KennethT

What type of rice did you use for the pilaf?

I started it in a cold oven set to 275 with a tablespoon of reserved duck fat in teh bottom. Once preheated was finished, I took it out, spread around the duck fat, then added cut up potatoes and duck legs on top, then back in at 275 for the foreseeable future.

But if the whole thing is glazed (bottom also) how will any water get in other than through the two miniscule (by percentage of surface area) circular ribs?

I received this cazuela many years ago as a gift. As you can see, the bottom is glazed also, except for the 2 rims it sits on. I've never actually used this for cooking in all the years I've had it - I've only put a towel in it and used it to keep tortillas warm (I preheated it in a 150F oven for a while first). Everything I've found discussing curing a cazuela before use talks about ones with unglazed bottoms - soak it for 12 hours, drain, rub it with garlic and then bake or put on a flame tamer or something. But what about a fully glazed bottom? Does this need soaking and curing if I actually wanted to use it in a 300F oven? Since it's almost fully glazed, I can't imagine what soaking would do for it. Plus it does say that it's oven safe - unfortunately I don't have the packaging or documentation that came with it so I don't know if they recommend some sort of curing process first - and I can't find it on Sur la table's website. I guess it's been discontinued. Any help would be appreciated!

Excellent. Thank you!

Thanks. Do you know the root of boeuf (or porc for that matter) in the French? Is there a reason why the French created words to differentiate between animal and meat?

Why is it that we call cow meat "beef"? Pork meat is "pork". Chicken meat is "chicken". Beef is the only example I can think of where the name of the meat is different than the name of the animal. What is the origin of this? @liuzhou - any thoughts? I would assume that "beef" comes from the Latin/Romance root - but, say, in French beouf is not vache, so it's the same issue.

Bumping (I didn't know exactly where to put this comment) I just defrosted (in the sink) a 5# rack of pork spare ribs and pork feet from Wild Fork to make pork stock and Bak Kut Teh. I am really impressed - the ribs were really plump and meaty and there was very little liquid in the bag. Plus, you can't beat the prices - $2.48 per pound for the ribs and $2.88 per pound for the feet. I don't think I could get much cheaper even by going to Chinatown, and it's certainly a lot more convenient.

@Anna N and @ElsieD That's what I was thinking!!!

And arm strength/stamina!

Very close! And thanks for the recap. The enameled pot will hold much more than 2 portions, but it's the 12" saute pan (on another burner) that I use to cook the pasta in the sauce that only comfortably holds 2 portions. Technically it could hold more, but I'm sure there would be a lot of stuff flying out while flipping/stirring if I tried it. I guess I could cook all 4 portions together - then, rather than using a saute pan, I could do the final minute or so in a large saucepan/stockpot. At that point, I could use @Margaret Pilgrim's idea and reserve some pasta liquid and then drain everything into a colander. It would also save time since I wouldn't need to do it in 2 batches. Food for thought.... thanks all for your replies and ideas

I don't dump the pasta into a colander because many times I make a few (sometimes 4) portions at a time, but the pan that I use to cook the pasta in the sauce at the end only holds 2 portions comfortably. So I remove the pasta with a spider (see link above) to keep the starchy water in the pan for A) using to add to the sauce and B) cooking the next batch. When using said spider, I would ideally like to see the pasta because otherwise it's like fishing in the black lagoon. It seems like there's always an errant few pieces laying at the bottom once I'm ready to clean everything up and I do wind up pouring out the water. One might say "what's the matter with leaving a few pieces behind?" but that would be the topic of another post entirely.

I had that happen when I first started it - it goes really fast! I find just an inch of water (to make sure all the stem bottoms are in if they're not all the same height) and making sure no leaves are in the water are the key. That and changing the water every day or two.

What language is this? 🤣

I knew someone was going to say this!!!

A spider... something like https://www.google.com/aclk?sa=L&ai=DChcSEwit1tHZkeHyAhWKnLMKHb64ASIYABAFGgJxbg&sig=AOD64_1bRlVOr0BeK0NhfssfkMNUdggM0Q&ctype=5&q=&ved=2ahUKEwiYy8LZkeHyAhVFhuAKHavtCX4Q9aACegQIARBC&adurl=

Before I moved to a new apartment, I would cook pasta in my All-Clad LTD pot with stainless interior. Even when the water became cloudy from the starch, it was still easy to see the pasta (let's say a penne shape) against the stainless background to fish it out with a spider. The new apartment has no gas service (to the entire building) and I'm now cooking on induction, so the LTD pot is out. And being that I'd rather not spend more money right now (I will eventually get a proper induction compatible stainless pot), for now, I'm boiling the pasta in a Le Creuset enameled cast iron dutch oven. I have no complaints about the boiling - the induction gets that water to a boil in the amount of time that I'd still be able to bathe in the gas heated pot, but since the enameled interior is a cream type color, it's practically impossible to see an errant few pieces of pasta swimming around unless they're right near the surface. Any ideas, other than "just get a new pot already!"?

This is fascinating. How I would love that system!!!

@weinoo I have a drawer in the new fridge (actually it's an old fridge in the new apartment) that has a drawer with a lever where you can adjust temperature - colder to warmer. I've kept ripe mangoes in there (in the warmer setting) very successfully for a couple weeks (until they were all eaten). My crisper drawers also have a lever which you can use to adjust humidity.

I've kept cilantro for 2 weeks using the flower vase method - about an inch of water in the bottom of a short glass and the plastic grocery bag loosely draped over the top. The only issue is that you have to change the water every couple of days and make sure that none of the leaves find their way into the water. The stems are a lot hardier than the leaves are. You can definitely freeze the stems - I do it all the time. I also have frozen thai chilies - it's fine for most things that I'm just going to turn into paste later.

Thanks so much for this!

Hmmm. I remember it looking more like a disk - but it was like 12 years ago so I don't trust my memory. But I do remember it shaving the whole top surface of the canister rather than a chopping action of a blender.

Do you give the tree any fertilizer in the spring? My parents used to have a few old fruit trees (maybe not ancient). If we didn't fertilize, they'd barely fruit if at all. If we did it was like an explosion.

Yes, Kalustyan's did renovate - they expanded into the space next door - it's positively spacious now. @weinooI've walked past those other spice places an uncountable number of times, and every time I thought that I would go in there to check it out but never have since I was always pressed for time. I wouldn't be surprised if their spices were fresher, but Kalustyan's does have a ton of turnover for a lot of its main products (other stuff probably sits there forever but they have it for the sake of completeness). I'd also imagine that the places next door have better prices - there's always the Kalustyan's Premium. I've never been to (nor have I even heard of) Dual.. I'll have to check it out.

I also frequent Kalustyan's. For so long I was spoiled living on a few blocks away - close enough that I never kept an eye on my spices since if I ever ran out, I could just hop down the street and be back in 20 minutes. Now I live a bit further away so I've got to be more careful, but it's still not all that far.