Stainless Steel

I boiled some red new potatoes for a salad dish, but the potatoes lost their color and came out rather dull gray. What was the reason? Did I do something wrong? Preserving or enhancing the color of foods we cook, particularly vegetables, is one of the holy grails of both home and professional cooks. Creating a dish that evokes voila! and wow! requires the happy convergence of many factors, including the heat, the quality of the cooking medium such as water, the utensils, the ingredients and even the weather.

It is not difficult to become distracted among the shiny new hulls, polished stainless steel props and arrays of optional equipment at the Chesapeake Bay Boat Show, which opened yesterday at the Convention Center.But, then, that is part of the purpose of boat shows, to surround the consumer with possibilities and allow him or her to shop for the best deal on the best equipment, services or boat."There are some people who, as soon as they enter the show, will make a beeline to this booth," said Ron Roland, president of Chester River Boat Sales, which has an impressive line of Pursuit boats on display.

Bethlehem Steel Corp. yesterday said it will cut 540 jobs by closing its stainless steel plants in Washington, Pa., and Massillon, Ohio, acquired as part of its May 1998 acquisition of Lukens Inc.The company had tried to sell the two plants, which have been rolling up losses, but has been unable to do so. The units of Washington Steel will be shut down as customer orders are filled during the first quarter. Efforts to sell the business will continue, said spokeswoman Bette Kovach.In a related matter, Bethlehem said it agreed to sell its Washington Specialty Metals Corp.

A U.S. trade agency ruled yesterday that stainless-steel round wire allegedly "dumped" on the U.S. market by makers in Japan, South Korea and four other countries has not injured U.S. manufacturers, a setback for an industry that has launched a counterattack on cheap imports.The case was filed by Cockeysville-based Handy & Harman Specialty Wire Group Inc. and nine other companies. Specialty Wire is a unit of Handy & Harman, based in New York."We are deeply disappointed in the negative finding of injury," said George Kurisky, a vice president at Handy & Harman who also is chairman of the U.S. Stainless Wire Action Committee, an industry coalition.

The function of the pink metal fish perched atop a skinny silver pole was unclear to the untrained eye, but for Denise Conner, it was just the thing."It's a decorative gardening ornament," explained Conner, of Silver Spring, visibly pleased with her purchase for a friend yesterday."

With grilled poultry, marinades make the difference between simply good and simply sensational. The right marinade adds color and flavor, and keeps chicken, turkey, Cornish game hens, duck and pheasant juicy and succulent. Here are some tips:* Use nonreactive (glass, ceramic or stainless steel) containers for mixing marinades and for marinating. Plastic or aluminum can react with the acidic ingredients in marinades, creating an off-taste.* To reduce the possibility of food-borne illness, always marinate poultry in the refrigerator.

STOCKHOLM -- Avesta Sheffield AB, a Swedish stainless-steel producer, said plunging steel prices pushed it to a first-quarter loss and may force it to cut up to 15 percent of its work force.The company, which announced the mothballing of its east Baltimore County plant in June, said its net loss was 314 million kronor, or $37.8 million.The price of cold-rolled stainless steel, Avesta's main product, has fallen by more than a fifth in Europe in the past year, as cheaper exports from Japan and South Korea have flooded a market already awash in excess metal.

Avesta Sheffield AB, the Swedish stainless steel company that bought the struggling Eastern Stainless Corp. three years ago, yesterday said it likely will close the southeastern Baltimore County plant by early August.Roy Cooke, president of U.S. subsidiary Avesta Sheffield East Inc., disclosed the shutdown two weeks after the company announced the mothballing of the stainless steel coil plate line at its Essex plant -- a move that will eliminate 27 of the company's 115 jobs in mid-July.The shutdown of the rest of the plant, which awaits the company board's approval, would cut 73 more jobs, leaving a skeleton crew of 15 at the site.

Avesta Sheffield East, sued by the state of Maryland for allegedly reneging on promised job growth after accepting a $1.1 million state grant, denied yesterday that a promise was made and said it won't pay back the money."

Avesta Sheffield East Inc. made official yesterday what it had said was likely: the mothballing of its Essex plant and the elimination of 74 jobs.The company, a subsidiary of Sweden's Avesta Sheffield AB, said high imports and tough competition forced the closing of its stainless steel melt shop, the main operation at the former Eastern Steel Co. plant.The announcement came a month after the company said it would close its steel coil plate line, eliminating 27 jobs.Together, the two moves will eliminate all but about 15 of the plant's 115 jobs.

You know a product is ingrained in the culture when consumers (and writers) use the name to describe all other similar products. Band-Aid, Kleenex, Jell-O, Frisbee, Gore-Tex - stand up and take a bow. Yes, it makes the manufacturers grind their proprietary teeth and their lawyers write threatening form letters. But the bottom line is, consumers saying your name is better than their not saying it. Hanging out with military and law enforcement professionals recently, I noticed that when they talked about hydration packs, they called all of them "CamelBaks," a tip of the cap to the company that makes all shapes and sizes of bladder-and-tube drinking systems and plastic water bottles.

Late in the afternoon, a time of day when many teenagers were chilling, those in Wendy Parker Robinson's class were still in school, still sweating. Clad in chef's whites, they were chopping squash, searing chicken breasts, forming balls of goat cheese and beautifying butter. They were getting ready to feed 200 people dinner at the National Academy Foundation High School, housed on the Digital Harbor campus in Federal Hill. It was the school's first Restaurant Night, when students in its hospitality and tourism classes would serve a three-course meal to anyone quick enough to book a reservation.

Nov. 26: Name of product: Century Cookware Stainless Steel Stockpots Units: About 7,000 Importer: Ocean State Jobbers Inc., of North Kingstown, R.I. Hazard: The stainless steel pots have metal handles that can detach during use. Sold at: All Ocean State Job Lot stores throughout New England from July 2008 through October 2008 for between $12 and $25. Remedy: Consumers should immediately stop using the stockpots and return them to the place of...

The political opposition researcher who illegally snooped into Michael Steele's credit history has found something else to stick her nose into: toilets. Lauren Weiner fraudulently posed as Steele on the Internet to obtain his credit history three years ago. At the time, she was a Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee researcher, and he was the lieutenant governor and a likely Republican candidate for Senate. These days, Weiner is a potty blogger. On fullyflushed.blogspot.com, she digs up dirt on public johns.

ABOARD THE YNOT MABEL - A massive front-end loader wrestled more than 40 stainless steel New York City subway cars off a barge yesterday, swinging them one by one over the gray, choppy water before releasing them with a splash. Some of the cars lingered briefly on the surface before heading for the ocean bottom 85 feet below. Others rolled on their side, emitting hisses as water rushed in and air escaped, creating tiny geysers like whales exhaling. One by one, they became Maryland's most-ambitious offshore artificial reef project to create homes for fish and an underwater playground for divers.

Forget about cowboy coffee, that hideous, gritty brew cooked in a pot over the campfire that people try to pass off as, well, authentic. And don't reach for that jar of instant, either. If you want a morning shot of joe before going hiking or firing up the outboard or raising the sail, make the real thing with the Hector Press ($22; www.active-gear.com), an all-in-one French coffee press and insulated mug. Just put your ground coffee in the bottom of the mug, add 20 ounces of hot water, put the lid on and let steep.

Shake off your red-checkered curtains and bring in Le Corbusier chairs. Country is going modern. Not that it hasn't been a tad modern all along. Old gas station signs have always been a kissing cousin to pop art. And Shaker interiors are as pure and clean-lined as anything dreamed up by the Bauhaus, the German art school that so influenced modern design. But the point being made by the authors of a new book, Modern Country (Gibbs Smith, $34.95), is that it's a good idea to marry country and contemporary pieces.

I boiled some red new potatoes for a salad dish, but the potatoes lost their color and came out rather dull gray. What was the reason? Did I do something wrong? Preserving or enhancing the color of foods we cook, particularly vegetables, is one of the holy grails of both home and professional cooks. Creating a dish that evokes voila! and wow! requires the happy convergence of many factors, including the heat, the quality of the cooking medium such as water, the utensils, the ingredients and even the weather.

If you've been thinking about letting the sawdust fly and renovating your house, decorator Lyn Peterson has a few things you ought to know. First, don't automatically toss your cabinets, light fixtures or tub, even if contractors tell you that it's easier to gut a room and start from scratch. "Easier for them, but not necessarily cheaper for you," insists Peterson, co-founder of Motif Designs and author of the information-packed book Real Life Renovating (Clarkson Potter, $37.50). Look around your house and see what's worth saving.

Wounded man charged with multiple offenses A man who was shot in the face after allegedly pointing a sawed-off shotgun at a Baltimore police officer June 6 in the Waverly neighborhood has been released from a hospital and charged with multiple offenses, police said. Darryl Haskins Jr., 24, of the 7400 block of Rutherford Green Circle in Woodlawn sped away in a maroon Chevrolet Monte Carlo after being stopped by an officer on Greenmount Avenue and led several officers in a pursuit, police said.