Mjx

Funny, I was wondering how it would be on bread. Think I'll stick with Marmite, though.

I haven't tried it, and doubt I will. Umami paste seems like a textbook example of some focus group riding the coat-tails of a concept they only understand as an abstraction. I looked at the ingredient list when I saw the stuff on a shop shelf, and could not wrap my head around why anyone would think having ALL those things in a single dish would be a good idea. I've stood over a pot, thinking 'Needs something...' and reached for mushrooms and an anchovy, or olives and garlic, lots of combinations, but if I'm even considering throwing more than three of these in a pot, I step back and start considering what is lacking at a more fundamental level (often it's 'decided to take a chance on not reducing X, Y, or Z').

Have you looked in the freezers? I've found frozen organic broiler chickens (and parts) for way, way less than the cost of a fresh one, and in stock, the possibility of the meat texture being compromised by freezing isn't an issue. I've also occasionally been given elderly, athletic (i.e. almost inedibly tough) roosters by owners who'd become seriously sick and tired of the miserable bastards heralding the sun on an hourly basis starting at 2.00 a.m; and they make incredibly tasty broth.

What about draining the ginger and drying it a bit in a warm oven, or with a hair dryer? Other than that, all I can think of is, does the ginger have to be the kind you get in syrup? I've always used soft candied ginger (the kind without sugar over it, or I rub off the sugar).

Because cast iron has exposed carbide crystals, which is almost as hard as diamond. dcarch If you don't slide the pan about, it makes no difference; I'm speaking from nearly a decade's worth of experience. If you slide pans about on a glass cooktop, you're going to get scratches, since there's almost always something lying about loose on the surface.

Regarding cast iron on a glass cooktop, I promise you that unless you drag the skillet around on the surface, you won't scratch it. I use a cast iron pan on a glass cooktop all the time, and it's just fine. What really scratches the top is loose salt between the pan and the cooktop + dragging. Does it have to be purchased on amazon (another gift certificate or something)? You can get a 10 1/4 cast iron skillet from Lodge for way, way less than that: https://secure.lodge...&idProduct=3924 (Or is this still about getting an enamelled pan?) If you do get an enamelled pan, just live with the interior enamel, since you'd almost certainly need a sandblaster to get enamel off anything that is even halfway decent quality.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO ! Stop now. Now. Full on, dead stop. In your Dutch oven, you want a fully-enamaled cast iron (i.e., LeCrueset or its ilk.....). For the cast iron skillet, you want a Lodge UNENAMELED at all ! You will have to season it. it will be a bit of a pain in the butt (but not a big one) to do that. You will have to treat it carefully once its seasoned, but its not onerous. You want it ALL CAST IRON, NO ENAMEL. No grinding. No buffing. None of that. Lodge. Look for Lodge. Or Wagner is a good second choice. Note, you do not have to season the exterior, just the insides. What Pierogi said! Keeping the pan in good condition isn't huge deal, either; don't try to soak out gummed on food by leaving it full with water, reseason it occasionally, and you're good. There are lots of different ways to reseason a pan, some much more complicated than others. CI experimented with the various methods, and this was the winner: Heat pan over medium-high heat until drop of water evaporates on contact. Wipe inside with wad of paper towels dipped in vegetable oil (hold towels with tongs to protect yourself). Wipe out excess oil and repeat as needed until pan is slick. (Cook's Illustrated, September/October 2008; part of a larger article on cast iron, so worth getting hold of).

As someone with slightly high blood-pressure (well controlled by some old line medicine), I feel that there is most likely a link between sodium and high blood pressure, and there's plenty of proof about the link between high blood pressure and various other health issues. So I think it's a good move for these companies to proactively attempt to do certain health-positive things to their food. What about you? My first reaction was 'Mitch just want to see us scream and rant'. On the other hand, I've seen so many people reach for the salt shaker and stat shaking out salt without having tasted so much as a bite, I think getting people to pause, taste, and think about how much, if any salt the food needs, is a good idea. There will be plenty of people who will scream about 'nanny governments', of course, so I'm hoping that the emphasis will stay on the way food tastes. But it isn't as though they're witholdingt he salt altogether. Most people who have high blood pressure and take care of themselves are unlikely to thoughtlessly reach for the salt shaker, so I'm a bit sceptical about any purported health benefits of not having the salt shaker on the table.

As someone with slightly high blood-pressure (well controlled by some old line medicine), I feel that there is most likely a link between sodium and high blood pressure, and there's plenty of proof about the link between high blood pressure and various other health issues. So I think it's a good move for these companies to proactively attempt to do certain health-positive things to their food. What about you? My first reaction was 'Mitch just wants to see us scream and rant' On the other hand, I've seen so many people reach for the salt shaker and stat shaking out salt without having tasted so much as a bite, I think getting people to pause, taste, and think about how much, if any salt the food needs, is a good idea. There will be plenty of people who will scream about 'nanny governments', of course, so I'm hoping that the emphasis will stay on the way food tastes. But it isn't as though they're witholdingt he salt altogether. Most people who have high blood pressure and take care of themselves are unlikely to thoughtlessly reach for the salt shaker, so I'm a bit sceptical about any purported health benefits of not having the salt shaker on the table.

Have you tried cutting back on the mayo? The way it coats things can really mute flavours.

Damn, these are cute.

Research is great. My boyfriend and I spend absurd amounts of time trying to determine what is 'perfect' for our needs (the previously mentioned Dutch oven was a major bargain, and I stood there in the shop, clutching it, while my boyfriend compared prices online, and we debated how much we'd actually use it); we spend substantial portions of our holidays in cookware shops, and return home with things no sane person would try to stuff into a plane carryon. The posts and pans: Of what you have, what do you use a lot now? If you never use something, it probably isn't worth upgrading. If you use something a lot, and it works fine, stick with what you have, and look to upgrade elsewhere. Is there an expiry date on that certificate? If you have the time, allow yourself it. Do you tend to make a lot of big batches of food, and freeze/refrigerate for upcoming days? Do you make small, on the spot things? How big are the burners on your stove? Are there certain kinds of things you really enjoy? Your requirements and tastes are certainly going to evolve, but they're not going to change altogether, so where you are now can tell you some important things about what you'll find useful in the future. Especially when it comes to saute pans, there's a good chance you won't need more than one, but your standard batch size should direct your decision about which size to get. It's never occurred to me to get an omelette pan, but we never seem to need one; a skillet is a good idea, since it's versatile, and you can use it for omelettes, too. I don't care for non-stick pans, and never seem to miss having one, regardless of what I make in a pan. A stockpot is great if you actually make stock, or steamed puddings, or batches of soup that are big enough to fill the pot. I use one quite often but this doesn't make it a 'must' for everyone. Not sure what an 'everyday pan' is, but it sounds like the sort of things that's supposed to be useful for everything, but ends up being sort of inefficient at everything.

If you get a set, make certain that the knives are full size, or that their being less than full size is not a problem for you (e.g. you may not make really wide loaves of bread, or you may seldom use a chef's knife), since one thing that manufacturers often do with sets is to include knives that are a bit shorter than those you get if you buy them separately (this seems to hold true particularly for bread and chef's knives). Glass cooktops (I think that's what you mean..?) are excellent, one of the topics addressed by eG's Dave the Cook in Flameout. I use a big oval Le Creuset Dutch oven on a glass cooktop all the time, and it hasn't scratched yet; I'm just careful to not drag it (or any other pan) over the surface.

I'm with those who recommend building your selection carefully, and based on what you actually cook. There are few more annoying things than kitchen packed with items that are never used, but take up space and used the money you could have applied to things you really want and need. For example, I don't have a mixer and doubt I'll be getting one anytime soon, even though I 'Ooh' and 'Aah' over them when I see them in shops; I bake a lot of bread, but my hands and a handheld mixer do everything I need in that department. Egg whites? Same thing. On the other hand, I could think of a number of uses to which i might put a food processor, marble slab, or cleaver (for breaking up chickens and so on, for stock). Take your time. Think about the things you want and need, and look at the topics discussing them (e.g. there is at least one knife thread that has masses of useful information). Cook's Illustrated magazine also has product reviews that are particularly helpful when you don't have a lot of experience (e.g. they advise against knife sets, which are often bloated and undersized, and recommend building your own, choosing knives you will actually use), and can start feeling overwhelmed by tsunami of hyper-detailed information from experienced enthusiasts; I don't always agree with CI's conclusions, but the do make for an excellent starting point, and since their discussions are very specific and clear, you can easily identify points that may be meaningless to you (e.g. a pan might be downgraded for being very heavy for its size, but you're over 6 feet all and regularly carry whole trees home as firewood). If you get dishes, make sure you also get a decent selection of usefully-sized serving pieces; it's the sort of thing you can otherwise discover you need at the most aggravating time.

Marabou chocolate flavoured Philadelphia cream cheese: http://www.philadelp...a1&PagecRef=798. The caption says, 'Let yourself be surprised'. Saw a billboard for this last night, coming home from a dinner party; I didn't feel surprised, I felt 'Holy-hell-I'm-much-drunker-than-I-thought', so I had to look it up today, to see whether it actually existed outside my red-wine-inflamed mind. It does. Is this a thing anywhere else, or are the Philadelphia people just pranking Denmark?

Heaps of information of information on pate de fruits in these topics, just for starters (there are also quite a few others): Pate de Fruit (Fruit Pastes/Fruit Jellies), Pate de fruit, and Questions on Pate de Fruit.

No problem though, since plenty of today's Germans are enthusiastically vegetarian or vegan (and will tell you all about it), so leaving out the any meat/meat-derived ingredients wouldn't even be 'unGerman'

This is extremely pretty! How was the flavour?

That's Hall of Shame! Well, okay. How about if you sprinkle some crystals of instant coffee or smoked salt over it? It's a real improvement!

Doesn't seem like refrigerating would make any difference, if the the coconut milk is homogenized.

For weight, durability, sturdiness, and keeping contaminants out of what they hold, plastic containers are hard to beat, so would a solution for storing them out of sight be something you'd consider? Are any of the floor-level, what-look-like-cabinets actually tall drawers? If not, do you have the option of converting the space behind them to hold tall drawers? I can't recall whether I've ever seen this in the US, but in Denmark, it's a popular solution for holding large/heavy items.

No need to be even a little depressed, since a woman's scorn is an entirely different thing than a woman scorned... I'm guessing that yours must contain some element that leaves behind it at least a trace of shame or humiliation, at least as an after-effect (from screaming in pain..?)

I don't think i would have stuck around long enough to find out whether or not the food was good. Such comprehensive neglect of basic hygiene isn't something I can see paying for.

Wait: what is your go-to version now (just to establish some sort of frame of reference for what you aren't in the mood for doing more of)?

I tend to be bothered by pretty much everything, but discreet photography in a restaurant isn't one of those things. By 'discreet' I mean you only take pictures of the food on/people at your table (okay, I can understand the urge to take that big group that includes the waiter, which is a tradition that apparently goes as far back as photgraphy), you don't engage in moves that encroach on diners at other tables (if I keep wondering if or when you're going to back into me, I'm going to become irritable), and you don't use flash. That last one is probably open to debate: I find a flash going off like a slap across the eyes (but as I said, pretty much everty damn thing bothers me, so).