Was Fori's question answered satisfactorily, as I don't want to be contributing more to hijacking this thread? If this should be taken to another thread, say the word. Annie, your question is interesting, and I don't know. Sometimes I wonder if my son has outgrown the egg allergy, which we know beyond a doubt that he had (we don't do potato salad with hard boiled eggs or anything like that). But he still tests very positive and we don't want to find out the hard way, so we just do what we've been doing that we know he doesn't react to - use small amounts in baked goods, but no eggs otherwise - no merigue or any recipes with high concentration of eggs. A while back, I posted a question about the Cook's Illustrated version of mac & cheese, which calls for stirring in 2 eggs after the pasta has been cooked & drained. I was wondering if those eggs get sufficiently "cooked" - and the response seemed to be yes. That recipe contradicts what I have otherwise felt comfortable doing with eggs regarding my son's allergy, but we tried it & he hasn't had a reaction. Some of the concern is that eggs pose a potentially anaphalactic reaction, as with nuts & shellfish, which he is also allergic to, but can't have the littlest bit of those. I'm like you in that I have no food allergies. I eat & love just about anything (although oddly, the last few months, I have developed what seemed to be random hives, but may be linked to appearing a couple hours after I have ingested nuts - I hope it's not that). Guess people just have to do what they think is best for themselves and their family members & others need to respect it.

You really don't need to cut the "yellow stuff" (probably bits of fat) or the "white stuff" (probably bits of tendon or skin) off. There's nothing wrong with it. Remember, if you eat whole roast or fried chicken, all of that stuff is in the meat. In the breast, under the long, thin piece on the inside that separates from the rest of the breast easily, there is a tendon that sticks out from one side. It's not poisonous or nasty, but it can be tough. You can grab it with your thumbnail against the counter and push the meat away from it with the back of your knife, by holding the knife against your thumbnail, and sliding it away from you, while pressing hard on the knife against the cutting board. But again, it won't hurt you or anything, so it might not be worth the bother. The white "skin" is just a membrane that often occurs between muscles. It is harmless, and in chicken it shouldn't be tough once it is cooked. A similar membrane can be tough on some cuts of beef, pork or lamb, and if you are not long cooking the meat, it helps with tenderness to remove it. Never put anything hot in your fridge or freezer. Cool things to room temp before doing so. The residual warmth from hot items can reduce the quality and shelf life of other items. If you simply must put something in the fridge before it is completely cool, rearrange your fridge contents so that the top most shelf is bare (or contains non perishables that you like to keep cold, like sodas) and place the warm item on that shelf, covered with a damp towel or plastic wrap in which you have poked holes. Heat rises, and this should keep it from affecting other foods. But the heat needs to be able to escape the item quickly, hence the cloth or holes.

Thanks, Ann, for clarifying the confusion. We refuse to eat longline caught fish & quality restaurants here won't serve it either. It's depleting our natural resources. That's probably why I only see yellowfin (ahi) locally...troll-caught with rod & reel. We live close to Montauk & Montauk is considered to be one of the best fishing grounds in the world. There are many fishermen here using just rod & reel to bring in tuna. Private tuna rigged fishing boats here are all equipped with huge fish boxes with proper refrigeration & because of restrictions when a tuna is landed the boat returns immediately to port to offload so rod & reel caught is also much fresher than longline. Quality east coast restaurants changed their menues to stop serving longline caught fish several years ago. Many either have signs in the windows or printed on the menues that no longline caught fish are served. Here's a quote from Wiki & the link to the whole article. "Overfishing Bigeye tuna are amongst the tuna species most threatened by overfishing. Juvenile bigeye tuna associate closely with floating objects such as logs, buoys and other flotsam, which makes them extremely susceptible to purse seine fishing in conjunction with man-made FADs (Fish Aggregation Devices). Bigeye mature at a later age than other commercially important tuna species such as skipjack and yellowfin tuna, and the removal of large numbers of juvenile bigeye before they reach breeding age is a major concern to fisheries managers, scientists and sport fishermen." From this article... http://www.hawaii-seafood.org/bigeye.html "Availability And Seasonality: The availability of bigeye tuna in Hawaii has increased as a result of an expansion of the domestic longline fleet and an extension of the fleet's fishing range to as far as 800 nautical miles from port." IMO, as consumers we need to stop supporting this mass killing type of fishing or our grandkids will never know the pleasure of watching one of these fish in their natural environment. Man...one on one with a rod & reel against the fish...is a fair fight. Longline hooking is not plus many other fish & ocean mammals are killed in the process. I guess because DH & our friends tuna fish we are very sensitive to this longline issue. There is some longlining here as well; but they have to sell to lesser restaurants. I imagine that most, if not all, of the rod & reel caught Bigeye tuna stay in Hawaii. /tricia Here is a link that might be useful: Hawaiian Bigeye Tuna

Not a "great cook" here but I cook a lot. Have a Blue Star RNB that I bought for very specific reasons that do not all have to do with cooking. I liked the looks, it fit in my old-house kitchen, loved the "Garland" burners. I admit it -- I liked the vibe of the stove. I liked its old fashioned no frills aesthetic, and I was also smitten by the idea of having a color. I do love having the power when I need it, and I do love the control. When you are making dinner for people and they are all standing around in the kitchen, it is nice to be able to get the pasta water up to a boil quickly. The simmer burner is excellent. I like flames. In a new house kitchen I would have chosen induction. But in this house the Blue Star is a perfect fit. One of the reasons I chose the Blue Star is that it is easy to completely dismantle the entire stove top and clean. That has continued to be a very appreciated feature because if you cook a lot, you clean a lot. I also found Iove being able to put full size trays in the oven because we make biscotti and granola on a regular basis. So my answer is -- buy a range that meets your very particular needs, both aesthetic and culinary, whether it is a professional range or not.