Porthos

That is how I cook grains for my grain salads. I do salt the water.

Thank You.

I purchased some yams and left them in the closed plastic produce bag. 4 days later when I went to use them half of them had gone bad. I need to buy more, store them for 5 days (based upon the sale price versus when I'm going to use them) and then prepare them. What is the proper way to store them?

You 're right that you can't express it in the tip (assuming the better wages - lower tip amount model that is part of this discussion), but (as mentioned above) you could choose not to return to a restaurant. You could also take the time, if you so desired, to contact the restaurant management telling them why they are losing you as a customer. It then becomes the responsibility of the owner to figure out how to keep his business open by dealing with his/her staffing issues.

I could try that. This time the idea was for it to cook unattended while I ran errands. The bird was a food donation to serve at our Renaissance Faire noon-time feast tomorrow and I needed to cook it ahead. My DW and I have taken over responsibility for the faire kitchen this year and I wanted to cook the turkey before taking it out.

I'm drinking cheap jug Zinfandel as I am reading this.

Well, I tried it with a 16 lb bird cut into pieces and all laid flat in the roasting pan and added butter and olive oil. It went for 8 hours at 215 degrees F . Dark meat was fabulous, breast meat was Sahara desert dry. I won't try that again with a whole bird! I may do thighs this way someday in the future.

Has anyone done a turkey confit using the whole bird, not just the dark meat? I want to do a whole bird but want to make sure I'm not going to mess the the breasts by doing this.

That is so cool.

I own both Forschner Fibrox and Rosewood knives and heartily recommend them for budget-minded knife purchases.

I saw a segment on "Made In America" showing how they made Cutco knives and I knew then and there that Cutco and my wallet would never meet. I see their booths at county fairs and have to work at not snickering as I walk past. I don't own expensive knives but I do try to follow what I learned from Chad Ward's "An Edge in the Kitchen."

I'll be hard-pressed to put my $$ out for that.

Without a doubt sour cream!

Oven-roasted tri-tip (rare) and barley in vegetable broth.

What for me is a classic: Pilsner Urquell

I haven't baked with it but when I use it to sweeten my cereal my taste buds say, "sugar."

Kerry, it looks like you could use to to cube steak with also. Just watched a Good Eats episode about that.

I was especially hungry the other night when we needed to grab a bite at Costco's food court so I bought 2 polish sausage/soda combos and a slice of cheese pizza. That got us each a drink and the food we wanted for $5.43 including tax. It's not haute cuisine but it filled us up while we were on the run. My problem, trying to feel the shame...

I watch 2 shows on FN: Good Eats and Ace of Cakes. Good Eats for information; Ace of Cakes for entertainment. Wherever Scripps puts them I will follow. I don't hold much hope for more shows that actually show and explain cooking.

Frozen is definitely a consideration. The fresh stuff I get at Costco does meet my needs.

Pam, that looks gorgeous.

Thank you.

My DW and I are taking over the faire kitchen (see my blog if you're interested in that) and the guild mistress asked me to not serve canned vegetables as has been done in the past. We did, and will continue to, serve fresh carrots, mushrooms and broccoli. I am planning on adding green beans and zucchini. I'll be feeding 40-60 people. How many oz make up one serving of green beans? How many oz for zucchini? Can you suggest other vegetables I might want to consider (that don't take too much prep work)?

Ahh .. my only practical piece of knowledge on the subject. All salt is kosher. What gets sold as "kosher salt" is salt like what's used for koshering meat and poultry; it's coarser than standard salt for this purpose. Now I'm confused. My box of Kosher Salt states that it is "KOSHER FOR PASSOVER." My table salt, which is iodized, does not have any symbol or verbage about being kosher. I am not jewish, just curious.

Is this the one you got?