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Yes, indeed ... Oaktown. ❤️👍

I haven't been posting recipes here or on my blog lately, which I first started doing when Charlie asked me to do, so we'd have them for the future. I posted as many as I could find on the blog along with this recipe but without pictures. This one is Shrimp with pasta, garlic, parmesan cheese, chicken broth and cream.

I hope you're talking about Oaktown Spice. Good people, excellent products.

I am having some serious issues spraying and cannot figure out what is going on! I have a 1gal compressor (upgrading soon) and use a grex tritium TG3, top fill spray gun. Not sure if any other components are really important here.. 20ft hose, easy on/off and spray volume attachment. I was having some issues around Christmas so I took the entire spray gun apart (down to the little silicone washer) and thoroughly cleaned all parts. Yet my problems persist. Here's what is going on - IF I rest the spray gun on the heating tray before I start spraying I can get through 1-2 molds before the output is seriously diminished. This isn't because of the undersized compressor (or because I'm spraying green/blue) as it seems like the gun is jammed up. I reheat the gun with heat gun and can get a little more out but eventually there is almost zero output. So.. I don't know. I put the cocoa butter in at 90-93 and keep it at 88 or above.. that shouldn't be the issue. I changed the needle at Christmas. The room is 64-66*f. Next thing I'll try is running another batch of melted cocoa butter thought. I'm going to reach out to grex tomorrow however.. any advice, troubleshooting, input would be greatly appreciated!

Welcome back to eGullet

I agree. I find the broiler to require the most constant attention of any cooking method in my kitchen. My broiler heats up pretty quickly and there would surely be flames if I left any combustible material 8” away for the length of time they did.

Made these over the last few days. You guys might remember Chocolate Shard Shortbread? Real big on, I think, Instagram a few years ago.

If you've never had gumbo before, you're in for a treat! You may want to peruse, and even contribute to, this topic: And yes, even though it's an old topic it's always available for participation and expansion!

I think the only reason one has time "free to do other things" is the video "starting in a cold oven" putting a sheet pan with ground beef 8 inches under my pre-heated (electric) broiler would produce ciders in not very many minutes.... a good chili takes time for flavors to meld. so "instant" chili is not really an attractive idea . . . 'from a can' may well have a better taste/texture.

LOVE that bread!! 😋

No cooking involved but what I call Dutch breakfast. Gouda cheese and ham on a split English muffin.

Today Amazon delivered what, for a very long time, I thought was a silly, overhyped, perhaps barely-useful-at-best, cheap, single-use, kitchen tool. It's described as a Meat Grinder, Hamburger Grinder, Masher and Burger Masher Premium Heat Resistant Burger Meat Grinder ... quite a mouthful. (eG-friendly Amazon.com link) I set things up to make a big pot of chili today, and that meant chopping the meat into small pieces using my spatula or a flat, wooden spoon. And today was the day this kitchen tool was to be delivered. The plan was to chop some meat the usual way, and chop the balance with the Grinder-Chopper-Masher-Thingy. Holy Hamburger! Batman. This thing does a great job. It makes chopping the meat into small pieces quick and easy. It saved a lot of time standing at the stove, and that meant a more enjoyable and comfortable cooking experience. I have some back problems, and sometimes standing for extended periods can be painful. This little puppy was fun to use and kept me off the pain meds. Highly recommended. YMMV.

One dinner was a breaded pork chop with ratatouille and a small corn I saw small ( 3 inches) fresh okra at the market and bought some to try again having had bad experiences with slime previously . I looked up recipes online and decided to sprinkle them with a little cornmeal and fry them. I cut off the little cap as suggested and there it was again, gloop / slime which came out and wet the cornmeal but I pressed on. I fried them until almost burnt as I read to do somewhere and YES they were good … very crunchy and tasty. I’ll go and get some more while they’re available and try to make gumbo … (never had it ) next time. Served it on left over ratatouille with chorizo.

@ElsieD, I don't think Evernote still has the function to email a note. There is a function to share a note link. And one can also create a pdf of a note. I can print pdfs from Adobe Acrobat on my desktop, but I don't know about the Android.

off white , but by not too much grey , on the lighter side. that color wound need sunglasses. polarized.

Aqua? Not for me. Stainless or black, please

Obviously we each have our personal style at cooking. What I am saying is that, if there is a foundational basis (standardized) recipe for your family and assuming that you don't change products and brand you use, theoretically, when you cook from your own notes, you won't need to "taste test" as if you're cooking for the first time. For me, every single food item(s) I cook for my family or small jobs have a standardized recipe in my Google Docs folder with helpful hints and tips I wrote for myself for future use of that food item(s). Earlier in the year, I treated myself to an elaborate biryani. The ingredients I prepared are recorded in gram-accuracy so that if I feel like it, I can recreate that exact recipe this week...if I wanted to. The only ingredient I did not record to gram accuracy are garnishes like coriander and mint leaves. Cooking is a both a science and art. If you want to remain consistent even with yourself, you need to incorporate the scientific methods in your cooking. That means getting used to taking helpful notes and record it in recipe style format at seen in cookery books. I also never ever cook without a pre-written recipe typed up. Like you said, during the cooking process, whatever your mood fancies, I may change ingredients ad libitum—which are reflected in my notes. This kind of record keeping takes me back to my organic and biochemistry labs at uni. Even in our upper division undergraduate labs, we had to know in full details the experiment. We basically summarize our lab manual, which include steps and hand draw apparati setups. On the day, we can't use the manual and have to rely on our lab notebook to succeed the experiment. It is probably too much to some people. This is how I feel more natural way around my home kitchen and I feel this is how I learn, explore, and improve my cooking.

There is little if any evidence of that. You have to remember that for much of those two centuries, China was closed or had only very restricted access. It was at war, both international and civil. It was occupied by the Japanese. It's also unlikely that early Chinese emigrants to the Americas were in any position economically to pop home bearing 'exotic' foodstuffs as gifts. They were struggling to survive. Many would have been political refugees, too. The few central American foodstuffs here were introduced, not by returning Chinese, but by European colonisers, particularly the Spanish and Portuguese. Chili peppers were introduced by the latter through their colony in Macao. China has developed its own cultivars. Central American varieties are largely unknown. Potatoes have long been looked down upon as 'peasants' food' at best. Only the arrival of first KFC, then McDonald's in the 1980s widened their availability. Tomatoes are a recent import, again through Europeans. Corn/maize was introduced much more than two centuries ago by the Arabs and Persians. More like five centuries.

That's a much nicer color!

Great idea! I like the premise and wish you luck!

I made an another 'artist's impression' of the product in Aqua color. Not that I like this better, but just to show everything is possible at this stage.

I haven't baked any bread for a long time but I came across this recipe for Cheesecake Factory Brown Bread and it caught my interest. I always like the brown bread at The Outback and this seems quite similar. I haven't cut into it yet but it sure smells delicious.

Thanks for taking the time. I am happy that color is the biggest detractor and surely something we can easily change. About the size of the heater, a larger heater as you would say require 'zones' to make it fit all sizes of pans. This is of course possible, but would add to the complexity and hence cost. Also, a larger one will have a much lower power density because of the large area with limited (1500 W) power. I think we will most likely stick with the 8 inch size for the first version and there is always room for the improvement in the future versions.

I don't have much to add to what's been said so far -- the design looks good and at that price point I'd sure be interested -- but I will say "me too" regarding that color. I find that particular color of orange very unattractive. Blue, yellow, even black or stainless steel or red would appeal much more to me! The knobs and gauges are great. I've become leery of items that require a remote signal to run. A remote connection can be handy (say, start from your phone while you're away) but requiring one is a dealbreaker for me. I would advocate a larger disk if you can manage it. 8" diameter seems a bit small for the uses I can imagine. Can you make it 10" or, better still, 12" but have a pot size adjustment so it doesn't heat unnecessary surface?

I don’t. I have the recipes written down but can deviate as my tastebuds dictate on the day, a little more garlic, a little less chilli etc. If I find something I like whilst trying out variations I will scribble it down. But I don’t have two sets of scales and don’t measure spices out to the nearest gram