Dave the Cook

To this day, the second I enter a school cafeteria, I smell sauerkraut and sloppy joes, and I get bilious.

I'm impressed by FG's memory, but nowhere in that chapter are maggiethecat's questions really answered. Edited after checking reference to The Curious Cook.

I'm not from NJ, but we all have a stake here--how about filling us in? How does the NJ Supreme court stack up politically? Who appointed the justices? Or are they elected? Based on what I've heard, it doesn't sound like there's a loophole for the 45-day rule.

Suzanne: truly, I am flattered.

Semi-educated guesses: 1) They probably use more acid. Vinegar and mayo? What do you use? I don't use both. I don't think. I haven't made mayo in a while...on to firmer ground... 2) Processing temperatures have significant effects on the ability of acids to neutralize bacteria. I bet you refrigerate your mayo as soon as is practical, because you're afraid of killing somebody. But a 30- to 60-minute rest at room temperature allows the acid to do its job better. It's counter-intuitive, but it's true. Acids work better at elevated temperatures. 3) They can bottle the stuff in more sanitary conditions than you possibly could. Do you check the chemical and biological purity of each ingredient before processing? Do you have air filters on your HVAC that trap anything larger than a few microns? Do you sterilize your containers right before filling them? Do you pull a vacuum before putting on the lid? 4) Pasteurized eggs. 5) Pure thoughts and wholesome living. I'm sure some other smug bastard has other or better or more accurate ideas. But just because we often think of food processors as the enemy doesn't mean they don't know what they're doing. And it doesn't mean you don't either. I'll bet your mayo is much better than their's.

This thread is not at all what I thought it would be. I haven't been this disappointed since the debut of the Barenaked ladies video.

It strikes me that we've all been very helpful on ingredients and procedure, but if you've never made something before, what you need is a recipe, and we haven't actually provided one. Here's one that makes a rich broth and goes real quick: For every kilo of meaty chicken scraps, have ready one half medium onion and one liter of boiling water. 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. 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. Except for chilling, this 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. I don't think it should have to. (Now, if I can just figure out a shortcut for beef and veal...) 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. Now, you can adjust with all those other wonderful things people are suggesting, adding them at step 6. If these additional ingredients require longer simmering, go ahead and simmer. You won't hurt the chicken. As for salt, last weekend I made two batches of stock, each using four pounds of legs and two quarts of water. In one I used 2 teaspoons of salt; in the other, I used none. Before doing this, I grabbed few books to check proportions. Cooks Illustrated, Joy and The Way to Cook all listed salt in this amount for two quarts of stock and four pounds of scraps. Rene Verdon and Michelle Urvater omitted it (both are more likely to use stocks as glaces than straight). So I'm not without precedent here. A visual inspection showed that the salted stock had developed much more gelatin. I believe this is because the salt accelerated extraction of the gelatin proteins. Presumably this could be overcome with longer simmering of the unsalted stock. We did a tasting of straight stock, a 50% reduction and a 75% reduction. There were no real surprises. By the time the salted sample was down to 25% of its original volume, it was roughly the equivalent of seawater, though the chicken background was still quite robust. What was a little surprising was how little salt was needed to make a big difference in the fullness of the taste. By combining samples, I determined that 2 parts unsalted to 1 part salted rounded out the stock without a hint of identifiable salt flavor (one taster commented that she felt like she was "drinking chicken"). Oddly, adding salt directly to the unsalted sample did not have the same effect--tasters could tell the difference. So unless you're making glace de voillaile, I recommend kosher salt at the rate of 1/4 teaspoon per quart. And if you have no scraps, I heartily recommend using legs and wings in the ratio of 3 to 1. This should boost the gelatin content sufficiently in the absence of feet.

I'm not sure I can add to what you probably already know, but just in case: The theory is that the dimples means less drag, so on delicate tissues (like fresh or smoked fish or ripe tomatoes), you can cut thinner slices. A corollary says that, on juicy items (tomato again, or rare roast beef), the dimples actually let the juices become a lubricant, thereby helping you get not just a thin slice, but a uniform one. My experience is that one tends to over-exert on large items like rib roasts, and on soft items like ripe, ripe fruits, and you end up with a concave face (on the roast, not you) or a crushed tomato. A granton edge lets you slice with less pressure, so you avoid this. Not to be confused with a serrated edge. I know people that swear by them, and they seem to be gaining in popularity. Suzanne can probably shed more light on the subject. Agreed, but it started out a little scary. The lead car had taken off without us, so we had to dress for the trip in our stage outfits. This was the late 70's, so we're talking lots of frills, lamé or spandex shirts, pants so tight you could tell our religion, maybe a little make-up that didn't get taken off from the night before. Three refugees from the planet of Alice Cooper, David Bowie and Yes, taking a mid-morning stroll through a Georgia mountain town, Deliverance running a tape loop in our heads. I'm sure we were a sight. But those folks were as nice as could be. Listened to our story, offered us sweet tea, talked about the weather while looking at our platform shoes, and let us use the phone to call a tow truck. Edit: Oh, yeah, sorry for wandering off. You guys get back on topic!

Maybe I'm wrong, and it's only in the Grand Prix line. My understanding is that the Kullenschliff edge is mainly for sushi. I don't do that sort of stuff, and I keep a good edge on my knives, so I don't miss it. On the other hand, I've never used a knife with one, except the good old long slicer (used on innumerable prime ribs in my restaurant days) so maybe I don't know what I'm missing. Suzanne: I'd been wondering about Messermeisters. I guess they're worth a look? Nickn--believe it or not, I found it at a yard sale in Clayton, Georgia. Our truck had thrown its drive shaft, and while we were waiting for help, we wandered into town, and there it was.

None that I know of, except price, but you seem to be willing to pay for what you want. In fact, based on this discussion, I'm planning to look at the same thing. Probably the main reason I like Henckel is the 5-Star handle. It seems to be made for the way I hold a knife. As for the spelling, since it is not a word of English origin, there is no right answer, only a commonly accepted form, which is santOkU. FYI, I believe they also have a non-Granton edge version.

I never could get into the Fender experience--the rounded neck (reminiscent of the subtle curve of a Wusthof chef's knife) and lack of fretboard. I'm first and foremost a bass player, but when I do need an electric 6-string, I've got an old Gibson Melody Maker. It's a plain, gritty-looking thing (Les Paul shape, but no bindings; dark, dark cherry finish; one double humbucker and one lipstick pickup), perfect for my trashy playing. Me, too. 7-inch (?) 5-Star. After that, a 6-inch utility (Wusthof) and a Dexter cleaver. Those cover the 80 part of the 80/20 rule.

...and I'm sure she would be the first to agree with you. She does seems to be able to attract first-rate guests. I haven't seen Alice Waters hob-nobbing with Rachael Ray lately. But Martha can't help condescending, even to Ms Waters.

I bought my first Henckel knife mumbledy-mumble years ago when I when they let me fill in in the kitchen of the hotel where I worked as a purchasing agent. The Chef told me if I was going to be serious, I should get some good knives. Where to start? I asked. German, said he. Trident. Henckel. These names were not familiar to me. Previously I had only seen Forschner, Dexter, etc.--as ngatti says, "house" knives--which I had purchased for prep cooks and general use. So I got a Henckel 10" chef's knife, because no place in town had Wusthof (we're talking Atlanta, 19-mumble). The knife seems fine to me, though I don't use it much any more. But, based on ngatti's comment that the line seems to have changed, I think maybe we're looking at a difference in pre-/post mass market design--like Fender Stratocasters made before and after CBS bought them, or a Marantz stereo amplifier before they decided they just had to be on every bookshelf in middle-class America. I also like those 3-packs--cute and useful, dishwasher safe, ultimately cheap enough to be disposable.

Clearly craftsmanship is not the only criterion. As Wusthof is superior to Henckel, so Henckel is superior (in craftsmanship) to Dexter and Chicago. Yet people claim them as favorites.

What 's the rap on Henckel? I have a couple and I've always found them to be quite satisfactory. What am I missing?

Any smallish board will do this, but a wet kitchen cloth between the board and the counter is as good as nailing it in place.This stuff also works very well. Find it here.

No, no no! You break down the bread to get the cook sauced.

Jinmyo--Using paper towels or parchment paper sounds like false security. Seems to me the bleach/lemon juice would do the trick. Don't you end up scoring right through the paper? Steverino--I use plastic, even though I have a beautiful maple board. When the plastic boards get moderately scored, I replace them. They've become a consumable along the lines of sheet pans--new ones every six months or so. To answer your question directly, I would not use bleach on a wooden board, because I would be afraid of drying it out. Tell me that's not a concern, and I might switch back. And since I can't put them in the dishwasher, I quit using them when bacterial contamination became a widespread concern. Having looked at the link nightscotsman provided, I would reconsider this practice, except for one thing: I've been spoiled by the lightness of plastic boards. It will be tough (and expensive, since, to assuage the concerns of She Who Must Be Obeyed, I would need at least two) to revert to the wood boards. Keep in mind that TV chefs do not have to lift, clean, seal and store the heavier wooden boards. Nor do TV chefs have to pay for them. Bastards.

I follow Jinmyo's recipe with a these mods: 1) I do the simmering in the oven at 300--it's just earsier to control the temperature this way; 2)if it's just for family, I don't bother with the second straining 3) I don't do the second simmering for nearly as long. I simmer just long enough to get the vegetables well done--maybe 45 minutes. Then I turn the ribs meat side up and set the pot under the broiler for few minutes to crisp up. The crust alone is worth all the trouble. Rather than two vessels, I use a Le Creuset braiser for the entire process, a device that I thought was silly until I had one. Most important--don't skip this step:

I had the same experience with the commercial Essence; consequently, I never tried any of the other blends. If you say some of the others are worth trying, I'll give them a shot. (I did try his red pepper sauce, which the entire family found bland--went back to good old Tabasco.) However, I give him credit for re-engergizing the idea of blends as a legitimate seasoning choice (chili powder, curry powder, etc.), and I made some Essence of my own from the Food TV website recipe. It was pretty good, but not, I think, the universal agent that he implies it is. Inspired, I whipped up three of my own, along with a short cookbook, for Christmas presents last year. I'm convinced that what he uses on the show is not Essence at all, but is something concocted to look good to the camera--maybe coarsely ground paprika? colored kosher salt? Real Essence is too heterogeneous to be that uniformly bright red, as well as have the physical properties to be tossed around like that. I agree that his older show is more interesting--he's so self-conscious that he's endearing, and he seems more honestly evangelical about Creole/Cajun cuisine. Not that he was required to stick with that--we all need room to grow--but the early shows, for all their awkwardness, are much more honest. But again, I have to give credit where credit is due. The place in TV Heaven reserved for Michael Mann, the guy who, apocryphally, scribbled "MTV cops" on a napkin in a Florida bar and so invented Miami Vice, should be shared by the guy who first thought "Las Vegas cooking." It's brilliant programming, even though we may think it now lacks substance. A couple of years ago, I read a Ming Tsai interview in an airline magazine. A sidebar mentioned that Ming was studying with the same consultant who trained and polished Emeril for his Emeril Live schtick. A few months later, Ming had a brand new (and higher budget) show. Who'd-a-thought? I'm a big Mario fan. He's honest and comfortable, obviously likes people, and his recipes work. Occasionally I grow weary of hearing Italians described as if they were some aboriginal culture that is inaccessible except through the word handed down by a precious few. I also think Alton Brown does some great work; he's the token Smug Scientific Bastard, and I find that stuff fascinating, even though much of it is recycled from Harold McGee--so what? Most people who watch FoodTV never heard of Harold McGee, and they ought to be exposed to his sensibility. ( snob alert!) I've only seen Chef Paul on TV once--he was tooling around the kitchen in a wheeled office chair, and it seemed a little weird--maybe sad. But I think he's great--in many ways a revelation. For some reason, Jacques Torres cracks me up.

If you like cumin and coriander, you'll like cilantro. Joke, right?

Dunno. That's not the way it appears to the casual tourist, which is what I was. All the guides I found were quite complimentary (though leaning a bit heavily on the "Sleepless in Seattle" connection--this is more likely to make me avoid a restaurant than go there. I'd be afraid that food would not be at the top of the priority list. But I thought The Dahlia Lounge was very good--in fact I ate well at all three of his stores while I was there). In fact, he is made out as something of a local hero. I don't see the same thing here in Atlanta, at least not on a personal level. But I do think some restaurants are factored down because they are owned a by a very successful local chain--The Buckhead Life Restaurant Group. They own The Buckhead Diner, The Atlanta Fish Market, Chops and Nava, among others. The fact is, they serve very very good, very consistent food, and they are the party most responsible for proving that Atlanta was a serious food market, thus elevating restaurant quality throughout the region. Without them, Ritz Carlton wouldn't have seen fit to hire Gunter Seeger, and then Joel Antunes--and neither would have stuck around to open ther eponymous kitchens. And Tom Catherall probably couldn't gotten a loan to open his first place. And we wouldn't have seen the likes of Canoe, La Grotta or Bachanalia, either. A prophet without honor, etc., I guess?

I suspect there is nothing exceptional about this.

Even if you were to eliminate environmental and cultural factors, you could never control for emotion. Having observed my father, who recently concluded a nine-year battle with the big C, I am convinced that attitude influences health more far more than diet. I'll bet on a happy meat-eater over a cancer-obsessed vegetarian any day.

Better than whom?