Bonnie Ruth

But why? This is a piece of advice I always follow, but without understanding it.

I am in Denver, with plenty of meat markets and ethnic groceries, but I don't know anything about pork belly. If it is mostly fat, with very little meat, how much do you have to use for the recipes above? The pulled pork sounds wonderful, but it is hard to imagine doing that with something that is mostly fat. Guess I am just confused about what this is, but if it is fatty pork, I am interested.

I know I must be really out of it, but where and in what form do you buy pork belly? The thought of good old fashioned fatty pork makes me drool....

That's odd. I've heard from chefs on TV that it's cutting the root end that causes tears the most. And we all know that we can believe everything we heard on TV. ← They're all wrong. It's leaving the unsliced/diced/chopped half cut side up while you slice/dice/chop the first half that causes the most tears. Put the oxymoronic whole half cut side down on your board or a plate while you attack the other half and your tears will be reduced at least by half. Gare-awn-teed! ← Well, come to think of it, I also have usually chopped off the root ends. So that could be the real reason I don't have too much problem with tears. (But my grandmother couldn't have been wrong, could she?) I also never thought of the possibility it was the uncut half sitting on the cutting board that caused the tears. But what about when you cut into that half? Seems to me the tear problem gets greater as you go along.

I am surprised to see everyone talking about cutting through the stem end. My grandmother taught me that most of what makes us tear up from onions is in the stem end. I always chop that end off before cutting an onion, and I have very little problem with tears. I can't wait to hear what people are going to say about this.

i've had a wolf for 15 years, i use SOS for tough baked on stuff, otherwise just regular dishwashing soap and a little scrubbing. i spray ammonia on the outside stainless, then i "polish" a little with a dry rag. ← Thanks! Just checking, does yours have porcelain? I'm not sure I could use steel wool on the porcelain parts. ← I have a Wolf and I use those silver abrasive pads that you get at the grocery store that say safe for non-stick surfaces. Doesn't seem to scratch the porcelain. ← ← I am having trouble with this site right now; it seems to repeat my initial message over and over and hasn't been letting me post a reply. I have Simple Green but hadn't thought of using it on the stove. I didn't know about the silver abrasive pads for non-stick surfaces; do you know what they are called? I called the manufacturer because I already can't get the burners or oven racks clean. They said I could use No-Fume Easy Off for the oven parts, but had nothing to suggest for the burners that I hadn't already done (e.g., spray degreaser, soaking in soapy water). They also said that on the oven racks, I could use the blue Scotch Brights. I hadn't realized before that the blue were less abrasive than the green/yellow. I haven't tried any of this yet but did get out and buy the No Fume Easy Off.

i've had a wolf for 15 years, i use SOS for tough baked on stuff, otherwise just regular dishwashing soap and a little scrubbing. i spray ammonia on the outside stainless, then i "polish" a little with a dry rag. ← Thanks! Just checking, does yours have porcelain? I'm not sure I could use steel wool on the porcelain parts. ← I have a Wolf and I use those silver abrasive pads that you get at the grocery store that say safe for non-stick surfaces. Doesn't seem to scratch the porcelain. ←

I should have thought of ebay. I would love vintage Le Creuset. But I'm still thinking my Chasseur at overstock.com was a good buy. (No comments on my posting; I'm surprised.) I didn't have any information about the handles, but in the picture they look like cast iron like the rest of it. It was supposed to ship right away; I can't wait to get it and try the famous no-knead bread recipe.

I just ordered a Chasseur 6-quart enameled cast iron covered casserole dish (it looked just like a Dutch oven - is there a difference?) from Overstock.com for $139.99, with a$2.95 for shipping. I think this is the best deal I have found unless it is not really a Dutch oven. Any advice while I still have time to cancel?

i've had a wolf for 15 years, i use SOS for tough baked on stuff, otherwise just regular dishwashing soap and a little scrubbing. i spray ammonia on the outside stainless, then i "polish" a little with a dry rag. ← Thanks! Just checking, does yours have porcelain? I'm not sure I could use steel wool on the porcelain parts.

Thanks, that sounds good. But do you mean just on the glass window? I'm pretty good with the stainless steel parts, I'm still wanting to know what to use on the porcelain.

I also have been lusting after an LC dutch oven and looking at less expensive brands. I hadn't heard of this one or of Staub. There is a discussion of this going on at the Fine Cooking cooks forum that says there is a brand at Target that Cooks Illustrated rated just below LC. And another sold on Amazon that I think was called Lodge; I looked at it for a long time yesterday but didn't want to pay the $14+ shipping charge. Apparenty it is also sold at Target, and I intend to look there. Someone at the FC group just dissed the Innova for having no warranty since the company is out of business, and for having enamel that flakes off in sheets. I think your experience of the thing chipping on its own lid is pretty bad. My biggest concern about the LC or any other brand is the weight. If it weighs 19 pounds or something empty, and at 7 quarts adds another almost 16 pounds when full, how do you lift it? I recently bought an All Clad dutch oven instead for that reason, but I want the enameled cast iron for bread baking, at least.

My kitchen remodel is nearly done, and I am using my incredible new Wolf stove with the convection oven. I have pored over the information about how to care for it, but it isn't specific as to brands, etc. I can use a spray-on degreaser, which I don't think I have ever had before. I'm supposed to be able to clean the glass oven window with Windex, but it isn't working very well. I'd love some suggestions.

Speaking of putting bananas in the refrigerator, I learned a trick some years ago. If you put bananas in a WHITE plastic bag at the bottom of the refrigerator, they will keep without turning black (or at least without turning black so fast). I don't do this before they are ripe because it slows the ripening so much.

Wow! Where do you live that you can grow bananas in your back yard?

Where can I buy Barkeepers Friend?

I also had a brining disappointment, if not quite a disaster, with my heritage turkey at Thanksgiving. I brined it according to a recipe from Fine Cooking that I have used before with good results, although not with a heritage turkey. This time it came out more salty than ever before. It wasn't enough to ruin it, but it wasn't the best turkey I ever roasted, either, and I had expected it to be. One thing I did differently this time was start it at 450 degrees for the first hour and then lower the heat to 325 until it was done. This was highly recommended by a friend who is a supurb cook, and I have done it with unbrined poultry. Was the high heat not good with the brining? Why?

I missed the original recipe. What kind of bag do you put it in to dry?

I was told by a grocer at my organic foods grocery that organic bananas sometimes don't ripen because they have not been treated with some chemical that makes conventional bananas ripen.

Okay, I posted this under the wrong topic. So I will repeat it here. I jsut had a kitchen remodel and have a new Subzero refrigerator. I am surprised to find it has just one long drawer for produce, with little movable dividers but no real separation between fruits and vegetables. It also has no meat drawer, so presumably meats are to go in there, too. What happened to keeping fruits separate from vegetables because they throw off gases that spoil the vegetables? Does Subzero have some technology I don't know about that makes this unnecessary?