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Home Canning

Seeing this on my counter is immensely satisfying.

Is it just me? It's so old-fashioned, something that is so not-Gen-Y, not even of my generation, or the generation before. Before Green Giant, before Birds Eye.

But here's the thing: Store bought spaghetti sauce? The best I've had is merely OK. I don't really understand why they're not as good as these, but they're not.

Home Canned Tomato Sauce

Thanks to Kathy for the recipe!

Note: You can use canned tomatoes in any form but the less processed they are, the better. Whole peeled tomatoes are generally best but you have to crush the tomatoes. Crushed tomatoes are almost as good, but avoid tomato puree or tomato sauce.

3 28-oz cans tomatoes, see note
2 12-oz cans tomato paste
2 tablespoons sugar
2 onions, chopped
8 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons oregano
2 tablespoons fresh thyme
½ cup red wine

Dice onions, saute in 6-qt pot until lightly browned. Add garlic, saute a few minutes more but don't let the garlic brown.

Add the rest of the ingredients and simmer slowly for two hours or until the sauce is thick and tastes balanced. Cover with screen to avoid splattering. If the sauce tastes sharp and acidic, add another tablespoon of sugar or cook longer.

If too thick but still needs to cook, add water as needed.

To can: Tomato sauce is acidic, so no pressure cooker is needed. Follow canning instructions for hot water canning. You can also freeze it or — hey, what the heck — use it fresh! It will keep at least a week in the refrigerator, months in the freezer, a year or more if canned.

Cheap Way to Try a Ceramic Knife

I have always been curious about ceramic knives but not curious enough to pay a steep price for what reviews say is a deft, but fragile, instrument. Ceramic is very hard, so they never need sharpening. Indeed, they can't be sharpened so the edge had better last forever. Unlike metal, ceramic is easily chipped. And once damaged, they're trash because unlike a metal knife, chips and nicks can't be ground away. So I am reluctant to spend hundreds of dollars to augment the knives I already love.

Then I stumbled on a ceramic paring knife — for about $9. Dealextreme is an Internet seller of very inexpensive gear. They sell computer and camera accessories, toys, gadgets, and household items that are manufactured on the cheap by Asian manufacturers. Most of what they sell is pretty good quality and the prices are amazing. Shipping is free but it usually takes a couple of weeks. I ordered one and I have to say, I was impressed. The quality is pretty good and it is quite sharp. It will presumably remain sharp for years, and so far hasn't been damaged.

I also bought a ceramic vegetable peeler and was less impressed. A peeler has to be very sharp and this wasn't quite sharp enough. Still, it was mere $3.

All that said, I still am not a ceramic knife fan. They don't need to be sharpened but I don't find sharpening my knives much bother. I use a steel on them every time and only need to sharpen them a couple of times a year. Except for the eversharp edge, a ceramic knife is no better than a well-sharpened metal knife. So I'll probably buy another cheap ceramic knife but they won't be displacing my favorites.

More:

• If you're in the market for a knife, be sure to check out my article on knives, with recommendations.
• Learn more about sharpening knives.

Oven-Fried Potato Slices

These are quick, easy, and delicious, with a lot less oil than potato chips. They're not shatter-crispy like a potato chip. They're chewy in spots and crisp in others. There is a lot of potato flavor and they take seasonings really well.

It's simple: slice potatoes thin, toss with herbs, salt, and oil, spread out on a rimmed cookie sheet, roast.

Oven-Fried Potato Slices

2 pounds potatoes (Yukon Gold or red)
3 tablespoons oil (olive or canola)
Salt
Herbs (such as thyme, dill, garlic powder)

Slice potatoes 1/16 to 1/8-inch thick (a mandoline or slicer makes this easy). Toss with the other ingredients in a plastic bag or a bowl.

Oil a cookie sheet or sheet pan and spread slices out, so as many as possible are flat against the pan, and no slices are stacked closely together. Roast in a 375 degree oven. Check after 15 minutes. When they start to brown, watch more often, as they will burn fairly quickly. When nicely browned, remove from oven and allow to cool a minute or two. Use a spatula to release them from the pan.

 

Starbucks VIA, a Coffee Surprise

Coffee lovers love to scorn Starbucks, and I am no exception. But we should give Starbucks their due. Since Howard Schultz's return, the company has returned to their roots as a mass purveyor of consistent, pretty-good coffee products, with efficient, courteous service. They still over-roast their beans, losing the nuances of flavor, but in the end, they're better than what most Americans drink. And we have to credit them with elevating coffee — could my favorite places (like Barefoot in Santa Clara) charge $3-something a latte without Starbucks' marketing?

I was curious about Starbucks' latest venture. The proposition is intriguing: Instant coffee that tastes as good as brewed? Is this possible? In a word: Yes!

On October 2-4, stop by Starbucks and you can taste their new VIA against their standard Pike Place blend. You'll get a coupon good for $1 off a purchase and another for free coffee plus a sample of VIA. (I had to ask for these. Don't be shy.)

I tasted the VIA and was impressed. It's a good cup of coffee and miles away from any instant I have ever tried. There is none of the stale taste or funky odors instants usually carry. The coffee flavor was deep and rounded, and it tasted fresh. I didn't taste a lot of complexity or nuances (no "nutmeg overtones with a cocoa and mulberry finish here") but it's a credible cup of coffee you can make with nothing more than a cup of hot water!

At about  $1 a cup, VIA is considerably pricier than other instants.

Would I make this my "house" coffee? Probably not. Would I stock it for a coffee quicky at the office? You bet. 

For my morning brew, I am staying with my beloved Aeropress, brewed from fresh Barefoot beans run through a burr grinder. But as a convenient, credible (but costly) shortcut, VIA is a winner.

Audio Phoolery

This is for geeks, and people who like geek culture.

I have always been fascinated by what people will believe. Particularly interesting to me are the many halfwit audiophiles who believe a lot of whacky (and invariably expensive) voodoo. The pinnacle of moronity is in speaker wire — where 'oxygen-free' copper and metallic crystal structure are used to con morons into spending hundreds and thousands of dollars for — well, for wire.

What follows is Dave Jones, an Australian electrical engineer who has probably the only EE video blog. Don't listen to the whole thing but skim enough to enjoy an engineer's passionate plea. Best part is at the end where he says (and you need to hear it in the genuine Aussie) how the really interesting thing is that the voodoo actually works. People who spend $1000 on fancy wire will hear a difference, even if no one else can.

http://www.eevblog.com/2009/09/07/eevblog-29-audiophile-audiophoolery/

I saved the best for last, though. The original perpetrator of audiophile voodoo is Monster Cable. If you think they're scum (and discriminating EEs do), you have to love this:

http://gizmodo.com/380055/blue-jeans-cable-calls-bs-on-monster-cable-patent-suit-vows-to-fight-to-bloody-death