Crouton

My hometown... *sigh*... I never thought I'd miss the place until I moved away. There's no local Frank Stitt equivalent, but it's a quaint little town. Country Side Cafe may be worth a trip out to Ooltewah, at least 10 years ago. Having worked the steam table for several years during college I can attest to the quality of the food... picture old ladies peeling potatoes by hand, making fried okra in a big cast-iron skillet continuously through service, a big fresh pot of beans simmering on the stove, handmade pies made fresh every morning... I think it was the first place to really change the way I looked at food. I don't know if Ponder still owns it, it could have changed hands and went downhill... but if the food is anything like it used to be, it's definitely a recommendation. Home-cooked Southern food... nothing fancy.

Hmmmmm, so roasting and boiling for several hours isn't enough to guarantee killing the nasties? If that's the case I guess I'll have to throw it out... damnit.

So I put the turkey carcass back in the room temp oven to save counter space after it was carved... It must have been 6-8 hours before I realized my mistake. Would it be ok to go ahead and roast the bones and make turkey stock after it was left out for so long?... or should I just chunk it?

There was an interesting interview with Christpher Kimball on NPR this morning on how to get that inside-the-bird taste out of your stuffing by not actually stuffing the bird. He says the secret it to top your dressing with browned turkey wings, just pile them on, before placing the pan of dressing into the oven. The juices from the wings seep down into the dressing as it cooks. http://www.npr.org/2010/11/18/131418777/thanksgiving-makeover

How does it keep frozen compared to eating it he same day?

This particular All Clad Dutch seems to have a non-stick coating surrounding the entire surface of the pot, including the back and handles. My mother-in-law received hers with a All-Clad set she purchased about a year ago. The non stick coating is already showing signs of scratching and peeling. I would much rather the pot be uncoated.

Thanks.... Are the Centurion and Paderno lines (like you have) similar? Or is one built "better" than the other?

I'm having trouble realizing what the difference is between the Lincoln and Vollrath "Centurion" line. I know they are two different brands but the products look the same and carry the same "Centurion" name. Does anyone know what the difference is between the two? Any experience with these braziers? Build quality etc? thanks Lincoln Centurion Vollrath Centurion

Alton did this with a wok... Even then i don't see it getting as hot as using the heat from the coals directly. First it has to heat up the cast iron pan not to mention you're basically smothering the coals which I assume would lower the temperature. The beauty of the chimney starter is having the heat source on the top...

Successful, very. Wet... which goes against my natural reaction of wanting to dry the meat off before cooking. In the past, after pre-salting, I would dry the surface with paper towels then squirt on a little canola oil and rub it over the top and bottom surface before throwing on the grill. With this new approach, the steak was very wet, the salt had completely dissolved and the steak was at room temperature. Even with a wet surface, the surface of the meat started to sizzle and pop within 30 seconds. For what it's worth, I used the Weber brand starter... *According to the episode, which I don't think is mentioned in the recipe alone, Alton states the wet surface of the meat caused by the pre-salting period is protein rich which aids in the browning of meat.

I used generic Publix brand lump hardwood charcoal and 1lb filled my chimney only half-way up. By the time the charcoal was ready, it had burned down to only about 1/4 of the way up.

Classic French glazing is how I usually cook root veggies... so simple, yet provides great results with little thinking. I first got this technique from Frank Stitt's Southern Table cookbook. http://www.foodfit.com/recipes/recipe.asp?rid=2179

Hmmmm... mine was definitely "charred". More so than I could ever get with a piping hot cast iron pan. I know you said you followed the recipe to the letter, but just to be sure - 1. What brand of chimney starter were you using? 2. Did you pre-salt your steaks an hour ahead of time at room temp? 3. Did you leave them "wet" after pre-salting? (ie, didn't blot them dry and/or apply oil of any kind) 4. You used 1lb of real lump wood charcoal? 5. Did the surface of the meat sizzle and pop almost immediately when you placed the starter over the steak?

I suggest following the procedure exactly as written the first time just b/c it's been tested, and works... it calls for 1 lb of lump wood charcoal. This fills the chimney to just about half-way.

Pretty much... the beginning of the episode had Alton in a restaurant supply store staring at the price of a big expensive commercial salamander.

Terrible flare-ups and a bitter black steak... I ruined many a steak in the past trying this approach.

You wait for the charcoal (lump wood only) to turn white... and right before you place the starter over your steak, you take it by the handle and bump the chimney down on something lightly. Any loose charcoal or ash will fall out from the jarring. Then place it over you steak. Even with this, I still had a few small pieces fall onto my steak but a quick lift of the chimney and you can flick the pieces off and replace the starter without any problems.

Are you pre-salting your steaks? By salting them at room temperature an hour before you plan to cook them, it not only draws the salt into the interior of the meat but also draws "wet protein" to the surface. What looks like water sitting on top of the steak after salting (and what I used to blot dry with a paper towel) is actually protein rich and aids in the browning of the exterior. By blotting this off, I had actually been hindering the charing process.

The Chimney starter I used is from Weber and I believe it's the same one used in the episode. It's basically an elongated "coffee can" with a coiled wire in the center to hold the charcoal about 5 inches from the bottom, creating a small compartment to bunch your newspaper in. The only issue with this is you can only cook 1 steak at a time. I'm seriously thinking of modifying a small Weber kettle and turning the domed lid into a larger "chimney starter". Maybe cut a ring out of the lid about 2 inches from the edge and welding a thin metal tube to the lid along the cut-out to create the walls of the chimney. That way I can use the now modified lid as my chimney starter and have high-heat broiling over the entire surface of the grill.

Wow. I came here expecting to see 20 pages of talk about Alton Brown's latest episode on cooking steak at home. I thought for sure this would rival the "no-knead bread" topic in both length and fervor. I searched the forum before posting this so if it managed to slip past me, feel free to link me to the ongoing discussion. Anyhow... Alton Brown has always interested me as a personality, but as a cook I've always taken his techniques as more entertainment than serious cooking. That is, until I just happened to catch a late night episode on the cooking channel featuring Alton doing something ingenious. Someone has finally managed to replicate "restaurant style" high-heat broiling, the kind you get a Ruth's Chris, Peter Luger etc... at home. It's so simple, it's almost stupid. You light your chimney starter like you always do and when it's ready to go, you don't pour the charcoal out, instead you put your steak on the cold grill grate and place the chimney starter on top of your steak. That is, your steak is sitting in the space where the newspaper normally goes. Extremely high-heat from the top, mere inches from your steak... no flair ups. I tried this yesterday with a 2 inch bone-in ribeye. As soon as you place the chimney starter on top of your steak, the surface of the meat starts to sizzle and pop, turning color immediately. After a minute and a half you flip your steak and place the chimney back on top for the same duration. What you're left with is a steak that looks and tastes (IMO) exactly like your high-end steak house.... perfectly dark broiled crust that you just can't get with a grill or cast iron pan. I followed the recipe exactly, minus the "aging" part... http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/dry-aged-chimney-porterhouse-recipe/index.html Has anyone else tried this? Comments?

I'd love to hear your (bad) experience with Joe Bastianich... he seems a bit dismissive in nature, on Lidia's PBS shows and from gathered readings.

That looks fantastic! If you don't mind me asking... where did you get the designs/plans to build that outdoor kitchen? Any specific DIY books/videos you can recommend? I've been itching to get started on a project like that. Also, if you don't mind me asking, what was the total cost of the materials, not including self-labor.

Hello, I'm new here... long time listener, first time caller. My 12" Calphalon non-stick skillet finally reached its end-of-life last night. It's one of the "nicer" anodized/stainless Calphalon skillets I picked up at TJ Max a few years ago. I tend not to spend a lot on non-stick cookware since they're inevitable going to scratch. Anyway, the non-stick coating is starting to peel off which makes it useless... but... to me it just seems such a waste to toss out the whole thing just because the non-stick coating has run its course. Can I just peel the entire coating off and keep using the skillet as an "anodized aluminum skillet"? Has anyone ever tried this... and lived to tell about it? btw, my 8" Lincoln Wear-Ever non-stick skillet I picked up at my local restaurant supply store is still going strong 6 years in with frequent use.