All Activity

Hmm, I need a new immersion blender. The seal on mine is finally wearing out. After 25 years though it doesn't owe me anything. Anyone have one they really love?

Yes, love that can opener and all my other kitchen gadgets for opening bottles, jars and cans. I can't live without this gadget for popping the seal on jar lids. Sorry, that has nothing to do with cans, but it is related to opening stuff in the kitchen.

this was recommended by @Smithy , some time ago : https://www.amazon.com/Kitchen-Mama-V-red/dp/B09HXNR61T/ref=sr_1_8?crid=2YJDQHPHRWSKR&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.oxF_6P1IsCmd2d9C0AxqPuI7WrrkwzmNMogHvTS30GMVqPDiQSfYhnnwCsetJ63RxCfq1NVDp4dhVtL9Xfy-tvHR53zpAgPwYwy4iUZSLY18QV-gc_Glk3g20bgWqqqX677oHoR6WoNf5lvEVy-J1OKuGRC1XYucLhwYmwu0n-ipLl-gyA8-Sfwa6zv-0irqneHwHIasJdL6x_xExrbs2pTrF3ATmXrGNCMfgk9VgQ7h1H3ZwcppN9R4TXYGjoMHFrq4mz6bltSU1mj3I7ofM-B_iU0alum3HjsP2GhJzAo.5NL0ZUe6ml5MbVFIH4Re8H4N_k7DIexfPTtYnYqKhlQ&dib_tag=se&keywords=electric%2Bcan%2Bopener&qid=1763643636&sprefix=electric%2Bcan%2Bopener%2Caps%2C212&sr=8-8&th=1 needed it for canned tomato ( crushed ) large can works on small cans as well. a fine item , once you get one. for flat top cans . douvt it would work n Pop's

This is one kitchen gadget that I can not live without. The center hole grips and opens bottle tops. It's a perfect size for pop bottles and some condiments. But the little hook on the end is the real Jewel. It slips under pop tops and all you have to do is just roll them open. Yes, once in a while they break and I have to haul out my electric can opener and with my arthritic hands even that is a chore. I much prefer the pop tops cans.

also , the PopTops leave a rim around the top. makes it a PITA to get the contents out w a spatula.

in my area , for years , the Fz Turks on sale were limit 2 , but with additional purchase of $ 25 dollars. then that additional purchase requirement was deleted. $ 0.49 is as low as its been for the Turks in years.

Really ? again ? more bags ? not only do these bags generate Buzz there seems to be pre-Buzz click bait too : https://dengarden.com/news/trader-joes-new-canvas-bag-rumor

And, to follow up yet again, on my Turkish mold saga, here is the bonbon I made using the mold: And, for the plus and minus factors: I love the square shape. Decorating it has so many possibilities that don't work in a dome. And the bonbons come out of the mold very easily; I am assuming this is because the square is not completely flat but has a slight curve to it (Chef Rubber sells a smaller version, from the same manufacturer, and calls it a "slumped square"). The negative: Too many of the bonbons have that irritating line of chocolate that shows along the bottom of the finished item. The explanation that makes the most sense is that the chocolate contracts as it crystallizes and so allows the chocolate used to seal the mold to seep down the side, thus showing up on the finished product. It can be scraped off with a tiny knife, but what a pain! A question for the scientists among us: why would the creepage happen in this shape? Or why would it happen in some cavities and not all of them? These molds are not particularly shallow (the usual issue). I know it happens in half-spheres (and even a very famous U.S. chocolatier posts photos that show the problem). Kalle Jungstedt says the "solution" is to use white chocolate and a light-colored cocoa butter. These molds are also very large (8 rows x 5 rows), much larger than any other mold I have seen. They require a lot of wrist strength to hold when they are full. I suppose the advantage of having so many bonbons is that when the "chocolate creepage" happens, those bonbons can be put aside and not used. So, one of my "ideas that come in the night to the chocolatier": For Christmas I will cast the molds in Duicey and fill them with perhaps passion fruit ganache or perhaps apricot PDF plus almond giandiuja or ... ?

Picture of fan brushes?

That is one of her color combinations; there are many others. The "secret" is in the brushes. She uses fan brushes, applying colors with some pressure so that the fan spreads. I ordered fan brushes, but they were too flimsy to work. Tine Forst is very helpful, answering any questions sent to her (even, in my case, when I asked her more or less the same questions several months apart!). Here is my version, definitely not up to her results:

Pop top cans are problematic. Those of us with mobility issues struggle with them. And I can't tell you how many times the tab has come off when trying to open it and then I have to try to work a can opener around it. Additionally, I saw somewhere a while back that they tend not to have as long a shelf life as regular cans--because they can gradually begin to leak air. Can't recall where I saw that.

It should. I've made this bread in all sorts of pans, including in a cast-iron, kettle-like cooking pot, on one occasion when all the loaf pans were being used for something else (I was staying with friends). That was about ten years ago, so I don't remember exactly how it came out, compared to the same bread baked in a stainless steel or tinned loaf pan (apart from that it was round), but I recollect the usual surface colour and texture. You may need to tweak the baking time, but I've found this recipe to be forgiving: The oven I used on that occasion was a large countertop unit with a glass door that fell off if you weren't careful when you opened it, and an unknown relationship between the dial temperature and the actual temperature, and the bread still came out fine.

An interesting article in the Grauniad today. ‘The English person with a Chinese stomach’: how Fuchsia Dunlop became a Sichuan food hero | Chinese food and drink | The Guardian Although I admire Ms Dunlop a lot for her recipe books, for her introducing Sichuan cuisine to the west and agree with most of this article, there are a couple of obvious problems. Having sold 200,000 copies of a book in China is extremely low. With a population around 4 billion population, it is nothing. Do the mathematics. I have been in China for 30 years heavily involved in food and have never met anyone who knows her. Also, Walmart in China sells very little western food. They aren't that stupid. Few people want it. But with those caveats, it's still a good read.

I think pop top cans are a terrible idea. I can't open them unless I use a can opener.

I can't, and you've gotten suggestions above although your followup questions haven't been answered. What I will note is that somewhere around here -- I've been looking and haven't found it yet -- I remember a discussion about enameled cast iron (ECI) interiors crazing from the steam of a loaf of bread dough loaded into the hot pan. I saw it with my own pans, and went to a Lodge cast iron pan (not ECI) for that purpose and I spared my ECI Dutch Ovens further torment. With that in mind, I think you'll need to evaluate bread loaded into a non-preheated pan as well as bread loaded into a preheated pan (and covered vs. uncovered!). Then look for early signs of crazing. That said, I think it looks like a great pan set. Please share your evaluation of it. I may buy one for myself, just for the chance to try it out.

While this is an old topic, I still used the advice here on my first outdoor event this last Saturday in Central Texas. It was really nice to read everyone's experiences and advice. Thanks to all who have shared! The list of items to bring was helpful. This is mine: utility knife duct tape scissors bandaids pens/sharpie pad of paper clipboard change (count before and after) water to drink chairs gloves garbage can (just used a 5 gallon bucket under the table. extension cord battery tablecloth lights tables microfiber cloths business cards zipties price/product list weights for canopy (hadn't thought of this ahead of time. Ran home to get something. Just used 5 gallon buckets with water and rope) hand sanitizer Things I'll bring for next time Signage for pricing each type of item. I had everything listed on a product sheet but it was overwhelming for people to look at. Some kind of visual for showing the bon bons. Also only listed on product sheet and verbally by me. This event was a replacement for our Fourth of July Fireworks that was cancelled due to weather. Better for me since I can't do chocolate outside in July in Central Texas. Some notes: Twenty percent by dollars was purchased with cash. I was glad to have brought some change. I brought about $150 in small bills. Way more than was needed but I felt prepared. I priced with even dollar amounts to include sales tax for each of transaction. Definitely the right choice. Most transactions were tap to pay with Chase POS on my phone. Only had one person's card have to be entered manually. Yes people used cards for small purchases, just buying one of the least expensive item but I felt happy they bought something. I forgot that I could have used Zelle. I had printed and laminated my Zelle QR code but forgot to use it. Would have saved me the cc processing fees if used. Having some premade boxes of bon bons is a great idea. I had six different bon bons in milk and dark chocolate. While I have 6, 12, and 24 piece options, Only the 6 piece boxes sold and probably half were of one each of milk or dark. I showed filled boxes covered with plastic wrap and taped in the back so the wrap stayed tight. They held up well. Event went from 6- 10pm. Who knew we had to arrive so early (1pm) but it worked out okay! My husband came back at 5:30 once the sun was down with the chocolates. DIdn't have any issue with melting etc at about 80F but no sun. I ordered a custom tablecloth (plug here for mustny.com who was great) and some lights for the booth. Tablecloth has an open back so we stuck all the bins and things we didn't want seen in that space. We decided to use cool white lights instead of warm white so the colors of the bon bons would look nice. We had one person stop by and say we had the nicest looking booth which felt good. Front table had the display, side table stock. I created a pick sheet to know where each flavor was located but next time I'm going to tape a sheet to each top lid. It was cumbersome to look back and forth to the sheet and color coded trays. I second the suggestion to have directors chairs instead of regular outdoor chairs. I didn't sit down but for a few minutes during the entire event and I could tell later! I felt much more engaged when standing and connecting with the passersby. Even a simple wooden barstool would have been nice. I did not generally hand out samples. I had some of the least expensive salted caramel bars that were seconds that I did share occasionally, but the least expensive ones sold themselves for someone who wanted to buy chocolate. The most expensive items, bon bons, would have likely sold more if I had given out samples. At the same time there were people who walked by rushing to somewhere else who wondered if I had samples. They clearly weren't planning to purchase but would have taken a sample. I didn't have any bon bon seconds so samples would have come out of my sales stock. While I would have sold more, what would that advertising have cost? I'm still torn. For my last event of the season the shop owner would like me to offer samples. She's not charging a booth fee and it's my last event, so I'll probably do it there and maybe understand a little better the customer sentiment. Last year at the Dallas Chocolate Festival the organizers put significant limits on how the attendees could get samples from the vendors. They dissallowed any kind of storage container. People were wanting to come in with large containers then they'd just go around and collect samples to take home. These were small businesses and I think the sample mentality was out of hand by attendees and costly for the vendors. I'd love to hear your opinion on offering samples. I had a lot of stock leftover which I froze for another event in a couple weeks. As I had never done an event of this scale before I had no idea what to expect and decided I could freeze leftovers. Will help with prep work for the next event. Hope this report is helpful for someone else!

This you?

Sorry for dragging this back up but going to make seafood gumbo this weekend, clearing my freezers of crab, oysters, shrimp and crawfish. I would never think of a premade roux. Looking through this thread it seems like alot of people overthink it. I find it cathartic, you spend an hour.....just stirring, focusing, concentrating, it clears your mind, it is almost relaxing. It smells wonderful, turning into that almost peanutty smell.....dark brown. After that and the veggies, got to use homemade seafood stock. If you get this part down......it is pretty hard to fuck it up and don't add the seafood too early.

Just to verify, should the recipe work OK in the heavy cast iron pan?

I'm noticing more and more "pop top" cans here. I think it's a great idea - espeecially for donating to the unhoused.

do they have dates? It's possilbe one of them (probably the old fashioned one) is old.

Well now I'm curious. What are the ingredients and what did you do to them?

@Maison Rustique your, as you say doctored pizza looks really good. For dinner soy hoisin chicken with chicken stock rice and broccoli. A sort of “invented” dish. I did add a little chilli crisp after taking the photo. Was tasty.

Hell of a price on those turkeys. Cheapest I've seen here is 99 cents. Two stores offering free birds with purchase of $100. Sadly that 100 is easier to hit now days.

The Unicorn grinders are so good. I have to admit that lately I have been using a Finamill more than my Unicorn, though. It cannot grind as fast as the Unicorn, but it's fast enough for most tasks. The ability to quickly switch between pepper, salt, and cumin and dispense with just one hand is actually pretty great when your other hand is occupied, or meaty. I got it as a gift and was sure it was a gimmick, but I turned out to love it.