Dave the Cook

Sort of both. But it's really in the service of letting some smoke into the meat, as well as getting a proper glaze. If you take ribs straight out of the oven and toss 'em on the grill, they'll be too hot to get very smoky, because the meat simply won't accept smoke at elevated temperatures. But they'll come to temperature pretty quickly over the direct heat, and then they'll be ready for glazing. You move them to indirect heat so they don't burn, and so they can reach eating temperature throughout.

No. Ribs are pretty thin so get to temperature quickly. Right. And since they will spend a couple of hours at temperature, time in the DZ is neutralized.

Brine in salt and sugar -- 2-1/2 hours for baby backs, three for spares. Roast at 225 F for 4 hours, for baby backs. Spare ribs will take a little longer -- maybe 4:30. Remove from oven, allow to cool, then refrigerate until thoroughly chilled -- a couple of hours. Prepare your grill with a level bed of coals, one layer deep, on the side of the grill opposite the top vent. Straight from the fridge, give the ribs about 20 minutes over direct heat with the grill covered, turning once or twice. Call me, so I'll be there in time for dinner. Move them to the cool side of the grill, meat side down, and baste with your concoction. Cover for 10 minutes. Flip, baste, cover, and give them another ten minutes. Let's eat.

At some point since the beginning of this thread, my oven took ill -- it was fine on Wednesday, but last night, it took over an hour to come to temperature, and the broiler unit won't give off even the most anemic glow. Given that it's more than 20 years old, I expect I'm looking at a steep repair-or-replace decision, so my perspective on this thread has changed considerably since last night. Call it synchronicty. Or do what I'm doing, and blame Busboy.

Indeed he did: Maximum Suck Thank you . . . thankyouverymuch . . .

Interesting Dave, we had the opposite experience with our GE Profile double ovens. They saw heavy use and never had a problem. Now the Profile refigerator we had...oy. Bad news. Our gas cooktop was Thermador and not GE so can't comment. I will say that the service was excellent. Prompt responses, fast repairs. Between the time I ordered them and the time they arrived, GE had a model changeover, and as a result, what I got was one of the first of its kind on the market. This may have something to do with the electronics reliability. Still, I had to scratch my head that a company as big as GE, and as experienced in electronic controls, couldn't do a better job of pre-release testing and assembly-line QA. The ovens were the predecessor to these, by one generation. When they worked, they were just great. As Steve K says, true electric convection (which one of these had) rocks, and GE had done it right. In the end, I liked them a lot, but it took a long time to get over the first six months of trouble.

Why is it important?

We have a Kitchen Aid now and we loathe it. Obviously, you've had a different experience with yours but on ours the the electronics have never worked well; if you boil over milk -- or sometimes, just wipe the stove top off -- the oven shuts down; and the hinges on the door got themselves bent out of shape and cost $180 per to replace. I almost wept with joy the day the thing was installed, and it has broken my heart ever since. It's worse than the damn kids. Edited to add: Thanks for your suggestion. I am bitter, but I appreciate your time and will take one more guarded look at KA before we buy. ← Please note that I didn't say I had one! I do, but I've only been cooking on it about a week, and it came with the house, so it wasn't my choice. I am neutral about it at the moment. KA is a respected name, and I thought it was worth mentioning, that's all. When I go shopping, I will take your experience into consideration. So I think I should be thanking you more than the other way 'round. I have, however, had four GE Profile appliances: one gas cooktop, one set of double ovens, one electric cooktop, and one refrigerator. All except the ovens worked to my expectations; overall, I was pleased. As with your range, electronics plagued my ovens. We went through several computer units in a matter of months, and each time, I was without them for a week or so. Keep this in mind when you're calculating the value of the service advantage that GE claims.

At regular retail, GE Profile prices out at $900-$1200. While I think the brand is a pretty decent value, it's worth considering that for the same money, you could be looking at the low end of KitchenAid, too. My experience is that KA is more focused on the serious cook than GE, since food prep is pretty much all they think about. The low end of KA is also the low end of a complete line of ranges that tops out at four or five grand. GE's line switches over to DCS at the high end, so it seems unlikely that high-end thinking is trickling down to the mid-priced models. One hopes that KA thnks about things differently. While there have been some complaints about some parts of their mixer line lately, I still think they're worth checking out.

Thank Carolyn Tillie and Fat Guy. I just set up the link.

Apparently, there is no one here less lazy than me. Here it is: eGCI unit on stock-based sauces. It's the fourth unit on stocks. Demi glace is at the end, but that makes sense, given that it's the end product of a long chain of tasks. All of the stock units in eGCI are well worth reading -- or re-reading.

I think I'd rather deal with a fruit fly in my wine than worry about pyrethin residue on the tableware (not that I'm not certain that you take all necessary precautions, Mark).

I'm sure there's an eGCI lesson on this. Maybe someone less lazy than me could link it? Please?

Huh? Say it again, slowly, please.

Really fresh, too, as I recall.

Melissa, this is just another reason why you should wade through all 41 pages of the original thread -- plus this auxilliary thread.

I'm in. If I start the VD Stew this weekend, it might be done in time.

I thought this was cute when I first read it, but it turns out to be prescient. Since I laid the tile last night, the dog has refused to go into the kitchen. OK, that's not quite right. He refused to step on the tile, and tried to walk on the perimeter, where I haven't yet finished. One step into the adhesive (which stays open for several days) was all the discouragement he needed. Usually he follows me to the door when I leave for work, begging to go with me. This morning, he just sat on the dining room carpet and wagged his tail.

Thanks for recounting your experience, Steve. I have to say that, among all the information, I found it most encouraging that you and Colleen own a disappointing mixer. Given your professional success and status, this heartens me, somehow. Otherwise, what a ton of stuff to digest. The Akurum cabinets are a real find. If I can swing a trip to an Ikea-equipped city, I might go this route. But I wonder what you did about the heights. These cabinets are 30-3/8 inches high. Even with a substantial countertop, they're short. Did you construct a base, and if you did, how? I agree about the vent hood, but surprisingly, there's decent ventilation. It would be nice if it were quieter and a little more powerful, but for now, it will do. The cooktop is slow but hot, as someone upthread mentioned. The burners are a little small for a 12-inch pan, but I'll get used to that, and save my money. The dishwasher is excellent. Again, upthread, someone guessed that it might be a Hobart unit, and I think this is probably the case. The racks are deep, and I can slide half-sheet pans in it without complaint. If it can take a 16-quart stockpot, I'm home free. I love the idea of the shelf with red vases. New laminate for the existing counters is not in the budget, but it's next, unless the range gives up. Again, the Ikea reference is helpful. I agree that the rest of the money will best be spent in consolidating and fortifying the peninsula unit. Tucking the tool chest (if it turns out to be necessary) under a counter is an excellent idea. Lighting: I've got the undercabinet lighting already, and I'll install it next weekend. i've located the proper fluorescent bulbs, and I'll replace them soon. What did you do for task lighting? Tracks? Monorail? Pendants? Good enough as was?

Much less than I expected. When I read the label and saw a VOC listed, I was a little concerned. But the "vague" descriptor is appropriate -- it's like walking past the bedroom closet of a 17-year-old boy. This stuff reminded me a lot of sheetrock compound. For all I know, it's the same thing, with organic blue dye. By the way, warm soapy water was perfectly adequate for clean-up -- luckily for the offset spatula. The floor is 75% covered with tile, but that only means it's about 50% done, because I still have the border tiles to do. I'll give notes on this process, and upload pictures, tomorrow.

Floor leveler First, don't believe the coverage guidelines. The minimum listed was 150 square feet. I'm not sure exactly how many feet I needed to cover, but the room is 12 x 12, before you subtract the cabinets. I had to scrape the container out with an offset frosting spreader to finish. Second, you only need a really thin coat. Hold the trowel (smooth edge) at a low angle to the floor, and 45 degrees to the dominant pattern of the vinyl. Ideally, when you've finished with an area, you'll have nothing on the top level of the vinyl, and blue only in the depressions. This isn't actually possible, but it's what you need to keep in mind, or you'll run even shorter than I did -- and this stuff is expensive. Third: the open time is not long at all. Pay attention to what the container says on this topic. Fourth: They don't say so, but once it's dry, you can walk on it. This might sound like a dumb idea, but if you have no alternative kitchen set-up, it can be really handy to know. Just sweep it up before applying the adhesive. If you use a stiff-brush push broom, you can knock off the raised edges of the leveling compound (which are unavoidable, at least for amateurs like us) at the same time -- something you want to do anyway. Fifth (and last, unless I think of something else): there is a volatile compound in the mixture, so you need decent ventilation. A fan and an open window is sufficient, but your kitchen will have that vague dirty-sock smell for a couple of hours. I wouldn't be surprised if I've left out something important. Questions are welcome.

OK. I didn't want people to have to put up with a lot of boring handyperson stuff if they weren't interested. But it will have to wait a while. I just got the adhesive down, I haven't cleaned up, and I'm typing one-handed (usually something I only do on certain other sites) because my hand is stuck to the mouse. (this thread's just full of TMI, isn't it?)

Floor update: It's blue: This is the leveler. For reference, here's what it looked like before (I picked a particularly nasty part of the floor, and boosted the contrast, so you could see what's going on a little better): You can see what the leveler does -- it just lays down in the debosses, to render a uniformly flat surface. I have tips for anyone who needs to use this stuff, but perhaps it's a bit OT. Suffice to say that I'm about two hours behind schedule, and I haven't started the soup for tonight. I hope my intricate plan for leaving the fridge accessible works.

This looks wonderful, Marlene. I'm now thinking about changing my menu for tonight. I want red meat. I really think we need to hear the frosting story, though. And if it doesn't get too personal, what's with the pillows?

Thanks, Marlene. That's an excellent example of the standard layout. I took out about two dozen tiles and looked at it both ways. There's such a strong diagonal component to the standard layout, and we're so used to seeing it that way, that running the tiles at 45 degrees to standard nearly induced a wave of vertigo. If you've ever been on an escalator where someone put up pictures or wallpaper parallel to the angle of the stairs, you have some idea of what it was like. You have to check twice to see if you're standing up straight.