How to buy a good NY Strip?

It is now grilling season finally and I love a great NY strip steak. I find when I go t the store and ask questions they always want to sell me the Angus. For NY strip that can get a little costly. Can you help?
Sincerely,
Joe and Stacy
Dear Joe And Stacy,
Great question. When buying a great steak you have to decide a few thing. 1. How much am I willing to Spend? If you spend to little you may be disappointed, to much you may feel taken. For a NY strip steak the best way to decide this is to ask yourself "what am I doing with the steak?" If you are just grilling it with S&P then all means go with the Angus. If you like a little extra flavor with you steak then we would go for a center cut, with great marbling {the little white lines in the meat}. Just be sure that there is no grizzle in the meat. You can distinguish this when you see a thick clearish line down the middle by the fat side. It will look like fat but trust us it's not. The cost for this type will be much lower then Angus by about $2-$5 a pound. 2. The best question to ask yourself and it may be a little greedy but you have to look at who you are serving. If you are serving friends who just eat to live then choose a lower cost steak. If you are serving people who live to eat then spend a little more, you will be invited to some really good dinners in the future. For size of the steak it is up to you. If you go to a good butcher if you can find one these days they will have no problem cutting you whatever size you want. For a NY strip steak we would say for a small or average size about 8 oz. for a MANLY steak 16 oz. will do it. Any larger you will not have room for a baked potato.
If you have any other questions on this let us know.
Sincerely,
Chef Chat Cafe

I Need Help With Choosing A Knife

Wusthof or Henkels?
I am looking to purchase some good knifes for my house. I have asked a few friend that love to cook and they all say different things. I have narrowed it down to two types Wusthof or Henkels. For a set they cost a pretty penny but I do not have a problem with the cost if I just buy one or two right now. I do not cook that much but when I do I try to cook with the best ingredients I can find. Please help with this.
Sincerely,
Maria
Dear Maria,
To answer this question the best place for you to go is our Product Review page. We will answer your question there. If you have any other questions on this after reading our review please let us know.
Sincerely,
Chef Chat Cafe

I need HELP with All-Clad Pots

Please help. I am looking to buy a gift for my really good friends and they love to cook. They always say " if they had to money they would buy All-Clad". They are costly but they are good friend and do great things for me. I want an opinion on this that is not trying to sell me something.
Sincerely,
Sally
Dear Sally,
We think that if they love to cook and are good friends by all mean buy them. You can buy a great 9 pc. set online for about $500. If that is to much All-Clad has other sets like the Emerilware set that is just as good. A 14 Pc. online for about $300. For more information on All- Clad and to read more about what we think visit or Product Review page. We hope this helps and if you have any other questions on the please let us know.
Sincerely,
Chef Chat Cafe

Help with Mallowmars

Chef Chat Cafe I am having a really hard time trying to figure out how do a recipe. Maybe you can help me out. I was trying to figure out how to make Mallowmars but can't seem to get the recipe right. I would really like to learn how to make them only because you can't find them all year long. I appreciate any help that you can give me.
Dear Motman77,
Thank you for the interesting question. To make your own in the summer, well it would be fun but you may have some problems with keeping them at there best. The reason they do not make them in the summer as we found is in the shipping. To cold in the truck, when they hit the store the cookie on the bottom will become soggy, to hot, well that's just a mess! So if you make them be careful of the temp. you keep them at.
The best and easiest way we feel to make them is buy a plain vanilla wafer cookie, your favorite marshmallow, and a good bar of chocolate. For the chocolate, to make it even easier you can buy a coating chocolate that you do not have to temper.
For how to make them;
First pre-heat your oven to 350 and on a tray with wax paper place one cookie topped with one, or half a marshmallow, ad place in the oven for about five minutes. This will help everything stick together. Let this cool and place just the cookie bottom in the melted chocolate, and let that cool. Once that has cooled now comes the fun. Place the cookie on a wire rack with wax paper under the rack on a tray. Spoon or pour the melted chocolate over and let cool. You can repeat the last step to create a thicker shell on the out side. We hope this helps, and if you have anymore questions on this please let us know.
Sincerely,
Chef Chat Cafe 6/13/07

Help with my grill

My grill is a mess!! I have a good grill but I have trouble keeping it clean. I clean it with a grill cleaner and some times the cleaner does not come off all the way and the next time I cook on it the food tastes bad. If I do not clean it like that the grates get caked with food and starts fires. What do I do ?
S
Dear S,
You are making this harder than it is. The best things to do first "is to step away from the cleaners". They have a possibility to leave a film on the grates and make your food taste just like the spray. Second, if your food is leaving little treats behind let the grill do the work. What I mean is leave the grill on for about 10 minutes and cook off those tid-bits. When you use the grill the next time let it heat up for about 15 minutes. When the grill is hot those little tid-bits will be cooked enough so all you have to do is is brush the grill with a wire brush, and wipe with a little oil to help the grates become like a non-stick pan.
Let us know if this works for you and if you have anymore questions on this, let us know.
Sincerely,
Chef Chat Cafe 6/7/07