Chris Hennes

I just got word from my local pork source that if I want the head I have to come get it right after slaughter this Saturday: there is some kind of local regulation about the processor putting it in their cooler. This forces me to speed up the planning, as I thought the pig was still a couple weeks away... My original plan was to make guanciale with the jowls and come up with something else for the rest of the head. Any thoughts as to how well head cheese would work minus the jowl? Or, any other suggestions? Or should I give up on my guanciale dreams and just make brawn? Or give up on using the rest of the head and just make guanciale? So many choices! So little time!!

My CdV just came in today so I just made a drink very close to this, except using just under 1/2 oz of Maraschino (Luxardo): it seems to be quite well balanced, with just the barest hint of the perfume from the Violette. This could be because the Luxardo has a more pronounced flavor, or because I used more of it, or both.

My bottle of St. Germain just came in so I am sitting here enjoying an Aviatrix: it was amazing how vividly the smell of the drink brought me back to Chick's. I'm looking forward to my next visit!

Alas, Molly Murphy's was before my time here... Last night my wife and I had dinner in Norman at: Legends (One-off, www.legendsrestaurant.com,1313 W Lindsey St, Norman) Self-described as "a stunning, intimate, casually up-scale family-owned restaurant" Legends in neither stunning nor intimate nor upscale, though I suppose the prices were both stunning and "upscale." The menu was wholly uninspired, overpriced, and kind of odd for a place trying to position itself at the upper end of Norman dining. Admittedly, "Upscale Norman Dining" is something of an oxymoron and they do indeed slot in near the top here in town, but a quick drive to OKC will yield a far better meal, and a far better value, even at current gas prices! None of the food was bad, per se, but none of it was good either. The service, however, was something slightly less than "mediocre"... we didn't even get the spiel about the daily specials, and the wine list was... lacking, shall we say. Beer selection was OK, so I wound up drinking Chimay Blue. Our "Caesar" salads were delivered first, despite ordering an appetizer, but OK... they were as you might expect at a Red Lobster or some such. We could have chosen the salad bar, but at a supposedly "upscale" restaurant the idea of a salad bar just seemed strange. After the salads our appetizer arrived: my wife and I had the artichoke dip appetizer (appetizers here are meant to be shared): far too acidic, and I like acid in my food. You couldn't taste the artichoke, it was overwhelmed. For my main course I had the Veal Picatta. Not good, not bad, just... mediocre. The highlight of the meal was dessert: I had a glass of Lagavulin 16yr, which is a great single-malt Scotch which they did not screw up. No way was I going anywhere near the diner-style desserts they had behind the counter when we walked in. The final verdict: this restaurant is intended for undergraduates on Valentines day when having an impressive price tag is more important than having an impressive meal. (Edited to expand on details.)

Right -- a very interesting study would be to take two groups of people who don't eat much MSG and add it to one of the groups' diets and see if that group gains weight, on average. I haven't seen any large-scale studies of this nature, however. EDITED TO ADD: Or course, the flaw with this study would be that since MSG makes food taste better, that group would be naturally inclined to eat more of it . Maybe instead of adding to the food they could take MSG supplements.

Ah ha!! That's it... there were tons of bottles labeled "prickly ash" at the market, but since I didn't know the correct Chinese character (at the time! thanks for the assist above!) I didn't buy it because I didn't realize it was the same thing. I can certainly understand not many people making "five spice powder" from scratch: an analogy in the U.S. might be chile powder: most people buy pre-ground (myself included most of the time) even though making it fresh from toasted, dried chiles tastes way better. It is interesting, though, that it does not really seem to figure into Chinese home cooking, when in the "Western" world it is closely tied to what we think of as "Chinese" cuisine.

The selected group was chosen because their food intake was relatively easy to measure: they were rural Chinese villagers who prepared the vast majority of their own meals at home. It does not examine the reasons for MSG usage, simply pointing out that it is used frequently in Chinese cooking (the average use was 0.33 grams per person per day). The correlation found was quite strong: naturally the study "proves" nothing, but adds another piece of data to indications that MSG has adverse and poorly understood health risks.

Wow, I'm glad mine is black!! Thanks for the write-up, Dave. I wonder if some of these specialty cleaners aren't more effective than BKF, however. I'm thinking especially of the ones made by the oven cleaner companies. Of course they don't seem to contain lye which is what works the magic when cleaning an oven, but something that does a bit better job at dissolving the burnt-on bits would be appreciated!

How desperate are you to actually use beef broth? Can the recipes be adapted, maybe even to just using water? I find that while canned chicken broth is OK if you buy the right brand, that canned beef broth almost invariably tastes basically nothing like beef broth, and seriously pushes the "is it even edible" barrier. In my experience it is sometimes better to sub in something else, be it water, a quick vegetable broth, or even chicken stock, that to use the commercial beef broths. Maybe I just haven't found a good one yet...

Anyone else out there doing the Jerk thing? I ran and grabbed another bag of charcoal last night so I am going to give a new batch a shot, this time with a few modifications.

I think it depends on your particular habits: the online version contains all the same stuff (I think), and is always at your fingertips whenever you have internet access, so I like to use it to make grocery store runs on the way home from work and that sort of thing. On the other hand, I really prefer reading off paper to reading off my monitor, so when I actually want to read the articles (rarely, these days...) I prefer to have the physical magazine.

Wow, their single malt Scotch selection is astonishing. And to think, I just ordered from a different place yesterday!! But I needed my St. Germain!

I don't think we're talking about deep-frying here, not at these temps, you're right about that! But when searing off a steak, etc., it is easy to get up to those temps in a frying pan over high heat.

I don't have that exact brand, but the previous owners left me a bottle of the "Easy-Off Ceramic Cooktop Cleaner" that looks similar, and some kind of spray bottle of the same stuff that appears to have replaced the paste version. I scraped mine down with a metal bench scraper and gave it a good polish, so I guess we'll see... still not exactly scientific, but it will do for now.

Polishing it? I guess not! I scrub it down with BKF, wipe it clean, and that's it. I should be polishing it?!?

Over in this topic there is a brief mention of cleaning ceramic "smooth-top" ranges, but I could go for some more detail, and any tips or tricks anyone has. I just bought a house with one of these, and so far I am loving it. It is indeed quite easy to clean up, at least when compared to any other option. But I still end up scrubbing away at stubborn bits of burnt-on crud with heavy doses of Bar Keeper's Friend, seemingly to no avail. Is there any advice out there on the best ways to clean these stubborn bits?

Actually, now that you mention it, I wonder if I have ever not frozen any bacon I made. I guess I occasionally fry up a piece or two right after I slice it, but almost all of it goes into the freezer immediately. I haven't noticed any profound difference, but I never gave it much thought, either. How would you describe the flavor change? Were you making the maple bacon, or one of the modifications Ruhlman suggests?

Actually, as I re-read Shalmanese's original post, I realized that I am not entirely clear on what the question is... Shalmanese, are you looking for a comparison between a "true" damascus and a similarly high-quality non-Damascus blade (perhaps made with exotic steels, etc.)? Or between a clad and an unclad blade of basically the same construction? Or something else entirely? I would think (just guessing here) that at a comparable price point the non-Damascus blade is going to wind up the "better" blade for certain definitions of "better" (i.e. not counting aesthetics). You can get some pretty serious exotic steels in the $1k+ price range that will probably sharpen better, hold the edge longer, etc. than a real Damascus blade. There is the issue of the micro-serration thing that Bob Kramer talks about, and he obviously is way more knowledgeable than I am, but since even he doesn't claim they are "better," just "different," and he is comparing them to his regular carbon steel blades, I would guess that the super-high-end exotics are going to win. YMMV, etc.

Anecdotal evidence only, but I have frequently had the same issue and never gave it a second thought. If the seal on the lids is good, I don't worry about it. As long as you have enough acid, and processed long enough, and properly sterilized, I think you will be fine.

My kitchen shears have a little metal grippy area (that's the technical term ) between the handles that works great for this. They are the el-cheapo Chicago Cutlery variety, probably cost about five bucks.

Worse than the price is the availability! There are only two bladesmiths in North America making them (at least, as far as I know), one being Bob Kramer, who is backordered for three years and isn't taking any more orders until he gets caught up! They cost over $1000 for a chef's knife.

I asked Chad Ward about them in his recent eGullet Q&A: here is his response. I have read on Bob Kramer's site that they do cut slightly differently due to what are in effect micro-serrations at the edge of the blade where the layers of steel come together, but that they are not, strictly-speaking, "better," just different.

Alas, since I was dumb and did not buy any Sichuan pepper when I saw it, I was stuck leaving it out. I did end up "subbing in" a mix of white pepper and black pepper. I understand it's not the same thing, but desperate times call for desperate measures! I toasted all of the spices except the cinnamon (which was pre-ground: there didn't seem to be a point) and used the ratios posted above, more or less (I was using whole spices so I just guessed how to convert from ground to whole in the measurements). The most noticeable difference between this and the prepackaged stuff I was used to was its pungency: it seemed far stronger in flavor than even a fresh bottle of pre-packaged five spice mix. This required a bit of adjustment to the recipe I was using it in (an adjustment that I did not perform, because I didn't realize it would be needed until too late). I like the ability to customize this to my personal tastes, and I really can't see going back to the prepackaged stuff. It always seems to heavy on the cinnamon to me. Is it common practice in China to mix this up yourself, or do most people use a commercial blend?

Pork Lo Mein (September 2008, p. 14) Recipe here if you have online access. I was impressed with this recipe: not because it was so great, but because for once Cook's Illustrated actually called for real Chinese ingredients and listed substitutes, instead of assuming none of us had access to an Asian market. All told, the result was tasty, though there are a few things I would change next time. First off, I only had bone-in ribs, which were a pain to deal with, so next time I will try to find boneless. Second, I will cut the pork into smaller pieces, since the best part were the little crispy bits at the edges. I also thought that overall the dish could use more flavor: I used freshly-made homemade five-spice powder, which kinda took over the dish. More of the other sauce ingredients would have balanced it out and given a bit more "oomph" to the finished dish. On the plus side, the slightly-crispy cabbage was a great addition, and searing the pork over very high heat in a cast iron skillet gave a great charred flavor.

When making homemade five spice powder, does one toast the spices before grinding? I will be using it immediately, if that makes a difference. Also, do "Szechuan Peppercorns" have another name? I saw them at my local organic foods store, but there was no sign of anything by that title at the Asian Megamart, which I'm sure must carry, whatever they are. I read someplace that I could sub in white peppercorns for the Szechuan if necessary. Any thoughts on this practice?