Jon Savage

I like this season so far. Back to cooking.

Forschners are well regarded and quite inexpensive. If I were in your shoes I'd buy a paring knife, a chef's knife & maybe a bread knife. Likely well under $100 for the knives. I'd also buy a combination waterstone like this one and learn to use it.

Well our leftovers are not turkey... That being said a rindesbratensalat with onions & olive oil and such would not be out of place.

Grass fed and finished roast and plated it was tasty

What we pack for our annual trips to Italy (apt. rental). A couple of good sharp knives (24omm gyuto, a petty). Microplane. Corkscrew. Thermopen. Pepper grinder with good peppercorns. Small silicone spatula. Bamboo spatula & spoon. FLexible cutting boards (pack well and are almost disposable). Nutmeg grinder thingie & some nutmeg. Stash of teabags. Shapton glasstone for touch up of knives. Veg peeler if you feel lazy. A small whisk. Really all that is indispensable are the knives and thermopen. Everything else could be obtained easily and cheaply - one time we ended up unexpectedly spending 2 weeks in an apartment in Venice instead of the hotel we'd booked. A folding Opinel and a swiss army knife sufficed for food prep. The biggest issue I see in rental apartments (and other people's kitchens for that matter) is the lack of decent knives. Even an Opinel is light years better than what you usually encounter assuming it is sharp. The thermopen is nice to have.

Carbonara of course- but *no* cream please. aglio e olio - with copious amounts of crushed dried red peppers mmmm. Don't discount the tomato based sauces. These can be amazingly deep and complex. A little anchovy never hurts either. Important to remember IMHO and it only clicked for me on my 15th trip to Italy or so (OK I'm dense)- the sauce is just a condiment and should not overwhelm the pasta.

Green coffee buying Club duly noted (is this the right link? Agreed the coop can be spotty regarding offerings but I've really enjoyed everything I've gotten from then and currently have just South of 60 lbs of green beans (4 origins) on hand at the moment so we should be good to go for a few months. Thanks for the tip I'll be checking out the green coffee buying club as well.

Coretto is the bomb especially using grappa

I *love* rice bran oil. Discovered it quite by accident and became hooked. Neutral flavor, high flash point and seems to last forever e.g. does not go rancid.

I've been roasting my own coffee for about 3 years now and would never go back to buying roasted beans. We have been able to consistently roast coffee to exactly our liking (adjusting depending on the bean type of course). We generally pay less than $5/lb for our green beans and the modest investment of less that $100 all in to put the stir-crazy/convection oven roaster together amortized in maybe 2 months. One of the very best places I've found to procure green beans is the Green Coffee Coop. You have to keep an eye on their site since offerings are somewhat infrequent but every single variety we have ordered through the coop has been excellent.

Hard boiled eggs! Only a dollar each...

Ready made mirepoix @ $4.95 for maybe 2 cups (seen next to the bagged salads @ the market today). That boggles my mind.

Bingo. For me any kind of pasta sauce from a can or jar is silly. Hummus I make when I want some even Sabra is way overpriced. Generally my wife and I utilize almost no prepared foods instead preferring to make things from scratch. Cooking is an activity we both enjoy though. Assuming one has the time and minimal skillset required the cost savings are significant as well as the benefit of controlling what goes into your food.

There's an article about it in today's LA Times. clicky This show could prove to be quite spectacular in its awfulness if the above examples are any indication. On the other hand perhaps its intent is to actually teach some of these folks to cook. The audition tapes for the contestants are really amazing. It seems as if even boiling water might be a bit of a reach for some of these folks.

I created this for a couple we are friends with who fail to see the appeal of meat or animal products. It was a fun exercise for me and the result was surprisingly tasty with the porcini providing a nice hit of umami. Anti Bourdain Stew for Mel and D. Ingredients: Olive oil (sufficent to saute the veg) 3 Carrots (peeled, chopped, about a cup) 2 Parsnips (peeled, chopped, about a cup) 3-4 stalks Celery (chopped, about a cup) 1 large onion (peeled, chopped, a little over a cup) 4 Cloves Garlic (minced) 1/3 cup flour 1 l water 1/8 cup (dried) porchini mushrooms rehydrated in 1/2 C hot water, minced or pureed in that liquid 3 Bay Leaves Salt (Kosher or sea) to taste Freshly ground black pepper to taste 1/8 tsp or so Cayenne to taste 2 lbs or so potatoes (Yukon Gold or the like not floury ones like Russets) 3 Bay Leaves 1 Tablespoon fresh Rosemary finely chopped 1/4 cup dry sherry 1-2 tbs vinegar Saute carrots in olive oil until they just begin to get color. Add parsnips to the carrots. When the parsnips just start to get color add chopped onion to the pan (carrots should be nicely carmelized by now). Continue to cook the veg. until the onions just start to get golden. Add minced Garlic, give a quick stir then add the flour stirring well to coat all of the veg. Add water while stirring to ensure that the flour does not burn. Add pureed Porcini + their liquid. Add bay leaves, black pepper, Cayenne sherry and simmer for 1/2 hour. Add potatoes (quartered, peeled or just well scrubbed) Add Rosemary, and vinegar to balance. Hold @ a simmer stirring frequently until potatoes are done.

That is a little pricey. Most of the offerings at Salumi in Seattle are under $20 a pound. I've enjoyed many of their products. Alternately you might want to consider curing your own- Charcuterie by Ruhlman and Polcyn is an excellent introduction to curing your own meat. It has been discussed at some length The original thread, Indexed here and the currentCooking with Ruhlman & Polcyn's "Charcuterie" 2008-Present thread. The first batch of bacon you make will ruin you for commodity bacon forever.

Could someone be so kind as to enlighten me as to what "Berghoff" fried potatoes are? Thanks!

smelt, also whitebait. Nothing better than a mess of butterflied fresh smelt dredged in wondra seasoned appropriately and fried to crisp perfection. Same applies to whitebait only those get eaten whole guts gonads and all.

I purchased the Ratio IPhone application today. $4.99 well spent - I like being able to refer to it for things I rarely make. The book itself sure does seem to have its share of detractors.

instead of cheddar I use Italian truffle cheese from Trader Joe's. Tasty.

Lots of bbq pork butt means I'll have to get up early tomorrow to get the fire started. A mess of chicken carnitas. Frijoles refritos fresh Salsa Green chile and queso enchiladas Big Caesar salad plenty of fresh flour tortillas. That is just what we are making- we are also expecting 20-30 folks to show up @ ours also bringing random food. One memorable year someone brought enough spiny (local) lobster tails to fill both sides of our sink to the brim. I split and grilled 'em- sublime. Should be a fun party. Usually we do something similar for thanksgiving and christmas but this year we were in Venice for the former and camping (10 lbs clams 3 dozen Oysters) for the latter.

One reason In-N-Outs service and staff are cheerful and attentive may be that they start at $10 and hour. On the rare occasions I eat fast food it is usually In-N-Out. They do what they do extremely well.

Wow. I think I'd just tell that customer to go pound sand should a repeat visit be on the agenda.

Well inside your price range - a copy of Escoffier. Great to read even if you don't actually use it to cook from. Invaluable reference for baslines of traditional French dishes.

For dinner Al Covo in Castello is outstanding. Da Alberto is also quite good (address upthread). Cicchetti are ubiquitous and often really good.