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While Bittman is plowing old ground (Pollan, Schlosser, etc.) he's brought it all together pretty well in two pages. I think it's a good enough piece of work that I'm sending a link to an old friend, Peter Whybrow, who has written more broadly about the subject in his book, American Mania: When More Is Not Enough. In a short paper here (pdf) he writes: "Brain systems of immediate reward were a vital survival adaptation millennia ago when finding a fruit tree was a rare delight and dinner had a habit of running away or flying out of reach. But living now in relative abundance, when the whole world is a shopping mall and our appetites are no longer constrained by limited resources, our craving for reward—be that for money, the fat and sugar of fast food, or for the novel gadgetry of modern technology—has become a liability and a hunger that has no bounds. Our nature has no built-in braking system. More is never enough." Fast food is only one part of something much larger.

Get a grip, Scoop! He's looking for a carving knife. Not dicing 20 cases of onions for thousands of wackos shoving food into their mouths in between playing the games in your Las Vegas casino. And my recommendation stands. If possible, get to a store that has some knives and see which one feels most comfortable. I spend many hours a week carving meat for wackos. Here's a link for my carving knife. It's as close as one can get to carving meat with a lightsaber. And my recommendation stands -- learn to sharpen, learn about edge geometry, then go knife shopping. Scoop. You have to help me out. In your earlier post you wrote: "3) Since nobody has answered one of your questions: What are most professional chefs using in their kitchens? Mostly cheap restaurant-store knives. Good knives get stolen...." Now, in your last post, you give a link to your carving knife - which retails for $315! What's going on here? At any rate, I'm assuming that jfresch is just looking for a decent carving knife for home use, may not be interested in the intricacies of edge geometry, or carving meat with a lightsaber.

Get a grip, Scoop! He's looking for a carving knife. Not dicing 20 cases of onions for thousands of wackos shoving food into their mouths in between playing the games in your Las Vegas casino. And my recommendation stands. If possible, get to a store that has some knives and see which one feels most comfortable.

What budrichard said. As he and ChrisTaylor suggest, it's best to find a store where you can handle the different knives. Except for my fish fillet knife (old Schrade) I use Wusthof Classics, but something else may feel better to you.

Thanks. I'll give it a try.

ScottyBoy - How do you get such a deep browning on your scallops without drying them out? All your scallops on this thread have a nice browning.

Like that. Since you're in Ontario it must be cool enough now to store them in boxes or bags anywhere that's out of the sun. A garage, shed, or (dry) cellar should work fine. Mine are stored in the woodshed.

Why not dry them? Oops. Just noticed you want them for juice, so forget the above. I've never tried freezing them. But, unless the weather is hot, they should easily store for two weeks and more. I store mine all winter.

If you have any local food coops, they may have Adzuki beans. All the coops here carry them in bulk, along with other dry beans. They're very good cooked with buttercup squash cut into chunks. Sometimes tamari or miso is added at the end of cooking.

Maine - Macouns and Cortlands. Every fall I get a couple of pecks of Macouns and three of Cortlands from Biscay Orchards in Damariscotta. Sometimes a peck of Honey Crisp, which I don't like as well but they're the best keepers. The Macouns and Cortlands will keep into late April and the Honey Crisp would probably last until late May if there were any left.

My, my. A bit touchy this morning?

Around forty five years ago I worked on foreign cars, including Mercedes and other German cars which had/have Bosch ignition and electric systems. It was always pronounced like "wash" only with a "b".

I have never heard of this, and it puzzles me. Since I don't even wash my ancient cast iron, let alone boil water in it, I can't imagine that boiling water in it would do anything other than remove its aged seasoning, please explain. I'm prepared to learn--but skeptical. Me too. I have Griswold cast iron that was used by my mother and her mother. I can't imagine boiling water in them.

I thought I'd lost the link, but just found it in an old email - and even though this thread hasn't had a post since 2002, it seems like the right place for this. Maybe someone knows of something better, but this is the greatest demonstration of peeling, slicing, and mincing garlic I've ever seen. And he makes a paste too. Sit back and watch some fast knife action. How to mince garlic. (You Tube.)

You said somewhere you used to post as Nick? Unless 'Nick' was just an internet nick, which could get quite meta. I did say that in the last knife sharpening thread, but didn't know you got into knife sharpening. Not an internet nick, it's my nickname.... Anyhow, glad you haven't od'd on scallop roe - and that you gave "breast milk" Jones something to think about...

Uh ooh. We haven't heard from RRO lately. Are you still with us? I hope so. Heh..reports of my death are greatly exaggerated. I would know if I died, as I would have heard my staffmembers celebrating by now. Thanks so much for the scallop roe prep link, Nick (is it Nick??). I did read it and am duly chastened, however being an irrational trollop for scallops, think I am still going to try it - not in quantity, maybe just 1 or 2, and from shell scallops only (easier to gauge freshness) and ones caught in Australian waters. We have a good fish market here in Sydney - second biggest in the world, so it's got good turnover and freshness - and I'm headed there tomorrow to pick up the makings of my last meal. Will post pics! Ha. Relief. We didn't lose you on that last deep dive looking for the best in scallop roe. Yes. Nick. But how did you know that?

Extra Virgin Valvoline Oil. Not the Nextgen recycled stuff. Sorry. Meant EVOO. Thought all those V's didn't look right. Just started using Lucini "Estate Select", which is a pretty good general purpose cooking oil.

What RRO said.

Uh ooh. We haven't heard from RRO lately. Are you still with us? I hope so.

After posting the above I remembered I'd added dipping butter, leftover from previous night's steamed clams, to the finished and tossed sauce and linguine. I'd meant to use it with the EVVO at the beginning, but used fresh butter instead. When I remembered the leftover butter in the fridge, I thoughtlessly added it to the finished dish. And then thoughtlessly wrote above that I wouldn't use butter with the EVVO next time. It was the butter added at the end that put things over the top and I will be using butter with EVVO the next time. The finished clam sauce (with plenty of clams) was actually quite delicious. Sorry for the confusion.

I think it might be maguro. I think you are right, toro of maguro. dcarch There's some chicken to the right of the catfish in the pic about halfway down... Thighs for $3.99?

Well, I made it and it turned out okay. Pretty good actually. And No Basil. I made it pretty much as in my post #10 above - without the corn. And I ended up adding some oregano I grew and dried last year. Changes I'd make the next time would be no butter and all EVVO, more garlic even though I used quite a lot this time, more oregano, and less to no parsley - even though I really like parsley. Thanks for all the suggestions.

No Basil!! But since you think so much of it maybe I'll plant some next year and give it another try.

After I wrote my last post and on the way in town I decided the corn wouldn't work. Not because it won't work with the clams, but because it won't work with the pasta. I planned on using a medium low flame for tossing the sauce and linguini. And decided to use what little De Cecco I have left and not use the Barilla that I just picked up. That'll mean having sauce left over and doing something else with it. Don't know how well it would freeze. No basil. Don't have any and don't really care for it. Might try the crushed red pepper Alcuin suggested. See what happens. I have lots of oregano, but think I'll stick with parsley.

Thanks for the replies and suggestions. Here's what I'll try. Onions, then garlic, in EVVO and butter. (Don't have any shallots, but the onions and garlic were pulled from the garden a few weeks a go. I'll probably go overboard with the garlic as it's quite good.) Then white wine and reduce a bit. Next a little clam broth from steaming the clams last night, followed by addition of clams. I'll follow Shalmanese' suggestion of not much water cooking the pasta and put in some of the water to see how that works. About the same time I'll add kernels of corn from the extra ear I steamed last night unless someone thinks that won't work. I think it will be good with the clams. Finally, I'll add the cooked spaghetti and toss with fresh cut flat leaf parsley. Uh ooh. Just checked and there's not much De Cecco left... Now off to town to pick up some white wine and whatever brand of spaghetti is available at the local supermarket. Probably Prince...