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Just to be clear, I knew that the KitchenAid pan was a steal, but I wasn't aware of the value of the Copco until I googled it.

Slightly uncomfortable today. yesterday I picked up a KitchenAid fry pan and a vintage, cast iron Copco Dutch oven for, wait for it...$2 i did a little research on both, and the Copco goes for close to $150 and the KitchenAid fry pan is $50 new. im going to go back in and donate another $50 to them.

Therefore, I hope your loungeroom is large. we have "little" Asian grocery outlets that are like the TARDIS. small rooms with absolutely tonnes of stuff, and I have much more fun buying things that I am not sure what they are. look, even a frozen duck from one of those places is going to be better than "Luv-a-Duck". - in my opinion the very worst example of duck you could find. duck is a beautiful thing, a lovely meat, a gorgeous product. But, like goose and goat, you need a good example to start with, and then you need to cook it properly

Hello all my partner loves his Coca Cola and there is always cartons of it in our house. but, he can't stand it if it gets flat, which it very often does once he opens the can. thankfully, I'm completely opposite and enjoy cola only when it is flat. My ying to his yang. now, however, I'm trying to use flat coke in other ways. im currently trying to make a coke buttercream for cupcakes and found a recipe online that I'm trying out. any other ideas?

I note that as a fellow Australian, you too are almost solely restricted to using the "Luv-a-Duck" product. if you can, you will be far better off trying to source your bird from any Asian grocer or butcher. i find "Luv-a-Duck" to be similar in quality to those battery farmed mass produced chickens- bland, watery and certainly not value for the outrageous price.

I work in a thrift store, and can guarantee you that for every example of nice, interesting things, we get tonnes of dirty old junk that you wouldn't use to serve up your dog's food. its expensive to take your junk to the dump, so people "donate" it to us, because our dumping fees are part of the business. that being said, we get all kinds of treasures amongst it all - a lot of my own kitchen gadgets and presentation ware is vintage, retro or just surprisingly brand new and cost no more than a very few dollars to me. for example, today I came across two pieces of antique Carlton Ware that were in perfect condition and upon research, last sold for $180 a piece. You gotta know what you are looking at.

In Australia, it's more than mostly all halal nowadays, just because it's easier for the vendors to sell their products to everyone. The sceptic in me doubts that all the certificates handed out really examined closely the true adherence to the policy, but no one seems to care much.

I hear that there has been an outbreak of the Black Plague in Madagascar. Not good if true.

I'm in Australia, so I'm not sure if you have places like ours, be we have a couple of outlets that stock products that are perfectly good, but perhaps the company has re-badged or changed packaging, and they take all the old stock and sell it dirt cheap. i got a box of Barilla pasta for something like $10 simply because Barilla had changed the size of the product. these outlets also buy up stock from companies that have gone out of business, or discontinued a line. They also do a lot of "close-to-date" items, so you need to be a bit cautious, but smart shoppers know that the "Thousand Year Old Himalayan Pink Salt" isn't really going to expire next week!

You might even look at baking treats- cake decorator items like popping candy, star etc shaped sprinkles, candy flowers and cake toppers for example. im pretty sure very few baking people make their own and I have found some good bulk buys out there. good luck and keep us in the loop

...When does a recipe become "yours"? for example, if I was to write a cookbook with my favourite recipes, a lot would be adapted from others. i guess there is very little new that hasn't been tried before. so where is the line drawn?

Being in Australia, and in the industry, I can say I have likewise never heard of them. It's likely they are further up the chain than the purveyors we deal with.

Just cos: crack an egg on a flat surface, because it's very easy to contaminate an egg with shell or bacteria when you crack an egg on the side of a bowl. also, crack eggs at room temperature- very much less likely to break the yolks.

Definitely, and another one I just thought of about baking. often a recipe calls for the butter to be "softened" but many people think that liquefying it in the microwave is the same. It's not.

Probably been done before, but here goes: 1) the debate about adding oil to pasta water has actually very little to do with coating the pasta. It's a technique used by cooks to ensure that fast rolling boiling water doesn't overflow the pot. 2) amongst the many tips for cutting onions without crying, the two that I have found work best are making sure that the onion is cold and your knife is well sharp. 3) when making sweet bakery items, the recipe normally calls for you to beat the butter and sugar until creamy. This takes a lot longer than you may think. It's at least five minutes in a mixer. your shares?

Gordon Ramsay is opening an airline food outlet in London Heathrow. Might be interesting.

Yup, got a great pressure cooker- Buffalo. It is clearly a big part of what I will do. great question! Thanks

Sorry to reply to myself, but to clarify: I wouldn't be approaching this as a business, as such, and wouldn't be "selling" in the normal sense. I would probably only require payment for the ingredients and labour/overheads without a profit. I already have most of the kitchen equipment I would need, so I'm thinking more about things like bigger waste disposal containers, more bulk items, industrial dishwasher detergents, disposable containers and stickers for instructions and dietary information. the thing here is that the older couple live in a retirement village and I've been told that there is a very good possibility that more work might come my way, so if I do this, I want to start right.

Hello Gulleters! here's the deal. I, like everyone here, loves to cook and I usually make more than is needed for the two of us in my home. My partner's brother is a low-income single father of two, so where applicable, he gets "leftovers", usually in takeaway containers and often frozen. he raves to everyone about my food, and now I have a new situation. an older couple, remotely related through family, have recently cancelled their 'Meals-On-Wheels' program because they don't like the food. The remote sister of a friend etc has reached out to me to ask if I would be willing to provide some meals such as might be of better quality to fill the gap. Partners brother really recommended my food etc. I'm more than happy, and even a little excited about the idea, and that's why I'm asking you folk to offer advice on how I should approach this. please keep in mind that I have over 20 years in the industry so don't really need entry level advice. more along the line of what might I need to invest in for a home kitchen? Do I need a license if I am selling this food on such a small level and so on. thanks

Fascinating stuff. Will follow with interest. i think you are probably at the stage where you need a "mini-me" especially if you plan to run this business from another state. you seem quite switched on with the inter webs, so you're going to need Skype etc to make sure you can communicate with everyone on the other side of the country (staff, vendors and customers). good luck!

Have a printed time sheet for each employee and make it the rule that a supervisor must sign them off after they fill out the hours of their shift. No sign off, no pay.

Sorry, I guess I was alluding to experience equalling a kind of instinct. thanks for your replies.

Hello having become very much interested in baking over the last few years, I'm very aware that accurate measurements and following recipes is far more important in this area than that of savoury dishes. but I am wondering if, after a time, you become more instinctive when baking? can you measure a cup of flour by eye? can you read a recipe and note that perhaps fifty more grams of butter would be better? can you see that perhaps substituting mandarins for lemons would work? discuss.

After my morning shower and getting dressed, my first task is always emptying the dishwasher - for whatever the day ahead may task. Even before my first coffee. i always load as I go - I hate clutter on the counter and can't abide things in the sink. another question I have, on this: i have an ancient mixing bowl handed down to me from my dearly deceased mother, and I wouldn't think to put it in a dishwasher - it was made well before such appliances were made. There are other items I have that will never see the inside of a dishwasher. if you have items such as this, do you hand wash before bed?

Thanks folks! Great ideas. I'm going with whipped cream and dulce de leche.