djyee100

We need to be vigilant that the FDA does not participate in the degrading of our food stocks. I don't want to live in the middle ages, so I appreciate the abundance and convenience of commercial mass-produced food. Nonetheless, if some companies aren't held to standards, they will degrade the quality of foods to the point where the foods taste less and less like they should. Then the average consumer eats these foods regularly from a variety of purveyors, and forgets what they're supposed to taste like. The American palate changes as people forget and get used to the poorer quality substitute. For example, think of how the American palate has changed from the many convenience and fast foods developed in the last 50 years. Today I was doing some errands, and I passed a swanky new ice cream shop advertising "homemade ice cream" (i.e., made on the premises from local ingredients). Of course I had to try it out. The ice cream was very disappointing to me. It tasted like supermarket ice cream but with exotic flavors. The ice cream really wasn't thick or creamy, and it had a fair amount of air in it. It wasn't like my homemade ice cream, anyway! Yet the shop was busy with customers, and everyone seemed to like the ice cream. I had to wonder if they would have been so satisfied if they were used to the flavor and texture of real homemade ice cream, rather than supermarket ice cream. Robert, thanks for this thread, and I have opined to the FDA.

I prefer a solid chocolate bar above all. I keep several different kinds in my cabinets and eat chipped off pieces as the spirit moves me. My second favorite way to eat chocolate is in baked goods, and last is boxed chocolates. The fillings in chocolates, wonderful as they are, distract me from appreciating the chocolate flavor as much. Not that boxed chocolates are a distant third on my favorites list. Offer me some and watch how fast they disappear.

I've never cooked sweetbreads, so I can't help you there. But I ate them once at a restaurant, sauteed crisp with lots of thinly sliced mushrooms. I think the pan was deglazed with Madeira and the sauce poured over all. The sweetbreads were mild in flavor, with the texture of chicken breast. Very tasty. I'd eat them again if I could. I encourage you to try cooking 'em.

I've belonged to a CSA for over 10 years now. I hemmed and hawed for two years before that, because I was afraid I wouldn't cook the veggies that just came every week, without my being able to choose what I wanted. As it turns out, I'll cook anything in my refrigerator when I'm hungry. And since I was unfamiliar with some of the produce, I hit my cookbooks and tried new recipes. Subscribing to a CSA has been great for getting me out of the rut. Plus, I've learned to cook and like some veggies that I never ate much before, like winter squash and turnips. But I always tell people who are interested in joining a CSA: You have to cook. If you're disinclined to cook, or if you're too busy to cook regularly, a CSA is probably not right for you. But if you are an improvisational cook or someone who just likes to cook with what's on hand, you might enjoy belonging to a CSA very much. For anyone looking for a CSA, localharvest.org lists all the CSAs in the country. http://www.localharvest.org/csa/

Fat Guy, you are simply taking the wrong attitude about this. Just because you don't want to chop up a humungous block of chocolate doesn't mean others wouldn't jump at the chance, if you spin it right. A friend and I assisted a pastry chef in a chocolate tempering class. We are both chocoholics, and we loved chopping up the blocks of chocolate necessary for the class. I remember my friend gazing in wonder at one 20-lb block of chocolate that she later demolished. You see? So my suggestion is to invite some friends over for a Chocolate Heaven experience, chopping up your chocolate. They can do the work, and you can serve refreshments. P.S. If you don't have a chocolate chipper, you can also use the meat fork that comes with a carving set. It's not as efficient, since it's only 2-pronged, but it works fine.

Localharvest.org lists all the CSAs in the country if you are looking for one. http://www.localharvest.org/csa/

I use an old broiler pan, the heavy enameled kind, and I preheat it before adding ice water to it. This pan can take rough treatment.

When I use my steaming method (ice water in a preheated pan on the floor of the oven), I pull the pan slightly out of the oven, and toss the cup of water into the pan (more tossing than pouring, actually). If your hand is too much above the water when you pour, then you do risk a steam burn.

Not bad for a first try. When you slash a baguette, try making cuts almost flat to the surface of the loaf (about a 30 degree angle to the surface of the loaf). These will open up more decoratively as you are used to seeing in a baguette. But you didn't tell us: how did the loaf taste?

Silpats are handy for baking macaroons. Also, if you make the Minimalist No-Knead Bread recipe, you can let the dough do its second rise on a silpat, then plop the silpat into the preheated pot. I agree with others here, I would not use a silpat for cookies that I want to bake up crisp.

I don't know if spraying could harm any oven glass. When I use my ice water method I am very careful to avoid dripping water on the glass of the oven door. Sometimes I cover the oven door temporarily with a towel while I pour water into the pan. This is actually important to remember. Thanks for reminding me to mention it.

I'm not a fan of spraying the oven walls with water, either. I've done it and always wondered if the spraying was really accomplishing anything in a hot oven. The water evaporates so fast, and there's not much steam. However, Devlin's suggestion about setting your spray bottle to Stun sounds like a good one. Spraying your bread with water is NOT a good idea, or so I've been told by a professional baker who worked with Reinhart for a long time. I like the old-fashioned method of pouring a cup of ice water (room temperature water and ice cubes) into a preheated pan on the floor of the oven. I picked up this method from Collective Works, the cookbook by the Cheese Board in Berkeley. There's a gradual release of steam, and my bread is nice and crusty. This is not Reinhart's technique, but it works for me.

Interesting thread! I'm glad I got to read it. (Better late than never?) My CSA was delivering fresh edamame for a while, and I submitted this recipe for their newsletter: Spicy Edamame with Onions 1 bunch edamame, approx 1/2 lb beans in pods 2 tablespoons olive oil 2 cups thinly sliced white or red onion 3 garlic cloves, finely chopped 1 or 2 jalapeno chiles, seeds and veins removed, cut into thin strips 2 tablespoons cilantro, coarsely chopped 1 teaspoon salt Strip pods off stems and boil in salted water for 5 minutes. Drain and rinse in cold water. Remove beans from pods, discard pods, and reserve beans. Heat oil in a skillet. Add the onion, garlic, and chiles. Add 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/4 cup water. Cover and cook over medium-low heat without browning until onion is translucent and very soft. Add a little more water if necessary so the onion doesn't stick. Then stir in the beans and cilantro, and let everything cook for another minute or so. Taste for seasoning, and add remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt or more if you like. Serve warm or at room temperature.

I emailed my friend Maria, a Chinese-Peruvian chef, about these alien-looking vegetables, and today I received her reply: "It's called caigua, a vegetable. The one in the photograph is a very young one. I'm familiar with the more matured form, which is about the size of a bell pepper. They are normally eaten stuffed with beef and bread, very tasty." Doc, Maria told me she very much enjoyed your photos.

I've always had good results cooling the base in an ice bath and then freezing it. But then the ice cream seems to need another 4-6 hours in the freezer to develop the best flavor. (Six of one, half dozen of another--either way you're gonna wait! :-) )

Try making brioche with orange zest and chocolate chips. It's decadent. I also like a brioche with orange zest and golden raisins.

Thank you. You got it. That is exactly what they are. Those pictures of cheeses remind me how simple the origin of cheesemaking really is. You have an excess of milk, you curdle it, drain it, then you pack it so it drains and dries some more. Ta-da! I recently read Homer's Odyssey in a continuing ed seminar. The Odyssey dates to 800-700 B.C. Here's the description of cheesemaking in the poem: "(the Cyclops) thickened his milk, then, into curds and whey, sieved out the curds to drip in withy baskets" (Book 9, lines 247-249). Withy baskets are willow reed baskets. Your pictures immediately brought these lines to mind.

Those cheeses! Doc, are they just curds wrapped in reeds? No cloth wrapping, or anything like that? Again, thanks for the wonderful photoessay.

I prefer to make my own hot pepper puree, also, rather than buy something bottled or canned. I roast a heaping cup of jalapenos (7 or 8 jalapenos) until the skins are black, peel them, then puree them (seeds and all) with 1/4 cup oil, 2 tsp vinegar, and a generous amount of salt. I keep this mixture in a jar in the fridge. It stays good for a long time. I can't remember when I've had any spoil on me. I use it up before then.

After cleaning out my cupboards last year--so that stuff no longer falls out onto the floor when I open them--I'm down to one essential hot sauce, and this is it: Grand Mountain Sriracha. I don't like many hot sauces because I find them flat and metallic tasting, but I like this one. It's hot, sweet, and vinegary with an afterburn. Chef Kasma Loha-Unchit recommended it when I took her intensive Thai cooking course two years ago. I always use the "Strong" version of this sauce (as opposed to the "Medium").

Fatty salty food is fatty salty food, whether it's Chinese, Italian, Mexican, "American" or whatever. As others have said, the restaurant versions of ethnic dishes can be very different from authentic home cooking. Unfortunately this article doesn't make that clear. As for the healthfulness of Chinese home cooking--My parents and their brothers and sisters are headed into their 80s, enjoying good health, and guess what they've been eating all their lives?

Mark, aren't you a charcuterie guy? I suggest the Oliveto Restaurant in North Oakland, co-owned by Paul Bertolli. The charcuterie used to be made by Bertolli--as far as I know, it still is, even with a new chef. The charcuterie is a specialty of the house--check out the salumi on the menu. http://www.oliveto.com/basic.html The restaurant also emphasizes local ingredients, in the Chez Panisse tradition.

I can figure out what you would make with everything except the intestines and the snouts. The tripe comes from the beef stomach lining, not the intestines, correct? So would one use the intestines for sausage casings? They seem rather large for that purpose. Fascinating photos. Nothing like a dose of reality about where our food really comes from!

Yes, glossyp! Good for you. This was just a brief scene in the movie. Congrats! #144. A centerpiece of artichokes. Artichokes to eat, too.--from one of the dinner scenes in Emma starring Gwyneth Paltrow. I liked Toni Collette's performance, also. The food and the scenery in this film were sumptuous. Remember the arbor of apples? Sometimes, though, the movie seemed to drag for me. Too many tea parties.

Yes, the pyramid I was referring to was the Huaca Pucllana. The catacombs were at the San Francisco Church, not Lima Cathedral. Sorry for the inaccuracy. I toured the catacombs on my first day in Peru, still groggy from the long flight. That first day was a jumble of impressions.