If I were a roaster chicken un-cut up, in which size Le Creuset would I fit nice and snug, maybe with a veg or two, and be snug and comfy, and be able to have a cover over me. I don't even know--a braiser? Casserole? Which type of pot?

It's called Chef. Nice staff too.

Exactly ditto: oranges, chocolate milk, sodas, whatever. Hell, better in jail briefly than in a coma. Same even with water. I shop at Whole Foods in NY almost every day, and the first few times I did it I went to the chief (uniformed) guard out front and told him. I put it in my basket. Every so often I put down the water bottle somewhere and forget it, and then forget to pay. I feel like shit when that happens (2x, I think); twice I went back to pay and they passed me on, once I left a buck on the cashiers desk (which if it indeed went into the system, I'm sure the cost of doing that was more than $1).

Rob

The store has cameras covering every square inch....

For pork, in-house sausages, tripe, and--for that wonderful richness in stews--pork _skin_ (rind), the best I've found (and only one outside Chinatown for rind) is Faicco's, at 260 Bleecker St. In Little Italy/the Village. I gave the guy $5 to cut the package of rind into small strips.

For the best and astoundingly cheap pork products -including two types of ground pork (one fattier) and beautiful pork bellys, I go to one of two butchers in Chinatown. One is on East Broadway between Houston and Confucious Plaza (sorry, no name, but there's only one, so it's easy); the other is Bayard St. Butcher, 57 Bayard St. (West of Broadway off of Mott St).

I like Bayard better because it's more spacious and clean-looking (the other one is clean too, BTW), and it owns a nice grocery store next to it with fresh, cheap vegetables.

Both these places sell beef, chicken, and parts, and whole ducks, at literally half the price of anyplace North of CTown. I've bought some ducks, which were fine, but less meaty than the big ones uptown (but, again, at half the price). Last time I was there I bought a bunch of partridges for $7 each, and quail were going for $1.75 a pop. Next time you're at any other meat market, check out the prices for those....

And of course, if you're dying for pork bungs or pork ovaries, you've found your source. Also good, fresh pork blood.

Rob

Holy camoli. I come here for a request and my master has fallen off his pedestal.

You and me both, K.

FWIW, Peterson's _Glorious French Food_ uses tamis's almost exclusively (let's call them Fayes, how about?).

Olny, in _The French Table_, more than once says that nylon ones are the one to get--which is my post query. Difficulty in cleaning, primarily. eGullet, I think, mentioned to get one larger than your intended receptacles, so it can be set atop it.

So, where can I find a nylon one? Fantes doesn't have one.

Rob

ETA: I just saw that the thread is a year old. I hope the K-dude is a happy bowler.

Found this:
http://www.thenibble.com/reviews/main...

Long multi-article/review/shopping linked index. I just scanned it; last date I saw was 2008.

Rob

The Vermont site says " Taking perfection one step further, the Sea Salt Crystal Cultured Butter is a balance of creamy butter with the crunch of Celtic sea salt."

Crunchy salt? Wassup widdat?

It looks nice. K will answer soon enough. He has given me, and which I have lost, the URL of the premier copper cookware collector, with a database of maker marks. Offhand only Gaillard comes to mind, buti don't know what their mark is. You could do a quick check.

Rob

On small-scale butter runs:

Would anyone take the time to read:
http://m.theatlantic.com/past/docs/is...

Which is an old article on the tastes of some of the artisanal creameries out there, and the variety of butters. If I have extra change burning a hole in my pocket, should I venture forth? (NB: the business mentioned there are moribund in the US, but judging by the growth of the popular movement, many places seem to be getting in the game.

Rob

"and the best stock pots are 3mm. .."
Huh? Didn't K just discuss this being the other way? Convection is convection, and why worry about weight (and cost)?

My beauty of a 10-incher just broke out with a case of permanent prickly heat rash, and i don't know when/why it happened. Everything is just as silky smooth in the cooking; it's just that when I rub my fingers over the inside of the pan in anticipation of that cool, cool touch and promise, I'm sad when I remember it's virginal freshness now that it has succumbed to adolescent pimplyness (to mix metaphors).

Well, you're right, it's not a culinary peak. But it's right there, and it's cool that it's the source of the best knishes you find anywhere where fine knishes are served. I was happy when I discovered it.

Yonah Schimmel knish bakery. It's where they all come from. It's tiny, but have a sit-down. Walk from Katz's (pastami/rye, as previously mentioned, or tongue--ask, or tip, for the tip of the tongue, which is fattier and tastier' celery soda, don't forget stuffed kishkes and chopped liver, of course), and then pick out to go America's freshest and widest selection of herring (a zillion styles, imported) at Russ & Daughters. A hundred years of fantastic Jewish cooking within 10 blocks.

Just found this, leaf lard:

http://www.localharvest.org/open-kett...
$16 / 1.5 lb
$56 / 4.0 lb
But, add $10 for smallest shipping box, which holds up to 8 lb. Oy.

I'm preparing to enter pastry baking and leaf -lard and I are having to get to know each other (ie, I don't know my ass from my elbow, and am intimidated). I don't know who have to [insert any act here] to get leaf-lard in this town, but I'm certainly coming up empty. Flying Pigs (who I talked to at Union Square green market) has none for the next five weeks. I can get a lbs of pig skin at Faicco's--their minimum order, which will keep me in stews until 2030--but no fat. Ditto Otamenelli's, both clans.

Ditto suet. I asked in another thread, but came up empty, about the taste/results of using cow kidney fat. I'll throw that on the table here.

And, the differences in using shortening, as long as I'm here. Julia Child says use vegetable shortening and leaves it at that. I bought some vegan shortening at Whole Foods, which needs to be refrigerated; I wonder what that implies relative to Crisco, et al. I haven't used anything yet....

My sense, and what I've read is the supermarket packaged lard--I've only seen the ones marked in larger letters the Spanish word for it, manteca, is nasty, with the hydrogenation and other additives, not to speak of it being lard from who knows where on the pig.

So, back to the main topic: are there any outer-borough places for good lard or suet (?) nowadays?

PS. I've seen headlines about some sort of bacon shortage...? Could the lack of good lard be related?

Rob

Stuffed peppers, I guess. My Polish Jewish MIL does hers a little sweetish tomato sauce, which I've come to like (despite being Hungarian-acclimated).

The only time I can abide cooked green pepper is when they are cut in strips and poached to near-death in a Goulash. There they're good.

In English, George Lang's, no questions asked. I've seen zillions of them. This one's huge, and informative. (Also has multiple recipes for lung, as long as we're getting macho.)

http://www.amazon.com/George-Langs-Cu...

But get it used; try abebooks.com

Thanks for this. Oddly it never appears in anything I've seen.

I've talked to a chef who used to do it with an almost equal, but has since lowered the animal fat amount to about 3:2 (Child's ratio) or 3:1.

I pressed him on whether to use leaf lard or suet. He said that he really doesn't care; he also said that any pig fat or cow fat would do, but perhaps he could get away with that when he worked at lower-quality, high-turnover restaurant (he has now gone on to better places).

As to which fat to use (and I'm still interested in proportions, and if anybody has used all butter), leaf-lard or suet? Surely they have different tastes--or perhaps I'm plain wrong.

The subject basically says it all. For what it's worth, James Peterson has all butter. Julia Child and Pepin use animal fat.; Child has 6 oz butter to to 4 tbsp shortening, I forget Pepin's ratio.

The second part of the question is, if I do opt for leaf lard or suet, do the proportions differ for each?

<It *may* be that she thinks you're spending too much time/money on high-end copperware.>

1000% right. I was going to mention that in my wrap-up report. I just emailed this URL to her at work.

Rob

ps: DW = Designated Wife?

For shits and giggles I looked up http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organoti... and, unsurprisingly, understood nothing, except for one word I understood, lithium salts, a chemical I had avidly been using for 20 years. Benefits!

FWIW, to go off-topic, I've read that iron-supplemented breakfast cereal is just that, with ground up FE, and a magnet will attract the cereal. I suppose a super powerful one could distend your stomach a little. (I subscribe to a board with a lot of physicists, and I just realized to post that as a query there...)

That E-how is good. Just read it.

Well, here we are at a temporary impasse. :)

For my part, I couldn't smell or taste a damn thing. Zero. My dog could fart and I wouldn't notice, and that's saying a lot.

My wife did not taste the sauce.

So, I will show her this thread so far, and the two of us will move to round two, which is, thankfully, of some reaction of tin with cooked tomatoes.

Obviously, if tomatoes taste off to _some_ people, there must be _some_ chemical reaction taking place. I'm more than happy to move on, but I'm sure one of us will go out our way to sense, or make-up, a different taste. Fear is an extraordinary, instinctive part of psychophysics.

So, for the interest of science, what is going on with the flavor change? There are/were people who were turned off by canned tomatoes?

And, as she just called out from the sofa, how long can tomato sauce sit in the pot before it eats through through the pot, and stove, and down through the kitchen floor through seven floors to the street, like an Alien's blood? (The last part I added.)

I would just like to add that there is an American _brand name_ of "San Marzano." it is a near-fraud. They are stocked to the shelves at pricey, oh-so -real and looking-out-for-you Whole Foods here in NYC. (I guess I didn't mention I don't like Whole Foods :) .)

The tomatoes are not half-bad, and the units are cheap, but are not San Marzano. It's the nasty deception that make me boycott them anyway.

I have not found much difference between imported San Marzano tomatoes whether D.O.P. or not.

As opposed to olive oil and wine.

She says the tin is leaching into the sauce. I just made a fresh (ie from a whole bunch of bruised tomatoes my friend sold me for pennies) sauce and a huge bunch of basil, little garlic, etc.

I had to take a Benadryl from sneezing so much, so I can't smell/taste a thing, and my beloved refused to have it. (I made for her a quick pan sauce for the chicken I had separately been sautéing.)

My sauce is crying out in the wilderness.

If you guys would --this is serious for my family safety and peace of mind--could I ask of you to take some time, and gather up some clear rebuttals to what she has been reading--if the rebuttals are necessary or not--and clearly and concisely lay out the facts?

I know you're a gazillion times more comfortable with this chemistry.

I will show her this thread. She is already asking "what did it say?"

Thanks,
Rob

See subject. There's a lot of stuff floating around the web. Now that I've spent $$ on copper ware, my wife claims I'm poisoning her.

Please help.

Stupid question. Did a google/ch search and found oodles. Sorry for waste of server data.

I think all the butters available here max out at 35% fat.

Richer styles are available overseas, but the few imported ones I've seen here are basically the same as the domestic ones.

Any help?

Rob

What is "tin plated copper?" I've seen a few pans listed as such.

Rob