craftsmanship, consumerism, virtue, privilege, and quality

salt and straw is good

http://laist.com/2016/05/27/fermentation_salt_n_straw_sqirl.php#photo-1

Chef's Table on Netflix maybe belongs here. So boring and overwrought, just super dull turning food into thinkpiece bullshit.

Dear god yes I hate everyone associated with it.

I hate food.

And everything else at the moment. Probably a fleeting mood.

^ I think you and food need to get away somewhere quiet for a while and work things out xp

ingredients as diverse as berries, chocolate and his grandmother’s almond brittle, as well as more unconventional flavorings such as sea urchin and fermented carrots.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/29/dining/cast-iron-skillet-finex-field-company.html

the not-yet-settled Field Company all got initial funding on Kickstarter from hundreds of small backers, who eventually receive pans in return for their sponsorship.

The Field Company, run by Chris and Stephen Muscarella (neither of whom is trained in metallurgy, casting or cooking), raised more than $1.6 million

The Finex 10-inch skillet sells for $165; the Borough Furnace equivalent for $280; the Field skillet for about $100.

Why would anyone pay nearly $300 for a modern “artisanal” cast-iron skillet when a perfectly functional equivalent, made in South Pittsburg, Tenn., by the venerable Lodge company, costs $16 at Walmart?

The answer lies in the craftsmanship of the past. The cast-iron pots — skillets, spiders (which sit in the embers of a fire) and Dutch ovens — made in the United States from the 18th century through the first half of the 20th, were different from today’s: lighter, thinner and with a smoother cooking surface.

happy for these folks that they are having a good time w/ a hobby making cast-iron skillets the old fashioned way but lodge skillets are pretty great

i think i would trust lodge more than two dudes making skillets not trained in metallurgy, casting, or cooking

"lighter, thinner" isn't a good selling point for cast iron pans, since the thickness and mass are what helps them cook evenly.

they considered a slogan of "we give you less for your money", but decided against it.

that is a terrible article. she just swallows the whole thing whole. i know it's the food section but come on, stand up for yourself.

you can buy awesome old ones in antique stores. i see them all the time. i bought an ancient one not long ago in such great shape and it's so cute and tiny. you can cook two eggs in it. must be a hundred years old. cost me ten bucks. and it's definitely not light.

big enough for a small cut of meat too. cooks like a charm.

By using an older, less efficient process that ignores the last hundred years of technological advances, we deliver to you an inferior product at a far higher price. CRAFTSMANSHIP.

Please see the new kickstarter I have up, it's this thing where I make artisanal replica 1980s-style mobile phones that require a shoulder bag and don't do anything but make phone calls.

As a sideline I am practicing totally vintage 1840s surgery with a hacksaw.

My brother gave me a Finex skillet for Christmas, he got a multi-pack via the Kickstarter or something. It's fine. The bottom is machined much smoother than my Lodge but I can't tell any functional difference, I'm not frying eggs in the damn thing, I have non-stick skillets for that.

re: metallurgy, there was a Kickstarter delay because they fucked up somewhere along the line and broke their casting so it took months extra.

In a lot of cases I'll still give things like this some leeway for using first-world labor/sustainable whatever but Lodge (enameled stuff aside) is still made in the US.

oh, that was Finex not the guys actually described as being untrained

this is one I legit don't understand. I mean, regular, cheap cast-iron skillets already look and feel old and "classic," right? It's not a product that gives off a super-shiny corporate vibe, or like a "these things used to last, now they're all discposable" garbage vibe. I'm at a loss for understanding who the market for this is.

morons w money

As a sideline I am practicing totally vintage 1840s surgery with a hacksaw.

― klimt eastwood (Ye Mad Puffin)

No leaches? You savage!

wrt cast iron, since they're gotten cool again I see them for $20 and up at thrift stores (in crappy condition), so there's probably more of a demand for them than those "artisinal axes" posted several months ago.

I'm at a loss for understanding who the market for this is.

ex-gf and I would hate-read this blog every weekend: http://localmilkblog.com/recipes

phoo-eeee

that food looks ok and.. *reads prose* ... oh jesus kill me

when a business uses the word "provisions" in its name you know it is going for this vibe

ditto "dry goods"

"comestibles"

Even "Est."

"_____, proprietors."

"Provender"

didn't know where else to put this:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v212/etienne_saint/Screen%20Shot%202016-12-15%20at%2010.46.01%20AM_zps8digqy9j.png

If they send you one once a month you could put it here:

A Box of __________ Shipped to Your House Each Month

ahh thanks!

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Cz6e1oeXcAgI3yg.jpg

I was sure that was a dayo image for a second

bahahahaha what is he wearing

just some random shades of blue and a hat

his hands aren't quite in the right position for the harvesting of nut milk

laughed out loud in the at&t store ^

http://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/03/world/europe/italian-inmates-sip-smell-and-taste-their-way-to-rehabilitation.html

Gianvito Rizzo, 53, is the chief executive officer at the Feudi di Guagnano, a local vintner that provides wine for the classes, like the Negroamaro. He is also the creator of the sommelier classes at the prison.

Mr. Rizzo has proposed that inmates start working on his nearly 75 acres of vines in the coming year; under certain circumstances, some inmates in Italy are allowed to work outside prisons.

“I see wine in a democratic way,” Mr. Rizzo said as he walked through his vineyard recently. “The countryside is the opposite to a cell. You are free. You smell nature, and learn to care for it. I think it’d be good also for inmates to try it out.”

Getting cheap prison labor to work at your agribusiness, reframed as the milk of human kindness. I'm sure the inmates all sit down to a huge home cooked Italian meal every afternoon, just before they take their siesta.

"libations"

"coffee service"

global elite needs well trained servants