IndyRob

Oh, I forgot. The best use of wax paper I've ever had was with chocolate. One year, for my wife's birthday, I decided that I'd come home from work early and make her a personalized art cake. I had written some computer software that could do color separations like those you'd need for silk screen printing. One color per layer that all composited into an image. I took an existing photo of a couple of our cats and reduced it down to a grayscale image which I then reduced into five levels of color. With the separations printed on separate pages of paper and five shades of chocolate ranging from dark chocolate to white chocolate, I was ready to go. Sheet pan, first paper template, and then a sheet of wax paper. I piped (from an improvised wax paper piping bag) the first layer of color (dark chocolate), using the wax paper as tracing paper. Then I carefully lifted off the wax paper and replaced the first paper template underneath with the second. I put the wax paper back, carefully aligned it, and piped in the next color. Repeat for all five shades. I let the chocolate cool while I made a cake. Then I peeled off the wax paper and inverted the chocolate layer with the image onto the top of the cake, glued with some ganache. Okay, the idea of putting a hard chocolate shell on top of a cake turned out to be an incredibly stupid idea for reasons I'm sure you all can imagine. But, the initial effect of the image on top of the cake created an impression that earned me a lot of husband points. And when it did prove, after my wife reluctantly relented to the notion of destroying the image, to be the structural failure that it was unwittingly designed to be, it was all a pile of mushed up and cracked chocolate. But, how bad could that be, really?

I often use it in lieu of a cutting board when the cutting will be minimal, or not involve the surface. For instance, if I have some chicken breasts I want to cut pockets into. I can work on the wax paper and them just throw the paper out rather than cleaning a counter or board. It's also good for when I make meatloaf - which is usually a sort of roulade in which something like spinach, cheese and mushrooms are rolled up. I can start with a long piece and mash out the meat mixture between two folded layers, then I can roll it up and transfer to a pan without my hands ever touching the meat. And I like it for rolling up around breakfast burritos for storage and eventual nuking. The American Wax Paper Council *is* sponsoring this topic, isn't it?

I'd say I'd agree with almost all of that list. I agree with the butter comments already made - freeze/refrigerate/not depending on, and tailored to, your needs. Bread and pastry, especially those baked fresh without preservatives should be frozen ASAP. I don't personally care for coffee, but from what I do know about it, it makes sense to freeze the beans. With very few exceptions (e.g. cold fermenting a yeast dough), I don't think refrigerating ever really does much more than keeping pathogens at bay, and can cause moisture issues with many things.

In his later years, my father was quite proud to have discovered Betty Crocker Complete Cheese Garlic biscuit mix. You just mix with water. They were pretty good, actually and I think reminded him of the biscuits he'd get at Red Lobster. More recently, I've found that baked biscuits freeze and revive quite well (sans outer crispness). Just wrap one in paper towel and nuke for 15 seconds, then flip and give it another 10 seconds on the other side. If desired, a brief stay in a toaster oven might revive the crisp, but I haven't tried that. A regular oven may do both just as well. Add a heated, fully cooked sausage patty for a breakfast biscuit.

I'll just leave it at my post #14 in this thread and point out that the commonly used phrase "Google is your friend" is not always true.

You put 'Hen Eggs' on your menu, didn't you. You must be using a different Google than me. "Hen Egg" (with quotes) produces about 793,000 results. I can get a bunch more if I take off the quotes. But this is not how common usage is measured. God help us if we start searching for "Kardashian". In America, we says egg(s). Unless we're trying to differentiate them. Organic eggs? Check. Free range eggs? Okay. Quail eggs? Thanks. Hen's eggs? Well, duh.

Well, not really. "Hen's egg" on Google - about 276,000 results. "dihydrogen monoxide" - about 220,000 results. "Pork bacon" - about 770,000 results. "chocolate chip cookies" - about 886,000 results. "quail egg" - about 1,340,000 results.

Well, yes, in American speech, a hen is generally presumed to be a chicken hen. And a hen's egg would be presumed to be from a chicken. But also in America, an egg (menu-wise) is equally presumed to be a chicken egg. And a chicken egg must necessarily come from a hen (for no other thing is possible). However, the word 'hen' is clearly not limited to chickens, as your own Mirriam-Webster quote shows. Many other reference works in include all fowls as well. So by specifying 'hen's egg', the description begs interpretation. It could be a) misguided pretentiousness (this is going to make me look cool) , b) deceitfulness (this will fool them into thinking it's something special), or c) near fraudulent deceitfulness (I said it was a hen's egg, it's a quail hen's egg). In any event, it's a rare case that justifies dragging out pedantry as a tool of mockery.

Unfortunately, sending incessant e-mails hardly makes them unique among companies, judging by my inboxes.

At first, I thought it might be meant to distinguish it from a quail egg at a place that might serve such things. But then I thought, "Wait, aren't quail hens a thing?" Upon reflection, it's worse than not specifying at all. I think if I ever see this on a menu I'll have to ask the server if this refers to a guinea hen, a quail hen, a Cornish hen or (thanks to Wikipedia) a lobster hen.

Cooking wine is a wine rendered undrinkable by the addition of salt. Here in Indiana, it's the only type of wine you can buy on Sundays. It has acquired a very bad name for two reasons. The first is the same reason that high sodium broths or stocks (or bouillon cubes) are discouraged. It takes a lot of seasoning (salting) decisions out of your hands. The second reason is the probably valid assumption that any winemaker willing to pour copious amounts of salt into their wine so that they can sell it, is probably not a very good winemaker. That said, there's no reason you couldn't (generally) adjust for the added salt. You could also make a huge mistake by using an expensive Riesling when a dry white wine was what was intended. Whether expensive or cheap, ingredients are not universally interchangeable.

I don't think so, especially if I qualify the statement by saying 'for me'. I'm not cooking for people in France. I don't really care what they put on their English Muffins (if in fact, they would deign to eat such things). I've just found that I like their cultured Norman butter - shaken, not stirred, so to speak - in the way I like to enjoy it. And if I have a choice between two products, and one is more expensive but offers nothing other than a possibility of not detracting from the dish, why would I use that versus the cheaper option? Sometimes, fat just needs to be fat. When I make a French style omelette, I use good ol' 'merican butter. Because in that case I want subtlety. But if I want a rustic American frontier omelette, I'm bringing sausage fat to the party, and butter, of any sort, is simply not invited. .

I've just read through this entire thread, and this question, I feel, encapsulates the issue rather nicely. To me, the answer is yes, and no. I went to some lengths to procure a supply of a specific brand of cultured butter from Normandy. I absolutely love it. But not for everything. I also keep a ready stock of plain old American store-brand butter. Generally, the French butter is best for spreading on a great bread. Simple applications where a very few ingredients take a starring role..However, I don't usually want that in any melted butter application. It's usually a waste, or worse, is detracting from some other element that I want to come through. Similarly, a really great olive oil can be a disaster if you try to use it in a high heat application. 'Better' is a word begging for qualification. Is a bread flour better? Maybe for bread, but not for cakes.

I dunno, but it makes me want to make a pie out of funnelcake.

As I understand it, food safety is probability game. You can do all sorts of weird stuff and come out okay - maybe. Or, you could kill a child or an elderly person. I would not do what you propose - and I'm a devil-may-care kind of guy. In my mind, why would I spend 9 hours making a large batch of stock only to then thrust it into a fridge while still hot? Why? It would only take 15-20 minutes to get it down to a reasonable temp Your sink without ice can do much better. And with some ice even better.

Impossible. The Teamsters would never do anything untoward.

I thought the Blais/Vigneron matchup was a nice way to start, but after watching it, it seems clear that they didn't think this through. I really had high hopes for this format since it would seem to afford an opportunity to zoom in on what was happening with only two contestants. Unfortunately, they chose to focus on the verbal interactions of two non-entertainer personalities. It's almost as if they thought sparks would fly between Richard and Marcel. Unfortunately(?), neither is exactly a 'trash talker'. My favorite parts of Top Chef: Regular are when Collichio walks into the kitchen and starts asking pointed questions. Unfortunately, there was no television professional on screen at any point, or anyone capable of asking a relevant question. It was just a Richard/Marcel bro-uppance. Episode 102 (with even weaker characters), I found to be unwatchable. I do hope that some of the later episodes will be better, because I do think that the TC empire has occasionally demonstrated that they can learn from mistakes.

So why would you be asking a question based on one of their recommendations?

There are many types of plastic. If Cook's Illustrated recommends it, it probably won't kill you. In the case of a pasta container, the container isn't getting very hot.

In the interest of the original request, I thought I'd quote the original questions posed and answer them from my own personal perspective.... Do you feel that the words in the example are French. And, if so, why do you think they are used? Yes they are French - at least in intent. If they've been mangled in translation, it's not by intent but by ignorance (or by adaptation to rules of English). Why? Sometimes to fill in a blank for which we have no word, but often to evoke the 'frenchness' of the creation. Do you use the same terminology when talking to your friends or family? One can be far bolder with friends and family, than the general public. The issue is that French word usage in daily English conversation walks a fine line between the enlightened and the pretentious. For instance, my son and I have been engaged in an on-again, off again, Thanksgiving holiday pastry competition. One year, I had it in my mind to do a French inspired entremet with decidedly American ingredients. Brownies, ganache, whipped cream, Coco Puffs - all topped off with a gelee of YooHoo (well, at least until I discovered that YooHoo has no flavor whatsoever - then it got changed to gelee of Swiss Miss). When my son asked me what I was bringing I said that it was an Entreme Americaine. I thought it was hilarious - lowly American comfort food with a high faluin' French name. But when I arrived at our newly minted in-laws house I said it was 'a cake'. It was well received, but my joke went no further. Do you understand the above-mentioned words? I would say that I understand them in a superficial sense. My level of understanding of the French language earns me a 90% score on random internet beginning French quizzes, and a more meager 40% on intermediate ones. Do you sometimes use French words on purpose? and, of course, if so: why? Yes, almost always for effect - with familiar company. With exceptions for practicality (there's no English equivalent of 'croissant') or precision (e.g. julienne)

I'm kind of surprised that this hasn't been suggested earlier than the second page. It's particularly true of French because of the popularity and reputation of their cuisine. In addition to food names and techniques (the latter of which may come more from classical French instruction), we also borrow words like café and bistro. Even in brand names like Nescafé. We don't do this so much with, say, German - unless it's something related to beer. Italian might be a close second to French. We choose words that evoke the heritage and culture.

The best sear I've ever gotten on a filet of beef was done at around 765 degrees F (as measured by an IR thermometer). This was on a cast iron skillet (no oil) on a gas grill (this will murder the seasoning on your cast iron pan, so I don't necessarily recommend it). Bring the filets to room temp, dry with a paper towel and season 5 minutes before cooking, while preheating the pan. Sear on each side one minute, then transfer to an oven proof plate in a preheated 425 degree oven for 7 1/2 minutes. The short, but extreme violence produces a perfect sear that limits itself to only the outer crust. This is followed by the more gentle oven heat that gets the inside up to temp. Of course, let the steak rest 5 minutes before serving. I think some steak houses have even more extreme equipment - getting up to something like 1100 degrees.

Aren't they all kinda the same? (ATK, Cook's Country, Cook's Illustrated, ATK Radio)

...and then off to New Orleans or Hawaii for the finale.

I'd like to see Christopher Kimball and ATK weigh in on this. Just this week (on ATK Radio) he seemed to continue his jihad against woks on western stoves. Given that Kenji seems to be an ex-ATKer, it would be an interesting development.