Ron Johnson

Ah yes, the Ozzy Osbourne diet.

Where was he? Behind the mustard?

Mrs. Tommy enters the kitchen to find her husband leaning into the fridge taking a picture of himself giving a row of condiments, and possibly a jar of tahini in particular, the finger.

I wish I was a midmorning snacker because I always get hungry about two hours before lunch. Probably from reading egullet. However, there is nothing good to eat in my office, so i just hold off until lunch. I would probably eat less and more healthy food at lunch if I did snack around 10:00. Does anyone have any suggestions for good snacks to keep at the office?

I agree with Beachfan, but would add the Northern Rhone as well. Some amazing full-bodied wines, many of which cannot be found easily in the U.S. Check out Cote Rotie, Hermitage, Cornas, St. Joseph, and Crozes Hermitage.

Marcus, my comments are anecdotal because I have cited no studies. You say that you cannot quote specific studies either. However, my comments are not based only on personal experience, but conversations with wine professionals (sommeliers, winemakers, negociants, and wine writers, as well as a manufacturer of synthetic corks) from the U.S., Italy, and France. The only point of yours that I disagree with, and correct me if I am wrong, is that you seem to require that the wine "touch the cork" in order to be contaminated by the TCA in the cork. You go on to say that it requires more than just "splashing" against the cork, and that if all wines were shipped upright there would be no corked wines. This is wrong. The wine does not have to touch the cork to get "corked" if there is TCA in the cork that is in the bottle. The TCA can travel the inch or two that is the ullage or headspace to infect the wine. Furthermore, the air that is in the headspace will be contaminated with TCA. I know of no study or opinion by any wine professional that the cork must be immersed in the wine in order to infect the wine with the TCA. Finally, not all wines are shipped on their sides. Only top quality wines and those shipped by knowledgable importers such as Kermit Lynch use cases that allow the wine to rest on their side during transit and in the warehouse. The VAST majority of wine is shipped in case boxes where the wines are configured in the upright position. I know, because I have unloaded wine off trucks and seen it stored in warehouses, that these boxes are stored right-side up so the wines inside of them are upright as well. Therefore these wines have corks that were never immersed in the wine and only experienced the "splashing" that you describe. Yet these wines statistically experience the same rate of TCA infection as fine wines that have been shipped, stored, and aged on their sides. Certainly a wine takes on a stronger musty smell the longer it is exposed to the TCA, but even a fledgling TCA infection results in this musty smell. In other words, my point is that a wine is either corked (defective) or it is not.

No. This sentence in the my post, to which you refer, kind of gives it away: "However, I also know of no bottles of wine in which the wine never comes into contact with the cork" That means that I know of no bottles of wine in which the wine never comes into contact with the cork. Put differently, there is no such thing as a wine that has never come into contact with its cork. That means the bottles of wine that I had that were corked and stored and shipped upright experienced at least some contact between wine and cork. I was differentiating between bottles of wine that have MAXIMUM exposure between cork and wine (those stored on their side) and those that have MINIMUM exposure (those stored upright). I believe that it was Marcus' point that the latter would not be corked or would be less corked, and my experience has been to the contrary. I hope that those facts are sufficiently verifiable.

I know of no study that gives the rate of contamination as it correlates to the angle of the bottle during storage. However, I also know of no bottles of wine in which the wine never comes into contact with the cork. Additionally, I have had wine that was transported and stored upright that was corked when opened and tasted.

It has been proven that the cork must stay moist for aging or it will dry out and change shape and allow the introduction of air. A wine can be contamintaed with TCA if it is always stored upright as long as the cork is contaminated with TCA. The wine need not come in contact with the cork.

True, I guess I was thinking of Mario Batali telling people to substitute bottled sauce for his "basic tomato sauce" in his recipes rather than not make the recipe at all.

Yes, but did you like it?

I am not a fan of bottled store bought sauce, but I don't think its fair to compare a quick sautee of canned tomatoes, EVOO, and garlic to a long-cooked complex tomato sauce. My understanding is that people who use bottled sauce, do so when they need that type of sauce and don't have the time, and the quick-saute type will not suffice. The only sauce I have purchased that was acceptable was Rao's, but it was absurdly expensive. Always look at the label and buy a sauce that does not have sugar or any other sweetener as an ingredient. If they all do, pick the one that has it as close to last on the list of ingredients.

While I certainly think it would make for good reading, I am not sure that Veronica would appreciate David posting the details of the next time that they go crudo.

Duke's v. Hellmans. Duke's is not as startlingly white and has more of a pronounced flavor. It is also not quite as stiff as Hellmans. I prefer it, although I think Hellmans is a fine product.

No, you are correct, the musty smell is certainly stronger in some wines than others. Now, is that because the TCA taint has progressed or because it was just a worse contamination to begin with? I tend to go with the latter explanation. However, I would argue that if TCA does progress is just does so from a mild musty smell to a more severe musty smell. But, in any event if you have TCA you have that identifiable odor. The point I disagree with is that you can have a "mild case" or "early stage" of TCA taint that only destroys the fruit and midpalate of the wine but imparts no musty or moldy smell. My experience and training tell me that if you have TCA, you have the odor, and it takes a shockingly small amount of TCA to produce the stink that ruins the wine. Loss of fruit but no TCA stink is probably another culprit aside from "corked".

Now, is that written on the label somewhere?

I like Duke's, but I like homemade better. I use a recipe pretty close to Jin's, but with the addition of a teaspoon of dijon mustard. I think it helps bind the oil and egg emulsion.

It is my understadning that TCA contamination does not cause a wine to lose flavor or structure, rather it is another odor that contaminates what is already there. There is not really "early" stages and "late" stages of TCA taint, it either is or is not. In fact, if you take a bottle that is corked, pour the wine into a glass, and swirl very aggresively, you can miss the corked smell because you will raise the aroma of the wine over that of the TCA odor. When I was training, we were taught not to swirl our wine aggresively when examining the wine for defects, such as TCA, cooked, or oxidization. When checking to see if a wine is corked, I never swirl because that could mask the cork smell temporarily.

I may be incorrect in sensing confusion on this topic, but Crisco is not lard.

Rolls out the dough, punch out biscuits with small juice glass. Resist temptation to twist the glass to cut out the biscuit as this seals the edge of the dough and retards rising. This recipe makes a very crisp on the outside, flaky on the inside biscuit. The biscuits should be small so that they hold a dab of sorghum and are eaten in one bite.

Peanut butter and honey on a slice of toast with a glass of ice cold milk.

Beachfan, I usually associate that type of lack of fruit or midpalate with a "cooked" wine rather than a corked wine. A wine that has been shipped in a non-refrigerated truck, or sat in a hot warehouse for two weeks, or not stored properly by the retailer/restaurant. If a wine has been contaminated with TCA, I always get some type of musty, moldy, or wet basement smell. TCA is quite powerful, it only takes a few parts per million to have a noticeable odor.

Malawry, here is the recipe my mom uses handed down from her mom. 2 cups self rising flour 1/3 cup crisco 1 cup buttermilk Put flour in the bowl - drop crisco into the center. Add about 1/2 of the buttermilk and mix with fork adding the remainder right away - DON'T MESS WITH IT anymore than absolutely necessary. (the emphasis is my mother's, its how she yells at me in email)

Watch 2 episodes of the Naked Chef back to back, and after you come out of your grand mal seizure, the camera work on Good Eats will seem like PBS.

That rocks.