Dave the Cook

Are guys (besides Fat Guy, apparently) allowed in here?

Thanks, NSM. SilverStone is a DuPont brand that is being phased out in favor of Teflon Xtra. This is part of a broad markteing strategy that (I suppose) DuPont hopes will revitalize the Teflon brand name, since it still has value, cannot be copied by anybody else, and is diluted by ancillary names like SilverStone. More information here and here and here Note that there is an apparent difference of opinion about who owns the SilverStone trademark. The second link indicates that Progressive International (these guys make lots of kitchen utensils) will be working with DuPont to recycle SilverStone. The second link is a Meyer Corp. website. Meyer owns Anolon, Circulon, KitchenAid and Farberware. So I'm not sure what's going on here. It's possible that the brand has been sold to Meyer, and the DuPont site hasn't been updated to reflect this. An interesting connection is that Meyer is a DuPont licensee, at least through Anolon; I'm not absolutely sure about the other brands. Lots of people make PTFE-coated stuff. Some of it is under license to DuPont, and some is not. It should be noted, however, that DuPont still holds the majority of patents related to the application and use of PTFE.

Suzanne, next time you can follow mamster. As for HWOE: I like engineers. I have engineers for neighbors. Some of my best friends are engineers. But let my daughter marry one? I don't think so. "First Jew on the moon." Love it.

Thanks, everyone. In doing research, I found a lot of "Right Stuff" sort of coolness in all of the accounts. I've worked with engineers for 15 years, and it just didn't ring true -- engineers would like to believe they're astronauts, and I suppose aerospace engineers may have some of that aspect in their demeanor, but most of them simply aren't interested in anything but what they think is cool. And when they think it, there's no stopping them. I couldn't believe that nobody reacted as if they'd just discovered Flubber. You, too, Lily.

I always wondered what made it pink. Thanks to Jason, now I know.

Same here, though I have a Southern lady acquaintance who carries a childhood memory of Karo syrup (the light version, not their pancke syrup) on pancakes. Personally, I don't get it. As usual, Jaymes is right. But most light corn syrups do include vanilla, which nudges them a bit off the neutral track -- one of those things you don't notice explicitly, but would miss if it weren't there. For convenience and chemistry, just about any syrup will do, as long as the sugar concentration is reasonable -- and avoid things with lots of gums and thickeners.

This may be true from the perspective of the soft drink industry due to it's low price compared to imported cane sugar, but I think that from the consumers point of view (taste?) cane sugar is much preferred. Having tasted soft drinks that were sweetened with cane sugar instead of corn syrup it was obviously a better product. You're right. I didn't put it very well. The "choice" is made by food processors. But given the public sensitivity to dietary sugar, it will be a while before you see a mass market soft drink advertise that it's "made with Real Sugar!" No one wants to draw attention to how much sweetener is in say, a 12-ounce can of Coke. The HFCS (because it is sweeter than granulated sugar) is equivalent to about 16 teaspoons (~ 65 grams) of table sugar. Passover is coming soon. Time to stock up on Kosher Coke.

Thomas et al, It would be pretty hard to completely avoid corn syrup these days. I don't have a specimen in front of me, so I'm not sure what Auntie puts in her syrup, but most of the "-- flavored" syrups are based on corn, with maple or fruit extracts or other flavorings added. And corn syrup, in its high-fructose version, is the sweetener of choice for soft drinks. Corn syrup (especially light versions) is widely applied because it is relatively neutral in taste, especially in comercial circumstances, and it's a cheap form of liquid sugar. hen you consider the general overproduction of corn in the US, its ubiquity should not be a shock. I haven't looked, but I'd bet that corn syrup is quite common in processed foods the world over. But given the role that tradition plays in home baking and pancake toppers, corn syrup is probably passed over in the supermarket for something more familiar.

Lyle's is cane syrup. Though the taste will be different, the consensus is that it can be substitued, measure-for measure, for corn syrup. Light corn syrup usually has vanilla added, so take that into account. Jump into the middle of this thread for information and links about cane syrup and molasses. Precis on corn syrup here. - Dave the Sugar Geek

Chicken Stock Serves 1. Yield: 1 quart This is a basic recipe that I've modified so that it's easy to divide or multiply. It's based on a recipe in Cook's Illustrated, which is in turn based on techiniques explored in Edna Lewis' "In Pursuit of Flavor." Except for chilling, the whole procedure won't take more than an hour and a half. This may seem sort of radical, since we all learned that stock takes hours of gentle attention. It doesn't have to. You don't need to skim because the initial sauté denatures the meat proteins, and they won't float to the top--they'll merge with the rest of the ingredients and be strained out in the end. You can add of lots other things: carrots, celery, leeks, etc. at step 6. If these additional ingredients require longer simmering, go ahead and simmer. You won't hurt the chicken. A note on salt: many people do not add salt to stock. I find that the small amount called for here helps to extract flavor from the ingredients, and is not noticeable in the finished product, even when reduced. So don't use it if you don't want, but you might try it once and see if it doesn't make a difference. A note on scraps: I don't save them for making stock, but a lot of people do, so that's the way this is written. I prefer to buy legs and wings on sale and freeze them until I'm ready to make stock. A ratio of 3 legs to 2 wings make a good rich, gelatinous stock. At 2003 prices, chicken parts to make a gallon of stock will cost less than $10. 1 qt water 2 lb meaty chicken scraps 1/2 c dry, unoaked white wine (optional) 1/4 tsp kosher salt, or 1/8 t table salt 1 small onion 1. Hack the chicken into 2-inch (50 mm) pieces. Chop the onion medium. 2. Sauté the onion in a little oil until tender. Remove. 3. Sauté the chicken parts in a little oil until they are no longer pink. Remove. 4. Deglaze the pan with a little water or wine, or a combination. 5. Return the chicken and onion to the pot. Add the salt. Cover, set the heat to low and let the contents cook for 20 minutes. 6. Add the boiling water. Adjust the pot to a simmer. Cover and simmer for another 45 minutes. 7. Strain, refrigerate, skim fat. Done. Strain again if it's not clear enough, or use the egg white technique. Keywords: Sauce, Soup, Intermediate, Chicken ( RG208 )

Stoltzfus has a web site. I also remember an Amish market next to the Strawbridge's on Baltimore Pike in Ardmore. For 15 years I went there once a year for the Christmas turkey, but haven't been back since my in-laws passed away. It might not be there any more.

Lily, that's 14940 including s'kat's notebooks and Marlene's pending order.

I took the doors off two large kitchen cabinets. The exposed shelves plus the top of the cabinets hold about 120, including the dozen or so that are stuffed sideways into the space above the standing books. A baker's rack in the dining room holds another 60 or so; a short standalone bookshelf at the end of the island holds 80. The rest are lurking in the living room bookshelves where they get their own section among the non-fiction, or resting in a couple of boxes out in the garage, still packed up from the last move.

We might differ on whether or not NYC is a typical market. I would agree that the Times is not a typical urban paper. First of all, no comics. No Ann Landers. But your exposition begs the question. If no single writer is reponsible for selling papers (and I think you are correct), then why choose one writer over another? Why choose Regina Schrambling when Steven Shaw is available? mmm...truffles

Commercial success is easy to measure if you're talking about books. And it's clear, I think, that the best writers don't always sell the most. Grisham outsells Turow, for instance, though Turow is the better writer. So "slant," whatever it is, has some resonance. But how can you apply this to newpapers? Do you think Schrambling (or Grimes, or Russ Parsons) is responsible for selling an appreciable number of papers? EGulleters don't count; even in New York there aren't enough to make a difference.

Ok, Stella. I'd like to start here: If you can be bitchier than Schrambling, why aren't you writing for the New York Times?

Well, it was the point for me, but I agree there were other considerations. It's just that they were subsidiary to the question of why she has a platform. As a TDG contributor, I also have to agree that the follow-up is often the best part, and I am always tempted to leave a bit out of the final edit, so there will be a few points to discuss afterwards. As for business, well, look at Ann Coulter if you need an example of a great money maker that requires very little grounding in reality or politesse -- far less than Steve's article.

What tool is used to determine whether or not a food writer is good or bad for business? Serious question.

I find Steve Klc's article to be shrill, a little thin, and not up to his usual standards of generosity and ebullience. But the Steves have provided what I think is ample additional evidence (I only wish it had been in the original article) that Schrambling is too big for her britches. I had never read her before, so I used the links, and came to this conclusion: Steve Klc missed the point. The question for me is: how does she flourish in a job that lets her write on almost any subject, with no apparent editorial interference, and with a knack for thematic development that has all the traction of a crack-crazed skateboarder on a greasy half-pipe? She can string words together pretty well, and frankly, she's more entertaining when she bites. But from one paragraph to the next, she reverses field -- you have to sprint 50 breathless yards to catch up to her point. Food writing at this level is a lot about personality; after three or four of Schrambling's columns, I worry that she suffers from severe bipolarity. She has serious flaws as a writer. So how does she keep finding work? Who decides she's worth publishing? How do they decide to keep her on despite her flaws? Egullet has a half-dozen folks who can write better than she can, but none of them is working at the NYT or the LAT. Why is that? Moreover, the same could be said for a number of other writers, most of them male. I like, even admire, Steingarten, for instance. But give Shaw or mamster his budget (or, to open the field, give Trillin all that cash) and I think you'd get a better column in Vogue every month.

328 here, Lily.

The peanut butter is good. Coffee and creme is disappointing.

Green's is the largest in town -- two locations: one on Buford Highway, one on Ponce de Leon. The latter will be easier if you're staying downtown, and you can stop by Krispy Kreme on the way. I haven't been in a couple of years, but Mink's out in Marietta (I'm guessing Delk Road) used to be more interesting than Green's. Better staff, more diverse selection. Call first, they may not still be in business.

Mostly for whipping egg whites. A copper-related chemical reaction stabilizes the foam, much like cream of tartar does.

Sorry, I didn't explain fully. If you take a piece of stainless steel and submerge it in brine for a while, chlorides will destroy the surface layer that keeps stainless stainless. (This doesn't happen in salty air because oxygen in the air continuously renews the surface layer, and the mirror polish doesn't give rust a place to take hold.) If you then bring it back into the air, I am certain that it will rust -- unless the surface layer is restored. Maybe this restoration happens more easily than I think, and that may be related to properties of the alloy, as you suggest. I guess it would depend on which oxidized first, the chromium or the iron. Thanks for clarifying.

"Rust-resistant" would be even more accurate. Drop your s/s pan into salt water for a while and see what happens.