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And also realize that AI isn't the answer to everything!

I used this recipe as a guide to make lamb pistachio burgers for grilling. I hand blended crushed pistachios and the other ingredients with ground lamb. Came out very well, used his sumac yogurt as topping. https://ottolenghi.co.uk/pages/recipes/lamb-pistachio-patties-sumac-yoghurt-sauce

Getting ready for Charles birthday, I thought I would do a little make-ahead stuff and also cooked some St. Louis ribs today for our dinner.

What do CFS pros do? I have been trying to figure that one out since I found out Charlie was looking for one like his school cafeteria days. One of the things I have tried is giving an already tender cut of meat a pounding for texture then cooking. The breading stays on a little better if I make them ahead and let the coating set on in the fridge.

The sorbet cheat sheet that has been shared is great info, but it is too bad that it isn't all done by weight because I am starting with frozen fruits. I converted the mango recipe, and scaled it for a 24 oz Creami Deluxe beaker. Cook's Illustrated Mango Sorbet for Creami Deluxe Mango chunks 608 g Water 67 g Sugar 93 g Lemon juice 18 g Vodka 8 g If you are also using frozen mango, you will need to let the chunks soften overnight in the fridge before you can blend everything. The mix is too thick to process frozen, at least it was for my Vita-Mix. BTW, to do this conversion, I cheated... I used an AI chatbot instead of personally searching for the average yield in grams of a peeled and pitted "medium" mango, and doing the other conversions. I also asked it to create a recipe that accounted for the actual volume of the blended product, which requires some math for the sugar/water mixture. It produced a converted and scaled recipe that perfectly filled a 24 oz Creami Deluxe beaker. I do have a brain, I could have done all of this myself, but I have to admit it was fun to get the answer immediately and get back to the kitchen. If the output sucks once I spin it, I will amend this post and confess.

I’d also be interested in a stellar succotash recipe! After reading @Katie Meadow's post, I cooked up some Rancho Gordo baby green limas, tossed them with Trader Joe's lemon pesto and had beans on garlic-rubbed toast.

they have this at my local MarketBasket ! Ill look into this , this weekend. thank you for pointing this out ! growing up , in Los Altos , CA way way way back when dirt and gravel roads , apricot orchards we used to go into ' town ' : two streets , < 100 M long but a Clints Ice https://www.losaltoshistory.org/collections/explore/ they had a very large , rotating ' ice cream cone ( sugar cone ) ' on their roof. fantasmagoric when you are 4 - 5 and ice cream ( all made there ) that was 1/2 vanilla , 1/2 fruit sorbet do I remember this ? you bet.

@rotuts it's a very nice, not overly sweet, flavor for summer. Pairs nicely with anything fruit. I hope you can find it, we get spoiled with a lot of Tillamook flavor variety!

@YvetteMT Yum and more Yum ! Im a bit puzzled by the ' Tillamook old fashioned vanilla and white chocolate raspberry ice cream '' ' old fashioned vanilla ' is understandable but ' white chocolate raspberry ice cream ' ? I had to google it https://www.tillamook.com/products/ice-cream/white-chocolate-raspberry-yum Ill be looking for that, as soon as it cools off so it gets to my freezer ' solid ' not liquid,

Did Mary your lunch lady give you the recipe she used? I've never had succotash and now I'd like to try it. I always gave away the lima beans and sometimes traded the Royal Coronas in my Bean box but now I'll save them to make this...

@Paul Bacino those potatoes are beautiful!

I am by no means a baker but I made a peach crisp for a dozen roofers we have working on the house today. Served with Tillamook old fashioned vanilla and white chocolate raspberry ice cream.

You're right ... I recall many people who disliked - detested - lima beans. I was not, and am not, in that group. When in grade school, we'd get a school lunch made by Mary Palladino, the "lunchroom lady." She ran the small cafeteria/lunch room, including menu planning and cooking. She frequently served succotash, and I'd always make sure she'd save some so that I could have seconds. Years later, I was a classmate of her daughter in high school, and when I found out that Angela's mother was the "lunchroom lady," and told that to Angela, I soon after found myself with an invitation to Mary and Angela's home where Mary made a big pot of succotash for me, enough for lunch and a batch to take home. Mary remembered me as "the little boy who loved her succotash." To this day, I still enjoy a bowl of succotash every now and then, and I still enjoy calling up my memories of Mary.

It is *really* hot here in NYC. I may have mentioned somewhere, in teh context of summer cooking or possibly preserving, that I don't have A/C. Well. I found some cooked RG chickpeas in the freezer, though, which are currently thawing on top of my head. Efficiencies, etc.

You and I are on the same bandwidth....I just finished prep for tonight's Ottolenghi meal.

Helen’s Bolognese from “Comfort” by Ottolenghi - an interesting, spicy, very good “Asian” spin on bolognese, made with ground pork, onion, garlic, carrots, celery, ginger, star anise, cinnamon stick, bay leaves, sichuan peppercorns, fennel seeds, shaoxing wine, doubanjiang, light soy sauce, scallions, cornstarch, cilantro and sesame seeds. Served over fettuccine and with quickly “marinated” cucumbers (rice vinegar, honey, sesame oil)

@Paul Bacino perfect looking L.C's look like double chops , my favorite. outstanding.

According to Politico: A White House official, granted anonymity to discuss the negotiations, said the administration plans to impose the tariff only on goods that do not comply with the 2020 USMCA, though the ultimate details will be up to Trump to decide. Fingers crossed...

I'm with @Shelby so far: happy to live vicariously for the moment. Still, this is looking mighty good. Please keep the info coming.

Fired up pizza oven First--no yeast pie/ four cheese base-garden suace-pepperoni-jalapeno-calabrian chili --parm cheese Rack of lamb/ skillet potatoes from garden red and white/ lamb seasoned with northwest fire penzy, garlic, rosemary, brandy, what's this here sauce, evoo

@ElsieD Wow conventional bake in these sealed ovens is quite different from C.B. in ovens that are not sealed . even not picking steam-bake , you get some of that effect based on the ovens construction.

I baked a couple of pastries this morning, 20 minutes, Convection Bake 325F. These were perfect, and somehow the texture seemed different from previous bakes in the APO. Lighter, as if they rose better. Hard to explain. Tried the air fryer - will report as soon as I use it again without operator error. Toast continues to amaze.

Thank you so much @FauxPas but I will live vicariously through you guys for now. I can't wait to hear all about them!

@YvetteMT just the drumsticks . I plan to ' learn ' with them and move to turkey drumsticks when they go on sale. I plan to 1 ) air dry on a rack in the refrig x 24 hrs first . this is mentioned on better than average BBQ refs. 2 ) chop off an inch or so from the bottom of the leg , no meat there , might help the meat contract off the tendons making removal of the tendons easy. tip from Jacque & Julia. 3 ) chop off 1/4 inch off the top , for 1/2 of the legs , to see if this also helps removal of the meat 4 ) smoke until almost fall off the bone : 150F - 160 F save the drippings .

Drumstick and thigh!?! Id have needed a second cart/buggy/trolley!