Stone

Mine were $3.99 a pound live. The same place had them for $4.99 a pound boiled (not cleaned or cracked).

I've heard that since 9/11, Californian wineries have lost 1/3 of their migrant workforce due to tighter immigration restrictions. Anyone know what effect, if any, this is having on the wineries or the workers?

Hey, Klink -- I've found a place that sells whole briskets in cryovac (10 pounds or so), and smaller bags of "Corned Beef Flats". These are about 2 pounds, and come with a little pouch of "spices". Is this what you used for your corned beef?

Damn, crabs are good. Pretty easy too. Except the killing them part. These guys aren't lobsters. Lobsters are pansies compared to crab. I sharp knife will plunge between a lobster's eyes like a sharp knife through butter. Not a crab. Armor plating these guys have. I tried to give it a goood whack with a heavy cleaver. Right between the eyes, to cleave the shell. Nope. Nothing. The sucker looked up at me. Pissed. "You gonna kill me or what?" So I dropped him in boiling water. Fuck that. Killed him quickly, but didn't cook him. Started to pull the legs off for salt & pepper crab. That's fucked up, when you pull on a dead thing's legs and it pulls back. It's dead. Then I quarted it. Cleaned out a loooht of gunk. Gave it a liberal sprinkling of kosher salt (the way to make shellfish kosher (shellfish generally isn't kosher), is to sprinkle it with kosher salt) and lots of fresh ground pepper. Deep fried in peanut oil. Damn, it was good. The frying cooks the inner cartilege a bit, so it's not as difficult to eat. Moist and spicy. Surprisingly good for something so simple. But the coating didn't stick unless there was exposed flesh. Then I boiled four of them (I thought of hacking em each with a cleaver, but I knew I wouldn't be doing it to kill them, but more out of spite). Took one out and pulled the feet off (it didn't pull back) and quartered it. Sauteed onion, lots of garlic; scallion and lots of giner; crab, broth, pepper. Thicken with cornstarch slurry. Messy. But goooood.

I just picked up five of these suckers. I'm probably going to boil 4, but I want to do one Salt and Pepper. I assume I've got to clean out the guts and gills before I cook 'em?

I'm just scared that I'll scrub off the protective coat of carbon. It's the same reason I don't brush my teeth.

That's basically how I like it, but I refer to it as "semi-flaccid." Dude. Now I know why you're always playing with your sausage.

Does the restaurant serve Gypsy food? In tribute to Django Reinhart?

I second (third?) the sentiment that store-bought horseradish sucks. My dad makes it fresh every Passover. He sits there in the kitchen with an old hand grater, crying his eyes out. I think he just mixes it with vinegar, no water. We always have two batches, white and red. The white will melt your eyes, singe your brows, curl your hair, and turn it white from the paint dripping off the ceiling. And once you make it, use it on almost anything you'd put mustard on. It's great for leftover brisket sandwiches or spooned into matzoh ball soup. It's also good mixed with some tomato juice, a dash of celery salt, worcestershire sauce, S&P and a good strong shot of vodka.

There has definitely been a change in eGullet membership. Time was that a little bug in the salad wasn't such a big deal. When a "nicer" Chinese restaurant opened in my home-town (i.e., not take-out only), we ordered take-out the first night. I went to pick it up, and waited, and waited with an ever-growing crowd of people. We noticed as well an angry table of diners. Seems one of the managers was in the kitchen talking with the chef about how things were going, and he was absent mindedly shuffling all the order tickets. The kitchen though things were going a little slow because he was holding the stack of orders, and then they had no idea which order to fill first.

Wow, thanks. To take it a step back further -- what's the difference between creme brulee (or at least the custardy stuff under the burnt sugar), custard, creme anglais, and pudding (the vanilla pudding I'm used to, not blood pudding and stuff like that)? (Or is this a topic for another tread?)

I don't even know what you guys are talking about, but it sounds damn good.

Really? I like to get it smoking hot for a steak or firm piece of fish.

Bar S, Virginia Reel Bacon. I get the stuff at Costco. I think it's the best commercial bacon I've had. Actually sliced thick so that you can feel and taste the meat.

I think that when you have highly acidic foods, the cast iron could impart an off-flavor or color. Also, as my cast iron skillet is slowly building up its coating (through many pounds of bacon), I find that I'm having trouble getting it fully clean without losing some of the seasoning. Therefore, if I cook a piece of white fish in the cast iron, it's going to get some dark color (and not the good kind). Pehaps it's a problem with my hygeine

Find out what Fat Guy has. I'm certain he did obsessive research before purchasing, and I'm sure his conclusion was correct.

Because in restaurants, appearance is more important that taste. (Sorry.)

funny, though, that sometimes when I eat a huge dinner or a huge late night snack, I wake up and within an hour I get such a hunger pang that I feel like I'll be sick unless I eat. I always thought it was from the left over juices (hormones, acid, etc.) triggered by the large meal.

Roxannes, the no-cook restaurant in Marin makes a young coconut pad thai. (It's basically a salad, it doesn't have much in common with pad thai.) The long shreds of young coconut are very noodle like, a cross between a fat rice noodle and maybe ubon. We had no idea what it was until we asked. The dish I had was very good.

Not on top of popcorn... They're great mushed into ice cream.

Interesting, but it doesn't answer my question.

I don't have time to read this entire thread. Is there a consensus on whether the type of salt makes a difference when it's dissolved and cooked into a dish? As opposed to sprinkled on top?

Can milk be frozen and reheated in the microwave for use in sauces?

"I taught Julia Child how to suck head and pinch tail." Emeril, New Orleans Easter Episode, on eating Crawfish.

I have a digital thermometer for "human" use.....would that work? What are the precise temperatures the chocolate needs to be heated to, cooled down to and reheated to? I don't think so, but I could be wrong. Someone once told me that different "human" thermometers were calibrated differently so that a "normal" reading at each part of the body (mouth, ear, rectal) would read 98.6, even if the normal temp for that body part was different.