Toliver

The water pan (filled with water) is to help provide a stable temperature inside the cooker/smoker. That it catches the drippings is just a byproduct of its placement.

This picture provided my first ever "spit-take" in my office while perusing eGullet. The expression on the faux Mona Lisa's face in the window is a classic. edited to add that I am throughly enjoying your blog, your pictures and the glorious food. Thanks for taking the time to do this.

Please post porcine pictures promptly!

Welcome Timmaay! Great first post. I had a question about freezing it, though. Does it tend to dry out (as do most other food items) in the freezer? I'm curious as to whether the texture remains the same.

I thought I would bump this discussion back up after trying the florets method. I normally use the slice-it-all-up method where the cauliflower is sliced into uniformly thin pieces (core and all). Last night, however, I didn't want to tackle the mess of "kibbles" (as fifi calls them) you get with that method so I just broke the head up into small florets, slicing the larger chunks in half for better roasting. The end results were definitely a little different than the first method. With the florets method, you get less of the "french fry" effect and flavor and the florets seem to retain more of their cauliflower essence...meaning that the flavor you get when you steam it is there to a minor degree after roasting the florets. It's definitely a different, but still delicious, outcome.

Regarding Starbucks, yes, I've seen them in both Von's and Albertson's grocery stores here in California. Megan and others, you make a good point. In an urban setting where there's a restaurant on every corner, this new kind of grocery store wouldn't seem to have much of a chance for success unless they pursue a niche market. However, in sprawling Suburbia (which includes almost every California city and town with the exception of San Francisco), you don't have the same number of choices. I think that's why this new business model has come into being. This new fangled grocery store is becoming the last stop on the way home from work which will also impact surrounding eateries, fast food especially. Bye-bye, McDonald's...hello Von's? With grocery prices expected to rise next year (as just announced by Kraft and others) thanks to increased energy costs, it will be interesting to see if the success these new "lifestyle" stores will continue. There may come a point at which the financial outlay for pre-made meals will be too high to justify given the soon-to-be-shrinking household budgets.

Here's the article: "Two Vons stores to take health-conscious turn" The emphasis in both quotes is mine. I have a friend who currently works for Vons. I was surprised to hear from her that the highest grossing Von's in the state of California is here in Bakersfield. This store has become their "flagship" where new ideas are tested and key personnel from other stores throughout the state are trained. She said the newly overhauled "lifestyle" stores are dedicating a larger portion of the interior towards the pre-made, pre-packaged meals for those consumers who don't have time to cook. This trend (I will calll it a "disturbing" trend) towards already-made-meals has been discussed in many other eGullet threads, especially in regards to new generations of young people who not only don't have the slightest inclination for preparing and cooking their own meals, they don't even know how to do so in the first place. Here we have a grocery chain altering it's very structure and business model, moving away from supplying ingredients (produce, meat, staples, etc) to offering a wide variety of pre-made meals with expanded offerings coming in the future. Click here for the Von's web site, click on "Shop Stores' and then on "Signature Series". Is the grocery store as we know it on the way out? There's already a Starbuck's in just about every grocery store I visit. So now will there be a "Katz' Deli" in every grocery store, as well? We know the frozen foods market has been growing in leaps and bounds over the years but this new trend is towards fresh, not frozen, pre-made meals. Of course, this raises entirely new questions about food handling, proper storage of pre-made food (are they really going to throw it out after it's sell-by-date, or will it become tomorrow's pre-made "Hash Special" a la the restaurant trick mentioned in Tony Bourdain's "Kitchen Confidential"?) and what about the possibility of an increase in food borne illness since there will be more people handling your pre-made meals? Are those consumers who know how to cook their own meals and more importantly, dedicate their precious free time to doing so, becoming a quickly shrinking minority and so the grocery chains are just following a trend? And does this become a vicious cycle where no one needs to learn how to cook since you can find pre-made food at the grocery store so why bother? Is this just the tip of the proverbial pre-made iceberg? What's happening in your neighborhood grocery store and is it a good thing?

Regarding the skate, here was a previous discussion on the beast: "What do you think of skate?, Love it or hate it?" I'd heard some not-so-reputable fish mongers will cut circular pieces from it and try to pass it off as scallops. So I'm thinking you could use whatever scallops recipes you have on the skate. And I love your photos! What camera are you using?

I searched for a previous discussion regarding this theme but came up empty. If the moderators find one, feel free to merge this into it. The last time I had been to the Barona Indian reservation to gamble, the casino was little more than a big black tent housing slot machines. I recently returned for a birthday celebration and what a world of difference. There's a huge "resort" hotel out there now next to a large Vegas-like casino. We actually didn't come to gamble...believe it or not we came for the buffet. My brother had eaten there a month or so ago and wanted me to take an extra day off from work so we could go there on a Friday, early enough to miss the dinner rush. I wasn't expecting much. I've been to some good buffets in Las Vegas and have experienced quite a few bad ones, too. It was when I encountered the roast duck that I decided the Barona Buffet was going to be one of the good ones. The buffet is set up similarly to the World Buffet found at the Rio Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas. It's split up into different sections representing world cuisines from Italian to Mexican to Chinese, etc. I started with a Mongolian stir fry. There's a small salad-bar style set up with chopped up veggies (you get more of a selection at the Rio). You put what you want on your plate, add some sauce (I believe there were 6 sauces to choose from) and can choose from beef, pork, chicken or shrimp. There's also some containers of soy sauce, minced garlic, chili flakes and a red chili paste. They take your plate and dump the contents onto the Mongolian BBQ (a giant circular griddle, actually) and stir fry it, eventually adding in the meat at the appropriate time. Then it's all put back onto your plate. Needless to say, it's better to use restraint when loading your plate prior to the stir frying. My brother ended up having to finish my sister-in-law's stir fry because it was too much food for her. I found the roast duck in the Chinese section. True to form, it was large pieces of duck with bone-in. While the skin wasn't crispy, it was still quite delicious and a great surprise. In the American section, they had small pieces of steak with a parsley butter sauce that actually tasted as if it has been grilled on your backyard BBQ. The steak was surprisingly tender and flavorful and the pieces were small enough that it seemed to be just the right amount to satisfy. There was also a sort of pot roast that tasted as though it had been marinated with some sort of wine. And instead of the regular steamed broccoli, they served broccoli-raab instead. I am sorry to say I didn't even get near the Italian or Mexican (with a build-your-own-taco-bar) sections. My niece did say the garlic bread was awesome (we tried to tell her to stay away from the "filler", but of course, she didn't listen ). The dessert bar had a tremendous amount of offerings, including personal-sized pecan pies and lemon tarts. They also made Banana Fosters to order. It was because of the duck and the Banana Fosters that I decided to post about the buffet. Every employee I encountered in the casino and the buffet was extremely professional and quite eager to help. They made quite an impression on me. If you sign up to become a member of their "Club Barona" (they give you a card with a magnetic strip that you can put into the slot machine so they can keep track of the amount of money you gamble away) you can get 20% off the price of the buffet so it's worth the 5 minutes or so it takes to sign up. Note that the cost of the buffet changes from day to day (click the link above to see the differences). Barona also has an upscale steak house (click on the link above to access the menu) as well as a simple food court (they even have a Rubio's in their food court! - great fish tacos ). Oh, and if your slot mahcine is hot and you don't want to leave it, they even have "curb-side" dining...they bring the food to you at the slot machine. It's mentioned on the web site but their link didn't work, but they have a specific menu for "slot machine dining". I saw the carts while I was in the casino. There are two drawbacks to this recommendation of Barona. The first is that smoking is allowed in the casino but fortunately, I believe the entire buffet and food court area is non-smoking. And the second is that you do have to travel quite the meandering two-lane road to get out to the casino/resort. Traffic can be very heavy on the road to Barona. Anyone else have any food experiences in California Indian Reservation Casinos to either recommend or warn about?

Regarding my earlier post and the plastic/chemical issue, here's another current discusion on part of the problem: "Bisphenol-A, Another Controversial Chemical..." The bolding of text was mine, for emphasis.

The negative I've heard about microwaves is that you're not supposed to wrap/cover foods with certain plastic wraps due to the chemicals in the plastic wrap leeching onto the food during the heating process. Also, some older plastic food storage containers shouldn't be used in the microwave for the same reason. Also, don't microwave any sort of bread in the microwave. No scientific reason. Microwaved bread/buns just suck.

They should be available in the U.S. now. There was a ban on importing them (due to a citrus canker, I believe) but the ban has since been lifted. You can purchase them online, too.

I was perusing the latest issue of Chile Pepper Magazine and saw an ad for a new "adjustable heat" spray pump hot sauce by the company that makes Dave's Insanity Sauce. Click here for a picture of the bottle. Ironically, the photo of the bottle on Dave's own website was a no-show which is why I linked to the site I did. It looks like it's a split bottle with a hot sauce on one side and a mild sauce on the other. You adjust the dial/bottle top to how hot you want the sauce to be and then spray pump the sauce on your food. My question is, for those who don't like it very hot, what do you do when the bottle starts emptying and you don't have any more mild sauce and all that's left is the hot sauce (or vice-versa)? Are refills the next product to be introduced? Has anyone seen this or tried for themselves? Please report back here if and when you do...

You are correct. Brownie Bars can be found in the "Flavor Graveyard" on the Ben & Jerry web site: "Flavor Graveyard" (scroll down to the 2nd non-interactive list to find Brownie Bar) The floating eye balls are a bit of a distraction. edited to add: clicking on the different headstones in the "Flavor graveyard" makes different things happen which is why I got floating eyeballs following my cursor. Clicking on the horned-beast headstone put the eyes back and they stopped following my cursor. Who knew?

Here is your link, Bill: "Longhorn Ancho Chili"

When I attended 6th grade camp, the dinner tables were like picnic tables with bench seats. I ended up on the left end of the bench which, when you're right-handed, meant for cramped quarters due to the kid on my right. I quickly learned to use my left hand for eating and cutting and whatever have been ambi-dextrous when it comes to eating ever since. Funny how one week on a bench seat could initiate such a lifelong change of habit...

I saw last week that Target featured all the different Fresca flavors. I didn't see any diet versions, though. Or did I just not look earnestly enough?

The Omlette Factory in Santee, California, serves a "Country Fried Steak" and a waitress there once explained to me that they call it that because it's not "Chicken Fried" which means it has a breading before being fried. Their "Country Fried" just means there's a light flour coat on the steak before being fried but has no breading/coating. I figured it was just their way to "CYA" so patrons couldn't complain about what they were getting. They've recently altered their menu to include "down-sized" portions. Before this, one dish was meant for a family but the new dishes are meant for 2-3 people. From the Buca Corporate web site: That's an interesting change considering the "family-sized" portions were what they were known for. Now they have "Buca Large" and "Buca Small" for most of their menu items. Sadly, it looks like they removed one of our favorite dishes from the menu...I think it was the Chicken Cacciatore which was an entire roasted chicken, cut into pieces, on a bed of mashed potatoes with a red sauce. The kitchen table always looks like fun. And if you have a large enough party, ask for the "Pope table".

How about a place where the restaurant design is part of the "gimmick" of the restaurant? I was going to mention Ed Debevic's in L.A. but it seems to be closed (it's not listed on their web site anymore) but I will suggest the Corvette Diner in San Diego (part of the Cohn restaurant empire). Like Ed's, the Corvette Diner is '50's-themed. The interior decor is retro everything, the music is '50's-oriented and the waitstaff are "in character". The food matches the retro feel, from a basket of fried chicken to familiar comfort food like meat loaf and mac'n'cheese (Click here for a PDF file of their menu). While the food is a mix of retro and new, the interior design is a pastiche of retro everything (they even have a DJ on weekends who'll take retro requests) and the wait-staff is usually in-character so you shouldn't be surprised if the waitress says "Move over, hon, my dog's are barkin'!" and sits with you as she takes your order. For some reason, kids love the place though the '50's might as well have been an old section of Disneyland for all they know. It's a fun place to take out-of-town guests, too. Not exactly a business meeting place, but a fun evening when you're looking for more than just food.

I don't think this is correct. Perhaps there's an SSB (smug scientific bastard) around who'll chime in but I believe taking milk to almost the boiling point has some effect in the ice cream process. Alton Brown's "Serious Vanilla Ice Cream" is eggless and is cooked (and tastes great!). He touches on the fact that the heat does something to the dairy but doesn't come right out and say what it is: Transcript of the Good Eats episode "Churn, Baby, Churn"

I can't find it now but there was a previous discussion about this. I would suggest trying the method described in the eGCI class "The Potato Primer". You pre-cook the potatoes and then just re-warm them and do the mashing and mixing at the last minute. Dave the Cook also had a great suggestion here (post #10): "Reheating mashed potatoes" (you might want to start at the beginning of the discussion for other tips) For something a little different, you could try Dave the Cook's "Technique: molten masher muffins" You can also follow the link in his first post to maggiethecat's "Potato Madeleines" discussion. That being said, my mom always uses a thermal pot to hold and keep the mashed potatoes warm. You can see it here. She also has a thermal gravy carafe to keep the gravy piping hot which you can see here. There are warmer appliances, warming trays, and even those fuzzy logic rice cookers that have a "warm" setting on them that you could always use.

There are some nice suggestions in this current discussion: "Reimaging Thanksgiving, Charting a new course for the holiday"

Here are three pages of Turkey-related eGullet discussions...some with alternatives to the standard roasting: Turkey Talk And didn't slkinsey do a spatchcocked turkey once? Or cook it in pieces due to the different cooking times depending on whether it was white meat or dark? I can't recall whether it was in his eGullet Thanksgiving blog or one of the aforementioned discussions...

There's a recipe for Chipotle Mayonnaise in the eGCI classes: "Basic Condiments by Andie Paysinger and Mary Baker"

Paula Deen's "Not Yo' Mama's Banana Pudding" Really good stuff, Maynard.