EJRothman

Isn't it in some dog or cat food? Like Alpo? MMMM, I have to look into that! Thanks!

Let's cut to the chase people... Is it possible to get horse in the US, and what's the price. I'm specifically talking NY-region, but mail order would be acceptible. -Eric

It's true. Cheese Steaks are supposed to be eaten with Cheese Wiz (I guess that means there's no cheese in a cheese steak!) Anyway, go down to south Philly and spend some time around Pat's and Gino's and see what people order. Sure some go for provalone, but the true fat, slovenly Philly locals will always go for the Wiz, and they've been eating 'em all their life. No wonder Philly is one of the fattest city in America (that and the Wing Bowl). -Eric

The new Turkish place in my neighborhood (Brooklyn Heights, New York) has a whole trout which is covered in cheese and various spices. I personally have not tried it, but my friend seemed to think it was pretty good. -Eric

Don't mean to get off topic (ok, yes I do), but horse seems like it would be really tough meat - horses have about as much fat as an olympic gymnist. Semms like it be better braised for hours on end than served tartare? -Eric

I just scanned the Food TV website to look at the blurbs about the new show offerings. They all seem pretty bad. To add to the list of quality programming on the network however, is 'Good Eats'. This show combines an interesting take on food with excellent entertainment value. I think it's one of the best programs on any network. -Eric

Paula is Paula Deen. She's a fat southern woman with wild hair who uses more butter than the two fat ladies combined. All of her food is deep fried to a crisp, and her medicated-southern excitement is frightening. No matter what anyone says about any of the other Food TV cooking shows (as opposed to the travel/unwrapped variety), rest assured that Ms. Deen's program is the absolute worst the network has to offer. -Eric

I just caught up on this thread and it's been quite interesting. I don't know the professional status of everyone who has posted, but I'd like to add my two cents as a decided non-profession in the food industry. I'm a 21 year old college student and I began cooking as a necessity. My options were either horribly crappy dining hall food, or pricey good food at the many wonderful Philly Restaurants. My mother is a great home cook, and I was always exposed to good food - either at home, restaurants, or abroad. So cooking came pretty easily. I've made some good advancements in the past couple years and am weaning myself off of recipes, although they still serve as a needed guide. Many of the cooking shows on Food TV are quite good and a lot of help to a budding cook. As has been said before, Sara Moulton is a fanstatic chef. Mario, Ming Tsai, are as well. (i'm sure I'm missing some others) The shows I hate are - all the "unwrapped"/"best of" fake shows, as well as Gale Gand, Ina Garten, and Paula Deen (she scares me) Emeril Live is an autrocity which I can barely watch, but regardless of his personality, he is quite a good chef and during his other show - "Essence..." is quite informative - I think they medicate him for that one. Finally, Bobby Flay is decent, and Rachel Ray - although her personality often makes me want to shoot myself - has given me great ideas for things to cook in between my never ending amounts of school work. So there you have it - for what it's worth, -Eric

I was "steaming" some boccolli (sp?) with dinner tonight and I forgot to add water to the pot!!! The boccolli actually came out quite good - slightly smoky flavor, but the pot was ruined. I just hope the fumes from the ruined pot didn't poison the broccolli -Eric

Since I have heard good things about the Spyderco Sharpmaker sharpening system from fellow e-gulleters, I am looking into buying one. A past thread mentioned that the system has fixed sharpening angles of 15 and 20 degrees - the later of which would be good for kitchen knives. All of the websites that sell the system, however, list the fixed angles at 12.5 (for scissors), 30, and 40 degrees - none of which would be good for kitchen knives. The only conclusion that I can draw is that the listed angles are actually twice the "actual" angles used by the system. Does anyone have any information about this? I'd like to make sure I'm getting a usable product before I drop $50 on it. Thanks, Eric

Well it seems there is really no choice - the 10" is it. It'll really be the first "new" kinfe size I'll get to work with. Should be a fun learning process. With regard to the Global, it's spelled santoku, and I like the santoku shape myself. I just couldn't get a good grip on the global knives to get a good rocking angles. Wusthoff makes a very nice santoku knife now that has a good boster that I can grab. It felt better in my hands, and seems like an excellent knife for medium size veggies, etc. If anyone else has 10" vs. 8" knife stories I'm all ears. Oh - on a completely different note: When I was in Broadway Panhandler today I noticed a clearance sale on Le Creuset(sp?) cookware! -Eric

Hi all, Some of you may remember that I'm trying to figure out which knives to buy. I went to Broadway Panhandler (NYC - SoHo, for out-of-towners) today to compare Wusthoff Grand Prix to Global. I hated the Global! With no bolster, I didn't really know how I was supposed to hold it, and the balance felt off. So I turned to the Wusthoff. Felt great, and both the 8" and the 10" chef's knife felt pretty comfortable in my hand. It's hard, of course, to get a real "feel" for cooking with the knife when all you can do is stand there pretending to cut air on the cutting board while the sales person looks at you. So, if the 10" felt comfortable, is there any downside to getting it over the 8"? It seems that most people seem to think as long as it feels comfortable, get the bigger knife. I want to know if there are any downsides to the bigger one before I go and spend $75 on a knife ! Thanks, Eric

I go to school in Philly and I've done my share of eating. The tasting menu at Morimoto's (my birthday present from my girlfriend - the perfecr gift!) was the best meal I have ever eaten. Pasion is excellent as is Astral Plane. Overtures was a great meal in a very romantic setting. Being a fan of the "road-kill-du-jour" I enjoyed Jack's Firehoudr (I had the bear - nice and nutty). Finally, if you want good food, on the cheap, in a completely out of the way area, try Dahlak. It's on Baltimore Ave. & 47th St., they use Injera, a special bread in the place of utensils, and the food is delicious. Still pining to get over to Django. -Eric

I cringed this morning when I opened the New York Times Magazine (Sunday, March 10th edition) and discovered that Jason Epstein used his entire two page spread to glorify the high quality and low prices of the Chinatown fish/meat/produce trade. Visions of disoriented and misguided Upper East/West Side residents abandoning Fairway, Zabar's and Citarella to flock to the "New York Times approved" Chinatown haunts flashed before my eyes. I can only hope that this does not spell the end to the low prices and relative obscurity of some of my favorite Chinatown places. (One only need to try to find a Wusthof 'Gourmet' 7" Off-set serrated knife to see the effect a NYTimes plug has on the market value and availability of a given commodity) -Eric

Also a Big Wong in New York's Chinatown (67 Mott Street). Never eaten there but it gets good reviews at Epinions (for whatever that's worth) and you gotta love the name

I've used the $3.50 365/Whole Foods Brand (why don't they price it at $3.65)? Anyway, I digress...The stuff is pretty good. Is it better than a $50 bottle? I don't know I never spent that much on Vinegar. It is better than some $10 vinegars. On another note, I personally hate Cooks Illustrated. I feel like like they're stuck in the 1950's (and not in the retro way a la the crock pot, etc.) Everything looks bland and boring that they make. They also always say that some cheapo brand is the best. I'm sure that many times the cheaper stuff is better, but come on, it can't always be the best!!! -Eric

Hi, I recently posted a thread asking about a recipe computer. Thanks to various e-gullet-ers I was able to track it down (the Brother Kitchen Assistant), but aparently it was overpriced and crappy because it has been discontinued. Undaunted, however, I am still in search of a way to organize the slew of recipes I have stored on my computer. Thus, I am asking for suggestions for quality recipe software programs that will allow me to efficiently catalogue my collection. Thanks, -Eric

Tony, Those transition scenes may be false, but at least they don't seem so "campy" (Just not a fan of campy stuff). And I'd have to say that the transition scene in the Russia episode from Season 1 - where you were drunk off your ass - was priceless. As hard as they tried to get a good take you still managed to stumble off the sidewalk. Maybe I only noticed because I read the book before I saw the episode and thus had the inside scoop, but that is what I'd call quality television. -Eric

The shop that I use is the one across Grand Street, one shop West. (I would have been more explicit in my original post except that my sense of direction is terrible and I'm not good at figuring out which corner is which...the shop I like is at the SW corner, 1 shop in). With regard to shrimp, whenever I buy shrimp I make sure to buy a whole box, still frozen. That way I can keep it onhand and use it as I need and I don't have to worry about it being frozen more than once. It's true you can find the live ones, but they generally tend to be much smaller. Also, thank you to eatingwitheddie for a very complete list of good chinatown markets. I'm also curious to try the 8th Ave, Bklyn scene, especially since I live in Bklyn. One question though, where in particular (which cross streets) on 8th Avenue offer the best options? Thanks, Eric

Hello All, For about the past year I have been buying all my fish in Chinatown. The prices can't be beat and the quality and turnover is very good. (I was also told that they get their shipments in on Sunday so that's the best day to go). More specifically I like the Place on the Corner of Grand St. and Chrystie St. across from the subway entrance. I'd like to hear other people's opinion's about Chinatown fishmarkets. So lemme know, -Eric

In terms of the 8" or the 10" I think I'll just need to test them in the store. I am comfortable with an 8" since that's what I usually use, but can't comment on a 10' since I've never tried it. I suspect I'll find it a bit unwieldy for daily use, however - but who knows!?. Eric

Sounds like the spyderco is the way to go for sharpening needs. One other note - it seems most people agree that cheaper stamped paring knives are a better value than a more expensive forged one (this is good for me since I have a set of three Wusthof Silver Point paring knives). What's the deal with sharpening/honing stamped knives...can this be done or should they be replaced when dull? Thanks, Eric

Thanks to all for your imput...gives me some interesting things to consider. About the spyderco sharpening system - I looked it up online and while I found a site that had a little video demonstration, I'm still not quite sure how it works...it seems remeniscent of a hoing steel motion...can someone explain the difference? Thanks, Eric

Hello All, I'm new to egullet, but figured I might as well jump right in. I am a college student with a love for cooking. After cutting myself twice with the crappy knives in my house, I have decided I can afford to spring for my own set. I am still deciding between Global and Wusthof and need to go to a store to try them out. (Right now I'm leaning towards Wusthof's Grand Prix line). Anyway, my question is not about which brand - clearly a personal choice - but about what types of knives I need. Here's what I am currently planning to get. 8" Chef's Knife 6.5" Santoku Knife (I like this shape for chopping vegetables) 7"-8" offset bread knife (both Wusthof and F. Dick make stamped models for about $30, and Wusthof also makes a forged model but it's expensive and I can't find a good deal) 6"-8" filet knife (I am used to a flexible boning knife shape for a filet knife, but Wusthof filet knives aren't tapered like a boning kinfe...Wushof also make a very expensive 7" "Culi-Prix" filet knife, but this may be over kill...clearly I need the most guidence on this front.) 3"-4" Paring knife Sharpening steel (I plan on sending my knives out to get sharpened, hopefully I can find a reputable source) So, please advise me on my knife selections. I welcome and appreciate all comments. Thanks, Eric