Porthos

Off to the market for some chervil...

I'm several years late coming to this party but I'm a stainless steel guy all of the way. I like two things about them. One: I can't break them like I can Pyrex. Two: I pick NSF rated bowls because it gives me a warm fuzzy feeling about how well they should clean up. I have: 2 5 qt bowls 3 8 qt bowls 1 14 qt bowl I also have a non-NSF 4 qt bowl of the same construction. I like the fact that there are no crevices for gunk to get stuck in in this style of bowl. I use these for everything (I don't bake). There is Pyrex and plastic in the kitchen but they are used by my DW.

Unfortunately since my DW had gastric bypass surgery wine with dinner doesn't really happen. She had 1/2 of a glass of champagne last night. That was only her second glass of wine in the last year. I'm glad to have a much healthier wife now and not having wine with dinner (which was not a regular thing before anyway) is a small price to pay.

I have left over asparagus from last night's Valentines dinner so I want to make an asparagus and sharp cheddar cheese frittata for dinner tonight and am looking for inspiration as to herbs to add to give it more depth. Any suggestions? Edited to add that I haven't decided whether or not to add ham to it.

I have a cheap 10" SS fry pan with a disk bottom a gift from my DW. When I used it tonight I got out my infared thermometer and measured it for hot spots. I put it on my large 16k btu burner. When it heated up it had a 100 degree difference between one side and the other. It was centered over the flame. Yikes. That certainly opened my eyes a bit. I did manage to cook the steaks by carefully placing them.

Maker's Mark. It doesn't seem particularaly popular here but is is my sipping whiskey.

Thank you all for your input.

Heavy-gauge aluminum with a titanium-ceramic non-stick coating which takes much higher temperatures than teflon. They are also NSF approved so they clean up well.

I've read various threads about which cookware various members would recommend. I don't own All-Clad or Sitram or any of the other higher-end pans that get discussed. For a point of reference I've been cooking for over 40 years. I own mainly Vollrath Pro-HG and Revere pots and pans. What differences would I expect to see if I started adding higher-end saute' and sauce pans to my kitchen. Any insights would be greatly appreciated.

Richard, thanks for bringing this thread back up. I've got a 6.5 pound pork loin in the freezer and this technique sounds like just the ticket. I'm unemployed at the moment (actually for the last 7 months) and so I have the time to try this.

Although I have many, many pots and pans I use the following most often: 2 qt saucepan 3 qt saucepan and lid 10" non-stick skillet 10 X 14 inch roasting pan 12" SS skillet Fwiw I cook for 2 to 4 people depending on which night of the week it is. Beyond the cookware issue I could not exist with a colander for draining pasta. I use my 6 qt SS mixing bowl a lot. A Plastic cutting board is a must for me (goes into the dishwasher). A chef's knife is essential.

Yeah, those are hand dipped. Probably my least favorite thing to do, that's why caramels are the only slabbed thing I do right now. I borrowed a small digital Canon camera from a friend that has a super up close setting. It works pretty well. She invested in a $900 Canon Rebel that we used to take photos for my website. But this little camera is not bad. Robyn, I tried looking at your website but it came up as not existing.

Jack in the Box regular tacos. I've been hooked on them since the late 60s.

A lot of what makes this stuff hard is the means by which we try to communicate. It really is quite easy to show someone how to make a vinaigrette say if they are standing beside you. It's harder to show them on a video or a film. Harder still to describe it in words. The demand for a formula gets in the way. Do you want 3:1 or 4:1 or 5:1 oil to vinegar -- that may depend on what I'm dressing, on how acid the vinegar is, on whether I've added mustard or shallot, or sugar, or honey -- there is no precise formula. Which is another reason why vinaigrette is better made at home -- because it can be tweaked subtly, whereas the stuff from the bottle is (as it's supposed to be) uniform. I do think it's easier than violin playing. But it is a set of skills that are so very much easier to communicate person-to-person than in some more impersonal way. The means we use to communicate about cooking leave out of account three (and often four) of the senses that matter most when we are cooking. If one does not already know how to make a vinaigrette then he/she does need a starting point (a recipe) that can then be tweaked as personal preference shows in the eating of it. Personally I detest vinaigrette. Bleu Cheese is my choice and since I only eat salad once every few weeks Bob Big Boy in a jar serves me just fine. Home made mayo is used enough in our home to justify making it.

We have 90-some-odd cookbooks but the go-to cookbook for basic recipes here is Fanny Farmer. we are on our second copy - the first copy got used until it fell apart. I consulted it just about 4 hours ago for it's take on an English Trifle. Wasn't what I was looking for. We don't have many of the newer books mentioned in this thread but I would also hate to part with our collection of Julia Child cookbooks. She may not be contemporary any more but for us she is far from gone and forgotten.

NO sharp knives in the sink. My dear wife feels the same way as do my adult daughters. I do, however, put my good knives in the dishwasher. The cutlery basket is in the door of the machine and only ONE knife goes into a section. I do not have trouble with keeping a good edge doing it this way. I only hand wash when in the middle of a lot of prep to avoid cross contamination. I do my own sharpening with an EdgePro Acme.

I have been cheering for Jeffrey and am glad he made it the final 2. I could not believe how long they kept the less-than-credible Debbie around. She seems to be able to cook but not to own her mistakes and short-comings IMO. As far as actually being a star: that status has to be earned. In my reworking of the title the winner will be the Next Food Network Host. It will be up to them, then, to show the chops that will make viewers watch them and want to continue watching them. That is what will make them a star IMHO. I watched part of season 4 and have watched season 5 strictly (ok - so hate me) for the entertainment value. I watch 2 shows for the actual cooking: Good Eats and Everyday Italian. I don't watch much else on the FN because the most of the shows bore me to tears.

We replaced our 27 year-old KictchenAid 5 qt lift bowl mixer with a 6 qt KitchenAid lift bowl mixer. The old one is still running fine but we wanted the much more powerful motor that the Model 610 has. Some of our Christmas cookie recipes tax the 5 qt machine. We bake eoungh cookies to fill over 30 tins (18 variaties this year). I also bought a second bowl on ebay. We cleaned up the 5 qt to put away for the time being. My sweetie is using it for the first time as I type. My sweetie gave me a contacless laser thermometer.

Here in Southern California my Ralphs generally only carries them during the holiday season. I'd buy them more often if they would stock them, but my guess is that I'm the exception. I live in a less-desirable area and that may influence it.

I'm hopelessly addicted to this show. And I don't work in the industry. I live in the inland empire not far from Pomona. Seeing part (had to leave in the middle) of the Lela's (or something like that) episode left my wife and me shaking our heads. With no disrespect meant, Fine Dining in an ecomonically depressed area? I went on-line to see if I could find the restaurant listed and could not find it - leaving me to suppose that in the end it failed. I can't wait till the episode ir repeated so I can see what changes were made.

Well, he has the right type of credibility for the Washington crowd

Frito-Lay to the Rescue! I just noticed new packaging on Mother's Oatmeal Raisin cookies and bought them. It's now Mothers C/O Frito-Lay, Dallas Texas. Let's hope they don't monkey with the recipes. WhoooHoooo!!!

Susan, thank you for sharing your special place and times with us. I wonder if someday Wolfgang Puck with be replaced by Peter Fahning? I'll be trying the coffee cake recipe this Sunday morning. I missed reading the thread that had the recipe.

I always have my knife roll in my trunk. My late mother-li-law had a well-furnished kitchen (Kitchen-Aid, Cuisinart, plenty of pots and pans, etc) - but she hated sharp knives. My father-in-law has not sharpened the knives since she passed away 6 years ago - even though he likes sharp knives and has the equipment to keep them sharp. So we have gifted the kitchen with a wooden spoon of my liking, a ladle and cutting boards. The only thing I bring when we cook for him is my knife roll. I don't even try to cook in my mother's kitchen anymore. Since she is basically housebount anyway we take her out to eat to get her out and about. She moving 3000 miles away in two week so cooking in her kitchen will no longer be an consideration.

I only tune them in when I need something to fall asleep by. So yes, I sort of watch them - but not for the right reasons.