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Both burgers smoked from refrigerator temperature -- and I assert poetic license. She was possibly asphyxiated, but I have a CO detector. Tonight's pork shoulder smoked for three hours. I pulled it when the probe reached 63C. The shoulder is now in the Anova at 62C 80% relative humidity to rest and equalize. I couldn't get the "clear smoke" function to work. I think I figured out that when smoking is finished the machine clears the smoke automatically. Apparently for the clear smoke function to work the GE has to be in smoking mode. User interface is needlessly complex. Practice should make it easier. Another gripe I have is that some combinations of the display numerals are hard to read correctly.

No. I ordered some hummus online and they incompetently accidentally sent this instead and I was too lazy to send it back. It actually wasn't very good. Watery and insipid. Little flavour, at all. I'm sure I could have made better. In fact, I have done.

I believe Toby is opening a new place in Vancouver.

Did you make the Muhammara?

@JoNorvelleWalker you are a wily veteran, so I ask this with hesitancy...were the two burger meats at the same starting temp? Might make a big difference at low temps for short times. Re the odor of S & G...from what I recall of the Biblical account, brimstone was involved in the destruction..so it was a sulfurous smell in Lot's nostrils and, briefly, his wife's.

Four days ago I set out to smoke a hamburger: Wood oak Temperature 135C Probe Target 60C Keep Warm 60C Smoke Level 5 I ground a bit less than a pound of ribeye, and used half of the ground beef for one patty. It took about half an hour for the probe to reach 60C. One of the finest hamburgers I have cooked or tasted. Most importantly it was meat that I could enjoyably chew! The next night I repeated the experiment with the remaining ground beef. Somehow the results were not as good. The burger was more like medium well than medium rare. Chewing was painful. I finished the burger but it was a disappointment. Worse it demonstrates that I cannot cook consistently. Though doubtless anyone with a bunch of teeth would have found the second burger more than satisfactory. The discrepancy could have been probe placement. Last night I intended to try smoking fish, however the plan was derailed when a friend invited me out for dinner. I had excellent Unagi Don. Tonight is hot and humid. Not ideal weather for running an indoor smoker. But Whole Foods had boneless pork shoulder on sale, and a kg is in the smoker. The GE has a preset for pork shoulder but I want shoulder that can be thinly sliced rather than pull-apart tender. No idea what hour I'll be eating. My settings were/are: Wood Kona Sweetwood Blend Temperature 102C Probe Target 65C Keep Warm 60C Smoke Level 5 I rubbed the roast with mustard and a dry spice blend of garlic, black pepper, allspice, thyme, ancho chili, cloves, cumin, coriander, star anise, nutmeg, mace, and who knows what else. I had every good intention to write down the names and ratios, but when I realized I did not have all the spices in powdered form, that went by the wayside. Grinding cloves and allspice was a particular pain. Did I mention it is hot? I've had more than a few little annoyances with the GE so far: the probe is a real pain to use. Doubly so if the device has been preheated. There is supposedly a mode to skip preheating. Once the smoker is hot enough the mode is supposed to transition directly to smoking. No success at all. If anyone has a GE and has used the mode to skip preheating, please let me know. I suppose I could call customer service. The door does not stay fully open by itself. Venting smoke takes 9 minutes. I have not used the feature, with the result that my kitchen (I do keep the smoker in the kitchen) has the reek of Sodom and Gomorra. Not all considered a bad thing. And no smoke gets out while the food is cooking. The app, though free, requires signing up for an account. I was pretty disgusted with that and didn't. As mentioned above GE nickels and dimes their customers to death to get what should have been included accessories.

For me, it all depends on the variety. We go crazy for Warba potatoes here in the late Spring and early summer. They are the very first potatoes and are harvested before they even form a skin. So these ones need to be kept refrigerated and we usually eat them soon after purchase, within a week or two at most. A Yukon Gold or new red or white potato with skin will get stored in my lower corner cabinet in the kitchen where it's fairly cool most of the time. Here in BC, I never put them in the fridge. But when we lived in Arizona, I kept them in the fridge because the house temp would vary so much and it was so dry. We buy russet potatoes here from the local farms in the autumn and we store them in our garage which at that time of year will usually be cool and not too dry. If stored properly in there, they can last for at least a couple of months. We also keep carrots and onions there. But that all depends on local climate and so forth.

@Duvel My father grew up on a farm in Holland (the Achterhoek) and when we movedved to Canada he brought the old customs with him. Thus, potatoes were stored in a barrel of sand in the basement, which was unheated. They lasted from harvest around late September (I think, I was a little girl at the time) until at least the spring.

Wow. The Violet Hour closes permanently in Wicker Park after 18 years

This affects Ontario and Quebec only, but if you've bought sliced mushrooms from Peeters Mushroom Farms, check those date codes. They're being recalled for listeria. https://recalls-rappels.canada.ca/en/alert-recall/peeters-mushroom-farm-brand-sliced-mushrooms-recalled-due-listeria-monocytogenes?utm_source=gc-notify&utm_medium=email&utm_content=en&utm_campaign=hc-sc-rsa-22-23

Ok … that was a snippy reply. And I would normally leave it at that, especially given the OPs reputation of asking a plethora of questions without ever taking the conclusion of the discussion into any meaningful implementation. But … there have been serious contributions to this topic and I come from a poor area in Germany with an economy solely relying on potatoes and sugar beets, so I feel qualified to give a more or less definitive answer: Yes: the perfect conditions for storing potatoes are >= 90% humidity, very small, yet constant air exchange, the absence of sunlight, and just above 4 oC. They won’t shrivel (humidity), they won’t sprout or turn green (no light) and they won’t convert starches into sugars (min. 4 oC), leading to off taste and bad cooking/frying properties. This is (and has been) common knowledge for industrial storage (e.g. 6 months+ and large scale operations). In a home setup, a well ventilated cellar does provide good conditions to keep potatoes in a palatable state for 3-4 months (e.g. over winter). Yes, my grandparents did that, and my parents are still doing this: Temperature is ~10-12 oC, no light, and humidity is ~60%. No mold, no sprouting, no greening and only very slow dehydration. Best option in a household. You think you know better than a Lower Saxony family with literally dozens of potato varieties at hand … think again ✊

I don't fill them all the way and after a few cocktail onions are added it's probably around six ounces. One Gibson is my limit.t Oh, i keep the glasses in the freezer along with the Greu Goose. Importwant.

Friday, roasted striped bass with amtriciana sauce over kalamata orzo Saturday, miso salmon bowls with bok choy

Those are pretty giant, but if they work for you, by all means! I like stems on both wine glasses and cocktail glasses (unless I'm drinking a highball, an old-fashioned or any other drink on the rocks). Otherwise, I find the drink gets overly warm before it gets finished. And at 10 oz., I probably wouldn't be able to walk away from the bar without help.

Right - that's why we have crazies at places like Serious Eats - to do the testing! I've also stopped buying the "bulk" bags of potatoes, be they 3 lbs. or 5 lbs., since there are always 1 or 2 potatoes in there ready to spoil the whole batch (especially true at TJ's!). And let me offer this as well, from Cornell University's Cooperative Extension:

Today's bake. Eight mini Baguettes. Perfect sandwich size. Dough was given a 4 day cold fermentation. Taken out of the fridge in the middle of the night and baked early this morning. Sliced and made Moe a sandwich for breakfast.

Indeed. Unless you live in an isolated environment like a farm in the middle of nowhere, it doesn't seem necessary to store potatoes for the long term. I usually buy Yukon Golds and keep them in the fridge. Potatoes are my go-to when I've eaten through most of my shopping list. They seem fine for at least ten days. I don't know how much longer they would last in the fridge since I've never tested it.

I like these Very nice and sized for a heavy pour/

Cool - I was worried they were monster-sized, like 8 oz. +.

Haha... teppanyaki was our standard Valentine's day thing bur during COVID that wasn't an option, so I used my little Blackstone inside to somewhat replicate the experience. I got the onion volcano down.

They're 6oz vintage-y coupes made of thicc glass. They're not really my style, but guests seem to like them and they're relatively inexpensive. Of course, they're apparently unavailable now.

My latest success story. Frozen Jackfruit

@Jim D. I just ignored it (and the lemon). I'd be interested to try it with the inclusions; I'm always up for a challenging dessert!

It is beautiful and looks delicious. How did you compensate for the omission of the olive oil, or did you just ignore it? 75ml is not a negligible amount of liquid. I don't think I would share the recipe author's enthusiasm for "peppery" olive oil in this dessert.

Exactly. My general buy is enough for the week (or at most, two weeks) ahead. i do find that potatoes, in chip form, last a hell of a lot longer if the bag remains unopened.