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Please, take no offense @Smithy but my local burrito joints, and even a national one like Chipotle, would be crying at those burritos - all of mine would put a LOT more filling in each one. They add enough filling so that you can just barely close the burrito. One thing that helps is to either heat the tortilla on a flattop or briefly steam it - it will make it a lot more flexible and easy to handle. Similar to when wrapping something in a banana leaf, the leaf is commonly passed over a gas flame or burner. ETA - also, one can't undersell the importance of experience and muscle memory. Obviously, people who make 100 burritos a day will be a lot better at it than someone who does it on occasion.

If you can’t find it, you might consider Powdered Brewery Wash (PBW), another stain removing cleaner available in home brewing supply places. It’s kind of a fragrance-free, extra strength OxiClean type cleaner. Quite good at removing tea stains from mugs. I believe Diversol also sanitizes but PBW is primarily a cleaner and stain remover.

@Smithy very fine everything here. BTW : peeling a potato : tastier w the peel ? even mashed ?

Amazon didn't find this, Elsie. More info, please?

You, sir, are a very smart person! Thanks so much for explaining. What would I do without all of the smart people around here???

Consider pickled jalapenos instead of salsa. I know it's not the same, and definitely no sub for tomatoes; but it can add enough taste to suffice as a work around. And FYI, in Diana Kennedy, The Art of Mexican Cooking, there is a recipe for the very best flour tortilla I've ever tasted, "Tortillas de Harina Integral." It's at p. 386. The list of ingredients is as follows: rounded 1/2t fine ground salt 1/2C warm water 5oz AP or bread flour 3oz whole-wheat flour 1 heaped tsp gluten flour (optional) 2oz shortening. I grew up in flour tortilla country, and I don't care for them generally although I appreciate their utility. This one, however, was so good none of them ever made it into the freezer. That said -- I only ever used leaf lard instead of vegetable shortening, and the whole wheat flour that I use makes the best tasting everything, it's from a small mill called "Kenyons" [which I can't really recommend for mail order anymore due to gobsmacking dysfunction in that part of the business] But that flour does taste dramatically better than anything else I've used on the whole-wheat front, so that might have something to do with it.

Should work exactly the same. A PC works because the higher pressure enables the boiling point of water to be higher than at sea level. So my pressure cooker has 2 positions - the first is 1.5 Atmosphere (0.5 atmospheres higher than normal), which equates to a boiling point of about 230F; the second is 2 Atmosphere (1 atmosphere higher than normal) which equates to a boiling point of 248F. So, when suspended on a rack above the water line, you'd be immersed in 248F steam.... So, setting the steam boy to supersteam at 250F should do the same thing and take the same amount of time.

Love your review, I know it wasn't meant that way but it makes me want to buy the book! Btw, I think the key with any ricotta gnocchi is to get a firm ricotta. Ricotta that is too wet can really ruin that recipe. Bellwether Farms makes a good one that comes in a draining basket, if you can find it.

Hi everyone, I know this is an old cookbook that is not always loved but I would have loved to have more context when considering the recipes. so here it. Hopefuly this is the right place. One key point is this is not a cookbook for the faint of heart. I dont really classify this book into the cookbook category. It is an educational experience? Requires real commitment. I have learned A LOT about the difference it makes to really do things the hard way, to take time, and be patient. There are recipes I have walked away from thinking "this is was nice but not worth the extra steps/time", especially when they were a take on a classic. Some where I cooked for 36 hours convinced every component tasted odd or weird, only to plate them together and be blown away with the flavor combination coming together, some where I fully appreciated why spending that extra time was absolutely worth it. I am not at the point where I can freely lean on that knowledge into my regular cooking or improvise on it.I have found that most of the very easy/simple recipes are not as worthwhile as the more complex ones, vs. cooking a similar dish without the complex ingredients/techniques. I have loved the original version, I have found very few recipes I wanted to take on in the Next chapter version. I have so far stayed away from anything requiring NO2 cartridges or Nitrogen.Somewhat concerned about safety. But i have been able to secure most equipment required (aka without alternative) without too much investment. Sous vide/circulator was actually not that much $. Neither was a chinois. Garden Pea Soup: made it early on, it was ok but disappointing, mostly because it felt very starchy due to the qualityof the peas. Strawberry Gaspacho: a very easy recipe, I made this multiple times. The first time was great,the second time the strawberries were too sweet and it threw off the balance of the dish, felt like a dessert. Ricotta Gnocchi: This dish was a nice concept but execution was a failure. The larger sized gnochhi couldnt get brown very well and the dish ended up feeling very mushy/one texture. I would try again but change to regular size gnochhi and be really focused on getting them browned Chocolate and Fleur de Sel/Caramel: a nice dish but my ice cream maker failed me. I tend to be more impressed with interesting flavor profiles vs the standards (chocolate/caramel) which can be achieved through simpler recipe with great results. Corn Chilled soup with lobster: made multiple times, a great recipe. I have skipped the corn bavarois the second time, it is very rich. and it was almost as nice without. Tomato Salad with mozarella ice cream: Cherry tomato confit was amazing, the mozzarella ice cream felt gimicky, and not worth the trouble. Same recipe with regular mozarella or burrata was great. Duck Lavender Glazed with fennel/peaches: no notes, but did have to change the recipe to duck magret to make it more doable, which changed the impact of the spice mix. That mix is great. Lamb yogurt/cumin: Changed it to beef tenderloin since I could not serve lamb, it was a hit. Great dish to cook when hosting with the sous vide cooking in advance it was "easy". the yogurt gel did not take and that has been an issue on several dishes. I did not see the benefit of using the gel vs the original yogurt, since it did not pan out. Malt Sorbet and Olive oil: a very strange dessert but it really delivered. I would make this again. Beet Salad with chevre/caraway: it was fine but forgettable Loup de Mer Porcini, Sweet potatoes, iberico ham: loved this recipe. The fig jus was incredible. Lobster Poached with fennel/orange/persinmmon: this was a great success. poaching the lobster was delicious, and surprisingly easy. I had to skip the roe powder, but used lobster oil and salmon roe. Beef tenderloin with bone marrow crust/chanterelles: I discovered through that dish I just hate cooking with bone marrow. Not my jam. The dish was nice but the result did not match the work required . Hobelchas with apple and chestnut: this is really a case of sourcing the right ingredients at the right time. The dish did not look good and was just not great. Goat cheese and Lemon Galette: this was nice. Hamachi Lemon Fennel Horseradish: probably my favorite recipe in this book. Very easy/simple, but delivers. A few items can be simplified, including the horseradish puree. The white soylemon vinaigrette has become a staple in our household. Raddichio mozarella mango basil: another ok but forgettable dish. Potato smoked with truffles and pork crumble: I could not figure out the potato mousseline on this one (was serving off site, too tricky) and had to find an alternative option. this was nice but would deserve another try. Pork crumble was a great component, I could see it being used in other dishes. Vacherin mont dor potatoes and mustard: this was a hit. The cheese is hard to locate in the US but found very close alternatives/copy cat. The potato confit was absolutely worthwhile and a standout, could be served with other dishes. Made these multiple times. Chocolate Cremeux, yuzu, banana, sesame: a great dessert. I am not a fan of any of these flavors but it delivered. The tapioca tuile recip: had to do it twice/adapt it as the tapioca pearls were not cooking correctly/as explained. I had to skip the sesame areated chocolate since I did not want to use a no2 cartridge/canister. The yuzu pate de fruit did not take/solidify as much as it should have. Woud do this one again. There are recipes in the book that dont appeal to me, some that just use too complicated of ingredients. I now feel ok making some changes if it allows me to try a dish I have wanted to make. I am trying the Suckling pig confit with onions and cherry sauce, where I will use regular pork instead (cant cook suckling pig), the scallops, fennels, tangerine and tarragon and the apricot and almond dessert this year. The lobster poached with bergamot is one of the recipe I have been wanting to try for a while but cant seem to locate bergamot. if any of you have any ideas on sourcing fresh bergamot in the midwest..I would take it.

I just finished the burrito labeled "smallish, with sour cream". Heated it in the microwave, 1 minute at 50% power. The heating was right. The flavor was...bland. I livened it up with the salsa -- not something I could do while drivin! but it was fine for sitting down. I think I don't really like that particular sausage link in this context, but I only have 1 more package of them to go, then they'll be gone. Interestingly enough, I couldn't detect the sour cream. Also interestingly enough, I'm not crazy about the tortilla itself although it's plenty pliable and doesn't have strange ingredients. @AlaMoi's suggestion for lopping some off is a good future suggestion. As for @FeChef's suggestion -- well, maybe I'll get into making my own tortillas eventually. No photos this time, but maybe with the next one(s). At any rate, I'm encouraged to see that I'm getting the technique!

🤣 OMG what a jerk! More for you at least....... I DO need a friend in the kitchen. However, I will confess that I might get a tad grumpy at times. I recommend making some gizzards soon. I should do them for just us more often. It's way more manageable when I'm not trying to make tons of them.

Shelby, you have outdone yourself. Also? I now want gizzards, So.Very.Badly. [Aside -- over a decade ago, I was dating a man who lived far away, in a relationship that involved a lot of travel. He liked livers and gizzards, and I was collecting them over months, chicken by chicken, cleaned and frozen in milk. At about the time I had a reasonable volume, he dumped me.] But where was I? Um. You know how Ronnie gets to have a Friend in teh blind? I think you need a Friend in the kitchen. My guess is, there may be a lot of e-Gullet friend/applicants for the position, but I definitely think it should be me. As I said several hunts ago, I am willing to mop, and I would pour the wine. More important, as Designated Friend, I would have your coffee ready this morning. It would be Irish-style! So then you could go right back to bed.

I should have asked here sooner--would have saved me a panic attack lol. Super steam would really do the same thing as the IP? Would I use the same amount of time?

*putting the teapot away*

Yeah. 鸡内金 (jī nèi jīn) is another of the ludicrous things that are used in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) for various complaints, with no scientific basis. No culinary value and no medicinal value either.

You're very right. I think deep down I enjoy making things harder on myself 🙃

I’m not particularly knowledgeable but I’m a pretty good looker-upper and the yellow stuff is a protective membrane made of koilin that lines the inside of the gizzard to protect the muscle from acidic stomach secretions and any grit, stones or other sharp material. The muscular gizzard contracts to sort of grind up whatever’s passed through the stomach. It can pass the material back to the stomach for more enzymatic digestion or on to the intestine. Apparently people make a tea from that gizzard lining and use it to treat digestive ailments. This Amazon listing for them (eG-friendly Amazon.com link) includes what looks like a Chinese name for them so maybe @liuzhou is familiar with that usage.

Looks fab! You could cook the potatoes in a baking dish and have easier clean--up.

We use diversol to remove stains from coffee mugs and whatever else needs stain removal. We buy it at our local brew-your-own place. It works very well.

It's like you're in my kitchen 🤣. The cast iron is a complete mess. It's soaking as we speak. I HATE cleaning it, but clean it I shall. They've gotten bigger ones and they try to always get bigger than before. Plus, yeah, I really want a nice dry doe. Bucks are SO tough. It's been years since I've had some really good steaks and roasts because I turn the tough guys all into hamburger.

Scrambled eggs with roasted chile Poblano, onion, garlic, serrano chiles, cumin, thyme, Mexican oregano, and feta cheese

@Shelby I just had a thought - if (next time) there's not enough PCs, you could use a SteamBoy on Supersteam at 250F which would pretty much completely recreate the environment in a pressure cooker at full pressure....

Wow! That is so much work and the results all look marvelous! A lot of love goes into your cookery. I can imagine your stove looking a right mess. What about that cast iron pan? You mentioned buttering the hell out of it, but I can still imagine it being crusted up with stray bits of cooked-on cream, butter, potatoes, whatever. Mine would. Thanks for the tutorial on the gizzards. I think I'll try that, on a much smaller scale since it's just me. And thanks especially for the photo of the revolting stuff you DON'T want in your cooked gizzards. Ewww. Maybe someone with more knowledge of fowl biology ( @blue_dolphin? @YvetteMT? Someone else?) can explain what that yellow stuff is. Did the guys explain why those bucks weren't considered worthy targets? You mentioned looking for a dry doe before. Is that what they're holding out for?

To answer in reverse order, I am lucky that I live in one of China's few provinces with a coast line, namely the Tonkin Gulf beside our border with Vietnam. This means we have an excellent supply of seafood. Few people, if any, cook the scallops at home, though. It's seen as a street food treat. I prefer them simply seared but cooked through. I find the garlic here too aggressive which overpowers their delicate taste.

Happy Saturday! It's another frosty kinda foggy morning. I'm trying to decide if I want any of my mostly cream and sugar coffee.....it seems like a monumental decision for some reason 🤣 I think I really just want something warm for my hands to hold. So I should just do a mug of hot water lol. I knew yesterday was going to be a long one and it was lol. I started frying a little after three and got done a few minutes before 5. I had 4 trays of chicken gizzards which I knew I wasn't going to do all 4 because that would be too much. Then I had a long panic because I hadn't thought far enough ahead about how I was going to fit all of these guts into pressure cookers. I have a big IP which is what I had initially thought I'd use for the chicken gizzards and then I'd use a normal size IP for the duck/goose gizzards BUT it hit me that I don't have a large sized rack of any kind for the big IP. I need to rectify that but there was no time to do it yesterday. So, I finally decided to do the goose/duck gizzards right away and then keep them warm in a steam boy. Thankfully that worked! PHEW. Like @Smithyand I were talking about yesterday, you do need to clean gizzards very well. Store bought ones should be pretty clean already but I go through them all just in case. More often than not I run across this: You don't want that yellowish piece of tough whatever-it-is on there. It peels off easily though. Chicken gizzards Taking a swim in buttermilk Goose/duck gizzards In their buttermilk pool Frying Chicken gizzards fried and ready to pressure cook for 40 mins Inside the IP with a cup of water below I split the chicken gizzards between two regular sized IPs. I used this tray thingy for the other batch--I didn't use the middle tray. All done! Goose/duck gizzards all done and keeping warm Chipped beef cheese ball, leftover deviled eggs and meats and cheeses for appetizers Once the guts were all merrily pressure cooking I started on scalloped potatoes. I used my mandolin and thinly sliced potatoes (I listened to @rotutsand left the skins on ). Then I buttered the hell out of a cast iron and put a layer of potatoes down, sprinkled with Lawry's and black pepper and then sprinkled with sharp cheddar. Repeat until the pan is full. Pour heavy cream in until you can see it surrounding the potatoes. Cover and bring to a slight simmer. You want to watch because it's easy to burn the bottom of the potatoes. Once the potatoes are tender (poke a knife in to test), remove the lid and let the rest of the cream cook into the potatoes. They're great just like that or you can sprinkle with a bit more cheese and pop them under the broiler: Salad to go with My small plate lol--I was almost too tired to eat Lots of leftovers for today to snack on. No luck this morning but I got sent some good pictures of some nice boys I've gotta clean my stove. You should see it 😮