Shel_B

I'm aware of that technique, but I have no coffee filters here, so, an alternative is to let the stock sit a while and just skim or pour from the top, making sure no dirt or grit thanks dropped to the bottom gets poured out of the vessel.

Yesterday I discovered browning trays. There are some for sale on Amazon and also on eBay.

Another thing to try. Thanks! I did that this afternoon for the first time. It's a great technique. I had a small timing issue, however. The garlic in oil came out perfectly colored for my intended need, but I let the garlic sit in the oil a few minutes before removing it, and it got a bit too cooked and crispy. Won't make that mistake again. In any case, great tip!

Nice anecdote. Don't get me started collecting things .. I saw those shakers and started feeling the urge

That's nice ... thanks for posting.

Pulverizing dried mushrooms = good idea! Thanks. Will try that in my next veggie soup or stew.

Thanks, I needed that kick in the butt. Sometimes less is more ...

Tomorrow I'm making a large batch of vegetable stew or soup, and I want to use some mushroom stock to add a richer flavor. Of the numerous recipes I've seen, they all call for the addition of herbs, onion, garlic, and other vegetables, like carrot and celery. That's fine, but since the stock will be used for a simmered vegetable dish, is the addition of all these vegetables and herbs really necessary? This evening I made a quickish stock using three or four types of 'shrooms, half a leftover onion, a couple of garlic cloves, and a bay leaf, sautéed in a scosh of olive oil. It smells great, and the color is dark. After straining, I'm thinking this will be just fine for tomorrow's stew/ or soup. Any thoughts on this? Thanks!

Probably. The McRib is not unique in this regard. Recently there was an admission by Burger King that, in Europe at least, their patties contained horsemeat. This came after repeated denials. Does the fact that other fast food chains play fast and loose with their ingredients make the McRib more acceptable? I don't think that's what you're saying ... is it?

IMHO, one of the issues with the McRib is that consumers don't know what they're eating.

As Seen on TV: http://www.asseenontv.com/?gclid=CIPnjp-G4roCFWNxQgodbS8A3Q&ecid=PID-700000121&pa=SEM_ASOTVBrand_as%20seen%20on%20tv&s_kwcid=AL!3955!3!33125759491!e!!g!!as%20seen%20on%20tv&ef_id=Unh-AgAABCTTCA2y:20131113151215:s All the stuff from infomercials and perhaps more - and many with "star" ratings. Yikes!

I don't think so ... watch the video and maybe you can tell us. Is there something wrong with EVOO on popcorn?

This morning, to satisfy my curiosity about an aspect of making oatmeal, I discovered a series of You Tube videos under the general heading of "You're Doing it All Wrong." Here's the link to the oatmeal-making video http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=pT8IaxL6jtg in which the cook demonstrates how to make oatmeal from scratch, starting by grinding your own groats. It really doesn't look too difficult, and it might be a fun thing to try. If nothing else, I may have learned a thing or two about making and eating oatmeal. When the video is over, as is often the case on You Tube, a number of other video choices appeared, including one about pan frying bacon which, to me, was very enlightening. There are videos about making fries, nachos, burgers, and more. I don't know who all the cooks are, although the bacon guy is associated with Prather Ranch, a purveyor of high quality, grass fed meats found at numerous farmers markets and quality markets in the San Francisco Bay Area, so I guess he knows what he's talking about. When done, his bacon looked great. Gordon Ramsey looked to be in another video. So, you might want to take a peek. Perhaps there's something to be enjoyed and maybe even learned.

I'm going to take a look at them. The price suggests that they are of low quality, but sometimes things like this can be a surprise. I thought I saw all the bamboo my local BBB carried, but I must have missed these. For $6.00 less a 20% coupon, it's hard to go too far wrong. I've never met bamboo that wasn't OK in the dishwasher, but that's not an issue for me as I don't have a dishwasher. And I don't beat my stuff up at all - I'm still getting excellent service from my first bamboo spoon which is 35-years old this past June. My biggest concern is if it feels cheap, too light. How an item feels in my hand is important to me. However, Toots likes her gear light weight, so, at worst, they may be fine for her. Thanks for posting the link.

Do you think McD's has tried to deceive you? I don't know what the hell that stuff in the picture is, but it sure doesn't look like any pork I've ever seen. Anyone know what it is? (time passes) I searched for ingredients and this was the first article that popped up: http://naturalsociety.com/mcdonalds-mcrib-sandwich-a-franken-creation-of-gmos-toxic-ingredients-banned-ingredients/ Truth or fiction?

I have been using my fingers for years - more than forty years, actually. I now have arthritis, and recently found it's much easier and far less messy to use a shaker.

TJ's has a grinder which, BTW, is refillable. I've used their grinder with their pink Himalayan salt. However, they also have a small glass container that holds about 3+ oz of sea salt. The container comes with a perforated cap to allow shaking the salt. I believe it's a new item as I've not seen it before yesterday.

I wonder if there's a way to get some color and roasted-like flavor with the microwave. Maybe by zapping the squash after giving it a light coat of oil as was mentioned upthread with garlic and onions.

Looks like it's worth trying. Thanks for posting the link.

Do it frequently, to different degrees of doneness. Example: Kabocha and Acorn have hard shells, so some 'waving will soften things a bit, and make for easier cutting before roasting. Sometimes I'll 'wave the squash to fully cooked, cut, scoop out the flesh and then mash and season. Works just fine. PS: Did you get the oven baked rice recipe I sent you?

Ghee Stampede: http://manchester-reviews.blogspot.com/2011/06/akbars-ghee-monster-stampedes-through.html

Toots keeps some grains of rice in her salt shaker, so I tried to find out why it's recommended to do that. Some citations say it's to absorb moisture and prevent caking, so the salt will flow freely. Other comments say that the rice doesn't absorb water, but that the motions of the grains when shaking the salt physically keep the salt flowing. I don't think it makes too much difference as to why the grains of rice work, just that they do. Still, I'm curious about the real reason grains of rice work. I'm guessing here, but It seems that if the rice absorbs moisture, at some point the grains would become damp, and that dampness might transfer to the salt. Since I have no white rice in the house, I wonder if brown rice, or other grains, like barley, would work.

Looks like TJ's has a couple of new items on their spice shelf. One is a small container of Mediterranean bay leaves and the other is sea salt in a small jar with a shaker top. Haven't seen them here before ...

Funny you should mention that. Yesterday, while at Trader Joe's, I saw that they had sea salt in a small jar with a shaker cap, seemingly perfect for my needs. The size of the jar was fine, but I wasn't sure about the size of the holes in the cap, so I didn't buy it. However, on the way home, I thought about how I could make it work even if the holes were too big, which was my concern. The salt was 99-cents vs about $5.00 for a salt shaker. Now that I've resolved the issue about hole size, the next time I'm at TJ's, I'll get the salt. The container and top should last a long time, and is recyclable, so there's no need to buy disposable containers, which I wouldn't do.

While I prefer organic, sustainable, yadayadayada food, I am not wedded to those types of ingredients. For example, there's a local dairy company that produces both organic and nonorganic products, and I most often, but not always, buy their regular milk and cream over the organic. Why? Because I know their regular products are clean, are from well cared-for cows, are all local, etc., and are sometimes only different by certification, plus the organics are about 30% to 40% more expensive. That said, how a recipe author presents his or her ingredient list makes little difference to me, other than sometimes being annoying. So, if a recipe says to use organic, grass-fed, non-irradiated, glow-in-the-dark cheddar cheese, I know enough about what's available in my area, and probably have established preferences, that I just buy the cheddar that seems most appropriated for the recipe, or the one I feel I'd enjoy the most. The same for those recipes that call for specific brands of ingredients, like the "500g of Pura Crema butter" mentioned up thread. Heck, a lot of times one is unable to get a specific brand of something in their area, so a substitute is necessary anyway. OTOH, if, in a recipe, the author suggested using an ingredient like the one he or she uses, such as to use a butter like Vermont Creamery butter (http://www.vermontcreamery.com/cultured-butter-1), I'd know that a high fat content, cultured butter might be the preference, and may look for something similar in my area - although I can get VC butter here. TTFN,