Richard Kilgore

Dallas -- CookWorks: 50% off selected books and selected French and Italian dinnerware, including some Deruta.

Look here for notices of deals, sales, unusual or rare items and other noteworthy things to buy in the Lone Star State. From cookware to wine to produce to meat, we'll do what we can to keep you in the know. If you find it first, let us know.

Steve, you convinced me. A refurbished 350 watt 5 qt KA is on it's way.

Throwing caution to the wind -- for now anyway -- I am sticking with my new Weber kettle. If it lasts more than four or five years, great. I added on several accessories -- the attachment that allow the lid to slide back, the grilling grate with flaps for adding fuel, the wire frames that contain the charcoal or wood to the right and left for indirect grilling, a tool holder and a warming rack. The rib rack and roasting rack will do double duty in the oven. I'll probably add the rotisserie later. Ready for the holiday. I may have to smoke a brisket in the water smoker, too.

Thanks for the info. I was still not certain, but went ahead and ordered it on Amazon -- $159.99 shipped for the 350 watt model in white (colors run about $230 if I recall correctly). I have no idea how old it is, but thought the 350 watt ones were better built and more durable from previous discussions here. Anyone know how long ago Hobart stopped making them?

Thanks, Sparrowgrass. Which model did you get?

Anyone have experience with the refurbs? Do they have any kind of warantee? Any problems, or do they hold up as well as a new unit?

I priced them. The pedestal version for $200 (on sale now for $150) and the cart version for $250...at a local DFW dealer. The dealer also said that Weber discontinued the plastic tab because the plastic was melting.

I just got a new Silver and it has no plastic on the vent. I am not happy with the overall deterioration in quality people are describing.

Thanks for the report, Elie. I had been passing those molds by at W-S, so I went by and picked up eight (55mm) today. (They also had a number of other pieces of pastry equipment on sale, and sometimes it was marked only on the invidual products rather than on the shelves, so it's worth picking things up to check. For example, I noticed a set of 6 non-stick barquetes for$7.99. and a large rectangular Kaiser Spring Pan for $25.)

Just had my first bubble tea. The guy at the shop (a former IT guy who was looking for something to do a couple of years ago) said that when he and his partner opened there were only five shops in the DFW area, and now there are aboput 20. I'll have to go back once to try the Durian Smoothie, but that's probably it for me.

I arranged with Alan Geddie at the new Dunn Bros Coffee house in Addison (Dallas area) to do a cupping for our members. Thought that some of you might be interested in doing something similar in your part of the world. Here's the thread: Dunn Bros Coffee Cupping for eGullet Alan roasts on site and labels his coffee with the roast date, as you will see on the thread. The demo roasting and cupping is about a 1 1/2 to 2 hour event. I think that there will be more interest in this over time, so we may do this once every month or two. It's a learning experience that will make for an interesting discussion on the forum each time we do it.

Jon - A very good question to ask him during the Q & A next month

Announcement Elie Nassar was doing such a great job with "Whine & Dine" and covering Houston Food media while Fifi was away for a while, that we invited him to join the eGullet Texas Media DIGEST Team. Elie will be the lead DIGESTer for Houston, and Fifi will be his backup. Thanks, Elie.

Thanks, Foodie3. What kind of panini grill do the rest of you use? This is a thread that makes my mouth water. So many delicious combinations. If anyone has come up with your own recipe for a panini, please contribute it to RecipeGullet.

Do any of the consumer grade panini grills, such as Villaware, work well? Any drawbacks?

I use the disks and they do work well...about 3X as long, as Fifi said. Ihave been meaning to try the Evert Fresh Bags, but haven't gotten around to it. It's on my grocery shopping list now.

Thanks. I'll check it out. The variac at SM is $99! yikes! You could make a good argument for a dedicated roaster with that much add-on cost. But I'll look deeper. Maybe it offers more control than I understand at this point

I am bumping this up to ask if anyone has used a Variac on a popcorn popper when roasting coffee? If so, where can I get one and what specifications do I need?

I guess I should mention that this moka pot has made increasingly better coffee the longer I have used it...about 10 days now, just as everyone on the Moka thread predicted when no soap is used to clean it out, just a simple rinsing. Maintaining a medium-low temp and not letting it boil or sit too long has also been key to getting it right. It only took about three trials to tweak it. I have been using it only in the 3 cup configuration and I am quite pleased. This is not an easy to find brand, so I hope rubber seals and filters from other moka manucaturers will fit it.

Here are two photos of the pot. The small disk in the foreground of the dis-asembled pot is inserted into the coffee basket to reduce it from a six cup pot to a three cup pot.

Okay, H. Bean, I got the yuk message...but just how do you keep the fat from dripping and burning on your grill?

Thanks for the post, Iturley4. Hope you have lots of good excuses for dining and reporting back here. Scott -- do tell us more about this trip to the Tasting Room when you get a chance.

hey, fifi, in that case perhaps you could just set your weber on an oyster reef to smoke your redfish.

Ah, ha! The sand idea is consistent with a theory of yours, Linda, about why the water method works. Right?