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OliverRanch's Profile

Website: http://www.oliverranch.com

Location: San Francisco Bay Area and Toronto, Ontario

About:

Favorite foods: Steak, artichokes, wine, dungeness crab, dark chocolate

Last bite on earth:

The Ten Most Recent Posts By OliverRanch

From Talk

What Would You Do With 8 Unripe Local Tomatoes?

For some ungodly reason, they pick 'em well before they're ripe around here and don't even do us the favor of gassing them so they at least appear ripe. [What a disservice to the local growers.] Stored for a week in a cardboard box they're now red. Thick skin, pithy, flavorless. Other than sacrifice them to the fruit flies, what would you do with them?

The Ten Most Recent Comments By OliverRanch

From Talk

Which beef trend is important?

@mmontini, Everything coolname said plus diet, especially the finishing ration, growing region, age at slaughter, plus gentle handling all the way, including the truckers.

I would take your survey but if you want meaningful results you should ask a representative panel (and exclude people like me who are ITB or closely related businesses or those in market research, marketing etc.).

From Talk

Butchers: Is there a need for them?

@josephtetro, like Sapelo, I am ITB (I run an online marketplace for farm specific, connoisseur quality meat and also support top natural or organic producers through a related education program).

I strongly believe a butcher shop can succeed, even in tough times, though perhaps not in all markets. IMHO, the key is that butcher needs to offer genuinely differentiated products. Too many of them sell the same commodity beef as the pre-packed stuff you get at the supermarket (and often at higher prices). Economically, a butcher will also need to sell higher margin items or products that meet the needs of those who don't have time to cookl, e.g. prepared foods or meat complements.

As Sapelo notes above, there are a lot of people who want to buy meat directly from the farm. However, the farm-to-fork distribution system doesn't always exist to support this. Some farmers/ranchers located in or close enough to large cities and that also have a top quality butcher nearby have a relatively easy time direct selling their products. For others, the Internet or an aggregator can help broaden reach beyond the immediate market.

If you want to talk more, I'm happy to help you figure out if this is something you want to do.

From Serious Eats

Cook the Book: 'Giada's Kitchen'

Since you specified spaghetti, spaghetti with smothered onion sauce, recipe from the beloved Essentials of Italian Cooking. Exceedingly simple, elegant, and unusual.

From A Hamburger Today

12-Year Old McDonald's Hamburger, Still Looking Good

That is incredible about the burger. Maybe back then they had something in their other than beef?

Anyone who's ever found one on the floor of their car knows that McD's fries become petrified about 2 hours at room temperature.

From Talk

Debate party food?

There are some great suggestions above. We did this a few years ago. For your dessert, make sugar cookies in the shape of elephants and donkeys and decorate with red, white, and blue icing. For couples who split the ticket, you can create a hybrid.

From Talk

Green Side Dish Suggestions Needed!

If you're looking for full flavor, green beans with chopped walnuts, largish chunks of garlic, cooked over high heat with walnut oil. Start with the beans and add the walnuts and garlic toward the end so they roast without burning. Sprinkle with sea or kosher salt (not too fine a grain).

If you want something simple, agree with recos above for steamed green beans or chard tossed with salted butter.

From Serious Eats

Splenda Skirmish After Sugar Lobbyists Fund Study

I avoid sugar substitutes (other than in my toothpaste - anyone know a brand that doesn't use saccharine)? I just don't like the taste.

I do have concerns about aspartame based on reports that aspartate, released during digestion of aspartame, crosses the blood-brain barrier and can build up to toxic levels.

From Photograzing

Beet Ravioli with Ricotta and Goat Cheese

Wow, those are beautiful! What sauce?

From Talk

What Would You Do With 8 Unripe Local Tomatoes?

Just a thanks, I followed the advice of many who suggested roasting the tomatoes (I'd already "ripened" them to a red state). I'd done this before with Romas but not this variety ("standard supermarket" is the best description I can give). Cut into large wedges, tossed in extra virgin olive oil and kosher salt and roasted for about 1 1/2 hours at 300F. We also roasted some garlic until sweet and then tossed both with angel hair pasta and served with parmigiano reggiano. Absolutely fabulous. Talk about turning a sow's ear into a silk purse.

From Talk

I've lost my taste for chicken, I think

@LadyMarmalade, I agree. We've traded off flavor for chicken that can be cut with a fork. On its own, it has little to no flavor but instead simply acts as a platform for sauce or a good strong marinade. You might try a chicken that's been allowed to truly roam as exercise (and a partial diet of bugs) = flavor. Hard to find as chickens have a lot of predators, etc., etc., but there are farmers out there who can make a good tasting bird.

Responses to Comments by OliverRanch

From Serious Eats

Cook the Book: 'Giada's Kitchen'

Vodka, but I once had a creamy bolognese that was wonderful.

From Serious Eats

Cook the Book: 'Giada's Kitchen'

My favorite is creamy tomato sauce!

From Talk

Which beef trend is important?

I am lucky. I have access to 100% grass fed and finished beef. They never see a kernel of corn their entire life. Thats my ideal, but i still will occasionally have a Kobe or prime, dry aged steak at a highend steak house.
a steers diet is probably the most important aspect to me. nothing else affects the finished product quite as much. put garbage in, get garbage out.....

From Serious Eats

Cook the Book: 'Giada's Kitchen'

my vote goes to bolognese!

From Serious Eats

Cook the Book: 'Giada's Kitchen'

From Serious Eats

Cook the Book: 'Giada's Kitchen'

tomato cream sauce

From Serious Eats

Cook the Book: 'Giada's Kitchen'

I love to make my own sauce from home grown tomatoes. It takes awhile, but it's worth it.

From Serious Eats

Cook the Book: 'Giada's Kitchen'

My choice.....

Anything that's not out of a can or a jar.....

From Serious Eats

Cook the Book: 'Giada's Kitchen'

My choice is bolognese.

From Serious Eats

Cook the Book: 'Giada's Kitchen'

pesto or butter & garlic