Chris Hennes

Did you cut it size after boiling it then? Or does it not expand much when you cook it? I always think I've got my lengths cut right, and I never actually do, after blanching...

Over on this topic on fanning your coals member dougal mentioned the following anecdote: This got me thinking: has anyone out there "hot rodded" their grill, maybe for maximum heat output, or to make cleaning easier, or whatever? The most I've ever considered doing is adding a better thermometer, and I haven't even gotten around to that!

Do you suppose Peterson is suggesting Parmesan as his top choice purely on the basis of flavor? I still am not sure whether the final graininess in the original batch was due to too much water, or too much heat for the cheese I used, but I'm surprised that if Peterson uses Parm most of the time, he doesn't mention this issue.

I don't own a lawn mower or a chipper-shredder, so I don't really have a way to break it up except be hand (too much work!). So I'm just slowly mixing a bit of the "fluff" into the denser pile.

I would think that soft fat would also be problem for making salami with nice high-definition fat pieces. I was only considering flavor up to this point, but I guess I will have to look more into the firmness of the back fat as well.

Very nice use of the Mark 1 - impressive to say the least. Did you blanch the pasta, or just layer it in raw?

Of course, after posting this I was hungry, and thinking about how good that fried rice was... by a happy coincidence, I even had some leftover rice in the fridge. Mise: Finished dish:

Helen, do you have a particular recipe you use for mulled wine? I like to take apples, sugar, cinnamon and brandy and make a quick topping for Dutch Babies. I think slightly-past-their-prime apples would work fine in that.

Did you reheat it in the oven, or the microwave?

What kind of lettuce are you growing?

Very nice, meredithla - is the recipe from a book? It looks great, I'm a huge sucker for anything with Gruyere in it.

I finally got around to trying their new pizza, two different ways. First, since I normally get their thin crust I got a couple of those. The sauce is better, but I don't really notice much difference in the cheese. The crust is the same on the thin crust, with no extra garlic stuff. Which it turns out is a good thing, because I think they need to go back to the drawing board on that one. The regular crust pizzas I tried were OK, until I got to the crust. I really am not a fan of dumping quite that much garlic on there. Has anyone tried and liked the garlic crust?

Has anyone used both the Capresso Infinity and the Baratza Maestro? I think I'm going to be in the market shortly, and I'd love to hear the pros and cons of one versus the other.

You may have found the secret diet to the tastiest pigs EVER.

Interesting - what are "commercial pig nuts"? And is that 500g per day (per head per month of age...)?

My "secret" is to use white napkins and the bleach the #$%^ out of them. Works great! Are you trying to clean colored ones?

When I got my new wok burner for Christmas, the first book I ran out to buy was Grace Young's Breath of a Wok, at the recommendation of basically everyone on eGullet whom I asked. I've made a few recipes out of it, but what are your favorites? Are there any I should avoid? In particular I really enjoyed Ming Tsai's fried rice recipe in there, as well as the Spicy Garlic Eggplant.

I shoulda built more bins: And that was last week, before I did some more lawn cleanup. Now they are packed full. This was not in the plan, I was supposed to have enough space so that I could scoop the uncomposted stuff off the top of the one bin and into the second bin so I could get at the actual compost at the bottom. Now what do I do? How do I get at the good stuff?

Just a quick update: about a week ago I noticed a bit of mold formation, of a variety of colors and textures. Taking the over-cautious route I pulled the salume out and wiped it all down with vinegar. This also gave me the opportunity to rotate them around the fridge, and to check on them, etc. Drying was progressing at about the expected rate, I guess, and there didn't seem to be any other issues with them. Fast forward a week, and now I'm getting formation of a white powdery mold that I plan to leave alone and not wipe off. I didn't innoculate the surface with anything, so I guess this stuff just likes the lowered acidity from the vinegar wash.

I usually use a blend of beef, veal, and pork; I think this is traditional, or at least, it is traditional on the Italian side of my family. I've made it with just one or the other of them, and in the grand scheme of things it worked fine, but I prefer the texture of the bolognese when it includes all three of them.

I finally got around to making paulraphael's recipe (I used the one in RecipeGullet). Unfortunately it turns out I had purchased the dark brown Muscovado so I just forged ahead with that instead. Overall, the cookies were a big hit with my wife's co-workers, whose verdict is probably the most important in terms of making the recipe again. While a little finicky, I don't think the recipe was so much extra work that I'd worry about it next time I wanted chocolate chip cookies. I did use the milk powder with the butter, but I don't have a basis for comparison so I can't say how much difference it made to my palate (or those of my "test subjects").

I don't suppose anyone has any photos of their airbrush work they would be willing to share with us... ?

The problem with the 4H and FFA kids is that they are raising the pigs to be "pretty," not to taste good. In particular, they are seeking a very lean hog, which is basically the opposite of what I want (while in the Extension office this morning I listened to two young ladies discussing how good their pigs looked in tutus... ). As for pasturing them: this is a reasonably common approach around here, I think called "rotational grazing," where the hogs are rotated between fenced-off sections of pasture on a periodic basis. I don't raise them myself, and if these people are willing to deal with it, more power to them! My concern with pigs that are exclusively pastured is that they would wind up VERY lean, like grass-fed cattle do.

I'm currently talking to a number of different farmers in my area, looking to buy a pig. One of the main differences between the various places is what they are feeding the hogs, and I'm wondering if anyone has any firsthand knowledge of the affect of diet on the taste of the pork. I've certainly heard of acorn-finished or peanut-finished hogs, though I've never eaten either. But what about: "our pigs are pastured and are given left over garden produce (they love pumpkins!)" versus "grass fed pastured" or "grain diet of corn & ground soybeans"?

It's that time of year again: many McDs are offering FoF specials right now, when the price actually seems reasonable for what you get (not that I'm bitter about plopping down $4 the last time the craving hit or anything...). Anyone else getting their fix while the getting is good cheap?