Porthos

Insane indeed. Interesting design to keep the handle cooler. Lodge and a pot holder makes for a more practical approach to me. The octagonal pan seems counter-intuitive to me. A pan with "corners" does not appeal to me. I don't cook with cast iron pots and pans. Personal preference only. However, when my daughter and SIL moved in with us my daughter asked about cast iron. I dug out my 10" pan, cleaned it up, spent bits of time over a day seasoning it and she is happy as a clam to have it available.

Can I tell ytou my stomach lurched when I read that. Brownies are NOT to be messed with.

No surprises to me in the "undercover picture." I don't personally think I will ever confuse McDonalds with The French Laundry. I like an occasional McRib. I may love well-prepared salmon but I still eat fish tacos as well. There is a broad spectrum of offerings out there. My objections come when someone clearly tries to deceive me.

I remember buying one for my mother in the early 1970s.

I also found the following offputting back when. My DW and I used to watch a late-night Martha Stewart cooking show. Her pet phrase was "using the highest quality (insert ingredient here)." Yeah. 'cause we're too stupid to know that ingredient quality affects the dish. And Martha, some of the people who watch you are not in the economic sphere that make the price of ingredients of no consequence. /end rant.

I am not interested in starting a range war between organic ingredient enthusiasts and supermarket shoppers such as myself. I do have a question that relates to how I respond to some recipes that I find on the internet. I was following a link that my adult daughter put up on facebook about "Nourishing Thankgiving Foods." Included in the ingredient list for one dish were organic onions, grassfed ghee and organic wine. Prejudiced as it may be I find that I typically stop reading recipes written like this. I suspect that it has to do with my general lack of satisfaction from way back when when I would prepare dishes with similarly-written recipes only to find the food so-so at best. I figure that if I wanted organic whatever I would not need to be told in a recipe that it needed to be organic. I would choose that because of personal preference. My question is simple. Am I a rarity in having the organic/healthy push in recipes make me lose interest or do some others respond this way also. Organic advocates, I would prefer that you not express what could be the value of organic in your responses. I have enough face-to-face friends that perform that task already.

Shel_B, for my kosher salt I use Parmesan cheese shakers. The larger holes work well with kosher salt. In my home I use the smaller one, in the faire kitchen I have both sizes - small near the stoves, large down where I prep larger roasts and such.

Picked up a jar of the crunchy. I was going to pass since that balance of ingredients did not seem South Beach Diet friendly to me. My DW thought is looked interesting so we bought a jar. I had a taste off of a spoon. I could get into serious trouble calorie-wise if I started eating it. Very tasty but I want to keep my A1C down where it belongs.

May go to TJs after church since it is in the same area.

Meats in particular do not cook well in a microwave in my experience.

I have never heard of this until now. There is a facebook page fro fans of it. I will look to see if it is available here in southern California.

Shelby, if you have never read the South Beach Diet book, I would recommend it since it appears to be in the same direction you are headed. You might pick up some helpful pointers there. The actual text of the diet is only about a 1/3 of the book. I pick up decent copies in thrift stores to give to anyone who is interested because it has helped me more than anything else I have read. I am a failed Life Member of WW, by the way. Also, my primary care physician has heartily approved of me eating this particular diet; your doctor may have a different viewpoint.

At her request I got a Kevlar glove for my DW.

I buy pearled barley all the time. It has the husk removed. I suspect that the term "pearled" comes from the appearance of the barley after the husk it removed, something akin to small pearls. For the Northern California Renaissance Faire another guild member buys barley that still has the husk on it. It is a deeper color and has a much rougher-looking texture. I have not noticed an appreciable difference in cooking time but that could be related to our particular recipe.

My DW bought me a mandoline several years ago. I just couldn't quite get the hang of it. She now uses it for slicing cucumber very thinly for tea sandwiches. Do they sell mandolines on informercials also. I'll have to watch an infomercial someday when I have TV again.

Does the barley you buy in the bulk bins have a smooth surface or a coarse surface?

I've been drinking bourbon for 45 years, single-malt scotch for about 20. My FIL often complains about "sweet" bourbons. I have seen this complaint surface here at eGullet. I rather enjoy Maker's Mark at this point, and drink it neat. What is it about "sweet" that makes that characteristic undesirably to so many? Can someone please shed some light on this.

GR, it appears that Chino Farms is a farmer's market down in San Diego county. There is no phone number on their facebook page and yelp has them being somewhere specific you have to drive to. I know that doesn't get you the winged beans but thought you would like to know. Since I live about 20 minutes from the City of Chino (maybe 30-35 miles east of downtown Los Angeles) I had hoped it was somewhere I could drive to but alas it is not.

Typical selections: Cans/Jars: Artichoke hearts, whole-kernel corn, various beans, green and black olives, diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, green beans. I like the taste of canned green beans but I do also buy fresh for a specific recipe. Frozen: Broccoli, cauliflower, pearl onions, sliced carrots, spinach, Brussel Sprouts, green peas. Fresh: Carrots, green/yellow/red peppers, celery, sugar snap peas, salad greens, mushrooms, tomatoes, broccoli, onions, sometimes potatoes, the occasional avocado. I will be doing a little marketing for fresh veggies today. I do also buy dried beans. Never to be seen in my home: canned peas. For those who are familiar with the fact that my DW and I lead a team of volunteer cooks cooking for a renaissance faire guild we buy all fresh veggies for that.

So that would give you about 1.5" below the rim, a good level for me.

At 4 qts with a diameter of 11 inches the height/Width ratio is a bit different. The pan in the link has a width/height ratio of approx 4.58:1 whereas my pan is 2.78:1. For an engineer such as I that is a fairly significant difference. In the end it was a curiosity question and the category of pan will not change how much I appreciate it being in my kitchen. Interesting (at least to me) to note is that on the mfg website this same pan with just 2 short handles is called a 5 qt dutch oven.

It is the Pro-HG pan. Code:50378 is the current offering. My pan is one generation older. Same dimensions.

I'm feeling pretty stupid right now. I remembered about 5 minutes ago that I had finally found the mfg website sometime back and had bookmarked it on my laptop. This website was rather hard to find. Anyway the mfg (Vollrath's home kitchen division) calls it a 5 Quart Covered Sauce Pan/Deep Fryer. Here the link: http://www.pro-hgcookware.com/shop.php?c=20&p=66 Given that they give it a dual name I think within my kitchen I will give it the name of chef's pan. Thanks for all of your help and input. Going to my corner now to do my penance for not thinking clearly before asking the question...

I don't think I have ever heard of a "chef's pan" before today. A quick look on the interwebs does make this seem like the most likely name but also it looks like shape of the "chef's pan" is not nearly as tightly defined as say a stock pot.

Regarding this pan set: A chicken fryer is part of the same set and it is larger in diameter and has lower (about 2.5") walls. For some reason I thought a saute pan had to have sloping sides to qualify. Not trying to argue - just indicating my understanding.