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Basque cheesecake is not something I've made or even had, so time to dip my toe in... I resisted the temptation to chase a bronzed top and pulled it at 57C/135F. It carried over to 63C/145F... After taking the chill off to serve... While the ooze has a certain visual appeal, I'll probably pull it at 60C/140F next time for a slightly firmer set - the creamier part didn't taste as cheesecake-y as the rest. I know Basque cheesecake is having its moment these last few years but I didn't find it anything remarkable, just a nice cheesecake. I liked its simple, rustic charm. Next time I'll do a deeper one.

@dscheidt ... thanks for the webrestaurantstore link. I found the price spread between lower-priced and higher-priced ovens pretty remarkable. I was surprised to find some below $300.00. What may account for such a spread? I'd be hesitant to purchase a lower-priced model. You seem fairly knowledgeable about these ovens. Do you have some background with them?

You haven't seen dried Apricots for 20 years?! or am I misunderstanding. The Trader Joe's California slab Apricots are pretty great

Baby backribs on sale at Safeway. I was short of time, so I didn't slow cooked them as long as I usually do. But they turned out well - in the oven and into our tummies! I had a few baby Shanghai Bok Choy languishing in the crisper while I was away. Trimmed off the yellowed leaves and simmered the stalks in the rib juice that I drained off from the ribs. Cooked 2 racks and sent one to the freezer for a day when I don't feel like cooking.

Webstaurantstore lists a few, including a cadco. The bigger countertop cadco ovens are well regarded. https://www.webstaurantstore.com/14183/countertop-convection-ovens.html?filter=size:1-4-size

Personally I din't think anyone should have to choose. If you've had a box grater for a million years you know what it's good for and what it's not. I love my box grater and I love my microplane for the things my box grater can't do. The Moulinex is a pretty fun gadget too. Mine mysteriously disappeared years ago.

Yes, char on the gas burner, wrap in a kitchen towel to steam, and the skin rubs off pretty easily.

Do you peel them after roasting?

... and so I reach the end of my quest. I have covered 26 distinct cuisines here (but there are countless subcategories. There are more provinces but they are mostly very similar do their neighbours and I don't think merit a 'cuisine' category of their own. Hong Kong and Macao I'm leaving out, too. When they are being Chinese they are predominantly Cantonese but are also heavily influenced by Europe and beyond, particularly the UK for HK and Portuguese for Macao. Finally, the cuisine my home region of Guangxi has its own topic here where I've dived deeper. .

湖北菜 (hú běi cài), Hubei Cuisine, 楚菜 (chǔ cài ), Chu Cuisine Hubei borders Henan to the north, Anhui and Jiangxi to the east, Hunan to the south, and Chongqing and Shaanxi the west. The famous Three Gorges Dam is located at Yichang in the west of the province. Hunan means ‘south of the lake’, whereas Hubei means ‘north of the lake’, the lake being Dongting Lake, China’s second largest freshwater lake. Unsurprisingly this has an impact on the cuisine and it is also well-known in Chinese culture as the place of origin of rice, dragon boat racing and is home to the critically endangered Yangtze finless porpoise. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license. The recorded history of Hubei cuisine as known today stretches back over 2,000 years with recipes and descriptions recorded in the text known as the ‘Chuchi’ of Qu Yuan. Clearly, water is important here. Not only is it in the lake but also in the five main rivers feeding the lake as well as many minor lakes, irrigating Hubei and Hunan’s fertile lands as well as supplying freshwater fish, far from the sea. I didn’t eat a seawater fish in all the time I lived in Hunan in the 1990s. It is said that Hubei’s waters are home to over 50 different fish species. The watery aspect of their life extends perhaps into their meals. Soups are particularly popular. These are made using the usual meats beef, chicken, pork etc, but pork rib with lotus roots is probably favourite and has now spread across the nation. I avoid it. It’s what every hospital in China serves you to ‘build you up’. Turtle soup is considered the most nutritious, but I don’t see how. You’re unlikely to get that on your sickbed however – too expensive. The range of vegetation you might find in your soup besides lotus root is infinite. They also love to play with balls. Meat balls, fish balls, prawn balls turn up in your soup, or elsewhere. There are literally hundreds of variations and even ‘ball restaurants’ around town. So go to Hubei and have a ball! Two things more stand out in their cuisine. First is an aversion to using colourful garnishes or decorations on their food, instead believing that to truly appreciate the meal you should be able to see the food as nature intended and dishes are required to maintain the original colour, taste and sauce while cooking. The other is that Hubei dishes are often served with multiple ingredients in any one dish in combinations you might not expect. Fish, pork, crab and tofu or anything else could turn up together in any one dish. Some dishes. I guess it makes sense to start with breakfast. This is arguably Wuhan, Hubei’s capital’s favourite breakfast. 热干面 (rè gān miàn) the rather prosaic sounding ‘hot dry noodles’. These are eaten by workers rushing to their labours, by schoolkids dawdling to school, by everyone. Of course they aren’t just hot dry noodles. The come mixed with soy sauce, sesame paste, pickled vegetables (carrots and beans), chopped garlic chives and chili oil at minimum and can be bought from street carts up to restaurants, from down at the docks to plush business areas. Truly, the people’s food. Hot Dry Noodles Later we might have 龙凤配 (lóng fèng pèi), Dragon and Phoenix. This is a stew of, not of Hollywood stars, but good old fish and chicken. This is also a popular dish to serve at wedding banquets. China likes dragons – whereas they are generally considered heralds of evil in the west, in China they are the polar opposite. Similarly phoenixes are good, signifying rebirth. Chickens’ feet are served as ‘phoenix claws’. Dragon and Phoenix Yingshan is a county in the east of the province and well-known for its dish 应山滑肉 (yìng shān huá ròu), a dish of fatty pork belly in a sauce. This is an ancient dish sometimes called Yingshan Smooth Pork. It was, according to legend, invented when Taizong, the second Emperor of the Tang Dynasty lost his appetite and his chef saved the day. Most Chinese dishes have a fanciful story! Emperor's Fat Pork 红烧野鸭 (hóng shāo yě yā) is a captive-reared mallard, braised with sugar. This I was wary of. I was concerned it may be too sweet for me, but it was OK – not up there with a roast duck, though. I have no objection to braised dusk but prefer it in wine. Then I discovered it is just actually "red-cooked" i.e. braised in soy sauce with a little rock sugar. Braised Mallard 红菜苔炒腊肉 (hóng cài tāi chǎo là ròu) The menu in one restaurant (unusually in English) described this as sautéed preserved pork with red vegetables – not very helpful. It’s actually cured pork with Chinese kale. They got the ‘sautéed’ part right! Red Kale with Cured Pork - Image: pic.nximg.cn And finally, for your encouragement and well-being, a recipe for Hubei’s favourite contribution to the health service, 排骨藕汤 (pái gǔ ǒu tāng) Lotus Root Soup, supplied by Hubei government. Get Well Soon

Wonderful thread, thank you liuzhou

Ginger-garlic fish parcels from Vietnamese Food Any Day by Andrea Nguyen I used sockeye salmon from my weekly fish share and increased the recipe amount of baby bok choy. Seasonings are ginger matchsticks, sliced garlic, black pepper, soy sauce and oyster sauce. Quick, easy and delicious.

Welcome! I can't help you with baking, but I expect others here can and will.

Huachingo a la Veracruzana, but made with fresh walleye rather than red snapper. Saute white onion, garlic, flat-leaf parsley, and piquillo peppers. Add crushed tomato, S&P, chopped green olives, sliced jalapenos en escabeche, and some of the chile vinegar. When the sauce is cooked down, add the walleye fillets, poach in the sauce, and top with capers. Walleye was from a local fish market. Mrs. C grew up eating freshly-caught walleye, and approved. Looks like we will be sending more business their way. Arroz Poblano: roast Poblano chiles and blend with white onion, garlic, spinach, flat-leaf parsley, cilantro, and Mrs. C's freshly made chicken stock. Fry the rice, add puree, and then cook the rice in chicken stock. A favorite.

Microplanes, all day. In the past I had a few of the flat ones (rectangular grater with a handle). Mostly marketed for home use. When I wore those out I got one of the long skinny ones, because everyone I know who cooks professionally uses them. I think you can go with either. The main advantage of the long ones seems that they fit easily in a knife roll. The flatter ones are easier to use one some things. Their protective cover design annoys me.

You are going to like it here. Welcome!

Fresh corn season is upon! I bought 36 ears today that I put up as cream style corn, 24 ears on Wednesday as cut corn and 12 ears last week as cut corn or on the cob. The corn today was kind of starchy like field corn so I just nipped the tops of the kernels off and raked out the milk with the back of my knife. I gave the corn a quick blitz with an immersion blender to finish. My JCK Blue Steel No.2 Kiritsuke knife does cuts through the kernels effortlessly. I've been buying the corn at Walmart for thirty-three cents/ear when it looks really fresh. All of the corn has been sweet to super sweet. I've put up about 26 pints todate Cut Corn Light cut and back dragged for cream style Cream style blanched and ready for the freezer

Tuscan-Style Shrimp with Beans - made with pinto beans, shrimp, onion, rosemary, red pepper flakes, parsley and white wine

Hello everyone! I'm a baker from Orlando, Florida and I've been working in bakeries for ever 10 years now doing cake decorating, pastries, breads, both sweet and savory and now working with chocolate. Expect posts from me asking for advice on service on a very special chocolate machine because my job seems to think I am a mechanic for the machine despite no formal training! I'm looking forward to advice and learning new things beyond what I'm already capable of! Thank you for accepting me!!

I'll hang mine along with you. I could lay in bed for a week, get up, and still not have the ambition to do all of that.

Hahaha … thanks. Little one went to the pool this afternoon with a friend, so when I finished work I had two hours of undisturbed “me time” 🤗

Please tell me that that feast came from a restaurant. If you had made all of that from scratch after just home from holiday, I will hang my head in shame forever that I would not even attempt such a feat!

Back home … and felt a hankering for Chinese: Sweet & sour shrimp with lychee (甜酸荔枝虾), cheaters scalliion pancakes (葱油饼), cumin lamb (孜然羊肉), white cooked chicken (白切鸡) with two types of scallion oil and the classic tomato & eggs (番茄炒蛋) … Scratched the itch pretty well - no complaints 🤗

@Margaret Pilgrim fine story . havent seen one for 20 years.

I made the mistake of running into TJ's this morning before breakfast and bought a cheesecake Kringle. Had a slice for breakfast along with fruit from the farmers market: Santa Rosa plums, Brooks and Ranier cherries and a variety of pluerry (plum cherry hybrid) whose name escapes me.