GRoston

We live in southeast Michigan, all of which is now considered to be suffering from a sever drought. We have not yet gone to our local produce stand that has local corn (local as in the field is across the street from the stand), but the corn fields we have driven past all look to be in really rough shape. Yes, those fields are not sweet corn, but unless the fields are being irrigated, the corn crop will probably be a bust this year.

Penzey's does provide good quality products, but their prices are (IMHO) quite high. We have purchased from Monterey Bay Spice Co and San Francisco Herb Co and have been quite pleased with both the quality and value offered.

We have a 30" Kitchenaid gas cooktop. The largest burner produces 14,000 btu of heat. Among the pots we own are: 11" dia brazier, capacity 7 qts 12" dia saute pan, capacity 4 qts (cheap pan that needs replacing) 12 1/2" dia sauce, pot, capacity 17 qts All of these pots fit comfortably on the cooktop, though with the largest one, there is only about an inch of clearance with respect to the control knob. I would like to purchase a larger pan, with shallow walls. Intended applications include cooking a mess of greens (after sauteing onions/garlic), etc. To achieve this objective, I could purchase a 12 1/2" dia brazier, which has a capacity of 10.5 qts (same line as our current brazier). However, I feel that the walls on this pot are a bit higher than what I want. So, this leads me to two other options and my question. The other options are a 14" dia brazier with a 12 qt capacity (same line as the current sauce pot) or a 14" dia saute pan with a 9.5 qt capacity (again, the line as the current sauce pot). My question is this: Would there be any problems using a pan of this diameter on our current cooktop?

Sylvia, Could you please track down/post this recipe?

All, We recently purchased a popsicle mold so that we can treat ourselves to 'healthy' confections. For the first batch, we combined 10 oz of raspberries, 10 oz of blackberries, and one half-cup sugar. Since the berries were frozen (from last season), we mixed the first three ingredients and let the berries thaw for several hours. We then blended everything together, added 2 tbsp of lemon juice, and froze them. The end result was quite yummy! Yesterday, we borrowed Paletas, by Fany Gerson, from our local library. I read her recipes for fruit paletas and noticed two major differences: Her recipes include a small amount of water For the strawberry paletas, her recipe recommends cooking the mixture for five minutes Could someone please explain how these differences might improve the quality of the final product? Thank you!

Thanks all - just ordered a Vollrath from Restaurant Equipment World.

Any opinions?

(Sorry - brain f**t. This place is in Oshawa - would delete the post but I don't know how...) Though it is probably a chain, we traveled through Ontario last May, on a Sunday, and found Avanti Trattoria open for lunch. We each had an individual sized pizza. They were the most Italian-like pizzas we have had outside of Italy.

All, Thanks for the replies. Not being the patient sort, i.e., it's the middle of soup season and I want to start cooking, I have done some more digging and have come up with two alternatives: Vollrath Intrigue Mirror Finish S/S Sauce Pot (17 qt) and Matfer Bourgeat Excellence Sauce pot (19 qt). From my perspective, the price is the same. On the Wasserstrom web-site, the Vollrath is listed as weighing 16 pounds (suggestive of quality) and comes with a measly one year warranty. The Matfer Bourgeat is listed as weighing 9 pounds (much less material?) and comes with a limited lifetime warranty. If you were picking between these two pots, which would you select?

All, I am in the market for a half stock pot. After some looking around, I found that the Sitram Profiserie half stock pot (model 20164, 30 cm dia w/ capacity of 13.4 l) would be ideal. After several attempts to buy and/or calls (YourDelight Appliances: $193 w/ lid and shipping; Dvorsons: $195 plus shipping), it seems that everyone is out of stock until mid-February. Some further looking turned up the Paderno low stock pot (model 11105-28, 28 cm dia w/ capacity of 14.5 l). Though the Sitram dimensions are more desirable, this seemed like a good alternative. So, I called World Cuisine, only to discover that they do not have rights for this design in the US, but that Lincoln does (which explains why my Lincoln Centurion pots look just like the Paderno pots!) Anyway, I called Lincoln and found that this pot is a special order, and no special orders will be placed until the end of January. Sob story over. Questions: Can you suggest another pot of similar quality and size which I could purchase? Can you recommend a retailer who might have the Sitram in Stock? Thanks!