Toasting research Scientists at the University of Leeds have arrived at the formula for making perfect toast. "To produce the patches of butter most people said they prefered, the bread needs to be heated to at least 120C, and the butter should be used straight from the fridge, applied unevenly within two minutes of the bread coming out of the toaster. The amount of butter should be about one seventeenth the thickness of the bread. "

Mmmm, bacon air freshener.

Thanksgiving on the Space Station "On the Station, the holiday table is set with bungee cords and Velcro. There's no heirloom china or tablecloth. Astronauts eat from disposable plastic containers and aluminum pouches. Instead of a carving knife, scissors are more important for meal preparation... The diners on the Station hold a record among holiday travelers, during the course of a meal, they circle the Earth."

just-drinks.com, a UK drink industry site, has two beverage-centric weblogs seem to have that industry pretty well covered - the Beverage Business Blogs by Chris and Musty.

I could collect a dozen good turkey and Thanksgiving links, but I think I'll just point you to Sautewednesday, who's done it already

But I will add a few - the turkey help pages from Cooks Illustrated are the best, the White Castle stuffing recipe sounds like it might actually work, and anyone considering deep-frying this year should watch the movie on this UL turkey fryer Safety page.

Hunger Rising Again, U.N. Report Says "Nearly 850 million people go to bed hungry every night, the vast majority in Africa and Asia, and the number of undernourished people in the developing world is climbing at a rate of almost 5 million a year, it said."

Cops Seize 756 Pounds of Smuggled Bologna "Border agents last week landed a meaty bust, seizing 756 pounds of bologna arranged into the shape of a car seat and covered with blankets in a man's pickup."

Going cold turkey Some local Chicago restaurants are going smoke free while a proposed public smoking ban lingers in City Council chamber. "Of the approximately 6,500 restaurants in Chicago, about 500 are smoke-free, from casual eateries to some of the city's best dining spots..."

Some of Chicago's most popular restaurant menus are viewable from Amazon.

I did this some time ago after I made a ham. It's really just mac and cheese, but with a fancy touch or two. The 'mac' is campanelle pasta, the cheese is goat cheese, and it's herbed with some rosemary and a little tomato. The chunks of ham add the saltiness and meaty-ness it needs to make this a very fulfilling dish. It's also very simple and fast.

6 ozs. goat cheese
3 T butter
1/2 cup cream
1-2 T fresh chopped rosemary
5-6 chopped cherry tomatoes
1 1/2 to 2 cups diced ham

Boil the pasta - I had the luxury of a leftover ham hock so I threw it in the boiling water. Saute the tomatoes in the butter, reduce the heat to low, add the cream and melt in the goat cheese. When the cheese is melted, add the rosemary. It should reduce quickly just to stick-to-the-back-of-the-spoon thickness. You should be fast enough to be there by the time the pasta is ready. Mix the cheesy sauce with the pasta.

World's Oldest Kitchen Identified "Because there is no record of early humans using tools to butcher animals before this date, the kitchen site indicates an important shift in diet. "

Hot Cocoa Tops Red Wine And Tea In Antioxidants; May Be Healthier Choice

And for Thanksgiving, try a refreshing bottle of turkey-and-gravy soda "The noncarbonated drink has a faint meaty, peppery smell that falls short of teasing the taste buds like a turkey roasting in Grandma's oven. The taste? Hard to describe. It has a salty, sweet lingering bite."

I had a little dinner party this weekend that went pretty well - leg of lamb, roast potatoes, squash, rutabagas and a great apple, pear, cranberry crumble a guest brought.

The entire meal was shopped for, prepared, and plated in just under three hours. Several bottles of wine were involved as well. A Mondavi, a Kenwood and Fetzer Sauvignon blancs (drinking downward on the quality scale), and a big bottle of Concha y Toro Shiraz.

The lamb had a rubdown of rosemary and ginger, and was served with a sauce made with pan drippings, rosemary, ginger, papaya and cream. The squash was roasted fairly naked with some olive oil. An Irish friend prepared the rutabagas, or Swedes as he calls them, traditionally by boiling them and mashing them with butter and plenty of pepper. Except instead of mashing them into a mushy bashed state, we ran them through a ricer, twice, and got a fluffy consistency. Learn more about rutabaga history in this article on Turnip and their offspring. "Much confusion surrounded the origins, even the identity, of turnips and rutabagas, or "Swedes," for a long time. They are distinctly different species."

eGullet reports that Tony Bourdain is leaving the Food Network "Tony and the Food Network have been unable to attain a meeting of the minds on issues of cost and content for future episodes of A Cook's Tour." On the second page of the discussion, Tony admits it - "Yep, it's true. At the end of the day, I just didn't want to be on television that badly. FN was good to me. I have no gripes with them... But I've got things I want to see and write about and film in Asia and elsewhere on this incredible planet..and that just didn't seem likely to happen there."

Oligopoly Watch on Food "The latest maneuvers of the new oligopolies and what they mean." Great info on who owns what in the food industry. Also some good articles on trends like the coming organic oligopoly.

The Velveeta Rabbit

Eat, drink and be ferried "Chicago's top eating spots are a train ride away". Short article from the Daily Northwestern on a few places near the El.

The Big Heat Who controls Chicago's stove? The fifty most important people in Chicago food. All the obvious names like Trotter, Melman and Achatz are on the list, but I still think after his culinary treason, #1 listed Rick Bayless, should be working in Burger King, not for them.

The Spice House, the best place for seasoning in town¯offers Chicago Neighborhood Blends like Argyle Street Asian Blend, Back of the Yards Garlic, Bronzeville Rib Rub, Lake Shore Drive seasoning etc.

Cinnamon's trilogy of articles on three meals on one chicken inspired me recently. I roast chickens fairly often, since they are usually cheap, and the chicken serves me a few meals, and some sandwiches. I thought I'd try Cinnamon's advice and try for an extra meal and make soup. I'd love to try her risotto suggestion, but it's just too much labor.

To make this soup, I set aside whatever meat was leftover from the bones, and roasted them and some leftover skin on broil for about 20 minutes (normally I'd go lower and slower for a full hour, but this was a rush job). I threw some portobellos in too. The roasted bones, an onion, a few cherry tomatoes, and some sage and tarragon (fresh, with the stems) went into a big pot with maybe 2 quarts of lightly salted water and simmered for 40 minutes or so. Also into the pot went a can of chicken stock (I told you this was a rush job).

My plan for this soup was not a thin, oily broth, but a creamy, stick-to-the-spoon type, with a bit more depth. To do this I just happened to have the perfect ingredient - half an acorn squash I had roasted with the chicken the other night. I pureed the squash meat with the roasted mushrooms, 3 tablespoons of cream and some fresh sage, setting it aside while I strained the bones and used veggies from the stock. The stock went back into the pot, with the leftover chicken meat and simmered to heat through and reduce a bit - maybe ten minutes. The soup was strained again - saving and setting aside the meat while the squash and mushroom puree, and about three tablespoons of butter was blended in to the soup with a stick blender. Some more fresh sage and tarragon, this time chopped, was added and the meat was dumped back in.

The high fat content and the squash gave this soup a great silkiness, and the huge chunks of chicken made it very satisfying.