Richard Kilgore

I agree with Linda. The 6+ qt size, round or oval is a good one for a family of four to six for stews and medium size cuts of meat. The oval has the advantage of hugging the shape of many birds and cuts of meat. I have several round ones plus the 9 1/2 qt oval, and if I had to do it again I would get one more of them in oval rather than round.

Okay Patrick, your lemon curd photo pushd me over the edge and I ordered a copy of the Dessert book last week. My schedule is very tight, and I may not be able to do anything for a couple of weeks, but I'll enjoy following along until then.

Thanks, Kevin, but I'll probably look for cheaper bones. Thanks for the tips, Sharon. Your posts are usually as rich as stock themselves. This being no exception. I may stick to beef, considering your comments. I did a good, gelatinous chicken-stock a week ago, so I am tempted to discuss stock-making here, but know it would be better to jump over to the cooking forum to continue that part of it. Thanks everyone, I'll check out some of these places and post later. I will be making the beef or veal stock a week or two from now.

Several after Christmas sales going on. I assume the following are in all Texas locations: Sur La Table -- Big Semi-Annual Sale starts today. Williams-Sonoma -- ongoing post-holiday sale, up to 75% off selected items. Dallas -- CookWorks on Alpha across from the Galleria, 30 - 50 % off selected items.

Steel Cut Oats are great. You can shorten the time you spend by letting them sit overnight after bringing the oats and water to a boil and turning the heat off. The next morning cook them for only about 8 - 9 minutes.

I will not, absolutely will not, try to remove a thermometer from a roast with my bare hands. You know the remote transmitter thermometer that has been buried in the roast in the clay baker in the 450 degree oven for the past hour.

Have you tried increasing the coffee and condensed milk amounts slightly? If that doesn't work you could try Longevity brand condensed milk. Another shopper in a Vietnamese market here recommended it to me as the one that Vietnamese-born people in the US prefer because it has a long history in Vietnam. I have been using Trung Nguyen coffee from Vietnam, but most of the Pho shops here use Cafe du Monde or Goya coffee. I have not used it, but a good espresso bean is likely to be better yet.

Thanks Safran. That's good to hear. My use would be light in comparison to your friend's. I would like to hear also from anyone who has used a 7 qt DeLonghi that was made in the past five years or so.

I have been looking at a heavily discounted 7 qt DeLonghi (made by Kenwood) mixer. Does anyone have any experience with these? This one is about two or three years old, but new in box.

Thanks for the post, LDLee. That sounds like a place I will want to try when in Austin.

I have an indoor, stove-top electric grill. Works great for toast! You can even do steaks on it, and it's so easy. For example, last Saturday night, I just pulled out a steak, sprinkled a little coarse salt and freshly ground pepper on it, flopped it on the hot grill, turned it over with my tongs, watched the fat drip, watched the fat catch fire, pulled off the steak to let the fire die down, watched the fire flare up, put a cookie sheet over the grill to strangle the fire, peeked under the cookie sheet, wached the fire flare and burn, walked to the cupboad, pulled out the fire extinguisher, and pppphhhhhhhhooooooot! All done!

Thanks planojim and irodguy. I'll give both a call. Thanks for mentioning that, Andie. I am usually in one at least once a week. I had not thought about them for veal, though. I am also curious about what you use your goat stock for?

I am going to make stock soon. As you have probably noticed, the mainline grocery stores appear to have less and less in the way of bones and inexpensive meat for stock making. I would appreciate any ideas for butchers and groceries that do have such available. Thanks, Richard

The Paves you all are doing look wonderful. I'll have to try it. I have some mini six inch loaf pans I can use since I don't have the 7 1/2 inch ones.

The vent keeps the lid from rattling around when under pressure. That's all. It bothers some people more than others. Since you are going to do most of the stock making with the lid off, it may not make that much difference to you.

I love soups, too. And a new one each week is a great idea, Maggie.

If you don't have Target, you may have Wal-Mart, which carries a similar line called Tramantona. The primary difference between the two is that the Chef Mate has vents in the lids of their stockpots, and they cost about five dollars more. The quality of both is very similar.

That's a great deal, Rachel. I continue to be impressed with the Chef Mate cookware. I got a three disk bottom stock pot set of three last year, as well as a 2 1/2 qt. tri-clad sauce pan. They are not as heavy as All-Clad, but do very well for many applications for a fraction of the A-C prices. I also picked up a very sturdy Chef Mate 12" disk bottom fry pan recently at Target for only $20. Also check out the three quart disk-bottomed sauce pan that started this thread over a year ago.(They also make cookware items that are ss only, so make sure they are either tri-clad or disk-bottomed.)

That's a beautiful "coffee" cake, Patrick.

Anyone have any infomation on the Bosch Comfort Plus or the DeLonghi 7 Qt.? I have found display models of each at a steep discount.

Those look pretty great to me, Elie. I haven't tried those yet, but yours look very tasty.

I think I need to run some really stiff dough through mine before the warrantee expires.

I finally caught this last night. Amazing. Starting with purple paint, fried burgers, fried everything, bottled sauces and no customers. What a turn-around.

That's a great deal, Steven. And in between the two Sur La Table sizes.

Just to be realistic, no one should have to pay the $275 even if their heart is set on A-C for whatever misguided reason. W-S and everyone else sells the large one for $200 and the small one for $150, just like they did the tri-clad model.