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Stranger in a Strange Land
liuzhou posted a topic in United Kingdom & Ireland: Dining,
After a 42 hour journey by bus (2), train (4) plane (2) with various stopovers waiting for connections, I reached my first destination. A mysterious country called Scotland, full of wild people and strange food.
Despite having been born there, I know very little about the place and haven't been there in decades. But I am now.
The reason for the exhausting trip, which I have been planning for 10 years, is that Sunday (30th June 2019) was my mother's 90th birthday. She was expecting a simple lunch with my youngest brother and his wife, but when she arrived at the restaurant she found nearly all her 5 kids (including me), all her many grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Only one of the 30 knew I was coming - my daugther. Big surprise.
I arrived on the Thursday and went to the hghly recommended hotel I had booked in a village a mile from my mother's home to recover from the jet lag and hide. Things began to go wrong. The hotel was closed and locked! A woman from the shop opposite saw me being confused and came over to tell me that the place had closed months earlier, dishonoring dozens of paid for bookings including wedding receptions and other functions.
T
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- 125 replies
eG Cook-Off #81: The Avocado - Finding new popularity in the kitchen
David Ross posted a topic in Cooking,
The avocado (Persea Americana) is a tree thought to have originated in South Central Mexico. It’s a member of the flowering plant family Lauraceae. The fruit of the plant - yes, it's a fruit and not a vegetable - is also called avocado.
Avocados grow in tropical and warm climates throughout the world. The season in California typically runs from February through September, but avocados from Mexico are now available year-round.
The avocado has a higher fat content than other fruits, and as such serves as an important staple in the diet of consumers who are seeking other sources of protein than meats and fatty foods. Avocado oil has found a new customer base due to its flavor in dressings and sauces and the high smoke point is favorable when sautéing meat and seafood.
In recent years, due in part to catchy television commercials and the influence of Pinterest, the avocado has seen a resurgence in popularity with home cooks and professionals. Walk into your local casual spot and the menu will undoubtedly have some derivation of avocado toast, typically topped with bacon. Avocados have found a rightful place back on fine dining menus, but unfortunately all too often over-worked dishes with too many ingredients and garnishes erase the pure taste and silky texture of an avocado.
When I think of an avocado it’s the Hass variety. However, a friend who lives in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, can buy Choquette, Hall and Lulu avocados in the local markets. This link provides good information about the different varieties of avocados, when they’re in season and the differences in taste and texture. https://www.foodrepublic.com/2012/10/18/know-your-avocado-varieties-and-when-theyre-in-season/
I for one must challenge myself to start eating and cooking more avocados. I think my recipe for guacamole served with chicharrones is superb, and the cobb salad with large chunks of ripe avocado is delicious, but as a close friend recently said, “one person’s ‘not especially new’ is another’s “eureka moment.” Well said and as history tells us, we’ll find plenty of eureka moments as we discuss and share our tales and dishes of avocado during eG Cook-Off #81: The Avocado.
Fun fact: The name avocado derives from the Nahuatl word “ahuacatl,” which was also slang for “testicle.”
See the complete eG Cook-Off Index here https://forums.egullet.org/topic/143994-egullet-recipe-cook-off-index/
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- 134 replies
Post in Burger King
Toliver posted a post in a topic,
Post in Dinner 2019
liuzhou posted a post in a topic,
Milling and Baking with Heritage and Ancient Grains: Bread and Beyond
Shelby posted a topic in Pastry & Baking,
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- 153 replies
Post in eG Cook-Off #80: The Aromatic, Exotic Flavors of Curry
sartoric posted a post in a topic,
This bread doesn’t look the best, I don’t have a proper tava at the cottage, so made do with a fry pan.
Here’s a better piece of bread.
Smart Speakers in the Kitchen
blue_dolphin posted a topic in Kitchen Consumer,
I couldn't find a dedicated thread but found some comments from other threads:
I am new to the Alexa party and jumped in late last year after Alexa got the Sonos skill, enabling me to control my sound system. I was mostly interested in being able to do that in the kitchen, so when I'm listening to a podcast and some noisy appliance makes me miss a sentence, I can just tell Alexa to "rewind 10 sec" and I can catch up. I paid $25 for a Dot, with a coupon from Sonos. After trying it out for a while, I spent $30 for a second Dot over the holidays. I already have speakers in every room, so I didn't need an Echo.
I absolutely love using it to set timers - so much easier to use voice than need to dry off my hands to push timer buttons or fiddle with my phone. Unlike a timer, I don't have a display to check but Alexa will gladly tell me that I have 7 min left on the oven timer, 30 min on the laundry timer and 12 min on my dough timer and when time is up, she tells me which timer is up. For me, it's worth the $25 just as a multi-channel timer.
I wish Alexa had a good measurement conversion skill so I could ask how much a tablespoon of something weighs in grams - she does OK with some things but not others.
I also wish it had the ability to group devices so I'd be able to have the timer I set in the kitchen go off on the other Dot on the other end of the house.
How about you? How are you using Alexa? Successes? Failures? What would you like to see added?
Host's note: this topic was originally titled "Using Alexa in the Kitchen" but renamed when it quickly morphed into a broader range of speakers.
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- 71 replies
Post in Breakfast 2019
blue_dolphin posted a post in a topic,
The Pizza Ovens of Brooklyn
Alex posted a topic in New York: Dining,
- 6 replies
Post in What did you buy at the liquor store today? (2016 - )
choux posted a post in a topic,
Post in Gardening: (2016– )
JoNorvelleWalker posted a post in a topic,
Korus, Paris 11
Margaret Pilgrim posted a topic in France: Dining,
Case in point, Korus whose current Japanese chef pushes the envelop with interesting but always approachable plates.
A simple amuse of radishes and tamara butter
Smoked halibut under a cloud of chocolate scented cream
Asparagus with safran hollandaise and poutargue
And one of my favorites of the evening, fresh peas with strawberries
Tender as love octopus with dill pesto
Iberico pork with polenta and chickpeas
Rhubarb ice cream with basil and meringues
This was a tasting menu at €59. We added an excellently conceived wine pairing at €37. All this plus super attentive service...and a soft buzzy ambiance in which you could actually hold a conversation.
- 1 reply
Post in Your Daily Sweets: What Are You Making and Baking? (2017 – )
blue_dolphin posted a post in a topic,
There's smoked paprika in the dough and a smoked paprika/sugar/salt sprinkle on top.
Edited to add that these are a bit less than half the size the recipe uses. They're still about 2 1/2 to 3 inches in diameter.
Post in Dinner 2019
liamsaunt posted a post in a topic,
Post in eG Foodblog: Panaderia Canadiense 2019 - EAT! Empanadas, Arepas, Tortillas and Other Ambato Food On the Go
Panaderia Canadiense posted a post in a topic,
Post in Tasting Japan
sartoric posted a post in a topic,
You could have coffee with an owl (or a pussy cat).
We didn’t do it, seems exploitative, but I did ask for a photo for my owl crazy niece.
Lunch at a busy restaurant. The crab cake here was superb. Grilled king mushrooms, chicken teriyaki, a bowl of soup and a small plate of dressed vegetables each.
Manhole covers are often works of art.
Post in eG Foodblog: Panaderia Canadiense 2019 - EAT! Empanadas, Arepas, Tortillas and Other Ambato Food On the Go
Panaderia Canadiense posted a post in a topic,
Just outside of this market is my first stop: Doña Lidia, who has a small stand where she prepares Arepas de Loja. This stand only appears on Sunday mornings in the stairwell door between a butcher's shop and a restaurant on Avenida El Condor, and it's only really big enough to accommodate Lidia's frypan, a two-burner cart, and Lidia herself - she folds her umbrella at the sides to fit into the doorway. This kind of eatery is the very definition of a "hueca popular" - a hole in the wall snack stand. Ambato is full of these, and everybody has their own favourites; Doña Lidia is one of mine.
What she's making is the signature arepa of the province of Loja, which is the southernmost Sierra province of Ecuador. These are corn pancakes stuffed with finely chopped green onion and a mild, creamy fresh cheese; they're cooked on steel surfaces in achiote oil, which gives them a characteristic colour and crunch
. (Loja)
Arepas de Loja are 6 for $1.00; I know that I've got more eating to do, so I only bought 3.
They're really hot! Properly made Arepas de Loja are served while the cheese inside them is still piping hot and liquid, so the first bite is always a bit of a doozy. There's a lot of cheese in them, too, more than is normally found in an Ecuadorian arepa. These are my absolute favourite street food when it comes to the quick breads, but there are only two places in the city where they can even be found - Doña Lidia outside of the Mayorista, and Doña Petra in the Mercado America. If Lidia hadn't been here, I'd have gone down to the other market in search of Petra.
Post in eG Foodblog: Panaderia Canadiense 2019 - EAT! Empanadas, Arepas, Tortillas and Other Ambato Food On the Go
Panaderia Canadiense posted a post in a topic,
Just outside of this market is my first stop: Doña Lidia, who has a small stand where she prepares Arepas de Loja. This stand only appears on Sunday mornings in the stairwell door between a butcher's shop and a restaurant on Avenida El Condor, and it's only really big enough to accommodate Lidia's frypan, a two-burner cart, and Lidia herself - she folds her umbrella at the sides to fit into the doorway. This kind of eatery is the very definition of a "hueca popular" - a hole in the wall snack stand. Ambato is full of these, and everybody has their own favourites; Doña Lidia is one of mine.
What she's making is the signature arepa of the province of Loja, which is the southernmost Sierra province of Ecuador. These are corn pancakes stuffed with finely chopped green onion and a mild, creamy fresh cheese; they're cooked on steel surfaces in achiote oil, which gives them a characteristic colour and crunch
. (Loja)
Arepas de Loja are 6 for $1.00; I know that I've got more eating to do, so I only bought 3.
They're really hot! Properly made Arepas de Loja are served while the cheese inside them is still piping hot and liquid, so the first bite is always a bit of a doozy. There's a lot of cheese in them, too, more than is normally found in an Ecuadorian arepa. These are my absolute favourite street food when it comes to the quick breads, but there are only two places in the city where they can even be found - Doña Lidia outside of the Mayorista, and Doña Petra in the Mercado America. If Lidia hadn't been here, I'd have gone down to the other market in search of Petra.
Post in Naming Cocktails
Craig E posted a post in a topic,
Low decibel restaurants in San Francisco
Margaret Pilgrim posted a topic in California: Dining,
SO, are there these kinds of places in SF today? We'd love to be able to dine as well at home as we do abroad.
- 7 replies
Post in The Bread Topic (2016–)
Ann_T posted a post in a topic,
Hand-mixed a 1500g batch of dough yesterday at 72% hydration. Divided it into three containers and put them in the fridge.
Took one out the fridge early this morning and baked three baguettes and one small round.
The little round was a result of having to cut a piece off one of the baguettes so the baguette would fit on the stone in the CSO.
Took a second batch out of the fridge this afternoon and will make pizza for dinner.
And the other container will stay in the fridge until I feel like baking again. Maybe tomorrow or Thursday.
Post in Your Daily Sweets: What Are You Making and Baking? (2017 – )
mariesdoats posted a post in a topic,
My recent favorite is the Espresso Chocolate Cake (now retired) from Proof Bakery in Los Angeles. I got interested in the recipe after seeing this unlikely BuzzFeed clip online (whoa, what's up with 30+ *million* views!! I wondered):
https://ytcropper.com/cropped/n45cd99135de59e
and later found the recipe in the LA Times. Takes a few days to make the component parts--- at least, if you work full-time like me--- but otherwise easy. The final photo is from the online recipe-- and made by the bakery, not me! I include it here to inspire you to Extreme Baking Greatness, not yet achieved by me. But: delicious and fun, for a first try!
Post in Baking with Myhrvold's "Modernist Bread: The Art and Science"
Raamo posted a post in a topic,
The first thing you do is mix up Methocel F50 with water and let it hydrate for 18 hours.
This is what it looks like right after some immersion blender action.
Then 12 hours before make a poolish Here it is right before it's used, nice and bubbly.
Mix the water, poolish, and a bunch of other things including flour until full gluten development and you end up with something like this:
It's coated with oil for it's fermenting step.
After 90 mins with no folds it grows:
Make this into 7 ~140g pretzels. I had a bit more dough so 2 were a little bigger.
These are proofed, I did 5 in my oven on proof and 2 in my steam oven on proof.
As I proofed them I got the lye all setup:
Safety First!
Post proof they bake for ~10 mins:
Don't really look like preztels yet, face down into lye and add some salt, bake for 5 more mins and you get these:
Turns out they come out OK in both the steam oven and the regular oven. These are super tasty!
Post in eG Cook-Off #82: Salmon
JoNorvelleWalker posted a post in a topic,