theakston

Are you sure that fish hasn't been involved in some kind of brining experiment ?

We're off to Italy in a couple of weeks (10/10/04) for10 days distributed fairly evenly between Barolo, San Gimignano, Cortona and Firenze. I have sifted through the various postings and have accumulated plenty of interesting looking rec's for the other 3 but Cortona seems to be missing Has anyone got any recomendations for restaurants in the Cortona area?(the closer the better, we have a car but I prefer not to drive too far after a few / several drinks) Thanks.

Excellent class. Thanks. One thing about getting the salt amount right: I saw a recipe for brine that, instead of measuring / weighing the salt said to add as much as it took for a potato to float in it. What are your thoughts on that? too much? too little? depends? And food man. Thanks for posting that picture. I wasn't hungry before. I'm now going to have to go for lunch.

I think I'll write my address on my Weber Smokey Mountain....so when it lands in Ohio it'll find it's way home.

There's a brew pub IN the Reading Terminal. Independence Brew Pub. It was quiet when I was there on a weekend. It is quite large. independence web page

I'd like to tag another question if I may. Do you have any specific advice on sharpening Global knifes? I would imagine that you would need different angles? Thanks.

I will never again grill bacon on a Weber. At least not until my eyebrows have grown back.

I've got the Thermador with the grill and I use it whenever It's too cold / wet to grill outside or for a side dish or veggies that aren't worth lighting up the charcoal for. As far as the ventilation goes, yes you do need a good extractor but I need that the way I cook anyway, or else I'm always setting off smoke alarms by de-glazing pans or searing stuff. The extra room on the cooktop is useful in itself. More burners may be a good option but I can't say I'd use that more than the grill. I'm not a big griddle fan. I have pans for that.

So you are in the Chicago area and really like British Bitters: You should check out the "Real Ale Festival" next March http://www.realalefestival.com/ If you can't wait until then try some of the Cask conditioned ales at Goose Island, or Flossmoor station. It's the cask conditioning that makes English draft Bitter unique. Keg just isn't the same. Another bottled Bitter you should be able to get (even though it is W. Coast) is Rogues Brutal Bitter. This is the US interpretation and it really bitter and quite strong.

Is this the one? Castlemaine: http://ratebeer.com/Ratings/Beer/ShowBeer....asp?BeerID=1484 Doesn't sound that great. I've had their lager and wasn't impressed. "Bitter" is a generic term that is used in England and Australia to distinguish the more hoppy pale ales from the "Mild" ales that are less hopped and often dark. The bitterness comes from the hops. American Pale Ales are generally much more bitter than anything that the UK or Australia produces. There are some real "hop monsters" out there. Try Stone Ruination or Buffalo Bill's Alimony Ale at over 100+ IBUs they are bitter in the extreme. (IBU is international bittering units - a way of measuring the bitterness of the beer) IPAs (India Pale Ales) are extra hoppy as the hops act as a preservative that allowed them to be shipped from England to India. This style has been adopted well in the USA and there are many excellent versions produced by American craft brewers.

Pretty sure you can get New Belgium beer in Seattle. Fat Tire, Loft or Porch Swing fit into the category of easy drinking but not piss water that you are looking for.

works well with any dried fruit (prunes, apricots, SD tomatoes etc) Don't need to slice it open. just push a boning knife in at each end then shove a steel through if the hole doesn't go all the way through. Then push the stuffing in using the steel at first to make sure it goes all the way in. Obviously you stuff it after the brining. Using dried fruit as a stuffing means that it will swell up, absorb the juices and make a nice round pattern in each slice.

RFD is a fine place for beers. In fact I've been going there a lot recently for the Smithsonian Beer Series. But sadly the food is awful. Cuisine a la biere it is not.

Lamb's liver is also very good. A little milder than pork liver and more tender. More flavourful than veal liver. It is widely available in Europe but I have never seen it in the USA. It is excellent dipped in flour and fried medium rare. with bacon and / or onions. Quick and cheap. Beef is tough and needs to be braised. Not that good. (I'd say medium rare as - pink throughout but no cold red raw middle)

Just a quick thought. I agree that you don't want to eat anything that comes out of 85 degree water. But isn't the water a lot cooler in may / June or than in septembeR or even octobeR? I also hate that milky taste that is, I guess, related to the spawning cycle. Does this cycle relate to the "non R" months? ( because water temp doesn't seem to).

It is a shame nobody seems concerned enough about the health of servers to push for them to get mandatory health insurance. That would have a more direct impact on their health I'm sure.

If there's still stuff stuck to it you can sand it. Preferably with a power sander but course sand paper will work too. Sounds like grease is the main problem though -- I take mine out when I'm not using it and I always dust it with cornmeal before sliding a pizza on. Never got it real greasy. Don't see why you can't use detergent to cut the grease.

It's the Nitrogen ( a process they call Cream flow or slopwpour ). Guiness invented it as a way to make keg beer more like a hand pulled draft (Nitrogen makes smaller bubbles, more like air leading to a creamy head) They now do it in the can with the "Widget" of Nitro. Boddies used to be a great cask ale. Then Whitbread took it over and murdered it. However, with a small but growing number of exceptions it's as close to a cask ale as you are likely to be able to get most places in the USA. Cask ales require extensive cellaring and will spoil if not looked after as they are living ales.

It is just a new name / package for 2 existing Rogue ales: Rogue HazelNut Brown Nectar Rogue Buckwheat Ale Both quite good as are all the Rogues I've tried.

unfortunately Uma has yet to offer me either the Labatts or the pants.

We can get most Belgian Wits here in the USA. Not just "Dead" ones: Wittekerke, Troublette, Blanche de Bruges, Blanche de Bruxelles, ertvelds wit, Joseph Spelt, Florisgaarden. There are also many US produced Wits that are bottle conditioned: Allagash, Bells Oberon, Boulevard, Victory Whirlwind to name but a few Gueuze is available all over the world. We can get Cantillon, Drei Fonteinen, Oude Beersel (even though they are no longer brewing). All good. Girardin, Lindemans, Boon and Belle Vue are also available right here in Virginia. Where? I've never seen any of those beers in a bar in the US in my life. Must have missed a few as I reeled from the statement that Labatts was good beer. I can get nearly all of that list at the wholefoods supermaket in Virginia. As far as bars go that depends on where you are. In the DC area you can get a several to most of these at RFD, Brickskeller, the new Belgian place in Adams Morgan (name escapes me) or the Belgian Resto in Occoquan. Baltimore has the brewers art and Max's on Broadway. Philadelphia has Monks where you can probably get them all. Plus Eulogy Bar, Standard Tap and Abbaye. New York has several Belgian Restos (Markt, Cafe de Bruxelles) plus bars such as Blind tiger, Gingerman, DBA, Mugs and Waterfront Alehouse that would have quite a few. No excuse for drinking dead beer anymore!

We can get most Belgian Wits here in the USA. Not just "Dead" ones: Wittekerke, Troublette, Blanche de Bruges, Blanche de Bruxelles, ertvelds wit, Joseph Spelt, Florisgaarden. There are also many US produced Wits that are bottle conditioned: Allagash, Bells Oberon, Boulevard, Victory Whirlwind to name but a few Gueuze is available all over the world. We can get Cantillon, Drei Fonteinen, Oude Beersel (even though they are no longer brewing). All good. Girardin, Lindemans, Boon and Belle Vue are also available right here in Virginia.

Not for much longer V. I believe they are building one in Clarendon. Just what we needed eh?

Casual in Dupont (both seafood) I would recomment Pesce and Johnny's half shell. Georgetown: Sea catch is pretty good, in an old building overlooking the canal and the Bistro Francais is a reasonable Bistro too. Neither are exceptional. Vengroff is correct that most of the rest are pretty dire. Also have to second the recommendations for Jaleo, Atlantico and Zaytinya all a couple of blocks from Chinatown. I have yet to try Bistro D'Oc.

Thankyou herr smokemeister. They are brining now as we E-speak. I'll let you know how they work out, but I feel confident now that they are now under the spell of the meat moses.