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Saturday, November 22, 2008
I've Sold My Sole (and no, that's not a typo)
As you know, I am passionate about keeping these video recipes free, despite the catastrophic damage they cause to my personal financial health. Originally, I thought I could offset the cost of producing these recipes with Google ads, Amazon links, and viewer donations. Needless to say it hasn't quite worked out that way.
So, I told myself I would try and find a sponsor to help keep the site going. Unfortunately, the offers I got weren't with companies and products that I could honestly recommend. All kidding about the Kraft video contest aside, I would never actively promote a product I didn't use myself.
I wore two pairs of these shoes for over a month before finally deciding to accept their offer. Mozo makes a line of shoes specifically for cooks and chefs whoe need super-sturdy, safe, and very comfortable shoes while they work those long days. You can check out their products yourselves, but I will say I really love my Mozo shoes, and am very happy to have finally found an advertiser with such a well-made product I can support.
By the way, this is an experiment for the site, and the terms of the deal are very modest to say the least. I'll be going month to month with this promotion, and I'm still a long way off, traffic-wise, where one of these deals would actually support the site fully, so please continue any support you already provide. This will hopefully show other high-quality food-related companies that this site can be a great place to showcase their products.
This video features the short intro you'll see at the beginning of the video recipes while Mozo is a sponsor. It also features my first (and probably last) attempt at modeling.
27 comments:
That is great chef! I didn't realize you were so light on your feet.
- November 22, 2008 at 5:58 PM
- Connie T. said...
I really like those shoes and great video.
- November 22, 2008 at 5:59 PM
ROFL! the Axel Rose dance! I remember him doing that in every video he ever did. Nice, it looks just like him, except your pants are clean. ;)
- November 22, 2008 at 6:11 PM
Wow, Chef you're a leaf on the wind.
This video recipe cracked me up. - November 22, 2008 at 6:26 PM
Haha, love the song, love the dance :D I do, however, think his name is really Axl Rose ;)
In all seriousness, though.. Long time watcher, first time commenter; I'm sure you hear this a lot, chef, but I really do enjoy your little videos as they offer a great deal of inspiration for aspiring foodies such as myself.
I really do appreciate your ideology of keeping this site free of charge for the visitors and I would gladly donate if I could, but I being a poor student, I have very limited finances, so I congratulate you on this new deal. At least in this way you'll recieve somewhat of a compensation for all the help and tips that you've so willingly given us. Thanks once again, and keep up the good work! - November 22, 2008 at 6:42 PM
Oh my goodness, that was hilarious! You should dance more often. I would pay money to see that!
- November 22, 2008 at 6:52 PM
Alright, Chef John, I would never normally do this to you, but I need your help...
I have a pound of mild italian sausage sitting in my refrigerator waiting for me to make it into something spectacular for lunch/dinner tomorrow for myself and my fiance. It's raw and in casings, so I could either cook it as hotdog-style sausage or pile-of-ground-meat-style sausage. I don't have any other ground meats to mix it with to make something like your meatballs or meatloaf.
I have staple items on hand (like milk, eggs, breadcrumbs, pasta, etc), but not any perishables at the moment, like fruit or veggies (except for a couple of nice Fuji apples), but if I thought of something really wonderful, I could run to the store for maybe $5 worth of other food items.
If you were in the same situation, what type of a dish would you think to make with it? - November 22, 2008 at 7:00 PM
- Chef John said...
that's easy, get a few potatoes, and a little cheese, and make a nice hearty frittata. I believe I posted one last month or so.
- November 22, 2008 at 7:05 PM
- Chef John said...
You're right, it is Axl! If he would do an album more than once every 17 years I would have remembered.
- November 22, 2008 at 7:07 PM
Oooh! You're right, I totally didn't think about that. And I already have the cheese too. Thanks Chef John!!
- November 22, 2008 at 8:46 PM
I just realized that you seldom use goat cheese--Yay!!! . It seems to be so trendy--much to my dismay because I simply can't get into it. I (nor my husband) like it. I guess that's one reason that I like almost all your recipes--no goat cheese.
Thanks for all your great ideas!!
Jackie - November 22, 2008 at 11:03 PM
- Chef John said...
sorry, but i love goat cheese!! so tangy, creamy and mmmmm. but, youre right, ive only used it a couple times.
- November 22, 2008 at 11:58 PM
Oh Goat Cheese... everyone I know loves it. When we go to dinner at friends it keeps showing up everywhere: on salads, in appetizers, on flatbreads etc. But I also just do not like the stuff. You know how cilantro taste soapy to some people, well Goat cheese taste dirty to me. Or as my husband puts it "like I just licked a goat". :) Maybe we are missing some enzyme necessary to unlocking the delicious aspects of that cheese.
- November 23, 2008 at 12:14 AM
- Angie ^i^ said...
Nice Dance Moves!!!
Do you think those shoes would be comfortable for anyone who has to stand on their feet for LONG hours?? - November 23, 2008 at 2:00 AM
- Chef John said...
They are for me. I know that's what they are designed for. They have info on the site for the design features.
- November 23, 2008 at 3:01 AM
- Chef John said...
Kim, your husband sure has a way with words. ;) Maybe you guys are enzymely-challenged.
- November 23, 2008 at 3:04 AM
Show me a chef that doesn't dance and I'll show you a chef that doesn't love food. Dancing while cooking is the best way to express love for food!
- November 23, 2008 at 5:36 PM
Congrats on the sponsorship! Loved the video too.
- November 23, 2008 at 5:42 PM
- Chef John said...
Yeah, you should see my "I just burned the croutons" dance.
- November 23, 2008 at 7:17 PM
- Unknown said...
Happy feet make good food.. Glad you found a worthy sponsor.. I'll have to check out the catalog at my resort to see if they carry these. Retail prices I can't afford.
- November 24, 2008 at 2:23 AM
Love your videos, Chef John!
What's my foot wish? How about Michael Jackson's moonwalk ;-) - November 24, 2008 at 2:39 AM
"BEIJING — A newspaper published by China's ruling Communist Party is blasting the latest Guns N' Roses album as an attack on the Chinese nation.
Delayed since recording began in 1994, "Chinese Democracy" hit stores in the U.S. on Sunday, although it is unlikely to be sold legally in China, where censors maintain tight control over films, music and publications.
In an article Monday headlined "American band releases album venomously attacking China," the Global Times said unidentified Chinese Internet users had described the album as part of a plot by some in the West to "grasp and control the world using democracy as a pawn."
That's it, no more stir fry for me!!! - November 24, 2008 at 12:04 PM
- Jairus said...
lol wow nice dance. you've definitely sold me chef. i think i'll buy a pair. i've actually seen a couple cooks wearing these before.
- November 25, 2008 at 12:07 AM
- Georga said...
Great dance!...now about the shoes, how did they feel? Are you still wearing them? Do they have room in the "toe box?" I ask, because of having bad feet....a total of 30 operations to be exact. Yeeks...that's over 27 years mind you...but I am still vertical and always looking for good shoes...can I ask another question? Thanks
It's the "follow the sourdough" recipe...turned out okay, but how do I "feed" the left overs? And, would it be okay to add a little extra sugar to it?
Thanks for a great site and dance!
Georga Thomas
Houston, TX - November 29, 2008 at 7:48 PM
- Chef John said...
The shoes feel great! I really do wear them in the kitchen. I can't say if they are right for you.
to feed the sour dough toss half and add the same amount of water and flour. - November 29, 2008 at 9:05 PM
- Chef John said...
once a week
- November 29, 2008 at 9:08 PM
- Kristina said...
My foot wish was to see that dance. For some reason, my life just now feels so much more complete. That was beautiful. Ok, it wasn't beautiful but it was freaking awesome.
- September 8, 2010 at 2:33 PM


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subset: commoncrawl


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When people get to know me a little longer than just the initial first meeting, they almost always ask how I manage to lead a healthy lifestyle - for me and my family. I cannot help but smirk at this. The thing is, I do not really think of me as an overly healthy type of person.
I watch what I eat, sure, but I do indulge in my little sins too. The friends are always surprised that even Tom and Soeren both seem to enjoy this "healthy" lifestyle.
For me the most important thing is getting the right balance. We watch what we eat and where we get our produce and products from, but we do not overdo it in any way. All three of us love sports by nature and we all have our fitness and sports routine that we do during the week. The weekends are reserved for the family and depending on how we are feeling we will laze around the house or go for a two hour walk, play board games at home or go swimming at the pool.
Even in terms of food we make sure we have a balance. So, we eat a lot of raw vegetables as snacks throughout the day. I make sure we all get our portion of fruits and grains during mealtimes, but we also enjoy indulging in scrumptious desserts, pizza, pasta and co. However, here too I use fresh products and watch what goes into these type of dishes.
Soeren has grown up with this attitude and being a foodie's son he has no inhibitions where food is concerned. From the very beginning I have made sure that he has enough contact with "good" food and we have discussed the difference between "good" and "bad" food. Remember, Soeren is 5 years old and scaling it down to "good" and "bad" is just an imagery we use. On the whole he knows there really is no "bad" food - it only then becomes "bad" when he chooses to eat monotonously. We give him options - if he is craving a burger and fries then we give him two options: burgers at home with lean meat lots of fresh salad and baked homemade fries or if he really wants to go to the fast food joint, then the fruit packet instead of fries. The burger joint around the corner almost always looses because as his tastebuds have developed he realizes that the burger at McMum's always tastes better.
This method always works. Forbidding is not something we like to do - we always try to give options for him to choose. Now at the age of 5, I am seeing Soeren make these types of healthier choices on his own.
The fact is we do not find it difficult to eat "good" food. All three of us simply enjoy eating a lot of fresh fruit, vegetables, fish and grains a lot more than fatty, processed foods. It does not mean we do not eat such foods, it just means that they are not the main part of our meal plans.
So, when a friend asks me what I do at home to get my men to eat healthy, I just say I cook "normal" food. I then realized that what might be normal to me was by no means normal for her. She too has a son, four years old and is extremely overweight for his age. We only meet when we bring our kids to the playground, so, I do not know her that well. One afternoon, after Soeren politely declined a candy bar in favor of his pears, I dared to talk to her about the eating habits at her home. Her little boy would get a sausage (Wiener) for almost every meal. They ate a lot of processed sausages and ready-made products. In her positive attempts to get her family to eat healthier she was making all the wrong choices. Sweetened yogurts and ready made sauces, fruit drinks and sweet cereals. She would go for canned vegetables instead of fresh or even frozen vegetables.
She turned to me with a pleading look for help. It is difficult to advice someone when you are not a professional, it is also difficult to explain that, starting now is certainly not too late, but she would experience some fall-out from her husband and son, which might make her path a little more difficult. She just had to hang in there.
I told her to substitute the sweetened yogurt with natural, unsweetened and low-fat yogurt. For flavors she could make fresh fruit purées and add them to the yogurt. Instead of ready-made sauces she could make her own, using fresh products and without the preservatives. Giving her son fruit juices made of 100% fruit and diluting it with water, instead of sweetened fruit drinks was a more sensible choice. And, for heaven sakes, no sweetened cereals from a box. Make your own granola.
You know what she said to me? "Oh my god! I did not realize it was so much work to eat healthy!!" My jaw dropped at that remark. True making a fresh fruit purée is a bit more work than simply placing a six pack of artificially flavored, full of sugar and totally-bad-for-teeth yogurt in the shopping cart. The same applies to the granola - all that hard work - it's easier to simply grab the carton of sugared flakes, right?
I made a date with her the next day to come over when the kids were at school/nursery. I wanted to show her something. When she arrived we headed straight for the kitchen and I showed her how to make our favorite granola - in 20 minutes flat!
Granola is a very vital product for us. I do not think we could really get through the day without it. I make granola often and honestly I cannot believe in the two years I have been blogging I have not shared one of my recipes with you. To make up for that I will share my favorite type, the same granola I made for my friend that day. After she tried it, it was her jaw that dropped.
Besides the traditional rolled oats, I mix in organic popped Amaranth seeds and spelt flakes for added texture and nutrition. Extra crunchiness comes from the variety of nuts - I love hazelnuts, almonds and cashews. These are all drizzled with high quality organic maple syrup and sprinkled with cinnamon. The result, an unbeatable crunchy granola that tastes so good you simply forget you are eating "healthy" food! ;-) For a perfect breakfast we love adding fresh berries and a dollop of natural yogurt. Luxury pure!
Come on over with your casseroles, crockpots or baked dishes. I am looking for innovative and creative one-dish meals. Looking forward to having you all over.
Share your fresh produce with us. Show us your weekly bounty from the Farmer's Market, grocery stores or CSA box.
* Eat Fresh Update
Our Eat Fresh list is growing - slowly. Vincci of Ceci n'est pas un food blog in Quebec joined the Organic Campus and gets lovely apples, carrots, turnips, beets and Jerusalem artichokes. You just have to check out her organic Eat Fresh basket. Vincci also shares a lovely recipe for a carrot and cinnamon bread!
Printable version of recipe here.
For Nutty Granola
150g rolled oats
150g spelt flakes
4-5 tablespoons amaranth seeds - popped
100g whole hazelnuts
50g whole almonds
50g whole cashews
3 teaspoons cinnamon powder
5 tablespoons good quality maple syrup
4 tablespoons oil
For Breakfast Granola with Berries
150g mix of dried cranberries and cherries
Handful fresh berries - strawberries, blueberries, raspberries all taste extraordinary in this.
Couple of tablespoons natural unsweetened yogurt
Fresh milk
For Nutty Granola
Preheat the oven to 165 degrees C. Line a baking tray with some baking paper.
In a large mixing bowl add all of the ingredients together and mix well. Spread the granola evenly onto the baking tray and bake for 20 minutes. After 10 minutes give it a good stir.
The granola should be golden brown and crispy and the nuts crunchy.
Take out of oven and allow to cool completely before adding the dried fruit. Once cooled you can store the granola in airtight containers for several months.
For Breakfast Granola with Berries
Add the cranberries and cherries to the granola and mix with your hands. Spoon a few tablespoons into a serving bowl, top with chopped strawberries, raspberries and blueberries. Add a dollop of fresh yogurt and pour in milk as desired.
The nutty granola is our basic granola recipe. Once this is ready we like to vary by throwing in flax, sunflower or pumpkin seeds or use other dried fruit likes figs, dates, apricots. Tom likes adding grated coconut and Soeren a few chocolate chips. Fresh fruit like bananas, pears, apples, mangoes and papayas are also great additions to the Breakfast Granola. The granola also tastes spectacular when added to a basic muffin dough. There are ample uses for this great recipe and once you make it, there will be no going back to the store bought stuff. The lovely cinnamony aroma that lingers in the air each time you open the container will simply make you crave for more.
As for my friend - she was amazed that good granola takes so little time and tastes so good. However I think she will go back to the store-bought stuff. I believe she will get resistance from her family and that she herself is more of a comfortable type person who finds it easier to grab the products from a shelf in a supermarket, instead of making them at home. Shame - but at least she can indulge in a luxurious granola breakfast for a few weeks. I gave her the whole load we made that day as a little present. You never know - she might just change her mind!
You might enjoy these luxury breakfast ideas:
Garlic Shrimp & Eggs on Toasted Bagels | |
Buttermilk & Ricotta Pancakes | |
Blueberry Buttermilk Pancakes | |
Cranberry Ginger Chutney |
More great granola recipes from other blogs:
Crunchy Granola from One Hot Stove
Dried Fruit Granola from 80 Breakfasts
Uncle Austin's Granola from Homesick Texan
The best Granola from 64 sq ft Kitchen
Fantastanola Granola Jumbo Empanadas
Suganya at Tasty Palettes is hosting this month's Weekend Breakfast Blogging, which was started by my dear friend Nandita of Saffron Trail. Suganya has chosen a very appropriate theme of Healthy Eats. I hope she enjoys this healthy eat!
All photographs and written content on What's For Lunch, Honey? © 2006-2008 Meeta Khurana unless otherwise indicated. | All rights reserved | Please Ask First


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Now streaming on:
Mark Webber's "The End of Love" connects and lingers by making incredible effort seem natural. Following his 2008 ensemble debut, "Explicit Ills," actor/director Webber combines a structured narrative with something that feels like near-documentary realism. He plays "Mark," a Los Angeles-based actor struggling over the recent death of his girlfriend, Evelyn (Frankie Shaw), with whom he fathered a two-year-old son Isaac (Isaac Love).
A Philadelphia transplant to LA, Webber examines how his actor's ego collides with new role as a father. It's one thing for Mark to brag about a high-profile movie part, but when Isaac gives him a forehead tattoo with a permanent marker, humility is really his only option.
With his real-life son joining him, Webber is not paired with a performer in the usual sense. Lively Isaac is simply goes about his existence while a film is expertly assembled around him. As a result, skilled DP Patrick Lucien Cochet needs only to capture the conversation between Webber and his boy. Their interactions evade real-time; they unfold almost as a crystallized memory — compressing laughter, tears, and wonder into a sensory collage — and as both character and director, Webber truly displays his talent.
The half-improv approach is a risky one, especially as Judd Apatow has made intra-family line-ups almost a special effect, a shorthand promising some form of parental truth. But there's never a gimmicky statement found in Webber's work, only a series of confident questions.
Webber's clarity extends outside the home. An early audition with Amanda Seyfried (one of many cameos) has the ring of first-hand embarrassment. As Isaac yells excitedly in the corner, the rest of the people in the room sit in excruciating silence.
As a single parent named Lydia, Shannyn Sossaman ("The Rules of Attraction," "Road to Nowhere") radiates warmth. This is the most natural and welcome performance I've seen from her. Though her and Mark's relationship begins predictably, it evolves as naturally as the one between father and son.
However, the film weakens in its second half: Mark's attempt at a night out finds a young Hollywood cast (Aubrey Plaza, Michael Angarano, Jocelin Donahue) at Michael Cera's cavernous mansion. Isaac is left with a Craigslist-sourced sitter -- along with this part of the film.
Cera's brief character (credited as "Micheal") is a tonal oddity: He's playing at a swaggering version of himself — comic relief and a comment on Mark's outsider status — but we don't need an example of this; Mark's inner journey does the job just fine.
By the time Cera screams first-world problems while waving a revolver, the film shifts into an alternate reality. Luckily, the drama immediately returns to Mark and Isaac. Several positive signs — Lydia, an acting gig, and a pet goldfish for Isaac — have been gathering, but Mark slowly tilts toward wrecking them all. You feel for Isaac's safety the entire time, but only in the film's second half does this dawn on Mark.
The most impressive feat of Webber's film is noticing how little Isaac is actually present. You get the feeling that, for him, "The End of Love" is just another home video, like the ones that bookend the feature -- only with nicer cameras and a theatrical release. This is Webber's flawed but treasured document of his son, an attempt to share a portrait of their developing relationship, and — later on — a chance for Isaac to see his dad's parental reflections captured on-screen.
90 minutes


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Open to successive manufacturing automation
C 32 U | Julius Blum GmbH | Furniture Fittings
Blum is a company with worldwide operations specialising in the manufacture and sale of furniture fittings. The main product groups are lift, hinge and pull-out systems for furniture, primarily in kitchens. Founded in 1952 by Julius Blum, the company is a market leader in the furniture fittings industry today. With just under 6400 employees and annual sales (July 2013 to June 2014) of more than 1.4 billion euros, exports account for 97% of all business. Blum is a fully family-owned company, as it always has been, and is deeply bound to local traditions, producing consistently in seven plants in the Austrian state of Vorarlberg and in additional plants in Poland, USA and Brazil. Supported by 27 subsidiary organisations and representatives, the Blum Group regularly delivers products to customer in over 120 countries around the world. The Vorarlberg location with 7 plants plays a leading role: Company headquarters and administration are based there, as are research and development, design, tool and special machine manufacturing, apprentice training and production. Blum's innovation contributes very fundamentally to the success of the company, as underscored by the fact that Blum has been one of the most diligent patent applicants in Austria over the years, currently holding more than 1200 protected rights. Many of the inventions are considered benchmarks even today, setting standards worldwide for hinge, lift and pull-out systems. To be able to meet the demands of its customers plus the very high delivery and quality standards it has set for itself, Blum relies on a high level of internal manufacturing, including all equipment, tools and special machines required for production.
Benchmark-thinking and actions in all areas
Blum's equipment manufacturing could more accurately be called an industrial tool making factory. Several hundred skilled employees and over 250 apprentices produce a large number of prototypes, sample parts, die cast and injection moulding tools, punch tools as well as machine construction parts and spare parts. Skilled employees and technological equipment are divided over 10 departments and additional technologically oriented teams (T teams) to ensure both interdisciplinary and parallel work for on-time deliveries. Gerhard Gorbach, Manager of Equipment Manufacturing in plant 3 of Julius Blum GmbH in Höchst, Austria, explained: "We produce a very wide range of parts. Whenever possible and practical, we use the latest technologies and processes. We approach projects with an evaluation process on three levels. That includes a thorough record of the idea plus a feasibility check and formulation of the project. Next come fundamental decisions for choosing the technology and partner we want to strike out on a new way with. We seek long-term partnerships and see close collaborative work as elemental to ongoing dynamic development in our T teams." This is just what happened over 10 years ago, when a change to a new generation of 5-axis technology was due and Blum's senior management had a more extended goal embodied in two projects, "Organised data traffic" and later "Automated manufacturing in tool making". After thorough tests they chose the 5-axis high-performance CNC machining centres of Maschinenfabrik Berthold Hermle AG, D-78559 Gosheim. The determining factors for the decision were the machine concept, with three axes in the tool and two axes in the workpiece, and also the resulting accuracy (supported by the machine systems), plus the openness of the standard machining centres for automation by networking (including subsequently) with the customer's own workpiece magazine and handling solutions, and last but not least, Hermle's well-known service.
Hermle machining centres: Open to EVERYTHING
The company began with a C 40 U machining centre, followed by another of the same type. The two were then networked together by a workpiece magazine and handling system to form an automated manufacturing system. The "open integration architecture" of Hermle machining centres was an important factor even at this point, as the relevant mechanical, electrical and software interfaces were already available and allowed for system integration later. Helmut Böhler, Department Milling Master in Equipment Manufacturing, plant 3, commented on the strategy of comprehensive manufacturing automation as practised consistently by Blum: "We started many years ago to automate cutting and wire eroding processes and to use standardised workpiece pallets. These experiences naturally influenced the automation of milling tasks, and the pallets were already defined. We were very impressed with the openness of the Hermle machines to integration, and were well aware that Hermle also even has turnkey manufacturing systems including automation in its program, but they were unfortunately not suitable in this case. Aside from that, we make use of what seems appropriate for us and we have no reservations at all regarding integration." Because of this, Hermle again got the nod for the next step in the project mentioned above, "Automated manufacturing in tool making" when there was an urgent need to expand capacity in 5-axis milling. This time the decision was for type C 32 U high-performance CNC 5-axis machining centres from Hermle, and one of them was installed initially. It was soon followed by a second and the two machining centres were then networked together by a tool magazine and pallet handing system to form a flexible manufacturing system. The two machining centres, purchased at different times, were fitted identically for highly productive and flexible complete machining of mould and tool making parts at different levels of complexity (main spindle at 18000 rpm, HSK-A63 tool holding fixture, NC swivelling rotary table 650 mm in diameter, 80 bar ICS system, automatic cabin door, Heidenhain touch probe, Blum tool measurement and breakage control system, etc.). A tool additional magazine ZM 87 for 87 additional workpiece pockets was also added to each machining centre.
The working area, measuring X = 650, Y = 650, Z = 500 mm, is large relative to the size of the machine and installation area, and sufficient for the two networked C 32 U high-performance CNC 5-axis machining centres to cover a wide range of workpieces including parts for tool making and components as well as machine construction. Just as diverse are the requirements in terms of 5-axis/5-sided/complete/simultaneous machining and workpiece clamping technology as well as workpiece handling. Gerhard Gorbach sums up on a positive note: "We bypass many problems by using the basic pallets we have standardised, adding various clamping devices to them and loading them with workpieces at the setup station. One operator is responsible for each line. The 1st and 2nd shift are manned; night shifts are unmanned. We think of automated parts manufacturing in equipment and tool making as a kind of organised improvisation, because depending on priority demands, we normally manufacture one, or from two to three pieces. We consider 10 pieces already as a series. We are set up very flexibly, yet we make maximum use of machine output and runtimes. Although Hermle "only" filled the order for the machining centres in this project, we received complete support to be able to implement our comprehensive automation concept consistently. We call that working together at eye level, and we're very happy to have a partner like that on board."


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Kilograms With Weight Problems May Get High-Tech Cleanings
Back in 2009, as Morning Edition reported, some scientists were worried that the small metal cylinder used as the world's standard for what a kilogram should be might be losing weight.
But there were also those who thought the problem might have nothing to do with that carefully sealed away cylinder in Paris — that the real problem might be that the 40 replicas sent around the world are gaining weight.
The theory is that surface contamination is building up on the replicas, adding in some cases 50 or so micrograms to their weights compared to the original. They're kept in controlled conditions, of course, but get taken out more often than the original in Paris.
But you can't just clean them any old way. If a kilogram is going to be the same everywhere — an important thing for many scientific endeavors — the cleaning procedures have to be the same everywhere. And they have to do the job without scraping away any important material.
Well, as Wired reports, "scientists at Newcastle University have developed a high-tech way to clean the standards. ... It's based not on manually scrubbing the metal chunks but on exposing them to ultraviolet light and ozone about once per decade. Recently, [Newcastle's Peter] Cumpson fine-tuned the procedure and added another step: a pure water rinse to remove dust particles. The final recipe is now available online in the journal Metrologia."
Worrying about the replicas may some day seem quaint. As Wired has previously reported, scientists are also working on a way to craft a perfect kilogram out of silicon. To do it, though, they had to count the number of atoms in a kilogram of silicon — and then try to reproduce it. But even after two years of grinding and polishing, they still only reached "near perfection."
As for why any of this matters, Live Science notes that if "each country that has one of these standard masses has a slightly different definition of the kilogram, [that] could throw off science experiments that require very precise weight measurements or international trade in highly restricted items that are restricted by weight, such as radioactive materials."