Human Bean

I've never personally notice a laxative effect from flax, or a flaxy smell on my skin, but maybe I've just never paid much attention. The soft skin and shiny hair is very noticeable though; it really seems like skin lotion, but working from the inside out rather than the outside in, as Katie said.

I found this particularly amusing: "Still, we are hardly equals in the kitchen. When Jean-Georges watched me mangle a shallot, he said, "That's not mincing, it's hacking. When you write a recipe, do you put in '1 shallot, roughly hacked'?" I'd watch the show if it's carried locally. Dunno if I'd buy the book, but I'd probably at least take a look at it in a store or the library.

Not sure, but I think it was an infomercial for this product that showed how quickly it can chop veggies - veggies go in, whiz, dumped out. But if you pay a bit of attention to what was dumped (think it was onion), the pieces were wildly inconsistent in size. Maybe if you were hypnotized by the hype, you wouldn't notice.

Ewww. As you're probably aware, tripolyphosphate is often used (mostly in shellfish) to pack more water into the meat, increasing the weight. Not surprising to see it in a (cheap) packaged convenience food.

By request: (Top: 6.5" MAC, bottom: 4" MAC. Not Shown: 9" which is past its prime, and may be useful as a slicer but not a chef's knife). These are ~30 years old, and probably the first knives they imported. These models are still available, but unlikely to be the ones the celebrity chefs are endorsing. They have thin (stamped) blades, and take and keep a better edge than the Euro-knives. What may not be obvious in the picture is that these knives have a very flat edge, and it is not really possible to rock them at all when chopping. It is interesting though that the smaller knife has an angle between the handle and the blade that MAC promotes, and is seemingly copied in the Shun "Alton's Angle" model Shun knife. The angle works for me, but the flat edge on the MAC doesn't. I haven't tried the Shun "Alton's angle" though.

Nope. Here in the Pacific Northwest US, we can get "fresh" okra. But I think it may have that 'not so fresh feeling.' Others have said that frozen is crap, and I suspect that the locally available "fresh" okra is comparable to supermarket 'tomatoes' (basically, don't even bother). I don't really have enough experience to make an informed decision.

99%+ of my everyday cutting is handled by these, roughly in order of preference, top-to-bottom: (Shun Chinese Chef's knife (aka cleaver), Shun 10" chefs knife, Shun 4" parer) Others in regular rotation: Bread knife (Forschner), filet knife (Forschner), old cleaver (generic cheap but good Chinese, ca. 25 years old). Retired, on standby: 30 yr-old MACs. I haven't tried the Shun cleaver on chicken leg bones; I don't think it would be permanently damaged, but I have my old cleaver for that. I wasn't aware that cleavers were a fad. IMHO, santokus are a fad; too short to be a good chef's knife, not enough belly to be a good scoop/carrier for prepped stuff. I bought a santoku once to try, but returned it immediately without even cutting anything after realizing it's (again IMHO) essential uselessness.

A few thin slices of fresh ginger on top of salmon (or any fish) is good. S&P or a bit of soy sauce. Lemon / lime basil leaves are also good, though subtle, but you can't generally buy them, so you have to grow them yourself.

Retching in Rio Ipanema Ipecac

Good: kimchi (made a batch last week that's almost done.) I'm sure many people would put it on their 'awful' list though.

Okay, one time I lifted a pint glass from a local brewpub, in the interest of science and consumer protection (Come on, $4.25 per pint, and that can't REALLY be a full pint, right?) Turns out it IS a full pint, IF the glass is filled to the very top of the rim with a non-foamy liquid; no server on earth could deliver the full amount to the table without spilling some. Sigh. I still intend on returning the glass to the pub sometime.

Chile oil. Edit: Speling - Chili oil would be the stuff floating on top on the chili pot. Chile oil is the chile-infused oil used in Asian cooking. You can also pop the corn in chile oil, or a mix of chile and regular.

I had oil (Canola, I think) burst into flames once when I poured it into a too-hot pan, and this was on a crappy electric range, so no open flames to ignite the vapor. I suppose I could repeat that experiment with soy oil, but I'm not anxious to try. BTW, when the oil caught fire, I didn't panic, and just let it burn itself out; there was only an ounce or so anyway. I knew that water would make things worse, and didn't have a lid or baking soda handy.

I just got a bamboo board for 'free' with a semi-large knife order. It's 14 inches square, thick, heavy, perfectly finished (oiled), and just plain gorgeous side grain. I haven't tried cutting anything on it, and after reading the thread, I guess I won't - maybe it's decorative value is more than it's functional value.

I don't suffer from road rage, but I DO get 'grocery rage' far too often. I only rarely make it known at the time. If it says, "Express," to me, the important part is fast, not necessarily a small number of items. Usually I buy a small number of items on a particular visit, and am sometimes really in a hurry. Almost invariably when I'm actually in a hurry, I get stuck behind someone who has an appropriate number of items, but at least one requires a lengthy price check, who then institutes a long argument about ineligible coupons, then spends several millenia counting a mountain of small change. Aarrggh. Although I like ATMs, I don't particularly like the self-check things; for some reason, at my local mega-mart, the self-check has a line just like the regular checkouts anyway. I tried one for the first time this weekend - there was a wait at express, but a vacancy at the self-check next to it. Never done it, but I got started easily enough; then came the fatal problem - I had a bottle of wine. The self-check machine instructed me to show my ID to the minder (one person oversees 4 self-check stations). Oops, the minder was busy. I bailed out back to the express line and didn't lose a place in line. Sigh. Edit: Add additional inconvenience about slow people in the 'fast' line, without even mentioning the people that also engage in lengthy but pointless bouts of small talk with the checker, much less the fact that the market seems to like putting the slowest checker in the fast lane.

Durian (linky).

Do 'crisper drawers' even do anything useful anyway? I don't really know, but I think they're basically a gimmick. Any SSB knowledge about that? Refrigerators tend to dry out susceptible material, and the drawers, even though not particularly well-sealed might tend to decrease the drying effect, but I'm not sure it's enough to matter (especially if the produce is in reasonably well-sealed plastic bags), or if a slight retardation of drying is inherently a good thing. If I have produce in a 'sealed' plastic bag ('sealed' may not matter much if the plastic is permeable) with paper towel(s) to absorb moisture, I've never particularly cared if it was in the drawer or on a shelf, and don't think it matters. I've tried the green discs (courtesy of omnipresent Bed Bath and Beyond coupons) and am not sure they work any better than those magnetic clips that claim to enhance wine (ahem). Anyone? Inquiring minds want to know.

I always thought that the definition of dumping was, 'selling an imported product at below the production cost,' the idea being to drive the domestic producers out of business. But now, it seems that dumping means selling at a price lower than domestic producers. That definition is just naked protectionism, and would be shot down in a microsecond by the WTO if the shrimp importers can afford to bring a case. (A similar example is the steel tariffs that were imposed (for awhile) by US protectionists.) I eat a lot of shrimp, and if it gets too expensive, I just won't buy it; the theory that I'd downsize to smaller shrimp is just rubbish. Once you get above ~30 per pound, it's more work than it's worth anyway (IMHO). There isn't really any domestic shrimp available here in the Pacific Northwest anyway; it's all imported. (Well, there are local Pacific tasteless tiny salad shrimp, but I haven't bought any of those in several years). Maybe Gulf shrimp are available (sometimes), but if so, they were too expensive for me to notice. Yes, it would be nice for domestic shrimp harvesters to be able to make a decent wage, and I have some concerns about unsustainable and damaging practices of some Asian shrimp farming operations, but protectionism is just wrong on many levels.

Reo's Ribs in Aloha: After passing by this place on my way somewhere, I finally decided to try it. It's less than 10 minutes from where I live, but I never knew quite where it was, and I was jonesing for some BBQ on a Saturday night. Advance word from e-MSG (above) was "mediocre," the Citysearch poll from Sweet Willie (also above) was 7th best (worse than Tony Roma's??? Ewww, can't be good). Also, I'd heard that they were spendy. So, I got some takeout. Er, eventually. They have a sign in the restaurant saying, "This is not fast food" (or words to that effect). Granted, it was a Saturday night, but when I phoned in my order, they said there'd be an hour wait. I was willing to wait; I wasn't jonesing THAT bad, but wanted BBQ. Executive summary: okay; expensive; if you need to cross the Wilamette (or Columbia) River to get there, there are better options. I had a half-rack of pork ribs ($12) with sides of red beans and rice and cole slaw ($2 each for about 8 fl. oz.) The pork: They say they are "Southern Country Cooking Mississippi Style." I have no specific knowledge of Mississippi style BBQ. Be that as it may, I'd have to say that the smoke was fine; the cooking was okay - moist, not quite as falling-off-the-bone as I'd like, but flavorful overall. The sauce (red) was okay, but rather too sweet for me. They don't offer multiple sauce options; the only alternative is "HOT HOT HOT Barbecue Sauce - WARNING test first" which I haven't yet tried, but I suspect is something that a fan of southern Asian cuisine wouldn't be worried about. Red beans and rice: Boring. Nothing to write home about. My benchmark for reds-n-rice is a Jeff Smith recipe, which may or may not be authentic, but is similar to what I've had in other PDX BBQ joints. I don't have an 'authentic' reference for this, but Reo's was lacking in any character; thin slices of sausage were prominent, but the sausage may as well have been hot dogs, since they didn't make any impression at all. Cole slaw: This one, I just don't have any reference points. As takeout, it was chopped cabbage with dressing on the side in two little cups. The dressing seemed like, roughly, generic italian oil-and-vinegar salad dressing with a lot of sugar syrup added. Adding about a third of the provided dressing to the cabbage gave an interesting result, but I have no idea what was intended. Overall, I'd hate to say that it's mediocre, merely not worth the trip if you've got easier alternatives. (Damning with faint praise? Maybe, but there aren't a lot of other choices in the 'boring western 'burbs' Jim Dixon). I'll try them again, but I have the advantage of being close.

My Weber kettles' age is unknown, but probably circa 20 years and still going strong. It's basically the same as snowangel's as posted above, but red, and no cigarette butts. The interesting thing to note is the wood handles - the ones I see today have plastic handles. The wood handles are nice, but are subject to aging; I presume that the plastic handles wouldn't generally melt under reasonable (or even somewhat unreasonable) use. Mine doesn't have plastic tabs on the vents; I never thought this was a problem. I use regular leather gardening gloves (not fancy welding gloves) when dealing with the vents, the hot grill, and moving charcoal around with tongs. No problem. And since ronnie_suburban seemed to be concerned about drill bits, just do it. Most any random drill bit is carbon steel or better; carbon steel is pretty much basic tool steel. There IS an enamel layer on top of the steel lid, which might present a few problems, and I've never tried to drill a hole in mine, but I don't see any problems. If you really want to obsess over drilling a hole, get carbide-tip bits. It probably isn't necessary, but if it'll make you feel better, then carbide is the way to go.

Regarding the issue of smoke absorbtion, 140 degrees F, etc, mentioned earlier, I suggest checking the BBQ FAQ which has way more information about barbecue (but relatively little about grilling) than could possibly be posted here. I'm too laz...er, TIRED at the moment (really!) to dig into this massive document for the answer about smoke penetration, temperature, etc, but from past readings, I think it's in there somewhere. I can mention one tidbit, linked here (scroll down to #10), where they suggest NOT subjecting cold meat to smoke, lest creosote or other bad stuff condense on the meat.

Probably so. But turning a burger into a carbonized piece of shoe leather isn't macho, it's just sad. (Well, maybe not if you're a Macho Man that enjoys carbonized shoe leather, but I expect there are few of these on eG).

Depends on what you're cooking. Indirect heat is what you want to avoid fat dripping on the fuel. It's not always possible. I do my grilling in one of those ubiquitous Weber kettles. The instruction manual with the grill is useful. For example, whole chickens or turkeys are done entirely with indirect heat, with wood chips providing smoke. The grill has rails that let you put the charcoal on two sides of the grill with nothing in the center. In the middle, I put an old roasting pan with some water in it. This prevents the drippings from burning. It also prevents using the drippings for gravy, but that's a sacrifice I endure. Fish (or, say, trimmed chicken breasts) is usually not a problem except for fatty fish like salmon; try not to let the dripping fat get on the coals by creative arrangement of the fish and fuel. Chicken parts with skin on is trickier; again try to avoid dripping on the charcoal. I don't generally do those, because I just don't like them that much. But then, there's burgers. Lots of tasty fat that can turn into awful smoke when hitting the coals. I try to keep most of the coals around the outside edge of the grill, and the burgers more in the middle. It's not really possible to avoid fat hitting the coals, but it can be minimized. I usually use some hickory chips in an improvised foil tray to add smoke flavor, but sometimes just throw the chips on the coals. I don't soak them; I don't see why it's worthwhile for fast-cooking foods.

Drifting off-topic yet again, but anyway... When first seeing this comment, I nearly lost my lunch. I cannot let it pass without comment. Ewww. Noooo. Oop, ack, ptui. The comment is largely true, and is the basis of gas grilling (an abomination IMHO, but that's a different topic). The whole idea of burned fat flavoring the food is very wrong. When grilling, I try not to get burned fat influencing the flavor. Usually this means rather more intense but indirect heat. (Again IMHO), burned fat adds a vile and obnoxious flavor to the meat (or whatever). Traditional smoking woods like hickory, mesquite, etc, add a very nice flavor to the food; burned fat is just awful, and the main problem that the average griller is oblivious to. I use wood chips to add flavor and try to avoid burned fat. When grilling, it's usually not possible to completely avoid fat dripping onto the fuel, but I'd contend that it does not improve the results, and should be avoided as much as possible.

My continued ability to pay the rent depends very much on silicon, but not at all on silicone, so I tend to notice those typos. Thanks to jsolomon for setting the record straight, and keeping things (mostly) on track.