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I'm afraid that what the NY Times article reveals is that Americans lack self-control and are completely oblivious on all but a philosophical basis of what they put in their mouths. I'm all for clear and proper labeling, and I do enjoy watching corporations juggle lawsuits, but portion size?!? I read and adored Fast Food Nation, but with all the info out there I can only blame consumers if they choose to remain ignorant. Personally, if we're keeping score, I eat as much butter as possible, drink full fat milk, when I drink milk, never turn down a good dessert, and would never steam a vegetable when I can stir-fry it in as much olive oil as my wok can hold. (Steamed veggies? Yuuuck!) I also rarely eat processed foods. After all, if I'm going to eat fat I want it to be deeply satisfying.

Might I suggest our upcoming eGullet Culinary Institute Ethnic Cuisine classes? For Asian cuisines we will be covering Thai, Japanese, Indian, and perhaps (if we could find an instructor), Chinese as well. As a teaser I will give you a very easy Thai recipe to start with, that will definitely be a success. It is basically chicken stir-fried in chilli paste with garlic, onion, bell peppers and Thai basil. It is spicy, fragrant and unbelieveably easy to make. It is also unabashedly Thai, not a Thai-ed up dish that you'd never find in authentic Thai cuisine. And by unabashedly Thai I also meant you'd better make sure your date or other half eat it with you or he/she will be sorry. :-) Serve it with Jasmine rice and you have a meal in less than 15 minutes. Gai pad Nam-prik Pao (Chicken sitr-fried in Chilli Paste) Ingredients 1-2 tbsp oil (any neutral tasting oil suitable for high temperature cooking will do) two (small) cloves of garlic, finely chopped 2 chicken breasts, sliced into bite size 1 heaping tablespoon of Chili Paste* Half an onion, sliced about half cup each of red bell pepper and green bell pepper, sliced Fish Sauce to taste (start with 2tbsp, add more if needed) a handful of Thai Basil, regular basil will do as well bird-eye Chilli, optional *I make my own, but you can easily buy it at any Asian Market. The most readily available brand is in a 16oz jar, with yellow top and yellow, red and white lable. The label says Chilli Paste with Soya Bean Oil. The brand is Pantainorasingh. I have used this brand in the past, and find it acceptable for cooking though not for eating plain. Now you cook... Into a hot wok or sauteed pan, add the oil, then the chopped garlic wait until the garlic is just beginning to fragrant, be carful not to let it brown at this time as it will continue to cook after the addition of other ingredients. Add the chicken, stir it around for a few minutes until the chicken is about half way done, then add the fish sauce and chilli paste, give it a good stir. Next add the onion and bell peppers. If you like it very spicy, smashed up a couple of bird-eye chilli and throw them in. Cook, stiring frequently, until the chicken is done. Check the seasonings, add more fish sauce if needed. Throw in the handful of Thai Basil, turn the heat off, stir a few times to incorporate the basil into the dish. Serve immediately with freshly cooked jasmine rice, from Thailand of course. Enjoy, Pim

Shrimp with Lobster Sauce (Shrimp Cantonese) Serves 4 as Main Dish. After perusing an old topic, I decided to post this recipe in the hopes that someone will find it useful. BTW, the name of the dish refers to the style in which the shrimp are prepared, not to the actual inclusion of lobster as an ingredient. The idea is analogous to "Chicken Fried Steak." A better name might be "Shrimp in the style of Lobster," which is a bit cumbersome to say the least. As for the alternate name, "Shrimp Cantonese," I can't vouch for its authenticity, save that I clearly recall seeing it on the menus of various restaurants in NY's Chinatown when I was growing up. "Lobster Cantonese" however, was the prime variation. I believe that someone on the Chinese food board has already opined that Shrimp Cantonese is the poor man's version of Lobster Cantonese, which sounds quite plausible to me. Given that lobster is so expensive, I've substituted crab on one occasion, deep-fried and hacked into smaller pieces. I thought it worked very well, except that my guests were not accustomed to eating crab at the table, which proved to be a miscalculation on my part. One of my favorite childhood memories is that of the entire family gathered around the dinner table, cracking shells and digging out nuggets of crabmeat with unabashed gusto. If someone can offer any suggestions as to how to best prepare this dish with lobster or crab, I would be very grateful. One final point -- I've included shrimp brains as an ingredient here. Although optional, it contributes a lot to the overall flavor of the dish. I suspect a lot of home cooks do the same with their shrimp dishes, and I would appreciate any input on this practice. 1 lb shrimp with heads, shelled and deveined, heads reserved (opt.) 1 T sherry 2 T fermented black beans, minced and mashed with a cleaver along with 3 cloves garlic, minced & 2 scallions, chopped 4 slices ginger, minced 8 oz ground pork 1 dash, white pepper 1 T dark soy 1/2 cp. chicken stock 1 egg, lightly beaten 2 T corn, peanut, or canola oil 1-1/2 T cornstarch mixed with 1 T. water 1. Soak fermented black beans in enough water to cover for at least 5 min. Drain and combine with garlic cloves. With a cleaver, mince the black beans and garlic together until a paste-like consistency is achieved. Much, much better than bottled black bean sauce. 2. Shell and devein the shrimp. If you opt to reserve the heads, squeeze the red matter from each one with your hands onto a separate plate and discard the shell. You may wish to use gloves, as the spines on the shrimp make this a prickly process. Prepare all the other ingredients and set them aside. 3. In a hot wok or sauté pan, add one T. oil and swirl until the sides are evenly coated. Add shrimp add quickly stir-fry until the color changes. When they appear half-cooked, add sherry and continue cooking until it boils away or until the shrimp are just cooked. Remove them from pan and set aside. 4. Reheat the wok and add remaining oil. Add black beans/garlic, scallions, and ginger. Stir briskly until fragrant. Add ground pork and continue stirring until all the ingredients are well-incorporated and the meat is broken up. Add white pepper, soy, chicken stock, reserved shrimp brains, and egg. Continue stirring until the pork and egg have completely cooked. Add the cooked shrimp and the cornstarch/water mixture. Stir briefly until well-incorporated. Remove from heat and serve immediately with white rice. Keywords: Chinese, Shrimp, Main Dish, Seafood, Intermediate, Dinner ( RG578 )

Lots of ways: a) Ballotine: Bone out the chicken, leaving wings and legs. Stuff with sausagemeat or a good forcemeat. Tie up in a cloth boil with stock vegetables and some leeks for an hour or so. Take out, unwrap, reduce stock (add some gelatine maybe), put into a nice dish, and allow to set surrounded by its jelly. b) You can boil the chicken this without boning the chicken, and then you won't need to tie it in a cloth, but carving and presentation is different. You might want to coat it with chaud-froid sauce, for example (add cream to the jelly). c) Tea smoked. Brine, then smoke outdoors over the BBQ. Take a wok, line with double foil. Put in 1 cup rice, 1 cup sugar, 2 Tbs tea, any other herbs or spices you fancy. Brine chicken for an hour. Put the wok with the smoking mixture over the hot BBQ. When it begins to smoke put the chicken on arack over it. Cover with more foil (or the wok lid lined with foil). Leavefor an hour or so, maybe turn halfway. Shake the wok occaisionally or add more smoking mixture if the smoke starts to fade. Remove golden brown chicken to serving platter, and throw away the foil etc. Edit: for "boil" read (in the modern way of thought) Hold at 65C until the internal temperature is 55C.

Arrrrr. Why did you have to mention induction woks?

Induction wok burner would be wonderful.

A built-in deep fryer and an induction wok. (Yes, I'm greedy.)

Lodge cast iron skillets and dutch ovens (and now even better with pre-seaoning for a buck or two more), hard wood spoons and spatula (Wal-Mart), steel wok, and cheap peeler (kept sharp with Spyderco sharpener ceramic rod).

when i lived in the Los Angeles basin (10 years ago) there was a restaurant on the pier named "Pancho & Wong's" which was the fusion of Chinese and Mexican food. I distinctly remember ordering Moo Shoo Taco and Szechuan Burrito. Sadly, it burned during one of those pier fires, and didn't return. In between hitting on the hostess, I learned that all the cooks were Mexican, so I should expect the taste to tilt in that direction. Now that I'm in Dallas, I'm seeing several (5+) Indian-Chinese restaurants, providing a different kind of fusion. These include Masala Wok; Bombay Chinese (I guess they figured that Dallasites wouldn't ack Mumbai Chinese) and others, many of which are located near the University of Texas - Dallas campus which has a high percentage of Indian students. The traditional Indian restaurants appear to be taking a hit, as they are less and less popular with the Indian clientele. It's also possible that people are -finally- getting tired of the standard Indian buffet, every one of which includes 5 Indian dishes (tandoori chicken, basmati rice, palak paneer, etc.). One Indian restaurant that has a new image, and appears to be doing well, is Clay Pit which started in Austin and has migrated to Addison (a Dallas suburb which has more than it's fair share of restaurants).

So Sorry all, for bad info. Hua's is now also called Yuanan garden (new signage) but menu says Hua's. It is on Garfield at # 301 and the cross street is NOT GARVEY. It is one block south of Emerson about 2 blocks north of Garvey. Very sorry all. Had wonderful lunch there today Fat Pork = fresh uncured porkbelly sliced paper thin blanched and served in a sweet / soy / chili oil sauce and covered in chopped raw garlic. Served cold Cumin Lamb = As the name implys saute`d sliced lamb in cumin and sweet peppers. Yum Chongquing Chicken = This is little pieces of bonless chix diced up and wok fried with tons of dried red chili and szechuan peppercorns. You just pick out the chicken and leave the chilis. D

Thanks a bunch. A few belacan questions: Do you roast it before you use it? Some recipes seem to call for it. Or does the wok cooking of the puree roast it anyways? Does the pre-roasting cut down on what might, to some American noses, seem like an untamed aroma? I use fish sauce all the time, but some references to belacan suggest opening your windows before using if you're not used to it, etc. Appreciate any (more) advice.

Garlicky crispy chicken , from the article about JJVR's retaurant 66 in the July issue of Food and Wine. Served with plain white rice and a crunchy mango slaw (under ripe mango, red chilli, gomasio, sesame oil and lime juice). The chicken was rubbed in Chinese five spice and refrigerated for a few hours then it was doused with what the recipe calls a syrup made of vinegar, brown sugar, water and BAKING POWDER!! It was then refrigerated overnight and fried in a wok. Served sprinkled with garilc fried in oil. Delicious and crispy, however this bit about putting baking powder into a marinade/syrup struck me as kind of odd since I've never seen it before. What could it add to the dish. Maybe F&W meant to say add corn starch or something?? Does anyone know why would you add baking powder?? The only explanantion that I came up with is maybe to neutralize some of the vinegars acidity. FM

Hi sacre_bleu and welcome! Here's a recipe for kangkung belacan. You can also use green beans, long beans, four-angled winged beans or asparagus in place of the kangkung. Stir-fried Vegetables with Belacan Ingredients 10-12 oz of kangkung / grean beans / long beans / four-angled winged beans / asparagus 1 tbsp dried prawns (look for this in an Asian Grocery) 4 shallots 2-3 cloves of garlic 1 1/2 tsp of belacan (shrimp paste) 4 red chillies (adjust this to the level of spiciness you are comfortable with, remove the seeds if you want it less spicy) 3 tbsp oil 1/2 tsp salt (or adjust to taste) 1/2 tsp sugar (or adjust to taste) Instructions 1) Soak the dried prawns for 1/2 hour to 1 hour till softened. Drain. 2) Pound the drained dried prawns, shallots, garlic, belacan and chillies with a mortar and pestle until fine. Alternatively, blend the mixture in a blender or food processor with a little bit of the oil. 3) Heat the wok/pan until it is very hot, then add the oil. Add the pounded / blended dried prawn and spice mixture. Stir-fry the mixture quickly over high-heat and then turn the heat down to medium-low. Slowly stir-fry the prawn and spice mixture until fragrant - the colour of mixture will change from a bright red to a dark reddish-brown. 4) Add the vegetables, salt and sugar. Stir-fry for another 2-3 minutes until the vegetables are cooked. Hope this fulfills your need!

Stir-Fried Vegetables with Belacan Here's a recipe for kangkung belacan. You can also use green beans, long beans, four-angled winged beans or asparagus in place of the kangkung. 10 oz of kangkung / grean beans / long beans / four-angled winged beans / asparagus 1 T dried prawns (look for this in an Asian Grocery) 4 shallots 2 cloves of garlic 1-1/2 tsp of belacan (shrimp paste) 4 red chillies (adjust this to the level of spiciness you are comfortable with, remove the seeds if you want it less spicy) 3 T oil 1/2 tsp salt (or adjust to taste) 1/2 tsp sugar (or adjust to taste) 1) Soak the dried prawns for 1/2 hour to 1 hour till softened. Drain. 2) Pound the drained dried prawns, shallots, garlic, belacan and chillies with a mortar and pestle until fine. Alternatively, blend the mixture in a blender or food processor with a little bit of the oil. 3) Heat the wok/pan until it is very hot, then add the oil. Add the pounded / blended dried prawn and spice mixture. Stir-fry the mixture quickly over high-heat and then turn the heat down to medium-low. Slowly stir-fry the prawn and spice mixture until fragrant - the colour of mixture will change from a bright red to a dark reddish-brown. 4) Add the vegetables, salt and sugar. Stir-fry for another 2-3 minutes until the vegetables are cooked. Keywords: Southeast Asian, Vegetables, Shrimp, Hot and Spicy ( RG560 )

I had an outstanding meal at Yangtze River on 40th Road in Flushing today. I can't remember a Chinese meal with such a high percentage (100% actually) of excellent dishes -- especially remarkable given seat-of-the-pants ordering and no foreknowledge of anything. I stupidly assumed, upon hearing the name, that it was going to be a seafood place. It isn't. I mean, they have seafood, but it's not a tank place (it's a rather small restaurant) and the menu is generalized Shanghai (and a lot of noodle dishes). The first ordering cue came when we walked in: you enter through a vestibule/hallway that overlooks a kitchen area. A couple of women were hand-making buns and dumplings in plain view, so we applied our formidable gourmet intellects to the situation and, after much pondering and abstract discussion, started by ordering several varieties of . . . buns and dumplings, all of which were first-rate. The pork-and-crab soup dumplings/buns (most restaurants call them buns but dumpling seems more accurate) had an unusually robust broth, the skins were very thin and non-doughy, and the filling was unusually coherent and non-soggy. The pan-fried pork buns were also great, again the skins/dough had none of that gooeyness to them that often ruin this product and the pork filling was juicy and laced with a lot of scallions. Standard pan-fried dumplings were the least remarkable, but only by comparison to the other dumplings on the table -- they'd rank very high relative to other restaurants. There are a few choices of scallion pancakes. They have the regular flat ones you'd typically see at a New York Chinese restaurant, but they also have a couple based on the sesame-scallion-pancake concept that I've been seeing more of lately: they're a yeast-risen circle of dough, the size of a small pizza (cut and served in wedges after cooking), that has I think been folded over itself many times, puffed and shallow-fried in a wok, about an inch and a half thick, with a bready interior layered with scallions, and a crusty exterior dotted with sesame seeds. You can also get this item filled with beef slices. We had the plain-puffy, which we (I'm sure improperly and to the horror of the 100% Asian-other-than-us clientele) used as a surrogate for rice throughout the meal, snacking on it, making little sandwiches, etc. There are several "rice cake" dishes. By rice cake they mean a kind of oval rice-flour noodles that look like bias-cut slices of scallops. We had the "deluxe," which is the ten-ingredients-lo-mein version of the dish, with shrimp, pork, and all sorts of other stuff. I really enjoyed the texture of these rice-cake things. This was only the second or third time I'd had these, and I'm definitely going to start ordering them whenever I see them on a menu. For the less adventurous eaters in the party (my friend's two kids) we ordered shredded beef with yellow leeks, which turned out to be a great dish. The beef was of abnormally high quality and the yellow leeks (I'm not sure what vegetable these actually are -- I'll have to look in a Chinese market) really made the dish. There was something that on the menu was described as "braised pork in casserole" but which turned out to be the most wonderful, massive, light, moist, crusty ground-pork meatballs -- four almost-tennis-ball-size ones that had likely been braised in the crock they were served in, half-submerged in a rich gravy. Finally, "fresh fresh eel" (yes it said fresh twice, perhaps once to indicate freshness and the other time to indicate fresh water, we theorized -- no there wasn't anybody there capable of answering any detailed English-language questions) with black bean sauce. I'm used to seeing eel that has been prepared by killing the eel, then basically peeling it, and then cutting the flesh into strips for cooking. Here, they seem to have simply killed the eel, cleaned it of its most offensive innards but left it structurally intact, and cooked it whole. After cooking, they simply chopped it -- cross-section-wise -- into chunks and left it assembled. So it was like they brought out this big fat foot-long (maybe longer) chopped snake (yes with the head on) smothered in black bean sauce. It was great. The pieces were a little difficult to eat because they had the cartilage or bones or whatever it is that eels have, so you had to work around that. But the meat was terrific -- you got much more of a hit of eel flavor and texture than in the eel-strips preparations I've mostly had. And the black bean sauce was a breed apart, with a funky (good funky) fermented taste that I assume represents what black bean sauce is supposed to be like. My friend was so enthusiastic about this dish (note this was the last dish served and we had already had our first lunch at Ben's Best deli and it was just me and him eating all this food, plus two kids who barely contributed to the effort) that after we made it through the whole body he made the effort to extract all the accessible meat from the head as well, a move that drew nods of approval and perhaps at least somewhat redeemed us in the eyes of the staff and our fellow customers. Yangtze River 135-21 40th Road Flushing (Queens), NY 718-353-8500

The simplest Korma recipe is the one my grandmother in calcutta taught me You can use it for fish, meat, poultry, vegetables or tofu ( one of my faves ) INGREDIENTS SAUCE 1 1/2 cups almonds ( ground ) 1 cup single cream 1 tsp turmeric 1 tsp ginger 1 tsp sugar 1/2 pint boiling water 1 clove chopped garlic 1 green chilli deseeded and chopped For the other ingredients use whatever vegetables you like. I like to use cauliflower and sweet potato which I steam first. METHOD Mix all the sauce ingredients in a large jug and allow to stand for 5 mins to allow the oils to seep out of the almonds ( this is what thickens the sauce In a frying pan or preferably a wok, fry the chilli and garlic in sunflower oil until they soften and flavour the oil. Add your vegetables ( or whatever other ingredient ) and warm through. Finnally add your sauce and cook for 5+ minutes until it begins to thicken ( if it gets to thick, loosen with a little milk or water ) Before serving sqeeze the juice of a lime over and stir in some chopped corriander leaves Er, that's it. It is authentic ( been in the family for generations ) and very delicious ( even better then next day ) S

We, and by we i mean Phill, cooked some confit this week at way to high a temp., so we saved what we could, shredded, stir fried in a wok with some red onion, sesame oil and seved on some leaves with hoisin sauce...a top starter from a disaster

Isn't it funny how that combination of flavors puts a huge sensory memory in your mind if you've never been exposed to them growing up? I still remember the first heady whiff of basil, galanga, fish sauce, garlic and cilantro, and the flavor explosion that happened on my tongue with my first bite. Some of that wonder stays with me every time I'm working with the same ingredients, 15 years later. Now I grow 3 different basils, 3 different chillies, hoard good galanga and kaffir limes and leaves in the freezer. It's hard to beat what you can cook at home here in the US. I have the same feeling about Wild Ginger, but I've only eaten there once. But it is widely regarded as fusion, right? It's not claiming to be true Thai. The best Laotian food I've had in the US was actually in Madison, WI. There is good Thai to be had in Chicago, but they're little holes in the wall and don't always stay in business. We had a favorite that did a great job (hot enough, green peppercorns in all the right places, red chillies not red bell peppers etc) but it went under right before we left. They had plans to open some place else. Another place I really liked lost it's chef and went downhill from there. Here's what Raelena says in rec.food.cooking about Thai Tom in Seattle "Thai Tom in the University District -- food like you'd get at the stalls in Bangkok (for nearly the same price)... where the cook dances with a pony tail amidst blackened woks, leaping flames, and a line out the door most nights." Sounds promising, no? regards, trillium

No : it looks like my tagine is not for stovetop use. So i'm thinking about Le Creuset. Speaking of Le Creuset, thanks for pointing to Karahi: looks great! And also their Tawa I also have recieved the Karahi and Tawa. The Karahi set looks great.. the shape is not really a Karahi shape. The tawa is not shaped like a tawa either.. wonder what they were thinking? But they are yet to be used by me... so I shall let you know what I think. I love the Lodge Wok. It has great weight to work as a good Indian karahi. You can keep stirring without having to worry about shifting the wok too much.

More often than not, wok-fried scrambled eggs, chopped scallions and sea salt. Less is more.

i guess i agree with fat guy. i've got a combination of calphalon (two 12" non-stick omelet pans + old anodized pans) and allclad (10" omelet and 5qt high-sided saute pan) in stainless. i've also got a 5/12 qt cuisinart stainless, (the clad, not the biscuit-on-the-bottom-type, which i think sucks), which works just fine. i use the non-stick when i don't need the brown bits on the bottom of the pan for color or flavor, and the stainless when i do. good quality in both cases, calphalon seems cheaper, and non-stick's easier to clean and requires less oil. we (my wife and i) still use calphalon anodized saucepans and stock pots that we got for our wedding gifts, which was.....um......20 years and 1 month ago, so that should speak to the quality of these implements! we don't use the fry pans, though, and really didn't like them all that well even back when they were new......food stuck way too easily. were i to set up my pan selection right now, i'd have: 1 8" or 10" omelet pan, non-stick (for crepes and small omelets) 2 12" omelet pans, stainless 1 12" omelet pan, non-stick 1 4 or 5 qt saute pan with lid, stainless 2 massive aluminum or stainless stockpots (as big as will fit on the cooktop!) - the cheap ones are fine for stock couple of smaller saucepans (personally, i don't use these much, so i have no idea how many cups are 'small') couple of larger saucepans (same caveat as above - but prob'ly 8 cups or larger) 1 le creuset dutch oven (big as you can afford) 1 carbon steel wok (NOT non-stick, NOT electric! that you'll NEVER wash with soap) 1 crock pot then, give me a martin yan cleaver, a santuko, a good paring knife, a bread knife, a thin slicer and a boos cutting board, and that'd just about fill out my cutting/stovetop needs, in terms of registering! all this stuff should be available at the major cookware stores (w-s, chef's catalog, fields, crate&barrel etc.). good luck! matt (this is very cool to find a board like this!)

Matthew, in India we only deep fry in Woks. I have no fewer than a dozen woks of all shapes and kinds. Happy to know someone else uses woks for deep frying. I am buying this one to test for my recipes. I feel it is more familiar to Americans, and Lodge does great stuff, if the fryer works with my recipes, it would be a great alternative to the karahi (Indian wok) for deep frying. And yes, it hardly matters to get the Lodge Logic, but for a few extra bucks, it is worth getting the Lodge Logic fryer. I am happy giving the company a few extra bucks. They have great product and at such an affordable price. Lodge has given me and my friends and family much, much pleasure over the years. The Tarte Tatin's and the Corn Breads I bake using Lodge Cast Iron, get me far too many compliments and the least I feel I can do for Lodge is to spend a couple of extra dollars on their product. As it is, they last so well, that one hardly has to worry about buying them every few years.

It seems like there would be no advantage to the pre-seasoned cast iron for the deep-fryer, so you'd be better off saving a few bucks and getting the regular. It'll season up nicely while you fry. I tend to deep-fry in a wok, though.

Hmmm... That is a difficult question to answer... there are so many things. For example, when I am making a very delicate emulsified sauce I find that pinpoint temperature control is very useful. Often times when I do this sort of thing I can regulate the temperature by holding the saucepot in the air over the flame and making minute adjustments in the height of the pan over the flame (obviously this is something I would do only with a small pot). I never use a double boiler for things like melting chocolate, making Hollandaise, etc. These are the sorts of things where the super high level responsiveness comes into play. In terms of other things... I have noticed that my copper pans come up to temperature way faster than my other pans. Also, because they are so heavy and have such a large thermal mass, they hold more heat than any other pans I own (I know that cast iron can technically hold more heat, but I have never seen a cast iron pan thick enough to hold more heat than my copper pans -- they really should make 5 mm or 7 mm thick cast iron skillets). As a result, I find that my copper pans are simply more effective than my cast iron and aluminum pans for things like searing steaks. There is also the trade-off between responsiveness and evenness of heat. In order for less conductive pans to provide even heat, they have to be thicker and therefore are all that much less responsive. So... let's say you are trying to deeply caramelize some onions and you are down to the very last bit. One minute more and you might start burning the onions. With a copper pan, you can simply remove the pan from the heat and the temperature will quickly start going down. An aluminum pan that was thick enough to provide a similar evenness of heat might start to burn the onoins before it cooled down. Of course, you can always take the onions out of the pan, but I am only making an example... It's also nice to know that you have a pan that can get screaming hot and hold enough heat to quickly brown off a bunch of chicken thighs, but that will quickly cool down to simmering temperature when the heat is lowered and a little white wine is added (along with juniper berries, garlic and rosemary if it's me doing the cooking) and will thereafter provide perfectly even heat for a braising. Oh, copper is definitely not for everyone, I agree. That said, I don't underdstand why you would be more worried about copper cookware sitting on the stove than anything else. What do you think would happen? Personally, I'd be a lot more worried about leaving that Calphalon Commercial nonstick fry pan or a Le Creuset French oven sitting on the stove. Those pieces can really be damaged if they get too hot. I have been known to leave my Falk saucière on the stove empty for 7 or 8 minutes so it gets screaming hot for stir frying (works infinitely better on my stove than any wok I have ever tried). The next time Falk has a sale or offers an introductory price on a fry pan or a sauté pan, you might think about picking one up. I know they seem expensive, but they last a lifetime and they are really no more expensive than a fancy dinner in Manhattan for two or a DVD player that will be obsolete in 3-5 years. And if you discover than you aren't into using it, you at least have something cool-looking hanging in the kitchen. Heck... I might be willing to buy it off you if you gave me a decent price.

jason, that looks fantastic. care to share the process? i made sloppy joes tonite. from Manwich ®. mmmmmm. Not much to it. Clear cellophane noodles are put in a bowl of warm water to open. Beef round is sliced and cut up into strips, wokked up in some oil with some soy and a shot of fish sauce, removed from wok. Veggies are sauteed up, then combined in with the beef and tossed up with the noodles with some PAD THAI SAUCE. 1 Egg is beaten and added, toss up, Eat.