waterdogs

I have not tried it, but Wylie Dufresne (among others) has used "meat glue" (transglutaminase) to bond his lamb breasts together before making lamb bacon. The stuff just seems too strange (and scary and expensive) to me. I raise sheep: our bellies/breasts are always pretty thin. I still smoke them and just use more like pancetta. MEJ

Moderator's Note: There have been other topics about home coffee brewers, which have been merged and closed. To review those posts, please click here. After 8-9 years of every day service, our Cuisinart coffeemaker is not likely to last too much longer. I have not been able to find a source to replace just the one broken part, and my limited repair skills are exhausted. We have a good espresso machine, and I am not too sure about the single cup thing-ies -- so I need something like this: a standalone electric, with an advance set timer that can make 5-6 decent mugs of coffee in the wee hours of the morning. There is plenty of room for anything. I would prefer NOT to have it also grind (that I can manage to do) since I worry that two appliances in one is twice the chance for something to go wrong and break. They still sell this particular Cuisinart (it is a DCC-12 or close to that number). But the reviews on Amazon indicate a lot of people have trouble with them breaking down. If I have already used up my luck with this Cuisinart, I am going to need a good recommendation. Thanks!

This reminds me of a pepper grinder I obtained some place (I think it was a freebie). Wouldn't it make more sense to turn it around so you'd use four fingers instead of a thumb to cut the butter?? One thumb operation looks hard! MEJ

Great post. Your pictures hint you are as good in the kitchen as in the butchering room. This year, we got a lot of deer carcasses (carcassi ?) from our neighbors who know we feed our dogs raw food and meaty bones. By the end of hunting season, I could tell they were getting tired of deer (or else their freezers were full) since they pretty much just removed the backstraps, heads and hides and left the rest for us. Wish I had your butchering skills! But I got a lot of practice. I *DID* take advantage of having so darn many bones around and made stock and demiglace. Used the first of it right before the holidays, and it was great. We are out of room in our freezers now, too. M. Jackson

I was interested to read how many of you mentioned the good taste of Icelandic lamb. I raise Icelandics. Most all Icelandics (North America as well as Iceland) are pasture animals (hayed in the winter if dictated by climate) and do not get much at all in the way of grain. They are naturally more lean than most commercial breeds of sheep, and actually carry their fat differently. Maybe these things have something to do with their milder flavor. They are also smaller than commercial sheep at conventional slaughter ages -- and market weights are often considerably less. What we have found is that even older Icelandics (definitely in the age category of mutton) are still milder than much of the imported young lamb. About the only complaints I have heard are from people who end up having to make sausage out of a ram if he is slaughtered during breeding season. While not as bad as goat bucks, the rams do get pretty rammy smelling. Out of breeding season, the meat seems just fine. I guess it is obvious that I would love for more Americans to insist on American lamb. It is almost impossible to find any -- but the American Lamb Board is trying! M Jackson

With a built in freezer, you can make the ice cream right away (unlike the other types which simply cannot get cold enough to counter a less than cold mixture). I think most suggest you use an ice bath for the mixture to cool it down faster regardless of the ultimate freezer method. You can shorten the freezing time in your maker with colder mixture, but not by much in my experience. And it may have just been a coincidence of the ice cream flavor, but it seemed the mixes that I did NOT chill first made ice cream that was smoother and stayed that way longer...or maybe it was just getting to eat it sooner!

I think a lot depends on what you want to grill...and how much time you have to do it. We ended up with quite a variety of grills and smokers: an old Weber kettle (charcoal), a Weber Genesis (propane), a Brinkmann smoker (wood or charcoal) and a very old electric smoker. The kettle makes great burgers and steaks and decent smoked ribs, but was a lot of work when it came to smoking something like brisket or pork shoulder that took a long low/slow time; the Brinkmann is much superior there. But when it comes to convenience and getting something on the table in a hurry (or after a long day), the propane is the way to go. The Genesis is a very good product and was definitely worth a little extra money I spent when I replaced another brand. It has weathered very well and still starts up fast. It makes a decent pizza. We lose power here a lot more than we should and have even made morning coffee on it too (and you would not want to wait for charcoal for that!!). To be honest, I still have not found a good use for the old electric smoker I bought at an auction for $5...maybe I will try smoking some fish.

Guessing on #157 - Stranger Than Fiction? Will Ferrell doesn' t know the difference between cookies that are just baked or that come from a box. I don't quite remember the daily green apple -- but he was pretty obsessive about things like brushing his teeth. I think I wish I had paid more attention watching this movie!

Key Lime Pie and Non-fat Milk = Natural Born Killers?

Guess for the following: 136. Jelly Babies, Coke & Scotch CLUE: Jelly Babies are British versions of Jelly Beans. Robert Zemeckis/Steven Spielberg "I Wanna Hold Your Hand"? Supposed to be the Beatles' favorite food and drink.

Insomniac, if it is ANY consolation, you are so very correct about "Pieces of April"! Congratulations on the answer if not your choice of rugby teams. AND, huge congrats on solving that cursed number 66. While I had lost track of who posted that devil, I am not surprised to see Blether surfacing as instigator; a role played before, IIRC. I simply could not come up with it. When I finally banished Blue Velvet from my thinking I kept getting Blues Brothers. Good grief. LASTLY, Blether: I recall Betty Blue (blue it was) completely outdoes Body Heat in degrees of HOT. Both probably worth a rental fee!

Well done, racheld! Yes, number 107 is "My Dinner with Andre". Congratulations. Here is a new one, then, that is no cinema match for MDwA: A well traveled turkey held hostage, raw potatoes that don't mash, Krispy Kremes. While I am here, a weak non-guess on Nemesis Number 66: I saw this movie years ago; it is French; a strange sort of love story (I guess they all are, aren't they?); she is a waitress, he's a handyman?; there is a fork stabbing and lot of nudity/sex...but I cannot remember the name. I keep coming up with "Blue Velvet" and I KNOW that is not right. Someone put me out of this misery.

Wait maybe another one.... (maybe not) 135. The "Heidi" Bowl/game ?? Just going by the clues...tho' it seems like a bowl of goat milk might be in a movie called "Heidi".

I think #125 is "Flirting with Disaster"? Or some title really close to that. Ben Stiller was in it?

This is the answer to your question. You need the hand blender. The immersion blender is a very nice, and handy, luxury. You already know everything that the hand blender does, and the immersion blender won't do a lot of it. But I love my immersion blender and use it for soups, gravies, hot chocolate and other hot liquids, which you can blend right in the pan; and some drinks, like milk shakes, which you can blend right in the glass. I also use it for the kind of quick blending for which I would otherwise use a whisk (or sometimes even a fork), like stirring the egg yolks and key lime juice into the Eagle Brand milk. It's a very handy tool, and you can find inexpensive ones for $15-25 (like mine) that work just fine. But it's definitely a supplement to the hand blender, and not a replacement. ← Perfect. Thank you all for your thoughts. Hand blender it is.

Number 61: I am going to disqualify myself, but I am pretty sure I know what this one is. Inadvertantly, I stumbled across a comment on another website that mentioned this movie and the lightbulb went on. But only thanks to the latest clues. The menu items completely escaped me. It felt sort of like Googling, so.... Instead, here is another (surreal-ish) movie question: Quails, fish pate, potato soup.

93. Big Hair, Big Gulp, Big Caddy. He's all action... Undercover Brother. Don't forget the mayonnaise! Another movie with a surprisingly good cast.

Argh. Even the clues are hard. One "famous" poisoned (or is it???) milk is in Suspicion (remember how it sort of glows when Cary Grant takes it upstairs?) I have not seen that movie in a long time but none of the other clues fit, do they? Only the darn milk!!

99. I think this one is "Some Like It Hot". Little Bonaparte has Spats taken out.

102. Black coffee and a sidecar = light breakfast for Auntie Mame. Great movie!

We have brick on the first floor and use a stall mat (yes, the kind for horses). It is not super attractive but works great and was MUCH cheaper than any of the mats sold for kitchen floors or restaurant kitchens. I have also used those kitchen mats (perforated kind) and they are also nice. Either type can be taken up (they are heavy) and hosed off if the vacuum does not do the job thoroughly enough. Water was not an issue for the stall mat but did go through the holes in the kitchen mat sometimes. Just had to move it out and clean it up.

The RealAudio version of the webcast can be found at http://webcast.berkeley.edu/event_details....pp=15&category=

There was a previous similar topic, but it got sort of hijacked, so I hope it is OK to start another one. My old 6 speed Waring hand blender gave up the ghost today. I knew something was coming when it lost a couple of its speeds over the last few months. Now it has started sparking, so I am ready for a change. But I am so confused by everything out there. I use the hand mixer for things such as quick breads and whipping cream; and when I need to blend soup I go get the blender and try to pour carefully. I have been thinking about an immersion blender and see at least a couple (eg, Bamix and KA) that seem to imply they can handle both mixing and blending jobs. But can an immersion blender mix banana bread ? Can any immersion blender do this ? Or am I looking at just replacing the hand mixer and continuing to ponder the immersion blender? Any and all thoughts gratefully welcome. MEJ

83---> Is related to a scene in "Enemy at the Gate" -- not my guess but I am *assured* this is right? Hmmm....I am not too much on war movies myself. The clue for Number 61 makes me think it is some sort of WW1 movie -- (so does the menu, really), so "anti war movies" is my defense (and I am sticking to it ) for having no idea!!! How else could I have missed that much food in a movie?