fvandrog

I've tried quite a few different Belgian beers, and indeed found very nice ones. The New Belgian tripple was, if I remember correctly supposed to resemble Chimay. To my surprize, I prefer the copy over the original (though, I'd never say 'no' to a glass of Chimay either!!). I also love the Rochefort beers (both the 8 and the 10). I've never tried Saison Dupont, but will be on the lookout for it after your recommendation.

Back when I lived in the US I really liked their tripple, which stated it had some coriandre in it. I've not found a similar tasting tripple since I am back in europe (not for a lack of trying )

Ah, okay. But indeed, that can only work if the salt has been dissolved, and there's free chlorine ions in the solution (and you'd need an oxidizing agent as well). In the case of undissolved salt, the chlorine is safely packed away within the crystals. I have often, unwittingly, done this experiment adding the salt long before the water reaches a boil. I generally use a stainless steel pot in the $30-$50 range for cooking pasta. Even after almost eight years I don't see any pitting whatsoever. I cook and clean -- no special treatment, but also not really challenging conditions.

I did, and i have to admit, the main argument relevant for this discussion does not make a lot of sense to me: Disolving kitchen salt (NaCl) in water does not change the pH in any way (sea water, if I recall correctly even has a slightly basic pH). So, this can not be the reason that salt causes damage of stainless steel cooking ware.

With the higher end cooking ware, which I assume any eGullet participants use (or aspire to using) I think you are pretty safe. It's the low- to mid-range cooking ware that seems to be of rather disappointing quality. I'd like to be able to say that you get what you pay for, but I have the general impression that event that's not the case.

Nope, it is interesting though, since I wasn't aware there were any third party implements for KA stand-mixers available. I see there's a bunch of stuffing tubes to go with this grinder as well (looking closer, the term available seems somewhat exaggerated ). Now I have to look around for other third party implements, and risk spending some money on things I could probably do very well without.

That's what I'd go for. Takes a bit of practise and fine-tuning, but there's nothing that can beat a handful of differently flavored macarons as a treat. Here's a shop in town that specializes in macarons and literally charges a fortune for them -- they are irresistable!

Me too, but not with my KA grinder but with one of the larger grinders. Like Edward J mentions, try tightening as well as possible.

With regards to the use of red wines .I'd mostly agree with that assessment, though if the wine is too unbalanced (to acidic, way too much tannin, etc.) it is little surprising it influences the taste of soups and sauces. Recipes with white wine are generally a bit more tricky, especially the acidity/sweetness matters more -- of course still depending on the recipe.

Indeed at the good boulanger in the village my wife comes from, baguettes are sorted on color, too long baked ones on the right, the good ones in the middle and the under-baked ones on the left. If one makes sure to come on time, there's plenty of choice -- and I guess it's clear what we prefer

I really enjoyed the different Stone Ales back when I was living in San Diego, I have always been wondering what hops they used to get the well balanced bitterness in their different beers.

That's definitely true, I own quite a few German cookbooks and have tried and liked plenty of different potato salads. One of my favorite ones combines the potatoes with tomatoes, eggs and Fleischwurst (Bologna-sausage with garlic) and of course home-made mayonnaise. I don't remember the relative quantities by heart, but thinking about it, we'll most likely eat it tonight. So, if anyone has an interest I will happily post or PM the (translated!) recipe.

Yep, so do I. I figured that if the cleaver can't take a head of garlic, it certainly won't do a lot of good with beef bones.

I can happily accept people disagreeing about the usefulness of cookingbooks in ebook format. But justifying the use of paper-books by invoking the sacrilege of writing in books will definitely keep me awake at night thinking of the sheer horror

That's why I limit my purchases to DRM free ebooks, or ebook where I can (and do) remove the DRM. Then format-shifting and archiving isn't a problem. Not having to put them on a book shelf is one of the big advantages in my ball park (well, rather in my too small apartment).

Post-war rationing? Heh, I guess I can consider myself young in this respect I have owned an e-ink eReader since 4 or 5 years and have at first reluctantly but soon with great enthusiasm purchased cookbooks. For sure the cookbooks with great color-full images will probably work better on an iPad or other full blown tablets, but my black-white (well, actually gray-scale)eReader is works great in the kitchen. If necessary I can always use Calibre on my PC to print a section, but I actually have seldom used that.

Spring has come late this year over here, but finally I've got some spare rhubarb from my plants. The first batch has been used for our favorite rhubarb-ginger pie, the second larger batch for some traditional rhubarb compotes. I was wondering whether people have ideas for recipes/methods to get some visually pleasing rhubarb as a dinner accompaniment. I know some people infuse it with different alcohols, which I'd be open to try -- though something suitable for our 5 year old wouldn't hurt either.

Wow -- considering the quantities of food and the general ratio between quantity and quality, a cruise seems even less appealing to me than before....

I just received an advertisement from amazon for a new book by Boulud, Daniel: My French Cuisine. Might be interesting. Anybody that has opinions to share on his other books?

Personally, I am dumbfounded that those bringing me my food agree to work for $2.13 per hour. That's an issue between them and their boss, not something an outsider should be involved in. It would only be robbery if one would be forced to to tip. Personally, I have never forced somebody to work for $2.13 an hour -- if asked for advice I would strongly recommend against it. Tough luck for you, as long as legally allowed I will visit. Unless there's laws that make it obligatory to tip a certain percentage, I will tip whatever I want to tip.Generally that is 10% for adequate service and 15% for good service. The one time that we ordered (and paid for) a bottle of wine that disappeared with the waiter after she filled two glasses I didn't tip at all Personally, I'd recommend waiting staff to write the National Restaurant Association in order to amend problems -- leaving that to foreign tourists is likely not very efficient. Indeed. Freedom of speech is even a right for foreigners visiting the US, and as long as tipping isn't obligatory there's freedom in the amounts there as well.

Wow, these look truly astonishing!! I like making terrines, but couldn't get anywhere near that level of perfection

This is the basic recipe I used: 250 g flour5 medium eggs200 g fresh bärlauch1 tsp saltI pureed the bärlauch with one of the eggs and then mixed in the rest of the ingredients and let it rest 30 minutes before pressing and cooking. The resulting spätzle-dough was probably a tad too liquid; I either ought to have dried the bärlauch better after washing it, or used half an egg less. The colour of the resulting spätzle is a very intensive green and the taste of the bärlauch is very dominant, partially due to the short cooking time of the spätzle. Not suited to be served as a side to subtle dishes. For the pesto recipe, it will also replace the garlic. I haven't made it yet though, because I figured walnut might be better to use than pine nuts. I might end up making a batch of both, though. I did put some bärlauch in a mayonaise, only to moderate enthusiasm. You ought to find some in a forest somewhere I'd guess -- here it grows plenty.

I've collected some Bärlauch (Allium ursinum), known as ramsons or bearleek in English. It's a local favorite for giving an original spicy note to quite a few dishes. Yesterday I made the highly recommended Bärlauch spätzle, which turned out to be a great accompaniment to some pork chops. Today I'll try to make them into a decent pesto, though I am a bit hesitant about the different recipes I have seen so far.

I currently use two WMF PCs, and have to say they seem superior compared to two or three other brands I have used previously.

In the old days they used PCR based RFLP, these days it's mainly standard PCR for specific sequence patterns. With those methods you only find what you test for. Something must be very closely related to give a hit, but be slightly different from what's expected. Horse and zebra might give something slightly unexpected etc. Cat and rabbit would definitely be sufficiently different to detect with these assays.