gfweb

Ok ok. You win. Some but not all of the criticisms were vague. Some but not all were unworthy of an NYT reviewer.

The criticisms were very very vague. With the exception of the note about lacking seasoning, the objections were on the order of "the souffle lacked conviction." What the hell does that mean? NYT reviewers are usually better than this guy.

Gayle. I'm very fond of her. But she dresses terribly. Terribly. Like a college kid trying to look grown up. You'd think Bravo would drag Tim Gunn in for a fast makeover. Rule of threes...right waistline...patterns.

Problem I have with chopped is that a few of the judges are a-holes. Even Zakarian gets pissy. Respect the protein indeed. Top Chef is the worst for that. Little Tommy goes nuts with that.

Stupid question. Does a 3 cup unit make three cups of rice? I see posts implying that it isn't a full there cups. Others seem to say that its 3 dry cups at the start. So if I put three cups of dry rice into a cooker what is the yield?

I once got terribly plastered because my wine glass kept getting refilled and I didn't notice. "I'm only on my second glass " I thought. Lol. By the time I realized it was too late. Keep my water glass full but leave the wine to me.

I've been looking for Pappy.

My dad had great nostalgia for the "fried mush" of his depression childhood. He convinced my mother to make it once and found it horrible. Perhaps my mother screwed it up,she was a terrible cook, but perhaps the memory was better than the dish ever was. The remembered casseroles may be like that. But then again maybe not. Paella is more or less a casserole.....

Glad you aren't leaving.

Agree about tripadvisor. Truth can be found there.

NPR says that one should go by the majority of reviews and ignore outliers http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2012/09/12/160755775/five-ways-to-spot-a-fake-online-review-restaurant-or-otherwise?ft=1&f=139941248. That may avoid fake reviews, but isn't usually useful to me in deciding where to eat. I say the opposite; look at the outlier. So many reviews are by regulars who like the place and are thus biased toward the positive. Like Zagat's problem. I like the outlier, the guy who goes to a new place (to him) and sees it with fresh eyes.

You could calculate the pH if you knew the proportions. No measurement needed.

Don't think that's the right explanation. Glass plates are not held together by air pressure, they are held together by the cohesivness of water. If air pressure was the cause you wouldn't need the water.

It was Basil Fawlty in drag.

There is such a lot of BS surrounding food and nutrition.

There are two commonly used curing salts, Prague Powder #1 and #2. Why the name, I don't know. #1 is sodium nitrite only. #2 is nitrate + nitrite. Sounds like MC is discussing #2. The supposed purpose of #2 is for long cures where the nitrite will lose activity over time. The nitrate is said to be converted by bacterial activity into nitrite and is thus kind of a time-release nitrite. Is this true? I don't know.

This is going to make me sound like a horrible person... Pot lucks,uggh. They are nice for fellowship, but in our circle, horrible for eating. Do people actually eat the stuff at home that they bring? Rice-a-Roni with Jello etc., fried catfish with velveeta And the sanitary standards are lax. The same behavior that makes buffets gross goes on at pot lucks. And cold things get warm...and hot things cool off. And while we're at it, don't leave your serving dish for me to clean and then find a way to return to you. It's like camping..."pack-in, pack-out" damnit. When we host one, I make two mains and a salad of some sort so I know that there'll be something safe. As Pierogi said, its about the friends and not the food. And I'd add that beer covers a multitude of sins.

The risk of spoilage remains even if some move away from nitrates. I wouldn't risk it unless the meat will be eaten quickly. Botulism can suck.

Funny, I was thinking of jus gravies (possibly thickened with a small amount of gelatine), starch-thickened sauces aren't even really on my radar! To be more specific, to me, a gravy is the sort of thing served on turkey (or perhaps sausage in the South) where some of the fat in the pan that cooked the meat is used to make the roux.... and all the charred bits in the pan are deglazed with the making of the roux. I'm not a big fan of roux-thickened gravy; it is usually too fatty for my taste.

I redid the eggs with smoked trout. 1 filet, flaked + small amount chopped red onion + 2 tsp mayo + 2 tsp cream cheese + dusting of pimenton. I tried trout roe on top, but it was too big and looked wierd and added nothing to the flavor; which was great! Only thing I'd change is adding a drop or three of lemon juice.

I've been told that its a South Philly term. To me, a gravy connotes a roux-thickened sauce. Which this clearly isn't.

On GSN. Three Food Network/Bravo type chefs compete against three home cooks and the winner gets 25K. Terrible TV and terrible cooking. There is no detail. No recipes. There is barely any cooking. WTF. Shark-jumping to the max. I'm always reluctant to say someone sold out. But it'd take big bucks for ME to do this, and I have no culinary reputation to lose.

One trick to make a food thermometer do double duty as an oven thermometer is to put a ramekin with a cm of oil in the oven. After time to come up to temp take the temp of the oil which will = oven temp.

New Record for W-S pricing.... $700-$1000 for an ice ball press. Makes em one at a time. http://us.mg6.mail.yahoo.com/neo/launch?.rand=fqf5uf1s7qfk6

Ain't no body is going to mess with my maters! dcarch Nice still life. Tree rat with fruit.