hobbess's Profile
Woks- Is tri-ply stainless bad because its expensive or because it sucks?
I know that carbon steel and cast iron are much more popular materials for woks than something like stainless steel because the first two will be much cheaper than a tri-ply wok.
But, these tri-ply woks are on sale at Sur La Table so there's not as big of a price difference anymore. (I have a Sur La Table giftcard that I'm trying to use up):
http://www.surlatable.com/product/PRO-636266/Sur-La-Table-Tri-Ply-Stainless-Steel-Stir-Fry-Pan
If the carbon steel wok and tri-ply wok both cost the same amount of money, would the carbon steel wok still be the preferred choice?
Earthern- What else to order beyond scallion pancakes and house chicken?
Is it too late to edit my post? I just realized I misspelled the name of the restaurant.
Earthern- What else to order beyond scallion pancakes and house chicken?
In Hacienda Height's Earthern restaurant, what else should one order other than their scallion pancakes and cold house chicken?
On Yelp, the scallion pancakes, house chicken, and the beef noodle soup were the three most recommended dishes. The scallion pancakes and house chicken were as good as advertised, with the scallion pancakes probably one of the best scallion pancakes I've tried.
But, the beef noodle soup really fell flat despite the Yelp recommendations- the broth lacked flavor and depth and the temperature was only luke-warm. Is Earthern another one of those restaurants where the appetizers far surpasses the main courses, or are there any other dishes that are still pretty good, just not as good, as the pancakes and chicken?
Basting Spoon
Yes, but its just as nonsensical the way we fetishize knives where we spend hundreds of dollars just for a fancy chef knife with a damacus pattern, a different knife to cut bread, another knife to cut fish, a knife to cut cheese, a knife for carving, another knife for slicing, a smaller paring knife, a flexible boning knife and a rigid boning knife, and the list goes on. People buy all those different types of knives even though a lot of chefs will argue you should be able to do most of those tasks with just a chef's knife and a lot of cooks in a restaurant are more than happy with their $30 Forschner chef knives.
Why do we fetishize knives, but not spoons? Or, more accurately, why do home cooks fetishize knives but not spoons when cooks and chefs in a restaurant value their spoons a lot. When they are interviewed about their favorite tools or most essential tools, the spoon, specifically the Gray Kunz spoon, comes up a lot.
If a $2-$5 regular spoon is more than sufficient and that no restaurant would spend much more than that for a spoon of any sort, what about the popularity of the Gray Kunz spoons which cost around $10 and another $10 to ship?
Basting Spoon
Does anybody have a favorite basting spoon they can recommend?
I've become interested in the pan-basting technique that I see a lot of chefs do these days, where they cook a steak or seafood on the stovetop as they keep on spooning the top of the food with juices or melted butter.
When I checked Cook's Illustrated, their favorite basting spoon was one from Rosle. But, I'm not sure what's so special about Rosle's basting spoon or why you even need a basting spoon in the first place- can't you use a regular spoon you already own to do the same thing?
And, how versatile is a basting spoon? Is it just good at basting, or can it also do other tasks well too? Does the shape and size of the basting spoon mean it will be good for saucing too, or is something like the Gray Kunz spoon a better option for saucing?
Ridgeback Shrimp at The Shack - Rowland Heights - With PHOTOS
If they need to be kept alive until cooked, then how do people do that?
If you buy at the fish market or store, it'll be dead by the time you bring it home.
And, the restaurant will face those same problems too.
Green Almonds
What do you do with green almonds?
I picked up a bunch from a local store, and I just tried Judy Roger's green almond, prosciutto, and white rose nectarines recipe which was pictured on the cover of her cookbook. But, I was disappointed with that recipe since green almonds are in season for only a short time right now while white rose nectarines won't be in season until later in the summer.
And, do you just eat the middle or do you eat the whole green almond, including the fuzzy shell?
Date shake around Palm Springs
I'm going to Palm Springs soon, which means that I have to try a date shack since that seems like a local specialty for Palm Springs with all the nearby date farms.
Any suggestions on where to get a date shake around Palm Springs? Or, do you have to drive to Indio, where the date farms are located, to get the best date shakes?
I'm driving from the LA area to Palm Springs, so Indio wouldn't be on the way. But, I guess I could drive out there as well assuming there's something else to do in Indio.
Reliable electric range
What's a solid, reliable electric range which won't break down as soon as the warranty expires or need constant service calls?
I have a rental and I'm trying to update the kitchen, including getting a stainless steel electrical range to replace the current electrical range. ( I wanted a gas range, but it was too expensive to set that up when the kitchen is hooked up for an electric range.)
The three most important factors I'm looking for in a electric range is reliability, style, and the price.
Ideally, I wouldn't want to pay too much for a new range because I know I wouldn't recapture that in higher rent. So, something like induction is not an option because its too expensive and it might scare off applicants when they found out that some of their pots or pans might not work on it. But, I'm also willing to pay more if it will get a better, more solid range. The problem is that it seems that higher price doesn't necessarily buy you a better, more solid range.
Style is also important, and why I'm getting a new electric range even though the current one still works even though its over 20+ years old. (The current range is white so it doesn't match the other stainless steel appliances in the kitchen and its got those electrical coils which you only see on budget ranges.) This is for a nicer rental which I might get granite counter tops next year, so I'm also looking for a expensive looking range. Otherwise, I'd be tempted to just stick with a range with the electrical coils since they seem like they're going to more durable than a electrical range with a smooth top.
But, most importantly, I just want a solid electrical range which won't break down all the time if such a appliance exists these days in our disposable culture. It costs so much to fix it when it breaks down that I think a lot of people choose to buy another disposable appliance rather than fix it.
Prepare to be angry: NBCLA: False Claims, Lies Caught on Tape at Farmers Markets
But, its not like most consumers can go out and personally inspect the farms themselves to see if the farmer is not buying it from a wholesaler. Some of the farmers are located very far from where they sell their produce. And, its not like the consumer can eyeball the produce to know if its been sprayed with pesticides or not.
The answer for the fraud would have been to signifgantly increase fees California farmers pay to pay for enforcement; they currently pay 60 cents. The problem is that there's currently little inspection because there's no money for it. The increase would have raised 1.5 million dollars annually to be used for inspection- it would have hired 3 state inspectors as well as give money for county to inspect potential fraud.
And, once you begin enforcing more regularly, the state would also need to increase fines if it caught farmers engaging in fraud. Even if a farmer is caught and its deemed serious, the fine is only a couple of hundred dollars.
Ben and Jerry's Taste the Lin-Sanity
Why is it ludicrous to point out that Asian-Americans as the 'ones who will always take the racism' when the examples you're citing are of homophobia, not racism?
Coffee filters
I know where to get Hario V60 coffee filters, but does anybody in OC sell the coffee filters for Bonmac #2 ceramic coffee dripper or for the Kalita Wave dripper? I'm trying to decide whether to get the Bonmac or the Kalita, and the deciding factor might go to which one will be easiest to find the filters for.
Local, unique food gifts
I've seen the commercials for Wonderful pistachios, but I think the commercials emphasize the stunt casting too much. They never ever talk about the quality, why its better than other commodity pistachios. And, I never even knew they were grown in California although, in retrospect, I should have known that since almost all the American pistachios are grown in California.
Wonderful vs. Santa Barbara, which one is the better pistachio?
Local, unique food gifts
I'm traveling to Taiwan and Beijing for a few weeks, and I'm looking for some local, unique foods from LA to bring with me as gifts. Vitamins, I've been informed, are a popular choice for a gift to bring over there but that strikes me as a bit impersonal and a bit like giving somebody socks for Christmas. Although, I suppose vitamins could be somewhat appropiate given the image of Californians as health conscious.
At first, I was thinking of bringing some candy, something like See's chocolates or sea salt caramels from Little Flower Candy Company but I'm concerned that they might be too sweet for the recepient. I've noticed that Chinese desserts from their pastry shops or at the end of a Chinese meal are never chocolately and almost never sweet.
Then, I was thinking of bringing along coffee beans from Intelligentsia because they'd be easy to transport, they're something local that you wouldn't find over in Taiwan, and because coffe beans in Taiwan end up costing a lot more over there. But, I don't think they'll make a good choice because I've been told that assuming the recepient drinks coffee instead of tea, they don't drink coffee at home but at cafes.
Ideally, I'm looking for something that looks nice enough to be presentable, travels easily and won't spoil right away, and is cheaper to buy here in LA than it is over there in Taiwan. And that its local, either locally made or made from local ingredients or something that's sold only here.
I was also originally thinking about iconic LA foods, a food that you think of when you think of LA or even California. But, I can't think of anything that would work. There's restrictions about bringing in fruit or vegetables into a foreign country. And, a hamburger won't travel well.
Recommendations for Orange County Restaurant Week 2011 ?
For Charlie Palmer's, how much of a difference is there in portion sizes between their lunches and dinners?
For restaurant week, lunch is $20 for 3 courses and dinner is $30 for 3 courses. And, for the 3rd course, dessert, lunch and dinner courses are offering the same desserts. So, would the desserts for dinner be larger or the same size as their lunch desserts?
Recommendations for Orange County Restaurant Week 2011 ?
If you're going for lunch, it seems Marche Moderne is a more popular choice than Charlie Palmer. They're both charging $20 for weekday lunch for prix fixe 3 course lunch, although Marche Moderne will charge more for weekends.
But, Marche Moderne's prix fixe menu lunch changes every day and they don't post their menu on-line.
Jonathan Gold to L.A. Times - again!
Village Voice Media isn't some small, meek business. When it entered San Francisco, it boasted about its 'deep pockets'- money which was coming from its chain of out-of-state media properties.
And, critics have accused VIllage Voice Media of using that money to engage in predatory pricing, where VVM was selling ads below cost in order to force Bay Guardian, another alternative newspaper in SF, out of business. If Bay Guardian had to lower its rates to match SF Weekly ad rates, it wouldn't have the same deep pockets or other newspapers to subsidize those losses. And, ultimately, with those unstainable losses, Bay Guardian would go out of business and leave SF Weekly the only alternative paper left in SF.
http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Content?oid=3626956&mode=print
Recommendations for Orange County Restaurant Week 2011 ?
Another thing to look out for in restaurant week is when the restaurant charges you the same prices as they if you dined with them during non-restaurant week.
For example, Charlie Palmer's restaurant week lunch price is essentially the same as their prix fixe non-restaurant lunch special for the same number of dishes. But, if you go during restaurant week, you're going have to deal with lines and crowds.
Mixing bowl set
They're still selling the Sori Yanagi mixing bowls on the Tortoise website, but its for sale in the tabletop category instead of kitchen category. (On that same tabletop page, they're also selling G-Soy Sauce Pot which supposedly doesn't drip).
If you get a chance, you should visit their retail store in Venice, California. I remember they were also selling these vintage, handmade artisinal mugs and bowls that I don't see for sale on their website. Or, at least, I'm assuming they were handmade for the prices Tortoise were charging for them.
Mixing bowl set
I found another Sori Yanagai mixing bowl set that I actually like this time around.
www.canoeonline.net/shop/inspect/yanagai-bowl-and-strainer-set/2593
This time around, its a mixing bowl paired with a fitted strainer so that strainer can hang perfectly on the rolled lip of the mixing bowl, thereby leaving enough space between the bowl and strainer to give room for any liquid to drain from the strainer into only the mixing bowl.
Does anybody else make a stainless steel mixing bowl paired with a strainer like this? It seems like such an ingenious design that so obvious after you see it.
How do people become food critics?
When I was referring to 'attacks', I was not talking about posters who were pointing out issues that needed work. Instead, I wrote that it was the food editor who 'attacked' a reader after the reader pointed out the grammar mistakes by the restaurant reviewer and how to avoid those grammar mistakes in the future in the comments section. After the reader wrote his comment, the food editor then commented on that reader's comment by writing, "talk about somebody with no life..." in reference to that reader.
And, I do agree about the importance of feedback. I disagree with another poster who advised the OP to not do a food blog, but to focus on only writing one review and sending it out to papers to see if anybody will publish it. My issue with that advice isn't so much that the rejection that the OP will face with that method, but that there will be no meaningful feedback when the paper sends the OP a standard form rejection letter. That's why I suggested to the OP that he practice writing reviews on yelp and on a food blog because its good practice and so he could get feeback on his writing.
How do people become food critics?
I will admit that I do not like the local food critic, but I didn't post his blog post as another way to complain about him. I also said in an earlier post that those grammatical mistakes usually didn't bother me.
My point in posting that blog post was to point out to any would-be food critics who had trouble with grammar to not get discouraged. My local critic gets paid to eat out, a job he never would have gotten if he had listened to all the naysayers here. I thought that all those posts focusing on the OP's grammar was only going to discourage the OP to drop it before he even got started. My message was that if that my local restaurant critic can become a critic and get paid for his reviews, then anybody on chowhound can become a critc and get paid for their work too.
If anybody deserved criticism, I thought it was the food editor who came across as a real jerk for attacking a reader like that. I shouldn't have been suprised by the editor's lackadasical response to those grammar errors by the restaurant critic because the editor is always randomly dropping in random Spanish words and phrases into his columns. But, what kind of professional sneers at a reader, "Talk about somebody with no life..."?
How do people become food critics?
But, then, isn't writing something on chowhound not the same as writing a blog post that will appear on the paper's website?
I'd expect there to be fewer grammatical errors with the latter, yet people were lecturing the OP that he couldn't get a job as a food critic if he didn't first attend a writing class to improve his grammar and spelling.
If everybody, including the food editor, held that restaurant critic to those same standards, then the critic never should have been hired in the first place.
Mixing bowl set
But, when she makes the Porsche analogy, she also invokes the way it looks and I just don't see how Mrs. Sanpietro would see them as any more beautiful than another set of stainless steel mixing bowls. Maybe, I'm missing some detail, but they look like any other set of mixing bowl.
It turns out that Sori Yangai was a famous Japanese designer so maybe its just me and I just don't get it. If so, if somebody has an eye for design, please point or explain what's so special or distinctive about these mixing bowls. He's probably more famous for the the design of his tea kettle, and I personally think think his tea kettles look kinda ugly and squat. But, at least, they don't look exactly the same as every other tea kettle on the market and so I could understand that some people think they look better than other tea kettles.
Its like I would never buy the Alessi Salif Citrus Squeezer because it costs around $100 and more impotantly, its badly designed. But, at the same time, I can also see why some people might like the iconic sculptural quality of it. But, with these Sori mixing bowls, I just don't see it all.
Mixing bowl set
Does anybody own a Sori Yanagi mixing bowl set?
Jill Sanpietro, chowhound's senior food editor, really loves the Sori Yanagi mixing bowls and recommended them in the New York Times in the article, Kitchen Gifts: What To Give a (Good) Cook.
http://tmagazine.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/07/18/kitchen-gifts-what-to-give-a-good-cook/
But, for about $118 for 5 nesting bowls, I still don't see what's so special about them as to why they're so expensive. She praises these mixing bowls for having a "finely curled lip" but don't most mixing bowls have that same feature too?
If this mixing bowl set is popular because of how it looks, then I don't see that either; it looks like any other mixing bowl set. Does it look better up close and in person or something?
If I got this set as a wedding gift, I don't think it would have been my favorite gift.
How do people become food critics?
To those who insisted that the OP and girloftheworld first enroll in some writing classes to improve their grammar before they could become food critics, how do you explain the response by my local X weekly paper when its restaurant reviewer wrote the following as a blog post on its website:
"Jamie Oliver scored a victory last week. McDonald's has announced that they will stop using ammonium hydroxide in their beef, a substance that the crusading chef once labeled as "pink slime".
The chemical is added to beef scraps to kill off bacteria such as E. Coli and is approved by the USDA. But in the Food Revolution demo shown in the linked video below, the chef says, "We're taking a product that would be sold in its cheaper form for dogs and after this process, we can give it to humans."
The company, though, isn't going to give Oliver the satisfaction of knowing that it was him who convinced them to change. They said that the decision "was not related to any particular event" and was just part of the "effort to align our global beef raw material standards."
The widely seen documentary Food Inc. also raised the issue about the process and so did the New York Times."
For four short paragraphs, the food critic made quite a few grammatical errors. And, in his official restaurant reviews that get published weekly in the X Weekly, other grammatical mistakes will slip by. Yet, he's still a food critic that gets paid for those published reviews.
When one reader pointed out those grammar mistakes as well as how to avoid those mistakes in the future, the food editor of the X Weekly attacked that reader by writing, "Talk about someone with no life..."
SPOILER ALERT: ICA: (Zakarian vs. Sawyer)
But, you get more points for taste, not presentation.
When I was watching it, I knew Zakarian was going to win it easily because of how the judges raved about the taste of the food comapred to Sawyer. To me, it seemed that the judges were complimentary for the most part about the taste of Sawyer's dishes. But, then they tasted Zakarian, its like their eyes lit up as to say we thought Sawyer's dishes were good until we tasted this- now these dishes from Zakarian are really good.
SGV 101 Noodle Express vs OC 101 Noodle Express
Is the OC 101 Noodle Express as good as the SGV 101 Noodle Express? Specifically, I want to know if there's any difference between beef rolls, pumpkin shimp dumplings, cold noodles, shandong chicken, and dezhou chicken.
I noticed that the OC one only scored three stars on yelp while the SGV one scored 4 stars and I was curious if the difference in scores was a reflection of a difference in quality.
No more Dublin (cane sugar) Dr. Pepper!
I'm not sure, but I thought the whole reason soda companies switched from using sugar to corn fructose syrup in the 70s was because sugar was more expensive. If sugar is going to more expensive, then I'd expect the price to reflect that.
At the same time, I always thought that Dublin Dr. Pepper was able to charge a premium because of the cachet of the Dublin name. Mexican Coke without corn syrup doesn't cost as much as Dublin Dr. Pepper.
So, I'm just speculating here, but I wouldn't be surprised if Dr. Pepper with cane sugar costs more than regular Dr. Pepper but also costs less than Dublin Dr. Pepper.
No more Dublin (cane sugar) Dr. Pepper!
Its not a dodge because they'll be using the Temple plant which already produces most of the Dublin Dr. Pepper cane sugar soda on the market.
You'll be getting the exact same drink except with no Dublin on the label.
