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Richard Kilgore

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Posts posted by Richard Kilgore

    "Chocolate Desserts" by Pierre Herme (Part 1)

    in Pastry & Baking

    Posted

    Everything looks fabulous on this thread. Thanks for starting it, Seth, and thanks everyone for posting the photos. I have been locating local chocolate sources, so I should be able to do something next week. The Vahlrona Guanaja that Herme calls for in so many of the recipes has been particularly hard to find here, but I finally found a source and will be picking some up soon.

    ISO: A Proper Bread Knife

    in Kitchen Consumer

    Posted

    There are four of the Wusthof Grand Prix 10 inch Super Slicers on amazon for $60.

    I think that most good bread knives have scalloped, or broad serrations, rather than the tiny ones. I have seen the Super Slicer and it is a knife that could replace my bread knife and also serve for carving roasts, etc.

    Le Creuset Warranty: All It's Cracked Up To Be?

    in Kitchen Consumer

    Posted

    Could be high heat damage or a manufacturing flaw. I suggest taking it back to W-S and telling them about your additional attempts to get it clean. They are great as far as taking care of thei customers goes.

    There is usually a thin film on the white enamel interior after washing with soap and water. It will usually come off with a good scrubbing with soap and baking soda. Not as quickly as with Bar Keeper's Friend, but even more gently.

    Le Creuset Warranty: All It's Cracked Up To Be?

    in Kitchen Consumer

    Posted

    Shoot them an email and ask: cservice@lecreuset.com

    Edited to say that you can read the warranty information on their website. It indictates that your gratin would not be covered because you are not the original owner and the damage likely not due to a material or workmanship defect. But it never hurts to ask. Some manufacturers and retailers are in practice more generous than their written warranty.

    ISO: A Proper Bread Knife

    in Kitchen Consumer

    Posted

    I have a Henckles forged bread knife that I have had for a bazillion years (documented), and it still cuts just fine, though it does not get professional use. I have no idea what it cost then or now, but I suspect I would get an inexpensive offset one if buying one today.

    That said, no sense in throwing away even a $15 knife if you don't have to. You can sharpen serrated knives very well with a Spyderco sharpening system. It is an easy method, and I use it for everything, including vegetable peelers and fingernail clippers. I would not get the Spyderco just to sharpen a serrated knife, but if you want to use it for sharpening just about anything that needs sharpening, it is a candidate.

    Sandhill Crane

    in Cooking

    Posted

    Speaking to the effects of us humans on cranes, here is an interesting Nature Conservancy report on central California valley agricultural effects on sandhill cranes in the Pacific flyway that indicates modifying the way we grow crops for human consumption can benefit these migratory birds. It's description of the different migratory routes of the lesser and greater sandhill cranes also points to the many differences between subspecies and the various migratory flyways.

    Is this the preserve, or near the preserve, you were referring to, Rancho Gordo?

    Sandhill Crane

    in Cooking

    Posted

    Quite a leap in logic that someone shooting a legal gamebird is going to deprive you of the beauty of the sandhill migration.

    Legal is a function of location, and humans have been known to hunt things to extinction in the past. Pretty small leap in logic.

    Yes and no. Perhaps a leap in centuries involved here. There was over-hunting to extinction of some birds by commercial market hunters in the 19th century, and deer populations were down to about 200,000 in the US at the turn of the century. It was primarily the national hunting magazines and hunting organizations that did the education and lobbying necessary to turning that around.

    The primary threat to most game and non-game wildlife at this point in history is habitat loss to us humans.

    Sandhill Crane

    in Cooking

    Posted

    Thanks again, Paul.

    I guess we'll have to wait for someone who has eaten Sandhill Crane to show up. And that may be unlikely, unless irodguy has the opportunity, due to the small number of sandhill cranes killed by hunters.

    A 2003-2004 US Fish & Wildlife Dept. survey of nine central flyway states shows an estimated 18,335 cranes harvested by an estimated 8,335 hunters. Compare those figures to about one million Mallard ducks harvested in the central flyway and 2.5 million in the Mississippi flyway.

    The fact is that there is very little interest anywhere in hunting sandhill cranes.

    Chestnuts roasting on a, on a......

    in Cooking

    Posted

    Thanks for all the delicious sounding ideas. (This jar of chestnuts I picked up contains only peeled chestnuts -- no syrup, no nothing else.) I think I'll try the butternut squash-chestnut soup first. It is clearly calling to me. What ratio of chestnuts to squash do you all think? Two and one-half to three parts squash to one part chestnut?

    Sandhill Crane

    in Cooking

    Posted

    "Another ambiguity in your position that perhaps you could clarify: While the Sandhill Crane is certainly not crucial to the survival of anyone in the U.S., not to mention just this discussion, neither, for the most part, are any game birds and animals. Most people hunt them because they they enjoy the experience of the hunt, as well as enjoy eating what they kill. The vast majority of people who hunt could much less expensively go to the grocery store for their meat. I understand that you object to trophy hunting and why, but nonetheless I think I am missing part of your point again. Can you shed any light?

    ..."

    Richard, precisely my point:  in the absence of the need to hunt to survive, why hunt?  You mention two, and I believe you herein restate my position(s): 

    "Most people hunt them because they they enjoy the experience of the hunt, as well as enjoy eating what they kill."

    I abhore hunting for "the sheer enjoyment of the hunt;" it dishonors the life taken.  And unless I enjoy eating the animal, I don't want to hunt it.
    But I support hunting, in the absence of the need to do it to survive, where I both tap some primal memory, and enjoy, specifically enjoy, the flesh, etc., of the animal I kill. I restate my position: is the Sandhill Crane so desirable to eat? If so, no argument, provided it is not in danger of being hunted out of existence; if not, aren't there other quarry?

    Paul

    Thanks, Paul.

    But I support hunting, in the absence of the need to do it to survive, where I both tap some primal memory, and enjoy, specifically enjoy, the flesh, etc., of the animal I kill.  I restate my position:  is the Sandhill Crane so desirable to eat? 

    So, unless I am misconstruing something, your requirement is simply that you enjoy the hunt (the primal experience) and eating the flesh (tastes good to you), and that it not be an endangered species. And in the case of the Sandhill Crane, the only subspecies that is listed as Endangered by the U.S. government, is the Mississippi Sandhill Crane, though the various state governments have hunting regulations that apply, so if I may assume that you also advocate adhering to fish and game laws and after due diligence do not see the subspecies available to you as endangered whether or not the federal or state government does, the remaining issue is:

    I restate my position:  is the Sandhill Crane so desirable to eat?

    How would you know if it tastes good (another assumption of mine that desireable=good, but not necessarily unique, better than, different than) to you? You are not going to order it in a restaurant to sample it. Would you have to hunt and eat it to find out? Would it be acceptable to eat a bird that someone else hunted? Or a positive report by a friend or a noted game bird authority or cook? And how would you make a decision as to whether you even wanted to find out what it tastes like?

    Sandhill Crane

    in Cooking

    Posted

    Now, perhaps I have made a terrible leap of pre-judgment here, but is the sandhill crane so desirable for its intrinsic culinary qualities as to warrant its death? I don't believe the Crane is crucial to the survival of any one in this discussion, and so I admit it cries somewhat to me of what I abhore among a good many of my hunting confreres - sheer and utter ego, trophy hunting.

    Okay, thanks, that helps clarify your position. You appear to qualify the "hunting for food" by requiring it to have some special culinary quality. I have never tasted any of the subspecies of sandhill crane, so I am in no position to say, for example, "It tastes like grouse, but is more tender and sublime." But what is your requirement --that it taste different than another bird, that it taste better than another bird, or that it simply taste good? Part of the issue may be that few people hunt sandhill crane, so few people taste sandhill crane. And Sandhill Crane, as far as I know, does not have a major constituency among hunters -- no Sandhill Crane Unlimited, no Sandhill Crane Society. So they are not going to benefit from expanding populations as turkey and deer have due to hunting lobbies and conservation organizations.

    Another ambiguity in your position that perhaps you could clarify: While the Sandhill Crane is certainly not crucial to the survival of anyone in the U.S., not to mention just this discussion, neither, for the most part, are any game birds and animals. Most people hunt them because they they enjoy the experience of the hunt, as well as enjoy eating what they kill. The vast majority of people who hunt could much less expensively go to the grocery store for their meat. I understand that you object to trophy hunting and why, but nonetheless I think I am missing part of your point again. Can you shed any light?

    Thanks for taking the time to clarify your view here.

    Sandhill Crane

    in Cooking

    Posted

    Paul -- please clarify something for us. I doubt you intend to contradict yourself, so I think there must be something left out. I am quoting only two sentences because the intervening ones did not seem to qualitfy either of these, but I may be missing something.

    First you wrote,

    I vociferously protect the act of hunting for food.

    Then you wrote,

    Unless there is something unique about the sandhill crane's meat, bones or fat I don't know about, I cannot see any justification for taking one down.

    You appear to be taking your first statement back with the second statement. Would not "hunting for food" justify killing a sandhill crane? Why would there need to be something unique about its meat, bones or fat? Or are you applying that standard to duck, goose, quail, dove, squirrel, pig, deer, elk, etc., too? How do you decide?

    This is a topic of interest to me that people from at least a half dozen different positions can have very strong feelings, so I am trying to go to some lengths to say that I am interested primarily in understanding other's thinking about taking game animals and birds for food.

    White Chocolate - All about it.

    in Pastry & Baking

    Posted

    Thanks again. Lacking any prior experience with cheesecakes, the only things I can think of to change would be to use a better quality white chocolate and to puree the pumpkin myself rather than using canned. But does anyone know if you can taste the diference between El Rey white and Vahlrona White in a cheesecake? DIY puree vs canned?

    White Chocolate - All about it.

    in Pastry & Baking

    Posted

    I have never made it with white chocolate, but it can't be bad. Here is a recipe I found:

    White Chocolate Pumpkin Cheesecake

    Thanks much. I used that recipe with a few changes (primarily less sugar than called for), and it produced six 4 1/2 inch springform cheesecakes, with a little pumpkin batter left over. I did not use a water bath. The white chocolate was El Rey. About 1/3 of one of the 4 1/2 inchers was enough for most people. I think for an individual size, a 2 1/2 inch pan would be about right. Nonetheless, this cheesecake was wonderful, with layers of flavor and texure. I would do it again.

    gallery_7582_414_1101680691.jpg

    Kitchen Gadgets - "stocking stuffers"

    in Kitchen Consumer

    Posted

    Oh and my favorite newish kitchen gadget is the serrated peeler!  http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00...M/egulletcom-20

    Mr. Bill said "what are you ever going to use THAT for?" when  I brought it home, but you've never seen anything like it for peeling difficult items like quinces and stone fruits, and though I haven't tried it yet, I'm suspecting that butternut squash will now bow down before me in Fear  :raz:

    Eden

    I have one of these. Someone at Sur La Table told me it was their best seller among peelers. I do not like what it does to things that don't need its aggressive bite, but for tough skins it is excellent.

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