Stone

this was my first test of the Pint. The long thin burritos were heated well on the ends, not as well in the middle. I don't have the patience for the heat-rest-heat-rest process, so I guess I should shoulder some of the blame. But everyone loves how it looks, which is really the most important factor in any appliance.

dvs -- where would you suggest for Chinese food?

I had their beef burrito last night (on a recommendation). It was o.k., but nothing special and nothing I wouldn't expect from any frozen burrito. Perhaps one drawback was uneven heating from my new Sharp Half-Pint microwave. (Very dapper, but I'm beginning to question the power o' the pint.) I didn't pay enough attention to prices. Will do so.

So they should be entitled to decent food then which is the crux of the thread I believe. Are suggesting that people who choose to enjoy a meal in a pub aren't capable of deciding what decent food is? I don't like hamburger chains, so I don't frequent them, neither do I like the kind of food that Simon describes in his post, so I don't eat it. However I draw the line at suggesting what others should or shouldn't like, which is the crux of my post I believe. Plotnicki!!!!

What's your definition of casual (or SF casual)? Mine is that you wouldn't think of needing a jacket. The service is pretty relaxed at Boulevard (although it's excellent). I would be surprised if more than 5 or 6 restaurants in SF required a jacket. I think my post was unclear. I'd consider Boulevard one of the more formal places in town. McShane is right on about the Chinese food. But if I were you, I'd go to NY.

I've read Whiting's writing on bouillabaise. I would never try it at any place named for a mental hospital.

I finally found a purpose for this place. Samuel Smiths for $2.59 a bottle.

If I may jump to the other side of this discussion -- if the danger with chickens is surface borne pathogens, why is it important that the meat be cooked all the way through? I would think that flash grilling the outside would kill the bacteria on the surface, leaving the meat rare on the inside. Not that anyone wants to eat rare chicken anyway. Similar issue with pork. Although I now often eat pork at restaurants served medium, the standard line whilst growing up was that if your pork was cooked all the way through, you would die of trickynosis before you stand up from the plate. My dad still won't eat medium rare pork, even though I point out that the restaurant is obviously not poisoning every patron that orders the double-cut chops. Perhaps it was all left over from when they didn't really know what it was about pork and chicken that was making people sick?

I don't know what you mean by 'proto viral strand' but a prion is a protein and chemically distinct from DNA. I beleive it acts by causing deformations in other proteins rather than DNA. You're correct that it's relatively resistant to heat. Where did you hear that it only affected the susceptible? Pedantic scientific bastard. Wouldn't heat affect the BSE protein the same way it affects other proteins? I saw a documentary on a tribe somewhere (don't recall where), the ate the brains of it's dead. Some time in the 50's, I think, they all developed JK. That suggests that the virus came to the tribe somehow, and was then spread by the consumption of the brains, as opposed to a genetic susceptability (unless, of course, if the whole tribe carried the JK gene).

I think it's difficult to make a general statement that Thai food in America doesn't compare to Thai food in Thailand. There's great Thai food here, and terrible Thai food in Thailand. It depends where you go. A lot of Americans get their Thai food from suburban places that definitely alter the food for American tastes. Many more go to "high-end" Thai places that can't resist trendy fusion infusions. I think a lot of the reason people think Thai food is so much better in Thailand is because they're eating it in Thailand. (And I'm curious whether folks are talking about eating at nice restaurants in Thailand, or getting a bowl or curry or noodles or soup on the street -- I assume it's a mixture). It's like the folks on other threads who make the generalization that you can't find espresso in America that's as good as you get in Europe. I recently went to Sripraphia (I think that was it, in Queens), and it was great. As good as most of the food I remember eating in Thailand. Better than a lot of it. I order Penang Beef almost everywhere. A lot of it -- in the US and in Thailand -- is excellent. I'd like to bathe in it. Some of it -- in the US and in Thailand -- sucks.

Why? Why not?

Back in the mid-80's I stayed with a friend at 92nd and 2d for a few months. There was a small BBQ/convenience store downstairs that smoked ribs and brisket in a weber bullet outside on the sidewalk. The smoke wafted up into the apartment. I was always drooling. The poor dog would sit by the window whimpering. I think there's a parking garage there now. When I lived at 8th and Bway, there was a BBQ down the block. It was one of the places (like Krispy Kreme) I wouldn't let myself go to for fear of easy addiction. I think Brother Jimmy's makes pretty good ribs and great pulled pork -- you just have to find a time when it's not filled with annoying frat-boys.

As I understand it, most ground beef is very lean beef ground with fat, which is how they can tell you what percentage the meat is to the fat. Is is the fat, the meat, or the method of processing that makes ground beef such a harbor for nasties? The beef problem is more a problem with ground meat (and the usual cross-contamination problem). Bacteria gets on the surface of the cut of beef. However, when a steak or any non-ground cut is grilled, the surface temperature is high enough to kill the bacteria. Since the bacteria can't migrate into the center of the meat (unless it's a metastisizing cancer), the center can be rare. When the meat is ground, however, any bacteriaon the surface of the beef (or the machinery) is mixed throughout. Therefore, grilling a burger will kill any bacteria on the surface (like a steak), but won't get the stuff in the center unless it's cooked sufficiently throughout. That's why you hear about ecoli contamination in burgers, but rarely (if ever) for steaks. (As for BSE/Jacobs Kruzhowever's, I believe the problem is that the virus is in the cow to begin with, and therefore is dispersed throughout the muscle. That's why it can be spread through steaks, etc. Although I would think that thorough cooking would kill the virus, but I don't know.)

It's all about girth, baby.

All you can eat buffet, and an endless glass of beer.

One of the adds for a "turn wine into brandy" still contains the disclaimer that it is only exempt from taxation if it is not used as a still. I think George Orwell has been reincarnated as an ad-man.

I first started eating Buffalo Wings in Medford, Mass, from a joint called Cookoo's Nest (they were in Somerville, I lived in Medford). They were exceptional. The wings were plump and well sized. Not the skimpy rat-legs served so often, not the behemoths that are never quite cooked enough. The sauce ranged from crazy hot to Heidi fucking Klum hot (my labels). They were a deep ochre color, almost buttery in flavor, with a complex spice mixture. Nowadays, all hot wings seem to be doused in a generic, glowing red "louisiana" hot sauce, poured out of a gallon plastic jug. Anyone know of a good Buffalo Wing hot sauce recipe? Any Bostonians know whether Cookoo's Nest is still around? Last I heard, it was in Rosie's Bar. (Is that what it's called? In Davis Square, near Chippies.)

I added some links to my earlier post. Ducks are subject to salmonella. Could be that it's not talked about as much because ducks aren't nearly as prevalent. Perhaps because less ducks are processed, the procedures are safer/cleaner/different. Also, I think one of the sites mentions that duck meat, unlike chicken, is still a little pink when cooked to a safe temperature -- what we think is rare duck breast may be cooked as thoroughly as cooked chicken. But I'm guessing. You can find a lot of facts here.

Then I will turn back to processing. At large chicken plants, the dead birds are hung by their necks on an assembly line and dipped into large vats of hot water. This is meant to loosen their feathers, which are then beaten off by some type of whirlygig machine. The hot water baths, however, become soiled with fecal matter, etc., and are breeding grounds for nasty wee beasties, which then get on the bodies of the birds. Some fun stuff. Funner. Duck, Duck, Goose And seared tuna, thought annoyingly ubiquitous, is quite good, as is the raw preparation. An ex-co-worker of mine ordered tuna "medium well" at Picholine. The waiter said no.

I assume it's the difference in taste and how they're processed. I think most of the salmonella risk from chickens comes from potential contamination at the large plants, which I'm sure someone else will describe better than I can. Also, undercooked chicken is kind of gross.

Turn wine into brandy. Or Brandy. But it appears to be illegal: S3: I've seen ads for home distilling equipment in catalogs ("turn wine into brandy," "make your own essential oils"). Is it legal to buy and use a still like that? Under Federal rules administered by ATF, it depends on how you use the still. You may not produce alcohol with these stills unless you qualify as a distilled spirits plant (see earlier question). However, owning a small still and using it for other purposes is allowed. You should also check with your State and local authorities - their rules may differ. A still is defined as apparatus capable of being used to separate ethyl alcohol from a mixture that contains alcohol. Small stills (with a cubic distilling capacity of a gallon or less) that are used for laboratory purposes or for distilling water or other non-alcoholic materials are exempt from our rules. If you buy a small still and use it to distill water or extract essential oils by steam or water extraction methods, you are not subject to ATF requirements. If you produce essential oils by a solvent method and you get alcohol as a by-product of your process, we consider that distilling. Even though you are using and recovering purchased alcohol, you are separating the alcohol from a mixture -distilling. ATF.

I actually remember seeing something like this advertised (I think it was one of those airplane skymall magazines.) It looked pretty cool, and, I think, was actually for distilling a glass of wine. Doesn't that make cognac or brandy?

I assume you're not in the States (if you are, I suggest you don't actually try to make whiskey. It's still quite illegal to distill without a license.) In the states, I usually go to a beer store and ask for the returned Grolsch bottles. Usually they'll sell them at $.20 per. Of course, the bigger the bottle the better (Rogue beer bottles are great), since bottling is a pain in the ass. Someone also told me that champagne bottles fit the bottle caps, but I've never tried it. When you say you brew from kits, you're not talking about pre-hopped extract are you? I haven't mashed in a while, but when you get to pre-hopped kits, you're really just making soup. (Although I often describe brewing in general as making alcoholic soup in a very, very clean environment.)

Sure, I know all about shepherd's pie. I was asking about Sheppard's pie. Developed by Barney Sheppard, who used to work at the post office. But are you all saying that there's no vinegar in shepherd's pie? Then why is it always so vinegary? Bad wine?

I order this a lot, but find that it usually sucks. In fact, one of the best I've had was at the cafeteria of my old law firm. On a two week trip to England, I must have tasted at least four sheppard's pies -- all were terrible. Either too salty, too vinegary, too gristly, or just too fucking bad. (Oddly, I thought most of the other food in England was very good. The one time I bought fish & chips from a little take-out place it was heavenly.) Does anyone have a decent recipe?