Chris Hennes

It's used as a stool softener, when, uh, directly applied to the stool. I'm just guessing here, but perhaps it has a similar effect on the tomatoes?

Perfect: the local CVS even sold it in this convenient applicator...

Doh! What sort of store would one purchase glycerin at?

Anyone know how to take glycerin flakes and make liquid glycerin? What are the correct proportions, when the recipe just calls for glycerin (a.k.a. "glycerol" I think)?

So just to make sure it's understood that it's my own stupidity at work here: the book doesn't use the word tallow, it says rendered suet. I don't have suet, and figured that rendered fat from the chuck would be a worthy substitute. I called it tallow because I didn't know any better.

You use it to brush onto the buns to toast them, and then there is a small amount in the "glaze." Wouldn't want the burger to not be beefy enough, would you?

I'm not sure it's leading to "cleaner tasting" fat, though the fat is indeed pretty white.

I think you can do just about anything with enough sugar, right? Modernist Cuisine has a rutabaga sauerkraut in it, and maybe a couple others that I can't remember.

Wow - I can only wish my time was worth that much (to me or anyone else!) It sounds to me like that would eliminate nearly all non-high-end dining establishments of any sort of repute, unless you eat at off hours. Is that your strategy for those sorts of places?

Heidi, I was presuming that anyone I was dining out with where any wait was acceptable was someone whose company I enjoyed. For "business" dinners I am strictly a reservations-required kind of guy. I also forgot to mention that I am almost always willing to spend more time in line for someplace I have never been, than for someplace I have been to before. Gotta work that into the scheme somehow.

a) If the restaurant is unique or highly-regarded, and is located in a city I don't live, I start the bidding at 30 minutes. b) If you can get a drink while waiting in the line, add fifteen minutes c) If you can take a number and sit at the bar while waiting, add fifteen more d) If you have to wait outside and the weather is good, add fifteen more d, corollary) If the weather is bad, subtract 30 minutes e) If I am avoiding the conference I am at, add 60 minutes The formula explains why I was willing to wait almost two hours in line at Pizzeria Bianco in Phoenix: it is well-regarded, you can drink in line, the weather was fantastic, and the conference was boring as hell.

The page on rendering is just a breakdown of four different rendering methods, without a tremendous amount of detail. He mentions that their favorite way to render is via the pressure cooker, and that you can optionally add baking soda. The addition of baking soda is itself discussed separately in the pressure-cooking section as a way to speed the Maillard reaction.

I pressure-rendered some tallow yesterday following the instructions in the book (including the addition of the baking soda). I haven't eaten any yet (it's for the burgers), but it smells fantastic. I got just over 100mL of liquid tallow from the trim of a three pound chuck roast. In the pressure-cooking method you combine the fatty tissue with water and baking soda and put it in a canning jar (I ran mine through the blender first): Then you pressure cook at 15psi for four hours. I decanted into a container I'd actually be able to get the solid fat out of, and let it solidify overnight in the fridge. The resulting fat is very white, and smells intensely of fresh tallow.

I have a massive oregano plant that is currently competing with the tarragon for the upper hand in my herb garden. I have to prune the stuff aggressively, so I wind up with massive quantities of oregano. I dry it of course, but then I just have massive quantities of dried oregano. Can anyone give me idea for using up a lot of it (fresh or dried)?

Has anyone else here tried the reconstructed cheese slices? I'm starting in on those burgers, so today I made the reconstructed swiss cheese slices. I found that my cheese was not as liquid as it appears in the photo, and wonder if I didn't manage to overdo the carrageenan. I was able to coax it into the mold without too much difficulty, but it didn't quite pour the way it appears to in the photo.

I hear ya Maggie...

I love new-world reds, but the whites significantly less. I still do love some of them, but by no means all, or even most.

To the surprise of absolutely no one, Modernist Cuisine has an excellent set of tables for doing volume-to-weight conversions.

I think about it exactly opposite: with a written record you have one copy, easily destroyed. The stuff I my ipad lives on the pad, the computer, and two different backups of the computer. It's far safer if the data is important.

They recommend smoking at 65°C, 60% RH for 7 hours, then sous vide at 65°C for 72 hours.

Amirault, would you please stop costing me money? Please? OK, OK, I ordered the RG sugar. This better be epic. (yeah, I mighta snuck a few other RG products in my cart...)

Time's Josh Ozersky weighs in on Denny's Baconalia: In Defense of Bacon: What Denny's Doesn't Get So wait: now that Time has announced that Bacon Is Dead, is bacon cool again? I'm confused.

Previous seasons: Season 1, Season 2 Top Chef Masters returns for a third season starting next Wednesday (April 6, 2011). The lineup is: Hugh Acheson - Chef/ Partner: Five& Ten, The National, Gosford Wine – in Athens, GA and Empire State South, Atlanta, GA; Competing for Wholesome Wave Foundation Floyd Cardoz – Former Executive Chef/Partner- of Tabla and soon-to-be Executive Chef/Partner of a new Danny Meyer restaurant; Competing for Young Scientist Cancer Research Fund John Currence - City Grocery Restaurant Group, Oxford, MS Competing for No Kid Hungry Traci Des Jardins - Chef/Co-owner of Jardinière, Mijita Cocina Mexicana and Public House and Manzanita, San Francisco, CA; Competing for La Cocina George Mendes - Chef/Co-Owner of ALDEA, Manhattan, NY; Competing for Charity: Water Mary Sue Milliken - Co-Chef/ Owner: Border Grill Restaurants and Truck, Los Angeles, CA; Competing for Share Our Strength Naomi Pomeroy - Owner: Beast in Portland, OR; Competing for Seed Savers Exchange Suvir Saran - Executive Chef: Dévi, New York, NY; Competing for Agricultural Stewardship Association John Rivera Sedlar - Owner: Playa, Los Angeles, CA; Competing for American Diabetes Association Alex Stratta - Executive Chef: Stratta, Las Vegas, NV; Competing for Faster Cures, part of the Milken Prostate Cancer Foundation Celina Tio - Chef/Owner: JULIAN Restaurant, Kansas City, MO, Competing for Harvesters Sue Zemanick - Executive Chef: Gautreau’s, New Orleans, LA; Competing for the Louisiana SPCA To be honest I found the last season of this show sort of dull. But I fear that the producers realized that and decided to up the "stupid challenge" factor, based on the trailers.

Reference or not, I like 'em. And now I am craving a Filet o Fish.

Season 9 has some mighty big shoes to fill. Despite some minor points of contention, I think this was my favorite season so for, and definitely a great finale.