Chris Hennes

I'm not sure how much I really care about whether a preparation is "right" or "authentic" per se... I care about which one is "best" in my estimation. For example, my staunch insistence on the simple combination of ingredients in Fettucini alla panna is due to the extremely large number of terrible variations, mostly attempting to cover up the use of substandard cheese. So I am a "purist" in the sense that I have settled on what I consider to be the "best" version, and I scorn all others as containing absolutely unnecessary embellishments. Maybe this thinking doesn't qualify me as a purist at all...

Great topic! Fettucini "Alfredo" i.e. Fettucini alla panna---butter, cream, Parmigiano. Period. (OK, OK... salt, pepper, maybe nutmeg depending on the cheese)

The so-called "English" in my little pamphlet is less than helpful, but it comes on when the scale settles into a single value, so in my head I tell myself it stands for "steady."

Chris, I followed your lead on this and ordered one of these as well. For the price, it is certainly a good deal. It seems to be accurate, giving the correct result of 2.5 grams for a U.S. penny (clean, from 2000). The backlight is a little odd, but for $11 it is a great investment for those of us who weigh out small quantities (salt, yeast, etc.).

It is important to note that Pyrex can shatter, it is simply more resistant to it than other ceramics. If it gets scratched or damaged in any way, throw it out. It cannot deal with high gradients in temperature, so you should always preheat your oven, etc. I see no credible evidence that it spontaneously explodes absent these causes, however. Checking ConsumerReports.org gives no hits, and I would expect them to be on the problem like rabid dogs if there were a real issue. I think the stat is something like over 100 million pieces of Pyrex are manufactured every year.

Paul, this is really good advice. In particular I'm a big fan of chocolate souffles, but try to use a lot of chocolate, for this exact reason. I don't find that chocolate works "with the egg" so much as it simply becomes the primary flavor. A little Gran Marnier never hurt a chocolate souffle, either

Not quite what you had in mind, but... my wife's out of town on a job interview on V-day, so I am making myself all the foods she doesn't like and I never get to cook . I'm starting with lobster, then probably some shrimp, maybe some salmon...

My question is, does this apply to the nougat recipe on the following page, with the sleeping beauties? The recipe is slightly different, but I'd hate to think I threw out an entire batch of nougat that there was nothing wrong with, on the basis of its stiff texture, when that texture was going to change over the next day of two and transform into the texture I was looking for. Re-reading the chapter leads me to believe that I made at least one other mistake, e.g. not whipping enough air into the egg whites before adding the sugar syrup. In the recipe he just gives timings for when to start each thing, but in the chapter text he gives the texture you need to be looking for, and I was way under-whipped in the time he stated. Really, I think the timings he gives in that recipe are way off. My mixture had not cooled anywhere near down to 120F after only eight minutes.

For a counterpoint, check here. The most interesting point to note is that the US Consumer Product Safety Commission, which maintains a database of injuries suffered due to consumer products, has no indications that this extremely-widely-used product is responsible for any injuries that are not related to dropping the product.

This afternoon I was cruising through Greweling's book to scope out new things to try, and I started at the recipe I used for the Sleeping Beauties. Turning back a page he has a separate recipe for soft chocolate nougat that is similar, though not identical, to the one in the sleeping beauties. At the end of that recipe he includes the note: Do you supposed this also applies to the recipe in the sleeping beauties, i.e. did I throw away a perfectly good nougat that just needed to age?!? I could cry...

I sure hope they're safe for it---I do it all the time! Just don't deliberately focus the torch on the glass: the issue with the broiler and stovetop is when one part of the glass gets much hotter than the rest, which can cause cracks or even a more violent "explosion" due to the buildup of stress. A quick hit with the torch is harmless.

Just another word of encouragement from the peanut gallery: follow the recipe carefully and you won't have any problems. I'm not really sure where the "mystique of the impossible souffle" comes from... I have not had any difficulties as long as I followed the recipe (not that I make that many---maybe one per year on average). Are you planning on making individual souffles or one large one?

Thanks again to Pam R for her help getting these tables up. The updated tables begin at post #15, and now include some kind of rating, as well as quite a few more sources than the original did.

I agree. This was a very interesting post and a bit surprising. I can never imagine Steingarten for example serving Pillsbury pigs in a blanket. I'd expect a lot more from Richman. There is a fine line between rustic and kind of lazy (the roast beef looks boiled). Although the tempura does sound good. ← "The proof of the pudding's in the eating"... if the food was good, I'm generally disinclined to care what the constituent ingredients were. Well, that, and I have a certain nostalgic attachment to those Pillsbury rolls .

I've been lurking on this thread for a while, never quite brave enough to join, since while a love cheese, I know nothing at all about it. While wandering the aisles of the Wegmans yesterday (and with my wife out of town and unable to restrain me ) I picked up a round of Epoisses, which I had never tried. After the sticker shock wore off I tried it and it was quite pleased. I was enjoying it on that oversized breadstick that passes for a baguette in these parts, but I am wondering if there is an optimal vehicle for this cheese. It is very salty, and the baguette did nothing to diffuse that. Any "serving suggestions"? ed. "isles"-->"aisles" doh!

Another option, approaching the problem from a different angle, is to not try to resell them as barbecued ribs, but rather turn them into a new dish. For example, my wife adores "burnt ends" to the point where there is no conceivable scenario where I could end up with enough of them just smoking as usual: I have to deliberately overcook some of the pork shoulder to wind up with enough. Maybe you could do something similar with your leftovers? Yank the meat off the ribs, re-smoke it, slather it in sauce, and sell it as an appetizer?

I've never had a patty melt "in the wild" so I had a go at making one for dinner last night. What style of rye do you recommend for this creation? I used a dense artisinal rye that I thought took over the sandwich and rendered any fillings that might have been in it moot: the bread was just too dense, too full-flavored. Do you use more of a standard grocery store rye?

Very germane to this discussion, since I assume that also applies to those keeping Kosher. I guess keeping your eye out for the "Pareve" label is critical... I assumed that margarine was by definition non-dairy.

Hi, thanks for the response. Actually, I had been looking at the regular BBQ sauce bottle. To add to my own confusion, I really don't know the difference between all those different types of BBQ sauce and it's a bit overwhelming. * Memphis - Memphis sauces occupy the middle ground between other styles. Based on tomatoes, vinegar, brown sugar and spices, but not too thick, these blends provide moderate amounts of sweet, heat, and tang, with a lot of flavor.[7][8] * Kansas City – thick, reddish-brown, tomato-based with molasses[9] * St. Louis – generally tomato-based, thinned with vinegar, sweet and spicy; it is not as sweet and thick as Kansas City-style barbecue sauce, nor as spicy-hot and thin as Texas-style * North Carolina – three major types corresponding to region: Eastern (vinegar with pepper flakes), Piedmont (tomato-based with vinegar), and Western (tomato-based and thicker) * South Carolina – mustard-based (central, Low Country regions of state), vinegar and black pepper (Pee Dee region), light or thick tomato (Upstate region)[10] * Alabama – vinegar and pepper base in the northern counties; tomato/ketchup base with Mediterranean influences in the Birmingham area; sharper, unsweetened tomato/vinegar blend in the western counties around Tuscaloosa; mustard-based in the Chattahoochee River valley in the eastern part of the state; a special white mayonnaise and black pepper-based sauce is used on chicken in the area around Decatur * Georgia – much of the state favors a ketchup base flavored with the likes of garlic, onion, black pepper, brown sugar, and occasionally bourbon; South Carolina-like mustard sauce found in areas around Savannah and Columbus * Arkansas – thin vinegar and tomato base, spiced with pepper and slightly sweetened by molasses * Texas – tomato-based with hot chiles, cumin, less sweet Aghhhh!!! ← I love that! Nice work... So, based on that taxonomy, where does the Stubbs Moppin' Sauce fit in? According to the ingredient list posted above it contains no tomato. It is unclear to me whether "spices" can encompass mustard: I have never seen the stuff, so can someone clarify? If it contains neither mustard nor tomato, then is it an Alabama "vinegar and pepper base"?

Tammy, those are stunning! I love your new boxes. How well do the chocolates ship in them? It looks like there is quite a bit of space around each piece, and I would be concerned about them banging around---has this been a problem? I got a box from Norman Love last week (my wife is a wonderful person! ) and while lovely, the nut fragments from the nut-coated truffles got all over everything and marred the finish of the other pieces, so I've been thinking about chocolate packaging a lot recently.

That was lovely... except now I want a Reuben. With Russian dressing, please.

But what will you use to bake the cake and make the buttercream for the dessert following the steak main? ← I think the use of margarine as a butter substitute for keeping Kosher is completely reasonable (in fact, I can't think of a more reasonable solution). The really interesting part of the question is, in my opinion, absent dietary restrictions is there a reason to use margarine? I see no reason why margarine would not be superior in some products, in much the same way that other fats are more suited to certain applications. For example, I sometimes use half butter/half margarine in chocolate chip cookies to get the texture that I want.

My mother insists that Kraft Mac n Cheese made with Parkay margarine is the one true mac and cheese... ETA: My understanding of Kosher was that you could have either meat or dairy in your meal, but not both. That would explain why no butter with the steak. Is that not the correct interpretation here?

Seeing that scale reminds me of another requirement for a kitchen scale: a sealed front panel that can be wiped off easily. And preferably a removable, dishwasher-safe tray. My kitchen environment is a bit more hostile than a jewelry production facility, I would guess...

I thought last week's selection was different for HF: this week is even stranger. And by tropical ingredients, they mean Say what? Next week they promise Boer goat: maybe that will make up for this week's decidedly lackluster special... (IMHO)