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Though I do like pumpkin pie, there are many pies that I would prefer any day, such as strawberry rhubarb or lemon meringue. I did find an AWESOME recipe, though, for pumpkin pie, and it was the second pie to disappear at a Thanksgiving dinner for 30 friends this year, out of about 7 other pie chioces. (The first to disappear was also mine- Dorie Greenspan's "Favorite Pecan Pie" with chocolate and espresso.) I'll be making it again for my family...it's Sherry Yard's Triple Silken Pumpkin Pie from "Desserts by the Yard." Baked in a springform pan, the bottom layer is pumpkin custard, then a layer of maple whipped cream, then a layer of caramel pumpkin mousse....truly an awesome pie and worth the work!

Thankfully I don't shop at Costco. You have to PAY a membership fee to shop there?? No thanks.

Not my cup of tea.

We'll probably find Eric Ripert sneaking back into Costco someday because that place can be addictive. I'll admit that sometimes I am aghast at the sheer volume of consumption that supports these behemoths.

@1stmakearoux: Agreed, Costco does rank higher than the likes of Walmart/Sams Club in terms of being a good employer. Their employee turnover rate has always much lower than average compared to other retailers.

Firstly, this was clearly meant tongue-in-cheek. Secondly, Eric Ripert says throughout the video that he really likes everything they bought and ate from Costco. It's hard to disagree that Costco's atmosphere and packaging is sterile and weird, but like Ripert says, they have some good things. It's hard to imagine that any person, with unlimited resources and budget, would choose Costco over any other food shopping experience.

That's an arrogant, out-of-touch, and knee jerk reaction of a snob. It's funny how a Whole Foods opened less than a half mile from my local Costco and how I was put off by the "parking for fuel-efficient vehicles only" adjacent to the entrance, and I had to wade through throngs of customers in an attempt to buy regular half and half (which was overpriced and needed to be fetched from the back as it was gone from the shelves).

I wonder, why cultivate this particular brand of hatred? Why not focus on the good things about Costco? Yes, the largesse is off-putting the first time you visit, and there's a comical aspect to buying fresh salmon while your tires are being replaced, but evil? Nope.

I was a big Costco shopper when I lived in New England...I stayed away from the processed and pre-made stuff and stuck to raw ingredients and I always thought the quality of the meat, seafood, and produce were top notch. However, there is a huge difference when you compare the Costco experience to a French produce market--if you ever have the opportunity to visit France you will be amazed at how different the produce are. Imagine fruit that smell like fruit (before you even cut into them), and brilliant unwaxed peppers, velvety figs, and earthy mushrooms. That's what the guy is talking about...you don't quite get that experience at Costco. The closest thing to this experience that I've seen in the US is Whole Foods.

I agree with his opinion (although it got a little annoying after the 10th time he called it the "evil empire" while praising the quality) but I'm still a member for the cheap paper towels, tp, oatmeal, etc and some products are not terrible. I try to buy local, unprocessed, organic, chemical/preservative/dye-free food as much as possible, and if you read the labels you can find some things that are pretty good. I live in New England and some commodities - like oats for oatmeal - are just not grown here. Might as well get the best price and Costco has it.

In the warmer months I shop almost exclusively at farmers markets for fresh, local produce. But in the winter, no matter where I shop, it's not coming from the farm down the street, so I may as well go for the cheap stuff at Costco. You couldn't pay me to eat their meats though.

Hah, I love that crazy silver fox!

At least he didn't go to Sam's Club! I always thought of Costco as being sort of the classier of the two.

high quality dryer sheets, paper towels and produce? are you freakin' kidding me???? you'd think you were talking about saks fifth avenue. it's the same crap that's at walmart, just in disgustingly large, shrink wrapped quantities.

I like Costco. I have a two-person household and we don't really eat that much, but I still enjoy shopping there, maybe because I like window-shopping even for food. There are some things (like dryer sheets and paper towels) that we will only buy there because the quality is so high. I wish I could buy more of the produce, but we would never use it up in time.

I personally love the photography of the burgers as I'm one who prefers her burgers as rare as possible. Whenever I see an autopsy shot of a burger that's been cooked through, my mind just goes down the rabbit hole of "well, that's a damn shame" because my brain equates gray/pink-gray meat with dry and tough. Sort of the opposite reaction of the folks that have the visceral reaction to the red and rosy burgers.

Well not entirely. I absolutely think it's true for a number of those who don't order rare burgers (including real life friends and some commenters above, such as the one who said he wasn't going to diss his digestive tract), that fear of food-borne ilness plays some role in their preference. For that subset of burger fans, I'm wondering when and how their concern developed.

Anecdotally, when someone takes issue with my ordering a rare burger, it's typically on the grounds that I am playing Russian Roulette with my life.