Dave the Cook

I think it's a moot point. I can't recall ever seeing one that wasn't aluminum. You're out of luck, unless you've got a Nomex suit. Just kidding -- don't fry a turkey in the rain without some kind of roof or other sheltering structure. Even then, keep in mind that water can make things like concrete and metal really slippery.

I did everything but the fried pie. However, I did get an apple filling cooked down, so I'm going to give it a try later in the week (Mrs. Dave is dubious: "You mean like McDonald's?" "Not necessarily dear. More like the thing that made McDonald's think it was a good idea." "Hmmm.") The flounder (no sole) was about two millimeters thick, so I went with orange roughy. The thickness (about 3/8") was just about perfect for getting a good crust in the required cooking time, but it's kind of a lumpy filet, and a better crust formed on the flatter, ugly side than on the nice side. I, too, liked crisping the parsely with the hot butter, and it made a really cool sizzling sound -- bonus. G is also right about the sauce on the pilaf, and it worked on the asparagus, too. I found myself mounding up forkfuls of random food, swiping it through puddles of sauce, and stuffing my mouth. I've never made profiteroles. I've done a fair amount of duck, but never the recipe up for consideration.

I agree. I tried to say this in the first paragraph of my post, but for some reason, the concept of "layering" eluded me. Thanks, fyfas. Thank you for the clarification, Brad; I get it now. This is why the recipe in Julia and Jacques' book does the onions and mushrooms as a completely separate step. They don't even do a standard mirepoix. They dump aromatics into a cheesecloth pouch which is removed after the simmering, and the separately sauteed 'shrooms and onions are added just before service. It's an elegant method, in my opinion, and completely sidesteps the discoloring problem.

Two reasons to add wine first, I think: 1) So that it's concentrated and somewhat thickened, which eventually will help you achieve the proper sauce consistency with the smallest amount of thickeners; 2) Heat that is high enough to promote reduction also creates a lot of more complex flavoring compounds, adding depth and interest to the sauce. If you added the stock at the same time, you'd expend a lot more energy to get the same effect, and the wine would be no more concentrated than the stock. Since wine is essential to the dish, you want its flavor to stand out. marie-louise and Bux are right: virtually any liquid with a low concentration of dissolved solids will do the job of deglazing. Water, stock, vinegar, and many fruit juices work, but things like milk won't -- in fact, they'll leave their own glaze. Brad might have a point that acid in the wine helps a bit. In my opinion, the effect is not enough to limit yourself to only wine if you've got something else in mind. Besides, fruit juices and vinegar are acidic (stock is usually neutral to slightly alkaline). I'm not sure about the idea that acid will set the color of mushrooms and onions. Certainly it's a effective trick for some color compounds, but maybe that's not what Brad meant. Given sufficient heat and time, most (though probably not every last drop) of residual alcohol will evaporate. Most Beef Bourguinonne recipes call for a full bottle of wine and a covered simmer. In these cases, and especially if you're simmering on the stovetop instead of in the oven, the alcohol evaporates, then condenses on the lid of the pot and drips back down into the stew. Only when you lift the lid do you break the cycle. The initial reduction during deglazing is not enough to evaporate all of the alcohol, either because you don't dump all the wine in at once to deglaze, or you aren't likely to leave it uncovered long enough for full dissipation to occur. (I'm basing this on a study I read a couple of years ago that unfortunately I can't put my hands on. It said, in brief, that even an uncovered simmer of two hours didn't evaporate the alcohol entirely. I was surprised, but the study was pretty convincing.)

I'm in. I dunno 'bout apple, though. That artificial lemon sounds mighty tasty. (I'm kidding.)

You mean it's not fried pie?

For that matter, Mr. Cutlets, I'd also be very interested in any home burger tips with which you might enlighten us.

Oil is more conductive than air. Immersing the cable in oil is not much better than immersing it in water. The cable shorts out.

Personally, I'm waiting for Heather to get back from the market before deciding. I'm not transcribing the artichoke prep from J&J, even for you. It's six pages.

I saw them for $1.50 each the other day. They were spiky and purplish. I think the purple means they've been in frost, which is supposed to be good, as I recall. But spiky means they're old, and that's bad. Me neither. The cheap asparagus in the markets these days is coming from Peru, if I'm not mistaken. And if that matters. I've had some and it's pretty decent. I'm just sayin', is all.

I'd craft narrow, two-inch-long lines of chicken, lamb and liver powders on a dinner-plate sized mirror and serve it with a straw made out of lemon grass.

Do you know of any wine that works with artichokes?

If you've never made your own art hearts, you might find an artichoke pretty damned interesting. And if you cheat and buy fillets instead of engaging in flat fish fabrication, there's time for the prep. Nothing about it is hard; it's just time consuming. edit: cross-posted with Matthew.

I agree that deep frying a turkey is no more dangerous than deep frying a 14-pound shrimp, a 14-pound french fry, or a large bowling ball.

Great list, fifi. Thank you. I've been looking at this issue lately -- partly because of the upcoming holiday, but also for the eGCI class on deep frying that I'm developing. Without admitting to any stupidity on my own part, I'll point out that many people, in their concern about spilling oil, focus more on the potential aesthetic damage than the possibility of flaming peanut lipids. As a consequence, they set the fryer on several layers of newspaper or corrugated cardboard, the better to absorb the drips and avoid defacement of the concrete underneath. This is mind-bogglingly dangerous. A proper bed would be flameproof, it would absorb oil, and it would be easily cleaned up. I'm considering sand and kitty litter. Any other ideas? Another tip, again without admitting to any stupidity on my own part, you can't submerge a probe thermometer in 350 F oil. Well, actually, the probe will be fine. The cable, however, will die a painful death.

Last night, I saw at decent prices: green tomatoes (last wave of the Florida crop), most greens, snow peas, asparagus, pumpkins, yellow and green beans. I'm not really a big fan of snow peas, but the texture and color contrast is very tempting. I did stuffed tomatoes the other night, so that's probably not on. I'm transcribing the meuniere recipe for Varmint, and I'll send it to my other brother Dean as well. If anybody else needs it, let me know.

Fried pie.

I am completely cool with French's fried onions for this dish. It's a good thing, too, because there isn't an Asian market within 20 minutes of here. (You haven't had bad Chinese food unless you've had it in the north Atlanta suburbs.)

I will definitely use the cheesecloth from now on. I didn't find it the least bit troublesome, and it really kept the stew neat, if that makes any sense. I hadn't considered the salt angel, but I think you're right. The only salt I used was on the meat prior to browning. I used to flour the meat before browning, until someone (was it Jeff Smith?) pointed out that when you do that, you're browning the flour, not the meat. It's a lost opportunity to add beefy flavor. Another thing that this dish reminded me of was the amazing way that pork fat has with browning. You just can't get the same depth of color and flavor by using vegetable oils. (In the South, salt pork is a Major Food Group, so I had no trouble procuring it. Finding pancetta, on the other hand, is like trying to get Dover sole in Grand Rapids. ) I didn't add the extra wine, and you guys are making me sorry for it. Next time I do a long braise, I'm going to try it. ********* Sole Meuniere? I'll check my supplier, but if real sole isn't available, or it's too pricy, I'm thinking rainbow or brook trout.

Good news: I solved the spinach-clumping problem. I bought a bag of frozen chopped spinach, nuked it just enough to defrost, then squeezed the water out of it. When the pasta hit the "Done minus one minute" stage, I dumped the spinach in. It spread out immediately, forming a green layer reminiscent of a fertile swamp (in a good way, of course). I drained the pot, poured the contents over the butter and cheese, and distributed the spinach with a minimum of fuss. Bad news (or maybe not): the quality of the cheese makes all the difference in this dish. The first time, I used Maytag, and the dish was a unanimous hit. This time, I saved $1.20 a pound by buying Bel Gioso. The dish was panned. I'm sure it wasn't the change in spinach, because everyone complained that while the pasta seemed to be properly sauced, it simply didn't taste like cheese. My total savings with the less expensive item were 30 cents. Not worth it; lesson learned. Lemon juice was a nice additional touch, though it couldn't save the dish.

Ditto on the old Calphalon grill pans. Mine folded up on the first use. I haven't seen the new design, but I am dubious, because though I usually trust Fat Guy, I don't trust Calphalon. As for seasoning, I see Sam's point. But you don't have to get the pan screaming hot simply to get a nice quadrillage (which is what most people use it for, I think). I let the empty pan soak up energy for a while over medium-high heat, then crank it all the way up just before putting the food in. For most things, this works just fine, and minimizes the smoke. Caveat: I rarely use the grill pan for anything but vegetables. I live in the South, where it's 75 degrees in the middle of November, and if I really want to grill something, I do it outside. This is not quite saying that grill pans are for tourists, but it's pretty close.

Here ya go: meat powders. Not just lamb, but, liver, oxtail and kidney powders, among others.

Brine before marinating, no longer than 30 minutes. The brine formula is: 1/2 cup Diamond Crystal kosher, or 6 tablespoons cup Morton kosher, or 1/4 cup table salt per quart of water The brine should be below 40 degrees F. I usually dissolve the salt in half the water, hot from the tap. Then I add ice water to make the full amount and stir till the ice has melted. This gets me pretty close to the target temperature. I dump the shrimp in and refrigerate. Yes, just until pink. You can check the head end of the shrimp to be sure it's cooked through.

Mister Cutlets: The seven-bone steak is taken from the middle of the shoulder blade. The name comes from the shape of the bone, which some people calim resembles the numeral "7". (Personally, I don't see it.) If you cut it thick, it's a roast; cut it thinner and it's a steak. It is tasty. Here's a picture. I'm with you on the whole chuck thing, by the way. I do think that some restaurants are catching on to the flatiron steak as a viable commercial cut.

"Rubbery" usually means overcooked (or possibly old, or overly treated with STP). Shrimp are properly cooked for just a very few seconds, and so many people object to underdone seafood that the tendency is to overcook (though the recipe timing seems right to me). One thing you might do is brine the shrimp. Among other things, it expands the period of time between "done" and "overdone" -- a nice bit of insurance. And because the brine plumps the shrimp a little bit, you get a nice pop when you bite into them. Is that what you mean by "crispness"? It's not a word I associate with shrimp, unless they've been breaded and fried. Could you elaborate?