OliverB

I swear my UPS driver is hiding somewhere down hill until he knows I'm cooking dinner and won't have time to even open the box! It's out for delivery and I must have looked down the driveway a million times today! 5pm now, that's unusually late for UPS to arrive, hopefully it'll still get here today :-) And to the one above that arrived damaged, contact Amazon about a replacement. You may have to wait for the next print run to arrive (as far as I know that would still be the 1st edition, maybe Nathan can chime in here and clarify when an official 2nd edition will be printed? I don't think a 2nd print run of the exact same book qualifies as 2nd edition.), but at the very least you can get a good discount. I'll sure not accept anything but a pristine copy with no bumps, scratches, smudges, and particularly no damaged pages. Not at this price, but I never do with expensive books. I've exchanged many books with Amazon, sometimes their packaging is terrible (though it's gotten a lot better) and sometimes it seems I got the last book on the shelf. I accept shelf wear with a used book, not with a new one. All my expensive art, music, movie, and cooking books look brand new.

Thank you so much, I assumed it was an oversight (isn't non-printable default with those?)! I understand the reasoning behind leaving it out of all but one book (though I'd still prefer it in) but having a printed and spiral bound copy possible to those that want one (like me) is definitely a great compromise, maybe even better than one in the back of the books. Have a great trip in Europe, I can't wait to open my box tomorrow!

Uh oh, just got my shipping notification, they're in the good hands of guys with brown vans now! ETA April 6, I better get busy making some room on the book shelf! Well, first I think it'll reside on my subwoofer for a while, so I can see it all the time :-) Exciting :-) Oh, and I better get busy making me a printed index, I WILL have a handy printed index that's not hidden in book 5, as that's absolutely unpractical unless I'm reading book 5. And if I have to type it myself. It would really be nice if Nathan or who ever is in charge of this issue would remove the do not print limit on the online version, it really makes little sense. It's not like anybody that does NOT have the book would want to print 60 pages of an index of something they don't have. So why not make it as useful as possible to those that spend a silly amount of money on the books? I don't understand. It's just not practical to have two of these expensive books open at all time (or even in the kitchen) just to have the index handy. Personally I actually have to remove a star from my rating for that missing index in every book reason alone. I'd have happily paid more to have the index in every book. A great book with no index is only useful if it's fiction But I'm quite excited about my early b'day present being on the truck!

Since I just read about this (new to me) process in Grace Young's "Stir-Frying to the Sky's Edge", here's a short run down of what she says: ..typically accomplished by briefly marinating bite sized pieces of beef (etc) in a standard combination of egg white, cornstarch, and a little water or rice wine. The marinated morsels are then blanched in oil or water and thoroughly drained in a collander before bein stir-fried. She says the blanching can be skipped, but the results won't be nearly as velvety. Aside of maybe rice vinegar, no flavorings are added to the marinade, and it adds no taste to the finished food, just covers and protects. She also mentions two variations, one where a whole egg is in the marinade, with sometimes some rice wine, the other has no egg at all. A detailed description follows, too long to quote, but if you have access to the book, it's on page 101. She says it's usually something that's more often done in restaurants than at home, but I'm intrigued and will give it a shot on my new outdoor wok burner one of these days.

congratulations on the Taschen deal! I just got the press release in my inbox. One of my all time favorite publishers (and an astounding success story as well!) this company always surprises with extremely well made and wonderfully printed art books for very little money. They also published the ONE book that I WANT to have but can't afford, the limited edition of Moonfire with an actual piece of the moon in a box. Some might also remember the gigantic edition of Helmut Newton's Sumo, a book so large it came with it's own table size stand. A highly priced collector's item now, though you can get a new edition of the book. I presume they won't be going through the same extreme printing process though, or will they? You never know with Taschen. It'll be interesting how it will be priced. That's really a great deal, that it's their first cook book is interesting, but from what I've seen of MC, it just as well qualifies as a photography art book.

I made some mexican style chicken from frozen thighs this week, now I'm getting to the more odd stuff, like a beef heart, a beef liver, duck tongues, 4 partridges and 6 golden quail. Some Salmon is in there too and some ground beef and pork. One or two chicken as well. I hoping to get to some of the birds tomorrow or on Sunday. I need to make room as I have a half lamb coming in mid May...

oh, I have those 3 little feet somewhere too, now that I think of it! Aren't they the ones that you would use to put the BGE on the floor, instead of in the nest or a table?

You all might enjoy the current issue of Saveur magazine, the Sandwich Issue! April 2011, number 137. The cover shows two of the most ridiculous and impossible to eat sandwiches I've ever seen, I'd like one of each please! The issue is full of fun stories, great looking recipes and pictures of some crazy inventions, if you don't subscribe you should check it out at your local store, a fun read! I don't have pictures, but I once had a kid's b'day party where I bbqued chicken in two or three different ways and put out a bunch of add on things, onions, condiments, etc. and some nice breads, everybody made their own sandwich with what was there. Was a lot of fun, and everybody found something to their liking. I'll probably do a repeat of that with photos later this year.

great, thanks! Question, what are those little feet sticking out from under your pizza stone? They look like those things you put under a flower pot? I just put my pizza stone on the plate setter, I'm curious what that extra lift is supposed to do.

I'm with Jenni here, I can't think of a reason to buy the pre peeled stuff unless I'd be cooking for such a huge crowd that I'd use the whole glass at once. And what's been said here, that it's a lot less strong, well that just tells me that it lost a lot of it's inherent power, like preground black pepper. If I would like milder or less garlic taste, I'd just use less garlic instead of some insipid thing that sat on the shelf since who knows when, was processed and treated who knows where and how. It's one of those things that make no sense to me, like the precut mirepoix or even better, prechopped onion you can find in stores. I also simply love picking the right size of cloves off my bulb, peeling it (Like Jenni does) and cutting it up, then I let it sit for a couple minutes, which (so I just read) helps it develop it's full potential. Nobody is gonna take the garlic peeling and dicing fun away from me! Slicing and dicing is one of my favorite things about cooking

so I'm supposed to have a roll of parchment paper, a roll of aluminum foils, AND a roll of this double decker? Sorry Martha, but my drawer is not expandable. But look! If I need to wrap something in parchment paper (roll number 1) and foil (roll number 2) I have it all right there! Already there! Ain't that something. What's next, the paper towel/kitchen note pad on a roll? Soak up your mess with one side, write your shopping list on the other! Sorry, but this is to me just one of those silly "kitchen improvements", falls into the same category as all those "it cooks! it bakes! it peels! removes stains too!" gadgets. Oh, and I don't like Martha and all she stands for (individualize your home by doing what every body else is doing!), so I'm gonna take a pass on this one Oh, yes, you do need to be considerate with what you wrap in aluminum, as it can and does react with certain foods. And you don't want that. It's mostly a non issue if you just wrap something to keep it warm for 30 min, but if it's for longer time storage, don't do it.

I used to have a bamboo brush but don't have one anymore. Usually I just wash the wok (well, my old stove top one, as I haven't used the new one aside from seasoning it) with hot water and a kitchen brush, that usually works fine. With the kahuna there's no way that I'll be washing right away, it gets blasting hot. Since you can only cook outdoors I guess you could hose it, but I'd be afraid that cold water on blasting hot wok might not be the best idea. I'll wash it once we finished eating, if I'd be cooking more than one dish I'd probably wipe it out with paper towel in between. I used to wipe my other wok with oil, but it got sticky since I don't use it every day and it's not recommended to do so. The oil gets rancid quick too, and supposedly the taste won't leave the wok for a while. Or ever. A good rinse with hot water and a brush or sponge, dry out with (paper)towel and then dry on low heat for a minute or two, that should be enough. Well, at least here in NorCal where humidity is a non-issue. I think I read somewhere to store it in a paper bag or wrapped in newspaper etc to prevent rusting, that seems to make sense to me too. My 18 inch wok will hang somewhere in the garage, I don't have room for it in the kitchen, and the burner is out there as well anyway. (it collapses into a really nice small package by the way!) Oh, and I'll keep that burning blacktop in mind, I'd rather not have a flaming driveway, as attractive as that might look at night!

I finally set mine up for the first time today, had time to scrub the wok from it's production coat and used the method with Chinese chives to season it on the burner. I got the portable kahuna, if you look at pictures, it's the one with little "horns" sticking up to hold a pot in place, as well as the wok. Supposedly max is 18 inch wok, which I got, the box says up to 22 inches, but I think it's wrong. Anyway, 18 inches is plenty big, and I can still clean it in the sink no problem. I got a really nice dark brown seasoning on most of it with the chives method (basically heat, add oil, add a bunch of those chives and stir fry, discard). I have a bunch more, so before I cook I'll repeat the seasoning, hope to get to it this week. The burner puts out a ton of heat, seems very stable, is super easy to assemble and packs down really small, so you can take it camping or tailgating or just store it small and out of (the wife's) sight in the garage, really neat. I really don't understand why somebody would need more heat than what this thing can put out, it's rated at 65k BTU, commercial ranges for woks seem to be 200k. I don't know much about these BTU ratings, but it seems to me that at 200k I'd be forging steel instead of heating it, I'd be afraid to melt the wok! I plan to do a simple chicken stir fry first, and just judging from the smells that came off the wok during seasoning, this is going to taste very authentic, I'm quite excited! To reiterate, the Big Kahuna is only sold as a set with the 22 inch wok, the Portable Kahuna is sold separate or with a wok of 18 inches. Both have exactly the same burner built in, it's more of a support structure difference it seems. It says on the box and in the manual (and on the unit I think) that you can NOT fry a turkey with this setup. I'm not sure why though. Turkey fryers have lower BTU, but I don't see where one flame would work and the other won't. I have little interest in frying a turkey, so it doesn't matter to me, but it's noteworthy in case that's something you want to do. Personally I'd probably go for it, but..... Oh, it also says to not use it on black top pavement, as it might melt. I have enough concrete around the house (though I did the short seasoning in front of the garage today) and I can't quite imagine it gets that hot under the unit, but who knows. I think they are just covering their .$$ A great unit, their wok seems very good quality as well. I'll make it to the wok shop in China Town one of these years, would love to own a hand hammered one from China, but until then this one and my smaller store bought one will do just fine. I'll post some more once I cook a thing or two, I got both of Grace Young's books to play with. Full of great recipes, though the same heating instruction in every single recipe is getting a bit tiresome after a while.....

do tell if you find such a recipe! There are tons of recipes out there, but one that works really well on the BGE would be nice to have handy. Do any of you own the little BGE cook book? I still have to buy it, wondering if there's a recipe in there?

It finally stopped raining here in NorCal and while I had my egg in use even in a light drizzle (I stood under the roof) to smoke some bacon and bbq some chicken, it's nice to move it to "it's place" and get cooking again! Got it up to a good 620 degree and made two nice ribeyes on it last night, also refreshed (warmed) a nice little loaf of sourdough bread in there. Got side tracked with the kids and missed the perfect time to take them off (probe is always inserted) so they went a bit past medium rare, but still tasted great and had a wonderful crust and grill marks. Served with butter sauteed spinach with shaved parmesan, a poached egg and tomato salad from the first fresh new tomatoes of the year from the market, hello spring! I have some focaccia dough in the fridge, I think I'll make something with that (and some more tomatoes) tonight. Gotta clean all the accessories from winter's dust.

Last night's steak was cooked at about 620 degree in my big green egg, flipped a couple times and the probe was in it all the time. Got side tracked with kids and rest of dinner prep and took them off a min too late for ideal mid rare, but still was very tasty. I love that this bbq can get up to such intense heat (and very quick too!). The steaks were a bit under 1 inch I'd guess, just s&p on them. Got a really nice crunchy crust with nice grill marks, even on just the regular grill, have to de-winter (wash) the cast iron grill first. Also refreshed a nice loaf of sourdough bread in it, served it all with butter sauteed asparagus and poached eggs. My 2nd attempt at poaching, and it worked very well, cooked one egg at a time in a mid size sauce pan, kept them warm in water bath until serving. Fun stuff, the little one was all excited to see it turn white Fun dinner to celebrate the first sunny and warm day in a long while here in the Bay Area!

I just got some blood ones myself, and was wondering the same. Aside of just eating them, what interesting things require a blood orange? Or a bitter orange? I have not see those for sale, but plan to plan ta tree next spring after a remodel. Of course you can make the fantastic orange marmalade with the Seville, forget it's name, but the one with all the orange peel in it, just about the only marmalade I actually like. Oh, that and a kumquat my MIL makes.

I'm not a big fan of Schlenkerla, I grew up just 30 m in from Bamberg, but never got into it, too smoky. Like a dark beer infused with bacon. It gets better after the 2nd or 3rd bottle though, but so does Bud or probably dishwater with vodka too, For a while I was a fan of what I think was called Steinbier, sold in oldfashioned flip top bottles. Also smoky, but the taste comes from rocks that are heated in fire, then thrown into the mash to heat it up early on in the beer making process. Very ancient method and that small brewery somewhere in Franconia revived that process or used it all along, unfortunately I can't remember. I'll look for it in summer, when I'm back Germany. If you ever get to go to Bamberg, which is very prettty, check out the Schlenkerla brew pub, where they pour it from wooden kegs and it seems to taste better if I can trust my memory. Fun old place anyway.

I own the sous vide supreme demi and love it, the regular machine would be too big for my taste (and needs). If I should decide to get an other unit to cook something in parallel (rather unlikely, but who knows) I'd get the SVM/FMM setup, since it's nice and flexible and stores away small. I am very tempted to build my own as shown in the current Make magazine (and online somewhere as well) just because it seems like a fun project and at less than $80 certainly not expensive. And in some respect it would be nice to have two machines, one for the 48hour meat, the other for some vegetables or a sauce etc. Things I yet have to explore.

Is that really 50 years old? Says the company is 60 years old, I'd be surprised if they held on to it that long. The image is hard to read though, does it say 50 years on there, or just the number 50? I've never heard of vinegar that old, unless it's some super expensive sold in tiny bottles balsamico, and even that is almost impossible to find. And certainly costs a lot more than $16.99 a hundred times more, would be my guess. If you're lucky.

I've seen pork jowl at the Asian markets, check there if you have one in your area.

I can measure it next time I heat up the pan, but I'm absolutely sure that it's way above 340 degree. I'll have to read about the Ducasse method, forgot what that was, I'll look up thread. The IR thermometer I have is a Kintrex IRT0421, I think I spent around $40 or so on it on Amazon, maybe a bit more. Has a laser pointer so you know what you measure, fun toy, but do NOT point it at people or at least faces/eyes of course. But I just found out that my flat screen monitor is 15 degree warmer than my house, which is currently at 60 degree, since the heater is having hickups. Must move closer to screen.... ETA: this is an old thread, but it mentions SV, which I've used with great success on all kinds of steaks lately. I particularly like that SV really frees up my hands and timing during the week, I can prep a steak and let it float after lunch or mid afternoon, run errands, take the kids here or there, come home, make sides and salad, wait for my wife to come home and then sear the steak in a blasting hot cast iron skillet for some 30 sec each side. Perfect meat, med rare, wonderful crust. I prefer that over the torch method, which I use at times, first with a propane torch from the hardware store, now with a butane torch from the kitchen supply store. I like the even crunchy crust the cast iron pan gives a lot better. Also make them on my Big Green Egg, which gets up to over 600 degree and makes a wonderful steak, but it's still a bit cold and way too wet outside right now.

if it's a thick steak I put in a wired bbq thermometer and it stays in there, no need to poke holes again. Get the pan very hot, you can use an infra red thermometer, I have one and it's a great tool. If you buy one, make sure it goes to high temp, mine goes to over 900 degree I think. Many don't go that high. I've never used it on my pan, I use it to see if my bbq is above 600 degree for steak. I don't know what the "perfect pan temperature" would be, if I cook steak on the stove the temp is "very hot" in a cast iron skillet and I turn the steak often (otherwise I'd get charcoal as crust) with a wired bbq thermometer stuck in from the side. I trust that more than my poking pinching or probing, and with an expensive steak I don't like to gamble. I also have the steak at room temp. I did not read back here what the Ducasse method is, I just find that high heat and flipping often works for me, very little gray and nice med-rare meat all through.

I rarely drink liquor, but after a nice dinner last week I ordered a Japanese "Scotch" named Yamazaki. I was curious and pleasantly surprised, it had a nice scotch flavor, but also some flowery/fruity overtones that were unexpected but worked perfectly with dessert. wikipedia entry They served the 12 year old that cost about $35, there's also an 18 year old that appears to sell for about $45. I'm gonna get me a bottle some day, a fun thing to have. Might make a true Scotch lovers toenails curl, as it's not from Scotland, but I think it's worth trying. Figured it's worth mentioning here.

I like tobacco and liked smoking quite a bit, but don't use or do that much any more. But I do remember reading that the nicotine in one cigarette, if consumed at once, would be deadly. It just breaks down quick in the body, while you smoke the thing. I'd be very very careful with this approach. And as somebody upstream mentioned, it can easily make people sick, especially those that aren't used to it, but also light smokers. A friend of mine got quite sick form a patch she put on to quit smoking. Suddenly was white as the wall and had to run to the bathroom. NOT what you want the effects of your drink to be I'd guess. Nicotine is a very dangerous and powerful nerve toxin.