JAZ

My guess is that the main concern of the Silpat manufacturer is that the fiberglass layer inside the silicone will become exposed. That's the reason for not cutting them, and probably the reason behind not putting them in the dishwasher, although as I mentioned mine have been going in the dishwasher for years with no ill effect. I would also imagine that it's not rolling that they're concerned about so much as folding -- again, because a fold could cause the silicone to split and expose the core. (As well as putting mine in the dishwasher, I also keep them rolled up inside paper towel tubes.)

Am I the only one who washes them in the dishwasher? I either put them next to a sheetpan for support, or weave them around the prongs so they stay more or less upright.

These are what I use for small cocktails: Bormioli 4-oz. cocktail glasses. Just over 4 oz. to the top, they hold 3 oz. perfectly; they're nice looking and pretty durable.

I know it's going back a bit, but I would like to know what ice cream recipe you used, please. I just adapted a recipe for vanilla ice cream, and I don't remember exactly what recipe I used. I think it was all cream (no milk), but other than that, I don't know. Sorry!

I recommend Fresh & Fast by Marie Simmons (on Amazon, you can check out the contents of the book). The recipes are mostly Mediterranean-inspired and range from 15 minutes to 60 minutes start to finish (there are a few recipes that take longer, but they're clearly marked). Simmons was a recipe developer for several magazines, so her recipes are clearly written and they work. You can also rely on the times she gives for prep, which isn't always the case with books like this.

If you like this topic, you might enjoy "Hootch." Features like the Daily Gullet are made possible with the generous support of eGullet Society donors. If you're not already a Society donor, please read about becoming one here.

I've taken to using a combination of rice flour and all purpose flour for my onion rings (I use the soak-in-milk-then-dredge-in-flour method), and have found that it helps enormously in keeping them crisp.

What's the reason for the orange flower water and vanilla? Is there some evidence that adding them makes the syrup more like some original or "authentic" grenadine syrup, or do those who add them simply like the flavor?

The combination fridge/freezer in my apartment is pretty good -- certainly better than in previous kitchens I've had. (It's a Whirlpool, freezer on top, auto ice and defrost in the freezer.) Recently, though, I noticed something strange. First, I put my ice cream canister in the freezer overnight and the next day, it still wasn't frozen. I'd frozen the canister several times before that, and before it was always solid after a night in the freezer. Then, the next day, I put two ice cube trays side by side at the same time, and a few hours later, one was frozen almost solid while the other was still mostly liquid. It occurred to me that I'd put the canister in the same spot as the unfrozen ice cube tray. Since then, I've noticed that occasionally (but not always), that spot seems to be warmer than the rest of the freezer. Also, and I have no idea if this is related or not, my refrigerator has a really cold spot in the back of the center shelf. I inadvertently pushed a bottle of ginger ale back there and kind of forgot about it for a week or so. Yesterday, I went to get it to make a cocktail, and found that it had frozen and burst, spewing sticky ginger goo all over the damn fridge. An old jar of salad dressing next to it had frozen as well, but since it wasn't full, it didn't break. Is this normal? I know that frost-free freezers cycle off and on; is the warm spot in the freezer just related to that, or is it something I should call maintenance about? And is the fridge problem related, or just a coincidence? Are temperature zones common in refrigerators?

Vegetables from Amaranth to Zucchini by Elizabeth Schneider is an informative guide to less well known vegetables. Not only does it give full recipes, but it also tells you how to select and store the vegetables, and has a "Pros Propose" section of quick ideas from chefs for most of the entries as well. What's best about this book, though, is not so much great recipes as it is the information she provides. If you want to be able to pick up unfamiliar vegetables at the market and feel confident that you'll at least have basic prep and cooking instructions, it's the one to get.

I don't cover the sandwich as it's cooking -- grilled cheese or tuna melt -- because the bread tends to steam and lose its crunch. But you're right, the tuna does heat up by the time the cheese melts. You can make an open faced tuna melt that stays crunchy without the tuna getting hot by using a hybrid method. Butter one side of a piece of bread and brown that side on a griddle. Then put it on a rack in a sheet pan and top with tuna salad and cheese. Run it under the broiler and you have an open faced sandwich with a crunchy bottom layer. The rack is crucial, because if you just put the bread on the pan, the heat from the cooking can make the bread steam and get soggy. It's time consuming, but results in a great sandwich.

If you like this topic, you might enjoy the eGCI "Plating and Presentation" course. Features like eGCI are made possible with the generous support of eGullet Society donors. If you're not already a Society donor, please read about becoming one here.

To my mind, there are two distinct types of tuna melts: open faced and closed and griddled. I like them both; I prefer the griddled ones, but the open faced ones can be good as well. For the open faced ones (bread topped with tuna salad then cheese and run under the broiler) I like a dense, sturdy bread, and a fairly thin layer of tuna. The main problem, I think, is that the tuna doesn't always heat up by the time the cheese is melted. A lesser problem is that the bread can become soggy, but you can lessen that possibility by toasting the bread first and using a rack to put the sandwich on. For the griddled version, I like medium-thin sliced bread (rye is my first choice). Thinner bread lets the tuna heat up and the cheese melt and it also results in a better filling-to-crunchy-bread balance. My preference for cheese is either cheddar or swiss.

A few weeks ago, I spent about 20 minutes trying to get rum out of a Flor de Cana 1.75l bottle that came with a pour spout. I couldn't remove the spout, even trying to pry it out; I finally ended up stabbing through the spout with a pair of scissors, It works now, but not well. And that's not the only lame pour spout I've encountered. Beefeater gin 1.75l bottles comes with one that comes out about half the time I take the cap off, so I can never pour without checking the bottle. Of course, when it comes out, I can just throw it away, so it's not as annoying as the Flor de Cana bottle. Why do bottlers feel the need to put pour spouts in bottles? In my experience it's mostly the large bottles that have them, but some smaller bottles do too. Are there any good pour spouts that come in bottles, or are they all a total waste of plastic? Does anyone actually like pour spouts?

If you're enjoying this topic, check out the eGCI braising course. Features like eGCI are made possible with the generous support of eGullet Society donors. If you're not already a Society donor, please read about becoming one here.

Two words: pressure cooker. I braised chicken thighs in red chile sauce in less than 30 minutes the other day. Braised pork shoulder is falling apart in an hour -- no oven, just a burner. It's the only way to braise in the summer.

Lettuce in Your Kitchen by Chris Schlesinger and John Willoughby is mostly "main dish" salads, but many of them can be altered to work as side dishes as well. I've made several of their recipes, but mostly use the book for ideas for ingredient combinations and dressings. I highly recommend it.

Here's an idea that might solve all your concerns without the trouble of teaball: Cook and puree the soup as called for in the recipe. Then instead of straining though a sieve, line a colander with loose weave cheesecloth. If your colander is big enough for the whole batch of soup, just pour it in and let it drain through (if not, you could pour it through in batches). At that point, you should be able to gather up the cheesecloth with the pulp, squeeze it gently to get all the liquid out, then throw the whole thing away.

From the web page: Interesting -- I guess this has never happened to me because I've always had wimpy freezers.

Why do you think running the cooked asparagus through a food mill will be less messy than straining the soup? I make asparagus soup this way all the time -- blending then straining (using all the woody ends -- in fact, sometimes with only leftover ends). I use a medium coarse strainer, so maybe that's the difference. To clean, all I do is turn it over the trash can and give it a sharp whack against the side of the can. Virtually all the fiber comes out, then I just rinse it and stick it in the dishwasher. Is your sieve a fine mesh?

Are you sure that all you could taste was the Cynar? I ask because we all agreed that the drink tasted like the most spectacular artichoke we'd ever had. ETA: I will note that we used more mint than Toby specifies, and it had been picked moments before the drink was made. ← Based on the posts here and on the Rogue Cocktails topic, I've given this one a couple of tries. Although the second try was better than the first (which I tossed), I still just don't get the appeal. All I get is a big taste of bitter and a faint aftertaste of mint, like a really bad mouthwash.

Jaymes, is the amount of chili powder in your recipe a typo? One to three tablespoons doesn't seem like nearly enough to flavor two pounds of meat and 60 ounces of tomatoes.

What kind of chile paste do you use for this recipe? I have the book and decided to give that recipe a try. It was kind of a last minute decision, so I had to go with what I had in the fridge. I had a Chinese style hot chile paste with garlic, and a Thai sweet chile sauce, so I used a combination of the two. I liked the dish as it was, but would love to make it with the "correct" product; could you post a photo or even just the name of the paste that you use?

Enameled cast iron is good for lots of things, but bringing water to a boil fast is not one of them. You'd be better off just buying a cheap "multi-function" set like this one for pasta -- it's a bit larger than you specified but it gives you more flexibility than a 4-qt.

Oh the other hand, I think it's Pollan at his worst. I thought The Ominvore's Dilemma was engaging, well structured and beautifully written. I thought In Defense of Food was a good enough article, but a disappointingly weak book. This article, though, was just bad. The story of The Food Network was written years ago, and much better, by Bill Buford. Pollan's article meandered from topic to topic before he got to his point, which --when he finally got there -- was not well argued. I guess he's made his points so often now about the evils of processed food that he can't come up with anything new, which is a shame. If it had been half the length, I would have been bored. As it is, I was annoyed with him and with myself for having wasted my time. And that makes me sad.