kmcarr's Profile
"Water Weight"
Did he? I always took him to be referring to an American pint of 16 fl. oz.
"Water Weight"
BTW... 2 cups of water (8 fluid ounces per cup) is roughly 1 pound (weight).
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The little rhyme I learned from Alton Brown's show helps me remember that conversion:
"A pint's a pound the world around."
What foods do you refuse to eat?
redfish, do you only exclude the superclass Hexapoda (true insects) or all of the phylum Arthropoda. If you only refused to eat Hexapoda that would leave open the possibility of eating spiders, centipedes, etc. But if you drew the line higher up the taxonomic tree you would miss out on subphylum Crustacea and the deliciousness of lobster, shrimp and crab.
[Not really a serious question. Sometimes I just have to exercise my inner taxonomic geek.]
Top Chef: where are they now (ongoing)
"thick like a milkshake" is my new favorite phrase for 2012.
Deviled Eggs - Pasta or what?
I'm another that saw a plate of pasta. The photographer needs to provide some context for scale.
Hey all do I really need 6 lbs. of bones to make stock? I usually use between 1 -2 lbs.!
Your question can't be correctly answered unless you tell us what VOLUME of stock you want to make. The ratio used in the Culinary Institute of America stock recipes is 5-6 lbs of bones per gallon of water. This is what I try to use when I make stock and it comes out richly flavored and with lots of lip smacking gelatin.
Why don't you just try an experiment? Make two stocks side by side, one with 1-2lbs per gallon and one at 5-6 lbs per gallon and see what the differences are in terms of taste, mouth fell, how they work for soups or when greatly reduced in a stock.
Stumbled upon great way to keep bread fresh!
Crystallization of amylose & amylopectin does not require water. It is in fact the opposite. When the starch molecules in bread go from their gelatinized state to crystallized (retorgradation) moisture is expelled from the starch granules. This will happen in a moist or dry environment. The process is greatly accelerated a cold (refrigerator) temperatures. Bread becomes stale when starches crystallize, it then becomes dry when the water once used to gelatinize the starch granules is lost due to evaporation. Preservatives in baked goods have two purposes, first to inhibited starch crystallization and second to prevent loss of moisture due to evaporation.
Stumbled upon great way to keep bread fresh!
I'm in the same boat, single person household who likes a quality loaf of bread. I will admit here freely and openly, at risk of public ridicule and loosing my official CH membership ring, that I store my bread in a Ziploc bag....
Now quiet down, quiet down. You in the back, put down that pitchfork and torch. I realize that I am committing a mortal sin against the integrity of the crust but I have come to accept that it is a lesser sin than allowing the bread to go stale before eating it. And no, I really don't want to mess with portioning it, freezing, defrosting, etc., etc.
But it so happens I have just such a clay pot sitting decoratively atop my upper cabinets (what else does one really do with them?). So I'm very interested meatn3, does storing artisinal bread in your Romertopf maintain crust integrity? If so I will cheerfully relocate my ceramic casserole to my countertop from its lofty perch.
Wild Planet Seafood Products.
Just tried a can of their tuna for the first time yesterday. Definitely more fish/less liquid in the can than typical for most mainstream brands. The fish in the can appeared to be a solid chunk cut from a filet. Taste wise I thought it was very nice, less salty and "fishy" than national brands I have had previously (* I might have purchased the 'No salt added' variety) but I wouldn't describe the difference as eye popping or revelatory (like the difference between Dannon yogurt and Fage for example).
Sardines in WHAT???
Have sampled several of the Bar Harbor varieties but have never seen this one on the shelves of any stores near me.
Reflexively I'd think eww...smoked fish with maple syrup. But what about smoked pork with maple? Who doesn't love dragging their bacon through the maple syrup that's run down the side of your pancakes. Maple syrup isn't unheard of as part of the flavor profile in bacon so could it work with smoked sardines? Maybe...
New assembly bill could wipe out food trucks (in California)
But how many food trucks are currently operating in those areas? Without that that information the map is fairly meaningless in assessing the real impact of the legislation. The vast bulk of the area shown in the map appears to be suburban-residential, not target areas for mobile food vendors other than the ice cream truck. Food trucks gravitate to high concentrations of pedestrian traffic such as business and shopping districts. The author sounds the alarm that the bill will severely impact mobile food vendors without providing evidence that a significant fraction of mobile food vendors currently operate within the areas which would be prohibited.
Wasting the liver?
When I saw the title of your post I could help by remember that classic Saturday Night Live sketch
http://www.hulu.com/watch/3523/saturday-night-live-the-french-chef (It's Hulu so you have view an ad first.)
Remember, "SAVE THE LIVER!!!"
Let's talk salmonella
Washing or not is irrelevant for those eggs which are internally contaminated. Internal contamination of eggs occurs in the oviduct of the chicken, before the shell was formed. As I said above the estimated frequency of this 1:10,000 to 1:20,000. The washing (sanitizing) of eggs mandated in the US is to minimize external contamination, which is much far more prevalent than internal contamination since it is impossible to keep chicken s&*t off the outside of an egg.
Help with Chicken Stock!
You can use it full strength. This is not a reduced stock, the 20% loss is probably a combination of skimming, some absorption by the solids and evaporation.
Let's talk salmonella
Yes, it is true that people did (and still do) store eggs at room temperature. It's all a matter of playing the odds though. In the USA it is estimated that between 1 in 10,000 to 1 in 20,000 chicken eggs is internally contaminated with salmonella. These estimates are recent; I have not seen any historical data but it is plausible that in the past the frequency was lower. There is also a difference between storing a egg, in isolation, at room temperature and putting that egg (with potential bacterial hitchhikers) into a mixture with all sorts of good stuff for said bacteria to eat.
I am in love with a media chef!
Check it out if you get a chance. It definitely raised my (already good) opinion of her. She is an incredibly hard working and accomplished person.
And I'll just add, even in combat fatigues, helmet and military issue black-rimmed glasses she still managed to look totally adorable.
I am in love with a media chef!
I think paulj meant she _was_ a soldier. According to her "Chefography" on the Cooking Channel, during college she enlisted in what sounded like the the Canadian equivalent of the US National Guard.
Let's talk salmonella
It's not accurate to say that refrigeration has NO effect on salmonella. Keeping the little buggers below 40° F (4° C) will greatly inhibit the reproduction of the bacteria. Given appropriate conditions of temperature and food source (e.g. a pancake batter at room temperature) any bacteria may start rapidly growing and bacteria reproduce by division (doubling) so their population growth rate is exponential. Yes, heating will kill them, but safe food handling is about more than just killing potential pathogens; it's also about limiting the number present in your food that will require killing.
Help with Chicken Stock!
Michael Ruhlman, in his book Ratio, recommends a ratio of 3:2 water to bones for stock making. One gallon of water weighs 8.3 lbs. thus for each gallon of H20 you would need 5.5 lbs. of bones. This ratio is consistent with the one recommend by the CIA (http://www.globalgourmet.com/food/special/2001/prochef/stock.html#axzz1k2Vjps23) (Culinary Institute of America, not he spies) which is undoubtedly where Ruhlman learned it. This ratio probably seems extreme to most home cooks; it certainly was developed from the point of view of the professional kitchen with an ample supply of bones to throw in the pot.
For the mirepox he calls for a 5:1 ratio of water:vegetables (and mirepox is normally 2:1:1 onions:carrots:celery) so this means 1.6 lbs of mirepox for each gallon of water. The CIA ratio for mirepox is a little lighter than Ruhlman's, calling for about half the amount.
He also notes that the finished volume of stock starting with 1 gallon of water would be 0.8 gallons.
Is it better to make it from scratch or buy it?
Obligatory National Lampoon Vacation reference:
Clark: Real tomato ketchup, Eddie?
Cousin Eddie: Oh, nothing but the best.
On MSN: Jamie Oliver's Cookbook Named One of 2011's Unhealthiest
Consider the original source of the unhealthy claim, the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine. They are primarily an advocacy group pushing a pro-vegan, anti-animal research agenda. I would view their proclamations on the unhealthiness of Mr. Oliver's food as a publicity stunt, guaranteed to generate buzz on the web.
Do you eat the...gulp...fat?
we evolved eating animals and animal fat.
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Balderdash! In evolutionary terms it has been a mere spec of time that any species of homo have derived a significant portion of the caloric intake from animal sources. Also look at our closest evolutionary cousins (chimps, gorillas & orangutans), predominately if not exclusively vegetarian.
Stretching money with beans without stretching my pants with flatulence
No, the culprit is most definitly not protein. The flatulence inducing compounds in legumes are complex oligosacharrides. Specifically they are oligosacharrides with alpha-galactosidic linkages between monosacharrides. Humans (and other mammals) lack the enzyme necessary to break down these carbohydrates. The anti-gas product Beano is an enzyme, alpha-galactosidase, which helps to digest these oligo-sacharrides before they reach our large intestines and make mischief.
NY Restaurants Sour on Rules Over Kimchi
Crafting special exceptions to a general set of laws is a bad idea; the arguments over which foods are sufficiently old or traditional are unwinnable. The better approach is recognize that there are multiple approaches to the goals which food safety laws are trying to meet. The rationale behind keeping food out of the danger zone of 40-140°F for long periods is to inhibit the growth of pathogenic bacteria. But refrigeration is not the only method to meet that goal. As the author of the linked article points out kimchi is a very acidic food (pH ≤ 4.6); its acidity protects it from bacterial growth. The law in New York needs to be expanded to recognize other methods of preservation besides refrigeration but which can be measured just as easily and objectively as a temperature, thus avoiding nebulous determinations of whether a food preparation method is old enough or traditional enough to deserve an exception.
Fork In The Road Location in Lansing?
Eric Villegas was originally at Dusty's Cellar/Wine Bar. I believe he had a part ownership interest. He left there long ago to open his own place, Villegas, just up the road. As Jack noted that place closed down a few years ago. To the best of my knowledge Eric is no longer in the Lansing area.
Questions about storing Parmesan and using a piece turned to stone
I just recently took an evening course, "All About Cheese", taught by a faculty member at the "Large Midwestern University" here, which happens to be a major agricultural school. The professor is more or less in charge of the school's dairy facility, used for teachingc which includes a lot of cheese making. This was his recommendation for longer term cheese storage at home. Wrap the cheese tightly in plastic cling wrap, then wrap that tightly in aluminum foil. The primary enemy to cheese is air (or more specifically oxygen). Most consumer plastic bags or wrap are oxygen permeable so will not provide an adequate barrier. This is why he says to wrap with aluminum foil, it is non-permeable, however the aluminum may react with compounds (acids) in the cheese. This is why you first wrap it with plastic wrap, to create a separation between the aluminum foil and the cheese.
An alternative, if you have one available, is a vacuum sealer (e.g. FoodSaver). The plastics used for the vacuum bags are non-permeable.
The best cooking oil - is it canola, olive, peanut, corn, soybean, safflower, other vegetable or nut /seed oil, even lard or butter?
Canola was genetically modified in the same sense that most agricultural crops were modified, by traditional methods of cross-breeding and selection. There is absolutely nothing "synthetic" about canola oil. The "manipulations" done to the ancestral rapeseed to reduce the amount of undesirable erucic acid are no different that the "manipulations" done to turn an ancestral cabbage plant (another member of the fearful mustard genus) into broccoli, brussels sprouts, cauliflower, bok choy and dozens of other cultivars.
Yes, there are some modern GMO varieties of canola, e.g. roundup ready, but they have nothing to do with what makes the plant produce low levels of erucic acid.
Sandwich slicing - whole vs. rectangle vs. triangle
Does anyone remember Friendly's Ice Cream restaurants? I worked there way, way, ......way back. At that time the hamburger patties were square and served on toasted (square) sandwich bread. The standard cut was neither vertical, producing rectangles, nor diagonal into triangles. It was sort of halfway in between producing two trapezoids (trapeziums for our Brit friends) as in the illustration below. Don't know who came up with that.
The Ever Elusive Lucky Peach iPad App...
There is only one place in the world to download ANY iPad app and that is from Apple's AppStore. If a search there doesn't locate it then it isn't available (yet).
Bourdain vs. Deen
No he did not complete the full program. He passed through a number of classes as research for his book "Making of a Chef", but his stint there didn't even come close to a full program.
