It's probably a good thing that I haven't kept them sharp. I work on my knife technique quite a bit, but I would have had some gnarly gashes if i was dealing with a full capacity blade over the last few years.
You've actually been tempting fate; there is nothing more dangerous in a kitchen than dull knives. They require you to use far more muscle and force to make any cuts, which increases the likelihood of the knife slipping off the ingredient and into your hand or wrist. Can't abide a dull knife.
My step-mother-in-law was a terrible offender in this regard, to the point that I actively sought excuses to not cook for the in-laws in Vegas. She finally ponied up to get all her knives sharpened..... whereupon she promptly cut her fingers returning them to her Kapoosh.
I'm far too uncoordinated to cut things with a knife. I dont even know how to hold something like a potato or pepper to slice it up thin. I end up cutting myself without fail.
Its frustrating too because I have so little counter space. Only about 3 or 4 feet across and then my kitchen table.
I'm far too uncoordinated to cut things with a knife. I dont even know how to hold something like a potato or pepper to slice it up thin. I end up cutting myself without fail.
practice, practice, practice. the more you do it the more you get used to it.
Proposition 2, as it's called, required eggs in California to come from chickens that have enough room to fully extend their limbs and turn around freely. It was a direct challenge to the egg industry, because most egg-laying chickens can't do that in standard henhouses, where they live in small cages, five or 10 birds to a cage.
This is a good thing. I'm not really going to see much of a change in my food budget, because I've been buying pastured eggs for ten years or more now. But I'm pretty much for anything that improves the quality of life for the animals in our food supply.
There's certainly an element of that when buying a $4,000 bottle of wine. But generally speaking, most people who drink that kind of wine know their stuff. It should also be noted that wines in this price category are almost always sold at little to no markup in restaurants. Some newer restaurants that are trying to establish their wine program might even stock something like DRC and sell it for less than they paid for it hoping to attract customers.
That said, I can commend to you a fabulous show from the 1990s that John Cleese presented for Food Network called "Wine For The Confused". It was an excellent little one-hour show that illustrated just how fun wine can be, and how not to get sucked into the pretension of wine snobbery. There's a great scene where they do a double blind tasting of wines ranging from Two-Buck Chuck all the way up to wines costing several hundred dollars per bottle. Most guests not only were unable to really distinguish the cheap stuff from the good stuff, several were also incapable of differentiating red from white. (!)
I think the other states that are suing have a good case for a violation of the "reverse" or "dormant" Commerce Clause. Basically, states are forbidden from passing legislation that improperly burdens or discriminates against interstate commerce. A state can't force businesses in other states to comply with its own regulations, or discriminate against out-of-state businesses in order to favor in-state business. This bars the vast majority of out-of-state egg producers from selling in California. It would certainly be an interesting case to work on.
It was dismissed by the district court, but I believe that has been appealed to the Ninth Circuit. It also looks like the dismissal was based on standing, which is not a decision on the merits.
The dollar amount isn't as shocking as the fact that it was only 76 bottles. That's an average retail value of about $4,000 per bottle.
My guess is that these bottles are being prepped to be shipped to China for consumption. Cult wines are not for collecting, they have a purpose, which is to be drank.
There was a discussion regarding 375 ml wine bottles a few pages ago, and to add the main reason that more bottles of the smaller size are not offered is due to distribution and product handling and presentation at the public level. Very high end wines are available in smaller sizes, but to showcase them costs money to modify display cabinets, and there are added costs at the bottling location to accommodate smaller (larger) bottles on the line.
It was dismissed by the district court, but I believe that has been appealed to the Ninth Circuit. It also looks like the dismissal was based on standing, which is not a decision on the merits.
The standing issue was that subset of egg producers are not representative of the population of the states which brought the suit. It was also dismissed with prejudice. I don't think this particular suit will continue, the egg producers in the six states will have to demonstrate a real unfair and discriminatory burden that offsets California's interest in having eggs from happy chickens.
The way I see it is sort of like the 'California emissions' rules for car exhausts.
Eater.com has published a list of their favorite negative restaurant reviews from 2014. Jay Raymer is a food critic from England. He is one of my favorite writers on all things dining. His review of London restaurant Beast was outstanding.
If Beast were a chap, he would be a part-time rugby player smelling of Ralgex who’s trying to tell you he’s deep and thoughtful, even though he’ll later be implicated in an incident involving a traffic cone and a pint glass of his own urine.
It was no real surprise that Katsuji (sp?) went out and, as he said, he probably shouldn't have made it that far. My guess is that Gregory - who could win - was next on the chopping block.
I thought the Thoreau dish by Mei was extra awesome and glad that she won. Also, that must have been one hell of a carrot soup; it seems like it was a risk to present something that minimal in an elimination round.
Spoiler:
Finally got around to watching this... Gregory hasn't been himself as of late. Not a good time to start slipping. I now have a healthy dislike for Gronkowski... found him pretty obnoxious throughout the Quickfire. Doug is definitely coming on as of late.
I HATE HATE HATE their editing/comments sometimes though... they give away the outcome of challenges by presenting some super confident comment from someone about how they can win this thing (they won't. See: Melissa). Or this week.. Doug talking about how all these people made small sausages or patties and how he'd be upset if he lost to those. Then shock... George wins with a patty. Didn't see that one coming!
Made cheese steak hoagie pizza tonight since I had half a steak left over and some green peppers and onions from last night's steak fajitas. It was fantastic. Tasted just like a cheese steak hoagie, but in pizza form.
For Christmas this year I got Sean Brock's cookbook 'Heritage'. He represents everything that I think is good and great about modernist cooking; a solid (if at times maniacal) grounding in tradition, but not afraid to go to the end of the plank with new techniques. I feel that his restaurant - Husk - is almost reason enough to plan a trip to Charleston.
This weekend I'm cooking two of his recipes. Last night was Chicken Simply Roasted In A Skillet
And tonight I'll be making his fried chicken...... which uses five different fats. (Canola oil, lard, smoked ham, bacon, butter)
I'm stating the exceedingly obvious, but leftover baked potatoes make excellent fodder for Saturday/Sunday morning onion/potato/peppers/garlic scramble.
I should probably just start baking one a week, exclusively for this purpose.
Made chicken triple corn chowder for this week. Roux, mirepoix, chicken thighs, homemade chicken broth, milk, and a mix of sweet corn, hominy, and Cope's dried corn. I added a little cornstarch as well for thickening. It came out very nice.
Brock's five fat fried chicken requires equal amounts of canola oil and rendered chicken fat, to go with lard, bacon and butter (which isn't added until the very end of the frying). After combining the first four fats, I noticed a bit of an off aroma. Smoked ham is also used to infuse flavor to the fat, and I ate the ham pieces after creating the infusion..... so far, no stomach gurgles. But I hope the chicken fat isn't funky.
Interestingly, he fries the chicken at a constant 300°, which is quite a bit lower than I'm used to.
For Christmas this year I got Sean Brock's cookbook 'Heritage'. He represents everything that I think is good and great about modernist cooking; a solid (if at times maniacal) grounding in tradition, but not afraid to go to the end of the plank with new techniques. I feel that his restaurant - Husk - is almost reason enough to plan a trip to Charleston.
This weekend I'm cooking two of his recipes. Last night was Chicken Simply Roasted In A Skillet
And tonight I'll be making his fried chicken...... which uses five different fats. (Canola oil, lard, smoked ham, bacon, butter)
thanks for the tip. we are going to be in charleston for a night in may. making reservations today hopefully
we are vacationing in Charleston this year, thanks for the Husk recommendation, I just googled some of their food, wow! Just the cheeseburger looks amazing
