Mjx

It's pretty expensive, but since MC is basically about what is possible in the kitchen, now, you could argue that it is for everybody. MC is really just about paying attention and thinking about what happens in the kitchen, so cooking doesn't just 'happen', but is the outcome of conscious decisions; the cook acquires active control over the outcome. A little historical context makes MC more accessible: Many of the things that are done in MC are not new, but rethink very traditional ideas. Anyone can use the underlying thinking and approach to MC, and from a practical standpoint, there has to be at least one recipe in the set that is accessible to any given person.

Is this a hard and fast government regulation, or an airline mandate? Because I do know that SAS (for example) no longer permits anything that is 140 proof or over in carryon bags (passengers were getting too raucous), but you're still permitted to bring it along in your checked luggage. You may want to check a few different airlines, to see whether their policies vary on this point (I do realize SAS and other Northern European carriers aren't exactly the first ones you think of in conjunction with a trip between North America and, say, Jamaica, but it might be worth looking into, anyway).

'Perfect' is a tricky term, but I have to say that I get reliably fantastic results from CI/ATK's recipe, which gives you a whole roast bird. A love the idea of experimenting, but I have doubts as to whether a more complicated approach than 'brine and roast, flipping twice' gives better results.

I actually like the Genisoy chocolate fudge bars. I'm a bit happier with the ingredient list on the Larabar Jocalat chocolate coffee bar, however, which is much more pleasant than you expect; I have at least one of these per day (and have been know to subsist on them) when I'm in the US (I'm specific about the flavours, because they're pretty much the only ones I eat, so I've no accurate idea of what the others are like).

Hah. I use Herbamare... which contains MSG, and I know it, even though it isn't listed (doesn't have to be, when it's part of another ingredient).

It's hard to go wrong with a really good balsamic vinegar.

If you can get people to think just a bit like researchers – look it up, don't guess/wing it when you don't know, take notes of what you do, the importance/technique of accuracy in measurements – that's probably the most crucial thing you can teach, and it needs to be rammed home that thinking this way needs to become habit. I don't think successful MC is going to happen without this mindset (and it's relevant to other sorts of cooking, too). Explaining the bit of the historical background of MC may also be a good idea, since it situates in the broader context of cooking, and makes people aware of the fact that a number of the actual techniques involved are not new; the approach, the thinking behind them, are. For the hands-on sessions, I think something straightforward and sort of everyday (e.g. stock, flank steak), and something fun (e.g. spherification) would offset each other nicely.

Does this actually extract more juice than rolling? How does this work? I'd love to do a side-by-side comparison of the two techniques (but haven't got a microwave).

Unless you see your cheese being taken from the wheel, all centre cut means is that you have no guarantee of the quality, which is stamped on the rind. Only the wheels that are of the highest grade get to keep the Parmigiano Reggiano stamp that is repeated all around the edge (it goes on before the cheese is mature), unmodified. There is a second grade that is considered okay, but not premium: the stencilling gets a modification of indelible parallel horizontal lines and a branding. The third and lowest grade has the stencilling scraped away completely, since it isn't considered Parmigiano, and it cannot be sold as such; it is either used as animal fodder, or ground and blended with other cheeses, to be sold as unspecified 'grated cheese'. The medium grade is fine, but you should know it for what it is, and not pay top dollar for it. All else being equal, a piece cut from the centre does give you more edible product for your money (although the rind during cooking is great for adding depth to soups). (Spent some time at a great B&B outside Parma, which is also a small Parmigiano producer, and learnt this then.) Edited to add corrections from notes I took during a tour of the Parmigiano factory, since my recollection was not 100% on.

Actually, I kind of like that, especially the honey-based sort. I'm with those who mentioned peeps, however... what the hell is that bitter yellow stuff that coats them?!

I feel like I'm going to have to duck and run after I say this, but I find that most US versions of candy bars have become inedibly, one-dimensionally sweet, including several that I'm fairly certain are American originals (and I have a sweet tooth: I can eat honey or preserves straight from the jar). I can still enjoy Snickers and Mars Bars when I get them in the EU, but in the US... well, let's just say the last time I bought a couple in NYC, I threw both out after two bites from each (the second bite was to double-check that what I would have believed impossible was actually true); what happened?! These are definitely in the running for 'worst candy'. However, THE worst candy I ever had was something Twizzlers put out (briefly) some years back, and which were those rubbery twists, but instead of being fake liquorice or cherry/strawberry flavours, were pastel coloured 'fruit' flavours, and filled with some odd, bizarrely plasticky-tasting gluey substance. They made me miserable.

If you can get your hands on some top-notch strawberries, drizzling them with a little balsamic vinegar (use the good stuff!), and a little finely ground black pepper, is light and complex, simple and elegant, and easy and quick to make (there's no recipe, as such you just use the amount of balsamic and pepper that seem right to you); with a very little care, the ingredients are easily transported. A few chocolates about would be good for those who have a little extra capacity to fill

Lighting a match or a lighter. Not kidding: When I went off to uni., I'd somehow managed to get along for seventeen years without ever having to light match, and suddenly, I was living in a flat that had an old stove with burners that needed to be lit each time you turned them on. After hunger drove me to attempt this, I let it go for about a month (shaking hand + flinging the lit match from you as soon as it light does not make for a lit burner) before trying again. I think it was at least several months before I could firmly strike a match without my hands shaking. Only my desire to experiment with cooking meat (vegetarian family, so I'd never done that before, either) made me persist. Nothing else has seriously intimidated me, unless I've had to deliver results for someone else (which still makes me anxious).

What?! You're not going to invest in some activated charcoal? I've never heard of alcohol removing scent from things, although I tried it once or twice (in desperation, after trying out fragrances that turned out to be so awful I wanted to chew my off my lower arms).

Is there a 'consume by' date on it? Not exactly a hard and fast guideline, but if the date on it sometime in, say, 2015, it should be fine. Update me when you find those studies! That book's science is not unimpeachable, so some original research would be particularly interesting.

From what I've seen (NYC, San Francisco, and several towns and cities in Italy and Denmark), my impression is this depends on where you are, and the product in question/time of year, but in some places, for some products, at some times, the prices at farmers' markets will be lower. It's not not something I would ever count on, however, and I tend to assume that I'll spend more per unit at a Farmers' market, at least in the US. The prices I've seen in Århus seem higher then those at the really cheap supermarkets, but the same or lower than those at the mid-priced supermarkets. I'll try remember to make a note of prices at the farmers' market this Saturday, and do a real comparison.

Interesting; please list some studies, since both these items are news to me!

Contacted the manufacturer, and got a new nut (two-year warranty on pretty much everything, here) and a several replacement dies, since we determined that this mostly happened with dies that were fractionally smaller in diameter then the rest, but it took ages, so we picked up an extra nut in a shop, too. I haven't seen this problem mentioned in reviews. My boyfriend fell seriously in love with a half-century-old, relatively small La Parmigiana unit at a restaurant in Bolzano, and has decided he needs one like it; I'm hoping (to return to the topic at hand) that a smaller, but equally well-made commercial [quality] unit exists at a not-too-appalling price point.

I'm wondering why canola oil smells fishy, when the (very unfortunately named) rapeseed oil, which is very commonly used in Scandinavia, for example, smells fine (since canola oil comes from a rapeseed cultivar).

Oh, the threads are fine! As I said, it's the retaining lip of the nut (the part that holds the die in place) that is being torn away by the die being pressed right through it. As you (and many of the others, up-thread) note, there is a distinct absence of consumer products that are solidly constructed, so such items are pretty high on many member's wish lists.

Thanks! We have the PM 1400 N1. The nut I'm talking about is the one that holds the die in place, and it is just inadequately constructed for withstanding the pressure of even the softest dough that will hold its shape. Plastic is cheaper (although this wasn't exactly inexpensive). If the machine can't handle the sort of dough it is designed to process, that's not good. It's probably perfectly adequate for the occasional pasta maker, but if you want something you can count on, it's an underdimensioned toy. We're keeping an eye out for a used La Parmigiana machines, but we're hoping to find something of that quality that's a bit smaller, since even their smallest units have a fairly good-sized footprint.

Two things I'd really like: A consumer-sized, but restaurant-grade pasta machine, and a deep fryer with a reservoir that is slot-shaped, and fairly small. The Pastamatic we have (though not for much longer) has problems, because the pressure generated by the pasta dough pressing through the metal die actually presses the die through the retaining nut, simply shearing off the lip that holds the die in place. The retaining nut is made of plastic, and has already been replaced once. Making everything but the housing of over-dimensioned metal would make extend its life, and mean that more of it would be desirable from a recycling standpoint, once it was kaput. Unless you're frying masses of stuff, a deep fryer uses a lot more oil than is actually necessary; a smaller, slot-shaped reservoir would save oil, energy (take less time for all the oil to heat), and could even be made as an interchangeable system, so you could select your reservoir based on the quantity you were frying. (Edited to fix hilarious spelling error.)

It's been a while since I've used it, but I don't remember lemongrass as being particularly tart, isn't it mostly about the scent..? I'm going to take a better look and see whether anything like these exists here (I've never seen it, but I wasn't looking, either). Is that made from yuzu pulp, or is the zest? I'm going to pop round to the Pan-Asian shop around the corner, and see whether they have this (and the yuzu salt rarerollingobject mentioned). There have been several great suggestions, and thinking them over, I've decided to put together a small batch of citrusy fish salt using citric acid, salt, lime zest, cayenne, and, I think, finely ground coriander seed. If it ends up too harsh or flat, I'm going to add a really small amount of palm sugar, and if that's still no good, I'll see how adding enough oil to make a smooth paste will work. I'm hoping a solid forage around the city centre will yield up something more complex (e.g. one of the dehydrated citrus juices, or the amchoor Blether mentioned) to replace the citric acid, which always seems best as a booster, rather then a central ingredient. A lot of the ingredients that have been suggested are going on my shopping list for my next trip back to NYC, if (as is likely) I can't find them here.

I save jars, but I'm selective; I only keep those for which I have a fairly definite use in mind. And I've definitely had my purchasing decisions influenced by the projected usefulness of the jar (also acquired two small glass prep bowls this way, which originally contained custard, and a ceramic baking dish, which originally contained a sort of country pâté).

Any idea whether that's widely available? I am about 99.99999% certain I wouldn't be able to get that here, but since I'm due back in NYC in about a month, I can look for it there, if it isn't a West Coast speciality. Although I'm sort of married to the idea of making something myself. Yes! I was thinking of starting from something like this, but have a hunch it will need tweaking in one direction or another... any ideas? I'm thinking salt will have to be in there.