OliverB

I'm German and never heard of Valentine's Day there, I think it's a Hallmark invention (and I think it's stupid). But national pressure demands something more than a regular dinner, LOL. I'm just about to go out and see if I can get some fresh oysters, if not we'll have little toasts with foies gras I brougth back from Paris, I realized I have 4 frozen lobster tails, I'll be making those. Maybe with fried polenta? Or just crusty bread? Definitely a salad. Dessert will be just strawberries or something like that, I don't really bake or like sweet stuff all that much. No flowers, I always have flowers (orchids) in the house anyway and don't like cut flowers. And the kids will make a card for mom. That's it :-)

amazon carries a couple, in case you can't find it locally

I've never made it, but found a couple recipes just googling lardo recipe. I like this one http://frombellytobacon.com/2012/10/09/lardo/ Seems pretty simple, cure with salt, sugar, pink salt, spices and herbs to your liking. Wrap, weigh down and put in fridge, turn every other day for a month, then rinse and hang to dry (here they use a wine fridge). Once I find some nice good quality fatback I'll be trying this, but probably have to wait for winter so I can dry it in the garage, don't have a wine fridge. Or maybe I'll get one of those..... Then I'd just eat it with good crusty bread, maybe a sprinkle of salt if it needs it, though it probably won't.

I have a seperate grinder, use it not all that often. Mainly when I don't want black flecks. Lacks the piney flavor or black pepper. I used to buy mixes, but the black tends to overpower all the other colors. Whole white is not easy to find in stores and way more expensive than black. I guess I could order it, but usually I have enough and then find some again if I run out. In a bind, I use black on the finest grinder setting. Flavor is different, but not pronounced enough that it would affect a dish in any way IMO. I love pepper, but once something starts to taste of pepper mostly it's a fail for me. Don't have a clue what kind of white pepper I might currently have, I tend to buy it at ethnic stores. Never use it whole. Same with black, the only time I use black whole is to infuse a stock or something, where I want to remove the pepper pieces afterwards. I have a whole bunch of other peppers in grinders too, fun stuff to play with. Salts and peppers take up a bit of space in my laboratory :-)

I use carrots and some celery root in mine, in addition to onions, garlic, parsley, spices. Sometimes stock or concentrated stock if I think it needs an extra boost. Sometimes a bit of balsamic vinegar. Or a tsp sugar. I'd add some red peppers, but my little girl doesn't like spicy (yet) so those go on at the table. If I have one, I throw a parmesan rind in while cooking. Kind of a play as I go thing, I rarely cook from recipes, I'm more a look for the missing puzzle piece cook in that regard. But always carrots and celery root, shredded.

there's a cheese I only know the Bavarian word for, Quargl. It comes in flat disks a bit larger than a dried fig, is semi translucent and stinks to high heavens, but it's so good! Limburger is also quite stinky, but not as bad. Of course, there's also fish sauce, so good when used correctly, so disgusting in smell. Or thinking about how it's made. I've never had durian, always tempted when I see them at the Asian markets, one day I'll buy a small one.

I'm in the no camp for 2 buck chuck. I'm not a wine fan by any measure, but do like a good glass here and there. I can't drink that stuff and did bring it back. I'd never use it for cooking either, if I spend time cooking something I add things I like and with wine, I add wine I like. And if that costs a couple $ more so be it. I rarely cook with wine. I can't tell the difference between a $20 and a $100 bottle and usually buy in the $15 range for drinking. Anything above $20 is a waste of money for me, since I'm not that into it. Our TJs now finally started to carry a small selection of herbs in larger than the small plastic clam shell box amounts, cilantro and parsley at least. I tend to get that at the farmers market, but I use a lot of it and I'm at TJ's once a week since my boy has karate lessons in the same mall. So that's a nice benefit. I also buy cherry tomatoes there, the small "persian" cucumbers, a little garbanzo bean salad my boy likes for lunch. The Pretzel stick breads are pretty good, not the real thing, but close enough. Cheeses are pretty good, avocados, their bananas usually are bad for some reason. I think I mentioned the confetti rice before, really good. Was never impressed by their frozen fish, but I don't like that from other places either. Some of their spices and spice mixes are good and a good value. Some of their bread is great, though it tends to mold faster than other breads for some reason. Anything I don't like or that goes bad I take back, no hassle. Flowers are also a good deal usually. And some of their olive oils are very nice. Not so the balsamic vinegar, I go with CostCo for that

The three books by Yotam Ottolenghi, Ottolenghi - The Cookbook, Jerusalem, and Plenty all are really good. Ottolenghi came out in 07 in England I guess, was just released here in the US and is sitting 3 inches to my left right now, together with my shopping list for sumac, Za-Atar, rose and orange water. Which I'll get momentarily I hope, in the little middle eastern store here. Great looking recipes, fun little stories with most (all?) of them, which I love. Puts dishes in a nice context.

just to add one more, eat what's in my freezer and pantry! A couple years ago we had a no shopping for a week or something like that thread, I went several weeks w/o having to buy anything but fresh things. I'm gonna do that again, don't even have a clue whats in the bottom of my chest freezer, the downside of these cheaper units. Also setting up a spreadsheet or whiteboard next to it, with notes what's in it and since when. I bought it when I got into ordering meat direct from the farm, but in the end that approach is no good for me, since I end up with portions either too small or too large to feed us four. Need to empty the whole thing out, defrost it, toss what's too old, eat what's good. And cook even more with veggies. Scaled down our meat consumption, we still eat meat several times a week, but I can't remember the last time I ate an entire steak by myself, we usually share one or two. I'm gonna cook from the three wonderful books by Yotam Ottolenghi, the veg dishes looks and sound fantastic. And bake from it, wondering if I maybe should jump over my 'no sweet tooth' shadow and learn to bake a couple things. Especially since the first fresh strawberries from down the road (Watsonville, CA) already showed up at the market. ETA: I've come to the conclusion that zucchini won't ever budge to roasting or grilling for my taste. Reverted to make them my Italian uncle makes them, cooked low and slow with onion, garlic, s&p until all soft and loosing shape. They develop a nutty flavor I can't get any other way.

I sometimes use smoked paprika to add a bit of smoke flavor to things, not sure this would work here and if the paprika would work with what ever else you're doing to them, but I like the effect it has. Sometimes just sprinkle a dusting on after searing SV meat, right off the heat. I don't add it before, the searing would just burn it I think.

if it's really scummy and foamy yes, otherwise I don't bother. I don't need super clear stocks for my purposes, I leave that to fine dinging out. Nowadays I almost always make it in the PC, though even there I'd also do the short preboil/clean with big bones.

The sunday market in Walnut Creek is quite nice, next to Target. I go just about every week. First strawberries from Watsonville already showed up and are quite good. I park at Target, they don't want you to, but ... There's also a free garage right in the middle of the market on California I think, parking is never an issue. I hear great things about the Berkeley market but since I live in the Creek, I never go. Ours is also year round, which is nice, only closed on one or two holidays I think. Market at the Ferry Building in SF is great, combine with a ferry ride if you live in the East Bay, makes for a great outing. Not cheap, but a fun thing to do. I think Rancho Gordo still has a booth (or even a store now?) there for their fantastic beans.

actually cook something from the 300 or so cookbooks I have. Not just read and get inspired by, but actually pick a recipe or 10 and cook THAT. And maybe bake some bread in my big green egg.

hmm, at the rate of errors or confusion for the basic ingredients, I'm wondering how well they checked the rest of the recipes? Some errors happen, but at least the basics should be edited and checked/tested before printing. Frustrates me no end to stumble across something like this in the middle of cooking something more involved. I've never had ramen, so I don't even have a reference to work from, might just have to give this book a pass. Or buy it for the interesting and fascinating story. Gonna stick around in this thread some more, hope there's not too much more of this confusing error (or not?) stuff. Good luck!

breaking up the dry is is what I'd probably do, hammer it in a towel or something, then cover the meat or completely surround it. Not that I'd do that, but if I did, that's probably what I'd do. Direct contact should freeze the meat faster than blowing somewhat cold air around it I'd think. I've frozen prime beef many times in my chest freezer, never noticed any change to the negative, though I never tested side by side. Just seems like a lot of effort for not all that much in return?

I love their confetti rice, something I could not reasonably make myself. Rice with lemon grass, baby corn, other things. Two frozen packs in the bag, just wonderful, tasty, fragrant. But not something one could make in small batches at home, you can't buy two baby corns etc. Occasionally I buy their frozen Teriaki or Orange Something chicken, kids love it and I always get that rice to go along. Tasty stuff! And the chicken seems to be real chicken pieces, not some processed and glued back together to look all the same junk.

I had a relatively expensive one, it's in the garage now. Never used it much, clean up was a pain. You could slide in 'comb' blades to julienne things, food always got stuck in that slide in support. I bought a simple small handheld single blade 3 step adjustable one from OXO that I use quite a bit, small, easy to clean and store. Also have a Japanese one with ceramic blade (also hand held) that can slice super thin for garnish etc. Both work well and are just the right thing for occasional use. The food holders/finger protectors are useless on every one I ever owned, gloves are the way to go, though I don't use them on the small handheld ones. I probably should... They are great tools if you need to slice things thin very often, for julienne I'd also use the food processor though. Or if it's not much, cut it by hand.

haha, they used canned whole chicken on an episode of Chopped a while ago, when they opened the can to get it out it looked like a can giving birth to a chicken, yikes! Never even heard of whole bird canned before. Of course, now I'm gonna get one once I see it somewhere, just because

I've never bought non extra virgin olive oil, price difference is negligible. If a recipe would call out organic grass feed beef I'd find grass fed beef, as it does taste a bit different. If it calls for organic onions I'll use the ones I have. I can only imagine a recipe calling for everything organic to come from an organic food site, if it doesn't affect the taste I use what I have or find reasonable at the market. But if the recipe sounds good, I'll still make it, I'll just read over the "organic" part and ignore it. I see organic as more beneficial to the environment than myself in most cases, so if it's too expensive or I don't have it on hand, I'm not gonna run out for a pampered handgrown onion or garlic.

not sure if that's directed at me or above posts. I use it here and there, make dried things for school snacks mostly. Either planned or using up some apples that get wrinkly etc, banana chips are great too. I got that many trays so I don't have to use it too often, once the snacks etc are gone I get it out again, after a period of other snacks to mix things up a bit. Use it on a as needed or wanted basis, can't put a number on it.

I have a Nesco with a total of 13 trays that I'm very happy with. I can dry different things all at the same time without any of the flavors crossing over. I did not want to be locked into a particular tray number, I try to dry a lot of things in one setting so I can store this tower away again. Love making tomato chips for the kids, drying them until they're crunchy. Same with fruits and other veg. Jerky comes out great too, very nice machine. I think the min # of trays is 4, but it works well with the whole tower, just takes a bit longer. Also got some inserts to make fruit leather. Cleaning isn't that bad, things come of pretty clean and then I soak the trays for a moment in hot soapy water and use a brush. Would buy it again.

I'd be slightly concerned about even heat transfer, if one side touches the water and on the other side the heat first has to go through a cutting board. I'd probably get a small piece of acrylic (thin) or HDPE or what it's called cut at TapPlastics. Or a piece of tempered glass. Or cut the floor out of a plastic storage container, they're food safe and should hold up to SV easily.

I don't peel before roasting and never make them any other way. So easy to scoop out and looks pretty in thick slices on a plate too. We just made delicata, what a gem! Probably my favorite now. I doubt I'd peel one if I'd use the PC either, I'm sure the skin will more or less just fall off. Have a Spaghetti squash in the kitchen that we'll probably have tonight.

I did a lot of research on this a year or two ago. I have an All-Clad that was pretty expensive and stopped being nonstick with eggs way too fast, very disappointing (with eggs). When I read around the net after this pan became almost useless I came across the "buy cheap, replace often" mantra that I now use. If it no longer is non stick I recycle it and get a new cheaper one at Target or at a restaurant supply store. What works in a restaurant will sure work at home, I've never seen very expensive pans in the restaurant kitchens I got to peek into. I had one from Safeway years ago that lasted a much much longer time than the expensive pan, though I don't recall what coating it had. Now I think I have a Tefal (spelling?) with one of the PTFE free coatings. I pretty much only use it for eggs since I normally use my cast iron pan. Works well. But that warranty thing above makes me think I should maybe try to exchange my All-Clad at Surlatable. Of course I don't have the receipt anymore, but maybe they're nice. I'd be happy with store credit for something else :-)

every year this thread pops up again and I'm tempted to finally set foot into a McD again, after years and years (probably 8 by now). Then I realize it's not gonna be anything as advertised and save my $. Or should I.... Thankfully it's usually long gone before I consider doing so. If our McD had a drive through that might be different, but sitting in their sticky plastic hell to eat this thing is not appetizing in any which way, LOL. I also don't like In'nOut by the way, blandest burger I've ever had and their 'secret' menu is an irritating marketing gimmick to me, so there :-) I'll stick to my occasional very late night bbq bacon cheeseburger at Jack in the Box. they have a drive through ;-)