Shel_B

Meat is a natural product and, as such, varies, sometimes greatly.

I just took delivery of a new All-Clad 10-inch skillet. Comparing the design to my Calphalon 10-inch non-stick skillet, it seems that the sides of the All-Clad are at a greater angle, more sloped. Got me to wondering ... is there an ideal angle for the sides of skillets that allow better cooking and manipulation of the food. For example, a greater slope may make it easier to slide an omelet out of the pan. Other than that, in what instances would the angle or slope of the sides make a difference, and what might be a good angle in general?

Not knowing where your son is, I don't know if this information is helpful. Nonetheless, I have a friend who's been in the meat business here in the Bay Area for decades. I asked him for a source, and here's what he wrote: Regarding your brisket question > The place I go for beef brisket is Smart & Final on San Pablo Ave a couple of blocks past McBryde Ave in a small shopping center on the east side of San Pablo....They used to keep the briskets in the back cooler room but they remodeled the store so you may have to ask a clerk. They also have meat on the other side of the store. These are fairly big briskets with a layer of fat. You can always cut it in half and freeze half ... These are fresh briskets, not frozen and of good quality. 13110 San Pablo Ave, Richmond, CA 94805 (510) 233-1756

I went here and typed in $157.92 for Canadian dollars.

Already purchased it for less elsewhere. At the time of purchase Amazon was 20+ dollars more, now it's just a few dollars more.

Info I have says the exchange would be around $130.00 - $131.00 ...

I read that Amazon, as well as some other merchants, adjust the price of various items depending on a person's browsing history, past purchases, and physical location. You and I may not be offered an item at the same price. I recently noticed a big drop in the Amazon price for an All-Clad 10-inch skillet with lid soon after browsing several other sites, one of which had a substantially lower price for the item. Coincidence? I don't know. But perhaps we can find out. Would you be kind enough to look up this item on Amazon All-Clad 41106 Stainless Steel Tri-Ply Bonded Dishwasher Safe Fry Pan with Lid / Cookware, 10-Inch and post the price you received? Just type the description into Google or the Amazon search box. Thanks!

Never encountered the problem, although the Thai Sriracha sauces were quite a bit different from the Huy Fong. Someone used to Huy Fong may use that as their standard and not be too enamored of other brands. Sriraja Panich is one brand I liked. I guess a lot comes down to what you're used to and, of course, personal preferences.

I highly recommend this book. It served me well when I was researching pizza for an article some years ago.

It's in my queue, and I'm looking forward to taking a look. Right now there are a couple of other new Netflix shows that I want to see first. A friend enjoyed what she saw, but provided no specific comments.

I'd disagree. Huy Fong is, for whatever reason, practically ubiquitous, however, I've had other brands of Sriracha that I picked up at Thai groceries that were far more interesting than Huy Fong.

This is Good! Much better (IMO) than the more widely recognized Huy Fong "rooster sauce." Not as sweet, missing the chemical additives, with a bit of smokiness and packed in glass rather than plastic. My new standard sriracha sauce. We combined our philosophy of using fresh, locally sourced ingredients with the age-old craft of fermentation. We age our secret pepper mash in whiskey barrels for between one and three months. The sriracha takes on complex flavors from the oak barrels and the natural fermentation process. Absolutely no preservatives or additives go into our sriracha. Each bottle is handcrafted and made in small batches to ensure the most intense flavors. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KpibEm0vFSU

Read a review of this restaurant and visited their site. Am I missing something? I can find no menu, prices, descriptions, etc.

Seemingly not in this case .... what a shame.

How Apples are Grown Here's a short (5-minutes) video about how apples are grown. I learned a couple of things, and maybe you will, too. http://video.pbs.org/video/2365470270/

Cook's Illustrated is where I found the recipes and video ... didn't see the recipes or videos on Cook's Country and didn't check ATK.

I just did a quick search of CI and found several recipes and videos for Brown Rice Salad. I can't send you the videos, but would be happy to send you a few of the recipes. I've still got a few months left on my subscription - don't know if I'll renew it.

Last week I found a local connection for some great balsamic vinegar at one of the neighborhood farmers markets. It's traditionally aged in six woods, and while not the best I've had, it's the closest to the 75yo balsamic I got from a small estate in Italy many years ago. Strawberries are coming into the markets now, and Toots loves the luscious, sweet berries from a couple of the producers at the Berkeley farmers market. Last night I gave her a taste of the balsamic, and she loved it. Next step is to mist some of her favorite berries with the balsamic. However, I think I need a mister to control the application of the vinegar. Any suggestions for a small mister that will look good on the table, not made of plastic? I would like a little gem of a mister that will add to a presentation, maybe one that has an "old" look to it.

I wonder how well these pieces of art will function as a tool. The Chef knife is beautiful, but how well might it work with most of the top 2/3rds of the blade filled with the roughness of the horseshoe rasp from which it's made? And I wonder about the quality of the blade's cutting edge? Is the material she uses best, or even good, for the knife's purpose?

I made a very similar recipe a few months ago. Since I like ginger, I added some Microplaned fresh ginger. Very nice!

Yesterday I made a big pot of vegetable soup. Often when making soup, I add some lemon juice. This time, since the soup needed a scosh more salt, I chopped a couple of the preserved lemon slices into the mix, stirred, let sit a bit, and was delighted with the result.

Just curious ... the description says "Fits all Bowl-Lift Stand Mixers models KD2661, KL26M, KP26M1, KP26M8, KP26N9, KF26M2, KV25G, KV25M, KB25G, KSM652X, KSM657X, KSM75XX." Why would you think/hope it fits your KSM5OP?

Trader Joe's Tunisian Preserved Lemon Slices I don't recall the price on these, but they were reasonable, at least by my standards. Ingredients are lemon slices, water, salt, acetic acid and ascorbic acid (vitamin C for freshness). 13.5 ounces ... The local TJ's seem to be carrying a number of new and interesting items, and the plan is to try many of them, posting pics here and, when possible, my impressions of the items. These lemons have a somewhat salty taste, and very little sweetness. Never having had preserved lemons before, I can't really comment on whether they're a good, poor, or average version. Maybe someone else has tried them, or will try them, and be better able to comment on quality.

I found out that these choice lentils, which are grown in the volcanic soils of Puy in France, are now also grown in North America and Italy. So it's possible to buy the lentils, but without Le Terroir and L'AOP. While they may be "second best," they are still quite good.

Thanks ... originally I didn't see a use-by date, but after reading your post I looked for it and found it.