OliverB

As far as I know, things that are really grown in $hit (like mushrooms), the stuff is sterilized to avoid nasty bugs. If it were poisonous, I doubt any supermarket would sell it? Seems like a lawsuit waiting to happen. As for peeling, I always do, always with a spoon. Super easy, takes 30 sec. I discard the little nubs or buds that stick out, peeling the rest is less work than peeling garlic. I usually just peel as far as I think I'll need stuff off the root and then use a ginger grater, one of those porcelain dishes with little teeth on it. I don't peel it if I just throw some slices into something that I'll strain, at least not always. Try a spoon, it's really easy, just scrapes off the outer layer of dark skin.

got the first batch yesterday at the market (and the first heirloom tomatoes!) and they were wonderful! I sauteed them in butter with some minced fresh baby garlic, s&p. Delicious, and yes, the color is fantastic! They are well worth the work, which is actually a nice relaxing thing to do sitting in the shade with some music on. Also had some tiny baby yellow squash and made some beef/pork hamburger patties on the grill, wonderful summer meal with delicious tomato salad (caprese) and fresh crunchy pan bigio bread. Had not been to the market in a while, so much fresh wonderful stuff there now!

I would drain some, cut them in half and fry them until browned, makes a great side dish with beef etc. I have not done that with marinated ones, but don't see why that would not work. As for pasta, maybe take a couple and throw them in the blender or food processor and then create a sauce with that, add a couple whole ones on top?

as this somewhat fits the topic, I would rarely use a pressure cooker per se, but I'd have use for a pressure caner. Could I potentially use that for pressure cooking too? I saw some at Ace hardware for $100 for the large one. From what I understand the cookers don't come up to the high temp a caner does, but am not sure that's correct. And I can't tell from the box if I could use it at lower pressures/heats or what to use as a cooker. Don't really have room for two of these and I'd rarely pressure cook but it would be nice to know I have the option.

I don't skin unless I want a smooth sauce or soup etc, where the floaties would bother me. And I don't plan on running them through the food mill. If you need to skin just a couple, a swivel peeler with teeth instead of just a blade works best. OXO makes one, as well as others. I can't remember if it's called a fruit peeler or tomato peeler or what, but it's the same contraption as any peeler, just that there are lots of sharp little teeth where others just have a blade. Works very well unless the tomato is too soft. I never seed them or take the juices out, if what ever I make gets to watery I pour it off and enjoy it as a chef's treat :-)

I love smoked just about anything, but that doesn't sound appealing. Nor do smoked apples. But if you like it, I guess it could be used in a bbq sauce? If curious, what I'd do is get some liquid smoke and some apple sauce and add a bit of the liquid, taste. Not exactly the same, but should be close enough to give you an idea of what you'd get. And a lot less work and potential waste.

not much experience here either, sorry, but yes, spray the oven walls a couple times at the beginning, that helps. And - if your oven has a glass window like so many, be very careful not to get any water on it when it's hot! Cover with lightly crumpled foil or the glass will break, leading to a big mess and costly repair. Care is especially necessary if you replenish water in a baking sheet in the oven.

I was also going to suggest the weber with gas ingnition, I have the similar just charcoal one w/o the gas but with side table. Love that thing. There used to be hybrids around, that would work with gas and/or charcoal, but I haven't seen them in a while. The duo in the photo looks great too, but: gas grills do fail eventually from rust etc. Can you still get parts in 5 years? Will they cost as much as the grill? My gas grill is long retired behind a shed for that reason, parts would have cost more than a new grill. That summer I started using a stone old weber again (because I had food to bbq and the gas grill no longer worked) and I haven't looked back. No more gas for me, got the nicer weber and in the mean time a Big Green Egg, which is quite possibly one of the best fire cooling devices out there. Twice your budget, but maybe save for an other year and then get one? I've done everything on it, from low and slow smoking to 650+ degree steak searing. It looks a bit goofy, very 70es, but it's the same green as my house :-) If you don't intend to smoke things too often, the Weber bullet also is very good and cheap, stores away in a corner easily. But needs more attention to keep the temp level, the egg is really set it and forget it. That being said, the duo from above does look very interesting. I'd probably buy a set or two of spares (or find out from them how long they will support the unit). At times gas would be nice for a quick grill and with that unit you'd have the option to smoke something on the right and grill some veggies etc on the other side over gas to have ready. In an ideal world I'd buy one just for fun, but as a married man, there's some opposition in the house and I can't quite find a good reason to have yet an other fire cooking unit :-)

seems like something that would be great with bbq pork or poultry. Also could be interesting on a burger or sandwich. Kind of depends if it's more sweet or hot. Could also make a nice glace to put on pork on the bbq just before it's done. And might even work with salmon? Or in a salad dressing, that could be good too.

reading this thread made me put up my own today, had to squeeze some 6 or so extras to fill the glass, now we'll see what happens, 30 days and counting!

I found this to be true at my local safeway (within reason, but I certainly got a single steak cut from a big chunk they had in the back etc) and at Whole Foods. Nothing like a real butcher, but sadly those are rare nowadays. To find a real "I buy a whole cow and butcher it to order" place I'd probably have to drive to San Francisco, and am not sure I'd be lucky even there. But other than that, I've found most of the employees back there to be very helpful and maybe even happy that somebody asks them for help.

get a weber bullet and make it a day in the park?

some garlic, olive oil and parmesan, maybe red pepper flakes if you like. Add some more greens, I'd even use fresh arugula. The black pasta is more a visual thing, looks nice with white sauce or made as above. I actually have to find me some squid ink to make my own, not easy to find.

trout is great on the bbq too! It really helps to have one of those fish shaped holders that snap around it. I just put some lemon slices and parsley, s&p inside and on the grill it goes. The fish holder really helps keeping things together, but you can work without too, just make sure to oil the grates well. There are quite some good seafood books out there, Peterson's book is very good, some with excellent photos that show you how to work with each fish, how to filet it, etc. I can't remember the title off hand and don't have time to root through my 21 page long Amazon wish list right now, but check your local book store or library, it should be there. Softcover I think and lots of photos already on the cover. Also asian cook books, Thai for example. Fantastic recipes for curries or whole fish fried, bbqed etc. By the way, I think it's really great that you're doing this research so you can help your customers with deciding and cooking! That's a great service!

they seem like quite a bargain! Not sure I'd jump at them, but then, I'm on a quest to eat each part, so... And if you're too shy to just ask for them, put on a long trench coat, a hat, sunglasses and ask them to pack them in a brown paper bag I'm looking forward to some intestinal dinners when we're back in Bavaria this summer!

I will certainly report on how it goes :-) Funny to think of them as meat in edible sou vide bags Hmm, edible sv bags, that could be something interesting to take further...

I grew up in Bavaria and nobody I know ever boiled a brat. Ever. They're made fresh on the grill and then served, not held or anything. That being said, I've done the boil thing here myself out of curiosity and if you boil them before you grill them, I'd almost be willing to bet that you can't taste a difference between boiling in beer, water, or broth. Good brats are so fatty, that none of the liquid will soak in there in the relatively short time. Nowadays I don't do that at all anymore, they go on the grill and that's where they stay until done, then I pile them on a plate and by the time I set it down they're usually already gone :-) As a side note, the best - meaning most authentic tasting - brats I've found in this country are the regular Johnsonville brats, oddly followed relatively closely by the small breakfast brats from Costco. I grew up close to Nuremberg, where the brats are small and thin like a finger, very much like the breakfast ones. And soon, very soon, I'm gonna use my meat grinder and sausage stuffer to make them just like that, with a recipe from a butcher in Germany. I won't but them into a beer bath though, I don't buy cheap beer and wasting a good beer on bathing a sausage is quite possibly a capital crime in Bavaria.....

funny thread. Mine are all like new, the only one with a stain is my charcuterie book and the fact that I know that stain tells you enough about me I guess Yes, I even have some of the more expensive ones wrapped with those clear plastic protective things. Cookbooks are expensive and I treat them as I treat my knives, with care. If they come into the kitchen at all they stay far from the cooking area, otherwise they'd be a complete mess after one time cooking. I never write in them, don't see a reason to. I hardly ever cook the same thing twice from any book, there are too many other recipes to try out first! If I do want to make notes I put them on post its and stick them in there. Totally different with text books mind you, they are for study and I used to not only highlight them, I had a system to highlight them in different colors from somewhat important to very important to particular words that had enough meaning when I scanned the page to bring things back into memory. And once done with the test I threw them out. Of course, they don't cost a fraction of what they cost in the US in Germany. I don't see my text books as kitchen tools, which I guess is the difference between many of us. I see them as inspiration mostly, just like my art and music books, all of which are just as pristine. I'd never dream of putting a little sketch or painting in one of those and if I have one open in my studio I make sure it's protected from the flying acrylic paints or what have you. Had I ever used a cook book to learn from - like many used Joy of Cooking here I guess - it would most likely look like my text books used to look and I'd probably have thrown out quite some editions along the way because of destruction. I'm a book worm, it depends a bit on the kind of book how I treat it though. Expensive artful books are treated with care, a novel in paperback is a throw away item to me.

Ha, I never cleaned mine, never even occurred to me. But I doubt that washing it once in a blue moon would do much damage. I threw mine out and got 3 magnetic strips at Target (around $15 each I think) and now all my knives are on the wall and out of the way. More counter space, more room for knives - actually my main reason to look for something, as I got some butcher knives and the block was full. And it looks a lot nicer to me. But look how often you wash a wooden cutting board, and in all these years I've only had one split along a glue line (was made of several strips of wood) a tiny bit. At that rate, I'd guess that your knife block won't crack until your great great grand children have it in use I did occasionally put some cutting board oil on it.

The BGE book might be your best bet, even if it's not out by the time of the party. I can't wait to get it myself. I have a bunch of other bbq books but use them rarely. It's bbq, not rocket science and I like my bbq simple. The BGE book should cover a lot more than a regular bbq book can, as the egg can do so much more. Personally I'd be more happy with a rain check than some other bbq book. If he uses the egg a lot (or wants to) that might be something to consider.

some great food going on here! I haven't gotten back to the book yet, haven't really had time or inclination to cook much lately, too much other stuff going on, but I hope to get to several of the good things in this book very soon. Maybe even this weekend, if things work out. Glad to see this thread is alive and well!

Apple's new toy sure looks nice, though a bit expensive for now. Of course, soon enough these will come down in price just like cellphones and maybe even free with some service contract. I'd love to be able to buy a cook book (or any book) and have access to a digital copy that I can download or read via some such device. I don't like having expensive books in the kitchen, I could see creating some kind of contraption to hang a reader of some sort on my cup board though. And the future sure looks interesting, not just recipe and photos, but interactive stuff, video how tos, things like that. Updates etc. I doubt the book will ever go away, but I also doubt that there'll be many book stores left in 10 or 20 years. Most books are fiction or text books or travel or biographies etc. All of those tend to get read once and then just sit and take up space and dust in a regular house. No reason really, to have a physical copy if the readers develop a bit further. (I've looked at the Sony and the B&N one, nice but not quite "there" yet for me. And way too expensive) But art books (and I consider many of my book books to fall into that category) will never look that nice on a small screen. (of course, they'd look a lot nicer on a 55inch HD screen display I guess, so we'll see....) I'm looking forward to play with the new Apple thing, but I'll wait for prices to drop a bit. I don't really need one, as I have this laptop (Apple) here right smack in the middle of the living room anyway. I'm sure I will own one such thing in the future though :-)

looks like what the larva of those damn little moths do that we tend to get every couple of years. They get into anything if they want to, surprising as that is. I had to throw out lots of stuff a couple of years ago, nowadays I hunt for them as soon as I see one of them fly around. They seem to come with nuts or other such things at times. Yumm

I'm all for controlled sanitary production/storage/transport etc, but I'm very much opposed to laws and regulations that tell me what I can eat/drink/what ever. As long (item) is produced clean and well, I don't need any govt to hold my hand because I might get the runs from raw milk/cheese/what have you. I wish there was a dairy farm around here where I could get raw milk. I can buy it at Whole Foods for unreal amounts of money though. Funny, was NOT processed in million dollar factories and costs more. Crazy world....

I can't quite imagine how fish sauce would go bad? It's so salty that I doubt anything would survive in there? OTOH it is somewhat curious that some fish sauce says to refrigerate after opening, some says explicitly not to do so, and some say nothing. The crystals are just salt, nothing to worry about. My guess is that over the storage time some liquid evaporates and as you can only put so much salt into liquid, what's too much crystallizes out. Of course this might just be armchair science, but as it's nothing to worry about it doesn't really matter. As for the difference in color above, my guess would be that different batches have different color, and yes, age darkens it too. I think to really compare you'd have to buy two bottles and store one dark and cool w/o opening for year, then compare. Of course, as this stuff is really not expensive I'd just throw it out once it throws you off and get some new. And maybe shake a bottle before using, though I don't really see anything in there that would shake up. Except the salt crystals.