JAZ

I use them, cut into chunks on skewers, for satay or in a jerk-style marinade.

Last year we had a great dinner at Rioja, which I wrote about here. (There are other suggestions on that topic, although most are a few years old.) It sounds as if they still do the tasting menu; if so, I recommend it -- with the wine pairing.

Okay, I'll try to be more specific. I get a hit of sweetness first, but quickly followed by a sort of mustiness (aka dust balls) and something acrid (aka sweat socks). Yes, I know it's high proof, and yes, it's funky, but to me not in a good way. I like a lot of strong flavors and funkiness in other products (Islay Scotches or Maraschino for instance), so I'm not sure why this strikes me as off. Maybe I'm just not mixing it right.

At the risk of sounding like a wimp, I'm going to revise this statement. I've really been trying to like Smith & Cross, but I just don't. To me, it tastes like rum infused with dust balls and sweat socks. It's okay as a sub for the now unavailable Inner Circle in a Both Indies, but otherwise, I'm just not getting it.

A friend of mine who travels brought me back a bottle of this. I like it, but have found it to be of limited use in cocktails. Think of it as a peach-flavored dessert wine -- sweet, low alcohol (the bottle says 18%) and very fruity. The best use I found for it was in a Bellini-type champagne cocktail.

The main difference is the amount of evaporation -- there's virtually none in a pressure cooker. For me, the time savings is more than enough to make a pressure cooker a great tool to have. I suppose if one has unlimited time and doesn't care about fuel costs, there's no reason to use one.

A couple of thoughts: First, I find that most people who belittle "uni-taskers" do so out of a misguided feeling that it's somehow macho to cook with only a handful of tools -- they tend to say things like "All you need to cook is a chef's knife, a wooden spoon, a bowl and a pot." Then they immediately start adding things on (sort of like the Steve Martin character in The Jerk -- "all I need is this paddle game. . . and my thermos. And this chair, but that's all I need.") and pretty soon they have a a full kitchen outfitted. I don't know why, in cooking, so many people feel it's better to work without good tools -- would they try to play tennis with a ping-pong paddle? Second, as has been mentioned, the more focused one is in cooking, the more specialized tools one needs. (Chocolate dipping tools can only do one thing, but if you're dipping chocolates, it would be foolish not to have them.) From what I've seen, professional chefs and cooks have more uni-taskers than amateurs. For instance, when I worked at Sur La Table, we carried an egg topper that cost $50 or $60, and I always thought it was one of the most ridiculous things ever. Until a brunch chef from the Ritz Carlton came in and bought two. She regularly served 200 soft cooked eggs in a typical Sunday brunch and told me that the expensive egg topper was the only one she could count on. All the sudden it seemed like a very practical item -- maybe not for me, but certainly for her. Third, depending on how you define a "task," almost any kitchen tool can be described as a uni-tasker. As has been mentioned, knives do nothing but cut food, stoves do nothing but cook food. The list is endless, and includes all kinds of items that those Steve Martin types find indispensable when pressed -- scales, measuring cups and spoons, strainers, etc. The deciding factor in whether to buy a particular kitchen tool should not be how many tasks it can perform. We tell our beginning students to consider three things when deciding whether to buy a tool: how often you need to perform a task, how well the tool does the task, and how hard it is to do the task without the tool. Then you balance those considerations -- along with the cost -- and you have your answer about the usefulness of the tool.

I knew Del Taco pretty well when I lived in Southern California in the early 80's, then didn't see one for years after I moved. But my last few years working in downtown San Francisco, one opened up around the corner, so I went there once in a while. I found the crispy fish taco to be pretty good, but my favorite items were the Tacos Del Carbon -- both the steak and chicken versions were way above average for this kind of place. And I agree about the sauce.

I co-teach a three-day Kitchen Basics class, and one of the the things we try to teach our students is how to get the most out of their supermarket, by shopping at the same place and getting to know the employees, especially the section managers and assistant managers. It never fails to amaze them that they can ask for "favors" and that the employees will almost always be willing to do whatever they can to help. Nowhere is this as obvious as in the meat department. We tell them that even if they shop at a place that doesn't do its own butchery, they can -- with the right attitude -- at least get meat repackaged (if they only want one steak instead of four, for instance). And that if they have the luck to shop at a market that can do some basic butchery tasks, then they can get even more service, as long as they know who and how to ask. We tell our students that you can ask the meat department employees to cut a rack of ribs in half, or cut a thick steak off a rib roast, and they're amazed. And yet, even though I know these things, and know the guys (and women) who work in the meat department where I shop, even I'm surprised occasionally. Like today. After a day on jury duty, all I wanted was a comforting easy dinner, so I figured I'd make a burger. Now, my supermarket has good ground beef and I have no qualms about buying it, but today, they had chuck roast on sale for less than ground chuck. I really didn't want to spend the time and energy grinding beef (even though, yes, I know it's better). So, I was standing in front of the beef case, trying to figure out what to do, when the meat department manager came out. He asked if I needed help, and I laughingly said, "I can't believe the one day I want a burger, you have chuck roast on sale for less than ground chuck." Without batting an eye, he picked up a package of chuck roast and asked, "You want me to grind this for you?" It never occurred to me to ask them to do that, but now it's on my list to remember. Maybe it's not like going to a "real" butcher shop, but it's still good to know what you can get if only you ask nicely. Am I just lucky with my supermarket, or is this common practice where you shop?

I like them both, but mostly, I don't think they're comparable. I like Smith & Cross in some drinks, but in others, I think Appleton 12 works better. The S&C is just too funky for me in more delicate drinks.

Something that occurred to me recently is a trick I use when making macaroni and cheese. I like the flavor of aged gouda or cheddar but they do tend to get grainy. Adding a small amount of cream cheese seems to keep the sauce much more smooth -- about an ounce per cup of bechamel, added when the sauce has thickened but before I add the cheese. Maybe it would help with this dish as well.

Thanks, all. Now that I think about it, it makes sense that the center sections of the leg bones would have the most marrow. Duh! Unfortunately, going to a butcher who will cut bones for me is not an option. I don't think the bones suffer much from being frozen, though, and now that I know what to look for, I'm sure I can improve on the quantity of marrow from the packages of bones I buy. They're cheap, and since I can always use the end pieces for stock, I don't mind buying extra.

I love marrow bones. I used to get them at my butcher in San Francisco, but when I moved to Atlanta, I couldn't find them at my usual market. Now, they've started to carry them pretty regularly, so I've been buying them again. But the ones I get now don't always have much actual marrow in them. Instead, the center is calcified (no, I don't know if that's what actually happened, but that's what it seems like). For instance, of the six I bought recently, two were filled with marrow, two had some marrow and a lot of hard stuff, and one had no marrow at all. With this bunch, it seemed that the smaller bones -- that is, the bone segments with the smallest diameter -- had the most marrow. Is this a rule I can go by? Is there some other clue I'm missing? (I don't remember as much variability in my previous experience, but maybe I was just lucky.)

My mom used to use Liquid Smoke to good effect -- not in smoked meats, but in "smoked" salmon dip and the like. The key, though, is to go easy. As janeer said, 1/2 cup is probably too much; the stuff is pretty concentrated. In any case, you can certainly get the tender part down in the kitchen. Just cook your meat low and slow, and be patient.

A friend of mine sent me this link to a recipe from Amanda Hesser, because he knows I have a thing about texture. I think her initial premise is correct: But I think her solution is all wrong. Baking macaroni and cheese with a layer of cheese on top doesn't give you crunch; it gives you leathery cheese you can barely chew through. Plus, I've tried the cream+milk combination in the past, and am not convinced it makes superior mac and cheese. Mostly, I'm not sure why she chose this odd route to getting a higher crunch to soft ratio. When I make macaroni and cheese, I just use a shallow dish that fits the macaroni/cheese mixture in a thin layer -- like one or two noodles thick. Then I top with buttered panko, mixed with parm if I have it and want to go the extra mile, and bake. But maybe I'm missing something. Has anyone tried this? What do you think?

First, I would go with lemon juice rather than orange; I don't think orange is acidic enough to balance the syrups. Second, I usually start with equal parts of the sweet and sour elements and adjust from there. So for this drink, I would start with 2 oz. rum, 1/4 oz. each of the syrups and 1/2 oz. of lemon juice (per drink). If you're set on using orange juice, add lemon juice as well for balance -- maybe start with 1/4 oz. each of lemon and orange.

Are you aiming for sales of items to be eaten at the market, or items to be taken home by the customers? Or both?

Thanks for the ideas, everyone. Showing the students the "right" and "wrong" starches to use for various dishes is great. Lisa, is your water particularly alkaline? Do you salt the cooking water as well as add the vinegar?

Once cut, red beets "bleed" their color amazingly, so I doubt you'll get any visible layers; everything will be deep pink. If you want visible layers, you should probably choose yellow beets.

Dave the Cook and I are teaching a series of classes on Kitchen Science. So far we've done eggs, meat, and fruits and vegetables. Because there was so much material to cover on fruits and vegetables, we decided to do a separate class on starches. It's still a big subject, so we're trying to figure out what to teach. The class is three hours long, with about an hour of that hands-on for the students. We hope to end up with 3 to 5 hands-on tasks that either illustrate how various starches behave, or teach the students a technique with starches that they might not have encountered before, plus additional recipes/techniques to demonstrate. (In the Eggs class, for instance, the students whipped egg whites and made souffles, poached eggs,and made egg-emulsified sauces.) If you were taking a class on the science of starches, what would you expect or want to learn?

Does Red Robin count as fast food, though? Isn't it a sit-down restaurant?

I've found jalapenos to vary wildly in heat level -- this in all kinds of markets (in San Francisco and the Atlanta area, mostly). The explanation that I've read is that capsaicin levels are dependent on soil conditions and moisture levels, and since those vary, the level of heat in these chiles varies as well. It might be that growers and buyers take than into consideration and try for milder heat levels. But I'd still never say that jalapenos taste like bell peppers, even when they're mild. Serranos and habaneros, in my experience, seem to be more even in their heat level. Another thing to keep in mind is that if you eat a lot of capsaicin (in chiles) for a long period of time, your tolerance for it grows. It might be that your tolerance has increased and so the chiles that you used to experience as hot no longer seem so.

I don't remember the details, so don't quote me on this! But I imagine it was a half cup of butter to maybe 1.5 cups confectioner's sugar, and 1 tablespoon cream.

Just to throw a couple more suggestions into the mix: I sometimes make them with 2 oz. rye, .25 oz each lemon and orange juice, and a teaspoon of grenadine. Very similar to the balance of Dave's above, but more of a rye hit. If you don't like much fruit, you might prefer this. Also, I found sour oranges at a local "International" market, and used about .75 oz. of that juice to 2 oz. of rye and a teaspoon or so of grenadine. It was, quite possibly, the best Ward 8 I've ever had, but sour oranges aren't readily available, so it's going to be a rare treat for me.

My mother used to make a browned butter icing for spice cakes and cookies which called for browning the butter, then just mixing in confectioners sugar and a bit of cream to the right consistency. It's not a fluffy style like buttercream (it does tend to harden up a bit upon sitting), but it's really good and easy.