weinoo

I am always evolving.

I just couldn't remember either...

I'm not agreeing, nor am I disagreeing, just throwing in my $.02. I like to think there are a few things still in the kitchen that are sacrosanct...Neapolitan pizza dough being one of them.

Indeed, what's funny to me is that baking breads, according to many hundreds of books passed down through the generations, has always been about the touch and feel and indeed the sound of, doughs and finished breads. Now it appears to be about measuring stuff to the hundredths of a gram.

I think it's unnecessarily ridiculous; hence, the title of Forkish's book.

Every dead Neapolitan pizzaioli is rolling over in his or her grave. And the living ones are probably using some awesome Italian curse words. And I seriously hope that the places where I enjoy some of the best pizza anyone has ever tasted never resort to using polydextrose or soy lecithin powder in their doughs.

Oh yes, the "Hearty Burgundy" was very popular during my years in California...perfect for cooking, with little to no wood/tannins at all.

Our standard cocktail size at home is in the 4 - 4.5 oz. size. 3 to 3.25 oz pre dilution. That gets the drink where it's supposed to be while it's still icy cold.

I really liked the 2 different convection features that were on the Bosch; convection bake and convection roast, which evidently involved 2 different fans. The new one we're getting has convection, and I think that's a feature which is almost a necessity. FWIW, the Bosch also had self-clean, but I never used it once the whole time it was in my kitchen - I think I was always afraid I'd kill the cat. The new one - no self-clean.

Your booze is too high up!

I think bakers really prefer electric ovens, but I've never had a problem baking in a gas oven...with a good oven thermometer or two, you ought to be able to calibrate the temp that your oven claims it's at, to the actual temp.

There is nothing I've used, or would like more, than a real combi oven. I think a Robot-Coupe would come in 2nd.

Shiny object! Okay, only kidding. Space limitations don't seem to be an issue for you as they were for me, in an NYC apartment with a galley kitchen. But a 48" range is pretty damn big, unless you're always cooking for 6 or 8 people. If I had the room, I would've liked a 36" range, but we're at 30" and that's plenty for me. Gas or electric - this was not a choice for me. We don't have the electrical capacity for an electric or dual-fuel range, and our buildings are set up for natural gas. I'm not as impressed by huge power (BTU) figures as the salespeople are. I'm not cooking at service in a busy restaurant; I'm cooking at home. Sure, I crank a burner or two up to boil a pot of water for pasta, or to sear a piece of meat, but most of the time, moderate heat is plenty. Your cookware is (imo) just as important. Budget - this should probably be your first consideration. Then fit everything else into that. In our current renovation, once I found out how much my contractor/architect/permits would cost, everything else fit into place. Oh, and as gfweb said, I went with minimal (almost none, except the ignition) electronics. Though our previous Bosch range's electronics never once gave me agita.

That's what I mean - the air still has to go outside, via my bathroom window, and in order to get there has to make 4 90° turns in order to do that. Coop allows 2 90° in ductwork (well, perhaps u can get away with 3). In our case, it was undoable without some hideous, ineffective modifications to the interior of our apartment. I've seen one or two apartments where people have run right out to their kitchen window, via a large soffit, taking away part of their view, their light, and their interior space; that wasn't worth it to me.

Superstitions aside, where does the exhaust air go?

Here's an earlier version of the drawing for the side where the appliances are going (an interesting triangle, if ever there was one). Now, there's no range hood duct run, and there will be no hanging pots or pans - that side will be a shelf as well. To the left of the range are a 15" cabinet and a 24" wine fridge; the countertop above is going to be butcher block.

HC - there was (ok, were) a final straw a few months ago. That was a leak from above, which was first noticed along the tiles in our bathroom, just above the floor. I noticed the grout stating to change color. So this involved the coop coming in, demolishing part of the wet wall, and replacing one of the waste pipes from the apartment above - they have to get to it through our walls and ceiling, if necessary. The cosmetic part of the "repair" job was not exactly the highest quality. Our tub is close to 60 years old, and I figured as I move into middle age, a step in shower might be a better fit. Our kitchen floor had been coming up for years - crappy peel and sick tiles were no match for my kitchen. I could go on - but it was indeed time.

A couple of things to point out, vis-a-vis the plumbing, etc. Both the architect/design team (who live in our building) and the contractor we are using, have experience doing many apartments, for many years, in our buildings (remember, there are 4 buildings in our cooperative, with close to 1,700 apartments). In addition to NYC building codes, which must be adhered to, they're very familiar with what goes on inside the walls. Any time the wet wall is taken down (as shown above), plumbing has to be replaced before the walls are rebuilt. Regarding hot water, the riser is insulated. There is no wait for hot water (unless, as happens occasionally, the boiler is on the fritz, though we have 2 boilers for the 4 buildings, and one is sufficient to service all 4), and we're on the 15th floor. Boilers were replaced a few years ago - cost us almost $5mm I believe. Our contractor was one of 3 who bid on the project. I've seen work done by all 3 of the bidders, and like the work done by the one we chose most of all. He also included everything we discussed within the scope of the contract, whereas the other 2 conveniently forget a few things, so their bids were considerably lower. They recently completed (just 2 floors below us!) a gorgeous break-through, combining 2 2-bedroom apartments into a lovely, wide open 4-bedroom space, with expansive views. I'm actually coming in pretty close to budget; well, not the original budget, but once I learned what all the permits/inspections/coop fees/architect fees/expeditor fees and contractor would cost, the rebudgeted budget is pretty close. Where I was under-budgeted was for lighting - all the new stuff will be LED, dimmable, etc. etc., and it's expensive! Where I over budgeted was actually for cabinets; we're getting what I would call semi-custom cabinets, as I can only have 21" deep cabinets on one side (yes, due to code, grrrr); we're getting the "boxes" from a company called CabParts, in Colorado, constructed of maple. The fronts of the cabinets, the drawers, and any filler pieces will all be custom made, measured after the boxes are installed, and supplied by our contractor, as part of his fees. My big disappointment is that even though our building allows us to vent to the outside (via a window, not through any walls), it became apparent once the walls were down, that this was going to be an engineering nightmare. With a short run from our range to the window (we were going to vent out the top of the window in the bathroom), the ductwork would have required 4 90° turns, a big soffit intruding into the shower space, and other aggravating things. After which, even if installed perfectly, I figured wasn't actually going to work all that well from the reams of stuff I read about range hoods and ducting. So, we're going to have a recirculating hood that will look cool, but probably not be too effective. But it will be better than what I've had for years - nothing - and I imagine if the filters are well maintained, will reduce odor and other particulates to a certain extent. Our sublet is literally one floor up from our apartment, which allows me to check the work on a daily basis. Contractors are only allowed to work between the hours of 8 AM and 5 PM, with noisy work (i.e. demo) only allowed between 10 AM and 3 PM; they can't work on weekends; they can't work on federal holidays; they can't work on Jewish or other major religious holidays. So the work, which started on September 8th, or 7 weeks ago, has seen actual work a total of 29 days. My goal had always been to be completely finished before the end of the year; contractor and architects say 3 months, which would be the beginning of December. Here's my setup in the sublet: I also have my new Instant Pot!

My guess is it's mostly about fire protection, but I'd also venture a guess that there's a lot of pressure in some of those pipes, especially in some of the very tall buildings. We are in a different apartment that we are subletting for the duration of the project.

Yes - everything is being done to code; plumbing has passed inspection. This might interest you: Our stove, our refrigerator and our dishwasher were all purchased about 12 years ago. I was actually able to sell the stove, dishwasher, old IKEA cabinets and countertop to someone who had recently moved into the buildings, and just wanted an upgrade from the original stuff the apartment they bought came with. This saved my contractor from having to remove all that stuff...the only thing left was the fridge and sink, and the cabinets that were original to the apartment. So before they even started, it looked like this: We're also doing our (tiny) bathroom at the same time. We're putting in a walk-in shower, with a bench, in lieu of a bathtub. It will have a drop ceiling in the shower, for extra lighting.

I've started a few topics about various renovation related subjects (here and here), but figured I'd put the overall project in its own. Pix often tell the story even better... It helps to have these. Well, you need to have these if you expect to get anything done in your coop. Then stuff can start... And then start getting rebuilt. A little better electrical system. New pipes have to be done in the walls. This Started on September 8th. They've had approximately 25 days on which work was done. Proceeding along nicely, I'd say.

You certainly won't find a better motor/base in a new Cuisinart...perhaps you can just find a replacement bowl? I replaced a 40-year old Cuisinart because the bowl became touchy (wouldn't close properly, leaked a little), and I can't believe the cheapo feel of the new one compared to the old one.

I use this almost daily - from oatmeal, to grits, to polenta - it's a great pan. Falk Culinair - 20 cm - approx. 2 qts. I also have a smaller one, older than 2 years, that sees tons of use.

I caved with that deal. Anyone want or need a Fagor Duo - 6 qt. model?

I would perhaps focus on the "bar" and/or wine program. Most of your profit is gonna be made here anyway.