takadi

But to write off an entire food because of its risk factors? I don't think that merits the FDA to put a total ban on it. Every food has risk factors, but that's our personal responsibility to decide whether to eat it or not based on those risks. A label would be more than sufficient As for the FDA itself, don't get me started on the pharmaceutical industry and the massive subsidies loaned out to big farming corporation. But that's an entirely different topic =) Let's talk about cheese

Thanks Tim. I guess my craving for a sweet 3 qt SS clad copper saucier isn't going to subside anytime soon =(. It seems like most All-clad copper pans have a copper core sandwiched between aluminum layers. Are there brands that have all-copper cores clad with very thin stainless steel? (I want there to be as much copper as possible but with the advantage of a non-reactive surface)

I hate the FDA.... I wish food inspection would at least be extended to some privately owned agencies that don't freak out and put outrageous bans and regulations on everything. I would even think that they would do better than the FDA considering they probably have expert knowledge compared to the bureaucrats in Washington. Eh I hate getting political, but it's just that I've been doing some research, and it seems like situations like these just prove that government departments like the FDA just get in the way of our freedom to just enjoy life because of their "nanny" mentality. I actually was researching about the "Small farms" movement to allow farmers to provide localized, fresh organic produce instead of garbage they sell at supermarkets, and I ran into an amazing speech by a man named Ron Paul at Farm Food Voices (he's actually running for president I think). Farm Food Voices is a small farms lobby group. Anyways, it seems as if the ideas he expresses tends to reflect on this current, sad situation. Here's the video if anyone wants to watch

Thermal diffusivity is interesting, but wasn't addressed much in the Q/A. I can't really visualize the significance of thermal diffusivity. Since aluminum is a close second to copper, does it mean it can generate high temperatures and be able to maintain that high temperature despite adding food? Cast Iron would achieve and maintain high heat only because so little heat is lost due to its low conductivity, and copper would reach also reach similarly high heats but compensate for its heat loss through its high conductivity. So both cast iron and copper are similar in this sense, but their thermal diffusivity differ greatly. Is diffusivity more relevant in terms of how much heat per cubic unit is accumulated per unit of time rather than measuring how hot a pan can get and how hot it will stay with cooking?

I don't know if this has already been discussed. But anyways, I would love to buy a nice thick copper saute pan, but I wouldn't wanna fork over that much money if an aluminum pan of the same thickness/weight would perform the same job. I'm generally looking for a pan that distributes the heat evenly, has good control, and most importantly to me, can generate very very high heat. The hotter it can go, the better. I guess the only problem here is money. I know aluminum has similar conductivity of copper, but I'm not sure if it'll perform as well in terms of high heat cooking.

THIS IS AMAZING! I love the way nature works and transforms. It's such a change to actually see your food in the process of transformation rather than just pick it up in a ready-made bottle at some store. There's a real spiritual connection you make with your food (as strange and hippie-ish as that sounds). I'm a pretty sure there are many many different processes of fermentation, all with different results. I wonder if real organic soy sauces end up like yours...

Well if you want the holy grail to all beginner wok cooking, you should invest in "Breath of a Wok" by Grace Young.

HAHAHAHA I find this thread to be hilarious. It's hilarious in the same way comedians us truth as humor. Sheena, your habits almost mirror mine, and I'm a little worse. I'm a total slob. And I'll admit, I've had plenty of "incidents" where the toilet was my best friend, but not once have I ever regretted it! In the back of my mind, I always had the impression that it was good exercise for my stomach for future foreign country ventures. All in the name of food! I have a bad penchant for raw foods. I don't know why. Maybe there's some leftover caveman in me. Raw eggs, raw meat, raw fish...sometimes when I take a look at raw chicken or pork I really wonder what it tastes like. And being a disgusting college student, and being hungry as well, I've occasionally left out some raw beef for quite a while and used it. Yes, you all can yell at me, but oddly enough, I've never gotten sick from leaving out stock, raw meats, eggs, milk, etc. The most recent food poisoning incident has come from eating old bread and most incidents were in foreign countries and were water-related illnesses. As for washing fruits, I find it sort of useless to wash fruit that's usually been waxed and repels water anyways. I usually sometimes only wash fruit because it makes it easier to peel. I'm trying to become a little more serious about cooking, and therefore am planning to improve my habits and become a little more cautious. You can't really make a four course meal when you're in the hospital (thankfully that never happened yet).

What's wrong with brown rice? LOL. Personally when I'm hungry, the fact that it's more packed with nutrients gives me more satisfaction than with plain white rice. It's also one of those rices that you can eat by itself (yea I like brown rice, so sue me) I had alot of korean friends growing up, so once I was exposed to korean rice, I could never go back. It's just so chewy, stick, soft, and delicious. When I ate Jasmine rice again (which was the standard) it felt like I was eating sand. And god forbid long grains.

If everything were deep-fried, there would be no more wars or poverty..

That picture is SO COOL! I really wanna see how this turns out... I don't have adequate knowledge, but to attempt to explain how soy sauce darkens, I would have to say because of some fermentation processes. Perhaps it gets darker in the same sense that our skin gets darker in that the cultures produce pigments as a response to the oxidation from the sun, in the same manner that apples darken when exposed to the air. But don't take my word for it... Also, does your uncle have any information about tamari or soy sauce without wheat in it? I heard it's a byproduct of miso production, but is the process any different? Or do you just omit the flour?

Okay, I have a specific concern, but this thread can be a general discussion about egg whites/yolks... When you separate egg white and egg yolks for a certain recipe, what do you do with the extra yolk or white? Throw it away? Store it? Use it for another recipe? Is there a special way you have to store separated egg whites or yolks?

Kinsey is right on this one. Glutamate itself isn't dangerous. However, I tend to have a feeling that people have adverse reactions because of one of three reasons: 1. Too much sodium 2. Too much glutamates 3. Too quick of an absorption of glutmates Unless MSG "sickness" is a placebo effect or a cause of something else, it may have to do with the fact that MSG is REFINED glutamates as compared to naturally occurring glutamates. I'm basing this theory off of common knowledge of complex and simple carbohydrates, but I could be very wrong.

Here's a link if anyone's curious: http://www.chubbyhubby.net/2006/03/iffa-ho...-soy-sauce.html

Wow, I actually went through a soy sauce phase and was trying to find a way to obtain the "most" organic soy sauce I could find. There is a small family in singapore that still produces home-made soy sauce from scratch. Tasters have described it as one of the most unique and delicious tastes ever. Unfortunately, that trend is phasing out for large scale production and short-cuts. I went out on a hunt to find ways to actually make soy sauce, but I eventually gave up because I was told it was just too complicated and messy. I figure this way is pretty simple. Alot of the methods I've heard of require efforts akin to producing some of the world's finest wines. I've heard that there are just some tamaris that can't be shipped because it's so "alive"...the bottle would explode during shipping! I got even more interested in making my own soy sauce when I heard about the whole "human hair" incident in China. They take human hair, boil it down to make an amino acid slurry, and use it to make a soy sauce that is dirt cheap. Also with the carcinogenic chemicals present in soy sauces that take massive fermentation shortcuts (you can find that on wikipedia)

I am a wok fan, and I actually ran into that site you provide. Brass woks are actually used in Thai cooking, but only for deserts and reducing sauces (according to what I've seen).

I don't know if anyone has mentioned it, but this topic should be read http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showto...00746&hl=heresy As for the whole eating kalbi or bulgogi in lettuce wraps, I remember eating at a korean restaurant for the first time and the owner of the place was appalled that we were taking bowls of rice and topping it with chunks of kalbi meat and just shoveling it into our mouths without using any of the condiments or lettuce. He showed us the "right" way, and I do attempt to eat it that way now and again. However, I find that as long as it tastes good, I think the rituals some people follow when eating food is just for fun and giggles. I think if you like eating food with your feet, go ahead! It's like the whole thing with chopsticks and forks. Of course you can eat everything with a fork, but it wouldn't "feel" right. I find alot of people who use chopsticks for the first time do so because of a role-playing element that comes with eating asian food with chopsticks, to get the whole immersive, exotic, authentic experience. I still like eating bulgogi and kalbi like a barbarian by shoving it down with just rice. hahah

I love dark chocolate too, but -surprise!- I can only eat it when it's embedded with fruit and nuts. They sell those here with dried fruits in them like blueberries or raspberries. *sigh* Just when I thought I had it. I love extra molasses in my baked beans too. I guess I have an addiction for sugar

LOL this thread is hilarious! I saw a headless chicken with the neck still on sitting coyly in a bowl and for some reason I just spit out and laughed my ass off. LOL This thread is perfect for me! I've always been intimidated by almighty dinner thread with five star dishes. Once I get a camera, I will be on this thread for quite a while

From my knowledge, based on recommendations of a large number of people, Kim Lan or Pearl River Bridge soy sauces are a number one choice. La Choy by all means is garbage. As for fish sauce, alot of people use the three crabs brand. It tastes a little sweeter, but it has hydrolyzed proteins and sugars added to it and I'm pretty sure some shortcuts are taken to process the fish sauce. Thais like to use Tiparos, which is very high quality but very strong. Golden boy and squid are good brands too. The ULTIMATE fish sauce though is from Phu Quoc, but due to alot of counterfeiting and lack of global representation, the real thing is pretty rare. I heard that Phu Quoc fish sauce is being made under the Knorr brand, but I heard it has all sorts of preservatives in it. I guess high quality comes at a price.

Interesting! I've noticed that adding salt earlier in my stock does result in a "tastier" stock, but I might be imagining things. I wish I knew more about molecular gastronomy. As for fat absorbing vitamins and flavors, some advocate keeping the fat cap on the stock until refrigeration for more flavor. However, by keeping the fat cap on longer, more flavors would wind up in the fat, and since the fat is going to be discarded anyways, wouldn't that wind up making the stock less flavorful?

I'm sorry if I offended anyone with supposed "stereotypes", but I'm basing my opinions solely on observation alone. It may or may not be true with some people, but the majority of people I've met fit under my description. Hmm supertaster, I forgot about that. We actually did an experiment in biology where we tasted a chemical that only supertasters could detect. Apparently, I'm one of them, how special of me. What's weird is that I like bitter greens, but just something that is so directly confrontational about its bitterness like coffee or alcohol makes it much more difficult to bear with. I treat coffee like a flavor for something else rather. Coffee ice cream, coffee with milk, coffee flavored anything is delicious, but I wouldn't drink black coffee straight.

The one I am saving up for is the Lodge pro logic cast iron wok. However, it is relatively expensive. There was a really good deal on amazon, but they have discontinued it. I'm trying to wait to match the price. Ebay constantly pops up with the old 12 inch Lodge woks. The awesome things about these woks is that it's flat on the bottom and it's round on the inside, so you get the benefits of a wok with the efficiency of a flat bottom for a home stove.

With stock, I've always had the impression that you throw everything in the pot, simmer it for eternity, and poof - magic stock appears. I always found that the flavors died down a little after simmering for too long, but I always considered that there was no such thing as simmering too long. After all, you're just extracting more flavors right? Sometimes I simmered so long that it started to smell a little rancid (long story). Does gelatin block flavors? I know gelatin is important for mouthfeel, but I have a strange feeling that it sometimes muddles up the flavors imparted by the marrow or meats. Thus I've been trying to find a balance between meat and bones/cartilage that resulted in the perfect flavor/gelatin ratio. Unfortunately I haven't been able to find that yet. Stock making seem complicated...is this just me?

A trend I have been observing in America has been that we've have started to revert back to our old roots again. I don't know, maybe we are just tired of big industry and far sweeping technological advances. Local produce from small farms, organics, new information about nutrition. I mean, look at Mcdonald's and their new "healthy" image. Yes McDonald's is still the heart attack inducing restaurant it still was, but perhaps this new image of eating good food is becoming mainstream again. I find that people who take the time to enjoy their meals take the time to enjoy life as well. It's very very difficult to find good food still with all the big industries, artificial ingredients, and general lack of choices. Many people these days just care about cheap and available, but unfortunately that comes at a price as well (we can get into economics later) Hell, all cheap and available does is stuff you with extra calories that end up damaging you in the end anyways. I'm no food snob and I love my ramen and cheeseburger now and then, but I think if anyone takes the time out to find high quality food and pay the extra money, we'll start to eat in moderation naturally. Not only does cheap food encourage us to eat more of a bad thing, but its cheapness and availability gives us no guilt about throwing away and wasting food (we are probably the leading country in wasting precious food).