runwestierun

I use Calorie King. I don't know if you can enter the whole recipe at once, but it's free and it has the most extensive database of ingredients I've found. www.calorieking.com

My Sous Vide Supreme. It's as convenient as a crockpot but makes absolutely perfect protiens everytime. No gory gray crockpot meat. There's a ham in mine now. If I cook it for a day in the SVS at 150F, then 185F the connective tissue dissolves and the ham has the texture of pulled pork. Then I grill it just a bit with a sugary rub to develop a slight crust. Absolutely beautiful for a sandwich. Seriously perfect. I love that thing.

K. That's weird. I Wikipediaed it and it said nothing of the sort. Indeed, the stuff is cultivated in the US and Australia (even tho' my Ethiopian grocer doesn't have it). I'm 100% sure I heard that it wasn't allowed--either from the grocer or a cookbook I have here or both. Indeed ... http://www.ethiopianreview.com/content/718 (old article, so maybe the law has changed) Wikipedia says it's grown in Idaho and Kansas in the US now.

And as the Canadian Amazon price is rising, the American Amazon price is falling, currently US$467.62. Go figure.

OK, I did what I was told and I googled the Kwanzaa cake. That is just wrong.

Any non-protein carpaccio. Really? Watermelon carpaccio? If I just take the sweet center part of the watermelon is that the tenderloin?

Wrapping individual caramels.

I also use EYB. It has given me hope that my recipes can be organized, because it gives me a searchable index for about 300 cookbooks. Maybe 20% of what I have isn't indexed, mostly French things, but all my books are quite new. I have been thinking about this organization issue recently. I've relied for so long on the "oh I remember where that is" method, but it's not working anymore. I really need to devote a week to it. I love the idea of Google Docs. I am posting to point out that organization is important, but it's also important to back up and protect your collection. We lost our house in a storm in 2007 along with all but my most recent recipes. I am embarassed how much of it I could not recreate. Google Docs seems like it would organize and protect a recipe collection. Thanks for the tip.

Bitter melon. God. I've tried 3 times, and I just can't. It is my own private durian.

Oh, this explains alot. I received a broom as a housewarming gift and I thought the bearer was implying that I was supposed to ride it.

Have you noticed that, like Sandra Lee, her kitchen is completely redecorated and her cabinets entirely reupholstered for each episode?

Just to let you know how mainstream this is becoming, Costco online now offers the Sous Vide Supreme with a vacuum sealer, bags and a cookbook. http://www.costco.com/Browse/Product.aspx?Prodid=11605673&search=sous%20vide&topnav=&Mo=0&cm_re=1_en-_-Top_Left_Nav-_-Top_search〈=en-US&Nr=P_CatalogName:BC&N=5000043&whse=BC&Dx=mode%20matchallpartial&Ntk=Text_Search&Dr=P_CatalogName:BC&Ne=4000000&D=sous%20vide&Ntt=sous%20vide&No=0&Nty=1&Ntx=mode%20matchallpartial

I got a Zoji breadmaker. It's perfect for my house, which is very cold. I don't think I'll bake the bread in it, but I won't have any more whimpering shivering dough sitting on the counter. Oh, and a piece of paper from Amazon that says that Modernist Cuisine will ship in mid-March. I cannot wait.

Just a quick bump to remind you that this is starting Friday, Dec 17th on the Science Channel.

I've never hard boiled a duck egg, I save them for their magical properties in baked goods, but a pinch of baking soda in the water makes chicken egg shells slide off without peeling. You might try it on a duck egg to see if it works and that the soda doesn't leave any taste in the egg. You can taste the soda in the chicken eggs if you use more than half a tsp, but the duck eggs have much thicker shells, I think it might work.

I come from a very cold place. I'd decided I'd had my lifetime's allotment of snow, so I moved 2000 miles away. I was nice and warm, but lonely without family on the holidays. A college friend took pity on me and invited me over for Thanksgiving. Oh but Thanksgiving is so much food! What shall we do??? She decided Thanksgiving was too much food, and to teach plump little me a lesson, decided to break it up. She decided to have Thanksgiving appetizers on Tuesday, Thanksgiving side dishes on Wednesday, Thanksgiving turkey on Thursday and Thanksgiving desserts on Friday. I was invited for Thursday. The turkey was cooked some previous day in order to make gravy for the Wednesday side dishes out of every molecule of moisture in the bird. And just in case some moisture remained, the entire bird, the whole bird, was reheated Thursday to the point of dehydration. So we sat and stared and chewed. And chewed. And chewed. On our turkey. Which was served with water. No gravy. No potatoes. No stuffing. Not even a salt shaker. I was so uncomfortable. It was horrible because the food was horrible and it was done that way to send an embarrassing message to me ("See how to eat right?"). I have never eaten a worse meal or been more uncomfortable at a dinner table. Yuck.

I heartily second veal stock. Now that I live in the hinterlands I can only get the bones in a 50# box. That takes up alot of freezer room but it's worth it. It's such a luxury to be able to add veal stock to an everyday soup. Panettone. Croissants. Everyday bread. Any meat dry rub. I would like to get to the point where I always make my pasta but I am not there yet. I bought an extruder attachment for my Kitchen Aid and I love it, but still sometimes I wimp out and boil up a box.

Maybe a pun on "blast off"? Not sure.

I like little caprese skewers: On a small skewer place a basil leaf, a cherry tomato and a cube of fresh mozzarella. They stand upright if you put the cheese on the skewer last. Drizzle the plate with olive oil and balsamic vinegar. I will sometimes grill strips of flank steak and then cut the strips into cubes and put them on picks. Served cold with a horseradish cream dip it really isn't that expensive and it makes the guys who are afraid of hummus happy.

I saw an ad tonight for a new show starring Richard Blais on the Science Channel called "Blais Off". The press release says it premiers Friday, December 17th. BLAIS OFF (December 17) - How can one man beat the world's most renowned chefs and experts who have been spent decades perfecting their recipes? That's easy -- with Science! Top Chef Superstar and culinary modernist Richard Blais brings to Science Channel a daring mission to re-engineer America's most beloved and favorite meals. He uses ultra-modern tools and super cool techniques to deconstruct and create new-and-improved versions of America's most popular meals using science and technology. It's science-based creative inspiration vs. decades of tradition and billions served. Fresh off Bravo's upcoming series, 'TOP CHEF ALL-STARS', which premiere's on Bravo on December 1, BLAIS OFF will have you craving seconds and thirds. I admire him and am looking forward to the show. I just thought I'd give you a heads up in case you don't hang around the Science Channel (like I did tonight watching the super-intellectual "Punkin Chunkin'".) Happy Thanksgiving!

I guess I was absent-mindedly clicking links on the Epicurious site when I happened upon this page of Gourmet magazine recipes dated nextmonth. http://www.epicurious.com/recipesmenus/gourmet/recipes?pageNumber=1&pageSize=10&resultOffset=1 Now I full-on mourned the loss of this magazine last Thanksgiving. I loved Gourmet. Now suddenly I find a list of new Gourmet recipes on Epicurious. You can see the font is the same font that the magazine used. Does anyone know where these new recipes are coming from? Are they written by people who were associated with the old magazine? Or are they just strumming on my heart strings??

That bacon idea is genius. I want to do it this year. Does the turkey skin crisp up OK with the bacon under it?

My favorite method: cube the yams, toss in a little olive oil and roast them in a hot oven until the exteriors are good and carmelized. Then toss with lots of fresh sage, beurre noisette, a little maple syrup, cinnamon, black pepper and alot of salt. This is a savory application. The maple syrup and cinnamon just round out the caramelized flavor.

I always do this. It works with any compound butter. I don't peel the skin back entirely, I try to leave some of the connective tissue between the skin and the turkey intact and slide the butter between the membranes. I chill the butter in logs and cut it into discs and slide it in that way. Once I froze the butter in discs because I thought they'd be easier to force under the skin. They stayed solid a little too long and the turkey browned up polka dotted! It looked like a Twister game and to this day is known as Twister Turkey. edited for spelling

I am wondering if anyone can explain to me why these panning attachments are so expensive?