JAZ

The potato method does not work. Don't take my word for it -- Robert Wolke explores the myth here.

I don't think so Chris. It was still pretty softened even after a night in the freezer. I think I'll change the instructions to just spoon into a small container and freeze and use a spoonful instead of a slice. It wouldn't hold up to slicing already... Katie, I use browned butter in many applications where I want the butter to be firm -- just refrigerate after browning. If anything the browned butter is firmer than regular butter, because you've cooked most of the water out. If your mixture is soft, it's because of the sugar, not because of the butter.

Anna's right about the potato myth -- potatoes don't absorb salt, so adding one wouldn't do anything for the salt level. I think unsalted tomatoes and more lentils, along with unsalted broth or water, is your best bet.

But the enamel finish does make a difference in how well the pan cleans up. The matte black inside finish of Staub is much harder to clean than the smooth interior of Le Creuset (and its imitators). Also, the cheaper brands do tend to chip more easily.

Since it's also grapefruit season, you could try this salad: Supreme a grapefruit -- cut the ends off and then cut the rind and pith off. Then cut into segments by slicing on either side of each piece of membrane to release the slices. Layer those with the avocado slices over mixed greens or arugula and drizzle with a nice balsamic vinegar and olive oil. Sprinkle with kosher or other coarse salt.

Not sure if you're still looking for a recipe, but in John Besh's new cookbook -- My New Orleans -- there's a recipe for Creole seasoning that's surprisingly similar to Old Bay. It would be a good starting point, at least. Here's a link to a recipe, but unfortunately, although the ingredients are right, the amounts are all wrong. In the book, the recipe calls for 2 tablespoons celery salt; 1 tablespoon each black pepper, sweet paprika, onion powder, and garlic powder; 2 teaspoons cayenne; and 1/2 teaspoon allspice. It also calls for a tablespoon of kosher salt, but I think that makes his mixture saltier than Old Bay. I'd recommend adding salt to your taste. A little ground bay leaf (maybe 1/2 to 1 teaspoon) would probably make it even more like Old Bay.

One of my favorite summer afternoon drinks used to be gin and soda with a splash of Rose's and a squeeze of fresh lime -- sort of a sweetened Lime Rickey, I guess.

I agree, Chris. A traditional Gimlet with Rose's is the only drink I'll free pour; I've been making them for so long I think I could do it in my sleep.

The Benriners are nice, but they don't do waffle cuts.

The OXOs (either the V-slicer or the mandoline) are very good for the price. Whatever you get, I'd recommend buying a knife glove like this Microplane version to go with it. Hand guards for mandolines are pretty much useless.

My first thought when I read the original post was to wonder if you objected up front to the 50-minute requirement, given that you had reservations. I once had to push back the time of a reservation for a fairly large group, and was told in advance that the restaurant could do it, but it would mean we'd have to turn over the table faster than usual. That's one thing (and I thought it was reasonable -- they said we could have up to an hour and a half), but if I showed up with reservations and was told out of the blue that I couldn't even have the table for an hour, I'd turn around and walk out. That's just not acceptable.

When I started making overnight stock, I found that vegetables -- aromatics, that is -- tend to get very bitter with long cooking. Leaving them out makes for a much cleaner tasting stock. If you really want their flavor, I'd add them only in the last couple of hours. Better yet, add whatever vegetables you want as you use your pure meat stock, instead of adding them to the stock itself. Also, as Chris mentioned, I think clear stock is somewhat overrated. Sometimes it matters, but often it doesn't. I leave my stock on low on the stove, and from what I can tell, it stays around 195 or 200F. It's fine for my needs -- I don't make consomme or aspics.

One thing to consider is that not all kosher salt measures the same. Does the recipe specify a brand? Morton's is significantly heavier than Diamond Crystal, for instance -- if you're using Morton's, you'd want to reduce the salt to 3/4 cup to equal the weight of one cup of Daimond. (I'm surprised that Keller doesn't provide a weight for the salt.)

I'm not a fan of raw broccoli, which is why I've never considered buying the broccoli slaw mix. But I can see blanching julienned broccoli stems and dressing them the way I do celery root remoulade, with a creamy mustard and dill vinaigrette.

I have to admit that I usually buy broccoli crowns -- they're more expensive, but easier to deal with if what you want is florets. But today at the store, all that was available was broccoli with long stems. Very long stems. My first course of action would have been to save them for broccoli soup, but then I started thinking about other ways to use them. I ended up trimming and peeling them, then cutting each stem in two, yielding pieces about two inches long and just over 1 inch in diameter. I steamed them for 7 minutes, just enough to soften them but not enough that they lost all crunch. After chilling them, I sliced them on my ceramic slicer along with some shallots and tossed in a dressing of olive oil and lemon, with some garlic and parsley. It made a great salad, and I felt virtuous for a) not wasting the stems and b) eating more broccoli. This, of course, has me wondering what else I can do with broccoli stems. Does anyone else use them? What more can I do with them?

She often includes a recipe, or at least some instructions on how to make the dish she's talking about. I'd be careful about following them, though -- they often seem to be off in major ways. For instance, for some reason she seems to think that anything with beef -- soup, stew or braised pot roast -- needs no salt. If you already know your way around the kitchen, you could figure out what needs to be done to make the recipes work, but those who don't should steer clear. Read her essays, skip the recipes.

I'll be making Butterfinger truffle candies and caramels flavored with cardamom and cinnamon. I'll also make butter toffee almond bark, or if I have time and energy, I'll use the nuts in some Christmas-themed chocolate molds I have. I'm not sure about cookies. I always used to make them, but I've done candy only the past few years. I'll have to see what kind of time I have.

I don't know about the second question, but I substitute browned butter for regular in all kinds of recipes. Just make sure the browned butter is at the same temperature as is called for in the recipe -- so if the butter is supposed to be refrigerated, I refrigerate the browned butter so it's hard. If the recipe calls for softened butter, I let the browned butter set up to the same stage. The only difference, as far as I know, is that you've cooked off the water in the browning stage, but that doesn't seem to make a difference in the recipes I've used.

So, this dissolves the membrane outside the fruit, but you still have to cut the sections out of the membranes between the segments, right? Doesn't seem like it saves much time or effort. You still have to peel the fruit -- it seems to me that you may as well just cut the peel and the pith off the outside. Or am I missing something?

Sam, I'm not arguing that the egg yolk pasta wouldn't be great. My question was about how it handles; hence the question about fat content. I'm not sure you looked at the Keller recipe. It not only calls for 6 yolks and one whole egg, it also calls for 1-1/2 teaspoons of olive oil (that's for 8 oz of flour, or approx. 225 grams). So Keller's recipe contains 38.25 grams of fat for 225 grams of flour. I'm also not sure where your math came from. My recipe calls for 3.25 oz. (say 94 grams) of flour with 9 grams of fat (one egg yolk + 1 tsp oil). Multiply my recipe by 2.4, and you get 21.6 grams of fat for 225 grams of flour. So my question remains, how does such a rich dough handle? Does it require the resting and extra kneading time?

That seems like a lot of fat for pasta (6 yolks + 1 egg for 1-3/4 cups of flour), and it also seems very time consuming. How does it handle? I make pasta with one egg to 3-1/4 oz. (about 3/4 C) flour, plus a scant teaspoon of olive oil; I mix it in my food processor, knead it very briefly by hand and then run it through the pasta roller five or six times on the widest slot and it handles beautifully. No resting for 30 minutes, no kneading for 25 minutes. I'd say it's 20 minutes start to finish. Is the Keller recipe worth the time and effort (and egg yolks)?

When I was catching up on this topic on bad kitchen habits, it struck me that most of them (mine included) had to do not with cooking but with cleaning the kitchen (or not cleaning). In the midst of the bad habits were a few suggestions on how to keep the kitchen cleaner, and I thought it might be good to have a topic dedicated to cleaning tips. Everyone always says "clean as you go," but that to me is not very helpful; I need something more concrete. Two things have helped me work cleaner. The first is simply to pull the garbage can out from under the sink and over to my prep area when I'm prepping lots of vegetables. I don't have room for a garbage bowl close to my prep area so I tend to push all the scraps aside, and then I end up with a messy counter and little actual prep room. But I find if I just remember to get the can out before I start working, my area stays much cleaner (if I wait until I've started working I don't like to break my stride, so I rarely stop to go get it). The other thing I've started doing is to run the dishwasher every night (or first thing in the morning) and then to unload the clean dishes before I start dinner. This sounds really obvious, but I really hate to unload the dishwasher, so I tend to put it off. If there are clean dishes in there, I don't have anywhere but the sink to put dirty things. (Also, I have to keep going back to the dishwasher to get my tools, which is annoying.) These two things alone have vastly improved my cooking experience, and I'm sure there are other cleaning tips out there that I haven't thought about. So, what are yours?

I always cut the membranes off, or more precisely, cut the segments out of the membranes.

Take a sprig and orient it so the leaves are pointing up. Holding it by the top with one hand, slide the fingers of your other hand gently down along the stem to pull the leaves off. You won't get them all, but usually most of them come off.

For those who try to shop "local" -- whatever that means to you -- I'm interested to know what your motivation is. Supporting local farmers/local economy? Better quality? Or something else?