jsolomon

Well, to be quite honest, CA, many producers have systems that cost hundreds of thousands of dollars that are used to identify what is contaminating their food products. I operate one of these machines, actually. But, very little can be done if you don't start with a clean area, and end with a clean area, especially if you are attempting to produce year-round. Another thing you can try is to produce in one area for a weekend's worth of work. Then, for the next weekend's worth, cure in a different area. Make sure you use fallow/active cycles in your production areas so you aren't promoting the growth of people food-unfriendly organisms by always curing in the same area. There are a ton of strategies, to be honest, and there are several that will likely work for people.

I did have to appreciate the misguided culinary idiocy that was elicited a few months ago by a pizza chain. They had advertised "Steak pizza" and in the commercial a dude answered the door with the quip, "mmm, man fuel". Sounds like a waste of two good foods. Grill the f-ing steak and have cheese pizza as a side.

I do not know of the legalities in Canada concerning all of this. However, I have my doubts that it was actually the beer. On the other hand, this is where some goodwill can go a long way, and is certainly cheaper than a retainer fee. So, I would suggest calling the fellow, and apologizing that this happened at your restaurant. Offer him something worth more than the meal he had (say, a dinner for two) either at your restaurant, or if you have a partner restaurant, that, too. But, make sure that it is something that will get him back in your door. If he doesn't use it, that's his problem. And, document what you did. If he wants to be an ass after you apologize and try to make it right, it's his problem.

Well, from the looks of that, the peroxide treatment isn't the right plan. If you use the iodine no-rinse sterilizer for beer and are careful about keeping it closed, you will have fewer problems (if you've had any already). I would suggest a serious cleaning of the damp, musty basement, though.

That depends on many things. What is your curing chamber? An old fridge?

Rule Number 1: don't get puked on.

Can ya move it to use the sporicide? If you've got the wrong molds growing, you can't get them out without using either a lot of bleach or some other strong sporicidal agent. The beauty of the vaporised hydrogen peroxide treatment is that it is no-rinse.

Smart points -- but as I thought about it, I realized that I really didn't have any solid information beyond the material covered in Ruhlman and Polcyn's book (which some have seen as excessive) concerning food safety with cured and smoked meats. What are the basics? What are the issues we should be considering? Beyond keeping things ultra clean during prep, what are the things we can do in our home curing chambers and garage refrigerators? And if we have something in that funky range -- how green is green? when does chalky mold become fuzzy mold? -- and are distraught at the thought of tossing our product into the trash, where can we turn to make the right decisions? ← Well, I can answer a few of those, CA. Chalky mold becomes fuzzy mold when there is fuzzy mold around instead of chalky mold. That's the easy one. They are two different species, and if you aren't careful with what you have around, it's easy to have both inoculated in your meat. One thing you can do in your home curing chamber if you think it has something wrong with it, i.e. you have mold spores in there that aren't the spores you want, you can make your own sporicidal gassing agent using common household Hydrogen Peroxide, an outlet timer available at Target or RadioShack, and an electric skillet. But, THIS IS NOT FOR USE INSIDE THE HOUSE OR ANYWHERE THAT THERE ISN'T EXCELLENT VENTILATION OUTSIDE OF YOUR CURING CHAMBER! I cannot stress that enough. Also, as well as keeping ultra clean during prep, keep ultra clean after prep. When you're done, clean everything. Dry it well. Clean your walls, cabinets, and your floor. Make sure everything dries well. Before and after. Every time.

Depends on the preparation

Uh, Jonathan Swift wasn't fictional. Zaphod Beeblebrox and the Pan-Galactic Gargle-Blaster Edit to add Tom Swift and His Space Solartron! http://www.tomswift.info/homepage/solartrn.html

Even when they were "undiscovered" by the tragically hip, I didn't like them. Their flavor always reminded me of ambulance runs that break Rule Number 1 of Emergency Medicine. Yuck.

When I first read the thread, I saw "apartment living" as "bachelor living" and was going to suggest something flambe'd. But, then I re-read the thread. If you have a grill, grill them slightly. Otherwise, flambe'd!

And, don't forget about Too Much Coffee Man!

Captain Kirk and Doctor McCoy always were fond of their Romulan Ale. And, who can forget the Samurai Chef from Saturday Night Live? Miracle Max in "The Princess Bride" extolled the virtues of M.L.T. sandwiches, AND was a chocolatier. Grimes in Blackhawk Down (the movie was enough of a fiction) always was talking about how coffee is "all about the grinds..." And, last but not least in this episode, in "Return of the Jedi", the Sand Creature just about ate Han Solo. How can you get more Food-like than Han Solo?

George Newman in UHF ate a Twinkie Wiener sandwich...

One of my old girlfriends used to eat doughnuts with a knife and fork. Of course, if soup comes from my kitchen, it is likely as not that it was sampled for spice and seasoning using a finger instead of a spoon.

Are we forgetting about Popeye? I'm strongs to the finish cause I eats my spinach...

Nah, not Charolais. They're girly cows. Men, manly men, only eat Texas Longhorns.

Sound advice, that.

... you won't set foot in a bar with fewer than 12 different types of cocktail glasses. ... you bring your own olives because pimiento stuffed olives are so passe'.

Nah, real man food is baked beans, anything eaten with Nature's Own Utensils , wild game, and CHEAP BEER. Lard knows I have consumed a veritable lake of Keystone, Milwaukee's Best, Schlitz, and Old Style. I like it that way, sometimes.

Can they fly? ← Of course. Frozen bananas have the natural flying ability of a chihuahua. Shades of UHF... Seriously, I want to see if a Vita-Mix can handle one of those...

thecuriousone, a few responses 1: I don't have a good recipe for that. I have heard of some quick (refrigerator) pickles for watermelon, but I have no recipes. I don't think it holds up well to a strong brine. I could be very wrong, though. 2: Without further description of recipe and technique you used, I can't help on that. 3: According to http://www.ext.colostate.edu/PUBS/columncc/cc040817.html Alum is used as a pickle firming agent. 4: For pressure canning vs water canning, the main thing you need to keep in mind is the acidity of what you are canning. Lower acid foods need to be canned longer and hotter. The USDA has the canonical list of which for how long. 5: Yes, as long as your % acidity is maintained, you are fine. But, distilled vinegar is 5% and rice wine vinegar is 4.2% acidity. Prepare to do algebra if you are substituting those. A good substitution is cider, malt, or wine for white.

I don't think this is necessarily a bad thing. Yes, affordable wine is a wonderful thing. But, as a general rule, I am against farm subsidies, which is part of the reason why there is so much production of grapes for wine. Farm subsidies are generally used as an international bludgeon, which I am against. Heck, I'd be happy if the US divested itself of many farm subsidies.

Actually that does segue into something that I want to write a grant for once I get finished with med school. I wonder if Medicaid, or whichever pays for things like occupational therapy, would pay for the occupational therapy to be in the scullery of a hospital. There would certainly be lots of things necessary to iron out of such a plan, but I think from a life skills standpoint, the patients would do better, and also from a social standpoint, I think it could be beneficial for all parties involved. Plus, the hospital would then get a renewable resource of cheap(er) labor which could be carried back into lower bills for the hospital (or eaten up by executive pay raises in the modern era).