Dave the Cook

Same here, and/or a shot of pepper sauce.

Added liquids create steam. The eggs cook, but the steam helps keep the temperature in check. The result is a soft, fluffy scramble. Free liquid (especially in a steam table or on the plate) is an indication of overcooking. The proteins have been allowed to tighten excessively, squeezing out residual moisture. The eggs themselves will be dry and tight. Butter is for lubrication and flavor. And because it's butter.

What do you mean by weird?

I wasn't suggesting that they are related in a corporate way, if that's where you thought I was going. I am suggesting: - They are all after the same price point. And I think FW offers a good value in their Millenium line. I looked at it pretty closely for an eGulleter a couple of months ago, and the S/S line looks pretty good. I don't think it's in the same category as All-Clad or Demeyere or Sitram, but it's about half the price. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it to a friend on a budget. - All three lines are knocking off All-Clad. ChefMate and FW have a closer look. - The handles on the CM and FW -- it's that All-Clad style that Cuisinart and Calphalon have emulated. - The lids on the CM and FW are both that recessed type that you see on KitchenAid. It's a good design, I think. That's all. Nothing sinister or convoluted.

I've never read a "manual" (such as it is) that came with clad cookware that didn't warn about separation of the bottom clad layer. High-end stuff comes with a significant warranty, though. Demeyere, for instance, warns about the problem, but also has a 30 year guarantee.

Chefmate: RevereWare: And just for fun, here's Farberware, which both these lines remind me of:

I didn't know you could train them to a leash. Seriously, what is a fish collar?

Any idea why? Not sure. All that occurred to me was all the acid in the wine, and the long cooking time. Doesn't seem sufficient, does it? Guess it's possible. Lots of salt, maybe?

Revere is owned by World Kitchens, the same company that owns, among other things (the list is pretty long): OXO Corning Ware Chicago Cutlery Pyrex Ecko So far as I know, there is no connection between WK and Chefmate or the Herald Group.

Any idea why?

Also requires a 220V outlet, so if your range is gas, add another couple of hundred bucks for the electrician.

For much the same reason that a pound of feathers is a bigger burden than a pound of lead, I assume. Well, yes -- good point. Volumetric considerations aside, however, the body puts cellulose to work in a different way than it does fat, as G alludes:

I don't know. Sugar cane was being cultivated in India around 300 BC. Alexander noted it. I should make myself a little clearer. Obviously molasses existed before Europeans came to the New World. But I believe it took slavery and ocean travel to make it a cash crop.

That second link is great, Ron; I hadn't seen it before.

Technical answer Cane syrup is made from cane juice. You crush the cane, filter the juice, then cook it down to the desired consistency. In addition to amplifying certain flavor components (and changing others), the heat stabilizes the juice, which would ordinarily have a shelf life of about three hours. (I think there are a couple of companies in Central and South America that pasteurize and can it, unreduced, as a beverage.) Molasses is the byproduct of crystalization. If you're making granulated sugar, you take the filtered juice and run it through a series of evaporators in order to get rid of most of the water. Then you introduce seed crystals to the remaining solution (which is about 65% solids). When you think you've got all the crystalization you're going to get, you centrifuge the solution. The white crystals get packaged. Off-white crystals get re-melted and go through the process again. The leftover liquid, which still contains quite a bit of liquid sugar, is molasses. Since the filtering and evaporation stages are heat processes, this liquid has been cooked, which is why it looks like caramel. It could be filtered and bottled at this point, or you could cook it down further to get different grades of molasses. In fact, most of it is diluted and re-evaporated to extract more sugar. Eventually it's used for animal feed, pharmaceuticals and alcoholic beverages. Marketing answer If you've been paying attention, you'll have noticed that both products are simply concentrated cane juice. And in fact, the mildest and sweetest molasses on the market is made in the same way as cane syrup -- from filtered cane juice. I don't think you could tell them apart. It's only when you start cooking it way down (headed towards the blackstrap zone) that molasses develops real differences.

A little more about NZ SBs, please, including names. There is very little of this in the stores here (Atlanta); the closest we get are Aussie Chards, and some Semillon Blanc. If I have to waylay a clerk, I'm going to need specifics. Mrs. Dave is quite fond of SB; I'd like to find something that's not from the US West coast.

Yeah, but lousy when it's cheap.

The form that caloric consumption takes also has something to do with obesity. The body does not handle 100 calories of kale in the same way it handles 100 calories of bacon.

Actually, like many things Southern, molasses came from the Carribean. - Dave the Sugar Geek

You dog you.

Clearly, you haven't been through their entire menu.

You make a good point, but it's not relevant to woks, because even heating is not what woks are about. These numbers are useful if your only goal is to minimize hotspots. They don't account for heat retention. A copper-bottomed pan will heat more evenly than steel because it's a better conductor, but it won't hold the heat as well for the same reason. If you wanted a cast-iron pan that heated as evenly as a copper pan, it would have to be almost an inch thick, and it would take forever to heat up. In the real world, though, the cast iron holds the heat so well that with sufficient pre-heating you end up with the appearance of even heat. You can mitigate this further by pre-heating a pan in the oven. But woks are a different case, as FG pointed out. You don't want to minimize hot spots.

Previous avocado thread here.

I am loathe to counter both Dr. Johnson and Harold McGee in the same post, but a discussion at A Cook's Wares.com presents a much simpler approach: Does this oversimplify to the point of uselessness?

That it is. And nearly as flexible as "yonder."