Chad

The only purveyor I deal with (YB Meats in Wichita) is absolutely amazing. I've lived here almost six years and had never gone in thinking they they only sold wholesale. In desparate need of a skirt steak one afternoon, I called. No one else in town had even heard of one, much less had one. They said, "how many pounds?" When I went to the store I was in meat heaven. Rather than the expected fat guy in a bloody apron, chewed stogie hanging from his lip, I found big, well lit display cases of gorgeous meat, their "weird" case full of rabbit, emu, buffalo, sweatbreads, tongue and just about anything else you can imagine, and a friendly, knowledgeable staff. Very cool. When they found out I was a first time customer one of the employees came out from behind the back and gave me a tour of the store. When I checked out they presented me with a small peach pie in honor of my first visit. Now I shop there every week. They are always attentive and ready to do something extra. When I wanted to stuff pork chops their head butcher looked at the butterflied chops in the case, said "those won't do," and went into the back. After about ten minutes he came back with four hand-cut, three inch pork chops with pockets already cut into them for stuffing. Last time I was in I asked if they ever gave meat cutting and meat fabrication classes. They said no -- then one of the employees called the owner to see if they could do it. They're still considering, but I suspect I'll be sharpening my scimitar in the near future. Chad

Oooh, I love Andouille. Lately I've been baking it in cornbread and using the cornbread to stuff pork chops. Last time I kept the rendered fat from the Andouille, added a tablespoon of butter or two, and pan seared the stuffed pork chops in it before finishing in the oven. Nice. Dirty rice with andouille is on the menu for tonight. Oh, how 'bout black bean soup with andouille? Anybody tried that? Chad edit: Doh, missed FistFullaRoux's post. The man is obviously a culinary genius.

Definitely read Sam's Understanding Stovetop Cookware class and the attendant Q&A. He covers the topic brilliantly. You'll also want to see this growing discussion of Indespensible Kitchen Equipment for a good idea of what a lot of us find to be the most important pieces of kitchen gear. There's also a brief conversation about my Calphalon troubles that might be helpful. Oh, and welcome to eGullet! Chad

Those of y'all into medieval and Rennaisance cooking might want to check out Shakespeare's Kitchen by Francine Segan. I have a copy in for review, and I must say this is a beautifully produced, well researched book. She has updated all of the recipes to include modern measurements, ingredients and cooking methods but also includes the originals so that you can see how they were presented in Elizabethan England. The photography is extremely well done, too. Book description: Chad

Anodized aluminum, by any chance? Nope, Calpholon Tri-Ply. I'm on my third one, and I'm tired of taking them back. The 5-qt saute is a big pan, much bigger than the burners on my stove. I believe the uneven heating is why the center regularly buckles and becomes convex on the bottom. That's interesting. How wide is the pan? (I don't understand why some manufacturers size their saute pans by volume, which really isn't very meaningful.) Also, do you have any way of measuring how thick the pan is? I've been curious about Calphalon Tri-Ply's specs. You know... for less money than one of the Tri-Ply pans, you could have had one of these or one of these. Ooooh, I like the Sitram catering saute pan. Nice. The Calphalon is 12" across the bottom and 2.25 to 2.5 inches deep depending on whether you count the rolled lip or not. I bought it a Bed, Bath & Beyond a couple of years ago when I discovered that (with dinner guests on the way) I desperately needed a bigger saute pan. I've had a love/hate relationship with it (and its replacements) ever since. I love the size, it heats up quickly and evenly and isn't too heavy to flip. On the downside, as I said, this is number three. The other two were returned for the warping problem. This one I just beat with a mallet. Hmm, I wonder if we're hijacking Soba's thread? Could we get one of the "Cooking" hosts to split this discussion off into a new "Calphalon Tri-Ply" thread? Chad

Nope, you're not nuts, I use side towels for everything. I usually have one draped over my shoulder whenever I'm in the kitchen. Much easier to just use a towel than go digging for potholders. Chad

Anodized aluminum, by any chance? Nope, Calpholon Tri-Ply. I'm on my third one, and I'm tired of taking them back. The 5-qt saute is a big pan, much bigger than the burners on my stove. I believe the uneven heating is why the center regularly buckles and becomes convex on the bottom. So now every couple of months I turn the pan upsidedown on the countertop (with the handle hanging off the side), drape a side towel over it and whack the crap out of the bottom with a big mallet until its flat again. Chad

Interesting. I could never do that, because I make too much pasta (need to have a pasta pot for that) and I cook too many things with an acidic component. That said, I could probably get by (albeit with constraints on what I could do) if I removed everything from my list but the chef's knife, a wooden spoon, a saute pan and a stock/pasta pot. I've got a hefty cure on my cast iron, so I don't worry overmuch about acidic foods. I mentioned the Lodge because I like it better, but I'd probably be just as well off with my 5-qt saute pan. I do almost everything in one of those two pans. I'm just pissed off at the saute pan -- I had to pound it flat (again) last night just to keep all the butter from pooling at one end. Oh, and a stockpot. Gotta have a stockpot. So my essentials list: - 12" cast iron pan or 5-qt saute - wooden spoon - chef's knife - pizza stone - stockpot I have many kitchen toys and gadgets, lots o' sauce pans and other types of cookware and way too many knives, but I couldn't live without those five things. Chad

Weekly World News. C'mon, how could anyone resist a 72 point headline screaming "I was Bigfoot's love slave?" Chad

I don't know whether to be proud or embarrased by the fact that I could probably make everything I know with just a chef's knife, a wooden spoon and my 12" Lodge cast iron pan. I also find that a big-ass pizza stone is indespensible. I keep mine in my oven at all times. It helps even out the temperature fluctuations that home ovens are prone too. Did you know you can cook hot dogs on a pizza stone? Damn tasty, too. Chad

Quite true, indeed. And if you'll take a look here -- the Knife Sharpening & Maintenance Clinic -- you'll discover the mechanics of how each type of sharpener & steel work. The eGullet Culinary Institute is worth exploring. Chad

Jin, bless your heart. Thank you, thank you, thank you for that moment of reason in an otherwise conflated debate that has more to do with individuals than it does with principles. Okay, polemic aside, Jinmyo has a real, substantive point. If chef Rick had a hand in developing this sandwich all of our arguments would be for naught, straw men at best. We could lay no claim of hypocrisy at his feet. At best we could say that he tried and failed. Didn't succeed, but at least tried. Noble. That he didn't have a role in developing this sandwich is a real problem. Is this the hill upon which he has chosen to die? That's the real question. Frankly, I doubt it. Was he presented with a prettied up, ideal version of the sandwich (and a big check) and said, "Hey, this ain't bad -- and the fat content is what? Cool! I can get behind that." Or was he party to how the BK machine works (and works quite well) to lower foods to a common denominator and price point? I'd like to think the former, that he was presented with a test-kitchen version of a low-fat, healthier choice sandwich and said, "You know what, this isn't bad; it isn't as great as I'd like, but it's a good start" and went from there. We've all got mortgages to pay. Anyway, I agree that there is a disparity between what the chef's collective has espoused and what chef Rick is doing with BK. Does that make him evil? I dunno. Does that make him a dupe scrambling for justification after the fact? Maybe. Does it make him an idealist who has a mortgage and is willing to sell a little of his soul if it doesn't seem too bad a deal? Most likely. We're all whores. We're just negotiating price. Chad edit: pronoun trouble

Good point. When I started watching TFG I was pretty young, newly married (for the first time ) and was just enthralled with the show. I'd worked in restaurants before, but mainly assembly line cooking. I didn't learn to cook with my family, so TFG was like this whole new world of food opening up. Perhaps it's just the place and time that make TFG a good memory for many of us. I agree with Russ that the food in the cookbooks is pretty middle-of-the road. But I do find myself turning to Cooks with Wine and finding things that sound good. I rarely actually follow the recipes. Chad

Cool, a Frugal Gourmet book I didn't know about. Whatever Jeff Smith did or didn't do in his personal life, his show did have quite an impact on food, food shows, and how we approach cooking. I use The Frugal Gourmet Cooks with Wine regularly in coming up with new dishes. I realize there is a morbid fascination with how his career ended (and with pill-popping radio hosts), but can we stick to food topics? Chad

Possible slogans for the Culinary Detective: - Alimentary, my dear Watson - Have spoon, will travel - There are 10,000 greasy spoons in the big city. My job is to find them and tell you about them. I'm the Culinary Detective. - My spoon is quick. Hmm, gotta give this some more thought. This is fun. Chad

Yup, venison makes great chili. It adds a slight sweetness to the dish. Venison has an earthier taste than ground beef. It's a little too lean to use on its own, I find, but mixed with some ground beef or pork it's hard to beat. If you don't have a friend who hunts, you can sometimes find venison at farmers markets. Take care, Chad edit: spellig

NO beans. Chipotle, ancho and other chiles, depending on how my garden turned out. The Carolina cayennes and SuperChiles were great this year, the habaneros less so. They made some kick-ass, strip-the-copper-off-the-pan chili. Chorizo is a must, but lately Andouille has been a big hit in the chili. I'm thinking of switching over entirely, especially as the chorizo around here is pretty hit or miss. Oh yeah, blood of my enemies, lamentations of their women -- indespensible, if a little hard to incorporate. Chad

Re: Muskrat Susie, Muskrat Sam -- Willis Allen Ramsey deeply regrets whatever he was toking that day. The man is a fucking genius and he gets saddled with notoriety for a song written while extremely high? Not fair at all. By the way, if Daryl Dragon is your Uncle, that is just too cool. Can you supply us with a pickle joke of the day? Chad

"Corporate" identity is going to cost you between $4,500 and $10,000. At least that's the going rate at the ad agencies I've worked for. And in some cases that doesn't even include application to business cards, letterhead, etc. Sometimes you can find a solo designer who'll work for a couple hundred bucks. But make sure that they'll present at least three ideas, that the fee includes one round of minor revisions on the chosen logo, and that they'll do biz card & letterhead application as part of the deal. A good compromise is to find a designer, usually a one-man shop, who has clients in need of competent writing. You can trade, say, the copy for a furniture brochure for logo design. Another idea is to find the winner of the "student portfolio" design competition at your local college or university. These folks are generally innovative, highly-creative designers in desperate need of real world work for their portfolios (books in trade parlance). They'll work for a hundred bucks or so, generate 5-10 designs, refine your chosen design to your liking and give you print-ready files. They'll just be happy to have paying professional work. There are a lot of ways to get a good logo without spending a ton of money. Chad

David Leite and a couple of others could probably provide a more definitive answer, but my feeling is that unless you're affiliated with a publication, don't put anything other than contact info. Everything I've read and the editors I've worked with tell me that putting "writer" (in whatever form) on your card or letterhead simply comes across as amateurish. Just my opinion. Chad

I love this story. This is absolutely wonderful. We have to have an "e-mail this story" button on the bottom of each TDG page so we can share these sorts o' things. Chad

Yow. I feel your pain. A funayuki-bocho is a general purpose knife. They're not as delicate as, say, a yanagi-ba. This shouldn't have happened just cutting through cartilage or even soft bone. Murray Carter uses Hitachi #1 White steel clad with softer stainless. The carbon steel edge is usually up in the 60-62 Rockwell C range, making it extremely hard but prone to chipping when it encounters hard material. Doesn't sound like that was the case here. Frankly, I'm not sure what to tell you. This is outside my experience. I do know, though, that Murray is a true gentleman and will probably be more dismayed than you are. I'd e-mail him exactly what you posted here. This is the address I've used to contact him in the past -- Murray Carter. Let us know how it turns out. Take care, Chad

Judge: "Mr. Ward, you are charged with beating a chef with a ladle until he became incontinent." Me: "But your honor, he dumped a half-bottle of d'Yquem into a pot just to make some jelly." Judge (a wine lover; my lawyer knows this): "Dear God man, why didn't you finish the job!" Chad

Hmmm, that's just too tempting. I've talked with Trace Rinaldi about a 10" chef's knife in S30V, but I've never gotten past the daydreaming stage. Now I'm going to have to add Bob Dozier into the equation. Life is just not fair. Chad

One thing no one has gotten into is the visceral reaction we have to truffles. I have to admit that I've not had scads of the real thing. Most of my experience comes from truffle oils and the like. There's definitely some kind of musky pheremonal thing going on. To some, truffles are like the scent of hot sex on a summer morning. To others its more like the smell of a sweaty gym locker. It's a very primative reaction, coming from somewhere deep in the spinal cord. Either way, it's an evocative taste and smell. Chad