Really Nice!

Forgot to add one thing to the list. If you shop in bulk, you must get a Food Saver. If you have one you know what I'm talking about. If you don't have one, think about getting one. Very little gets into my freezers without first getting wrapped in this gadget. I can't believe how fresh-like the things are when I defrost them. I freeze whole chickens, all my soups and stocks, foie gras that I've portioned, IQF vegetables and fruit during their peak seasonality, steaks, you name it... I got mine a few years back at Costco for $170. This included the vacuum sealer, three jars, and six roles of bags (4 - 11" and 2 - 8"). Since then I've also bought a 6-quart jar that I use to store a week's worth of lettuce. This is two heads of lettuce, cleaned and trimmed. The stuff stays just as fresh on day seven as it did going in on day one. No browning around the edges. I have no vested interest in this recommendation, but it is something I can't live without.

Fish turned me on to PFI and Whole Foods. At PFI I picked up one 5k block each of milk and dark chocolate Callebaut. Also a 6-can case of San Marzano tomatoes. Each can was 6.5 lbs. $33 for the case! According to some cookbooks I picked up in Italy (and had to run through a translator) this is the best tomato to use for Italian sauces. Back in '98, an Australian friend of mine smuggled a little bit of Kings Island 'Roaring 40's' Blue Cheese into the country. I had no idea to its quality, nor why she would risk bringing it in the country; that is until I tried it. It was the best blue cheese I've ever had in my life. Ever since I have searched every known store; Di Laurenti's, Costco, Trader Joes, etc. to find it and no one even knows what it is. As Fish was walking me through Whole Foods as a tour guide, we got to the cheese counter and I started telling him about this unobtainable item. And there it was. I bought a wheel, sliced it into 6 wedges and froze them with my Food Saver*. I'm down to my last wedge and need to go back. My girlfriend lives a block off the market, so that makes it very convenient for this east sider. Lots of good places there. I agree with assessment of Larry's but I still like going there for veal bones to make veal stock. It's usually $1.89 lb which is very reasonable and I can't seem to find them, or find them cheaper, anywhere else. I get two gallons out of 10 lbs of bones that I break down into 3-cup containers and freeze. When I use it for a sauce I usually reduce it down to 1 cup to intensify the flavor and gelatin. I save the bones to make a remouillage which makes it even cheaper and tastier. * On a separate thread there is a question about what are your must-have kitchen gadgets. I forgot to include the Food Saver. Just about everything I store in the freezers--kitchen and the garage--goes through the Food Saver. I have stuff over two years old and it thaws out like it was just frozen yesterday.

FWIW, there's an eastern European deli on Northup Way (NE 20th Street) in Bellevue. It's between the McDonald's and the BMW dealer. Actually, it's right across the street from the BMW dealer on the same side of Northup Way. I can't find them in the yellow pages (hard copy and Web site).

I would love to see it privatized. The state-run stores are very small compared to stores in non-state-owned states. I went back home to Chicago over the holidays and went into a couple of liquor stores the size of a typical grocery store. About 1/3 of the space was dedicated to liquor; the other 2/3 to beer and wine. It take this as meaning a greater selection. Privatization will promote competition whereby stores will have cheaper prices along with that greater selection. Look for Costco to have good, affordable prices on your scotch! Not necessarily true (at least with wine). A couple of times I went in to request specific wines not available through the local retailers and they came up empty handed. I was able to obtain the wines from other retailers through Wine-Searcher.

It works in my house, it doesn't work in yours. Hmm....

Got that Had one; returned it. It was clumsy and took too much peel off tomatoes, apples, etc. Got that for the pizza oven. See photos on Pbase. Mine goes up to 1022F and when I point it on the inside ceramic, it goes off the scale. Did you know red-hot charcoal gets up to around 800 degrees? I got mine at Action Electronics. As Steve says, it's great for chocolate, as well as other temperature sensitive items (like the girlfriend). Don't have that, but I did get something similar at Flora Springs this past summer. It doesn't have the light but it has the top varietals and their flavor profiles as well as a vintage chart similar to Wine Enthusiast Vintage Chart. Egg cutter? Got that Got three! I would like a small toaster oven to act as a salamander, but I'm not comfortable with the Easy Bake Oven-like materials they use to make them. They look so tinnie that if they get up to 450F I'm sure the heat would penetrate through and burn the paint off the wall.

As this is response number 44, I'm sure it'll get lost, but here it goes. I made two gallons of pea soup yesterday. Here's my recipe: SPLIT PEA SOUP 2 lbs dried split peas 1-1/2 gallons cold water 1/2 gallon veal stock 1 ham bone (with ham) 1 lb bacon, minced 1 lb mirepoix (8oz onion, 4oz carrot, 4oz celery) parsley, minced Place all ingredients together in a stock pot. Bring water slowly to simmer (should take an hour to reach this; any sooner and you won't get the gelatin out of the bone). Simmer 4 hours until peas are tender and ham is falling from bone. Liquid will be partially cooked down; add more liquid if consistency if too thick. Skim off excess fat. Remove bone and cut up large chunks of ham. Season to taste with salt and pepper. This recipe is from the Laverty Family Cookbook. Copyright © 1998. Distribute freely without alteration. A couple of points to mention. One. Using a stock is key as it's a carrier to getting the flavor you want. My personal favorite is veal, but you can use chicken or pork stock if you want. I wouldn't use beef, duck, or lamb as their flavor profiles are too strong for this soup. The key to using a stock is you get that extra gelatin to carry the wonderful flavors of the soup to your taste buds; and gelatin sticks to your taste buds! You'll get some from the ham bone, but having a little extra makes a difference. Two. Remove the meat and bone from the stock. Use a hand blender to smooth out the soup that's still in the pot. This will get the texture you want. Mince the meat and return to pot. Three: The best way to deal with the bacon is to preheat the oven to 375°F. Place bacon slices in a single layer on a baking sheet and bake for 20-24 minutes; depending on how crisp you want it. Baking it this way prevents the bacon from curling and splattering. It's no-maintainence-cooking as you don't have to flip it in a skillet every five minutes. Try cooking it this way and you'll never cook bacon in a skillet again. Once the bacon is cooked, put it on paper towels to drain. Pour the bacon fat into the ramekin dish you store in the fridge for future dishes, you know, it's the one next to the ramekin with duck fat. When the bacon has crisped, mince it and add it to the stock pot after pureeing it. Four: Start with cold water and stock. This helps extract more gelatin from the bone than if you start with warmer water. This will add thickening properties to your soup. Good luck and enjoy!

Survey says? Get one! This is one of those gadgets that, once you have one, you can't live without; just like a mandolin.

The Web site. Has some general information about pressure cookers.

Aw, shucks! You'll say anything to get your hands on my D'Yquem! I'd like to store it at least for a couple of months. November and December are so busy it's challenging to plan a menu while having a relaxing time. My local supplier (Seattle) gets them sporadically so it's not like I can keep buying them as I run out. I want to preserve the flavor and texture as much as possible; otherwise, it's going to Whole Foods and buying it in a jar.

Cash and Carry on the East Side in Bellevue has it for $1.39 lb.

Anyone have some experience storing truffles? I looked at The Truffle FAQ and they recommend covering the truffle in butter and storing it in the refrigerator or freezer. I think the texture would change, making it a bit soggy, using this method. I'm looking to hold on to it through the winter months and would like it to keep it as fresh as possible. Before putting down a couple hundred dollars I'd like to see if anyone else has a tried and true method. Thanks!

A few months late, but here's my two experiences: CIA at Greystone Napa Valley: I ordered a steak, which was disappointing. I purposely ordered it because I felt that this is the item (meat) that can define the quality of a restaurant. For some reason they gave me what looked, and felt, like a Ginsu knife to cut it. Rather than slicing through, it tore through it, with bits of flesh being pulled away with each cut. It was cooked properly, medium-rare. It had a nice gradual shifting of color from a brown exterior to a pink interior. But it was very tough. Very disappointing for $28. It was served with braised endive, béarnaise sauce and pommes frites (potatoes cut at 1/3 x 1/3 x 2.5 inches, i.e french fries). Unfortunately the béarnaise sauce covered the steak, and the steak covered the fries. This tells me either the cook screwed up the hash marks, or the chef doesn't know presentation skills. You should never cover a grilled protein with a sauce. The caramelization on the meat was softened because the sauce covered it, causing steam. Most of the fries were soggy from the meat. And the endive was extremely watery which diminished the effect of the steak and wine. Some restaurant on Vancouver Island: This was on a company retreat. Long story short we had three choices since we had a large crowd. the menu said steak with béarnaise sauce. (Hmm, I'm begnning to see a patern). It was a small steak, once again steamed with the covered with sauce and a handful of dried tarragon. Why didn't they put that on the menu? I cannot think of any other herb that has such a flavor profile difference between its fresh and dried states. Fresh is okay, I just can't swallow the dried stuff. It's a bad, tinny, bitter taste that doesn't leave my mouth for hours. It's like having a wad of aluminum foil in your mouth; only it's a different pain. This is the only dish in my life that I ever returned to the kitchen without even taking a bite.

How did it turn out? I made one for Thanksgiving 2000. I followed chef Paul Prudhomme's recipe. It was a longer-than-I-thought process. Making the stuffing took more time than deboning the three birds. I started at about 6PM on Wednesday and didn't put it in the oven (at 190F) until around 1AM Thursday. It took about 14 hours for the inside to reach 165F. All things considered, I won't make it again as the benefit to effort ratio is too low. Plus, I'm not comfortable eating poultry that is cooked at 190F with it sitting about 10-12 hours in the temperature danger zone.

Black treacle is British molasses. Use it as you would for scones, beer, toffee, dark breads...