jsmith

That pan is deadly! You must, must run out immediately and replace it with Falk copperware!

Thanks, I can tell a steak by feel, but found it harder on a burger for some reason. I'll pay more attention next time.

Not trying to take this off topic, but how do you judge when a medium or medium rare burger is done? I've got steak down fine, I just press it, and look at the juices and I know how far along it's come. I don't find burgers react the same way. Is it just an experience thing? I cook about 5 times the amount of steak as burgers so maybe I just haven't cooked enough? I always end up destroying my burger to check the insides and then serve everyone else the nice ones. I want a pretty burger too!

I worked at a restaurant that would take unfinished bottles of wine, and use them in sauces. I'm not sure the legality of that, but I have no problem with it. There was a bar up here that was caught recycling beer. NOT fine with that!

I'm still not convinced that the original lobster that started this thread was alive when it was served. All that was stated was that it was twitching.

I don't know about that particular dish, but I've killed crab before and they kept twitching for a long time afterward. I'm 100% sure it was dead as the legs were still moving after they had been removed from the crab.Why do you dismiss the post-mortum muscle spasms so quickly?

A lot of Grocery stores in Toronto charge $0.05 per bag which does seem to help reduce usage. In Ireland they charge something like $0.30 per bag and have reduced plastic bag usage by more than 90%.

I tried it the other day, and it was pretty good. I was suprised to find sucralose in the ingredients.

So is a fillet-o-fish kosher then, or does the other non kosher food "prepared" there negate that?

I may as well out myself as well. I prefer whole wheat macaroni and cheese to white pasta. As for other sauces, if I'm taking pasta to lunch or something it's usually jarred sauce and cheap dried pasta. I find most cheap dried pasta is pretty crappy, so I use the whole wheat. It isn't great, but it's a convenient way to get complex carbohydrates if I'm going to the gym later.If it's fresh, I generally like white pasta better.

ok, my theory is offically shot to hell. There goes my research grant.

Hope nobody minds me going little off topic, but the above discussions raised a couple questions for me: Are Catholics not supposed to eat meat every Friday throughout the year, or just during Lent? I know Kosher doesn't allow mixing meat and dairy, but is fish considered meat?

Small correction, the thermostat controls how hot the oven gets assuming it is possible for the oven to get that hot in the first place. If the oven light is constantly on, and it's still not reaching the proper temperature it's not the thermostats fault. An extreme example would be trying to reach 500 degrees with the door left wide open. In this case it would be due to the venting and not the thermostat.Look at the oven light (the one that indicates when it's heating). If it's on the whole time then your oven isn't capable of reaching that tempurature. If it turns off at 400 degrees there is a calibration issue. That said, my oven has a hole as described and can reach 500 degrees no problem (and it's a pretty crappy oven).

I used to eat like this, and I rotated the plate. It wasn't a neurosis or anything, I did it subconsciously. Sometimes I would catch myself and try the different foods and I didn't freak out or anything, I just find it more enjoyable to take my time on each item. Now, I usually eat about half of one food, go onto the next so I make the round twice. I find it much more satisfying to eat the food this way as opposed to a bite of this, a bite of that. If I just eat chicken for a while, for example, I can really immerse myself in it and enjoy the chicken. I might notice different aspects of the food over time. If the food is really messy I enjoy spending the time on it where it becomes a nuisance if I'm eating other stuff and I go for a single bite of something time consuming. I find when I eat everything at once it's like flipping through channels on tv where nothing really sinks in or leaves an impression.

I find it much more difficult to eat broken spaghetti. The pasta doesn't seem to bind into a solid mass nearly as well when twirling it. I usually just end up with spaghetti on my fork that is falling all over the place, and there are double the number of ends sticking out. And isn't the fun of spaghetti the twirling as much as the eating? I usually just put the pasta in and then push it down as it becomes flexible after about 30 seconds. That said, if you don't have the above difficulties go for it, the pasta will still have the same texture/flavour as the unbroken.

Three things I don't understand that I see reoccuring in the multiple tipping threads: 1) As MSRadell pointed out, what's up with the inflation of tipping percentages? I don't have an issue with it being 20% or whatever, I just don't understand the logic of it changing as tips rise with the cost of food/living. 2) I see it frequently implied that one should tip a higher percentage at a more expensive restaurant. as with (1) the tip rises with the cost of food. I tend to do the opposite. 15-20% at a nice place, but if I spend $4 at a diner I will often leave $5-$6. That's a 25-50% tip, but it's only a buck or two out of my pocket. 3) If one tips 20% in New York, why is it suddenly acceptable to tip 10-15% in Idaho? Things cost more in New York than they do in a small town so the tip will already be bigger.

Just came across this article. Apparently the Big Mac is a healthier alternative to the Crispy Bacon Ranch Salad. Not that anyone goes there for health, but I thought it was pretty funny. And yes, this thread made me order a fillet o fish as well. My issue with McDonalds is not so much the initial flavour, but the flavour that stays with you four hours later.

Aoli... so simple but so good.

I don't mind as much someone carefully grabbing a couple rolls with their hands, it's the rummaging that bothers me. Two issues: 1) I think your much more likely to get a cold from the people rummaging than the maybe sick baker as there are many people rummaging which increases the odds of one of them being ill, compared to one or two bakers. 2) As someone mentioned in the double dip thread it's an issue of personal space. I could go around the supermarket fondling people's genetalia and no one would get a cold or die. But the type of people do that or fondle the buns are never the people you really want to be doing so.

Sorry, I should of been more clear, I wasn't referring to your post when I mentioned the fries and gravy, I was mixing two thoughts in one post. I see a lot of fries and gravy bashing on this board, which is fine, it just surprises me as potatoes and gravy are such a great combination. The fact that you are a fan of poutine makes you automatically cool in my book.

That's what I use, it works great. I would also suggest going to a camping store and getting an small extra coarse diamond sharpening stone like this:http://www.mec.ca/Products/product_detail....D=1202915086289 When you get a new knife it usually won't be at the exact angle as the Sharpmaker. Rubberband the diamond stone to the flat side of one of the rods, and then sharpen away. The rods are great for touching up blades, but if you are sharpening a knife for the first time they won't be coarse enough to get down to the proper angle.

I'm not picking on this one person, but I think this post illustrates why I disagree with much of this thread. I would much prefer my pasta to be fresh. I think there is always room for improvement in any food, and if you limit yourself to one way of enjoying it you will be missing out on a lot.French fries smothered in gravy is kind of nasty, but dipped in gravy is great. What's so controversial about potatoes and gravy?

In my experience scary sharpening was more suited to chisels than knives. With the knives the sandpaper on the edge of the block wore away quickly, leaving the middle still rough. Then the top of the blade would sharpen much more quickly than the bottom, giving it a weird shape. I did it on a marble block, maybe the mouspad's flexibility alleviates this? I still say go for a real stone or a sharpening system.

Just wanted to add many margerine's contain whey, so if you're having vegans over be sure to read the ingredients.

Out of curiousity do people who like the peanut butter creamy prefer pulp free orange juice, and vice versa? I've always had this theory that people who like crunchy peanut butter like pulpy orange juice, and people who like creamy peanut butter like pulp free, but I've never tested it. For myself crunchy natural style, and (horrors) salt free.