Fernwood

Old topic but persistent problem. I have been throwing out some older silicone spatulas because they come out of the sink or the automatic dishwasher clean, then develop a greasy surface film while they sit in the drawer for a few days. I think it's mostly cheaper ones that get really icky. Some brands--I can identify Mastrad specifically--seem to hold up better. I can clean it off before use but I can't help thinking that something is absorbed into the material and then leaches out again and presumably this is also happening while the spatula is in contact with the food (ick). I have been wondering for years whether everyone sees this or if it is promoted by something in my kitchen (water? cooking fats? detergent? karma?). Anyway, I would love recommendations from people who have experienced this for brands that are more resistant. I think the Mastrad items are very good quality but I would love a couple of smaller spatulas with thinner edges; the Mastrad ones are rather sturdy. ETA I'm looking at a Di Oro set online but it's hard to tell anything about the edge profile.

A decade of canelé obsession: Please help with cannele recipe

Got some Ruby chocolate from Trader Joe's and made some goodies for my Valentine. I tempered ridiculously small amounts of both chocolates by nuking and seeding, with reasonable success, piped from zip bags onto parchment and threw some crumbled freeze-dried raspberries (also TJ's) on top. Very amateurishly improvised but I was pleased with the result.

Available at Trader Joe's, if that's accessible for you.

If you haven't seen it yet, don't miss The Terrine Topic, including many awesome projects by @Baron d'Apcher. It's a veritable museum of terrines!

I bake my pumpkin pies (at home) on the bottom rack on a preheated heavy aluminum griddle but it sounds as though that is not applicable to your conditions. I agree that the dough may be moister than necessary. My crust has the same fat % (I use butter) but only 28% water.

Yet again I forgot to photograph the cookie platters for our holiday party, so I made a demo plate for (virtual) sharing. We keep making the same assortment year after year because we can't agree to cut any of them. Sugar cookies (vanilla + lemon); Ginger Spice; Pistachio Cranberry shortbread (+ orange); Coffee Snaps; Spritz (vanilla + almond); Golden Bars (brown sugar & pecans); Meringues (peppermint + mini chocolate chips). My daughter made this batch of meringues so tiny that it's tempting to grab them by the handful. We will not discuss how many of these cookies made it back into the tins.

I must have gotten six emails from DHL with that phrase and I giggled at every one. (easily amused, I guess)

Thanks, Paul. I have read your underbelly posts about coffee and coffee ice cream with fascination and I will be interested to hear what you have to say about the coffee at O Cafe.

I have heard the same saying with "electricians" for "mushroom hunters". Both versions make sense to me.

Anyone familiar with this little joint in the Village? I assume some Brazilian roots because of items like pao de queijo and brigadeiros on the menu. I would love to know about the coffee in the latte my husband brought me--such a bright flavor, not at all like typical espresso of my experience. At home in CT we have access to a pretty great local roaster with quite a range of coffees. I wish I knew about the coffee in that O Cafe latte so I could try for something similar from Willoughby's.

The link in the first post doesn't seem to work for me(?).

Now that DHL has made contact they have become my most constant correspondent. I think today's second email was to notify me that my package has cleared customs in Miami. I particularly enjoyed this line: "Description: FLYING PAN STEAL" 😉

Any joy? Email today from DHL says mine is scheduled for delivery next Monday.

I feel the same way and I have wondered if it's one of those things where there's a genetic variability in being able to smell a particular aroma compound, or at least in how intensely it's perceived. Papaya never did anything to hurt me but I couldn't stand it as a kid, found it rather nauseating. It wasn't something I was routinely exposed to growing up in New York but we went to the Bahamas once when I was around 11 years old. Every morning at breakfast I would say No papaya, please--I'll just have the second course (no memory of what came after the fruit) and every morning they served me the papaya anyway and I had to sit there and smell it until it was removed. Ick! Green papaya is fine in SE Asian food but I guess those Bahamian ones were nice and ripe....

Where I live it's much easier to find a selection of balsamic vinegars than it is to find white grapefruit. Wish I could grow my own!

It looks like a piece of art glass! All the mangoes in my market are either plain yellow or a standard red-green combo color scheme. I have never seen such a showy one. ❤️

Shelby, You have much more canning experience than I do, so feel free to consider the following as relatively ignorant speculation. I wonder if the difference between regular mouth and wide mouth jars has to do with the difference in headspace volume? Canning recipes usually specify headspace in inches, but the same depth represents a larger volume in a wide mouth jar than in a regular one. The most specific discussion I could find about that is here The Natural Canning Resource Book p.54 (via Google books) in the box headed "Determining headspace in odd-sized jars". I don't know if that provides any information that is helpful to you. Canning looks like it is subject to rules of science but in my experience it sometimes feels like it owes more to black magic!

Another FYI, My photo turned out rather small in the original post; I don't know if it is clear what the defect is. The membranes came off cleanly and the whites are intact but they are marked with dents and grooves. All 12 eggs looked like this, though some were more dramatic than others. Very funky but ultimately not important. I hope to do some more eggs this weekend (no poking!) and, assuming they turn out nicely smooth and ovoid, I'll let this go. 🥚😄

FYI, My eggs were pressure-steamed above the water. I tried to imagine what was happening in there but I had to give up and make dinner.

Thanks, folks. I mis-remembered or mis-understood something along the way and, clearly, I would be better off fussing less. I do think the 'canyonlands eggs' effect is rather interesting, but not necessarily appetizing. No more poking!

I love my Instant Pot for bigger batches of hard boiled eggs. [I recently bought a plate that holds 24 deviled half-eggs and got great feedback on a mixed platter for a neighborhood gathering.] Like @rotuts and my mother, I pierce the large end before cooking. When my mother and I did that for eggs conventionally hard boiled in water, it allowed air to escape, minimizing cracking and improving roundedness of the large end. When I do it to my Instant Pot eggs, they turn out like this: Most of the time it doesn't really matter, but I keep wondering, What gives? Does anyone else see this? Should I make the hole larger, or ?

For me it's the metaphor pill = candy that is uncomfortable. I wouldn't make or buy any candies that look like pharmaceuticals. I think many health care professionals and other people who have more than enough experience with pills in one way or another may feel similarly: I don't want to blur the line between the two categories.

In coastal New England this was introduced to me as "Boat Cake". (Made with ingredients you could have in the storage bin on the boat.)

I spent some time on this question when I found a better-than-usual-looking brisket a few weeks ago. (Most that I see in my supermarket are so lean that I despair of getting an appetizing result, no matter what the approach.) Leaned on the Serious Eats article, for the most part. I divided in three pieces and started with 135; after they were pasteurized I put two away. The texture of the 135 piece was too firm for my taste. I ended up cooking the others some more at 155 and I much preferred that result. [Formatting weirdness apparently due to phone posting—no emphasis intended.]