weinoo

Pastas (I usually have 5 or 6 varieties), beans, canned fish (tuna, sardines, herrings, anchovies, etc.), tomatoes, chicken stock, artichokes, olives, olive oils, vinegars are always in the pantry. And a hunk of parmesan is always around. Easy enough to whip up a nice pasta dish.

What about salting it before using it in a salad? I don't know about anyone else, but if I see kale salad of some sort on one more menu...

The Elm is Paul Liebrandt's latest endeavor. Located in the King & Grove Hotel in Williamsburg, it's where PL decamped after parting ways with Drew Nieporent at Corton. Liebrandt is a highly regarded chef, earning stars at Corton and before that at Gilt. It should be on your must-try list, while PL is working the pass and overseeing every plate that comes out of the kitchen. I've enjoyed two meals so far, and look forward to my next. I've even blogged about it.

Pre-made Negronis and Manhattans - all the rage these days at cocktail places in NYC. Then it's just a matter of proper dilution and chilling.

Mark Bittman is trying to get everyone to eat healthier and smarter; anyone that reads him knows that's ones of his main raisons d'être. Last week, in his Flexitarian column, he was all over it: He goes on to extoll the virtues of brown-bagging (or lunch-boxing) it, along with suggestions of what to bring, how to prep for it, etc., as well as offering 3 basic recipes to get you started. All well and good. So my question (s) is (are): Do you bring your lunch to work? And...what do you usually bring?

LOL. Very well put, and indeed the point I was hoping to get across. I am certainly not demeaning or dismissing other back-breaking professions. But this topic and the OP was about chefs and that's what I was focusing on. Glad you got out and I have no idea what I was thinking going to cooking school at 40!

Come on - how hard do you have to smack a clove of garlic to crush it?

No.

Not a fan of the ebook cookbook. I like my sauce-splattered things and prefer that the sauce doesn't splatter my iPad.

I was just gifted a jar of Morello cherries. They are a brand called Landsberg, and are from Germany. The ingredients are sour cherries, water and sugar. I read through a thread or two about making cocktail cherries and it doesn't seem as if these are a good candidate for that. So - has anyone used these? What are some good uses for them?

Yeah, just scrub it good with a steel wool pad and some cleanser (Bon Ami, Comet, etc.) and start all over by seasoning it properly. And don't run it through any more dishwashers - ever.

Yes...a former wife of mine was British and was always telling me that I wasn't canning a product, I was jarring it. Doesn't sound much better, does it?

A few days ago, the Times ran an interesting piece about chefs and the toll that a lifetime of cooking takes on one's body. And while that lifetime might indeed be longer than that of, say, a pro football player, you definitely don't see 60-year olds working the line in many places. The article focuses on Mark Peel, a well-known L.A. chef/restaurateur, who worked in many a great restaurant over his 41 years in the business. The downside: And: So - I'm wondering if the chefs here agree or disagree. And how far along into your cooking careers are you if you're a chef? Has the thought of being unable to get out of bed in your golden years entered your mind?

Italy too, I'm pretty sure. Friends of ours in Umbria are in the midst of tomato overload, and they are canning like crazy. They didn't bring those jars from the US, either.

So where can an ordinary person get this "family heirloom" popcorn? Do you think popping corn in a basket over a fireplace might also add to the flavor? I would think it would add a certain smokiness.

Interesting that you use cast iron. I would think that by the time the cast iron heats up enough to start popping, you could already be eating your popped corn if you used another type of pan. Do the seasonings really work as well when they're mixed into the fat vs. sprinkled over the top of the popped corn?

The furikake sounds interesting.

I like http://www.amazon.com/s/?ie=UTF8&keywords=setaro+pasta&tag=googhydr-20&index=aps&hvadid=33127594307&hvpos=1t1&hvexid=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=1234567890&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=e&hvdev=c&ref=pd_sl_16freczrlm_e/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=http://www.amazon.com/s/?ie=UTF8&keywords=setaro+pasta&tag=googhydr-20&index=aps&hvadid=33127594307&hvpos=1t1&hvexid=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=1234567890&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=e&hvdev=c&ref=pd_sl_16freczrlm_e&linkCode=as2&tag=egulletcom-20">Setaro brand dried pasta from Naples. Comes in 1 kilo packages for about $7. Barilla is produced both in Italy and in the U.S. The American product is fortified with niacin, iron, thiamine mononitrate, riboflavin and folic acid, whereas the Italian product only lists two ingredients: semolina and durum flours. For the money, they're both pretty reliable.

Since I just popped up a batch of corn, I decided I needed to revisit the subject of popcorn. Yeah, yeah, I know there are a bunch of old threads about popcorn, but it's mid-2013 and I want the latest and greatest. My method is probably as old as the hills...I use 1-2T of oil (in this case, grapeseed, which I like because of its high smoke point), put a few kernels in and as soon as the first kernel pops, I add the rest of the corn (enough to almost cover the bottom of the pan with a single layer). I then cover and shake frequently, until the corn starts really popping. At this point, I lower the heat, adjust the cover so that it's slightly ajar (for the steam to escape) and let it happily pop away. I turn off the heat as soon as the popping almost completely stops . Today I sprinkled some smoked paprika on the corn when I added it to the pan and salted it lightly when it was done. It's damn good, but I want more - and I really don't want to load on the butter or salt. So, do you use the same method? What brands of corn do you like? I'm partial to Orville's; the others I've tried just aren't as good. Goya, Jiffy-Pop and even stuff from the farmer's market aren't as light and fluffy and they don't pop as completely as Orville's. And any brilliant ideas for seasoning?

Iced Tea. I like to brew tea with hot water, cool it down, then stir it over ice with sugar.

Has anyone tried these? From California's Grapery: Story here.

And...the coffee sucks compared to what I can do with a hot pot, freshly ground beans and a pourover/French press.

But in, for example, a Chinese stir-fry dish that uses celery, I think it would change the flavor profile too much. Anyone who doesn't like licorice-y or anise-y flavors would certainly be turned off by it. That said, I think fennel pollen is one of the great gifts to pork.

As Franci notes above, it's great raw in salads and goes extremely well with black olives and oranges. Also mentioned above, roasting and braising won't disappoint.

Sure sounds like basting to me. In this case, butter basting. You can see it in action in this topic: How to Cook a Steak.