WSJ Articles on Food, Drink, Cooking, and Culinary Culture

[scubadoo97]

Thanks Anna. With your experience with different devices your assessment has more bite. Those are some significant short comings. In this battle of immersion circulators they are some clear winners and losers yet lots of room for improvement

[Anna N]

Just an update. I used the Nomiku tonight and set the temp to 54C. The "bacteria growth zone" icon remained visible even after my set temperature was reached. I unplugged the unit, plugged it back in and the icon disappeared. Again I found the power box to be a real PITA. I SUSPECT IF THE UNIT EVER GETS DROPPED BY ME THAT BOX WILL FIGURE IN THE EQUATION. It feels and acts like an anchor impeding smooth movement. I wanted to like this unit but it is just too clunky.

[Abe]

Hey Guys,

Just wanted to check in about the power of Nomiku. Because of evaporation and heat conduction, especially above 70 C, the power put into the water will not 100% go into thermal mass of water, so the Wolfram Alpha calculation will not be accurate. Our PTC heaters do have a variable power output with temperature. The peak is between 60-90C, where we found higher power to be most critical. The rated power is 1150W, but below 50C, the power can be below 800W. We highly recommend starting with hot water, which will put Nomiku in a higher power zone.

The best way to measure the power output of Nomiku is to use a Kill-a-Watt or similar device to measure the electrical current. The motor/display/controller consume less than 10W, and the switching efficiency is around 99%, so power in is an accurate way to determine heating power.

Regarding the power box, in our use, having the Nomiku body water resistant and the power box a small distance away has been more safe from a spill and drop standpoint. When a lot of bags are going in and out of the water, it's easy to drip some water on the body, and so we didn't want direct access to high voltage wiring there. It's quite difficult to get water from a spill into the power box body if it is lying flat on the counter.

In addition, we've had more than one polyscience bite the dust from condensation in the body. There's really no way to prevent condensation if the body is open. Having the power box was a worthwhile trade-off for a lot of reasons.

Please contact me at info [at] nomiku [dot] com if you have any more questions. Thanks for your interest!

Abe

[Cuoca]

FARM Cafe was recently named by WSJ as a must-stop on a culinary road tour through Appalachia.  You can read the article here:  http://www.wsj.com/articles/a-yes-culinary-road-trip-through-appalachia-1413564789

 

I've eaten here dozens of times and am consistently amazed by the flavors.  The chef used to be the sous chef at nearby Westglow Spa, which was rated as one of the best in the nation by Travel & Leisure Mag.  In true Chopped form, she has to come up with a new many each day, depending on what local organic farmers deliver to the resturant.

 

Eating here is especially memorable and unique because it's a pay-what-you-can cafe, so you can to experience the gourmet, pay-it-forward concept that is trending.  Also cool because it is located in an old-timey drug store location and still has the 50s-era soda fountain-style counters and booths.

Edited January 23, 2015 by Cuoca (log)

[rotuts]

http://www.wsj.com/articles/how-to-seriously-upgrade-your-gin-and-tonic-1434135254?tesla=y

 

I didn't need to log in.  nice spread in the paper paper today

 

just what I need ;  a second Fizzz

 

tasty Id bet

[radtek]

I love the taste of quinine and forward juinipery botanical gin. Been buying gordons and schweppes out of convenience. Often it's G/T with fresh lime at cocktail hour, which falls somewhere between 0900 and 1900 everyday. 

[rotuts]

Why so late ?

 

[radtek]

Sometimes Dinner and Cocktail hour cross paths and merge (Martini's/Gibson's). 

[rotuts]

WSJ today haas a section on Food :

 

http://www.wsj.com/public/page/journal-report-leadership.html

 

it may or may not be behind a pay-wall

 

it poses several questions and there is a for and against column.

 

if you can't view it and are interested, take a peek next time you stop by your library.

 

the charts and graphs are interesting if you don't want to read the various opinions:

 

GMO :

 

                  Corn         Cotton      Soybeans

 

2000          20 %        60 %         55 %

 

2014         92 %         98 %         97 %

 

I rough chopped the 2014

 

WSJ readers   :  Sugar tax on drinks ?   61 % yes   39 % no

 

                          Label  GMO foods ?   64 % yes    36 % no

 

What's for dinner ?

 

1970  85 lbs beef  55lbs pork  40 lbs Chicken  10 lbs fish

 

2012  80 lbs chicken  55 lbs beef  48 lbs pork  15 lbs fish

 

there is a break-down of sugar drinks by age, sex, income, smokers, weight etc.

 

take a peek if you can..

 

I have not myself read any of the pro and con articles, because, well  I Know Best about these things, myself.  

 

and have plenty of opinions, the correct ones of course  .  why would I have incorrect opinions, eh ?

 

 

on the Con side of a Sugar Tax  I like this :

 

"""   The argument that taxing sugary drinks helps to promote healthy lifestyles deflects attention from their actual effects. We don’t normally expect politicians to be truthful. But if they want to impose these taxes, they should be honest enough to admit that they will not end obesity or diabetes, but rather will generate more of other peoples’ money for profligate state governments to spend.."

 

Hubba Hubba  

 

where there's smoke, there's mirrors.

 

and don't forget to read about Foie Gras !

 

J. Kenji Lopez-Alt  writes for the 'Yes ( USA FG ) " position.

Edited July 13, 2015 by rotuts (log)

[Deryn]

I used to think that labelling all GMO foods might be a good idea however I now think that may not be necessary at all.  Non-GMO food (organic or not certified as such) producers usually already voluntarily label their products since it is in their interest to stand out from the fast-growing, madding crowd of GMO products. There are major costs for us all if the government demands that GMO products are all labelled as such.

 

I love statistics (not). My dog probably makes up for 10 of me when it comes to chicken consumption. His intake (and believe me, he inhales the stuff) is probably in the 500-700 lb range per annum. Mine - maybe 1 or 2. Beef - so rare around here that I would probably put our total consumption of that meat at less than 3 lbs per year between the 2 of us. Pork/pork products - dog doesn't eat any these days, but I may buy (which doesn't necessarily mean I consume) less than 10 lbs a year. Fish (if you include seafood/crustaceans - and their shells - which I do not actually eat but I do pay for) is maybe about 30 lbs a year. Relatively speaking though my fish consumption has gone up and everything else has fallen off like a boulder from a cliff lately.

 

That said though, I am thinking that I should start buying foie gras - humanely raised, of course.

 

If they decide to further tax sugary drinks (which I don't consume anyway), they should remove all taxes everywhere (from all levels of government) from all foods deemed 'healthy'.

[Thanks for the Crepes]

rotuts,

 

Thanks for the link.

 

It's not behind a paywall, but I suspect some of the articles which have a key icon before or after the headline are. I didn't test my theory because I never ask a question when I am 99% sure it will result in a "No" answer that brooks no negotiation. 

 

I was a bit surprised to find such strong support in the comments in the GMO labeling article for the NO side, but then I considered the source that attracted the readers/commenters.

 

I had left the site without reading the foie gras article before I came back here and read your remark about Kenji coming in on the side that FG production is okay, at least as regulated and practiced in the US. I thought I didn't need to read it because my mind was already made up, but I went back and read it, and it provided some food for thought at least.

[rotuts]

Ive only had FG about three times.  the last north of the border w a glass of sauterne.

 

that pairing works well, and the S. does not have to be of the Thousand dollar a bottle variety.  I was quite surprised.

 

no taste of liver at all.

 

I not going to make any effort at all to get some more, but the Kenji article seems to indicate that :

 

1) if you eat meat, those animals probably have a life much worse life than the two USA places that make FG provide for their geese.

 

so look for it from those places if you can afford it.

[Deryn]

You must be deeking north of the border more often than you will admit, rotuts. You have picked up a Canadian eh!

[rotuts]

last trip for the Ski and FG was 1995 or so

 

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g499367-d263215-Reviews-Auberge_des_Cedres-Saint_Hippolyte_Quebec.html

Edited July 14, 2015 by rotuts (log)