gfweb

Looking at the photo of the samovar, I can't see what the gear puller's screw would push against. I think I'd put a torch on the thing and have the thermal expansion crack the scale.

I don't know about the whole publisher helping distribution thing. Anymore I only buy books on Amazon. Only bookstores I see are in airports. Could be wrong of course...

I think the publishers have done you a favor in declining your book. Its clear that they are all in tough times and from what you've told us about their offers I can't imagine that they'd do any more for you than exactly what is in the contract, and probably they'd try to chisel on that. I think you'd end up marketing it yourself mostly and thinking that they screwed you. So why not go ahead as you had planned and self-publish. You might want to get tax/legal advice before actually getting started. Perhaps there would be advantages to incorporating your own imprint for the book...or doing it through the restaurant.

I think your mom had 5 or 10 years on mine. But that bacon-wrapped burger was past my mother's repertoire. No sauce on anything. That would be foreign. Her abhorrence of the alien was odd considering she had an AB from an Ivy in Spanish.

Edw J, good analysis. The restaurant industry could learn from another sector of hospitality...golf. Hours are long and pay isn't great at the low levels, but the PGA has defined what the qualifications for a golf pro are and what the steps are to get there. Big golf companies eg Club Corp (and many others) have in house training and are good for a whole career. There needs to be a cooking equivalent of the PGA (which developed in response to a lack of standards and respect for golf pros). One of the definitions of "professional" includes self-governance and setting of standards. Cooks ought to militate for such an organization.

My sense is that a lot of young people have left the workforce. To do what, I don't know. When I post an ad for an entry-level job (in my non-food business) I get no young people applying. None under 30 years old or so. There seems to be a lack of gumption, spunk, and stick-to-it-iveness in kids today.

I'm puzzled about many things in this thread. Why PC meatloaf in the first place? Why SV meatloaf? And at what time and temp? I know an A10 is a Warthog, but what is the famous A16 meatball?

My mother must be related to Jaymes's mom. She hated cooking and did it badly and didn't know it was bad because that's how she was brought up. Restaurant food was supposed to be different and better. Home cooking was supposed to be lesser. Steaks were past well done. Burgers like hockey pucks. Frozen veg cooked lifeless and unseasoned. Swanson TV dinners were a blessing when she didn't feel like cooking.

Learned to cook because I love to eat. Learned to enjoy the process. Except baking.

indeed everything but the peas

I've been wanting that garlic smasher. Where'd you get it?

I think either way it doesn't matter unless you store carbon knives wet...then maybe edge up is better by a nose.

Thanks, Scoob. It was really good. I reproduced a Jeffery Zakarian dish I had in NYC a couple weeks ago. It surprised me at the time.

Five spice braised short rib with chili pepper date paste.

I'm a noob...'06. And eG certainly has morphed over those 9 years, lots of it for the good.

Was it as big as a basketball?

I roast it uncovered and oiled. Never gets truly crisp though.

How does roast taste different than steak to you? To me the difference is more about texture.

Nice piece on the science of smoke rings http://amazingribs.com/tips_and_technique/mythbusting_the_smoke_ring.html

Strip steak, pan sauce, portobellos, brussels sprout slaw.

ditto

Mexican breakfast

Any chance your sv was at a higher temp? That would fit with high jus and mealiness

Putting the bad stuff on the bottom is fraud, pure and simple; and it happens way too often. If a store wants to sell ugly veg, price it as such and make it plain what they are selling.

Pretty much agree with all the above. But I'm also tired of the practice of putting good ones on top and lesser ones beneath.