Dave the Cook

At this point, I'm not sure who's actually selling this thing: ChefSteps, Joule or Breville. I got an email from ChefSteps (they developed the Joule, right?), but the looks of it are almost 100% Breville (which now owns ChefSteps and Joule, right?) They've added an air-fryer function and two phone apps to the SmartOven Air. If I'm reading correctly, one (the Joule Oven App) can control oven functions, though it doesn't appear to be required to operate the oven. The other app is called Autopilot, and appears to include step-by-step instructions coordinated with oven control. There's also video on one of the apps. At this point, I get confused about what's where. It appears that the apps are free. The Breville Smart Oven Pro (the deluxe version of what's known hereabouts as the BSO) is $230. Right now, you can even get a BSO Air Pro for $350. The JOAFB (to coin an abbreviation) is 500 bucks, Is it worth it for two apps? Am I missing some really cool function of the JOAFB?

Thanks, @ElsieD. All I want if for peeps to think things through like you have. Look around you, even at just eGullet -- none of this happens without effort, money (some of it yours, thankyouverymuch) -- and good will.

It's possible -- probable, even -- that when you first purchased your subscription to Bon Appetit/the NYT/F&W/whatever, they didn't even have recipes on line. In those days, the money from your subscription paid to develop a recipe. The publisher wrote it, tested it, printed it and mailed it to you. That was their end of the deal, and if you wanted to save the recipe in some other form, that was on you. Dogear it, clip it and put it in a scrapbook, photocopy it -- they didn't really care. They got their money, you got your recipe. Done. Then the world wide web came along, and its adoption seemed to create an obligation on the publisher's part to make their content available 24/7, because on the internet, everything ought to always be free. But these things are not free: computers, server space, software licenses, editorial support, people and technology to extract content from its pre-internet format and put it on a pretty web page, indexed, secure, and searchable. At the same time, the web robbed publishers of their unique selling proposition: that they could create recipes more reliable and more beautiful than anyone else. There are two things to be said about this: One, they didn't see this coming, and that might be their fault; Two, now anyone with the time and money (much less time and much less money than publishers needed, because the barriers to entry were simultaneously lowered) could become, at least for a time, a food-and-cooking authority. Meanwhile, readers decide that publishers are no longer holding up their end on the print side, so they let their subscriptions lapse -- the publisher loses the subscription money and the substantial advertising income that print editions command. To put it very, very bluntly: people feel like the recipes that they helped pay to develop should be available in perpetuity and in a form convenient to them, but they don't want to help pay for that upkeep, let alone pay to develop any more content. Publishers' obligations have increased, yet folks decline to cover the costs of what they want -- nay, what they say they deserve.

A few weeks ago, we tried a dish from the NYT called "Fish With Brown Butter, Capers and Nori" from Danielle Alvarez's book Always Add Lemon (eG-friendly Amazon.com link), as adapted by Melissa Clark. It sounds simple enough, but it was surprisingly complicated, and we decided that it wasn't worth the trouble. However, the "nori" part of it was an emulsified oil with which you dressed the cooked fish. The oil was rich and umami-forward and delicious, but we didn't much care for it in context. We agreed that it might be at home somewhere else (we haven't yet figured out where that is). Anyway, maybe you'll give it a try and let us know what to do with it. Nori Oil 1/3 C crumbled nori 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil Salt and freshly ground black pepper Put the nori in a blender or mini food processor. With the motor running, slowly add the olive oil. Blend until the oil is black, 1 to 3 minutes, scraping down the sides if needed. You might need to scrape down the bowl between pulses. Stir in a pinch each of salt and pepper. This will keep for at least a few weeks in the refrigerator.

It makes me sad to announce that long-time member and eG Forums host Richard Kilgore has died. I'm almost equally sad that this news is a little more than a year old. His obituary is here. Though he contributed to many topics, especially in the Coffee & Tea forum, he hadn't been around for quite a while. But before that, he'd made his presence known, being a member since early in 2003, posting nearly 7000 times, and helping out the Society as an early head of the Texas forums. For quite some time, he was an unusually enthusiastic member; he once told me about visiting bookstores when he was out and about, finding his way to the cookbook section, and surreptitiously leaving eG business cards inside various tomes as "free" bookmarks -- and of course "free" advertising for us. I've often wondered if we ever picked up a single new member from this amusing antic. Whether we did or not, it was characteristic of his outlook that he both invented the task, and took it on cheerfully. Wherever you are now Richard, you'll be missed here. Have a cup of tea on us.

Both explanations make perfect sense to me -- and thanks. We have our own measurement units: Inches (of tomato paste, or whiskey, or whisky) wodges, blivets, skoshes, etc. Within the group that matters, everyone understands what needs to be understood. It's only when you invite an outsider to metaphorically look over your shoulder that things get confusing.

You measure tomato paste in inches?

Agreed. Or at least it's the book that makes me think the most constructively about food and cooking. But I think it falls short as a reference. For that, The Food Lab (eG-friendly Amazon.com link) is the most helpful book I've read lately. I'm not 100% on the Kenji bandwagon, but he's usually right, and is good at explaining why.

People come to our house and say things like "You make your own sausage/bacon/falernum/Rose's lime/pastrami/bitters? That's hardcore." And now I have to answer, "Nope. I know someone who makes their own damn charcoal. That's hardcore."

A microwave I have, but no steam oven. So I have no recommendations as to time and temperature, except to maybe ask in one of the several steam oven topics we've got going.

If all you're after is to reheat it, a microwave. If you're trying to preserve texture, it seems like a steam oven is your best bet.

Possibly, it's not really possible to do what you're wanting to do. Chicken skin (or any natural protein, really) won't stay crisp that long, even if you try to win by making it "really crispy." It's a better bet to braise the chicken first, then drain off the braising liquid (you could de-fat it and use it as the base for a sauce) and pat the skin dry. At this point, you could hold it for a while. Then put the chicken skin-side up on racks and brush it with chicken fat or butter or oil. Stick it in a really hot (425°F or higher) to reheat and crisp the skin. ETA: just read Jo's post. The NYT (I think this is the recipe) might have solved the problem, but I kind of doubt it. The key will be how long the hold is. For some reason, Bittman's luck is consistently better than mine, regardless of the recipe.

Results seem to be hit-or-miss with papain-treated, store-bought corned beef (and to tell you the truth, I'm not sure there's such a thing as non-papain-treated corned beef in the meat case at your local grocery). Encouraged by rotuts' experiments and these photos of his, which show clear evidence of papain, we cooked one sous-vide last year, and again this year. I just pulled this year's out of the bath, and it's fine. This guy seems to do well, also. And yet, @gfweb (and a few others, based on web accounts) have ended up with corned-beef mush. What gives? Any theories?

Wow. Based on its 8-inch diameter and some rough guessing, that thing will hold about 7 cups of grated cheese -- about 1-1/2 pounds. What would you do with all that?

Okay, between you and @blue_dolphin, I'm almost convinced.

It looks like there are four or five different ones. Got a preference or recommendation? Oops. Sorry -- it's just a reflection of the red hoodie I had on when I took the picture.

Also, neither our FP nor our Blendtec live on the counter; they both live in lower cabinets. A hand-held grater can live in an easily accessed drawer, can be deployed without an electrical outlet, and ALL of it can go in the dishwasher, and believe me, if you can't go in the dishwasher, you'll need an exceptional résumé to get a spot in our kitchen.

That looks like Oxo's replacement for the one we just broke. It's cheap enough, but I'm just wondering if there's anything newer or better. We have a box grater, and it gets a lot of use. For some reason, so does the one that just broke. Sure, but Mouli doesn't make them any more, does it? Has anyone tried the similar version made by Westmark (eG-friendly Amazon.com link)?

We broke one of our graters the other night, right where the handle meets the grating surface: It was probably about a year old, or, to put it another way, acquired about the same time as the last post in this topic. Anything new since then?

If we were offered their archive, we'd of course consider taking it on. as we did with the Modernist Cuisine forums. But unless it comes with a big check for server space, etc, or guarantees more lucrative fundraising among our membership, it's not a likely occurrence.

In fairness, it should e noted that the NYT has changed the article and issued a correction. Also in fairness, I said we were a 401 (c) 3 corporation. We're not; we're a 501 (c) 3. 😒

Done. I also sent an email to their corrections desk, and another that may or may not reach Mr. Asimov.

Gorgeous tots.

I finally looked at my copy of the book. I don't think you're missing anything, @JoNorvelleWalker, and I don't think the printer made a mistake, per se. The book designer made a choice about how to put the book together, based on the ability of the printer and binder to assemble two different types of pages. This decision appears to have been made without regard to the violence it does to the contents of the book, or the confusion it might cause a reader. For the benefit of those who don't have the book: The pages in the first section are numbered from an implied i - x (end paper, title page, dedication, copyright info, table of contents, etc.), followed by 1 - 118 (making a total of 128 pages in this section), and are printed in black and white. This section stops in the midst of a recipe for Potato Leek Soup, which makes what happens next quite odd. This is followed immediately by a 48-page section of color photographs and accompanying instructions. One might expect this section to start with page number 119, but it doesn't. The pages are numbered from 1 to 48. It's as if this entire section could be excised and sold as a separate pamphlet on basic knife skills. This section is followed by a second black-and-white section, the pages of which are numbered starting at 119 and ending at 230 (plus two blank pages, making for a total of 104 pages in this section [232-128=104]. As far as content goes, page 119 continues the recipe interrupted at page 118, ignoring the color section. Without getting into a lot of print-production detail, almost certainly the black-and-white pages were printed on a different printing press than the color section. The different sets of pages were brought together at a bindery and assembled into a book. The placement of the color pages was the result of the bindery putting the book together in the most economical way. Most likely, they could have been placed anywhere near the middle at a page count (not page number) evenly divisible by 8. Numbering the color pages separately was a dumb, unnecessary choice. To put the book together this way without explanation was irresponsible. I don't think either one was an accident. It was just bad decision-making.

I posted that about 12-1/2 years ago. Since then, the price of the knife I linked to has dropped to 20 bucks, making my decision to treat it as disposable even easier. We're now on our second set of ceramics (two 3-inchers and one 4-1/2-inches, allowing for dishwasher rotation and easier splitting of the occasional grapefruit). They (and their predecessors) are always treated respectfully -- in their own section of the silverware basket on our old dishwasher, and in their own slot on the silverware rack in the new dishwasher. They don't have exquisite wood handles, they have colorful resin handles. As I said, this is our second set. We didn't purchase this set because the old ones broke. We purchased them because, despite the prediction of ceramic engineers, the first set got dull. I'm guessing that in about 2030, after ten years of being subjected to automatic dishwashers, this set will need replacing, too. I'm okay with that.