OliverB

funny enough, on the rare occasion that I do go to a salad bar, I tend to load up on the unhealthy things, bacon, cheese, lots of dressing like ranch or 1000island, croutons, and other stuff that I usually don't have since you can't buy just a cup full. But if I had to buy lunch at Whole Foods I'd probably go for their excellent curry chicken salad from the deli. Or a pizza

never heard of these, interesting. My parents put a convection/microwave oven in their kitchen some 20 years ago (in Germany) and it's a neat combination to have. I haven't used it in years, it's some 6000 miles away or so, but from what I remember it worked very well. Was a Siemens unit, though I think they just put their name on it and it was probably made by Bosh or AEG or some such. But reading the description of that oven, 45 sec for asparagus, nice, but it doesn't take that long in a fry pan either. 90 sec frozen pizza? Really? With crunchy crust? Hmmm. And a turkey or other roast in less than an hour, sounds interesting, but isn't part of the idea of an oven roast to go slow? Have things tenderize, fat and connective tissue melt? Does that happen with this oven? I can't remember ever being in a rush roasting something, aside the brisket in the smoker once, that stopped going up in temp for over an hour and hungry kids where clawing at my legs. Convection is great, and I'd definitely get that if I were to replace my oven. I'd also look for the one that can go the hottest AND lowest setting I can find.

If you have Persian or Iranian etc markets, they usually sell them in bags on the spice rack. Just as a guess, I'd think dried ones work better for cooking, won't fresh ones turn to mush? I could see using dried ones for cooking, then add fesh ones as decoration on the finished dish. Also, it seems like the dried ones are rose buds, and are relatively small, maybe some particular kind of rose? At the same markets you can find rose water, probably rose oil as well.

If I could save $100, I'd be happy to wait until July, I'm not quite clear why somebody would pay extra to got it NOW. It's - after all - just books. They don't go bad or depend on the seasons I have so many books I have not made one dish from, there's really no rush to get more. But then, I'll never understand the people that camp out in front of the Apple store for a week so they can be among the first to have some gadget I could just pick up a week or two later w/o having to wait a minute. I don't even care much about 1st edition (particularly if a 2nd edition has typos and other errors fixed) nor the value it may have in 10 years, as I'm very unlikely to ever sell it. I do like the idea of auctioning off the first copy (or any copy) of the book though! Maybe have it signed by all that worked on it, then e-bay it and send the money to Japan, I think that's really a neat idea.

Thanks for the report and photos! Next time bring a big cooler with dry ice, so you can collect samples for the rest of us! I'm really looking forward to the books. That the index is only in one book is a bummer, I'll print and bind the online version to have handy then. Actually even better than having it in the back of the book(s) and if it gets dirty I'll just print a new one :-) But I'm also curious, are most of the recipes for this kind of micro food? I love it, but I can't see myself spending hours in the kitchen and ending up with a spoon full of something or other. That's why I go to restaurants, so others do that for me. Well, I've only had a few of these dinners, top of the line at the French Laundry, and very very good at Manresa and Terra. But I need to feed a family, not rich people or food fanatics the mac&cheese is a good sign that there are family friendly dishes in there, how would you say things balance out in total? Mostly extreme/fine dining food, a good balance between extreme and doable, more doable than extreme? Just curious, I'll get the books any way, just as I have the big Big Fat Duck book and the small version, I can't control myself in that regard

They had a huge pile of it, no label, just a price. I'd have never known what it is. Easy several buckets full in a bin, I guess it's something popular. Anybody know what it's normally used for, just as a replacement for sugar? I just brought home a little tub of vanilla ice cream..... (PS: I'm always amazed at the variety and amounts of hot chilies in that market!)

I love samples, the kids love samples, there's nothing wrong with them. Actually, sometimes I wish I could open a box or can or what to sample it before I buy and then toss it. I've bought things at Trader Joe's, most are samples from the ready made dinner area, which I don't buy much, but some of their frozen asian chicken things are pretty good and I tend to have them in the freezer for the occasional emergency. I do quite often buy cheese that's being sampled out as well. Sadly our Whole Foods is next door to a high school and they quickly stopped having too much to sample. Sometimes a cheese or two, sometimes a slice of their fresh made pizza, that's about it. I think you can ask to sample just about anything open/fresh though. At costco I feed my little one with the samples (I'm usually there around lunch time) and sometimes buy things, but not that often. Often it's our local Kinder's meats that I'm not too fond of (and I can make all that stuff myself better to my taste) and Aidell's saussages, which I also don't care for all that much, the casing is too hard and I'm not a fan of mango-yogurt-apple-chicken-turkey-whatnot combo sausages, goes against my Bavarian blood :-) Especially with cheeses it's nice to sample, wildly experimenting by shopping can get very expensive there quickly. I also like the samples at the farmer's market, be it fresh produce, or for example Iranian or other middle eastern food that's quite delicious. I've bought those things after sampling. For a while they had to stop giving samples for some stupid health dept reason or other, but they must have found a way around that or maybe somebody is just not looking too closely. Yes, it's a promotional tool, but I'd rather get something to eat than be exposed to some annoying Jack in the Box or plastic head Burger King advert on TV! And after all, if you buy clothing, don't you sample (try them on) those as well? Or listen to music snippets before you buy a CD? Page through a book? All the same, isn't it?

I haven't used mine in years, don't even recall what I bought it for, maybe to make a bbq sauce or something. But to those that want to make their own bacon, but can't smoke it for some reason or other, I'd think it would work well to add that smoky flavor if all you can do is put your cured bacon in the oven. Maybe carefully spray some on with a mister? It's incredibly strong, if you want to cure yourself from a smoked meat addiction eat a teaspoon of this stuff, that should do it (don't try this at home, you'll probably have that taste in your mouth for a very long time!) It's a natural product, I think it's just water that's being smoked and then maybe concentrated, might even be healthier than the real smoking? I have to try that mayo, that sounds interesting! And LS can be something fun to play with, smoking things you can't really smoke at all, like a fine misting on some ice cream? Chocolate? Fruit? I might just have to put some in a little mister and play with it some more!

wild tomatoes, as in from the wild original plants tomatoes, or tomatoes that escaped a garden? If the former, how do they taste/compare? I found the sugary stuff at the Mexican market, but not next to the sugar, in the produce department! They had a huge pile of it there, smaller and larger cones, got me two of each. Does taste different than brown sugar, a bit of bitterness, but tastes great. Dont have nay ice cream, if I get around to it I might try some on strawberries tonight, but that might not happen. But I'll post here once I do try it!

who drives a ferrari at 60mph? You take it to the track! :-D But yes, neither really makes sense, but bon for Monsieur Ripert :-)

I don't recall where I read this, but supposedly something in the spray forms a permanent bond with the non stick surface, thus making it a stick surface and the pan is ruined. My pam says it contains canola oil, grain alcohol, and soy lecithin plus propellant. The alcohol is probably just a thinner and evaporates quick, canola oil has been in my pan many times, so I can only imagine it's that soy stuff that's causing problems? I don't use it anymore, I use their grilling spray (or weber grill spray) on the bbq sometimes, but never in a pan. Those contain some kind of silicone or some other unpronounceable stuff. I think I remember that the silicone is the problem, but can't be sure, it's been a while that I read this. Now, since the "natural" pam is basically just oil, why not just use a tsp of oil? The calories saved with the spray seem completely negligible to me, and you don't have to deal with over spray all over the stove and counter. Or a tiny bit of butter, which makes eggs so much better....

if you google around, there are lots of self made cold smoking options to be found, from the old-fridge-and-trashcan to fancy contraptions that cost more than a ready made machine, but are probably more fun to make and be proud of. I have little interest in cold smoking so far, but if it develops I'll try to just add a long duct to the top of my Big Green Egg and run that into some box a couple feet away, that should cool the smoke on it's way. Same can be done with most smokers/smoke generators. I think you could even extend the Bradely attachment to sit further away and cool the smoke more on it's way. Of course the summer temps here are above cold smoking already and when it's cold I don't like to be outside too long, one of the reasons I have not looked into this. If it's 100 degree or more even the cold smoking attachment for the bradely won't do any good, unless I bring the whole setup inside where it's air-conditioned. I think I'd get into trouble with the family though.... I do live on a hill and sometimes dream of building a smoker into the hillside, with a chamber for hot somoking, and a 2nd one further up for cold smoking all underground. But I'm also dreaming of building a pizza oven, a fire place, a grill like they have on Mount Diablo made of local rocks and a couple other fire things. We'll see how far these things will develop :-)

that's beyond silly, the carrier most likely costs more than the entire set of knives! Unless they are hand forged or extremely expensive super specialty knives, this has a bit too much of a "I'm a celebrity, look at me" taste to me. Seems like chefs all over the world are perfectly able to transport their knives somehow.... What's next, designer spoons? Oh - wait - we have those already

I've read somewhere to never use cooking spray on non stick pans, I guess there's silicone or who knows what in those sprays that will permanently attach to the non stick. Didn't matter to me, as I never use that stuff anyway, my can is years old and pretty much just a pice of kitchen decor As for heating, my non stick (I was silly enough to buy an expensive All Clad) goes on medium heat (between 5 and 6 on my electric junker) and I add a bit of oil or butter once it's hot. I also don't increase heat much for cooking, it never sees full heat. But then, I mostly cook eggs in it, or bacon (before I cook eggs in it), neither needs high heat. High heat is for the cast iron pan. After cooking I rinse it with hot water and a brush, nothing else. Never sees a drop of soap, just as my cast iron pan and wok. Never oil it for storage! Matter of fact, I just read in breath of a wok that it's not a good idea to oil any pan for storage, unless it's going to be used again within days. The oil does go rancid quickly and supposedly seeps into the cast iron pans and steel woks - and the rancid taste stays. I never oil mine after an old cheap wok turned all gummy, so I tend to agree with this. I wash with hot tap water, dry with a paper towel. The remaining heat from the water usually dries the rest quickly. The wok book does say to put the wok on med heat to dry it out completely, something that's probably also good with cast iron pans, but I usually skip it. Air is so dry here, I've never seen rust on my rustable things. After buying this rather expensive pan I did some research on non stick pans for somebody else, the wide spread conclusion seems to be is "buy cheap, replace often" since no nonstick pan lives for ever, and a $120 pan won't live 10 times longer than a $12 pan. Considering that my cheap nonstick from Safeway lived a good 5 or 6 years, I tend to agree with this advice and will not buy any more expensive ones.

Unfortunately info about this sugar now being available at Rancho Gordo arrived in my inbox about an hour after my package with the vinegar (and beans, lots of beans!) arrived at my door, so I'll have to settle with what I can find at the Mexican market later today, but the story and seeing the photos is great, thanks! I'll order some next time, once we ate all those beans, yumm.

thanks for the picture, that'll help too! The large safeway did not have it, but there are Mexican markets not too far, it's rainy, so it's nice to have something to do tomorrow :-) But I'll also experiment with honey and other sugars, but first I have to taste the stuff, which I'll be doing soon :-)

thanks, I'll be looking for some! So it comes like a round stick? I have palm sugar for Thai cooking, that's a solid block in a plastic tub, I use a spoon to scrape it off. Tasty stuff. My vinegar just arrived :-) ETA, if I can find it today, I'll try it on strawberries (from California) and raspberries (from Mexico) tonight, I'll report :-)

let us know what you make, and it would be fun to see some pictures of the spread of food everybody makes! I'm on meetup for photography, I guess I better look into the cooking side as well! Good luck! And more importantly, lots of fun!

it's so rare that we get to go out for dinner - usually once a year or so for my wife's birthday and maybe a handful of other times, that I'd change restaurants if I had to sit with some strangers, no matter how interesting they may be. I don't even like it if my table is so close to others that I can hear every word they're saying. I want my space and enjoy a dinner for two, not make friends or listen to somebody else yacking away Eventually the kids will be old enough so we can leave them at home alone, then we can go out a bit more often, but in general I very much prefer to cook myself instead of having to get dressed up and drive around. The restaurants I would LOVE to visit, those I can only afford on rare occasions I do remember one time where a communal table was fun, a small very old restaurant in a back alley somewhere in Florence, parma hams hanging from the ceiling, no label house wine bottles scattered around the ONE long table, bread and other things and no menu to pick from, you only could say no to courses you might not want to eat, but other than that it was same menu for everyone. I don't speak Italian, but it was still a fun experience. Sadly I can't remember the name of the place, nor it's location. It would be worth a trip to Italy all by itself :-)

Really? That would very much disappoint me. There's no index in the other books? A good index makes a good book IMO, if I have to pull out a book I'm not even reading right now to look something up, I'd be a bit miffed. Doesn't sound practical. At the very least I'd expect the full index in each book, better even an index where items form other books are color coded and only items in the book I currently hold are in black. I know it's available online (but do others know this?) and I guess I'll print one and stick it in between the books then, but at that price I'd really expect it to be in every volume. Seems an odd decision.

I'm glad to read that I won't need to run out to get an ultrasonic bath anytime soon, I'm not particularly fond of tater tots to begin with. Phew, saved a bundle there! (though I'm sure that this book will cost me dearly over the years....)

beans are a great idea, with bacon and I sometimes do slice some avocado to put on top, works very well. Avocado soup is also great, lots of recipes around. Served with some bacon and croutons on top, can't go wrong with that!

yeah, that happens to me too :-) Last night I made a prime beef steak I found in the freezer, along with pan fried baby garlic and a huge amount of fresh kale, chard, etc that I sauteed down with lots of garlic, an onion and some wood ears I had in the freezer. Some self pickled mini onions (made from frozen pearl onions). So a good load of frozen stuff was used, though a 2nd steak would have been nice. I realized that I have less meat than I though, still have to dig through the chest freezer, I know there's frozen ground beef and pork in there from when I bought parts of those animals (and got way too much ground meat). Also have some chicken thighs. Some fish, and some odd things - beef liver and heart, a goat liver, an octopus, frog legs, not sure how much of that my family is willing to touch, but I'll make something with it nonetheless.

Those do sound like places I'd frequent! I don't know if we have any of these chains around here, have to investigate. oh, one more! I'll pass, but I yet have to try the two you mention, The Counter is supposed to be quite good, just haven't made it there yet, haven't heard about The Habit (fun name!) but have to investigate. (off thread note, we just had dinner at Sasa, great food! loud restaurant, try for the back room if you can, but I recommend it) you'll probably have to get stoned to get it ;-) I don't get it either, was the most blah burger I've ever bought, but others swear by them religiously. I was not gonna mention it, but since you rolled the ball.... My wife had the same experience years ago, we were on a road trip and went to one of the first ones that opened here (somewhere towards Sacramento). I wasn't all that impressed and about half an hour after eating my wife got quite sick (I'll spare the details, but it involved pulling over quickly a couple times) which she (quite rightly I guess) blamed on said food. Needless to say, she won't go back either. Personally they just don't do it for me and I won't be bothered remembering silly nonsense like "secret" menus, and the drive through lines are always way too long. Of course all this burger talk now has me craving a burger, see what you've done eGullet! Have to check out one of those new fancy burger places in town soon...

As far as I know, there is no such thing as a nitrate free bacon. The "uncured" bacon you can buy has celery juice added, which in turn contains nitrate, but since you're not adding nitrate as a salt/powder, it doesn't fall into the official definition of cured. Same thing though, it's kind of a scam. I recently made the "uncured" corned beef from TJ's, it actually said something like "no nitrates added, except those naturally found in celery juice and (something else I can't remember now)" As for ideas, somewhere on this site I saw some photos of what I'd call bacon art, I unfortunately can't remember the thread. That person had made bowls and rolls etc out of bacon that looked stunning and could be used to serve avocado slivers or something like that. Could be an elegant looking thing, somewhat resembling sushi, but with the seaweed wrap being replaced by bacon. Maybe somebody here remembers where this was posted? I've also seen interesting salad preparations that were served in the avocado skin, not sure if that's a bit too 1960es :-) I just had some Asian style pork belly cubes on a skewer, very crunchy and bacony if you will, can be made to look quite elegant, but I'm not sure it would qualify? Since you can't cook there, battered and deep fried avocado might not work, unless you have access to an oven. If I come up with more I'll post, good luck! Is this a private for fun kind of event? I've been thinking about trying to set something like this up locally, more along the line of chopped and throwing some must use odd things into the basket though. ETA: if you have enough time and access to them, the books "Ham", "Cured", and "Bacon, a love affair" are great to look into, maybe at a library?