Toliver

One thing about growing chiles at home is that if you harvest seeds from a chile pod and then plant those seeds, you can end up with a different chile pepper than the original (different heat, different color or shape, etc). It depends on their pollination. And I'm the opposite. I can't stand the flavor of a habanero chile pepper. Even if there's a little bit in a bottle of hot sauce, I can taste it.

MSNBC article on the “Bhut Jolokia” — the “ghost chili.” I'd be interested to see what kind of flavor they have, if any. Has anyone tried this chile pepper?

I thought I would bump this back up... For those of you who ordered this year's companion book to the PBS series, I just received an email stating that the series DVD's and the Buying Guide were being shipped. The DVD's were supposed to be shipped in June as originally stated on their web site. But at least they're coming...

The OXO Wooden Spoon rocks! You can also find them at Bed, Bath & Beyond. They've redesigned it so you can really get some good torque when you are stirring thick batters or dough. It has a larger bowl and the handle is thicker in the right places. Who'da thunk a wooden spoon could be better?

Andie, Do they even sell such metal gravy spoons anymore? Or are they something you have to find second hand these days?

You can find out more about cooking eggs and cooking with eggs from the eGCI section of eGullet: The eGCI Egg classes are at the bottom of page two and top of page three.

Andie, you are an amazing fountain of kitchen & food knowledge and I always enjoy your posts. The spoon in question was actually purchased from the maker of Jello (hence the 50's & comfort food reference). That's from whom my grandmother said she bought the spoon. Of course, they could have bought gravy spoons and just re-dubbed them "Jello spoons" for all I know. It definitely is used for scraping...it's used to help dissolve the granules of Jello once you've added the hot water to your serving dish. My mom always used a clear oblong Pyrex dish for her Jello salads (the better to show off the pretty layers of Jello goodness) and used the Jello spoon to gently scrape along the bottom of the dish. Works like a charm, too. Anyone else have an unusual kitchen item to post?

While my mom does use this item as a serving spoon once in awhile, it's not a Mac & Cheese server. Though you're sort of aiming at the right era/genre of food... ← tuna noodle casserole server? ← Again, it's original purpose was not as a serving spoon though it obviously can be used as one. But your food guess is aiming in the right era.

Dante, thanks for the recipe! Someone asked if I like spicy, the answer is yes. I have Hoisin, oyster sauce, garlic black bean, fish sauce and siracha-type sauces. Do you mix them with anything or are they sufficient by themselves? I've used siracha-type sauces just as a condiment but haven't made a sauce incorporating it.

I have a good friend who is notorious for doing this at a restaurant. She used to make the waitstaff stand there while she talked to herself through the different menu items. "Should I have this? Well, I just had something like it a couple days ago..." and then will try to converse with everyone else at the table while the waitstaff is standing there trying to take her order. I put a stop to that. Now when we dine out, I "ride herd" on her once we're given our menus and make sure she arrives at a decision before the waitstaff returns to take our order. I'm not sure if it's a control/power issue with her or if she just likes annoying the waitstaff or if she was totally oblivious to what she was doing.

While my mom does use this item as a serving spoon once in awhile, it's not a Mac & Cheese server. Though you're sort of aiming at the right era/genre of food...

I thought I would post this in Andie's thread... When my folks got married in the mid-50's, the go-to cookbook for my mom was the Better Homes and Gardens New Cookbook. It's the food we were raised on and still eat, on ocassion, when we need comfort food. My paternal grandmother would, from time to time, send my mom a little "doo-dad" for the kitchen. Pictured below are two of my mom's favorite kitchen utensils that my granmother sent her. I had her hold them for me while I took the picture so I could also capture her hands (at 77, she's just discovered the joys of fake fingernails!). Pictured at the top is her favorite metal spatula. Whenever she cooks something in her cast iron skillet (which is as good as a new non-stick skillet after decades of use), she always uses this metal spatula. It also has a beveled leading edge so it's also what she uses to cut up/slice pan goods like fudge. There's a "gadget" company (like Carol Wright) that sells a similar metal spatula but it's quite flimsy compared to this original metal spatula. Now, the reason I posted this pic is because of the second utensil in her hand. It was purchased via mail order by my grandmother from a food company. The utensil was designed for a very specific use (I sort of gave a clue in the opening paragraph if you put your thinking caps on). Can you guess what it is?

I've been on a stir-fry kick lately. The sauce I've been using varies little and is a hodgepodge of whatever I have on hand. Some soy sauce, some garlic black bean sauce, some Shaoxing wine, a little chicken broth, grated ginger and some corn starch to thicken it all up. I need to expand my sauce repertoire and am looking for new from-scratch recipes for stir-fry sauces. Or if you like using a store-bought sauce, what do you recommend?

It was announced that a North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University researcher has developed a post-harvest method of removing the allergens from peanuts. Scientists deactivate peanut allergens in lab As for the second method: So the second method is basically either a GM peanut or one that has been bred to be allergen-free while the first method keeps the peanut as is but processes it after harvest. Of course, even if this treatment does work and is embraced by food companies, those with peanut allergies would still have to be on guard as there will likely be peanuts in the marketplace that don't get treated. But it's a great breakthrough, nonetheless.

Funny, but there is: Gardening For Dummies

Baked Ziti, baked beans, or even get a spiral sliced ham from Costco. It just has to be heated, can feed a lot of people and will last a while. You can also buy those rotisserie chickens (one or two...depends on how many people will be around) from the grocery store/Costco. Already cooked...just heat. You're looking for no-fuss food and it does help out.

Regarding mashed potatoes, or potatoes in general, there's an eGCI (eGullet Culinary Institute) course that may be of help: The Potato Primer

That is a generous offer! Thankfully, my mom has been sending her excess harvest with me after my vists. Her tomato plants are in different stages of production due to staggered planting so she has a steady flow of fruit sitting on her kitchen windowsill. She's practically doing a happy dance now that her cherry tomato plant is bearing fruit. The volunteer that was growing like weeds did turn out to be a currant tomato plant which my mom wasn't too happy to see (she doesn't think the harvest is worth the effort). So it has been "given" to the neighbors and their grandkids to harvest what they will. And what they don't take, she'll leave for the critters who come in the night.

Ellen, This is a great topic and I wish you continued success with your new position. Do you cook with the aim of providing certian nutrients? Or is it just a matter of making sure he just eats something? For instance, my mom religiously eats a banana a day for the potassium. She suffers from nighttime leg cramps which the potassium alleviates. But potassium has also been shown to benefit the brain so she's getting good coverage out of just one banana. Oh, and if you can put the Salisbury Steak recipe in eGullet, I'd be quite grateful!

Tomatoes rock! I am so envious of your bountiful harvest. Regarding your last comment, the marine layer seems to be messing with my mom's tomatoes plants. She's not sure if some of the fruit on the plants will even turn. By the time the marine layer burns off, some of her plants only get about an hour of sun before the shadow cast from her house covers them. Of course, she could have unknowingly planted a green variety of tomatoes that'll never turn red (which is exactly the sort of thing my mom would do ). She'll be waiting til Christmas for red tomatoes that'll never come.

You'd think there would be quite a bit more entries under the US section. There's a new & used cookbook store in San Diego, the appropriately named "The Cookbook Store", that I think is relatively new. They're on Adams Avenue which has become an area known for its used books stores. They've been running a 20% off coupon in the local version of the Reader (a free publication) that says "Cookbook Store - Buy. Sell. Trade. Over 5000 unique cookbooks in stock. Open 11 am-5 pm, closed Sundays. Free parking." I haven't been to the store yet but plan to the next time I visit my family. Here's their info in case anyone is interested: Cookbook Store 4108 Adams Avenue San Diego, CA 92116 (619) 284-8224 Email: cookwithbabs@cox.net

I'm not sure exactly what doesn't make sense to you about the kitchen arrangement, but overall it seems eminently sensible to have several fast-food restaurants sharing space. ← If you build from the ground up and design it for both restaurants, I can see that. But to have to retrofit a Taco Bell to now include pizza ovens and a pizza assembly line would create logistical problems not to mention training issues. Many fast food employees can barely get the order right working in a single business joint and now you want to add a second menu? Two menus can also mean some kitchen equipment can't be shared so it has to be duplicated/redundant. The A&W can't cook their french fries in the same fat that Long John Silver's deep fries its fish in so you're talking about multiple fryers. Again, if the building is designed from scratch, it's not an issue but two of the places I've mentioned weren't new buildings. They were remodeled with the second kitchen equipment fitted in somehow. If they have twice the return of a single-fast food place, then I guess it would make sense but I don't see these double chain joints carrying that kind of business. I'd be interested to see if the two-in-one restaurants can match the income of those same two restaurants each in their own buildings.

It's an interesting phenomenon I first noticed here in Southern California when Carl's Jr. (Hardee's back east) began "sharing" their restaurants with The Green Burrito. Both restaurants had their names plastered on the outside of the one building. What's interesting is that even though it contains two restaurants (with basically full menus for both) the building is the same size as a regular Carl's Jr. restaurant. Since then I've seen A&W and Long John Silver's sharing a building and A&W and Kentucky Fried Chicken also sharing a building. Here in my town, we also have a Taco Bell and a Pizza Hut in one building. Again, the restaurant isn't any larger in size than a normal Taco Bell. But now it's two restaurants in one place. I'm starting this discussion because this weekend I saw a new El Pollo Loco and a Foster's Freeze combo restaurant so the trend seems to be spreading. I'm going on the assumption that the restaurants sharing the building are owned by the same parent company (haven't Googled to confirm this). But the logistics of having two kitchens doesn't quite make sense. Although, putting pizza ovens in a Taco Bell should prove easy since they don't really cook anything in a Taco bell...they just sort of reheat stuff, don't they, so there are no existing ovens to displace. Are there other well known Fast Food chains doubling up? Have you seen it in your area? Have you noticed if the quality of the food is any different when compared to the same single fast food chain in a restaurant/building?

This morning "Top Chef" was nominated for an Emmy.

you know, i don't mind this so much in the packaged meat...what i do mind is when i ask the actual live human to weigh out, for example, a pound of shrimp, and he/she plops some on the scale, and looks at me..."is 1.25 lb okay?" jeez...it's SHRIMP...take a handful off and hit the mark, huh? i know it's sometimes a form of "up-selling" but sometimes it's clearly laziness....and that's some kinda lazy....how hard is it to toss 6 shrimp back in the case? have a little pride, people.....i know a lot of cooks who take unreasonable pride in being able to lop a hunk of butter off the block, and weigh it, and hit the mark they were aiming for exactly... ← You're right. It is all upselling. I used to work in one of those shopping mall cheese and beef log stores (you know the one) and we were told to always overcut the product. Why? Because if you ask for a pound and it's 1.25 lbs. most people will say that it's okay and you've just sold .25 lb. more than they asked for. Multiply that by each customer and it all adds up at the end of the day. The .75 or .83 packages are for people looking for a half pound. They won't find a half pound and so they settle for a package that contains more than they need...and they store ends up selling more product. As for the workers weighing deli potato salad, shrimp or what have you, if it's 1.25 lbs. and they say "It's a little over, is that okay?" I tell them "I'm sorry but I only need a pound, thanks" and they get the message to take some out until it's closer to what I asked for. From the film "Thelma and Louise": "You get what you settle for." If it isn't what you asked for, don't accept it.