formerly grueldelux

I'm all for minimizing cabinets and maximizing open shelving. I did a minor remodel before I moved into my house a year ago (minor because the budget was already blown on boring stuff like new roof, new windows, major stuctural work, basement waterproofing.) I ended up with a perfectly nice and functional kitchen, more homey than chic. It's nice, but I feel like I'm living in a cabinet showroom. If I had a choice I'd make one wall of floor to ceiling cabinets with tall, simple doors (more like closets than cabinets, actually.) The rest would be open shelves. Good luck with the project! michael

Mad Cow Disease or no, I am an avowed beefaholic and this photo montage merely served to whet my otherwise ravenous desire to buy and grill a lovely piece of chuck! and definitely "bleu"!! Thanks for this piece!! GG, Thanks for the kind words. Funny you mention Mad Cow. Right after I posted I flipped on NPR and heard Michael Pollan discussing the issue on the program On Point. Damn you historical context! I realize that this sort of lavish homage to beef might look a little funny given recent events so I feel I should clarify that I have no connection to the beef industry, the food retail industry, the restaurant industry, the outdoor grill industry or, for that matter, any industry whatsoever.

Thanks for the very interesting ideas. The way the cut naturally divided, especially after cooking, had made me curious about alternate uses for that rib section. There's now home-butchered Kalbi in my future.

Inspired by Mr. Cutlets avowed love for chuck which he declared in the Q and A now in the Fridge, I've done a little experimenting on the grill. Bottom line, I can't believe I've gone my whole life relegating chuck to the stew pot when clearly it's the tastiest option for the grill as well. The fact that's it's cheap doesn't hurt but I think I'd choose it for the flavor regardless of price. Mr. Cutlets says he prefers a thinner steak, since the thick ones tend to inch too closely to roast beef for his tastes. I don't really have a preference but I chose a massive one for this experiment because it nicely illustrates the "7 Bone" designation brought into question in the q and a (see the topic "ground, as opposed to intact.") In the grocery store where I purchased the steak they have several kinds of pre-cut chuck steaks, two of which are called "7 Bone." With the thinner 7 Bone (around 1 inch), the numeral 7 is not at all visible. Here it's plain as day. Here's a side view. It's massive, corks high: And a top (note the 7 on the left.) Salted and air dried in the fridge for 24 hours (Many don't advise this. Proceed at your own risk.) 48 hours. Obvious shrinkage and darkening. The surface was still soft all over and required little trimming Pre-heated the cooker for 45 minutes at 600 degrees. I'm not an expert on using this style of cooker for high/direct heat, but I know that it works best when the ceramic walls are fully heated so that the meat cooks as much from the heat radiating from the walls as from the fire below. Steak on: Cooking away with lid closed: Flipped after 4 minutes. Maybe a tad over-charred: Second side done, removed to warmed clay vessel to rest, covered: Wow: Okay, maybe not. I was aiming for rare, got nearly blue. I guess it should have been obvious that something this thick would need longer cooking at a lower temp. I ate it anyway.: Several delicious meals later, the 7 arises: And flips: Thanks Mr. Cutlets! I'm a new man! For the most part, there is nothing tough about this cut at all and the flavor is outstanding. The tough parts provide their own pleasure, encouraging you to cut small, take your time, chew. Michael

Did anyone see the segment on TechTv about the Toast-N-Serve bags? It was on late last night. It's possible that the episode was a repeat, and also possible that it's already been discussed here (couldn't find it in the thread.) Apologies if that's so, but here's my account anyway. Bear in mind that I was half asleep. Didn't get the name of the show. The format is a host behind a desk, almost like a talk show. He has hair that was fashionable in 1999 and plenty of cheek of the same vintage. Gnarly. I think the show reviews products, offers tips etc. The segment started off with the host interviewing Warner Fox who was shown via Netcam at his desk. The host played dumb/skeptical/bemused while Mr. Fox comported himself well, describing the product, cracking wise once or twice. After a commercial the bags were put to the test in a sort of head-to-head competition. One person cooked an omelette in two stages, first cooking onion and zuke, then pouring in some eggs for a second round. The other cook made a "potato gratin" and sesame crusted ahi. Can't remember if this was cooked in stages. Next the products were tested by the cheeky host. The omelette was runny; host was, like, totally gagging. The second cook copped to overcooking the ahi. The host poked and joked, took a tentative bite, made mildly positive remarks. The bags were basically dismissed as a near crackpot idea. Clearly they missed the beauty of it. Pehaps if they'd have done a simple grilled cheese or something then they would have been more positive. Geeks. I will place my order now.

Mr. Kinsey, I noticed a line of enamelled cast iron cookware at Macy's today. It was new to me and, from what I could tell from the eGullet search engine, it hasn't been mentioned here. The line is La Campagne and I believe it's in the house Tools of the Trade label. A search of the Macy's site and the web in general proved fruitless. The pans look pretty darn good and are ridiculously cheap. e.g. the 7 quart French oven was $70 regular price, less 10-15% with newspaper coupon (at least for today). To my eyes it looks as good as any other enamelled cast iron, though the lids lack a knob and would require two hands. They're made in China. I was all set to buy one until I noticed that the sides round slightly where they meet the bottom, so the bottom surface area is not nearly as large as the equivalent staight sided Le Creuset or that dutch oven-shaped All Clad 8 qt. stockpot. I declined since I'm holding out for the perfect multi-function pot - able to brown large batches then braise/stew, plus serve as deep frying vessel - though now I'm thinking of purchasing it despite the shortcomings in shape. (Re: my quest. What do you think, enamelled cast iron like Le Creuset French Oven or equivalent, or a large rondeaux, like the Paderno 7.4 quart?) Another note: Fogive me if this has been widely discussed already, but I thought I should recommend Caplan Duval in Montreal for cheap Le Creuset. They recently had 8.75 Quart French Ovens for $93 which seems worth it, and they seem to often have similar deals.

re:brewing coffee in a press. A few years ago I saw someone from Peet's Coffee (perhaps the founder/president) on Martha Stewart and his directions were to pour a small amount of water over the grounds, stir, let sit for a minute while the grounds "bloom", stir again, then pour in the remainder of the water. I've been following this method ever since and wondered if anyone had any thoughts on it. Do you think the extra step is needed? I actually can't tell any bloomin difference in the taste but I'm bloomin well not going to change my coffee ritual now. (pardon me if this topic has been done to death before; I used the new search engine and didn't come up with anything for blooming coffee) Forget the Martha reference, it's right here. Now that I read the Peet's site, I see the stirring takes place after the remaining water is added.

Fell asleep on the couch the other night and woke to an informercial for a coffee roasting appliance,which was a new (and intriguing) one for me. Does anyone know anything about this product? coffee roaster

Isn't Jamie Oliver good for meat? I've never eaten his food or used his recipes so I can't judge if he's inept in his treatments or not. But this is a guy who starts his shows by popping into specialty shops and talking to the cheese monger or butcher or fish monger. He encourages people to develop these relationships and to learn what the best products are and to insist on them. In the latest series he takes all his trainees out to the farm where the animals that supply his restaurant are raised. All good, no? I actually can't think of a TV personality who's been a better advocate for meat (besides Tony Bourdain). EDITed for Bourdain parenthetical

Mr. Cutlets, Thanks for all your great info. I was wondering if you had any thoughts on the future for meat retailing? Here in Boston, noted chef Barbara Lynch (and partners) just opended a specialty butcher shop that turns into a small meat-focused restaurant by night. This joins another specialty butcher shop that opended in the same neighborhood just a short while ago. I'm sure the same thing is happening in major cities across the country. Do you think stores like this signal a start of a major change in this country? Do you see potential for a revolution like that which we experienced over the last 20 years with coffee, for example? Do you see the demand for better meat and better service driving mainstream grocery chains to improve their offerings? Or will premium meats remain a treat for "elites"? I'm optimistic that educated and passionate consumers will fuel the marketplace and maybe help increase production (and eventually bring down the prices) of high quality meat. But sometimes these changes seem impossible to envision because the price gap is so vast between regular grocery store meat and specialty shop meat. Chuck on sale at my local Whole Foods is 4 times more expensive than the chuck at regular price in a nearby mainstream store, for example. Are these two worlds going to influence each other?

Mr. Cutlets, I agree with everything on your Billl of Rights except for article 5 about the sides. I know those sides are traditional but, for me, this is a tradition that is respected only every now and then. I love mac and cheese, collards, hush puppies etc. but to me these are more delicious Americana lark than personal tradition. I sometimes go the traditional route but more often than not substitute whatever I feel like, leafy greens included. It's always seemed peculiar to me that people insist on cheap white bread, for example, as if a more substantial loaf disrespects the sublime meat. But slopping coleslaw on a sandwich is respectful? I don't get it. For me, bbq is about the meat and I feel no obligation to go all Hee Haw with the sides. Often I like to rub a pork shoulder with only salt and pepper and then I have a lot of flexibility with the leftovers. I can crisp them in a hot iron skillet then eat them plain or with corn tortillas and salsa verde or wrapped in lettuce Thai-style or piled on rye with mustard and sauerkraut. I am now banned from the Carolinas.

Thanks to all for a great course. If I wasn't just coming off a long baking binge inspired by Jackal's sourdough unit, I'm sure my hands would be in some dough at this very moment. Dan, I'm looking forward to trying those recipes. That bread looks like the ultimate. I have a question, though, about maintenance of the leaven:

Right on! Sponges are useless are disgusting. I say go with dishcloths and get a ton of them so you don't have to worry about making them last until the next laundry. Supplement with ChoreBoys.

I'm another big potato fan, so I've found this thread great. But I'd like to suggest a different direction. You're talking about a feast for a nine year old, right? I say, concentrate on presentation more than new dishes (though a few new dishes would certainly perk things up), and make the presentation totally over the top. Knock his/her socks off with a crazy mashed potato and gravy volcano with a frites forest and houses made of stacks of thin potato slices with latke roofs, and baked potato cars and tater tots people and the water tower made of a huge stack of pringles.

Thanks for a great lesson! I just finished cooking and eating the first three dishes and thought I'd offer a bravo for your work. Some questions about the rice recipe. Do you believe one should rinse the rice? Also, I was wondering if you had any visual or auditory clues we should use when the rice cooks, because, for me, cooking the rice on the "lowest your burner can go" did not work at all. I have what I guess is a high-end non-commercial stove and it has a "precise simmer" burner that can maintain really low temperatures. When I cooked the rice like you directed there was barely even a wisp of steam, so it clearly wasn't right. I upped it to what for that burner, on that stove, is around medium and then followed your recipe exactly. This turned out I think the best pot of rice of my life. So I'm very pleased to have finally perfected a technique for my unique circumstances, but I'm wandering, as far as general rules go, what should we be looking for? I always thought the rice should steam rather aggressively, or is that wrong? The stir fried greens were a relevation even though my garlic blackened instantly and I set off the smoke alarm. That extra heat and lack of stirring really does take it to another dimension. The quick cooked, simply seasoned green was the one thing about Chinese cookery I thought I had down, so thanks for opening my eyes. I loved the steamed beef dish and can see that, with all the untold variations possible (authentic or not) it will become a standard for me (I can already taste the Thai version.) But one question: must I like dried black mushrooms? I've given them a shot, I really have. And I love mushrooms in general. There's something I just can't stomach about that type though. Would I be able to freely substitute, say, fresh cremini? Would they give up too much moisture? Lastly, I thought I'd share my small equipment breakthrough of this evening - the lobster pot is perfect for steaming. Surprise, right? Okay, maybe not. But what was new to me was the idea of filling the pot with bamboo steamers. I realize that most people don't have or need a lobster pot (I'm talking about the speckle-ware type with two compartments and a spigot), but if you do you'll be happy to know you now have another use for that pot taking up half the guest room. It's great because it will easily hold a stack of the wide steamers shown in your photos. I'm on to the claypot and black beans recipes. One question re: black beans. What are your feelings on chopping versus leaving whole?

I like the coins on the bills method. You simply tip the coins into your opposite palm, stuff the bills into your wallet, scram. Very efficient. It is a curious development though. I don't remember it happening even a few years ago and now it's the donimant technique. Do you think it started from awkwardness/squeamishness over touching the hand of another person? If so, you can hardly blame the cashiers, who have to touch who knows how many people every day and may be subject to transmitting colds etc. That and having to suffer time and again through that little hesitation dance between customer and cashier, each bringing their own expectations to the exchange. Ah, minutiae!

One interesting option could be the new mixer by Wolfgang Puck. I have no idea about the quality of his applicances, and I think the mixer has just come out so who knows if it has quality/performance kinks. I know his pans are good for what they are - stainless with aluminum disk bottoms - and are quite cheap. The stand mixer is 600 watts, commercially rated, 6 quarts (I think. Maybe 5) and I believe under $200, at least it was when it was on Home Shopping Network the first time. The problem is, HSN seems to be sold out at the moment and it may be the only place they are available.

McDonalds hamburgers are steamed beef Twinkies. No, they're the beef Twinkie you left on the dash. They're the beef paste Twinkie from your armpit. RE: BK, I thought the short lived BK Homestyle was the best chain burger in ages, hold the lettuce and mayo.

I like it all sorts of ways but usually go the basic lemon-mayo-shallot-dijon route, often perked up with pickle or olives or pickled peppers. The one true departure has been a mix of wasabi, pickled ginger, scallion, splash of soy, minced garlic etc. Sometimes hoisin, thai sweet chili sauce, cilantro. Lemongrass. Citrus zest. Lime leaf. (Larb anyone?) Many Asian possibilities, though for some reason these styles seem weird to me in a sandwich. I usually eat them as a salad on greens.

Five or so days a week make a meal of a huge amount of colorful vegetables, as much as you want. Eat them with as little refined carbs (bread, potatoes etc.) as possible, and maybe a little protein. This usually means salads and soups. The rest of the time eat whatever you want and take pleasure in it, keeping an eye on total calories and refined sugar, and including some fatty fish and nuts and maybe red wine and green tea.

Great course Herr Clink! A great thing about smoking turkey is even if you over cook it by a mile, it's still going to taste great. One thing that I don't think is mentioned though - cooking a turkey with smoke the whole way can yield a bird with a very strange texture and taste compared to the regular thanksgiving roast. It can seem almost like ham. It's personal preference, of course, but I thought it should be mentioned. If you want pretty much a regular turkey but with a hint of smoke, you should smoke lightly because it's easy to over smoke. I prefer a small hit of smoke at the beginning and then to let it finish with just the charcoal lump. A couple of questions. What about air drying the turkey? Is it worth it in your opinion? And about rubs. I can't tell any difference between brisket that's sat with a rub on it and brisket that's had the rub appllied just before going in the cooker. Do you think it matters? I've concluded that since many of the flavor compounds in the spices are fat soluble, nothing much is happening until the fat starts flowing anyway. I've always wondered why pork shoulders and briskets are smoked basically intact when there's lots of other meat roasting traditions that call for you to hack or slash the meat (think leg of lamb with garlic and herbs shoved in slashes.) Do you think a pork shoulder or brisket would benefit from some slashing? Wouldn't it allow more smoke penetration and more surfaces for the rub? Lastly, is there a point when the piece of meat has absorbed all the smoke flavor it can possibly absorb before it's done to the right internal temp.? i.e. Can you finish in the oven?

I have way too little knowledge to offer any general rules, but I can offer the recipe for my one successful adaptation. I tried the loaf in this lesson a total of three times and had only marginal improvements on my first one. It's a mystery why it didn't work for me, since it obviously worked for others, but so it goes. Fearing for my baking skills, I went back to my old recipe and again produced a lovely loaf. It's not really sourdough, nor is brimming with character (it's a Stepford loaf) but I'd be proud to serve it to anyone. Cook's Illustrated Rustic Loaf Adapted for Natural Leavening and Hand Kneading 1. Make starter according to instructions in this lesson. I keep about 1/2 cup in a jar in the fridge. 2. Place 1 large tablespoon of starter in medium bowl. Add approx. 1/4 cup each bread flour and water to remaining starter. Stir and return to fridge. 3. Make biga/levain. To starter in bowl, add 1 cup water, 3/4 cup whole wheat flour and 1 cup bread flour. Stir. Leave at reasonable room temperature for 24 to 48 hours until very bubbly and expanded. (24 hours is usually enough). If it has become inert looking, stir in a tablespoon or two of flour and check in an hour or so; it should come back to life soon. 4. Mix levain in large bowl with 3 cups bread flour, 1/4 cup whole wheat flour, 1/2 cup whole rye flour and 1 1/2 cups water. Stir for a couple of minutes. Let rest for 1/2 hour, covered. Lightly dust counter with flour. Scrape levain onto counter. Flour hands. Measure 1/4 cup bread flour and keep nearby. Begin kneading dough, pressing the heal of both hands into the dough and pushing away from yourself, stretching and pulling the dough towards you on the "backstroke". Do this for 10 minutes. It will feel weird. Your hands will be encased in sticky dough and it will seem like some force is trying to pull you hands first through the counter. The dough will be one with the counter. Whatever the case, resist the urge to add more than the 1/4 cup of extra flour and keep kneading. After 10 minutes, scrape dough together and allow to rest for 15 minutes. Scrape off and wash your very sticky and doughy hands. Sprinkle dough with 2 teaspoons salt. Add optional tablespoon of honey or barley malt syrup. Knead another ten minutes. (After a minute the dough should be significantly less problematic, barely sticking to counter or hand and standing up nice and tall and squeaky. ) Place dough in optionally oiled bowl. 5. Allow to rise at room temperature until at least doubled if not tripled, 3 to 5 hours, "turning" dough gently at least twice. Shape into one or two loaves and place in floured towel in collander(s) or other similar contraption(s). Retard overnight in fridge. 6. Remove loaf from fridge. Preheat oven with baking stone on lowest shelf and metal pan beneath at 500 degrees for one hour. Bring two cups water to the boil. Gently place loaf on peel dusted with semolina. Slash artfully and place on stone. Carefully pour boiling water into pan and close oven door. For large loaf, turn oven down to 450 after 5 minutes and cook until an internal temperature of 210 degrees, 35 to 50 minutes, flipping loaf upside down after 30 minutes. (Smaller loaves can go longer at 500 and won't take as much total time.) Cool on rack for two hours.

Fantastic course, thanks a lot. I just finished my loaf following the directions and I thought I'd give my thoughts and impressions. Questions too. Firstly, I'm not a total amateur. Perhaps an advanced beginner? I've been baking for a year or so, starting with Cook's Illustrated rustic bread recipes that use commercial yeast (brilliant recipes in my book.) I then tried to adapt the recipe to apply natural leavening techniques (mostly picked up here on egullet) and hand kneading. After a few inedible loafs I slowly got the hang of it and eventually got to the point of being liberated entirely from the recipe, having gained a sort of feel for how things should look/feel at each stage. This lesson has destroyed all that. Just kidding. But my loaf was not a raging success and I followed it pretty closely. Riffing on Alton Brown, I used a heating pad in a cooler to get a nice steady 85 degrees. PreviouslyI had been using more of a chef starter than a sponge, so this was new for me. It was good and bubbly in about 5 hours, and surprisingly sour. I made the dough in the processor following the recipe exactly, using 3 cups of flour in the end to get the "soft " dough. When it was time to bake, I preheated the oven with stone at 550 for a good hour. The loaf was extremely dark on top after 20 minutes (normally I cook steady at around 475 but the recipe says to use the hottest oven possible.) The underside was not very dark in comparison. More alarming was the shape. The loaf had formed a crust so quickly on the top that apparantly the dough had nowhere to spring to except down. So I had this rigid perfect loaf up top and dough sprung out underneath, forming a big old stem for the toadstool. Weird. Was the temp too high? Should there have been more proofing? More gluten development? The dough itself is a little dense and moist, which usually means it didn't rise enough. So is this a function of the yeast level or the gluten development, or a combination? Also, the bread, rather than having a scattering of smallish holes, has a single long burrowing tubule of a hole down the center of the loaf, about five inches long and as fat as your thumb. (And I had gently "turned" the loaf as well, so you'd think there'd be even holes.) The one thing that was a radical improvement over my old style of loaf was the sourdough taste. It's simply outstanding. But I'm with some of the other posters. I don't usually want that sour taste. I want it as often as I want, say, rye. My basic loaf i like just as rustic/authentic but not so sour. So I'm wondering, should I only use this temperature specific incubation technique when I want sour and otherwise just stick with what I was doing ( which was making a chef and turning it into dough when it looks right)? In other words, is this ultimately a master recipe or a variation? Lastly, I was wondering about vital wheat gluten? Does it work? Could it be used in loaves that are in danger of having too much acid, or is that cheating?

One important concept for me was the idea of cooking with residual heat, either that contained in the food itself or that in the cooking vessel. It seems so obvious now, but I can remember the days before I had a grasp on the idea, and I was way more baffled and intimidated at the stove. Cuts of meat rising 5 degrees as they rest, dried beans finishing perfectly off heat, eggs cooking covered and off heat etc.

Just thought I'd share my approach, since I haven't seen it discussed here or anywhere else. I have a 30 inch stove and one of the large, rectangular pizza stones. Like a lot of people, I found that one stone wasn't big enough but two wouldn't fit. My solution was turn the stone 90 degrees so it goes front to back on the oven rack. I then bought a second identical stone, measured the amount left uncovered by stone on the rack, and had it cut to size with a wet saw (luckily I have a neighbor who's a contractor) So now the whole rack is covered in two big rectangles. The leftover strip of stone (about a third of it) I wrapped in foil to use for heat retention/deflection in my cheapo charcoal grill. Obviously this is not a very economical way to go, but I don't regret it one bit.