David A. Goldfarb

Congrats on pulling it off!

I got a SideSwipe for my 5 quart lift-bowl style KA mixer as soon as it became available. It works as intended, but the BeaterBlade looks easier to clean, and I might have gotten that one had it been available at the time. SideSwipe looks like it might be better for getting more air into the mixture.

I have a 10" Wusthof extra wide chef's knife, and even though it is quite hefty, I find the edge a bit delicate for chopping through bone. It's great for chopping vegetables though. If you're going to be processing a lot of chicken and want to do it with a chef's knife, this knife looks interesting-- http://www.metrokitchen.com/product/WU-4690-26 Had I known about it when I bought mine, I might have gotten that one instead. It looks like it's designed like a "chef de chef" style with more German curve to the edge. What I've done instead is just to get a proper 7.5" meat cleaver from F. Dick for splitting bones to save my other edges.

I have two Sitram Catering (now called "Pro 2") frypans. They have a 2.5mm copper disk bottom, so they distribute heat very evenly, at least across the bottom, like heavy copperware. There are no hotspots as long as you don't set the flame larger than the diameter of the disk (in which case you can get some burning around the sides of the pan), so can use a smaller flame more efficiently, and you don't have to pay quite as much attention to it, if you're trying to do several tasks at once. You shouldn't walk away from a pan of onions for five minutes, but if you did, you could come back and there wouldn't be any disasters. Sitram is also extremely durable, so you can do pretty much anything you want to it without concern about warping, clean it with cleanser if needed, and if you have heavy black polymerized oil on the outside, just spray it with oven cleaner, and it comes right off without damaging the pan.

Sitram is available from Dvorson's and J. B. Prince online. Availability has been a bit sketchy in the past year or two, I gather because the management has changed. Also beware of really cheap deals on Sitram which may be on lower-end consumer-oriented lines. I've seen some of this among the Costco Sitram offerings. The desirable lines are Pro 1 (formerly "Profiserie") with aluminum disk bottoms, Pro 2 (formerly "Catering") with copper bottoms, and the new Pro 3, which is copper plus a magnetic layer for induction. Info at their virtually unnavigable website at http://www.sitramgroup.fr . I have two Catering line frypans and I've been very pleased with them. I think it's the best stainless steel cookware out there.

Mauviel makes excellent products. This line is induction compatible, if that's important to you. The question is whether you like stainless, and do you want all these pieces in stainless, and is it better than other options for what you like to cook, and might there be another configuration of pieces that works better for you--maybe one less saucepan, but a larger fry pan or an 8 quart stewpot instead of the 6 quart that is included or whatever larger size stewpot has a lid that will also fit your frypan, or maybe a large rondeau.

I'd say don't buy a set. Buy pieces you need as you need them, and you'll really know what your getting and why.

I think there are screenshots with the listing on iTunes, no?

Nice thing about boeuf bourguignon is that it's better the second day, so it's definitely something you can do in advance. To chill a large batch quickly, you can freeze one or two quarts of salt water in bottles in advance, put the whole pot into a sink full of ice water if possible, and stir the stew with the bottles of ice water and it will cool quickly. I do this for large batches of stock. Restaurants use larger "Rapi-Cool" paddles that do the same thing, particularly with large kettles that are too heavy to move when full.

The eye of the round looks like the filet, but a bit larger and tougher of course, which probably isn't apparent when it's been dried, but I'm fairly sure the eye of the round is the usual cut, and that's what I've used. It's not that hard to do, as curing projects go, and doesn't require any special equipment. A stew is like a braise, but since the pieces are smaller, they don't take so long to cook into something edible.

Bresaola is one option, though I've usually used the eye of the round for that. The top round is sometimes used for corned beef, though I did it once, and I prefer brisket for that. You could also cut it in cubes and use it in a stew, which is what I would usually do with it.

One thing that I just noticed is that on some knife blocks (one of my wooden blocks and the F. Dick plastic one), all the slots are open to the outside surface, so they are much easier to clean and dry-- http://www.instawares.com/f-dick-plastic.fdi-8801001.0.7.htm I would look for that on any future knife block purchase.

They mentioned that they are hiring an extra restroom attendant to keep the washroom clean for the event, so I suspect that it will be cleaner than many restaurant bathrooms I've been in. Valentine's Day menu night is usually reservations-only at a restaurant like this, so I don't suspect there are going to be any walk-ins taken by surprise. As long as the kitchen staff are washing their hands after visiting the facilities, I still don't see the problem. Is it a sign of desperation? Yes, I would say so, but can anyone fault a restaurant for desperation in the current economic climate, when fine-dining and mid-priced restaurants are offering discounts and special events of all sorts and even down-grading menus in some cases to bring customers through the door, not to mention moving to lower rent districts and applying their high-end brands to downscale pizza and burger joints?

After reading this, I looked around at some of the restaurant supply sites, and there aren't many knife blocks out there that aren't wood, at least not in the traditional form of a knife block. F. Dick makes an ABS plastic block designed for easy cleaning, but it's not very large. There's that stainless thing with the freeform plastic rods bundled inside, but that looks very hard to clean and gets kind of ambivalent reviews. There are magnetic strips of course, if you've got the kind of space where that works, and there are stainless steel or plastic knife racks, some with inserts that can go in a dishwasher, but they require clearance above the rack to remove the knife--perfect for the side of a butcher block or the edge of a table, but that wouldn't work in our current kitchen. We have low cabinets that go all the way around the kitchen and not a lot of conveniently positioned wall space near the cutting board, so I've got three blocks, two of which are stacked and glued together, and a 12" mag strip for knives too big for the blocks. As much as I like the look and feel of wood, I'd like to consolidate the three blocks into one larger one at some point, and something sanitizable would be of interest.

Amusing to be in the supermarket this morning--tables handing out snack foods of all sorts--mini-hot dogs wrapped in biscuit dough, chips and dips, and the like. Piles of cooked shrimp in the fish case. Special display with Ritz crackers and Cheez Whiz in a spray can side by side for your shopping convenience.

Why not? If it appeals to some of their customers, brings some new people into the establishment, everyone who reserves a table knows what's going on, no one's getting hurt, no laws are being violated, they're all consenting adults, what's to object to?

If people ask, I usually just say that I like to cook.

We're fortunate not to have mice in our apartment, but when I leave dough to rise, I usually leave it in the KitchenAid bowl with a metal pot lid on it. Might try that, maybe with an extra weight on it.

It's starting to sound a bit like "dandy" or "swell," but I think it's not as horrific as "foodie." I don't like multiple choice surveys in general, but when I write a restaurant blurb on Open Table, I don't know that I would cringe more by ticking off "pour les gourmets" than I do when I check "fit for foodies."

With innovation like this a cure for cancer can't be far behind.

But think! No more carrying that heavy pot of water from the sink to the stove and back! Just fill, boil, and drain! Always wanted to try Keller's "big pot boiling" without having to deal with the big pot? This is it! Order yours today and we'll include a free spaghetti scoop!

The recipe is pretty similar to the version I made somewhere up the thread. I had a bigger pork shoulder to start with, so I made half of it as a fresh sausage without the nitrate--perfect for cassoulet or grilled, and very easy to do just by saving the nitrate for the end. Some of the Polish butchers in Brooklyn and Queens take the same basic sausage and prepare it three or four different ways, like fresh, smoked, air dried, and maybe a thin version and a thick version.

Bacon fat in a cherry or apple pie crust can work really well. I've done it a couple of times, and it seems best when the fruit is on the acidic/astringent side.

I usually use a saute pan or a fry pan, but I agree that the main issue is that the stock needs to be hot or you end up slowing down the process every time you add more.

It's been a while, but I did it again tonight. I seared a beef tenderloin roast in a cast iron grill pan and put it in the oven to finish roasting and had everything else coming together à la minute--fries, glazed snow peas, sauce, onion confit to warm up. Took the pan out of the oven with a pot holder, set it on the stovetop, transfered the beef to a carving board to rest, then went to shift the pans around on the stovetop and forgot that the cast iron grill pan was still hot. Ouch! At least dinner was good!