runwestierun

Can anyone tell me anything about the secret menu? Like what's on it?

Will you serve lunch? If not, do your classes in the day.

I remember Steven Shaw, I think, reviewing an amazing sounding place like this in Colorado. I couldn't find it for you, though. Maybe if he reads this he might chime in.

This is a month old, but I really like Seattle Food Geek's review of the book. He says it caused him an existential crisis: http://seattlefoodgeek.com/2011/02/how-the-modernist-cuisine-book-caused-my-existential-crisispart-1/#more-1387

I recently lost my can opener. I'm sure I accidentally threw it away. I bought one of those new can openers that open the can on the side rather than the top, and I really like it. It seems to somehow undo the seam that seals the top of the can to the can. The top doesn't fall in and it's not sharp. However, you have to have a regular can opener for backup because for some reason it will not open all cans, especially very large cans.

I have a friend who's father owns an appliance store. He got a big bull moose this winter and we went over to see it. This is a story he told us: He got a call from a rural penninsula about 25 miles away, but in a different state, which was a little odd. The woman had a very old chest freezer that went out, so she needed a replacement. It was very large, and my friend had one in stock, hence the call. It was more than twice as long as a regular chest freezer. He delivered it and they emptied the old freezer. He said there was meat in there that was 5 and 10 years old. As they unpacked it further, they found meat that was 20 years old. Then thirty years old. Then FORTY years old, can you believe that? And then he said when they got to the bottom there was a package that from the Illwaco Meat Market from 1947. Nineteen fortyseven. He showed it to the lady and asked her if she wanted it and she said, "Yep. Just put it back in there." So he took great care putting everything back in the order it was taken out, so she would have less chance of poisoning herself. This is why we clean our freezers. So we don't have appliance people talking about us in different states.

Aaron, you ordered yours 5 or 6 months after I ordered mine and you are getting yours 2 months before me. You should be thankful. They are not being shipped in order.

I have tried so hard to figure out how to grill a flank steak and not have all the juices run out when I cut it. I am sorry, I didn't take temperatures, but I grill a 2# flank steak over a medium hot fire for about 6.5 minutes and then I cover it with a double layer of foil and let it set for 40 minutes. That cuts the moisture loss by about 65%. Flank steak is such a bleeder, but I love its flavor. Conventional wisdom will tell you to let it rest half the time you cook it, but even 20 minutes doesn't affect it much. It needs an extreme rest (extreme for this thickness) at my house to retain moisture.

Peter, No books have shipped from Amazon.ca yet.

I did exactly the same thing 3 days ago. Keep your .ca order because I already got a delay on my .com order. The .ca order says it's coming earler. Just race them against each other.

Let me elaborate. Let's just look at cookbooks. Say you want a modernist cookbook. It's fall of 2008 and you buy Alinea. You love it, you see the eBulli book is out. You buy it, you love it, your friends take notice. They look at modernist books, think about them, but then the Big Fat Duck book comes out. They buy that. There is always a bell curve of interest about a book, there is always another book coming after the last one in all book categories. It's newer, shinier, and they are all pretty much the same. So people buy the new one and the older one falls by the wayside. But what's the category for Modernist Cuisine? Most Awesome Book Ever? Who is going to write the book to replace this one? Are they going to build a 40,000 square foot lab and hire 100 people for 5 years and spend $20M? In that case you're safe for 5 years. People who want a book on 30 minute meals will buy the latest 30 minute meal book. People who want a book on Indian cooking will buy the Indian cookbook highest up on Amazon's bestseller list. But if you want to know about food science, you will buy this book. There will be no other book tomorrow to replace it. This will be the benchmark. I think the best analogy for this book is Mastering the Art of French Cooking. It was a massive intellectual undertaking, it took years, it was huge, nothing like it had ever been done, people were starved for it. I think it was published in 1961. And I look at Amazon today, and it's #40 in cookbooks. Is there a finite market, will everyone who wants one buy one and then it'll be done? No, because everyone who wants one doesn't know they want one yet. Maybe they aren't even interested in cooking yet. Maybe they just started culinary school. Maybe they're 15. This is THE book and will be THE book for many many years. It doesn't matter how many you order. You can't order too many. You can only order too few.

How could he ever possibly be stuck with books? This isn't a typical book. This isn't something that will come into fad and go out of favor. This is the kind of book that will have a market as long as people are being born. The only reason I can think of to limit second run numbers under 30,000 now is the paper quality you mention.

This may already be implied in the design, but I would like a hose and valve to fill it up and drain it.

You made me laugh out loud.

I agree with cilantro. Dried--no flavor. The weird thing is if you freeze it--absolutely no flavor. I've figured out how to freeze pretty much every dried herb I can grow but I cannot even get a little cilantro flavor out of dried or frozen cilantro. Weird.

OK I am a little bit worried that the eG food blog has become the kiss of natural disaster, thus an undertaking that should not be taken lightly. LeslieC had to deal with the Christchurch earthquake during her food blog, and now Pierogi is awakened by tsunami sirens? It can't be just a coincidence...

I'm a flat surface basher but I don't like the little albumin print I sometimes leave so I almost always bash mine on the inside wall of my sink and then I'm about 50/50 one hand /two hands. Two hands if I just have an egg or two, one hand if I have alot or I need speed. All the shells are tossed into the sink and they get dumped into the trash all at once.

I got the message too.

In 2007 the new husband and I were trapped in what was left of our house for 5 days before we were dug out after a storm (not an earthquake). We were so so so thankful we had 50 gallons of water in our basement. It wasn't from preparedness, our water system was spring fed and a 50 gallon tank was part of our set up. You know you need water to drink and maybe wash-but remember you will need it for wounds, too. We would've been so much worse off when we were rescued if we hadn't had that water. I've got 15 gallons of water in 3 different places now around the house.

I love that you cook for your birds. I am thouroughly enjoying your blog, P. Thank you for describing everything in such detail. Thank you. Do you get alot of hummingbirds?

Ha ha! I just now ordered one from .com and I am racing them against each other. My .ca says it will be delivered between April 20-May 4th. My .com says one day later. But the .ca says it's not released yet, so if they keep fulfilling the .com orders maybe I'll get one. Note to self: you don't need two.

Wow, I just looked at Amazon.com and Modernist Cuisine ranks #60 in all books. Wow.

Yay, I'm no longer bitter!

You are the first person I've heard of to get one in Canada. I bought mine in October. Weird.

Marlene, Did he order it from Amazon.ca or Amazon.com, do you know?