KLwood

I have a Key Lime tree thats currently laden with dozens of the little flavor bombs, so theyre getting alot of use in my kitchen lately.. a thin slice or two is a nice addition to a glass of sparkling water , or aGin and Tonic for that matter, and they make some fantastic Key Lime bars ( just sub key lime juice for the lemon in a lemon bar recipe ) and a quick marinade of ' Lime and Thyme " is always a hit on chicken or fish, and fun to say also... Another simple one is to use the juice in place of the lemon or lime in a salsa , Pico deGallo or Civiche

Great. I just placed an order with Will Powder about 3 days ago... Guess that Beet Juice Caviar with Yuzu Foam isn't going to be on the menu for a bit.

Great Thread !! My Netflix queue is filled with suggestions from this topic !! I cant believe Hannibal wasnt mentioned more often.. I had forgotten all about Eating Raoul "Its amazing what you can do with a cheap piece of meat " How can anyone forget the restaraunt scene from Monty Python's 'The Meaning of Life' where the gluttonous diner eats untill he explodes " its only Wafer Thin " (I wonder if that was inspiration for the murder victim in 'Seven' who was forced to eat himself to death ? ) And whenever I see Salmon Mousse , I cant help but recall that the Grim Reaper pointing to it as the cause of food poisoning for the guests at a dinner party... When the long awaited Sequel to 'Psycho' was made I saw it with my Mom, - really - and we couldnt stop talking about the final scene where Norman mentions the toasted cheese sandwiches his Mother made for him as a child, then a few minutes later brains the lady in the kitchen with a shovel. And yes , Mom just had to work grilled cheese sandwiches into the dinner that night.. Id LOVE to see" Whos killing the Great Chefs " remade, hey, who wouldnt mind seeing todays lineup of celebrity chefs thinned out a little...

When my KitchenAid Superba recently went out of commission, I seriously considered replacing it with a Fischer Paykel drawer system, but there were so many negative reviews on the internet, that I gave up on the idea, Luckily the KitchenAid was still covered by the warranty but I was able to bend the ear of the repairman about Fisher Paykel drawer washers and he simply said " I really wouldnt reccomend them " , I also asked about other makers, like KitchenAid and he told me that most of them are also made by Fisher Paykel and sold under various brand names .. They make an awesome washing machine though, I love it , and the dryer has only had to be repaired twice so far .

Short of making a Napoleon Neopolitan, I could suggest serving it with the saffron vanilla sauce from The French Laundry Cookbook ( you have that , right ? ) and possibly some thin julieanned carrots or yellow beets , ( dusted in cornstarch and deep fried , from Michel Richard's Happy In The Kitchen ) for the Napoleon Dynamite type hair ... a riff on Richards 'Shrimp Einstein ' Tater Tots optional, but as long as youve got the deep fryer fired up why not try a tot shaped variation on all of the Latke recipes out there ? now, wheres my Chapstick ?

Just for those who dont speak Martian, heres the definition of Grok.. and I my Gyuto !!!

I actually had no idea how much stuff that Tupperware still made, untill I caught awhile ago.. I really need to get one of those cups

Ive tried several and found Vigo brand, (Whole, canned and non marinated ) to be consistantly good, and not mushy.. If youre into grilling, try gving them an Olive oil & garlic dressing and then a quick sear on the grill - just long enough to get good grill marks, it really takes them to another level.

Although not particularly unsanitary, but unsetteling : Ive more than once seen Smokers heat up the burners of an electric range to a red glow and bend down with their face only a cigarette length from the burner to light up. This is especially un nerving when the Smoker in question is drunk, and leaves the burner on, presumablly for the next cig. I once knew a guy who had an ingenius solution to his lack of a garbage disposal, in addition to using the freezer as a trash purgatory , he would scrape plates off into the toilet Again, not unsanitary, but just somehow not right either. I can go one better than the Old School countertop meat thawers: Once as a child I once spent the summer with my grandparents and through an odd turn of events became the keeper of a small rabbit , before I could rig up a suitable pen for the bunny, my grandmother came out of the garage with a wooden framed box maybe 2 feet square, with window screen sides and top, with a hinged lid and latch .. Even at 8 I couldnt help but wonder just what Grandma had been keeping such a seemingly perect cage around for. " Your Father made this , to thaw steaks and chicken outside and not have to worry about the flies or cats getting in them." this was in Texas by the way. Luckily , Mom divorced him before I started on solid food. Good one, Mom.

No, this isnt the title of the latest Bravo reality series, at least lets hope not. Rather its a cut of meat that my neighbor mistakenly grabbed at Sams Club without looking at the label, thinking it was a brisket. The label reads " Beef Prime, Whole Top Butt, Cov. " and I can see how he mistook it for a small, very lean Brisket , I worked out a 'swap meat' with him and said piece of USDA prime beef is now sitting in my fridge awaiting attention.. I hate to admit that I had never heard of 'Top Butt' and couldnt find it in the 'Critter Map' appendix of 'Im just Here for the Food' or my copy of The New Professional Chef and a google recipe search only turned up a variation on top sirloin... Any Thoughts ? It had a USDA Prime sticker and seems to be fine grained, and nicely marbled, Should this be braised or would I be better off with a dry cooking method simlar to the Alton Brown standing rib roast technique ? ( salt & pepper rub, oven roast @ 200F until aprox 120F internal temp, then a 500F oven sear to develop a crust and bring internal temp to med Rare) Given the relatively flat shape, Im wondering about the A.B. technique though Any help or is really appreciated. *edited to add butt shot

you may want to give This One a look . Im fairly sure it will take a 10" chefs knife with no problem since it was once sold as part of a set that inclueded a 10" chefs knife, but Id give them a call to make sure. ( 1 800 255 9034 ) AG Russell is a pretty helpfull company over the phone. I second your Observations on the ' Crap oosh " knife block.. not only will it not take a 10" blade, but it takes a good amount of force to get my 8" Henkels in far enough to fully cover the edge Its currently used for my growing collection of kitchen shears and some paring knives, and if it keeps shedding plastic bristles its going to wind up in the garage holding garden tools. If all else fails you may want to consider an in drawer knife holder, but it will cost you some drawer space...

my mom got me hooked on sliced banana with powdered tang sprinkled on top and I recently revived the practice using orange gatorade powder, or better yet, Crystal Lite. my summertime favorite is frozen green grapes , kind of like miniature sorbets.. Like every other kid I made my own' Double Oreos ' by taking two regular ones apart and reforming them.. Then they came out with 'Oreos with Double stuff ' and when you doubled up one of those bad boys you REALLY had the ultimate... Ill readily admit to dousing microwave popcorn with hot sauce, as well as taking a bottle of it with me to a theater on occasion ( along with a flask of rum, but thats another story) those popcorn tongs are on my must have list .... in fact Im pretty sure theyre going to be this years" humorous yet strangely usefull " Christmas gift following on the heels of the Clapper, the Ginsu Knife and the Chia pet Herb Garden.. The ranch dressing stories remnd me of a childhood memory : cuttng an avocado in half and filling the seed cavity with ranch dressing.. come to think of it, that might go down pretty well in a steakhouse... especially if the avocado had been grilled for a few seconds .. hmmmm. but I digress once again.. Another childhood food fetish was to put about 5 or 6 HEAPING spoons of nestles Quick chocolate powder in a glass and add just enough milk to make a nice thick paste and then spoon it all down like a liquid chocolate bar, Mom finally caught on to this and replaced Nestles Quick with Ovaltine.. but it just wasnt the same.. and back in the Day, when Buttermilk was still nice and thick and " Chunky " I would regularly top a glass of it with lemon pepper, sometimes id even re-top it halfway through the glass. My only odd beveage lately is tomato juice topped with whipped cream and a sprinkle of celery salt.

Tie between Cilantro and Mangos , I actually seem to be having better luck keeping cilntro in a glass of water on the kitchen countertop than in the fridge. Mangos are always hard as a rock when I buy them, and mushy gobs by the time I rediscover them in the veggie drawer ( AKA: "The Rotter" ) Actually this reminds me, its about time for some mango salsa...

Ill also admit to individually selecting green beans .but you realy know that youve crossed into obsessive territory when you find yourself picking through the bulk food bins at Whole Foods for the best dried figs, prunes and dehydrated mango slices... Im also pretty particular when it comes to lemons, my moms advice about only picking the ones with 'small pores and smooth skin' seems to be holding true. Im as much of a Tomato Snob as the next person, and its led me to my latest bit of larceny : I was picking over some so called " Premium Vine Ripened Beefsteak " tomatoes and noticed just how easily the stickers that identified them as such came off .... same with the 'cheapie flavor free hydropnic ' variety that was less than half the price.. Hmmmmmm. the urge to stick it to The Man ,( or in this case, re stick it.. ) has so far prooven irresistable. The sad thing is that its still pretty much hit or miss, even with the so called premium varieties. Another recent produce hangup ive gotten into is selecting Pineapples that have 'healthy looking' tops, not necessarily as an indicator of freshness or taste, but to plant ..

I felt obligated to revive this one since Ive stared 1) using a hemostat to hold silverskin while peeling it off ribs etc.. 2) using the Pasta Rake as a backscratcher and 3) using the french coffee press for rehydrating mushrooms... Some of My notable multi taskers include : On more than one occasion, Ive 'Reverse Multitasked' my Microplanes as wood rasps but in both cases it stayed in the kitchen : once to gouge out the kitchen shear slot on the Knife block to allow for a new pair, and once to fix a boo boo on a wooden spoon... I found that the Textured side of my meat tenderizing mallet to be un equaled for bruising Lemongrass, fresh Bay leaves and Kaffir lime leaves. I have a nice sharp grapefruit spoon that has never seen a grapefruit but works like a champ for scraping the gills from Portabella mushrooms.. A Kevlar ( ? ) glove gets plenty of work as: a replacement for the awkward handguard that came with my Mandoline , a hand protector when opening oysters, and great way to hold onto slippery whole fish .. Another Alton Brown esque trick Ive done on several occasions is to take a disposable chopstick and secure it in the chuck of a cordless drill and then wind up 20 or so feet of kitchen twine from my Mega Spool for friends and relatives who cant seem to locate any on their own.. I wonder if that could count as a Christmas gift ? And Im sure Im not the only one out there to have transformed an unused Moarter and pestle into a salt holder....

Thanks to this thread, and the linked sites, I feel like Im on a new level of Knife awareness, and hey, I was quite a knife nut already. ! Last week I was in NY and dropped by Korin ( after a lunch at Nobu, so I was fully in the groove, ) and picked up the Tojiro DP Gyuto , 240mm. and after a week of use, Id have to fully agree with the reccomendations gived throughout this thread. Its alot more nimble than my 10" Shun, and the 'Chunky' handle isnt an issue for me any more than the odd " D Shaped " handle of the Shun since I tend to 'choke up' on the blade quite a bit. the fit and finish are excellent . I was reading somewhere that the' DP' designation stands for Discoloration Prevention stain resistant in other words, which seems to apply to both the outer layers and the middle cutting steel .. Im just wondering what the steel actually is in the middle layer.. the lady at Korin didnt know , although she told me that it was a 60 on the Rockwell scale. is it more akin to the VG 10 thats showing up everywhere or something more conventional thats simply been taken up to RC 60? Purely an academic question but like I said Im a bit of a knife enthusiast. Next on the list is the Horimoto AS. and an Edgepro Apex but that may have be closer to ChristmasTime...

I recently added finely ground vanilla pod , which had gotten too brittle to do anything else with, to some herbs de provence ( without Lavender ) and used it as a spice rub on some duck breasts .. definitely took it to another level !!! and went nicely with a side of Brussels Sprouts and some celery root puree´ The recipe for Saffron Vanilla sauce on Black Sea Bass in French Laundry Cookbook was my introduction to vanilla in a savory dish, and a tremendous hit with all who've tried it. Although whenever Ive mentioned it to non Foodie fiends, I inevitablly get the "Oh Icky~Poo " reaction as they imagine a slab of fish with a gob of vanilla ice cream on it. I cant wait to try the asparagus though...

Wow ! Thanks for the great response, and on my First Post to the eGullet forums no less. the link in Joe's reply pretty well killed it , and the link to the previous thread in Smithys post, Buried it.. As I suspected, when something appears too good to be true.... In any event I'll stick to my current tactics, and precautions and change out my nonstick cookware at roughly the same rate as a lightbulb .. Le sigh.

Once again, I find myself in search of some top notch Nonstick Cookware, and Swiss Diamond seems to be making some impressive claims in terms of heat resistance, and durability... Along with an equally impressive pricetag. Ive tried a fair range of nonstick cookware over the years , and regardless of handwashing, silicone unensils , and carefull attention to heat, it inevitablly flakes chips and cracks, then winds up in the GoodWill box.. Im only interisted in 12" frypan, an 8" frypan and the 3 Qt saucepan,... for those troublesome egg dishes or cheese sauces.. Has anyone used Swiss Diamond or have an opinion about it ?? Thanks