Dave the Cook

Okay, I have to know what you guys think zest is useful for when it comes to cocktails, unless, as Sam says, it's for infusions. In the meantime, get one of these. Between it and your microplane, you'll forget that unnatural mutant zester-knife. Genny: the Arizona Sunset sounds good. Do you think I could infuse my own rum with vanilla beans?

It's Priscilla's fault: So here we are. At $14.95, an electric model is pretty attractive, even when compared to the three-dollar Mexican hand job (did I say that?) that Brooks was touting on the hand-held citrus juicer topic. Then I ran across an attachment for the little Cuisinart I own. It's even cheaper than what Priscilla has, and I'm told that they can make a lot of juice in a hurry. I'm also told they're messy as a two-year-old with an open jar of Smucker's Goober Grape. Are electric juicers worthy accessories, or not worth the trouble?

Wow. That didn't happen to me. Sounds like a test-drive wouldn't hurt, then.

Season the cast-iron grates (the way you would season a cast-iron pan), but that's all you need to do.

Okay, I'm a rank amateur at this, but I can't figure out why you would use one of those. The holes aren't very good at zesting. (This is why Microplanes gained popularity so rapidly). The center hole is, I think, actually a channel cutter, and will take much more of the pith than I care to use. I'm sticking with my peeler.

Despite my amusement, I think this is really a nomenclature issue: What Steven is calling zest, the rest of us are calling a twist.

Guess who:

Yes. I believe they're called Popping Pygmies.

I wonder if you could replace the grate in the firebox with something that had a finer mesh (in other words, the bars would be closer together). Then you could do your burn on that, and the ashes would drop into the drawer at the bottom of the firebox. You could dump ashes into a metal bucket any time you wanted.

I retrofitted the side firebox to my Smokin' Pro two weeks ago. I haven't done any long-term smoking, but I can provide some preliminary information. A full chimney of quality charcoal briquets in the firebox with the vent wide open will heat the smoking chamber to about 200 F, and hold it there for quite a while. I really wanted to get it up to 225, though, so I added two dry hickory chunks, each about 4 x 4 x 1-1/2. They caught fire easily, and while they burned, the chamber went to 225. Once they were out, the temp dropped back to 200. There are two good things about this: the first is that it's easy to maintain a steady temperature, and the sidebox arrangement is buffered by design, so peaks are easily avoided. The second is that you can employ a charcoal-plus-hardwood combination, with each used to its best advantage. The bad things: getting a steady temperature higher than 200 requires some fussing. Either you have to keep feeding wood chunks, or you have to load up on briquets. The problem with briquets is the voluminous ash. I'm not sure that you'll be able to get through a ten-hour session without encountering an ash-disposal issue. What I'll try soon is a switch from briquets to hardwood charcoal, which I usually reserve for straight grilling, where high temperature is paramount. It burns hotter, lights more easily, leaves practically no ash, and the flavor is better than briquets. Supplement the charcoal with raw wood for additional flavor. This seems like the best combination of easy fire maintenence, temperature control and high-flavor results. Edit: the conversion of Super Pro (one of these) to Smokin' Pro (one of these) was a matter of fifteen minutes with a rubber mallet, a screwdriver and a socket wrench (pliers would work, too). If you have a Super Pro and you've been putting off conversion because it seemed complicated or time-consuming, rest easy. If I can do it, anyone can. I got the side firebox at Lowe's for $50.

Just so we're clear, Sam is talking about this kind of blender, and Steven is talking about this style. Right? I have an excellent version of the former, and I've never been impressed with the latter, for cooking purposes, anyway. Like this? This seems like a reasonable compromise, if your freezer isn't already occupied by a built-in ice crusher. I trust my measuring abilities, but you got me when you brought up distractions. (Not to mention that I'm a sucker for terms like "pedagogical," bona fide" and "abyss.")So glass it is, at least for what's likely to be a week just chock-full of distractions. But is the glass cup supposed to be bigger than the metal one, or vice-versa?

There's no reason you can't do both. You can use the brine to deliver salt (and maybe sugar, depending on what you're after), and injection for oil- and/or alcohol-soluble flavor compenents.

Brining and injecting aren't the same thing, but often they have the same purpose: to keep the meat from drying out and to add flavor. For the first, brining is clearly a superior method (and often tenderizes, as well, something that injecting doesn't attempt to do), because it affects the entire bird, whereas injecting is limited to wherever you inject. For the latter, it depends on what you're after. Brining is limited in the sorts of flavors that it can deliver. If it isn't water soluble, the brine can't carry it; and even if it is water soluble, the technique depends on biochemical effects and rules that can prevent flavor adsorption. Injecting, on the other hand, is only dependent on the size of the needle that you use. Whatever will go through it is fair game as a flavoring agent, though you won't get real penetration of flavor into the meat. Think of it as a sauce, administered internally and before cooking. Regardless, injecting isn't mandatory. Consider the smoker's "directions" to be suggestions, and follow them or not, according to your taste and objectives.

Up above, Dave Wondrich suggested adding half an ounce of 151 rum. I've done this with rich syrup, and at two weeks, it's still fine.

Very, very close, andie. Mine sits sqautter, but the principle and general appearance are the same. (I should have known yoiu'd have one!) We found one of these in my grandmother's basement when we were cleaning it out after she died. We threw it away because no one knew what it was for. Good idea. Maybe I can bribe them with liquor.

Forget this unless you want to make "blender drinks." Even most of those can be done very well by shaking the liquor with crushed ice and pouring the works into a glass. Yeah, after talking to a few people, I'm convinced that a blender might make slush, or at best, slushy ice, but it's not much good at crushing. I do have a meat mallet, and a hard rubber hammer that would work. But I'm thinking about getting a few of these and turning the kids loose on a 300-pound block that we'll keep on the deck. Who needs seltzer bottles to keep them entertained? That's sort of what I'm doing here. I'm just picking Society brains instead of picking up a book.

Can you go into more detail here? ← I think we're talking about two different designs here. You and I were talking about a stationary reamer-with-reservoir, and Andie is talking about a refinement of the hand-held/double-dome squeezer. Some of them have what looks sort of like a reamer inside, so those of us who are used to reamers naturally put the cut side of the fruit against it and squeeze. But that's not how it's supposed to work, and you don't get much juice that way. If instead you put the fruit skin-side against the bump, the squeezing action does a better job of reversing the fruit and achieving maximum extraction.

I think the only thing Canadian about this is calling them "Dry Ribs." It's similar to what James Beard always recommended: Salt and pepper a slab of ribs, put on a rack over a baking sheet. Roast at 350 for 45 minutes. Turn and roast another 45. Let rest about ten minutes, cut into two-rib portions and serve. Simple as it is, it's still one of my favorite dishes, especially if I have a convection oven at my disposal. I have to say that I don't understand why you would cut them up before roasting. Oh, wait -- maybe that's why they're called "dry."

Yes. They're the same thing.

Assuming we're talking about dry-rubbed, slow-cooked pork ribs, I was with you until the "cocktail size" part. Is this where a rack is cut lengthwise to make mini-ribs?

What is one to make of an ice bucket made of cork? How did they get the ice to stay in it?

I dream of groveling before you. And I know that you are not swayed in the least by the transparent drawling of an itinerant chicken-fryer.

Mine doesn't, and it's only a Frigidare. I gotta believe a GE profile is better. And besides, for the amount of drinks you are likely to make using crushed ice, it saves on buying and toting a blender. ← Yes, but you're the person who thinks corks keep ice from sticking together.

I know. I've been carrying one around for years. FInally I will have a chance to use it. Good idea. Even better if I can time it so they can ship straight to the rental unit or the real estate office.

Refrigerator ice crushers invariably suck.