Shamanjoe

Those look amazing!

I have a fairly new Frigidaire chest freezer that I keep on my uninsulated screened in porch. I live in California so the temps are nowhere near freezing, but it routinely gets to the 40s in the early morning and I haven't had any problems since I put it out there last year.

My Oxo does great, I especially like the snap on measure box for the bottom if I am shredding small amounts. It even has a lid for the measure box. The only drawback is that you still need to set it on a plate or something to catch the excess, but I think that's the same for any box grater.

I bought a Misto for this purpose, but it seems like I have to pump the thing forever, and usually after no more than 30sec of spraying it turns into a thin stream of oil shooting out at high pressure.. It also works incredibly well sprayed through the flame of a lit match or fire stick to get rid of cobwebs outside. Butter flavour definitely works better here

I use the 'Ove Glove for baking, grilling, poking in the fire pit for fun, and picking up my cast iron skillet and it works great for all that. Like has been said before, it's useless once it gets wet, but supposedly they have a new model out that is "steam resistant" that I can't wait to try.

I have a standard Cuisinart that I got as a gift, I think it retails for about $30. It has a fixed blade and shaft, and two speed settings, anemic, and on. I find it works pretty well for smoothing out a tomato sauce, but it was woefully inept at blending a vichyssoise. I'll just stick to what its good at and take my leeks to the blender next time.

I did a small one (also 5lbs or so) for Christmas Eve dinner in my 10 inch cast iron skillet. I seared both ends, then took it out of the pan, covered it with a dry rub, stuck a thermometer in it (I have the long probe style with a braided metal cord that you can use in the oven) and back into the skillet and then into the oven. 350 for an hour and a half showed 160 on the thermometer, but when I took it out and sliced after resting, it was deliciously medium rare on the inside (I think I must have butted up the tip of the probe against a bone to get the erroneous temp reading). I plan on using this method again whenever I have a roast small enough to fit in my skillet.

I love plain old Bacon Bits, but I've never fooled myself into thinking that they taste anything like actual bacon.. When I want bacon bits, I take a few rashers and snip them with my kitchen shears into the pan, about every half inch or so. Stick over low heat and just stir occasionally. Takes an hour or so, but I always end up with crisp, uniform pieces (slightly larger than "bits" I guess, but still very serviceable) that taste and smell like real bacon.

well at least I hope you peel them... I have never peeled a tomato..

I use it for pretty much all of my baking that doesn't specifically call for buttering/flouring the pan, or an ungreased cookie sheet, things like that. Before going into the oven, but after loading the batter, I just wipe down the pan with a damp paper towel. I haven't had any problems with it getting baked onto the pan that way.

Alton Brown mentioned that the high heat of the dry cycle can wreak havoc with a lot of the items you're not supposed to stick in the dishwasher, notably wood, cheaper plastic handles, etc..

Fish sauce is a good one, but I have to go with ICE. If there's no ice in my kitchen, I'd probably die of thirst..

I think I'm going to have to forget this entire thread before I can go out to eat again..

Fresh galangal can be found around these parts at 99 Ranch Markets. I got a knob, wrapped it well, then stuck it in a zippy bag in the freezer. Like ginger, it doesn't freeze totally solid, so it's easy to whack off a chunk, or grate directly into your dish. I have kaffir lime leaves and curry leaves stashed in the freezer, too. I do think the "fresh frozen" galangal has a brighter flavor than the powdered.... Thanks Pierogi, I'll have to take a closer look in my local 99 Ranch. Like I said earlier, I don't use it often, so this method would be great for me. Do you find the kaffir lime leaves there as well? I have a small tree in my back yard, but no matter how hard I try to keep it healthy, it looks anemic and the leaves are very small.. SAF Instant Dried Yeast. I don't know the specific terminology but its kept in a clamp lock style tin in the freezer door. This package must be years old but when I recently used it for Parker House Rolls & Cinnamon Buns and it still seemed to have plenty of life to it. I think this would work well for me too. I don't use yeast that often, and when I do, what I have on hand is usually months (if not more) past the expiration date, so I tend to just not use it at all. Do you use the same contraption that Pierogi was talking about or is it just a generic clamping tin? edited to fix some formatting issues.

I agree, all these things should work just fine. I've never really thought about using paper towels, and it doesn't make much sense to me when we have all of these other options.

This whole discussion has my mouth watering. Anybody in the 'states, can you tell me where I could find a good 'roo source? I live in California, so any meats that aren't chicken, fish, beef, etc seem to be less popular, at least outside of high-end eateries. I can't even find a local place that carries venison..

I have a real aversion to eating lightly cured or raw meats like that as well. Not sure if it's because I'm American or just the way I am. The rest of my family doesn't seem to feel quite as strongly as I do on the issue, and they're what I would think of as fairly typical American, at least when it comes to food matters.

Tongue in cheek is one thing, but this just annoys me. Mind you, I'm a fast eater as well, but I just do like Simon_S says and start eating off of their plate

Big Joe, I know a lot of powdered sugars use a bit on corn starch to keep their product from clumping, maybe the onion powder has a pinch in it too.. Toliver, do you find that Shallot Salt in the store or from their catalogue? I go to their store all the time (I buy a jar of their Ancho Chile Powder at least once a month it seems) but I haven't seen it. Then again, I haven't seen their granulated onion either, so maybe I'm a little blind when I don't have time to browse I use their granulated garlic for just about everything I make that accepts powdered spices more readily (long-simmered red sauce being my primary use) and it's wonderful. I've been using dried onion flakes a lot in these dishes too, since that and onion powder (which I use sparingly) were all I could find for the longest time. It would be great to find some granulated onion as well. I will have to set aside some good browsing time for the next time I am at Penzy's..

I don't think I could live/work/eat someplace where the non-rinsers were in the majority. My palette has broadened considerably since I was younger, but I still have quite a few pet peeves to work through when it comes to food, including underdone eggs, excess fat on pieces of meat, and SOAP everywhere. And of course, anything that made me think I was developing IBS would annoy me to no end!

If you're like me, and turn everything you try and dry to mush, there are some great mail-order places for fairly cheap. Even though I live in L.A., and dried chilies can be had almost everywhere, I tend to get most of my ground, dried chilies, like ancho, from Penzy's Spice catalogue. For the harder to find, like Jalapeno powder, check out Bobby Flay's page on OpenSky. Every so often he has a "spice bundle" that's pretty much just dried and ground chilies. It's fairly reasonable (about $30) and is about the only thing that I buy off the site. I would definitely give it a try yourself, but if your luck turns out like mine, it's nice to have a couple places to go

Good luck with the fridge! I haven't had one go south on me in a long time, but I still remember the experience and wouldn't wish it on anyone.. You said you keep lemongrass in the freezer. What's your climate like? Around here I have a couple friends who planted one stalk in their backyard and it took off like, well, grass.. If you have the space, it might be something to try.. I also have a question about the galangal. I rarely see it fresh in my neck of the woods, so I ended up getting a small jar of powdered. Do you know how the flavours compare? I use it pretty much exclusively for Thai soups, and haven't noticed a huge difference from what I get from my local take-out place.

All of the above are great ideas for stocking your freezer. That being said, the icemaker bar being "stuck in the down position" would only assure that you would run out of ice at some point in time, no way it could shut down the entire refrigerator/freezer. He didn't see anything obvious wrong, so he gave you "Blah, blah, blah.", to make you happy. If this was a warranty repair, I'd be calling the manufacturer. If you paid for it, ask to speak to the owner of the company. I agree on this point, I can't see how a stuck bar on the icemaker could cause your whole fridge/freezer to take a dive like that. It struck me as a little odd when you first mentioned it, but I didn't think too much of it until Quiltguy mentioned it again here.. I'd definitely have it checked out a little more thoroughly. Natasha, what kind of yeast are you freezing, and how do you package it? I'm assuming it's cake yeast or something like that and not the dry?

Food + San Francisco? You're preaching to the choir rotuts!

I love this idea. The combo I would want is a Bobby Flay cookbook, along with a basket of all the different dried chilies that he calls for. As for giving cookbooks as gifts, I've never had much luck with that. I've never gotten one that I really wanted myself, so I tend to shy away from giving them as gifts. My exception is the same as what everybody else is saying, if the person requests a specific cookbook, or gives me a list of things to choose from, then cookbook it is. Other than that, I think the only person I know well enough to pick a cookbook for (and who would actually use it) is my sister.