To fuck or to cook?

[Penske_Account]

Originally Posted by Tyrone Slothrop

I bought a bottle of Folie a Deux Menage a Trois, and then forgot to open it. Our guests brought a bordeaux that did OK, notwithstanding my general view of French wine. I used half a bottle of a Tuscan red whose name escaped me in making the dish, and we finished that, too. And then I opened a Spanish red for which I had high hopes but which turned out to be forgettable.

Sorry to hear that. I opened a 2001 Cote Rotie that I had high hopes for and was a major let down, although I followed it with a 2005 Glaetzer Godolphin, what my mates down unda' call a real "leg spreader". Delicious.

Remind, why the hate on on our french friends' wine?

[Penske_Account]

[eom].....

[Tyrone Slothrop]

Originally Posted by Penske_Account

Remind, why the hate on on our french friends' wine?

No hate. Just usually not a style of wine I like as much as those from California, Spain or Italy. Obviously, there are exceptions.

[Did you just call me Coltrane?]

Oops. Wrong board.

[Atticus Grinch]

Originally Posted by Did you just call me Coltrane?

Oops. Wrong board.

Not necessarily. I've always held that this thread has too often hewn to the latter answer and not often enough to the former. Thank you, Coltrane, for the much needed counterpoint.

[Penske_Account]

Originally Posted by Tyrone Slothrop

No hate. Just usually not a style of wine I like as much as those from California, Spain or Italy. Obviously, there are exceptions.

I think you should experiment more. I was once like you, but now I am a devout francovinophile.

[Atticus Grinch]

Originally Posted by Penske_Account

I am a devout francovinophile.

Close but not quite. You need to stop reading the DSM-IV in dim light.

[Atticus Grinch]

Does anyone have any direct experience with using a pot à beurre (or whatever the thing with the room-temp butter and the water is called)? Does it work? Is it really worth it?

Same question for a salt pig. Any value added? How is it any better than pouring salt out of the Morton's container etc.?

Both of these seem like the neti pot of the culinary world, which is not intended as a compliment.

[Sparklehorse]

Originally Posted by Atticus Grinch

Does anyone have any direct experience with using a pot à beurre (or whatever the thing with the room-temp butter and the water is called)? Does it work? Is it really worth it?

Same question for a salt pig. Any value added? How is it any better than pouring salt out of the Morton's container etc.?

Both of these seem like the neti pot of the culinary world, which is not intended as a compliment.

Re the salt pig, here is a whole discussion of them from Chowhound:

http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/358131

OK, looking around there seem to be a few reasons people use salt pigs.

1. Ceramic interior keeps salt from clumping in steamy kitchens or humid climates
2. The large opening is an easy way to access salt while cooking ... either use a spoon or reach in and grab a pinch.
3. Keeps dust or other stuff from falling onto the salt. The side opening keeps debris from settling on an open bowl.
4. People think they are cute.

I have a few different salts (kosher, coarse and fine sea salts) in open containers on the little shelf at the back of the stove top. I use a some small cup or saucer things -- a nephew's first projects in pottery class. I can see an advantage to a covering since sometimes food bits might end up in open bowls. It's just generally handier to grab a pinch or two from, or stick a measuring spoon into, a small bowl than the container bought at the store.

Never used the butter container with water but they seem grandma-era old-school to me. I think they're ideally used for serving butter at the table in hot temperatures so they keep the butter spreadable but not melting.

[Atticus Grinch]

Originally Posted by Sparklehorse

Never used the butter container with water but they seem grandma-era old-school to me. I think they're ideally used for serving butter at the table in hot temperatures so they keep the butter spreadable but not melting.

Thanks for the info. My Irish grandmother always kept a cube of butter on a regular ol' saucer in the cupboard. It spread like a dream. Even when she lived alone, she went through it too quickly for it ever to go rancid. Surprisingly, she died of a coronary.

[Fugee]

Originally Posted by Atticus Grinch

Does anyone have any direct experience with using a pot à beurre (or whatever the thing with the room-temp butter and the water is called)? Does it work? Is it really worth it?

Same question for a salt pig. Any value added? How is it any better than pouring salt out of the Morton's container etc.?

Both of these seem like the neti pot of the culinary world, which is not intended as a compliment.

I have one of those butter things but don't use it regularly enough to say whether it is really worth it. If you like your butter at spreadable consistency and don't go through it quickly, it makes sense.

And don't be knocking the neti pot. Those do work quite well.

[taxwonk]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZ_-JzM-YQg(spree disclosure: Sardinian cheese)

[Gattigap]

Christian Salt. Like Kosher Salt, but with 50 percent more Jesus.

[Fugee]

Originally Posted by Gattigap

Christian Salt. Like Kosher Salt, but with 50 percent more Jesus.

Good grief. Why does this doofus think anyone is going to pay for salt blessed by a priest except maybe as a gag gift? People do have odd ideas about kosher food. One of my friends (not particularly religious) works in a grocery chain that has large kosher food departments in certain of its stores. She thought the only difference in kosher food was that it was blessed by a rabbi. I tried to explain about dietary laws and but I don't think she believed me.

If I'm going to pay for expensive salt, it's gonna be fleur de sel or other fancy sea salt.

[Mmmm, Burger (C.J.)]

Originally Posted by Fugee

. Why does this doofus think anyone is going to pay for salt blessed by a priest except maybe as a gag gift?

Because religious wingnuts like to bake?