IndyRob

My tube came from a beginners brewing kit. If you have a homebrew store near you, you should be able to pick one up for a few bucks.

It could be plausible. Another similar claim is made in http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catching_Fire:_How_Cooking_Made_Us_Human. Here the claim is made that cooking our food allowed it to be digested more completely and therefore made more energy available for running larger brains. But I guess a follow-on question might be "Why didn't it just make us fat?"

When I brew beer I just immerse the tube in the wort, cover the end with a thumb, and draw it out into the other vessel (on a lower level) and let go. A thick rubber glove might be required.

That seemed a very disparate set of challenges. I always like to imagine what/how I would do and I think Colicchio would've sent me packing in minutes - while, on the other hand, I think I'd have a fighting chance at making it through if given 45 minutes to make an omelette.

Some context for the Fieri comments. And while I looked for that link I found something that could be quite good. Bourdain on PBS?

That might not be a good idea since mixing it really well will develop gluten and that wouldn't be a good thing. Well, at least not for biscuits. Perhaps add some yeast instead and go for a Chicago style pizza dough.

I saw this review a couple of days ago and part of one paragraph struck me as odd.... Um, isn't an immersion circulator without a vacuum sealer (be it a chamber vac or a Foodsaver) kind of like having a 2 ton floor jack and no lug wrench?

To me, this seems the central point. So I wonder if, for his sake, we're not better off warning him off any bad products one might find at BB&B. I'm imagining myself handling a skillet admiringly and someone I might respect coming up and saying "That surface is going to scratch something horrible." Despite the fact that he asked for a recommendation, it appears that he wants to make up his mind with his own hands. So perhaps he's really asking for some education.

I haven't tried this yet, but if you're willing to experiment, you might try adding a goodly amount of cornstarch to the dough. I've been thinking about this in relation to getting a crispy outer crust on a thick crust Sicilian pizza. I was inspired by an experiment I did with using a dough starter in a waffle iron. With a straight starter (100% hydration, 2% salt and a pinch of yeast left at room temp overnight) I got waffle shaped bread (very interesting, but without any practical application that I could see). When I added cornstarch and some sugar for added browning (among some other things) I ended up with quite a nice crunch on the outside.

I don't think I've ever seen a potluck I'd consider successful from a culinary standpoint. However, occasionally one does find a gem or an interesting idea. I recall a potato salad that resulted in the creator being backed into a corner and nearly forced to recite the recipe to a note-taking throng (it involved bacon - with ALL the grease - along with mayo...if the FDA had agents there I'm betting they would have an entirely new regulatory regime). More recently I sampled a breakfast casserole that I didn't find particularly successful but opened my mind to the possibilities of such a thing. But I think potlucks are more of a social than culinary event with the primary goal being to spend time with other people for whatever reason. Putting too much emphasis on the food would detract from team/family/general social nature. Trying to bring a standout dish might actually work against the equality/comraderie angle. That said, I think the model for an eGullet potluck event would follow closely along the lines of Daniel Boulud's After Hours.

I'm not finding an existing topic on coolers so I thought I'd start one. I'm about to embark upon a new opportunity that will require that I travel 2 hours on Monday morning, work a full day (say, 9 hours) and then check into a hotel on Monday night and stay through the work week. I'm not sure about my accommodations, but a small fridge and microwave are becoming fairly common (which I could supplement with toys of my own). So my basic question is whether I could reasonably expect to keep food at a safe temp for 11 hours in a standard cooler with ice stored in a car. Or, if not, do there exist any higher end 'super coolers' that could accomplish this?

I think they're very meaty (as in beef) tasting. Very different than oysters, more towards portabellos - actually, beyond portabellos. The first time I got some I made mushroom soup. It was really different than I expected as it tasted more like a beef stew than mushroom soup. On a few occasions I think I've posted here saying that they seem a really good option for veggie burgers or any other sort of vegetarian misdirection. Their shape is also notable as a 'shroom that begs to be stuffed. Stuffing, battering and frying appears to be the thing to do in these parts, but I've never sampled that preparation.

Our local grocerys usually carry them (we're in a morel region), but I haven't seen any yet this year.

That article contains a sentence I've seen in several others... I don't understand what that means. What does one have to do with the other? I must be missing something here... “I’ve had fishermen tell me they have quit bringing them in. They are seeing large numbers in their catch — multiples per night,” Why would you not bring 12" edible shrimp in?

Glass Half Empty: Giant Asian Tiger Prawns May Threaten Gulf Shrimp Glass Half Full: Recipe

Interesting. What is the reason behind the 20 second dunk at 190F?

I've just started to experiment with transglutinase (meat glue) and have been able to confirm that fat can be glued to meat. I've been using pork tenderloin filets with salt pork slices glued to the faces. It turns out that while the TG is working while compressed by the cryovac bag, there's a brining effect that equalizes the salt between the salt pork and meat (although that last bit doesn't relate to my point below). So I think the next place to go is to get some fat (should be less expensive than the round) and slice the round down the grain into 'chopsticks'. Do the same with the fat (maybe toothpick-sized lardons), and layer up a well marbled 'tenderloin'. Compress that and let the TG work, and then slice steaks and cook them conventionally or SV.

Another factor is focus. I wanted to try a specific spherification and found what I needed at Modernist Pantry. While there, I was happy to find that they had transglutaminase in quantities suitable for the home, so I added that. My first attempt at spherification failed, but I was already more intrigued by the TG with which I had a promising first result. So the spherification is on an indefinite hold. I can't imagine what would have happened if I bought a whole bag of tricks. Schizophrenia, probably. I think all of these techniques involve some trial and error so unless you have the luxury of taking a two week 'modernist vacation', I'd recommend focusing on one thing at a time.

Thanks, but in the confines of this thread, it's about getting the best out of a specific, if suspect, cut of meat. We can add flavor. We can add fat. We can add salt. We can add beef stock. But we can't change the cut of beef.

First, I'll agree that this cut is flavorless and seems to have limited potential. But to write it off completely based on your past experience discounts values that many cooks hold dear in themselves. Is there any cut of beef that could not be improved by using a better cut? Only one, I would suggest, and it would probably be the full-on Kobe foodporn-steak at $120 per ounce. If you have one of those, your biggest challenge is to 'do no harm'. But if you have a normal cut of beef, the ingenuity in you must come out. We can add flavor and do things to reduce toughness. To stop at "This is not good enough" is not a chefly trait, IMHO. There're salts and spices, herbs and acids, and meat glues, sous vide, etc. The possibilities are nearly infinite. I don't mean to seem insulting, but if you say that a certain cut of beef is 'pointless to cook' then, I think, you've run out of ideas.

I had a promising result with a bare roast done sous vide and sliced very thin. But based on some similar experiments, I think the thing to do is ask your butcher to slice it paper thin and then take it home and portion it out in bags with a bit of salt and some beef stock/base. Then you can sous vide each portion individually as needed.

Also good if you have a daughter who professes a desire to be Barbie. I have not tried these eggs, and am not likely to (for lack of opportunity, not desire), but I would certainly cook a couple straight away (in a simple way) and go from there.

Well, I think I'll have to take the same general position I took in the Pink Slime thread. First, in the U.S. we have grades of milk that include 1% milk (which I refer to as White Water). Some greenish cheese 'waste' (or 'by-') product (whose description matches well with my experience of whey) may well be welcome. Luckily, we can buy 'Whole Milk' in regular or organic varieties. Buy the product you like with a view towards what you'd like to pay. It doesn't have to be that complicated.

Update: While I can say I wasn't exactly comfortable at using Larry the Cable Guy as a source, it does appear that he grew up on a pig farm, and did a season 1 episode called Larry & the Superpig about an "heirloom" pig farm in South Carolina (apparently positive). In season 2 he's hunting down "feral pigs" in Florida. Unfortunately, clips, pics or more details are not to be found. But it would appear that Larry does know his swine. ETA: Season 2 episode is called "American Invasion".

Detroit Free Press article. When I read 'heritage breed pigs', I thought of the old style American fatty hogs. But it doesn't appear that that is what these are. In fact, I'd be surprised if they're very good to eat. I think it's being presented as a harm to farmers, while they're actually being brought in for 'hunting preserves' and 'game ranches'. Larry the Cable Guy in his series Only in America just aired an episode where he went along as some guys in another state were hunting these beasts down with dogs. Apparently, they do do a lot of damage.