OliverN

So, ever since my pizza stone broke a month ago, I've been searching for these mythical 'unglazed quarry tiles' that people have extolled the virtues as a baking surface. I've looked EVERYWHERE in montreal, At least three Ronas, Home depot, Million Carpt & Tiles, Olympia, and 8 million others. The person at the Rona brossard said he thought he had some. Million had them, but only in tiny 6x6 pieces. A place in outremont could order them for me, at 15$ a piece!! Most people, though, looked back at me with blank stares. If anyone knows where to find these, I will be eternally grateful!

It's good. Won't blow your mind away, but very respectable, upscale non-Pho viet food. Another upscale vietnamese joint is Ong Ca Can on St Catherine, east of St Laurent. Try their traditional 7 Beef meal, it's super good. -Oli-

Au Cyclo is unfortunately closed. It was a jewel, but for some reason didn't last. My favorite spot for viet food now is Y Lan way north on St Denis. There's also a wonderful little Banh Xeo joint on... I think Belanger near St Hubert. Neither is 'fine dining' however....

I can't handle fancy 'emulsions' and 'foams' that are served up at many upscale restaurants. I get that it's trying to break new ground taste and texture-wise, but it's just not for me.

Some way to taste food through a computer screen. I could live off of the 'chinese food pictorial' thread for a year!

Hmmm... Lightbulbs going off.......... If that is the case, Say I was pre-heating my pizza stone... there'd be no harm in blocking the vent, right? I could heat it to 500, add my pizza, remove the plug and voila? What do you think?

I was making pizza the other day, and of course, I've heard that the trick is really to heat your oven up as hot as it will go. My oven, although it has a dial up to 500, had trouble getting above 400-410. I noticed for the first time that, under one of the rear stovetop burners, there is a direct opening above 3 inches in diameter of some sort of vent, where I can SEE directly into the oven! I go to all this effort of keeping the door open for only seconds to prevent heat loss and then I discover there's a huge hole in the top?!? On top of that, it heats any pan thats on that burner, which sometimes catches me off guard. Why is this thing here? It seems incredibly inefficient... And would plugging it be a bad idea?

So I need to sharpen my knife with a sharpener, and flatten my sharpener with a ...? Does it ever end?!? Thanks for the help everyone, I just wanted to make sure that was indeed for knives and not just for chisels and the like.

Hi everyone, So I've decided to finally take the plunge and try out knife sharpening for myself, I have been eyeing this one: http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.aspx?c=...3072,43071&ap=1 It's a combination 1000/4000 stone and I was wondering if you thought it was a good buy for a beginner?

I'm sure others can speak better than me about the 'serious' dining opportunities, but one of my favourite things to do is to stroll around mile end, pick up some hot bagels from Fairmont (ask for them still warm and not too burnt) and then walk down Bernard for an ice cream at the Bilboquet. Edit: Oh and also, check out la Paryse (ontario st, near st denis) for a wonderful burger if you're spending time in the latin quarter. Although I remember last time I went to ApDc, I didn't feel like meat for a week!

I was thinking, maybe rather than investing in a new knife just yet, I should invest in some whetstones and practice sharpening on my current knife? What do you think? Do I need all three of these (link_ grinds or will just two surfice? Or should I get one of the double-sided ones from the hardware store?

Wow, thanks alot for the advice guys. I checked out 'Paul's Finest' and he has a really great selection. It's just that... as I said I'm working on a student budget and 100$+ for a knife is a little out of my range for the moment. I'm just looking for a knife that I can develop my skills, both in using and in sharpening it, before (god willing) someday I invest in a really top notch knife. I'll be using it mostly for vegetables, no sashimi or butchering or anything... This knife here (link) is the closest thing I've found to what I need, but it's still a little pricey. What do you think?

Hi everyone After smushing a tomato yesturday with my current chef's knife, I've decided to undertake the daunting task of upgraded my knife collection on a student budget. I've read here that the single-bevel japanese knives like the santoku or an usuba are great for vegetable chopping which is most of what i do. Any advice on where I could pick these up in mtrl?

Cook's Illustrated did a great test on pot roast (which is basically braised beef). Here's their recipe. You can look at it for comparison. They recommended chuck roast for braising, and they said to cook it for a very very long time. http://www.recipezaar.com/37554 The original article is worth reading for the information, but you'll have jump thru a hoop (trial membership) to read it online. http://beef.cooksillustrated.com/login.asp...recipe&iseason= I agree with C. Sapidus. Turn the heat up to high (if I were you, I'd be on 10), dry the meat between layers of paper towels before you sear, and cook the meat in small batches. When the meat turns gray that means the meat is releasing its juices and it's cooking in liquid. The heat's too low. Too much meat in the pan will keep the temperature too low for searing. Don't worry about drying out the meat. It's about to be moist-cooked for hours. ← Thanks for the advice everyone! The other thing with the browning is that I'm using a 'Le Creuset' enamelled dutch oven as my braising vehicle, and the instructions state that it's not too good to heat it on high. Whenever I do crank things to 10 though, the meat just burns in 15-30 seconds. Is that normal? And also, any differences between 'simmering' uncovered on the stovetop and braising at low temp, covered, in the oven? I will definately try this one again next week, with some nicer meat and see how it goes.

AHhhhh, that's another thing. The recipe calls for 'bring to the boil, and then down to a strong simmer for about an hour' What is a strong simmer and why is it not a boil? I had it down on 2-3/10 and there were regular small bubbles coming up, but it looked under control, so I assumed that was a simmer. Also, it was UNCOVERED simmering, which I found odd for a braise. Would pushing the simmer for longer mess up the spices and other flavours?