Shel_B

Hi ... for many years I used good quality hard anodized aluminum pots, including a 12-quart stockpot. My recollection is that the pot cleaned up easily, and while it's not non-stick, it was certainly less sticky than my stainless. That said, at the time I was not very competent using stainless, and I was not using a stock pot but, rather, a 4-quart saucepan. My incompetence with SS at that time seems similar to the situation you describe. Under the circumstances you describe, I'd say a good anodized pot will work in your favor. However, I don't know what to recommend (although you didn't ask for a recommendation), i.e., I cannot speak to the quality of the current crop of anodized pots.

Is it possible to put a rack of ribs in the mini, perhaps by cutting the ribs and putting each piece side-by-side in the smoker?

Can someone tell me about this Cameron smoker? Does it work well on an electric stovetop? In an oven? How smokey would the kitchen get? How thick is the stainless steel? Is the body of the smoker just stainless,r is it layered with aluminum (tri ply)? Any other info would be helpful. Thanks!

Earlier today I was gifted with a 10-lb bag of gorgeous jalapeño peppers. I would like to make a paste from some of them. Any suggestions? There are numerous directions online, but it would be great to get some ideas here, too. Thanks! Oh, any suggestions for pickling them?

Thomas Keller's Bouchon Bakery and his Addendum restaurant. Here's the conversation I had with one of my friends after we went up to visit Keller's places: Apart from the burnt and overcooked baguette from the bakery, I was terribly disappointed with the pulled pork sandwich. The pork was nice and tender but lacked any flavor. It was bland, Bland, BLAND! The only flavor in the sandwich came from the dressing, which was applied with a heavy hand. The coleslaw and pickles were redolent of vinegar, so much so that my tongue tingled long after finishing the sandwich, and the concoction overpowered the minimal taste of the pork. The roll was pretty mediocre - something reminiscent of what one would purchase in a supermarket. Even worse was the two large pieces of gristle that I bit into - very unpleasant. The fried chicken, while flavorful and moist, was greasy - grease was literally running down my fingers while eating a piece of breast. Shame on you, Thomas Keller! The bread pudding was far too sweet for my taste, and the bread had no "pudding" texture, rather it was hard and chewy, perhaps something some people might like. The pudding, such as it was, was loaded with raisins, increasing the sweetness and adding a texture that, in my opinion, conflicted with the bread. It is not something I would order again. It seemed that there was more fruit than bread, and the bread, in and of itself, offered very little flavor or, perhaps, was overshadowed by the cloying and over sweetened fruit and sauce ingredients. My chocolate roll with "vanilla crème filling" had absolutely no noticeable vanilla taste. It reminded me of a cheap supermarket item called Ho Ho's (Keller's is called Do Do's, suggesting his creation to be an upscale version of the Ho Ho). While the chocolate cake was pretty good, and the chocolate coating was nice, albeit a bit heavy handed and unevenly applied, the vanilla filling, which is what I bought the dessert for, was truly bland ... I could make a better tasting filling in a few minutes in my minimalist kitchen, of this I'm sure. When I got home and opened the packages from Bouchon, I discovered that the wrong items were packed. I ordered a lemon tart and they packed a cookie! I sure hope The French Laundry has better quality food, because Addendum and Bouchon were, at least, inconsistent. I also found it somewhat pretentious that there was no menu posted. Unless someone had gone to the website, there was no way to know what to order, or what sides came with each dish. I believe one of you mentioned that there was no menu posted for the restaurant next door, Ad Hoc? and that a sign suggested a visit to the website to get the menu. Also, the Addendum website says each meal comes with two sides, yet I received only a single bag of potato chips with the pulled pork sandwich. While I enjoyed the day out, and spending time with you, Keller's creations left much to be desired. My friend responded: Yes, I agree with you. I think Keller's britches have gotten way too big for him. For dinner, I had the double chocolate muffin and boy was that puppy DRY! I absolutely hate dry food and it seems like the person who's charge in the bakery is over baking everything. I've been doing a lot of baking lately for our Tuesday night crew at the Mammal Center and none of my stuff reminds me of the Sahara Desert. I always under bake my cakes, cookies, and then add minutes back to the baking time if I need to. I've decided never to visit the bakery again since every time I visit, it gets more and more disappointing. Keller better wake up & pay attention to his empire because I think his reputation may be in danger. Edited to correct a couple of typos.

I thought about something like that, but it wouldn't work for Toots should she decide to use the knife.

Cardboard, duct tape, and wrapping with newspaper really isn't what I'm looking for, although the techniques may be good as a temporary solution and for transporting the knife up to Toots' place.

I want to buy a knife guard for my 8-inch Victorinox chef knife. CI recommends this one. Any comments on this particular guard, or another that you may have used. I need the guard because I'll be using the knife at Toots' place, and the knife won't fit into her block. The knife won't be transported anywhere once it's at Toots' place as I have another at my place. Thanks!

Canned asparagus was my first experience with the vegetable, and it set my appreciation of them back many years. I'm still not crazy about them, but do experiment with different ways of preparing them, and some methods are quit acceptable.

There are probably many reasons for someone being a picky eater. My sister didn't eat broccoli for years as she "didn't like it." At some point she realized that she'd never tried it. For some reason my mother put it into her head that she didn't like the vegetable. Once my sister overcame that, she discovered that she loved the stuff. My sister is still a somewhat picky eater, but in her defense, she's had stomach and digestive issues since she was a baby, and at that time the docs put her on a restricted diet, all of which contributed, I'm sure, to her selective eating habits. By my standards, Toots is a fussy eater as she doesn't care for spicy food, peppers, many types of tomatoes, ginger, and some other foods, and it's somewhat frustrating to cook for her. However, by her standards, I'm a fussy eater, as I won't eat offal, and I like my food prepared in very specific ways. So, perhaps pickiness is in the eyes of the beholder, just like beauty. That said, for a long time Toots wouldn't eat Indian food - didn't like some of the ingredients and the heat. However, after showing her the varieties of food available, and that she could get dishes that were not hot, she has started eating several dishes from that cuisine. Her pickiness stemmed from several experiences earlier in her life that established what Indian food was like, even though it was a small sample. Sometimes people need to be taught that a particular food can be prepared in many ways. As for eating with fussy Toots, well, she's the woman I love, and when I cook for her I make sure that she will enjoy the meal. I don't want to sit down to dinner and not have her by my side. So I compromise and adjust, and slowly I introduce new flavors and ingredients to her. Lately she's started tasting some of my spicier dishes when we go out to eat. She's started to experiment with kimchi now that she knows there are different degrees of heat and different flavors. Sometimes it's just a matter of education and, perhaps, a little patience. I do have a little anecdote to share. A couple of years ago I made a lemon goat cheese cheesecake. I used goat cheese because Toots has difficulties digesting cow's milk, and lemon flavor was added because Toots' daughter in law loves anything with lemon flavor. The DIL loved the cheesecake, and at some point she asked about the ingredients. When she learned that the cheesecake was made with goat cheese, she almost tossed her cookies. "Yeow! I hate goat cheese!" she exclaimed, yet just a few minutes before the cheesecake was delicious. <sigh>

Click here to see the first episode of the PBS show

I don't need a nonstick pan. Actually, I'm trying to get away from using them at all because of the plastic in them. When I saw this "Quantanium" I thought it might not contain plastic ... oh, well, one can hope. I've replaced my 10-inch nonstick with a 10-inch All-Clad skillet. For what I cook, and how I cook, it needs little oil and doesn't stick at all, beyond what I want it to do.

What a terrible name for a food product. Does anyone remember the movie Soylent Green? Soylent Green was a manufactured food product made from .... people. Movie trailer

Sorry ... The Quantanium coating contains PTFE ...

Never mind ... I found the answer after a second search. Is there plastic (PTFE, etc) material in the nonstick coating? Is the "Quantanium" coating more durable than typical nonstick coating? Anyone know more about this? Thanks!

I am very conservative when it comes to doing laundry. For example, I have enough T-shirts, underwear, socks, and the like, that there's no need to do laundry more than once per month. When I wash heavy items, such as jeans and sweat shirts, they are most often hung to dry rather than put through the dryer. It's easy for me to do as I set the drying rack in the shower and leave the clothes to hang until they are dry. I'm often away from the apartment for a few days, so the loss of the use of the shower is of no concern. I don't hang these items just to save money, but to reduce wear on them. Going through a dryer takes a toll on fabric. I'm happy to say that I have jeans and sweat shirts that are still in decent condition after 30+ years of use. Towels I have plenty, and I don't wash them after each use. Towels get washed about once a month as well. Shirts are sent to be professionally laundered, as are my better, dressy pants. The washer is a large capacity, so it's easy to save up laundry for a big load.

I don't know whether to laugh or to cry <sigh> Click here to read the article

I just bought some mini muffin pans at a garage sale with the express purpose of cooking meatballs in them. Never thought about any difficulty in cleaning. Couldn't muffin pan liners be used to good advantage here?

For the cake in question, shiny would not be my preference. I do appreciate the info about glazes, though.

Thanks for reminding me. I do that as well, but rather than plug and unplug appliances, I use these simple switches: There are many styles and variations of these switches, some remotely activated.

Did you read the ingredient list before you bought it? It contains a lot of junk that's not found in good vanilla extract. A decent vanilla extract should contain only vanilla beans, alcohol, and water.

I don't know what a glaze is. Cost is not a concern. How much less expensive could a glaze be?

Likewise ... why light up rooms and spaces with nobody in them?

A few days ago I went to one of my favorite Korean restaurants for lunch. I get their rice bowl, which is made with whole grains and rice. It sure seemed sticky to me. Here's the ingredients in their rice bowl: barley, sweet brown rice, wild sweet rice, wild red rice and wild black rice. I hope this is at least somewhat helpful.

I believe that HEPA filters might solve that problem. If you're not familiar with them, here's a brief overview. Some vacuum cleaners have HEPA filters that trap more dust from their exhaust. HEPA-equipped vacuums throw less dirt and fewer microscopic dust mites back into the room as you vacuum. Some people say allergy symptoms improve after using these vacuums. I only use HEPA filters in my vacuum cleaner. They are a definite improvement over regular filters, but I don't know for sure if they will filter dust mite droppings.