Dakki

A little late to chime in but I say go for it. I was thinking formal classes might actually be of more benefit to us poor amateurs, since pros will actually get the chance to acquire and develop their skills in a workplace setting.

Good going. Let's nerd out about when you get the kit.The video is not mine, btw - my knives are much sharper.

This. I also do not care for most of the recipes in the show (everything looks kind of bland and too sweet to my taste) but the information on techniques and ingredients has been very helpful. I haven't seen the brewing episode so I won't comment on that.

Got halibut and some kind of shark (cazon) for experimental fish fry this weekend. They also had some kind of black flatfish but it was looking pretty tired. Annoying thing about buying fish here from eGullet suggestions (besides limited selection and the stores keeping the stuff out way past its use by date) is that I have to look up the fish, find the scientific name and then look up the Spanish name based on that.

Too bad. I'd read a food magazine edited by The Dude. I mean, he's obviously committed to freshness in milk at least.

The linked page won't load for me. Is this a Big Lebowski dude or some other kind of dude?

No love for the buffalo drumstick? I think it's a great idea.

And on the other hand, you have to actually pull out the restrictor if you want any appreciable amount for cooking... And then there's the bottles where the top screws onto the plastic restrictor thingy instead of the glass, so if you take it out you can't even close the bottle anymore.

There's so few reasons to even own a TV anymore and that's one less.

Pretty sure it's the same thing. Like a previous poster I keep a few of the individual serving size for cooking. I don't like milk and it spoils well before I finish it if I buy the 1-liter tetrabricks.

Krauss is smashing. But his speech is rapid-fire, yet halting. He talks about a mile-a-minute, but pauses a lot...which can be....distracting....especially if he doesn't....have an excellent film editor. But we already have Dr. Tyson -- and not only can the man explain astrophysics in laymans terms, I would happily sit and listen to him read from a telephone directory. (And he has hosted new Nova shows on PBS -- WAAAAAYYYY more geared for children than the original Nova. But still, it's new science content.) PS -- I didn't say we don't have any good science shows. I said we don't have a Physics channel on cable television because of a lack of good hosts. And I still say the world has produced exactly two people who could host a astrophysics show. Lots of people have the science chops -- but they're not telegenic. A rare breed indeed who can do both. Google "Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson Titanic" and you'll find a great bit about his frustration trying to correct Hollywood inaccuracies. EDIT -- typos... My bad, I misremembered the conversation. Now I think it was on another thread, even. Oh well. I don't think being telegenic (at least as I understand the term) is necessary for a science show host, just being interesting and comprehensible. I mean, we want them to explain why they think the universe is thirteen billion and change years old, not seduce a starlet onscreen. I think it's very hard for a specialist to talk about his area of expertise and remain engaging, in general. I've been known to put a roomful of colicky babies to sleep talking about heat treatments, for instance. In this sense at least I think Krauss is excellent. Anyway, my whole point w/r/t the topic was that TV programmers (from what I see) are all going after a slice of the big, proven audiences using formulas that are known to work, rather than developing a new audience. In cooking shows this means we get charming, telegenic (again, in the sense I understand the term) hosts doing things that other such hosts are doing on other shows (traipsing around exotic locations, cussing out incompetent sous chefs, eating a 2 kg piece of steak, making bland meals for four in under 45 minutes, etc), rather than, say, demonstrating the court cuisine of the Byzantine empire. And that's why food television is so boring nowadays.

Thread necromancy! That reminds me, someone here said earlier we didn't have any good science shows because nobody could replace Carl Sagan. I give you Keep in mind he's delivering a lecture in an auditorium, with some slides and a video camera probably handled by a grad student. Give him a competent producer and a reasonable budget and he could make a billion heads explode.Unfortunately no station is going to give him a producer and a budget - they need the money and the airtime for proven formulas like "police officers who are partners of opposite genders and are attracted to each other solve bizarre murders" and "cheerful young female makes noodle salad."

Lovely as usual. It does kind of look like Stewie, though.

Okay guys, I've been a beer drinker my entire adult life, and I consider myself a competent amateur brewer. However, there's a great big empty gap where my knowledge of liquor should be. I can mix a screwdriver or a highball... and that's pretty much it. Recently I started trying to remedy that, first by going on a quest for a good everyday scotch for the aforementioned highball. That being completed, I now want to expand into the world of rum. So I figure this is what I need to know: -Types of rums and the good brands. I've seen Matusalen and Flor de Cana in a few varieties in my local liquor store (besides the Bacardi) and I've also seen these mentioned on this forum so that would be a place to start. Tell me what the good varieties are and what these products are good for. -Cocktail recipes. It's too hot to drink strong liquor and I dislike mixing cola with alcohol, so bonus points for tall drinks and no points for Cuba Libre. Even more bonus points if it involves soda water instead of sweetened drinks or fruit juices. No points at all if I have to mail order ginger beer from Jamaica or whatever just to mix a drink. -Mixing stuff, bitters and so on. I literally know nothing about these and I'll have to make a trip across town to get at a store that carries them so help me out here. Anyone want to help a cocktail newb?

Try a hefeweizen. Mine has been compared to carrot cake and bananas.

The usual bot of Famous Grouse and another of Flor de Cana 5. I thought I'd start to learn to mix rum cocktails tonight. Unfortunately I locked my keys inside the car in the liquor store parking lot and now I don't feel like learning much of anything.

I meant "Famous Grouse." Where the heck did I get "Wild Goose" from?

Inveterate jar hoarder here. My favorites are the HEB store brand pasta sauce kind (they have nice, deep lids) - unfortunately the product inside sucks. Currently stocking up on empty Wild Goose bottles. I like them because the lid screws onto the glass rather than the plastic pouring thing, which I can pull out and discard. Is it wrong to pick an everyday scotch because you might use the bottles later?

That would have been my second choice. You are a braver man than I.

Candy corn. That stuff is just terrible.

Baking, sharpening.

I'll also eat anything pickled. We should form a club. Pickled pig's feet (and skins) are mostly a drinking snack, I think. I've never seen either used as ingredients, although the non-pickled variety (of both) improve frijoles charros immensely.

Only once. I like this reply.

I haven't handled the Shun Premier line but I do own some from another line. What you have to understand is that the Shuns are not comparable to most other gyutos - they're thicker and have a German-style full belly. If anything I'd say they're a compromise between contemporary Western and Japanese design. I'm 99.9% sure that my current workhorse gyuto is just a Gekko sold under another name. I really like how it handles and it has the right look, however fit and finish aren't perfect and it's not as skinny and fast as some other gyutos. I'm sure Tojiro (and Global and Ken Onion and etc) are fine examples of modern design but I find them ugly as sin, and for that kind of money I expect a knife to look nice.

I might as well turn in my Official eGullet Knife Nut Club badge right now because I have no experience with either Hattori or V Sabatier. I do know both of them are well regarded in their own categories. The high-end Hattoris in particular seem to be practically venerated by their owners. If I had any advice to give it would be not to focus overmuch on brand names and specs and get a knife that really suits you. IMHO you can get a perfectly functional chef's for under $50, and an excellent one that also looks nice for under $100. Spending more than that will only get you relatively marginal performance gains and/or the prestige of owning a premium product (both of which I'm chronically guilty of, btw. I like nice things). I own much "better" knives but the ones I reach for 4 times out of 5 are a gyuto of unknown provenance (I can't read kanji) that is very similar or the same as the ones sold under the Gekko brand in USA and a baby chef's from Shun's Alton's Angles line. The other piece of advice is to get that EdgePro and master it. Better a sharp dollar store knife than the latest four-figure wunderstahl gyuto if it's not sharp.