BadRabbit

Update: I have found that the best way to combat my issue is to autolyze with about 60-70% of the flour and then do most of the mixing at that same ratio. I add the rest of the flour with only a minute or two left in the mix. Since I've started doing this, I've found it much easier to get my dough where it needs to be.

I hate nuts in my food. I am not averse to them as stand alone snacks; I just don't like them in things. That said, there are plenty of times where I really want to add a textural element to a dessert or savory dish when I know most people would just add nuts. What are some other options?

I do dry herb mixtures a lot. I keep a dried basil, dried oregano(1 part\1 part) mix together all the time to use with crushed tomatoes, garlic powder and red wine vinegar for a quick pasta\pizza sauce. I also keep my BBQ rub mixed together (except for the brown sugar component). It's smoked paprika, sweet paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, ancho chili powder, and mustard powder. I sprikle it on liberally and then rub with brown sugar and salt.

I know this post will cause some backlash but here goes. There are usually 20-30 cases of Botulism a year in a country of 300 million (and a large number of these cases seem to occur in a very specific part of the country). Is this really something we want to worry about? Frankly, I'm not going to make a bunch of herb and garlic oils if I have to throw them out soon after making them (I don't use them enough to run through a whole batch within the guidelined period and it's not worth making the effort to make micro batches). Is the risk significant enough to give these things up? I really don't think it is. Before anybody starts in with the "but it's deadly and it just requires timely disposal\proper procedures\ etc..." I would like to compare it to something most of us do everyday, namely driving. Wearing a helmet while driving has been shown to significantly improve survivablity of high speed automobile crashes. Does this mean I'm going to start wearing a helmet when I drive on the interstate? Of course not, because it is a PITA and the probability of having a high speed accident is fairly low and an accepted risk. In addition, there are certain things that are materially changed by the procedures needed to make them 100% safe. Pesto is a considerably different product if it's pressure canned or acidulated. The same can be said of garlic oils. People have kept pestos and the like for long past FDA guidelines (and sans refrigeration) for generations. It seems ridiculous that in the modern age so much time, effort, and fear is invested in something that occurs so seldom.

No problem. It's a common belief. I once even had a health inspector tell me that you could kill vib by freezing. If you want to be extra careful with oysters, you can stick them in an IC bath for ten minutes at 122F (a process covered in the study I linked). It doesn't really change the taste or texture and you can then recool them in ice water if you want. I've only done it as an experiment. It is not part of my normal routine with oysters.

Found the abstract from the study which contains a little more info: http://md1.csa.com/partners/viewrecord.php?requester=gs&collection=TRD&recid=2007018130AN&q=&uid=1029868&setcookie=yes

No. Freezing at very cold temperatures for an extended period of time will kill nematodes (regular freezing in a home unit might but might not) but a lot of dangerous stuff can survive freezing. I believe all the vibrio strains can survive freezing. Vibrio vulnificus (often found in warm-water oysters) is killed by freezing. Not according to this from the State of NC Dept of Public Health: http://www.epi.state.nc.us/epi/gcdc/vibadvice.html A WHO's risk assessment study was able to achieve 4 to 5 log reductions with freezing but only at -40C for 3 weeks (longer and colder than would be typical for treatment of seafood). This was from a study done in the early 90s. I could find an exerpt of it below but I've read the whole study (I used to run an oyster bar) and higher temps and shorter times were much less effective. This study was just on oysters but they are the most common vehicle for that type of Vib. http://books.google.com/books?id=JLG5d6i3lVIC&pg=PA20&lpg=PA20&dq=Vibrio+vulnificus+freezing&source=bl&ots=FH5nqRbP4J&sig=NAUZKlwtEW9wpc3eXiEkuLjLHys&hl=en&ei=vQxMTczECMP_lgeHjp3WDw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=5&ved=0CDMQ6AEwBA#v=onepage&q=Vibrio%20vulnificus%20freezing&f=false EDIT: added WHO risk assessment information.

No. Freezing at very cold temperatures for an extended period of time will kill nematodes (regular freezing in a home unit might but might not) but a lot of dangerous stuff can survive freezing. I believe all the vibrio strains can survive freezing.

Thanks. I don't seem to be able to read it online after all, and in fact I'd rather own a copy. eGullet to the rescue again! Really? I just created an Open Library account (free) and was reading it in Adobe Digital Editions (also free) in under five minutes. It's nice because the eBook is scans of the book, so it looks very good. And it's also been OCRed so that you can search it. By the way, thanks for the link, BadRabbit. This^^^. Once you have an ebook reader installed, it works.

Hopefully, the digital age will eliminate the loss of publications we experience because of these overly long copyright protections. In the future, it will cost virtually nothing for a copyright owner to make a work permanently available. The term "out of print" will likely be a thing of the past.

Does anybody know how long it is before books fall into public domain?

http://openlibrary.org/books/OL6064948M/How_to_cook_and_eat_in_Chinese Is this it? Edit: Link

I've already gone through Gutenberg's books and their selection does not look to be nearly as big as Googles. You're reading far too much into the statement. A "fragmented maket" is a common business term taught in every university in America and it happens to describe the e-books market exactly. It's not some statement about Google's need to control the world or anything. Edit: Let me be clear that I'm not saying Google isn't trying to take over the world. I'm only saying that this particular statement is nothing sinister. Actually, I'm familiar with a lot of this terminology; in fact, I took a couple of marketing courses at university, and have done a little work in this area. In this particular case, what it's describing is not actually so bad; if we were talking about medicine, I'd have a different take on the matter. But I only mentioned PG, because in your original post, you wrote 'Has anyone found any old public domain cookbooks or books on food in Google books? I've done a little searching but mostly end up with books using food as a metaphor.' I understood this to indicate that you hadn't found any public domain cookbooks; in light of your now noting that google has a larger selction than PG, I guess I misunderstood..? I wasn't really clear there. I meant that Google has a larger selection of books online in total (not just cookbooks). It is hard to detemine exactly how many "books" Google books has since they have a lot of things I would think fit more into the "pamphlet" or "booklet" category though. I was also assuming that because Google had more books online that they would also have more in this particular category (might be a bad assumption).

I've already gone through Gutenberg's books and their selection does not look to be nearly as big as Googles. You're reading far too much into the statement. A "fragmented maket" is a common business term taught in every university in America and it happens to describe the e-books market exactly. It's not some statement about Google's need to control the world or anything. Edit: Let me be clear that I'm not saying Google isn't trying to take over the world. I'm only saying that this particular statement is nothing sinister.

Has anyone found any old public domain cookbooks or books on food in Google books? I've done a little searching but mostly end up with books using food as a metaphor.

Flash frozen on the boat is every bit as good as the vast majority of "fresh." I have friends who fish commercially who claim that (aside from the catch from very small vessels that day fish) most of what is sold as "fresh" was in fact frozen at sea and thawed on the way into port. Certainly if you live inland, you are better off buying frozen. All frozen fish are not created equal though. You definitely want to buy stuff that was flash frozen at sea. You want to look at the fish and make sure that it just has a thin glaze of ice on it instead of a packing that looks like snow that has turned into ice. The refrozen snow fish is generally not "flash" frozen.

It seems to me that some of you are mistaking precise language for pretention.

I've always said "midrare".

Chef also is a French cognate of the English "Chief" which clearly indicates that you are in charge of other people. Since most people do not have a herd of line cooks and sous chefs at their home, it would seem a weird term to use about a person cooking at home alone or with their spouse.

What other pieces are you cutting a chicken into when you're cutting it into whatever? I mean, you can butterfly, you can spatchcock, you can debone, you can cut up or break down but the parts remain the same, right? I think the point he is making is that "breaking down" is a very specific way of cutting it up. Namely, cutting into the component 8 pieces while leaving skin on and bone in. "Cutting up" can mean any number of things like the ones you listed.

Vegetable Koftas are good and I've had some made with cauliflour that felt and tasted much like meat. I'm a big time carnivore but could still eat nothing but Nawabi Malai Kofta at a nearby restaurant and not miss the meat at all. The downside is that some vegetarians really dislike that it tastes and feels like meat.

I use "protein" when I'm meal planning but that is it. It's easier than saying "meat, fish or vegetable protein" every time. There isn't a single home cooking word that fits.

I use a lot of the jargon at home but I spent a lot of my life in a professional kitchen. For example, I am now an accountant but have been known to tell my wife that I am "weeded" when I'm very busy. I also refer to "mise" and "plating" pretty regularly. After 10 years in restaurants, it's hard to revert back to typical home kitchen language.

Which of the Oils do you suggest?

Tried the Neo-Napoletana the other day and it was MUCH easier to deal with and I thought gave a very similar product. It was still very thin and had a nice crunch. I also tried the crushed tomato sauce which was much better than I expected. It was really bright and naturally sweet (as opposed to the sugary sweetness of jarred sauces).