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We have several pieces of Mauviel Cuprinox. Fortunately, we have a friend who has cleaned her Mauviel copper cookware for years with Barkeepers Friend and they have a lovely patina. To my mind, they look as nice as the original polished finish. We started using BF on ours right from the start...

I've never had much luck with whole boneless pork chops. They're so lean that they always turn out too dry. When they're on sale I buy a couple of packages and freeze the chops individually. Then one at a time I thaw them, slice them very thin and use them in stir fries. Meat for two for less...

It's all a matter of what you're accustomed to working with. I've used almost nothing but Chinese chef's knives for the last 40 years or so. In comparison, French chef's knives feel awkward and santoku knives feel flimsy to me. But the last time a friend who loves her French chef's knives and...

9" Wagner, 10" Wagner & 11-1/4" Griswold cast iron. 8" & 12" old style Farberware. 10" no-name non-stick. Plus my favorite 9-1/2" carbon steel pan that I use for eggs. That's seven.

A timely reminder. Thank you! I stopped using circular saws a couple of years ago because my inattention was making them a danger. I should probably reconsider buying a snow blower and pay someone to clear our walks.

"You are (or are not) the X of me" is gramatically fine. It is just not standard idiomatic English. The standard form is "You are (or are not) my X." We don't say "You are the teacher of me," we say "You are my teacher." We don't say "You are not the mother of me," we say "You are not my mother."

I have the 1978 English language edition. It's my favorite Italian cookbook.

The first cookbook I used was DM's Settlement Cook Book that she received as a wedding gift in 1942. The first cookbook I owned was McCall's Cook Book that DW and I received as a wedding gift in 1965.

We subscribe to Fine Cooking, Cook's Illustrated and John Thorne's Simple Cooking newsletter. We have complete runs of the first two filed upstairs in the book room. Sadly, I can't remember the last time either of us looked at any of the back issues.

I usually have miso in the fridge for stir fries so it's the easiest quick soup for me to make. Some boiling water, a quick stir, a bit of chopped scallion and I have soup. DW also likes chicken soup made from soup base, but it's not as quick because she adds veggies and pasta that have to cook...

Isn't "reality television" an oxymoron?

Now that the cookie season is over we'll get back to making bread - and pizza on Saturday night. We do a lot of braised dishes in the heating months. Sausage and cabbage last night. We have a nice chuck roast for Sunday. Leftover chili over spaghetti tonight. Leftovers are also a large part of...

You don't really mean that do you? Life without enjoyment (fun) would be pretty pointless. And many of the things that bring us enjoyment are not quantifiable, or if they are they may well be on the wrong side of the bean counter's ledger. I like old technology. My bicycles have freewheels and...

I was not questioning CR's motives or the accuracy of their results. (Those are topics for another discussion.) I was observing that their apparently objective conclusions are influenced by the unstated subjective choices they make before they start testing. Better in what respect? As you say...

CR likes to project an image of objectivity but it's largely a sham. It's true that they objectively report the results of the tests they perform, but the choice of what type of products to test, which products of that type to include in the test, what kind of tests to perform and how to perform...

Flat finish white paint is the best choice for hiding irregularities. The other trick is to avoid light sources that illuminate the wall at a shallow angle.

Do you mean that you measure 3/4 cup, then weigh it, then put half of it, by weight, back in the original container? I use the 1/2 cup measure, don't fill it quite to the top, and get on with cooking. I do it all the time and almost always use quick approximations like the above. Even baking...

I wondered how long it would take for the metric enthusiasts to jump on this one :-) CharlieD -- I agree that it's best not to think about conversions, but to get comfortable with different units. After years of working on old British motorcycles I have no trouble thinking 3/8" when I picked...

The longer I cook, and the more good cooks I work with, the fewer knives I use for cooking at home. I'm down to just three these days: a Dexter SS Chinese chef's knife, a Russell 3.5" narrow blade carbon steel paring knife and a 4" Russell SS utility knife. I use the paring knife mostly for...

If you're getting soot on the bottom of your copper pans, or any other pans for that matter, your gas flame is badly misadjusted. Copper will oxidize to a mottled brown on a gas flame. Some people don't like this and they are probably not good candidates for copper cookware (unless they can...

Leftover chili topped with leftover mashed potatoes and a sprinkle of grated cheddar. (We make extra chili and mashed potatoes just for this dish.)

You might go to a bookstore and take a look at Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everthing. We also have Joy of Cooking, Good Housekeeping, McCalls (our first cookbook), Fanny Farmer, the Settlement Cookbook and about 100 other hard cover cookbooks, but Bittman's is the one we reach for first these days.

"Because the copper disc wasn't fully encapsulaed it's been reported that the copper will melt at high heat ruining the pan and also possibly your cook top." The melting point of copper is 1083.0 °C (1356.15 K, 1981.4 °F). It's not going to melt on a residential (or commercial) range.

Not everybody has to like the same thing. I grew up in rural Oklahoma eating crayfish, catfish, sunfish, bluegills, crappies and occasionally bass because they were what my friends and I caught in the local waters. I didn't particularly like any salt water fish because it tasted "funny" to me...

I think it depends on the recipe. For a simple red sauce like I make (olive oil, garlic, tomatoes, basil, red pepper flakes, salt and black pepper) I find that San Marzano tomatoes taste significantly better than the anything else I've tried (including Muir Glen). For the five-pepper chili* I...