scott123

Back in my pre-pizza stone days, I was having huge problems grasping a 600 degree cookie sheet. I had heard so many things about welding gloves that I picked up a pair from Home Depot. On my first attempt, my hand got very hot very quickly (almost instantaneously). I took them straight back. Is Home Depot not the place to buy welding gloves? Is there a particular brand I should be looking for?

Because nuts are low carb, low G.I., have healthy fats and are delicious, most low carb approaches look upon them very favorably. This does not necessarily mean that you should eat nuts. Ultimately it's how your body responds to a food that reveals if you should avoid it or not. It doesn't matter what its G.I. is or how many carbs it contains. If nuts do indeed trigger cravings, stay away. Not even in moderation. We all have certain trigger foods that may or may not fit into some prescribed way of eating. Regardless of what the books say, if you feel nuts effect you adversely, don't be lulled into thinking they're okay. Your body is smarter than any book out there.

I disagree. I did go completely cold turkey for a couple of weeks but after that I ate small amounts of low carb sweeteners like splenda, stevia and erythritol without any problem. I can eat things sweetened with this stuff and be satisfied with one serving. No blood sugar spikes, no mood swings, just one serving and on my merry way. This stuff just doesn't mess with me emotionally like sugar/fruit/starch does. Sugar no longer enslaves me. Artificial/alternative sweeteners give me the ability to have something sweet once in a while and not have it spiral out of control.

Signature line? *gulp* That's a pretty big step for me. Let me think about it

I went through hell with sugar. I'd crave it, eat it, then my blood sugar would spike, then plummet and I start craving it again. I was a mess. If I went more than a few hours without eating, I was practically psychotic. Up and down and up and down until I just couldn't take it anymore. Just cutting sugar out of my diet did nothing for me. It was all the blood spiking foods that fed the craving/vicious cycle: sugar, starch AND fruit. In other words, I went low carb. Please understand, I have NEVER advocated low carb to anyone. Up until now, I've just done my thing and kept my opinion to myself. It sounds, though, that you are in a similar situation to what I was going through. If so, the best way to beat the sugar blues is a low carb way of eating. Low carbing pulled me off the glycemic roller coaster that wreaked havoc on my psyche for years. The weight loss has been a pleasant side effect, but the even emotional keel I've achieved has been priceless.

Care to share your recipe?

Now this is a topic I can seek my teeth into Every dish I make is an onion dish. Whatever the recipe says, I always triple the onions, at least. I also caramelize them every time, again, regardless of the recipe. My aloo ghobi (now just ghobi) get's smothered in onions, as does my butter chicken and my saag paneer. And not just in Indian food either. If it's a savory dish, it's getting crammed with an obscene amount of onions. Oh onions, my fair onions I weep for thee The unfolding mystery A shrowded veil Sizzling symphony Pungent Brash Don't you dare burn on me! The journey to caramelization may be arduous but the view from the top is magnficent

I cringe when I see non teff injera recipes. Without the teff,it's not injera. Do you have any Ethiopian restaurants near you? A restaurant will usually sell you some teff. By the time you factor in shipping it's outrageously expensive, but here is one online source that ships internationally: http://lib1.store.vip.sc5.yahoo.com/lib/tr...s/tfcatalog.htm

That's strange, I've looked at this page a few times and these bad pictures of you are no where to be found I think if you make Alton look like less then perfect, then you should definitely return the favor by posting his bad shots of you. It's only fair. Come on... what's good for the goose...

Definitely check out that restaurant. Ethiopian food, when done well, is on par with any other nationality of cuisine. If there's Ethiopians eating in the restaurant you go to, watch carefully the way they use the injera to make packets of food by pressing the food into the injera rather than just scooping it up and making a mess. In the hundreds of times I've dined at Ethiopian restaurants I have never seen an Ethiopian ever get food on themselves. Westerners, on the other hand, have a tendency to be complete slobs It's all in the technique. Concentrate on getting the injera around the clump of food so a little pocket is formed. Ethiopians I've watched have an interesting rhythm. Presspresspresspresspresspressclose eat. It helps if the food isn't too watery or too chunky. The real secret is getting the most of the main dish with as little bread as possible. That will come with practice.

Well said Mr. Modo! An exercise plan that includes weight training is essential, regardless of gender. Increased lean body mass via resistance training and ketosis are a two sided metabolic sword for slicing off fat and keeping it off - permanently.

As much as I enjoy living vicariously through your celebrity interaction, I find that picture of Alton a little disconcerting. Is it me or was he not terribly excited at having a camera shoved in his face while eating?

Sugar free honey is kind of a gray area carbwise. It's made with maltitol syrup and honey flavoring. Sugar alcohols like maltitol syrup have similar properties to sugar but don't have the same glycemic/caloric impact because the body can't digest them entirely. Unfortunately, because they don't digest, they can cause cramping, bloating, gas and a laxative effect in sensitive individuals. Manufacturers claim that the digestive issues stemming from sugar alcohols are similar to bean sugars that some people are sensitive to. They also claim that, like beans, a tolerance can be built up with regular use. There is also very little hard data as to how many of the carbs in sugar alcohols are metabolized by the body. The low carb community is divided on the issue. Some steer clear of sugar alcohols altogether, some consume them while treating the carbs in them as entirely digestible while others count half the carbs. And just to make it a little more complicated, not all sugar alcohols act the same way in the body. Erythritol has almost no caloric impact, no carb impact AND causes little to no digestive problems. It does have a "cooling effect", though, giving foods made with it a minty quality. For me, I prefer sugar free honey to real honey because of the lower glycemic impact. Even a small amount of real honey gives me a blood sugar spike, something Sugar free honey doesn't do (at least not in small amounts).

LOL

*shaking my head* Monica, you are living life on the edge. Thanks, everyone, for your suggestions. Having worked with annato in Mexican cooking, I'm not sure I want to add that flavor to my dish. Gingerly, I applaud your experiments, but increasing the ph of my chicken is not in my plans. At least not in this dish. Please do keep us informed how your haloween aloo goes, though. Chocolate is alkaline, how about that? Episure, thanks, normally I'd jump at the carrot idea but having spent 3 months tracking down sugar free honey for this dish, I'm keeping to my plan to make it low carb, no matter what. I guess a drop or two of food coloring once in while probably won't kill me.

From this thread here I am aware that there are a few ways of coloring tandoori chicken. These include: Red/yellow food coloring Kashmiri Mirch Deghi Mirch Beetroot powder cochineal dye Maval (cockscomb flowers) I'm looking for something that will give me the reddish orange I'm accustomed to eating but won't be potentially bad for my health. Thus I'd like to avoid the red/yellow food coloring. Besides the chilis/food coloring, are any of these available at my local Indian grocer? Should I ask for a particular brand? Is there anything else that's safe/natural and can be added to this list? And I know the color provides no flavor but there is a psychological aspect involved. I'm sure that eventually I will graduate out of the need for color, but these first few times, I'd like the familiar hue.

Gifted Gourmet, how do you do? *extending hand* My name is Scott. I am a chef who doesn't see the value in "eating with one's eyes". The tastebuds are the sole recipients of my artistic endeavors. If the food happens to look good, great, but it's not what I strive for. Intricate food presentation is for the idle rich. I am a peasant and my clientelle are peasants. Rustic to the core.

Mags, I'm not usually very trustful of normal recipes and low carb recipes tend to be even more hit and miss. But I do trust your taste buds and if you trust your sources, that's good enough for me. Please do share.

You raise some excellent points. I think the biggest obstacle to a decent commercial pizza crust is economics. For anyone that cares about the taste of their food, soy flour is disgusting. Unfortunately, it's cheap. Almond flour makes a far superior baking mix base. Unfortunately it's just too expensive for commercial entities to use. So, either you find mixes with forbidden ingredients like regular flour or corn starch or you find them heavily ladden with soy. That's the extent of it to date. I am quite certain a decent lc pizza crust can be developed at home. I will be embarking on the endeavor soon. If I had to make a guess at the winning flour sub combo, I'd say almond flour, wheat protein isolate, and perhaps some whey protein isolate. Now as far as the yeast is concerned, that might get tricky. You want enough sugar in the dough for the yeast to survive but not any excess for you to consume. Unless, of course, you went with a baking powder leavened crust, which for me would be heresy.

I'll echo that sentiment. Eating with your eyes is totally overated. Who cares what food looks like?

In your experience has this charcoal been the natural lump kind or do they use the pressed/filler kind you find here in the U.S.? Also, does India have a version of the notoriously disgusting lighter fluid laced 'easy light' charcoal?

Hmmmm, so the smokiness in my favorite restaurant's chicken tikka (New Jersey, USA) most probably stems from the burning of the chicken fat on the gas burner as opposed to smoke from a wood fuel source?

Is there a favorite wood for tandoori cooking? And, if so, what is it?

Your cauliflower turned into Aloo Gobhi Mattar? Was some sort of incantation involved? Was this transformation permanent? Mine just sits in the vegetable bin and turns brown. If I could find a cauliflower that turns into aloo gobhi, I'd be buying a LOT of those

I'm not sure if this has been mentioned, but you'll get better results by grating your low moisture mozz. Fresh mozz melts on a dime. The low moisture stuff needs a little help in the form of grating.