slkinsey

The companies want to make more profits. That means two things: spending less money on materials/construction and driving repeat sales via planned obsolesence. If you look at the Sunbeam waffle iron, for example, that thing is built like a tank. My parents have one that has been in weekly use for over 50 years, and it's still going strong. It makes 4 waffles at a time. It has heavy, deep, thick plates for making waffles and completely separate plates for making pancakes or use as a sandwich press. There's just no way any modern company is going to put that kind of craftsmanship and materials into a waffle iron unless they plan to sell it for over 100 bucks (average for a waffle iron seems to be around 30 bucks, with a top price of maybe $70).

D'oh! I think JAZ beat you to the name. Although I'm sure plenty of people are discovering that name, with the popularity of pomegranate juices, infusions and liqueurs.

Many people prefer the old KitchenAid mixers, which had stronger motors and all metal gearing.

I think the rules of thumb should be: 1. Know the properties of the wine you're going to be cooking with (e.g., sweet vs dry, tannic vs soft, etc.) and make sure you're using one with the appropriate characteristics for the effect you want. 2. Don't cook with any wine you couldn't at least choke down if someone had a gun pointed at your head. This primarily means spoiled (corked, etc.) wines and wines with serious off-flavors. I've always meant to find a decent red and a decent white wine-in-a-box I could keep around for cooking purposes. The thing that's great about the wine-in-a-box delivery system is that the wine is actually inside a bag inside the box. The bag just shrinks in size as wine is poured out the spigot, which means that no air is actually going into the bag -- which means no oxidation, which means you can keep the box around for months and use a bit of wine here and there for cooking as you need it.

Hmm. If I'm laying out substantial coin for a great steak, the last thing I want to do is obscure the beef flavor with garlic or herbs. Another way to do it would be to bring the steak up to, say, 54C (medium-rare is 52–55C, aka 125–130F) for a few hours and then let it go back down to around 50C and hold there until it's ready to be seared and served. Then, when the meat is quickly seared in a very hot pan to form a crust, the interior will heat back up to 54C but the searing time will be long enough for there to be a desirable degree of gradation of doneness without going so far as to get the overcooked layer you describe. This did seem to be the case in Vadouvan's experiments, if I'm reading correctly. Collagen converts to gelatin at 55C, so in order to have any tenderizing effect on a less-than-perfect porterhouse or strip steak, I think you'd need to take it up to that temperature. The good news is that these are naturally tender cuts of meat with little collagen, so even a not-so-good porterhouse or strip steak should be somewhat tenderized by spending a couple of hours at 55C. I'd hesitate to keep it at that temperature much longer, though, or I think the texture would become insipid and mealy. I think this is also often true with respect to a home grill: Either the grill isn't that good to begin with, or it's not loaded/fired/preheated/managed properly, or the fuel isn't very good, etc. It's possible, I know, to get a great grilled steak on a Webber grill with Kingsford charcoal, just like it's possible to get a great omelet out of a thin stainless steel pan on an electric stove -- but both of those things take a good bit of knowledge, experience and expertise. This is another reason I think a lot of home steak grillers reach for the seasoned salt, garlic rub, etc.

Fee Brothers now has a limited edition barrel aged bitters out. It's outstanding. Get it while you can.

Thanks for the link, guzzirider. It would seem that, unless you want to add the smokey flavor from charcoal grilling (and also, unless you have a konro with bincho-tan charcoal), sous vide followed by searing for crust would be the best technique. Interestingly, that's more or less idea of Fat Guy's "French method" (sear with butter to create a crust and then gently cook to temperature) only in reverse (gently cook to temperature and then sear with butter to create a crust)..

According to the NY Post, DeMarco's is probably going to close for good: Apparently the restaurant had been on the brink of closure for some time anyway, which doesn't come as too big a surprise to those of us who had followed the place since it's opening. The pizza simply wasn't ever very good, and there was little reason not to walk a few blocks East to Arturos for a better (and cheaper, I'd guess) pizza.

When you broil, the melted fat just runs off the meat into the platter on which the steak is resting. When you grill, the melted fat runs off the meat into the flames and burns. If I'm paying 35 bucks for a dry-aged prime-of-the-prime porterhouse, I want a deeply maillardized, crusted steak -- I don't want any burnt, carbonized flavors. This would tend to favor broiling. Broiling also has the advantage of retaining the melted steak fat, which can then be spooned over the steak and sopped up with bread. A trip to Peter Luger really demonstrates, among other things, how much of beef's flavor comes from the fat. If I'm going to be eating a cheapo strip steak or something like a marinated flank steak or garlic-rubbed skirt steak, then grilling might be my choice. The char and burnt flavors in this context are adding to the overall flavor profile and aren't muddying expensively dry aged flavors. I have a theory that many people who think paying extra for expensive dry aged prime beef is silly are largely taking their steaks off the grill (often with the addition of a spice rub or seasoned salt). I'm not surprised it's difficult to tell the difference in this context. There are, of course, methods that split the difference. Bistecca alla Fiorentina, a thick porterhouse of chianina beef grilled over vine cuttings, is somehow done in a way that the exterior is not burned -- and although the beef fat is lost to the fire, this is more than compensated by a generous drizzle of top quality Tuscan extra virgin olive oil.

According to Wikipedia, sriracha isn't a codified condiment, but rather the name of a town (Si Racha) that made a sauce that's somewhat similar. I've always been given to understand that sriracha as we know it in America was formulated and popularized by Huy Fung, which is to say that Huy Fung sriracha is sriracha in the States (much like Heinz sets the standard for ketchup). In Thailand I think there is a fair amount of variation in what can be considered "sriracha" and Huy Fung's version may not even be considered a particularly typical sriracha sauce. But I don't think it's the case that there is a "better" version of sriracha as we know it. Anyone would recommend a "better" sriracha is also probably recommending something that's quite different. Also, I have to wonder whether there may be some bias against Huy Fong products among certain demographics due to the fact that it's made in California. I'd say that Tabasco is its own category. There may be other sauces that attempt to duplicate Tabasco, but why use them when you can get the real thing? Now, that said, Tabasco and, e.g., Texas Pete are very often used for the same things. For example, a few dashes of hot sauce on some rice and beans or scrambled eggs. In that case, one is choosing between different classes of hot sauce (albeit fairly closely related in the grand scheme of things). Personally, I prefer the Louisiana-style cayenne sauces. I also don't think it's necessary to have both kinds if you're limiting yourself to a total of only five.

Pan diameters are usually measured across the top.

Unless you do a lot of spicy cooking, I'm not sure you even need five hot sauces. I like to have around: 1. A "Louisiana-style" cayenne-based hot sauce such as Red Devil Cayenne Pepper Sauce, Crystal Hot Sauce, Louisiana Hot Sauce or Texas Pete Hot Sauce. I like these better than Tabasco sauce, which I feel has too much bite and not enough flavor. These sauces have some heat, but not so much that you can't use them in fairly large amounts in something like jambalaya. This is my all-purpose hot sauce that I use on everything from eggs to rice and beans. 2. Sriracha. This is another incredibly versatile hot sauce. It's got enough of an "Asian" flavor that it works well in the few contexts where a Louisiana-style hot sauce wouldn't work, and yet you won't ruin a cheddar cheese omelette with a few squirts of sriracha. Huy Fong seems to be the brand you want. I actually think you could do perfectly well with just those two hot sauces. Adding others is going to depend on what kind of food you like to eat. I'll tell you what I have... 3. Hot pickled peppers in vinegar. This is just a dasher bottle filled with whole little chili peppers (usually green, although I have seen red). Goya makes a perfectly good version. These are absolutely ubiquitous in the South, but seem less so up here in the Northeast. I can hardly imagine eating greens without a few dashes of hot vinegar. These also last forever: when the vinegar gets low, just top up the bottle with additional vinegar. The bottle only needs to be replaced when the vinegar starts losing its zip. 4. Sambal oelek or chili garlic (sambal oelek with garlic, as far as I can tell). Again, Huy Fong seems to be the brand. This is nice to have if, like me, you like to use a slightly vinegarey, garlicey Asian-style crushed chili sauce on things like delivery dumplings, or to "zing up" leftover Chinese food. I'll stipulate, however, that this doesn't seem to be the kind of "dasher bottle" liquid hot sauce you're after. 5. El Yucateco salsa picante de chile habanero, the green one. Very spicy with that special flavor only habanero chilis bring. I prefer the "fresh" and "bright" flavors of the green version, but the red version is good as well. 5. If you don't consider sambal oelek to be the class of hot sauce you're seeking in this thread, then I'd add a chipotle hot sauce for the smoke flavor. I also like to have broad bean chili paste, gochujang, chipotles in adobo and homemade hot chili oil around the house. None of these is a liquid bottled hot sauce, however.

Dude. Custard with a whole slice of pie mixed in?! Sweet.

As far as I know, it was always legal to have a beer with your dim dum on Sunday morning (or at least for the last 30+ years). The blue laws applied mainly to retail liquor sales. We're actually still saddled with stupid laws about retail liquor sales, like the fact that liquor stores can't sell beer.

For the Yankees game, there's always a stop off at Patsy's East Harlem for a quick pizza or five. For Broadway shows (what, no opera?! ) I always like the egregiously under-hyped Esca, one of the best fish places in the city that also has pasta and even some good dishes for non-fish-eaters. For the Museum of Natural History, both Celesteand Cesca are reasonably nearby. Nice Matin could be a good choice, with things like the "five napkin burger" for the kids and "monkfish wrapped In pancetta" for the geezers.

Most everything is soluble in either alcohol or water, and often both. Understanding that natural vanilla beans contain hundreds of compounds which give it its complex flavor and aroma, it would make sense to use both alcohol and water as solvents (i.e., to use 100 proof alcohol). Different percentages of alcohol to water will tend to have different properties when it comes to dissolving various flavor and aroma compounds over a fixed period of time. This is to say that a flavor/aroma compound that is pleasant at a certain concentration but unpleasant at a higher concentration might be overextracted by a 70/30 ratio of ethanol to water but wouldn't be overextracted by a 50/50 ratio. This is just an example, of course. The opposite might also be true. Presumably, commercial producers of top quality natural vanilla extract have figured out the best mixture of ethanol to water for the vanilla beans they use, the extracting process they use, and the signature flavor/aroma profile of their extract. To the best of my knowledge, some of the chemicals (also known as flavor and aroma compounds) in vanilla can be degraded by light. This is not such a danger when these chemicals are locked inside an opaque vanilla bean (not that I think it's recommended to keep your vanilla beans in direct sunlight), but the chemicals are far more exposed when extracted into a solution. This is not unusual, as light can damage the flavors, aromas and other desirable qualities of all manner of liquid foods. One shouldn't keep wine where it can be exposed to sunlight, for example.

My recommendations: Grimaldi's: Grimaldi's (duh!) Nearby Grimaldi's are Jacques Torres Chocolate and the Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory. Chinatown: Jing Fong. A specialty is Peking Duck. The menu is full of things that are "foodie appropriate" as well as items that are accessible to the less adventurous. The room is gigantic and clamorous. Chinatown Brasserie. This is a more upscale dim sum place. There's a thread on it somewhere. And there's always New Green Bo. Bagels: Ess-a-Bagel if they want bagel sandwiches. Absolute Bagels if they want the very best bagels in the City (the minibagels) to carry out. Deli: Katz's for pastrami and corned beef, Barney Greengrass for fish. Other: What about a subway ride to Queens for Thai at Sripraphai? For good food at a great price that's accessible to anyone from foodie adults to kids, you can't beat Landmarc. For something a little different you may be unlikely to find in NC, you might consider Zoma for Ethiopian food. For Italian, Lupa is a good recommendation, but make sure you get there early if you don't want to wait forever for a table. For accessible Korean with a huge menu, you could try Kang Suh. And for good, interesting, unique food there's always Momofuku Ssäm Bar. For a reasonably upscale experience that won't burn a hole in your pocket and won't be over the youngest children's heads, maybe the Tavern Room at Gramercy Tavern (how can you go wrong with an entre featuring roasted bacon?).

There's nothing wrong with Fee Brothers Falernum syrup. In fact, it was developed by Fee Brothers in consultation with Ted "Dr. Cocktail" Haig with the purpose of replicating a now-defunkt (?) Falernum produced by A.V. Stansfeld. According to Doc, this was the Falernum specified in all the Tiki drinks. His conclusion: "When I make tiki drinks, I use Fee Brothers West Indies Falernum. When I make traditional Swizzles, Slings and recipes genuinely native to the Islands, I insist on John D. Taylor’s Velvet Falernum." Read the whole article here. ...That's kind of an odd Queen's Park Swizzle recipe. As far as I know, the QPS is demerara rum, lime, mint, bitters and simple (and crushed ice, of course). We've got a good thread on swizzles here. I'd be interested to hear of your success in using the Fee Brothers Falernum in Tiki drinks.

I think it depends on what kind of hash you're going for. Not all hash is supposed to be crispy. I call that a "dry hash" -- which says something not only about the final texture but also the way it's made. Anyway, in my experience, the variables that need to be controlled in order to make a crispy hash are: high heat, don't crowd the pan, use a low-sided frypan so water has a chance to quickly evaporate (this is why it's easiest top do on a big commercial griddle), don't agitate the ingredients until they have had a chance to crisp, use a floury potato as opposed to a waxy potato, keep everything as dry as possible, cook the potatoes all alone until they're 3/4 of where you want them to end up. Do these things, and you should be able to get it crispy. Here is a dry crispy turkey hash in process: If you want it to hold together in one mass, you could then pour all of that into a small skillet with some additional fat, crenk up the heat, toss in a little water to get the potato pieces to stick together, and cook it dry. Personally, I've come to prefer the non-crispy kind of hash that is bound with a little cream (in this case, cream on the left and leftover creamed spinach on the right),

Count me among those who don't quite get this. At this point, the evidence is simply overwhelming that exposure to secondhand smoke is a health hazard. Understanding that, I'm not sure why anyone would argue that smoke free air should be an ownership decision. For example, factories are private establishments. And yet, workplace law says that these factories must install ventilation and provide other kinds of protections against dust and fumes, because these have been deemed a health and safety hazard. There has been factory inspection legislation in this country since something like 1875. Secondhand smoke is also a health and safety hazard. So I'm curious as to why you think this should be any different? Is it because society has historically been tolerant of this danger? Is it because the creation of secondhand smoke (also known as smoking) in certain contexts is a legal behavior? There are myriad examples of behaviors and practices that were once universally allowed and which have subsequently been either curtailed or prohibited for a variety of reasons.

Again, Octaveman can undoubtedly speak with more authority on this, but... I think the reason steeling may not be useful for traditional Japanese knives is that they are tradidionally only sharpened on one side. Here's a graphic from the eCGI class on knife sharpening: The "chisel edge" is the edge used on most traditional Japanese knives, whereas the "V-edge" is the edge used on most Western knives. Since the practice of steeling is to align the edge back towards center, it's possible that steeling a chisel edge where the point of the edge is not in the center and the two angles are not symmetrical, wouldn't work and might even be detrimental. That said, I am given to understand that the gyuto is a "Western style" knife with a V-edge. Therefore, I'd think it should be okay to steel it -- especially using a smooth steel, a very acute angle and light pressure.

Yea. Orecchiette with bitter greens (often also with sausage) is a very typical Puglese dish. Simple and delicious. Most often seen in America as orecchiette with sausage and broccoli rabe. I've made it at home many times. I doubt they cook the pasta in chicken stock the whole way, but it wouldn't be unusual to finish the dish by cooking the pasta, sausage and greens together in a saute pan with a ladle of chicken stock. Personally, I like to add a pinch of crushed red pepper and a drizzle of raw olive oil off the heat, but a knob of butter, while not the traditional fat of Puglia, certainly wouldn't hurt.

Erik, where does that suggestion come from? Chilling the water close to freezing (e.g., to 3 degrees C) before putting it into the freezer would mean that the water would freeze very rapidly once it was exposed to the subzero environment. I can imagine that this would lead to increased trapping of gas bubbles due to the rapidity of the freezing. Also, and also because the solubility of gas in water goes up as temperature goes down. So, e.g., 3C water can hold more dissolved gas than 90C water. This is important because solubility radically changes as water undergoes a phase change from liquid to solid and the gas comes out of solution. This may be one way that johnder's "twice frozen" water example from London works. In the initial freezing, gas is driven out of the ice. Then, if the ice is quickly melted to a low temperature for a brief period of time and quickly refrozen, it may re-freeze with fewer trapped bubbles.

Interesting, Tim. I suppose one could use crab paste as a binder for crabcakes, no?

I recently made crab cakes for a friend who is dieting (crab is pretty good from a "points" perspective). I bound around a pound of lump crab meat (plus minor additions consisting of a fine dice of softened celery, some minced chives and parsley and plenty of Old Bay) with nothing more than a single English Muffin turned into bread crumbs in the food processor and a couple of egg whites. I formed the cakes in a ring mold, pressing down firmly to compact them well, dusted the outside with panko crumbs and let the whole thing sit on a plate in the refrigerator for a while to firm up. They were delicate, but held together well in the pan with a little TLC.