Dakki

I don't know if Jan Moir is the worst journalist on the planet but she's certainly on the short list. I have no clue who Jay Raynor is but I think he was far too easy on her.

Calphalon fry- and saucepans, Lodge skillets and no-name (I want to say Vasconia or Tramontina but I'm honestly not sure) stainless pots here, plus assorted stuff from garage sales and the Goodwill. I think bottom of the barrel, supermarket stovetop stuff is hard to use since it develops hotspots, plus usually it has a nasty nonstick coating that gets scratched off, ruins your browning and may release small amounts of toxic gas when overheated; once you get to "serious" cookware, however, the law of diminishing returns kicks in very quickly, and you'll get a pretty marginal improvement (if any) as you raise your budget. Pots are less critical since you probably won't heat them as much, or while they're empty, and you can always brown on a skillet and just transfer the stuff to the pot to finish cooking in liquid. Not familiar with Vollrath Pro-HG or Revere so I won't presume to comment on any specific improvements you could get from changing, but hey, if it ain't broke... All that said I like the looks of that Sitram stuff and would love to give it a try.

Same experience here. Buying individual pieces would be a much better idea than getting a set, if it wasn't for the fact that sets are often much less expensive than their component parts. Got this when upgrading from no-name nonstick: http://www.amazon.com/Calphalon-Commercial-9-Piece-Hard-Anodized-Cookware/dp/B0007KQZ3O/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=home-garden&qid=1265924079&sr=8-1 I'm very satisfied with it. It doesn't have everything you need but everything that's there you need, I think. (Off-topic, I'd love to get my hands on that Sitram stuff Chris posted but my location makes Internet purchasing a necessity, and I can't find an online retailer. Oh well.)

It's not a hard budget really - I just set myself a goal to find non-intimidating prices for good quality stuff. We've both been members in another, non-food-related forum where the local foodies try to intimidate civilians with tales of high-end enamelware, prosumer appliances and knives forged by magical dwarves in the Black Forest. As far as interests go, he claims he likes the Army, pickup trucks, guns, liquor and loose women. (Yeah I went and asked...) Foodwise I know he uses a Mexican-style sweetbreads recipe I taught him, also grilling steaks and breakfast-type food (eggs, hash browns, bacon, country sausage). Just picture the most stereotypical young enlisted man from the Deep South you can and you'll have a pretty good idea of who this is, actually.

It was the "creamy water-bath cheesecake" from JoC. I took the ingredients out of the fridge an hour before starting (the recipe says to hold at room temperature, about 70 F), preheated the oven, and beat the cream cheese smooth. I think this is where I messed up, the recipe says it will take 30 to 60 seconds but it took me quite a bit longer, maybe 3 minutes, before all the lumps were gone. Gradually added sugar while beating, added the eggs one at a time, beating each one until the mixture was homogeneous, added the cream and vanilla and beat them in as well. The recipe suggests you have to scrape the batter into the pan and smooth the top, but in this case the batter was so liquid I just poured it in. Would this be a sign of overbeating? Wrapped the bottom of the pan in aluminum foil, then set it in a cast iron skillet (it's the only thing I own large enough to easily hold a 28 cm springform) with 1" of boiling water in it, and placed in an oven preheated to 325 F. Temperature control in this oven is kind of tricky (no thermostat, just a dial to adjust the flame) but I have a thermometer in there and managed to hold it within ~15 degrees of the suggested temperature for an hour. Turned off the heat, propped the door open with a wood spoon handle, let it cool in there for 3 hours or so while I did errands. The cake looked quite set and solid by the time I came back, so I covered it in plastic film and let it sit in the fridge for a couple of days before unmolding it. I used store-brand cream cheese, fresh eggs (as fresh as you get in the supermarket, anyway), heavy cream and sour cream from fresh, sealed containers.

I'd be worried about the glue. Not sure what kind they use in knife blocks but the combination of heat and humidity can break down resins, and epoxies start losing cohesion around 40 C (from memory).

FISSION MAILURE Cheesecake was lumpy. I think I probably overbeat the cream cheese. Would this be the result? I will master this. Next time, cheesecake, next time!

For mixing I'd worry more about size/shape than maker. That said, I love Pyrex stuff and would probably go with that by default.

I'll tell him the relative importance of the scale in cooking and baking and let him decide if he needs it. The cooking people on our forum are all starting to bake now and he might want to as well.

Yep, I did. Thing's in the oven as I type this.

Trying my hand at making a cheesecake this afternoon, from the JoC water bath recipe. Got a springform pan and everything. Wish me luck everyone!

I had sun dried grasshoppers (chapulines) with powdered chili and lemon in Oaxaca. They were okay but not as good as the whitebait (charales) prepared the same way. I guess the worm in the mezcal bottle wouldn't count as paleo, being soaked in distilled alcohol and all?

I tried this recipe last week and the cheesecake part was delicious. http://www.joyofbaking.com/barsandsquares/CreamCheeseBrownies.html According to that it would be 65 grams sugar and one large egg (plus a teaspoon vanilla).

If it comes up, "I like to cook" and "I like to eat" work fine for me. They convey exactly what I want to say without the nasty exclusivist subtext you get from "foodie" or "gourmet" (if anyone still takes that word seriously). I guess epicurean and sybaritic would work as adjectives for a certain kind of good eatin' too but I dare you to describe yourself as an epicure with a straight face...

"Gourmet" lost whatever credibility it had when it got applied to frozen TV dinners. As for "foodie," it's such a childish-sounding word it took me a while to figure out it wasn't self-effacing humor or hamfisted irony on the part of whoever was using it. I'll be happy when it's gone. "Frozen pizza and microwave Tater Tots again? Man, you're such a foodie." Do we really need a special word for food that isn't horrible junk and the people who eat it?

A question for those who've actually read the paleo diet books: do they claim the human body was actually "designed" for a certain diet? If so, that's pretty broken. A few things the human body isn't "designed" for: sunscreen, antibiotics, vaccines, living past the age of 30.

mig: I see your point but I'm trying to get him started on the right foot, in baking as well as general cooking. The scale has made a huge difference in my success rate with baked goods, and I think I might have gotten into it earlier if my initial attempts hadn't been so discouraging. What would you add in the scale's place? JAZ: You're right, I didn't. In my defense, I directed him to buying minor gadgets and utensils at the supermarket instead of online... NadyaCat and Fantastic Mr. Fox: Thanks for the book suggestions, I'll look them up. rooftop1000: I'm adding a stainless stockpot and a steaming insert. Is there anything else you think I should add in pots? emmalish: I don't think the guy is intimidated by cooking, he's just never been exposed to people who love food and cooking before. Maybe I should get one of those swing away things for myself...

ScoopKW: I fully agree with your suggestions about the stone and steel, but I think my friend already has sharpening equipment. I use hardwood spoons and spatulas and I think they're much nicer than silicone - which is probably much nicer than bamboo, so I'll change my suggestion. Welding gloves is a great idea and something I need to get for myself- I make do with old-fashioned cloth potholders. jk1002: Thanks for the book suggestions. lesliec: A fine-mesh strainer at least is a definite must. I don't know how that slipped my mind! lesliec & mig: You're probably right about the stick blender. I don't own one myself but I know they're very handy. mig: The scale has made a big difference in my success rate since I got it so I'm loathe to take it out. I agree you -can- do without but why would someone want to? Cookie sheets are definitely in. Any objections to aluminum half-sheets from a restaurant supply place? KarenDW: That book looks interesting and fun, will suggest it. Do you have any objections to my knife/tool/pan choices? Don't come down on me too hard for the can opener, I've used the one on my swiss army knife since the last one rusted several years ago. The toaster/convection oven idea seems very reasonable but we're starting from scratch. This guy will find his way here if he ever advances beyond the basics of home cooking. Shalmanese: Agreed with the prices, but I can't really say to the guy, "hunt down a rusted out cast iron skillet for $1 at a garage sale." My skillet-heavy pan suggestions are probably a reflection of how I cook, (I'll add a SS stockpot and steaming insert) and I'm definitely not good enough to eyeball teaspoons and tablespoons, so this guy probably isn't, either. I'll definitely pass your suggestions along.

So a friend from another forum asked for help in setting up his kitchen after we convinced him cooking for himself is cheaper, tastier and healthier than eating things that come in a box with a clown on it. This is a copy-paste from the post I made there, I'd like to hear everyone's thoughts and suggestions on what you really need to get started. Particularly interested in cookbooks. I'm thinking you can't fail with JoC, but I'd really like to point him to something that covers ingredients and techniques for utter novices. I have an old copy of Charles Delmar's "The Essential Cook" that helped me a lot when I was starting out but the nutritional information is hilariously outdated (replace butter with margarine whenever you can for health reasons? Seriously?) and some of the vocabulary is, well, who the heck calls a spatula a "pancake turner"?

I think when most people think about/talk about a national cuisine they think of food that was developed and is traditional in the country. This can lead to confusion because: 1- "Nation" and "country" aren't the same thing at all. A country is a political entity, a nation is a cultural and ethnic entity. So in places where you get a mix of ethnicities and cultures sharing the country, definitions get messy. In food terms, California rolls, chop suey and sour-cream-on-everything "Mexican" food aren't considered "American" food but they definitely aren't "authentic" Japanese, Chinese or Mexican, either. The confusion gets worse in countries where the dominant cultural bloc is a foreign culture, like in NZ, Australia, the Americas, etc., so we get "Native American" cuisine (as a distinct category from "American" cuisine), for example. 2- Cultural borders are porous and cuisine borrows and sometimes just plain steals. Think about baklava, hummus and all the other foods that are claimed by two or more national groups that are at odds with each other. Food shows up in weird places too; one of the most popular varieties of tacos in Mexico is "trompo" (aka "al pastor"), which I'm pretty sure was copied from gyros. 3- Cuisine evolves as cooks develop and apply new techniques and ingredients, and the idea of a national cuisine seems to be tied to tradition. As far as I know (and I admit I know very little about it) sous vide was developed in France, but it's not considered "French cuisine". On the other hand, tomatoes and potatoes didn't show up in Europe until the 16th C but they're certainly a part of many national cuisines there, so I guess as long as it's old it's all right. So, a pretty messy topic.

I hadn't thought about that. Something like Pepin's Complete Techniques using video to demonstrate each technique would be super nice to have.

I have a thermometer and a weird oven (came with the house). It doesn't have a thermostat, instead the dial (which you'd expect to set the temperature) just controls the level of the flame from the burner. I think it should actually be better at keeping a stable temperature than a regular on-off thermostat oven, once I get the knack of setting the flame just right once it reaches the desired temperature. Thanks for all your help.

It looked like the photo, but the bottom part was more "cookie" than "brownie" so I assumed something had gone wrong. It wasn't gooey at all. Come to think of it I used a glass (pyrex) baking pan, would the carryover heat cause the brownie to overcook and harden or dry out? (Yes, I am an utter novice at this). I will definitely try changing the brownie recipe. Thanks for the advice.

http://www.joyofbaking.com/barsandsquares/CreamCheeseBrownies.html I've been thinking about this and the only places I might've screwed up is using not-very-fresh eggs (would it make that big a difference?) or the batteries on my scale are starting to fail (would it screw up the measurements or just refuse to work?)

agray: Does the Apple e-book format (whatever they call it) support embedded video? My understanding is that it doesn't but that's just something I heard. EDIT: Looked it up. ePub (a standard industry format, which is used by Apple) specifies image support but no video, which makes sense because video on e-ink screens would be ridiculous. Maybe they'll develop a format specifically for LCD-based readers, maybe they'll put h264 support on there, maybe they'll even support Flash in the next update. As things stand now, no.