Dakki

That's... pretty bad. I assume the target demographic is something like "juicing freaks and foodies" so why are they publishing that sort of recipe alongside the product?

As a representative of the non-US eGullet membership, I demand you post a sample.

Thank you for taking the time to look at and comment on these Blether, as well as for your advice and encouragement. It is really nice when someone really knowledgeable is willing to share the fruits of their experience with an utter noob. You're right about the bruised leaf and the little puddle that separated from the salsa - I hadn't even noticed those before. One more thing to watch out for. Next time I'll try to keep an eye out for that, and take photos at a variety of angles from the z-axis and see if I can figure out why exactly I liked the first photo better, and what I can do to replicate that.

Exactly. Anyone using a paring knife in place of a chef's knife, either because they feel safer or more efficient, should think about getting some chef knife skills. The wee knife is both many times less efficient and many times more likely to bloody your prep! Iunno. For the vast majority of us I think that's definitely true. I'm a bit proud of my knife skills (such as they are) and I've taught a few people the very basics but some people just find bigger knives intimidating. Not talking about people who are just used to using steak knives or paring knives for all prep or those who can't be bothered to learn the "proper" way of doing things, but people who are scared of "big" knives. Come to think of it these seem to be the same people who can say a knife is "too sharp." Maybe some kind of phobia of big sharp objects?

And here's another chart explaining what the different grades mean. The relevant bits from both links, in summary: Virgin olive oil is mechanically extracted, first-press oil. Extra virgin olive oil is selected virgin olive oil. That's it.

I don't live in USA, and I suggest you read this before continuing this discussion.

A couple of years ago I would have said yes, but as my choice of knives has increased I find myself using it less and less. It would still be my #2 knife if I could only have two knives, but a lot of the things I used it for are now done with other, more specialized tools. Isn't it fun?! I was able to whittle hair for the first time a few weeks ago. Can't do it consistently, though.

You're being disingenuous, playing the "unprocessed, closer to nature" card. It is virgin olive oils that are the ones first mechanically extracted from olives. They are not processed further, heated, chemically extracted or in any way further removed from the original fruit than extra virgin olive oils. Extra virgin olive oils are simply virgin olive oils. The "extra" doesn't imply a further degree of virginity, purity, closeness to nature, wholesomeness or whatever. It means it has been selected by the educated palates of trained testers, who are looking for a set of qualities desirable to the industry. These desirable qualities include the presence of bitter compounds that extend shelf life. The qualities desirable to the industry may be qualities undesirable to the final consumer. One of these undesirable qualities is the presence of bitter compounds that extend shelf life. You may have been able to convince yourself that bitter olive oil tastes good, but please don't say it's what olive oil should taste like. Very nice! I've often wished olive oil bottles had a "made on" date stamp. We wouldn't even need to argue over whether preservatives make it taste good.

If the store-bought tomatoes tasted good and the sun-ripened organic tomatoes did not, then store bought tomatoes would be better than the other ones, no matter if they were locally grown organic cruelty-free heritage tomatoes grown by authentically smelly neopagan hippies on a communal farm using pre-Columbian farming techniques. Assuming a taste for polyphenols can be acquired, is it reasonable to rate the quality of oil based on their presence, for a public that generally hasn't acquired it? That's what the trained testers were doing. "Mmmmmm, good stuff, I can really taste the bitter natural preservatives in this!" Rancidity is a word. We can call it oxidation, aging or whatever if it pleases us. If Cooks Illustrated panelists prefer oil that is slightly aged over absolutely fresh stuff then to the Cooks Illustrated panelists that's a feature, not a flaw. On the opposite side if the Cooks Illustrated panelists dislike the bitter taste of polyphenols, then, to them, the presence of polyphenols becomes a flaw, not a feature. The mark of quality anything is fitness to purpose, not adherence to abstract ideals of purity or freshness or whatever.

I don't think Chris meant to pooh-pooh the (very real) health concerns over adulterated olive oil, just the idea that Extra Virgin means Extra Good. I think most of the people in this forum are aware that the various gradings are distinctions of purpose rather than quality (would you fry in EVOO?) but the general public as a whole are probably not. I, for one, feel that if the bottle says "Olive Oil" it should be 100% olive oil, unless of course it says "Blended" in letters just as large, and with a list of the oils it was blended with. Adhering to the international standards for POO/VOO/EVOO would be really nice too, but the other is absolutely necessary.

Those things look extremely nice but $$$. Also ScooterQ's points make a lot of sense to me - I use grills that are fixed-height (over the fire) and adjustable on a fairly regular basis and the adjustable is just leagues ahead in control. Also, I prefer a rectangular grilling surface. This got me thinking a sort of hybrid, built on the typical split barrel plan, with adjustable grill or fire box height and the bottom part lined with fire brick might be the best of all worlds. Finally I want to say this is the best forum post I have ever seen: But at what temperature does it achieve Maillard caramelization ? Every day I learn something new here. A.

OK, this time I took the photo using a window that gives less light and set up the plastic cutting board so it would reflect light back onto the plate. I also arranged the cilantro so it wouldn't totally cover the salsa. Not sure what I think about this one. I guess the light is better but the last pic is more interesting... maybe it's just the plating? The angle? Carnitas are inherently more photogenic than slices of steak? Iunno.

I hadn't read it before but I just did. So the camera can just decide something blue is sky and mess the colors up accordingly? How do I prevent that? Why would the plastic cutting board look two colors? Is it some weird property of the material or the texture or the particular shade of white the board is?

Thanks as usual for your thoughtful advice and encouragement Blether. I guess I've been focusing so much on getting -enough- natural light in the photo I never thought I'd get -too much-. That window has the best light in the afternoon; next time I'll close the blinds partway and set up the white plastic cutting board (which you can see in the back blocking distracting stuff like the spice rack and my filthy kitchen counter) so that it reflects light on the food from the side opposite the window. Maybe that's part of the reason the rim is undefined, white china against white plastic? About the ceviche pic, it gets funnier than that: on the left I get that blue tint but on the right it's distinctly pink. The food itself seems unaffected but the background (which is the same white plastic cutting board) turned two different shades. I'd put it down to my hamfisted attempts at color correction but I don't think I could screw up two different areas of the picture in two completely different ways, right?

Those are some handsome knives. Congratulations to both managers named "Chris"!

Tacos de carnitas with a blender salsa (I'm feeling lazy, sue me), garnished with cilantro. Natural light from the window to the right, Auto, Macro, no flash, same camera as usual. Yeah, tacos again. If nothing else I'll learn to take a good taco photo by the time I'm done.

If we're talking "excellent taste with terrible consistency" vs "excellent consistency with terrible taste" I'll take taste (or eat somewhere else!). If we're talking "excellent taste with okay consistency" vs "excellent consistency with okay taste" I'll take taste. I do think BBQ needs to have both but I'd rather eat something that's dry over something with no flavor.

+1 on the "tempering with something else" comments. Keep whole milk around in case you accidentally partake too much for comfort. Water, soda, beer etc. just seem to spread the capsaicin around. Capsaicin is an oil and the reasoning is that the fats in the milk will help dilute the stuff. (I'm not making this stuff up by the way; milk is what they give children who accidentally eat too much chile around here. I can tell you from firsthand experience that it works.) If your hands get irritated from handling chiles the capsaicin has likely worked its way under the topmost layer of skin. Washing with soap isn't going to get it off. I've been told people who work with this all the time rinse their hands with bleach. I just coat my hands in oil, wash and repeat as necessary.

Really digging those photos Fujito. I think I might need some more interesting plates after looking at these.

Would you say a kosher chicken is superior to a home-brined chicken for this purpose?

I am unfamiliar with kosher chicken, or rather I thought all chicken was kosher? (I'm not a very good Jew, am I?) What makes kosher chicken different and better for grilling and barbecuing?

No kind of authority on barbecue, I'm much more a high-direct-heat kind of grill guy. I do love the barbecue chicken (and the sausages) when I go up to Austin or Lockhart, and we had a pulled pork party planned for last weekend - unfortunately Hurricane Alex crushed my boyish dreams of 16-hours-plus grill time and unlimited beer. Is beer can chicken grill or barbecue?

I bought a Ken Onion 10" chef's from them once, about 3 years ago. Didn't like the knife, passed it along. No problems with the site or service, might use it again.

I think I've posted a couple of threads about this dude's musings before. I can't say I've been impressed with either his writing or his knowledge of the matters he writes about. I don't buy the blogger/journalist distinction made in this thread either. If a news organization publishes an editorial, blog opinion piece or whatever, they have an obligation to publish a disclaimer with any potential conflict of interest along with it, or it goes against the whole organization's credibility. Like this: "The opinions published on this page are the opinions of the author and not the opinions of TIME, our editorial staff or sane people anywhere. As far as we know, President Obama is not a communist Muslim illegal alien, there is no lieberal (sic) conspiracy to promote the climate change "hoax," and there are no plans to resettle 50,000 Palestinian terrorists along the supposed NAFTA Superhighway. The author is currently a Republican candidate for Congress, owns a great deal of stock in British Petroleum, and has been seen nodding in agreement while listening to Glenn Beck's show." That's pretty much it.

Shrimp ceviche, fluorescent light, no flash, AUTO/macro setting. You can see the white background still looks blue even after I messed with the colors. What gives?