Burnin' It

In the US, the post office, the military, utilities, airlines before deregulation. In fact, I have yet to find a single instance where privatization produced lower prices and better service. Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't the PA LCB pretty much only exist to enforce the alcohol sin tax? Make up for the tax revenue and get rid of the LCB. You could tax the rich or corporations. You could even tax foreign currency exchange which does absolutely nothing to help the real economy. You could tax the crap out of those guys at PNC who took TARP money, and instead of using it for loans like they were supposed to, bought another bank with it. But I doubt that we have time for rational solutions. But yeah, LCBs in any state are pretty much an anachronism. I'm not too worried about rum running these days. Alcohol education should be paid for by the suppliers, not by a regressive tax on the consumers. Is this about cooking and baking? I think the thread started out political. I apologize if I am too far off topic.

If by "great" you mean expensive, yeah, I guess so. Not that I'm against organic or locally sourced. Sadly, how these movements often work is that people with the money want something, and then it eventually gets down to where the general populace can actually afford it. I would be happier if Grant Achatz would not only put that stuff on his menu, but would concern himself with finding ways for his suppliers to reach the masses. And his suppliers should be thinking the same thing. Another way to look at the question would be, can you make great food without it being locally sourced and organic? Absolutely. I don't think trying to eat responsibly is conceit. I think that calling only what a small minority can afford, "great" to be conceit.

It looks like the clucker wins, followed by the pork shoulder. I'm gonna concentrate on making recipes for those. You are lucky to have that seafood. Indiana is not the place for fresh fish =( +1 the idea of shopping ethnic stores. I have also found I can get organ meats supermarkets don't carry. Mmmm... tongue. Thanks for the info.

Wow, beef liver. I haven't seen a beef liver in a supermarket in years.

I am curious what items most often go on sale in your local supermarket? I am mostly interested in animal protein that can be had for less than $2 per pound, but would like to hear about anything that hits the sales flyers every other week. Here in Indianapolis, it's pork loin, frozen chicken breasts, and ground beef. I did see a sale on chicken livers the other day, which shocked me, but not a normal thing.

This I totally agree with. I just don't want to see everyone trying to build their own space shuttle

I think some folks may be a little out of the spectrum when they think about what the norm is. Without spending more than $100-$200? I've never spent that much on cooking a meal, unless it was a holiday and I needed to feed a tribe. Spending $100-$200 on a weekend hobby would be way out of reach for the vast majority. Yes, there is a place for experimental cuisine. But where's the edge? When do we say, have we stopped feeding people and are more concerned with what we can do, not why we are doing it? Thomas Keller, Grant Achatz, are talented people. But isn't it time to move away from the over complicated and costly and back to reality? This book takes it further. There's so much work to do, giving people access to basic cooking skills and ingredients.

That would be my point exactly.

Since reading about this book on Wired I've been torn. Yes, I think there is a place for food research. I think researching how food reacts to certain forces and chemical changes is a noble pursuit. Calling this a cook book, or really anything to do with cuisine is where it destroys credibility. To believe that chefs or cooks will be able to preform extremely complicated, multi-stage applications, using expensive and in some cases experimental machinery, raises the ire of anyone with common sense. No, I haven't read the book. It's defenders say there's more to it than that. Maybe there is, but every review I've read says it advocates an obsessive sensibility, unreproducible in almost any real kitchen. Where does art begin and craft leave off? That's a hard question. I've always had a problem with people taking something we all must do, like eating, and making it something where all but the very elite can participate in it. I question the morality of charging over $250 for dinner. Yet, if we follow the Modernist Cuisine, we should have more of it. Chefs should be creating food that no one but the super-rich can afford. So yes to food science, no to taking a craft and turning it into the unreachable. No to the obsessive perfectionists who move what we should all be doing into the realm of the gods. Yes to knowing the principles, and cooking from the heart.

Anything I can braise. I'm a meat eater. Chances are, if you have a cheap cut, braise it, and you'll get something good.

That book of Treasured Polish Recipes is the same one my Bushia gave to my Mom.