JAZ

Thanks, everyone.

If you'd like, you can buy more. You can even order just the bunnies. edit: typo. You are a god... thank you.

Thanks for the information, but I guess I should have been more specific in my original request. The pickles I've been making are "refrigerator pickles" -- they're not boiled in a water bath or sealed or any of that. They start with a vinegar-based liquid with various flavoring components, which are typically heated and poured over the vegetables. I've got some good recipes and new ideas for that style of pickle, and have had great results from my experiments so far. What I'm interested in is pickles that are packed in brine, without any vinegar -- the ones that, like sauerkraut, result in a lactic acid fermentation. I have a recipe for fermented "half-sours" which, since it's from the book I've been using, I'm sure will work well. But I have never figured out the relation of half-sours and sours -- is it just the time spent in the brine? Is it just a matter of letting the pickles sit in the brine until you like the result, or is there some other element I'm not aware of?

I've recently started making pickles and am interested in trying my hand at fermented pickles. The trouble is, I've never lived in an area with good delis or other shops with pickle barrels, and so I have no first hand experience with them. I don't even (gasp) really know the difference between sours and half-sours. Can someone give me a crash course, or point me in the direction of a good site?

Not me, I have a cute little bunny rabbit mug: Oh man, I am so jealous... I used to have one of those, but it broke I do still have the penguin version though.

I'd be willing to bet this would work with the cardboard roll from the inside of toilet paper as well, and probably more cheaply... Actually, I doubt it. The rubbery material of the peeler grabs onto the skin of the garlic to pull it off, so you'd need something with a texture like that.

I had a roommate like this in college. (I was putting off replying here since she's the subject of an article on TDG and I didn't want to scoop myself.) I lived with her and ate what she cooked a few times a week for a school year, and all I can figure is that she was the gastronomical equivalent of tone-deaf. She drank reconstituted milk; she drank coffee so vile it should have been banned by international treaty. The only progress she made during the entire year was this: to begin with, if she was going to make, for example, spaghetti sauce, and I asked her if she wanted a recipe, she'd say "oh no, I don't need one." By the end of the year, if I offered a recipe, she'd at least look at it (didn't always follow it, but it helped a little). I think on some level she realized that the meals I made were better than hers, because she'd ask me questions about how I made things. But she'd never ask for advice when she was cooking, and when I tried to offer some (and I was pretty tactful) she'd brush it aside. Maybe it was misplaced pride. In any case, I think that the only way to have made her see what a bad cook she was would have been to state it in such umistakable terms that it would have hurt her feelings. I chose not to. But then, she never offered to cook for a party.

I've been told that it's something to do with ions. I'm not sure I believe that, but from experience, I can say that the stainless steel effect on the smell of garlic and onions is true to a degree. That is, it doesn't completely remove the smell, but it diminishes it quite a bit. It doesn't work with other odors (fish, for example).

Oh, well, since you've brought that up -- do we get bonus points for signed books?

Two recipes here, from Quick Pickles by Chris Schlesinger and John Willoughby. I haven't made either, but I've been making other pickles from this book and all have worked well. Copyright being what it is, I'll give you the gist and let you experiment (that's what I've done with the other recipes in the book and they've been fine). One is Garlic with Asian Flavors. Calls for 2 to 3 heads of garlic, separated into cloves and peeled. Bring to a boil a quarter cup white vinegar, a couple tablespoons sherry or mirin, a quarter cup soy sauce, a quarter cup sugar and the juice from half a lime. You can add dried chiles and ginger slices if you want. Simmer the garlic cloves in this mixture for half a minute or so, then remove from heat and let cool. Cover and let stand refrigerated or at room temp for a couple of days before sampling. Will last a couple of months in the fridge. The variation (Mediterranean Flavored Garlic) is about the same, omitting the sugar and soy. Substitute about a teaspoon of kosher salt for the soy, increase the sherry a bit, and add peppercorns and fresh oregano or rosemary instead of the ginger. Same preparation method.

That's one of the drawbacks (in general) that I've found at TJ's -- some old and otherwise inconsistent products.

The only bulk chocolate I've seen at Joe's was Ghirardelli. Maybe they carry a different brand at the one you go to? This was a couple of years ago, actually. It wasn't labelled as Callebaut, but I was told that's what it was. Maybe it was a limited time deal.

Well, you can use it for ginger.

It works best for one clove at a time. It can do two or sometimes three if the cloves are about the same size, but if one is appreciably larger than the other(s), it doesn't work so well.

I believe that the Trader Joe's bulk chocolate is actually Callebaut. I've used it for truffles and had very good results.

I use a press sometimes and mince or slice other times, depending on what I'm making. The problem with the press, as mentioned already, is that it ruptures the cells and releases the liquid (not sure it's oil, but that's beside the point). This can be a little harsh, and also tends to burn if you're sauteing. Because of that, if I have the time, I mince my garlic for sauteeing. But I've also found that if you're sauteeing it with other vegetables, you can just start sweating the other stuff until they're mostly done and then add pressed garlic and it doesn't burn. However, the smash and chop method ruptures the cells almost as much, so I've never understood the claim that that method is so superior to a press. In my opinion, if you end up with a smushy paste, it doesn't matter how you get there. One thing I've started doing, if I'm cooking something for an extended time, is to crush the cloves slightly and add them whole to what I'm making. Then I just remove them when I'm at the garlic threshold I want. Way easy. As for presses, if you want to spend $30 or so, Rosle's press really is great. But I've always had good luck with my Zyliss (about $18 now, I think). I leave the cloves unpeeled. Not only is it less time consuming, but the skin keeps the garlic guts from sticking to the press. You can usually just pop out the remainder of the clove whole, without having to scrub and poke out any bits of garlic.

Does she pronounce it E-Vee-Oh-Oh, or Eee-Voh? Either one sounds too precious for my taste.

I have the same experience working in a high-end cookware store near San Francisco's hotel and shopping district, and I do much what you do. There's a small alley lined with pretty good restaurants nearby, and I generally direct people there. It's not that they're the "best, " but a) there's a variety of places right in a row; b) menus are posted, so it's easy for people to see what they're getting into; and c) they are good. Given a little more interaction and info from the customers, I'll sometimes suggest other places, but I don't generally recommend the off-the-beaten-path, hole-in-the-wall places unless it's abundantly clear that they would appreciate such places. But it's different when friends are the ones asking. I do try to put more thought into my suggestions then, and I feel some anxiety that they might have a bad experience. But since I tend to know more about my friends' tastes, it's usually easier to make appropriate suggestions. But my experience is not with expensive high-end restaurants, so perhaps that makes it less stressful to make suggestions.

Can you explain why this is? In a burr grinder, the beans pass once through the grinding plates, so they stay cooler. They also release much less oil during grinding, so they don't clump up. They're ground evenly, which means you don't have a pile of coarse grounds on top of coffee powder like you get in a blade grinder.

Total aside here, but I've had nothing but problems with the Good Cook book club and wouldn't recommend it to anyone. Can't wait to buy my final book and have done with it.

Delusional. Willful ignorance.

If you can find a copy of Cocktail: The Drinks Bible for the 21st Century, by Paul Harrington and Laura Moorhead, make sure to get it. (Sadly, it's out of print.) It contains great background information on classic cocktails and lots of basic info on bar equipment, mixing techniques, liquors, garnishes and mixers. It rates drinks on two scales: taste complexity and mixing difficulty, and includes a "if-you-like-this-drink-try-these-too" section for many of the drinks. No pages wasted on stupid drinks with "sex" in the title; no "shooters." I've glanced through Dale DeGroff's book, and it looks good. I definitely plan to get it, but haven't mixed anything from it and don't know as much about it. Michael Jackson's book on cocktails is not great. He should stick to beer and scotch. Mr. Boston's is a good little reference book to have. It's primarily just a list of drink recipes (no commentary), but it's got a lot of those. If I were working in a bar and wanted to make sure I could look up how to make a Purple Hooter or Alabama Slammer or Sex on the Beach, this is the book I'd use.

Bar sugar (extra fine sugar) dissolves better than any other, so you could probably get better results if you ground it up very fine in a food processor. But even bar sugar doesn't dissolve as well as the artificial sweeteners. I use simple syrup instead.

How's it prepared? I love marrow bones and am always on the lookout for a new way to serve them.

"We know what kind of influence we have over our demographic, and we like to capitalize on every opportunity," Mr. Dash says. Hey, at least he's honest...