JAZ

I'm not sure how relevant this is to Bob's search, but I would like to make the point that a gas stove is not, simply by virtue of being gas, better than an electric. In my old apartment, I had what was probably the bottom of the line gas range -- I don't even remember the brand. It had one of those worthless broilers under the oven, so in effect, I had no broiler for 4 years. The "low" setting on the burners was the low-end tiny "ring of flame" that burned the middle of the pan -- and I have heavy, copper-disk bottom cookware. For anything I wanted to simmer, I had to use a flame diffuser. Plus, I didn't realize how wimpy the "high" setting was until I moved. So now I have a new apartment with an electric stove. Nothing fancy -- just the usual coil type burners. Yes, I've had to make adjustments -- the residual heat takes some getting used to. But hey, I can make perfect rice without it boiling over. And the heat this these burners put out makes me wonder how I ever managed with my old gas stove. For instance, in an unlined copper pan, it took about 20 minutes for sugar to caramelize on my old stove; now I can get caramel in about 7 minutes. Even little things are apparent -- water comes to a boil much faster on this stove than it did on my old one. In short, I'd take this electric range over my old gas stove any day.

I find the effects partly visual and partly tactile. Sometimes aluminum tools that have been through the dishwasher get a kind of weird feel to them, as well as spotting and turning an unattractive shade of gray. But I'm not sure what the process at work is, because not all aluminum does that. My Chicago Metallic sheet pans, which are "aluminized steel," are fine in the dishwasher. My garlic press, on the other hand, has passed the point where it even looks like aluminum (I like to think it has a patina). I use it anyway. I don't have any anodized cookware, though, so I'm not sure how that does in the dishwasher.

Now available: The Hog Island Oyster Lover's Cookbook. Not as good as oysters in the Ferry Building, but a good read.

Maybe it's supposed to hold a teaspoon -- but in fact, all barspoons don't hold the same amount of liquid, which is what my point was. One of mine holds quite a bit more; one quite a bit less. It's that fact that led me to ask my question. So if they're all supposed to hold a teaspoon, then why don't they?

I own two barspoons -- one is the standard twisty-handled sort with the red knob on the end of the handle, another is Rosle's stainless, very beautiful but not very standard. The twisty one holds just under a teaspoon and a half; the Rosle doesn't even hold a teaspoon. Here's the question: in lots of old cocktail books, a "barspoon" is used as a standard measurement, just as a "wineglass" is. But just how much liquid does a "barspoon" hold? Is it a really a measured amount, or is it shorthand for "a little bit"? Is a teaspoon a reasonable guess? Does it matter?

Any idea where Alberta has gone, Erik? I hope she's found a home behind another bar somewhere in the city. (Yeah, she's quirky, but she's way too good to lose.)

The title of "The Hog Island Oyster Lover's Cookbook: A Guide to Choosing and Savoring Oysters, with 40 Recipes," by Jairemarie Pomo, Ed Anderson, and Leigh Beisch is a bit of a misnomer: the recipes, while they sound great, are almost beside the point of this book. The main draw (for me at least) was the clear explanation of species and varieties of oysters, and the section on the history of the oyster industry in the US. I'm a novice when it comes to oysters but I've wanted to learn more, so I found this information invaluable. Who knew there are only 5 species of oysters? (Lots of people, probably, but not me). There's a list of common oyster names with the species to which they belong and the area they come from. There's a chart with the common flavor characteristics of the various oysters. There's also an extensive section on selecting oysters and shucking your own, if that's something you're interested in. (I'm not sure that I ever will, but at least I'll have I guide if I change my mind.) For those not familiar with Hog Island, it's an oyster farm north of San Francisco that also has a small retail shop on the site of the farm and an oyster bar in the Ferry Building in San Francisco. But the author of the book, while obviously a fan of the company, is not an employee. The sections that discuss oyster farming, of course, concentrate on Hog Island's methods, but the book is not a fluff marketing piece for the company, which is what I half expected. In short, I'm thoroughly enjoying this book, and I haven't even made it to the recipes.

Just a note about tile floors: no doubt the tile floor in my new apartment kitchen is not the highest quality, but in five months I have grown to hate it passionately. I've broken more glasses and bowls in the past five months than I did in four years in my old place, which had sheet vinyl flooring -- ugly but very forgiving. I could (and did) drop glasses and bowls and they survived intact. Here, if I drop anything on the floor it shatters, and I'm picking up shards for days not only from the kitchen floor but from the dining room and hallway as well. Plus, it's dangerously slippery if it gets wet, and it's hard on my feet and back. I used to think tile floors were great; now, I would choose anything over tile.

Kerry Beal's eGCI class on toffee might help answer some of your questions.

They're great for pouring out candy.

I just tried to read this, and I couldn't do it. I mean, I couldn't wade through the flaws in spelling, punctuation and grammar to actually find out what Bourdain was saying. I know it's a blog, and I know that he has devoted readers who love everything he writes, but I'm appalled at the lack of care he took. For example: or or That's not even a sentence.It's such a shame -- Bourdain is a talented, witty, sharp writer when he tries. I guess he didn't feel the need to try.

I've been using another of the recipes from Fine Cooking -- for Fudgy Brownies -- as my starting point for brownies with a Mexican slant. I add cinnamon and a touch of cayenne, plus a little tequila.

The thinner the bacon is cut, the crisper it gets. (I recently saw bacon labeled "microwave bacon" whose defining feature seemed to be that it was cut very thin -- maybe that's worth a try.)

I just got the MT 500. I'm very happy with it. I believe it brews at 200 degrees, or even a little higher. It certainly makes great coffee. It's considerably more expensive than the original price range, though.

Exactly. I think that's why this is working so well for me. Without an easy, out-of-the place to toss the used ones, it would drive me crazy.

In what way can they be a plus? . . . Do they ever really work and stay meaningfully cool in a wide variety of situations where regular handles would not? In my experience, they simply don't work very well at not heating up. Sure, the handles on my 1 quart All-Clad saucepans don't get very hot when I'm making a little bechamel. But, then again, the cast iron handle on my Falk Culinair 1.5 quart sauteuse evasee doesn't tend to get very hot when I'm making a little bit more bechamel either. More to the point, however, the handles on both brands get hot of the pans sit on the stove doing a reduction for 45 minutes. I suppose the All-Clad's "stay cool" handles take a few minutes more to heat up, but this is not a meaningful difference in practical terms. ← Well, just to put your theory to a test, I put two saucepans about 2/3 full of water on the stove, covered them, brought the water to a boil and then turned the heat down to keep the water simmering. One saucepan was a Demeyere Sirocco, 2 liters. The other was a 1.5 quart Mauviel professional pan. The results: At 15 minutes, the Mauviel was really warm, and by 20 minutes, I could hold the handle just long enough to slide the pan off the heat. At 25 minutes, it was too hot to lift at all, although I didn't burn my hand by simply touching the handle. I turned the heat off at that point, and a half hour later, it was still too hot to hold. After more than an hour, I could still lift the Demeyere easily, and hold it more than long enough to carry it across the kitchen to the stove and empty it out. (Incidentally, not that anyone asked, but at 5 minutes, the lid handle on the Mauviel was too hot to touch. The lid handle on the Demeyere was still cool at 1 hour.) I'd say that's a meaningful difference. It seems to me that condemning stay-cool handles for heating up in the oven, or if the burner is bigger than the pan, or if the handle is too close to another burner is to miss the point -- stay-cool handles (at least Demeyere's) do stay cool enough to be used safely in most normal situations in the home kitchen. Whether it's too difficult to remember which handles stay cool, or to pay attention to the pan-burner area ratio or if a pan just came out of the oven is another question.

Silicone handles would help on the stove top, but not in the oven -- silicone eventually heats up (which is why it's used for bakeware). The "heat-proof" part refers to the fact that it won't melt, not that it doesn't get hot. That's the reason I think silicone potholders are a bad idea -- they're fine for a short time, but if you're holding a pan for a long period of time, say, to take cookies off a baking sheet, they become unbearably hot by the time you're done.

I have, by conservative estimate, at least three dozen dishtowels. Some decorative and virtually useless, others ugly but absorbent. Flour sack and terry, Jaquard and waffle-weave. I always kept a few out at any given time, and crammed the rest of them into a drawer. When I moved, I realized how many I had, and how few I actually used. Meanwhile, whenever I taught or assisted with classes, we'd always have a big stack of towels to grab whenever we needed them, which of course is a fabulous way to work. Yet somehow, I never thought to use my towels at home that way. I used a lot of paper towels for everything from drying greens to wiping up spills, but most of the cloth towels lived in the drawers. Until I moved. In my new place, I don't have the drawer space for the towels. Plus, it finally sunk in how much easier it is to work in any kitchen if you have a stack of towels out and easily accessible. So now I keep a couple of stacks of them on top of the fridge -- flour sack for things like drying lettuce or dishes, thick terry "bar towels" for grabbing hot pans (dry) or wiping my hands (damp), plus a small stack of miscellaneous old towels for spills. The clean towels are stacked up on the left, with a basket on the right for dirty towels. It's working like a dream, and I just wish I'd started doing it years ago. I'm sure I'm not the only one who does this, right? How do you store and use your dishtowels?

On the Lodge web site, there's no description of how the Signature Series is constructed. Is the body of the pan just cast iron (seasoned or raw), or is it coated with something?

Call me weird, but I kind of like the challenge of cooking in other people's kitchens. Maybe because I've done it a lot, I find that being able to adapt is oddly satisfying (after I get over the frustration, of course). I have learned to take my knives and a few other indispensible tools to vacation rentals, though. And sometimes I make serendipitous discoveries when I'm forced to adapt. When I moved, it took me a while to get my cookware unpacked. I finally found enough to make a curry, but realized that I didn't have the pan I usually use for rice. I ended up using an egg poaching pan (minus the insert for the eggs) -- kind of a small saute pan with a glass lid. Whether it was the pan or the new stove (electric for the first time in quite a while), it was the best rice I've ever made. Perfect. I now have a new rice pan.

This subject has been thoroughly discussed before, so we're closing this topic. Further discussion of MSG can be continued on the topics Matthew Grant linked to above, or on a new topic, if, indeed, there's something new to say. Thanks.

Since for the most part, this topic has strayed far from the original subject of how supermarket strikes affect shopping habits, we're closing it. Thanks for participating.

The good thing about the Kitchenaid is that it comes with the mini-bowl and blade, so it's like getting two in one. I would definitely get the 12-cup.

I've been meaning to post this for a while. I had dinner at Eugene a couple of months ago with a friend and was very impressed with both the food and the service. We did have to wait for 20 minutes or so for our table, but that gave us a chance to try a cocktail in the bar and chat with the bartender, so it wasn't a waste of time. The cocktails are a good mix of "classics" and solid new creations and were well executed. Dinner was uniformly good. We started with the oysters that Voodoo mentioned; I loved the granita. My favorite dish of the night was turbot with cippoline onions and wild mushrooms; the fish was done perfectly and wasn't overpowered by the vegetables and sauce. The service was professional, although not particularly formal, I thought. Other than having to wait, I had no complaints at all. I'll definitely return; I'd like to try the tasting menu.

I really like the flavor of licorice, and have been known to drink Pernod on the rocks. But aside from the drinks (like the CR#2) where the glass is rinsed with it, I don't know of many cocktails that call for it. I've been using basil in a few drinks, some of which have been very good. Since basil has licorice undertones, I wonder if Pernod and the like would be good in similar drinks. I'll have to experiment. When you get the French Pearl figured out, let us know. It's a great drink.