren't safe around my boys, either.

Yeasted coffee cakes filled with jam/preserves or cream cheese. Not only is the dough eggy and buttery and delicious, it all smells so fantastic when it is hot out of the oven. When I had neighbors with lots of children or grandchildren I didn't mind baking them since yeast breads are very therapeutic to make (to me) and very satisfying to either eat or give away. Likewise, steamed puddings are not long for the world if I am in the room armed with a knife and fork. Now I live out in the country and my nearest neighbors are elderly and on restrictive diets and my youngest son is very cautious about what he eats since he wrestles and has to make weight all the time. I have compromised by making them at Christmas and making King Cake at Ash Wednesday.

Isn't that because of all the quick pickles, melonpan? Kimchi is rather like sauerkraut and takes the investment of time. Also, from what I know of Asian kitchens (which is little, admittedly) storage space is woefully lacking. Do you suppose the limitation on space is a reason? It certainly isn't industry, since Korean food takes a lot of prep.

The OP makes this sound like a student project in graduate school. I did a similar project in B-school wherein I cross-indexed all of my huge collection of cookbooks by recipe type and style of cooking. It was a right pain in the ass. I would think there is some sort of existing library format search index that does the same thing in addition to the links Lisa has provided. At in any rate Epicurious, et al, have massive databases that have been extant for more than a decade. That's centuries ago in the world of software development. I'm not trying to be a wet blanket, just a realist. Best of luck to you!

Brown Hornet, a lot of the vitriol has nothing to do with the products offered, but is because they aren't a union shop and the owner is not a supporter of various social engineering programs embraced by our current administration. I agree that if one has a wealth of farmer's markets or roadside stands or u-pick places, you are missing out on the best the seasons have to offer by shopping at a market. Markets are more of a matter of convenience for most than a quest for the best there is on offer. My town has a very beautiful new market that is modern and designed to upsell. I don't shop there often since many of the items I buy in my regular shopping can be had much more cheaply at Wal-Mart or the local dairy store. The dairy store sells milk and ice creams from their own dedicated herd of BGH free cattle (bonus: my youngest works there and gets a 15% discount). Wal-Mart carries the same items as the fancy market at half the price and ambience. It's easy to do the math.

Perhaps one of the lawyers here could clarify? It's been forever since I took any business law so it may be that I'm misremembering.

Oliver B, you can copyright recipes.

No dice, but thanks for trying. Could you give us an executive summary?

I can buy Heinz ketchup in China, but seldom do. I've never heard of French's mustard. French's mustard is a very mild yellow mustard. The name is the name of the company and has nothing to do with France.

It's behind a paywall, rotuts. There is a work-around for that though: Right click it and search it with Google and you can read the article, but not the comments. I have never shopped at a WF since we live in Tiny Town and we aren't part of their target market. I have studied their business model over the past few years, however. They are working against their brand by offering sales and discount items in the manner described in the article. Their appeal is to the Hipper Than Thou customer with disposable income above and beyond a modest food budget. If nothing else, economies of scale won't allow them to compete on this playing field since they have only 300+ stores.

Paul, just skim is with a large spoon. There's nothing harmful in the foam, it will only make your final product cloudy. If cloudy stewed tomatoes don't bother you, then as Celeste says, just cook it until it quits foaming.

I have tried everything, Lisa. Your suggestions sounds like a great idea for nights when I need to make something heartier for supper and not too far away from lasagna, which we all love at my house. I will definitely try it this fall. Thanks! It's funny too that I was talking on the phone with my son who lives about a thousand miles from me while he was fixing his lunch yesterday. He is an adventurous cook and living alone for the first time since college and he said he was making ramen for lunch. "It's the first time I've made them not because I had to but because I wanted to." He chalked it up to nostalgia for college food. I think maybe the blue box mac n cheese is the same for me. That or I am a closet Philistine.

Hot dogs are best enjoyed at the ball game. It's the same thing that makes cocoa test better with a ski lodge around it.

I don't think that's what the OP is driving at, Katie, but I understand what you are saying too. For instance, I love macaroni and cheese. For years I tried every recipe and concoction I could think up to make the perfect mac and cheese that wasn't too dry or too wet or too cheesy. I learned that I 1) dislike baked macaroni and cheese with a passion. 2) I cannot abide bleu cheeses or four or more cheese mixtures. 3) I must have elbow macaroni and nothing else. 4) Most béchamel sauces for pasta are too thick and get thicker if too much cheese is added. 5) With cheeses, more is definitely not better. So, probably thousands of pans of mac and cheese and most likely that many dollars later, I have embraced Kraft mac and cheese with the squeeze package of velveeta cheese. The horror! I like to think of it as molecular gastronomy before it was cool.

Is the divide something like the Hellman's/Best Foods regional naming? I grew up in California and I can't recall what they were called, but I wasn't a fan so that's probably why.

But what's luxurious to some is everyday food to others. I'm profligate with seafood--I live in the heart of a rich, productive estuary. A pound of crabmeat, to me, is like a pound of ground beef to others. I measure shrimp by the cooler full (usually 60 quarts or larger), not by the lb. So I don't have to treat my jumbo lump like jewels, bathed solely in drawn butter and lemon....I can use in a creamy corn, poblano, and crab soup, I can put it into stuffed green peppers, or fold it into seafood stuffing, or use it in an everything-and-the-kitchen-sink gumbo. "Shine" is a relative term. Well, everything is relative Celeste, of course. Many if not most of us don't have the easy access to lovely fresh seafood and fish like Gulf Coasters do. When my husband lived in Alaska, he had access to many different game animals that would be considered exotic in the lower 48. Most of us have seldom if ever cooked up elk chops on a regular basis. Or moose or bear meat. My point is that lobster is a luxury item and it is a crime to put it in a pot pie, to my mind. Others are free to have a difference of opinion, of course.

I think this is absolutely true, Bill. If the goal of a dish is to make a coveted ingredient shine, why drown it in a dish that is enrobed in a cream sauce? I'm looking at you, you people who make things like lobster pot pie. And, yes I blame Thomas Keller.

You're right, Twyst. I was referring more to the judges on Top Chef. Owning a restaurant or several doesn't make one the authority, as Tom C. demonstrates each season. I'm loving the BBC MC Professional, as well. I love all the care in technique and plating. Classical training is a thing of beauty to watch.

I can't stand Mario Batalli so I can't help you there.

There are a couple shows that are actually quite nice: Ina Garten is very pleasant and cooks in her Hampton's kitchen for her husband and her friends. Giada Delaurentis cooks in spectacular home kitchens in Beverly Hills that her show leases from the owners for background. These shows are all on during the day or on the weekend as reruns, though.

Ah, but Top Chef is on Bravo, furzzy. Making it even more cheesy, if possible.

It is terrible, isn't it? I watched the chefs leaping out of an airplane and thought "Who indemnified this challenge? Those people are out of shape and untrained." It's all fun and games until someone gets a spiral fracture.