>  ML> the unlikely eventuality that bread and cake
>  ML> significantly dull it, such a sharpener might be
>  ML> of use, not in my lifetime, though.
>   Exactly.  Plus if you can not muster up the zen and you
>   /need/ one sharpened you can always pay sometime to do it.

Heh, I'd rather not eat cake.

- Why are the people shouting?
- The people want bread, my dear Gaylord.
- Tell them not to eat cake!
    - Flanders & Swann, Food for Thought

>  ML> We've had some discussion of the very old
>  ML> product, which I claim to be superior, '80s,
>  ML> that's not so bad - I don't know when the
>   It is quite nice to use I'll say that.

Has it potentially converted you to the interesting 
practice of crawling the Salvation Army and the yard 
sales? A decade or so ago I was living a lot of the 
time in the house of a conductor friend of mine
(where the 2009 Ecno Picnic was headquartered),
and I had the Sacerdote clan over, and they were
appalled at the quality of the kitchen equipment I
was working with, and Dave went to a tag sale and
spent $2 on pans and knives that were so far
superior to anything in the house that I have no 
words. Last I checked, a year or two ago, they were
still the go-to utensils there. Newer in this arena 
is almost never better.

> ... Success is one unpardonable sin against one's fellows.

This is your brain on drugs!

Brain fritters
categories: offal, main, French
serves: 4

3 eggs
1 c flour
1 Tb peanut oil
2/3 c beer; substitute milk
salt
4 calves' or lambs' brains
4 c water
1/3 c vinegar
salt
white pepper
1/2 ts dried thyme
1 bay leaf
flour
fat for deep frying

Separate two eggs. Set the whites aside. Put the whole egg in
with the yolks and beat these along with 1 c flour, 1 Tb oil,
and beer. Correct seasoning.

Clean and trim the brains in the normal manner.

Make a court-bouillon with the water, vinegar, s&p, thyme,
and bay leaf. Boil this for 3 min, add the brains, adjust
heat to a simmer, and cook for 20 min.

Drain and cool the brains. Season with s&p and dust with
flour.

Beat the egg whites stiff and fold them into the beer batter.

Heat a kettle of fat to 375F.

Spear the brains, one at a time, onto a fork, dip them into
the batter, and slide them off into the hot fat. Cook them
until golden brown, remove, and drain. Serve hot with salt.

M's note: the only way I've had fried brains has been sliced.
A whole brain on my plate might give even me the queasies.

Raymond Oliver