Dave the Cook

think that would be heavy cream for you guys.. Richest to leanest: Clotted cream: 55 to 60% Double cream: minimum 35%, but in England usually around 45% Heavy whipping cream: minimum 35%, usually 36 to 40% Heavy (or "whipping," but not "heavy whipping") cream: about 30% Single, coffee or light cream: usually about 18% Half-and-half or half-cream: 10 to 12%, usually about 10-1/2%

I just now glanced at thate menu - one of the item descriptions says the dish is cooked in "Sicilian Lifeguard style". I tried running that phrase through the Google Language Translator from "Italian to English" - the results were astounding - it comes out exactly the same in English!!! Perhaps just as amusing is that in his book, Simple Italian Food, Mario says he made the term up simply to impress customers.

Yes, there are. There's a thread here; don't miss the link to Fat Guy's tour therein. And should you find anyplace new, please come back and let us know.

Good advice so far. The other thing you might be able to do, if your building situation is amenable, is remove smoke. Get a box fan (<$20 at a discount store) and set it, facing out, in an open window. Open a second window on the other side of the stove, so, as best you can arrange, the source of your smoke is between the two openings. Turn the fan on. It should draw air across the stove and out the window. If it doesn't work terribly well, it might be because you're fighting prevailing winds. In this case, reverse positions, and put the fan in the second window (still facing out).

Very dumb question here: I didn't realize there are times you want to bring cooking oils to a simmer. Don't most oils, especially grapeseed, have a very high boiling point? Won't the chilies be completely burnt by the time you get to a simmer? I don't think Jinmyo means that the oil itself simmers. The "simmer" is the water in the chile turning to steam and being released into the oil, where it rises to the surface, giving the appearance of simmering. This means that the temperature is pretty close to good old 212 F. My experience is that chiles, even dried ones, will turn bitter (long before they burn) at not much above this temperature, and even if they spend too long there. Like Jinmyo says, bring it to temp, then take it off the heat and let it steep. This gives the oils, which is where the flavor is, time to diffuse into the neutral medium.

Third place: Monday Second place: Wednesday First place: Friday Prizes are usually awarded on alternate weeks, so the winners for Smackdown 20 will probably be announced May 3, 5 and 7.

So you don't know! Looky here: Round 19 Winners

Then be glad you've only got three days -- how broke can you go in that time? Well, how broke can you go on asparagus, anyway? All the cheap spears are coming from Mexico, so if anything, Coloradans should have it a little better than us on the East coast. I hope that's the case, anyway.

Asparagus is cheap at the moment -- $1.69 here in Atlanta. This doesn't seem unreasonable to me. At no other time of the year could you hold this contest so inexpensively. Besides, Mongo, why anticipate failure so readily?

Kendra Bailey Morris cooks for a living. But behind her professional demeamor lurks an adventurous soul, a life-long student, and a pyromaniac with a purpose. Be sure to check The Daily Gullet home page daily for new articles (most every weekday), hot topics, site announcements, and more.

These days, a session in the self-cleaning oven does the trick. Works for ultra-nasty grill grates, too.

I have zero experience with 100-year patinae, but I have plenty with stripped cast-iron. This is absolutely no problem, Jensen. The oven thing will work, as will many other seasoning techniques, a number of which are listed here. If all else fails, a stripped cast-iron griddle is a great excuse for frying bacon.

A variation on ducphat's low-temp method: poach in 160 F chicken stock to 150 F. For optimum results when cooking in the oven, brine them first, especially when employing the searing option. The point of both these methods is to handle the proteins gently, so they don't seize and squeeze out any more moisture than necessary.

'splain, please.

I can't remember if I read it in Parson's book or somewhere else -- something from Cooks Illustrated, maybe -- but I recall the advice to add a tablespoon of strained bacon fat to fresh oil. My own results have been inconclusive, but it's worth trying.

I'm doing an eGCI unit on deep frying -- it's scheduled for sometime in May. Since you've already started a perfectly titled thread, JennotJenn, maybe you won't mind me hijacking it in order to gather any questions people might have about deep frying. I can't guarantee to answer every question, but knowing what people are looking for in a tutorial will let me target the material much better.

Nice catch, bigwino. I think that's the same one that's on sale at Big Tray for $500 less -- and they'll ship it for free. BTW, I'm pretty sure there's a misprint in the W-S item. The motor is almost certainly 1/6 HP, not 16 (!). Incidentally, horsepower is a much better way of describing the output of a motor than is the wattage/consumption.

. . . or aluminum rather than the expected steel. IIRC, the housing on the Viking is aluminum; that alone would account for a significant weight differential. There's not necessarily anything wrong with design compromises, as long as you know how they affect performance, and you're comfortable with those effects. For instance, if the housing is indeed aluminum, how does the lighter weight and difference in flexibility affect the rigidity of the body? On the KA, the housing is integral to the head of the mixer, and lends overall strength, helping to keep the machine stable. If Viking has a design that doesn't rely on the housing for structure, it can be made out of anything -- including plastic -- that will keep dust and dirt and grime away from the motor, and it might not affect performance or durability at all.

The wattage rating on an electric motor only tells you how much power it consumes, not how much power it puts out. Generally speaking, input and output are related -- a motor that consumes more power can usually be relied upon to actually be more powerful, but it is not always the case. And when it comes to motors that are coupled to gear trains and transmissions (stand mixers have both), a lot of power can be lost through inefficent design. All of this is to say: wattage isn't everything. As for the Viking, I have only second-hand information. I recently visited the kitchen of a chef who had one for evaluation. The motor burned out while mixing a batch of pasta dough. Admittedly, this guy makes really dense dough, but it was a bit surprising to hear that this supposedly powerful machine had died such an unseemly death. Whether or not Viking makes decent ranges is another debate, but knives, cookware, refrigerators and mixers are not their traditonal business. Overall, I've not been impressed with any of their forays away from the range and into the rest of the kitchen. If I were you, I'd keep looking.

My experience is that brined turkeys and chickens cook faster, but YMMV, of course. And no, the difference between four hours and four-and-a-half is not necessarily a big deal, given everything else that's usually going on -- but it is less time. And if memory serves, a whole chicken goes even faster, proportionally speaking. Regardless, I think we can agree that Raynickben doesn't need to allow more time for roasting, which was his concern.

Brining usually makes things cook faster. As a percentage of cooking time it's not very much, but with an item that normally takes hours, there will be a noticeable difference. By "temperature," I assume you mean oven temperature. No adjustments are necessary, especially if this is your first brined bird. Note your results and adjust accordingly. A brined turkey can better withstand high temperatures, a big plus if you're a fan of high-heat roasting.

You've probably figured out that with this shape, thickness matters a lot more than weight. Once the roast is browned, it's going to take around an hour, an hour and a half at the outside, at 250 F. Rather than browning first, I'd consider starting it as low as 200 F. Cook it to an internal temperature of about 115 F (maybe two hours?), let it rest, then crank up the broiler to brown it at the end. You get much better control of the finished product, and much more evenly done (and juicier) meat throughout. Even better, cook it low and slow to 125 or 130 (you'll get less carryover from a low-temp process) and brown it with a torch.

Jonathan Day and Moby Pomerance spent a recent afternoon with the reigning king of avant garde cuisine. Discuss it here; read about it here. Be sure to check The Daily Gullet home page daily for new articles (most every weekday), hot topics, site announcements, and more.

I don't think so. I often just lay the spears on a sheet pan, drizzle with EVOO, salt and pepper, and run under the broiler. Sitting in the oil has no apparent deleterious effect.

Welcome, BDM. We've discussed pizza stones a bit. If I recall correctly, soapstone is the material of choice. If you've got the bucks, you can have one cut to your dimensions. Here's one source: Vermont Soapstone; I'm sure there are others. There's a pretty good thread here.