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CNN will pay you to write about your personal food aversions... https://www.cnn.com/2024/05/04/world/why-people-enjoy-eating-chicken-ijdgi-cec/index.html

I tested 3 pans using a pair of thermocouples, one that I tried to place in the pan center and one that I placed at the pan edge. I tried an off-brand of Kapton tape but it let go very quickly as the pan heated. A very large piece of blue painter's tape worked OK to hold the thermocouples in place. All tests were to 250 F on low intensity with an empty pan. The first pan was the 8.5" Heston nonstick skillet. This is a clad pan with a concave bottom (1mm concavity). When the pan temperature was stable and the CF was reporting 250 measurements at the pan center ranged from 236-238. Measurements at the pan edge ranged from 243-246. IR thermometer measurements towards the edge were 272-276. The second pan was the Analon Copper, 10 inch fry pan. This pan has a flat disk base that allegedly contains copper. The base is concave by a similar amount as the Hestan, about 1.1mm. With this pan the center measurements ranged from 246-250. I did have one low measurement at 243. The edge measurements (still over the disk base) ranged from 243-245. The IR thermometer reported 268-276. The third pan was a Demeyere Atlantis dutch oven with a 9 inch base diameter. This is the thick base style pan that has 2mm copper in the base. This pan is something like 15-20 years old. The bottom of the pan is somewhat warped, but convex, not concave. It's hard to estimate the size of a convexity, but maybe it's around 0.3mm. With this pan, the center measurement was between 248-253. The edge measurement was 241-245. For completeness I tried the IR thermometer on this pan and it read 115. (A bad reading is expected due to the stainless steel cooking surface.) In all cases when the pans were heating up the pan center seemed to outpace the sensor, reading ~8 deg F warmer than the sensor was reporting. So it seems like the CF is most likely working correctly. The big discrepancies I observed before in steady state temperature were IR thermometer readings and they seem to be high. I'm not sure what to make of the Heston pan performance. One of the questions is whether to return that pan. Why is the pan temperature lower than the CF setting? How can this happen? That implies that the CF is reading a hotter temperature than the pan actually is. Or that the pan is 12-14 degrees F colder at the top surface than the bottom in steady state. Another observation is that the Analon seems to do OK in this test despite its concave bottom. Finding pans that are not concave seems to be somewhat difficult.

Steak salad with a cilantro dressing. Salad included butter lettuce, cilantro, scallions, sliced shallots, pickled shallots, and sauteed zucchini. Dressing was cilantro, lime juice, fish sauce, palm sugar, garlic, and a little Hatch chile powder, all whizzed up in the blender. NY strip steak was marinated for about an hour with garlic, black pepper, and soy sauce. I didn't feel like grilling in the rain so the steak was "reverse seared" - baked in a 275°F oven for 20 minutes, seared on a cast iron pan, and then rested before slicing. Very tender.

OMG now I need to get goat or suckling goat meat asap!

One of my weaknesses. Never seen them at any farmers' market, so I have to go to Oakland Chinatown for my fix. Parking is horrendous, so we don't go very often, only when we really crave char siu or roasted duck or the best fresh pot sticker skins and fresh noodles.

Char sui bao I picked up at the local farmers market

Back in 2012, my wife and I took our first trip (of more than a stopover) to Singapore. After about 25 hours in transit (including changing planes in Hong Kong with some good airport dim sum and a really good loose leaf tea selection), then walking around all day, we decided to spend our first dinner at the closest restaurant to our hotel: The magic of Chongqing hot pot. This was our first hot pot experience (ever!) and our waitress was very patient in explaining everything to us. The purpose of this long winded story is that she said that the sesame dipping sauce is the "magic sauce" - maybe she was referring to the soul of it? Magical sesame sauce bottom right; bottom center is chilli sauce to add to the magical sauce - makes it more magical?

If I was there, those would be gone in less than 5 minutes... I can get them fresh here in NYC now, but they're really expensive so I feel very guilty gorging myself. Hopefully I'll find a good fruit market in Indonesia in July.

Several days ago I used half a chicken to make chicken noodle soup for my sick husband (he's down to a lingering cough now, thank goodness.) With no immediate plans for the other half, I roasted it off a day or two later. The night before last I turned it into more or less enchiladas suizas - enough for two dinners and a lunch. Here's my plate last night with "Spanish rice" and lots of garnishes to cover up that they fell apart when I plated it. They were tasty if messy the second day.

I guess a baking equivalent of "first catch your hare" might be first render some lard... With that out of the way, I kept my eyes on the prize... For those unfamiliar, Lardy Cake an English spiced bread made with dried fruit and, yup, pork fat. Mmmmmm.... laaaaarrrrrrrrd. 🤤

@ElsieD Mangosteens

Or many people with way more money than sense

I’d love the opportunity to taste all of the gorgeous goodies that you all have been posting. I’ve only got a couple and they are not as delectable as all of these! For what has turned into an annual event, Jessica and I spent the Saturday morning before Easter at church dipping strawberries, marshmallows, and pretzels in chocolate for the champagne reception after the Easter Vigil. Marshmallows and pretzels: The stuff in the center is edible (but not tasty) Easter grass. Pretzels: The bunnies are more edible decorations. They tasted for all the world like banana flavored communion wafers 😄. Platters of strawberries: Jessica and I both made desserts for Easter. Her pineapple icebox pie: My roasted strawberry cheesecake: Both of the desserts were served with dollops of Cool Whip. The cheesecake was also sprinkled with pulverized freeze dried strawberries. I made a blueberry breakfast cake for a meeting of the Episcopal Church Women at church one Saturday morning: It was very popular, as always. I was only able to save Mr. Kim and Jessica one piece to share:

A little grill action for some very nice eggplant and zucchini from the farmers market. The vegetables were brushed with olive oil, lemon juice and S&P then grilled on my gas weber. The grilled vegetables were topped with Kashaval cheese, oil cured olives, tomatoes and fresh oregano & mint. It made for a very nice lunch served on a toasted pita.

Ai

Regarding current discussion for Shel_B, I'm sure it's already been explored to just add a little flour/starch/gelatin slurry (or just use direct starch) rather than wasting all that freezer space to add a little more thickening agent. On the original topic, my aunts and their past generations would make soup from the left-over pasta water, especially when they made fresh egg-pasta or halušky/gnocchi, I think even potato water, too -- I've done that a few times, really good for the vegetable soups like a light garlic soup with sage and a fried egg, cauliflower, dumpling, other root veges, etc. Being eco friendly or save water or create saucier sauces, simply make the pasta "risotto" style, where it's just enough water so it's all done when you make it and you have a really nice cooked slurry. I find myself doing this a lot especially when in sustenance mode.

I've been to Athens today. Thank you @BonVivant ! !

I got halibut in this week's fish share and picked up ingredients to make a recipe from Sunday Suppers at Lucques but got lazy and decided on this very quick and easy Soy-Brined Halibut with Mustard Greens, Sesame and Lime from Dining In. The fish gets brined for an hour or two in a mix of soy sauce, rice vinegar and water, then poached in a similar mixture of soy sauce, sesame oil and water. The greens get tossed into the pan to cook along with the fish. Lime juice is added to the liquid in the pan and it's spooned over the fish and greens. I subbed beet greens instead of mustard greens as it's what was on hand. To avoid turning the fish pink and to allow for a longer cooking time for the beet greens, I cooked them separately. With the low-sodium soy sauce I used, the brine was pretty dilute so I'll probably add more soy sauce or reduce the amount of water next time to make it more concentrated. Nice, quick meal.

Unless someone cooks ONLY on a Control Freak (and never above about 300F), ControlInduc is a very practical feature. Fire and lung safety is but one advantage. The pan employs a magnetic alloy whose Cutie point is the cutoff temperature, but it is a gradual tailing off. God Knows what might happen if/when it stifles the Gf's button sensor.

I have never made or eaten White Chili, so I ventured! Once I got the "red chili" out of my head, I quite enjoyed this. I added shredded cheese after the pic for hubby, and it melted in nicely. I enjoyed mine with a dollop of sour cream and dill. A friend gave us a bag of frozen large shrimp, so I took the opportunity to make Spicy Shrimp and Cheesy Grits. The shrimp were large and had a lovely "crunch" with the bite. Both the chili and shrimp dishes were quick meals, under an hour if you have the ingredients on hand.

They were ginning up a reason for another line, d5 (and the "Thomas Keller"). The underlying theory was Start-Stop-Start, i.e., that, by interweaving SS with aluminum in thin layers, heat was "forced" outward through the aluminum, allegedly resulting in more even heating. The theory makes no sense. A-C even offered a few pieces of d7 with even more pointless steel. They tried justifying that by claiming it made the pan just like cast iron (!!!), only lighter. Go figure.

That made me laugh...

We stopped at a nice little place called the Red Door Cafe for brunch while taking some friends to the airport, I ordered the 'Dippy Eggs': Soft eggs, with pieces of Mozzarella, a tangy tomato salsa, chives, bacon, and sourdough soldiers. It was very nice! Of course, presented in the little egg carton was a nice touch.

Yes, home made. There is a recipe in the first post in this topic. Scroll down.