Porthos

I like it!

Inspired by Fat Guy's thread "Life is too short to do it the right way..." I thought I'd post a slightly different question. What is the one ingredient in your kitchen that there is no wiggle room for? In my kitchen it is butter only - you'll never find a stick of margarine hanging around here. What's your one or single most important non-negotiable food item in your kitchen?

I don't own any knives I wouldn't put in the dishwasher. We don't have a maid but I pay my adult daughter to do the dishes and keep the kitchen cleaned up. She'll be married in 2012 and then it will be back to me doing it. As much as I enjoy knifework, when I need minced garlic I use a garlic press. Always have - always will. In my renaissance faire kitchen: I use the pre-peeled garlic from Costco for whole cloves and the already-chopped garlic from Costco for chopped garlic applications and while we basically cook all food for our feast from scratch we do use bottled marinades and BBQ sauces. I prep fresh veggies for my lunches and snacks but I prefer frozen veggies for dinnertime.

I got a pressure washer. It's for properly deep-cleaning my 8-burner event grill I use in my volunteer cooking as well as my 3-burner high-power camp stove used for the same.

Amazing! Sugar works very well.

I have to dice up an onion in just a few minutes. I'm going to purposely rub some of the leftover root onto my hands and give this a whirl. I'll report back.

I'd like Santa to bring me something rather small but I asked for it: the extra fine stone for my Edge Pro Apex. Santa has already bought me the new pan I wanted. It's for my volunteer cooking for my renaissance faire guild and is also used by others. My 14" 7 qt fry pan got the non-stick finish really messed up by someone who was, shall we say, toasted and borrowed it. Unfortunately I really needed to remember that anything I bring into a shared kitchen (that I don't keep put away just for me) can get ruined. I'd really like the proper replacement for my Cuisinart food processor pusher. The original one broke so I can still use the bowl and blade but I can't slice or shred. I bought "the correct" replacement online but is wasn't really the right one. I gave up since the replacement parts are way expensice. Fortunately for the shredding I can use the attachment on my KitchenAid mixer but I like the food processor better.

My DW has used paper towels for years and years when she drains yogurt when making tsatsiki (sorry about the spelling) and we're non the worse for wear. Only plain towels, though. Never with any printing on them.

I was sharpening several knives a couple of months ago and a friend walked up and watched me. When I used the honing rod the blades would "sing" - give off an almost musical sound. She commented on the fact (her perspective) that this meant that the blades had a really good edge. I'd never heard that before and and curious if that is just an old wives tale kind of thing or if there is something to it. By the way, I love my Edge Pro Apex even more now that when I first got it.

I see the basic choice (not considering the cream cheese option) in the future will be 1) more intense flavor but possibly a bit grainy using a sharp cheddar; or 2) having a less intense but smoother sauce using mild cheddar. I will most likely stick with the sharp cheddar since cheese is a passion for my DW and I'm the only one noticing the texture. I'll most likely try the cream cheese addition once the pan is off of the flame. But making it again won't be happening any time soon.

That sounds both helpful and like it will add some extra "yum!"

I used just the half-and-half to make the white sauce. After the addition of the cheese I really couldn't detect a difference. Back to milk in the future. However... Both last year and this year other people enjoyed the pearl onions in cheese sauce but I was slightly disappointed in the cheese sauce itself. I made the white sauce, the added the grated sharp cheddar in handfulls with low heat still under the pan, whisking each addition until incorporated. Last year and again this year the texture was a little grainy. Either time is playing with my memory or something has changed. I remember it as being a smoother cheese sauce. Any clues or suggestions for the future or is my memory failing me.

I was in high school and found the recipe in a cook book of my mother's. Made it in a skillet and didn't even have a whisk - just used a spoon. Didn't even know whisks existed yet. About 4 years ago I was making a brown roux for my turkey gravy and got a little excited stirring the pan and ended up splashing hot butter onto my hand. Those were probably the worst blisters I ever got from a kitchen accident. My older daughter cooked dinner for us when she was in high school. She (at the time) couldn't get the hang of making gravy. I would have to rescue it when I got home. She was convinced that all I had to do was touch the pan and all was made right. Not exactly what it really took. To those who celebrate Thanksgiving, have a great Thanksgiving day.

I learned to make a basic white sauce using a roux and milk over 40 years ago. I make a medium white sauce as the base for a cheese sauce for pearl onions each Thanksgiving. My wife asked me about using half-and-half in place of milk this year. Is there anything that I should know before trying this?

Just back from Total Wine with a bottle of Rosenblum Paso Robles zin to go with dinner tomorrow night. Will be dining out with my FIL and we are both zin drinkers. Don't know where we will be eating yet, though. Just northern Orange County, California.

A couple of labels I enjoy beyond the (for me) 3 Rs: Earthquake Zin Gnarly Head Old Vine Zin Someone mentioned Pesenti up-thread. I remember when you could drive to Templeton and buy their jug zin to use as your everyday table wine. It was a good dry zin. It was a sad day when they decided to stop selling it. Slightly off topic: I don't know how widely sold it is but Galleano of Mira Loma, California made a vintage zinfandel port that took a gold medal at the Orange County Fair. A bottle of that went with me on vacation this year.

Except for American footballs I thought all balls were round. If the seasoning was strange also I can see where a child could be off-put by it.

That hurts just to read it.

For me it's some red wines and some single malt scotches. Both produce a distinct off-odor that is rather strong. As to the topic in general - I say that's why they invented air freshener.

I'm a dedicated Edge Pro fan. However, I have a lot of knives to keep sharp because of those that I lend out in a volunteer kitchen as well as my own. I would not recommend it, though, to someone who is not 1) willing to part with some cash for it; and 2) wanting to learn about edges and what it takes to create/maintain them.

Napa Rose!

Ditto in our household. My wife likes her eggs "wet" by my thinking, and I like my eggs "almost burnt" by her way of thinking. As to the OP, I feel your frustration at working to provide really good food and then have the intended recipient not appreciate it. My best suggestion is to let go of it with the clear understanding that you put your best culinary foot forward and it just wasn't for him. His loss. By the way, I at McD's for breakfast (drive thru) once or twice a week because it works for the schedule I keep, not because I think it's fine dining.

As an aside, at a major department store I saw glass counter protectors labelled as cutting boards. Generally I just kill time there and snicker at their "sale" prices - this one made me wince.

Can poly cutting boards that have seen some use (ie: they have lots of knife marks in them) be successfully sanded down to create a new, non-scrached-up surface?

Keep up the interesting thread, Please, I'm really enjoying it.