tikidoc

We will be going on vacation in July and it so happens we will be in RI/MA at the same time as a one day workshop by Ciril Hitz. Minor modifications to our schedule would allow me to attend (10 hours in the car with kids in one day instead of stretching the drive to 2 days with a ton of stops). Has anyone here attended any of these workshops? Are they worth the time and money? The one that fits our schedule is an 8 hour workshop titled "Artisan Bread Fundamentals". I'd say that I am at least an intermediate home baker, and the description says for "all levels". I have and really like a couple books by Ciril Hitz and he seems like a good teacher from what I have seen on youtube. Thanks for any input! Jess

Could be pretty much anywhere in the south. I recently moved from TN, and they drank Cheerwine there too.

I'm not sure why that's a key line. If you have read anything about the poultry industry in the US, you would know that the farmers have no choice in how they raise the chickens. The poultry companies dictate everything to the farmers, and the farmers follow instructions to the letter, or they risk being dropped and going into financial ruin. Not one word of the article is surprising.

And therein lies the problem of attempting to figure out if the obnoxious guy on the internet forum is a "real chef" or a wannabe. The only way you stand a good chance of finding out is if he slips and lets it known the name of his "bistro". Which it sounds like he is avoiding. Which I find interesting.

Did you miss the bit where it says: " The chicken has always been purchased from a farm or farmers market, never from a grocery store or meat store." Yea, but Big Ag created the Cornish Cross chicken. No genetic engineering that I am aware of, just artificial selection, but this particular chicken is what produces the monster chicken breasts at the grocery, and apparently the green necrotic tissue. Most hatcheries sell these birds as chicks as well, so it is also something you are likely to see at a farmer's market. We raised a batch of Cornish Crosses once. Never again. We were used to chickens that act like chickens, mostly heritage breeds that were dual purpose (meat and eggs). They go outside to look for and consume bugs, they scratch, they spend much of their day outdoors, and come back in the barn at night. We give them some chicken feed, but they also got a big part of their diet from their environment. We usually got "straight run" or unsexed chicks, and raised the hens to provide eggs and the roosters for meat. Then we bought a batch of 25 Cornish Crosses for meat. Within a week they were double the size of their counterparts. Once they were old enough to be outside, they pretty much parked themselves next to the food bowl and did not move. They had no inclination to go outside and peck and forage. They sat. They ate. They crapped. They slept. All in the same place. Since they left all their crap in about 1 square foot, they also stunk, big time. I cannot imagine what a chicken house full of these things smell like, we were used to chickens that poop outside a lot, and therefore did not smell much at all. The Cornish Crosses also had an alarmingly high mortality rate. Life got in the way and we didn't end up processing them until several weeks later than we had planned. Several had bizarre tumors that we found when cleaning them. I cannot put into words how nasty these birds are to deal with. After raising those birds, I sort of understand how they can be shoved into such close quarters in the big chicken houses. The birds just sit and eat. And crap. I can also see how more flapping is involved with processing of birds raised at home, resulting in a higher risk of the green stuff. If you are doing it by hand, there will likely be flapping. Although CC birds are really easy to catch, because they Just. Sit. And. Eat. And. Crap. So, if you are getting your poultry at the farmer's market and you want to avoid the green, ask around and try to avoid the farmers that raise only the Cornish Crosses. If we raise any more just for meat in the future, we plan to use another breed next time, called the "Freedom Ranger", which also produces a chicken that has relatively large breasts (not as big as the CC) but is a good free range bird with superior meat quality and flavor. Some small producers are starting to use them commercially now. They will be more expensive because they take longer to grow, but they can also free range and actually forage, so feed costs are kept relatively low.

See: http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/568500 And about halfway down the page, there is this: "This phenomenon is caused by a strain or tear in the breast muscles while the chicken is still alive. The muscle starts to die before the chicken is slaughtered and there's a chemical reaction within the meat that causes the green colour to develop during cooking. The muscle damage comes from excessive wing flapping, usually from rough or inexperienced handling by humans trying to catch the chickens. There are no visible signs of this muscle damage in the raw bird - you only discover it after it's cooked. If the chicken is properly cooked, the green meat is not a food safety risk but most people find the appearance completely, and understandibly, unappetizing. You can eat the rest of the chicken without a problem if you so choose. I work for a group of chicken farmers in Manitoba, Canada, helping consumers with questions and concerns about chicken raised in Manitoba. I get few calls a year about green chicken. The chicken has always been purchased from a farm or farmers market, never from a grocery store or meat store. Chicken raised by our farmers is only available in stores. These birds are handled by experienced people which may explain why there isn't a problem in store-bought chickens in Manitoba. Buying chicken directly from a farm or farmers market always has the caution "buyer beware". If you get a "green" chicken, complain to the person/place you bought it from and ask them to be more careful when they handle their birds. You may also want to take your business elsewhere. K Armstrong RD Manitoba Chicken Producers Manitoba Canada"

Dear Alcuin, Clap, clap, clap. You said much more eloquently what I have been trying to say. Thank you. Jess

I don't think it needs to be shown that the risk is higher, it needs to be shown that there is a high enough risk to justify the testing. The regular beef is tested, the "pink slime" is not. BOTH should be.

The problem is that this stuff has been exempted out of the bacterial testing required for ground beef. And spot and voluntary testing HAS identified contaminated batches. See http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/31/us/31meat.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all So you CANNOT assume the bacterial counts are acceptable, and unless someone gets sick, we are unlikely to know because testing is not required.

1. Where did those scraps go before the recent invention of "pink slime"? This is a recent thing, and I don't remember beef prices decreasing as a result of beef processors being able to pass this stuff off as "ground beef". Besides, beef prices are kept artificially low due to all the farm subsidies for corn in the US. As a taxpayer, I am getting tired of my dollars being funneled to companies like Monsanto. I would not have a problem with beef prices increasing - Americans eat too much of it anyway. 2. Not saying this statement is incorrect (or correct for that matter) but please provide a source for this statement. This kind of crap is why we raise our own beef. It would not qualify as organic but it is almost exclusively grass fed. We use no hormones. We do not use feed with antibiotics, although I would not hesitate to treat an infection in an animal using antibiotics (and would wait the appropriate time before butchering). So to me, it is not so much an organic label that is important, is it know how the food is raised, as much as possible. I would venture to say that my officially non-organic but grass fed beef is both tastier and healthier than the corn-fed but organic beef in the store, with a smaller carbon footprint. I would highly recommend reading any of the books on farming by Joel Salatin of Polyface Farms. He's a little out there at times but many of the techniques he uses for farming could be used on a larger scale to raise healthier food without the negative environmental impact. It won't replace factory farming but every little bit helps.

No kidding. I'm still holding out on Modernist Cuisine but eGullet is responsible for my VitaMix and my SousVideMagic/FreshMealsMagic. Plus a whole bunch of chocolate molds and an airbrush (that was on clearance, but still).

I may just have to take you up on this. I have a supply of the cookies right now - but they won't last forever! Just let me know. It's the least I can do with all the stuff you carted down from Canada for me! As long as I can sample a chocolate covered ginger snap or two next spring!

Ah, I'll have to remember that. I'll be up there right at the beginning of allergy season, good time to stock up. It's over the counter?

Reactine=Zyrtec= cetirizine I assume Steve has allergies?

Enabling is fun... Jess

I don't blame you, Kerry, the TJs ginger snaps are awesome. Trader Joe's is one of my absolute favorite places to shop. Let me know if you need me to send you anything, Kerry, I am in TJs at least a couple times a month.

Really, all the consumer/home models out there are some sort of variation on the 5200 (I confirmed this with VitaMix). Same "2HP" motor, some minor cosmetic differences, some with different pitchers (this is the 64 oz with the soft rubber coated handle), different books. But the base is essentially the same. The finish on this one is brushed stainless. The only non-commercial model that is different is the Professional Series 500, which has a couple of presets for soup and smoothies, etc., probably to compete with the similar settings on the BlendTec. But even the 500 has the same motor, just a couple more bells and whistles. And a substantially higher price tag. The top end commercial model, the VitaPrep 3, has a bigger motor ("3HP, whatever that means in a blender) and a shorter (3 year vs. 7 year) warrantee. The carafe is polycarbonate (not BPA free). You can get it on eBay for just under $500. Unless you go for the refurbished one from the VitaMix website, this is about as low a price as I have seen on these things, and I have been watching them for a while. The Costco price at a demo is $400, in black or white with a different cookbook and the same carafe. The current Costco deal (online order) is $500 but includes a dry carafe as well as the standard 64 ounce one and only comes in black. I personally like the stainless a little better than black or white, and that is a $50 upgrade on the VitaMix website.

Nice job, Chris! What other beans did you get? I think my favorite in recent memory from Sweet Marias was a Panamanian coffee from Boquete. If you have never tried a Panamanian coffee, I would recommend you do so the next time you order. I'm probably a little biased because I lived there for a while and really love the country, but I think a good Panamanian coffee will rival the best from anywhere else in the world. I have found that color gets me into the ball park, then once I know I am close, the headphones come off and I use a combination of sound and color to decide where to stop the roast. Don't forget that you will get a little carry over, so stop just a smidge lighter than you want.

http://www.surlatable.com/product/PRO-658021/Vitamix-Platinum-Professional-Blender I'm excited to start playing with mine.

"In recent days there is the news that Autism had increased exponentially during the past three decades and while many people blame it on vaccines, this time period also coincides with the increase in adding GMO products to an enormous number of food products." I know a couple of people have pointed this out, but I feel the need to address this again. Vaccines do NOT cause autism. The initial article which proposed a link between vaccines and autism was written by Dr. Andrew Wakefield and published in The Lancet in 1998. An investigation later showed that his "research" was in part funded by lawyers of parents who wanted to sue vaccine makers for damages. He also held a patent on an alternative measles vaccine, which would have been more marketable as a result of his conclusions. Conclusions which were drawn on data from 12 children. Twelve. A sample size of TWELVE. The article was retracted in 2010 and the author has since been totally discredited. And the evidence since has shown absolutely no link between autism and vaccines. None. I bring this up again because the concept of this link remains very prevalent in anti-vax communities, and perpetuation of this myth puts kids at risk. The link does not exist, the article was FRAUDULENT. As for the increase in autism, most experts believe that this is not a real increase in the incidence of the disorder, but an increase in awareness causing more kids to be diagnosed, in some cases, I think over-diagnosed, just like ADHD. As to GMO foods, there are no studies that I am aware of that demonstrate health risks due to GMO foods. I think the biggest risk of GMO farming is the loss of plant diversity as a result. Monoculture farming is, in my opinion, a much bigger issue than the genetic modification of plants, as is the behavior of companies such as Cargill and Monsanto. They have an army of lawyers that sue farmers who have fields near fields of their plants, accusing the farmers of stealing their genetic material when the wind cross pollinates the plants. Organic farmers are now beginning to sue Monsanto for contamination of their crops with GMO pollen, and I applaud them for this. And the things that these companies are doing in the Third World are beyond despicable. For an example, read the following.http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1082559/The-GM-genocide-Thousands-Indian-farmers-committing-suicide-using-genetically-modified-crops.html As to the examples of foods that we "should" eat organic, I'd like to see their references. Organic agriculture is just part of industrialized agriculture these days, and does not necessarily mean sustainable. I'd much rather eat locally produced pastured beef without the organic designation than organic beef raised on organic corn. The former results in a healthier product.

For anyone who is looking for a VitaMix, you might want to check out Sur la Table tomorrow. It goes on sale for $400 ($100 off). This is pretty much the 5200 with the 64 inch carafe in brushed stainless with the CIA insignia on it. I don't think I would pay much extra for the stainless (on the VitaMix website, the stainless machines are $50 more), but this is about as good of a price as I have found anywhere for a 5200 (including Costco), and the stainless is a nice bonus. It comes with what appears to be a decent 3-ring binder cookbook ("Create Recipes") a small bonus CIA cookbook, and a DVD. I am finally getting my high-end blender! It's a good deal, so I thought I would let the community here know, in case anyone is planning to get one soon. Jess

Looks like a blade roast but the fat/connective tissue in the middle looks pretty thick...

Tri2Cook, would you go all the way down to 230 with this recipe? It was a softish caramel at 248. I will obviously check texture as I go, but I'm trying to get a ballpark.

That helps a ton, Jen. Barring any more suggestions, I'll try that this weekend. I was thinking that a decrease in final temp made sense but I was not sure what temp to use.

Yes, candy experts, HELP! If you agree with Theresa above, can you give me suggestions for amounts?