Lisa Shock

I use mine all the time for: making nut butters from my home-roasted nuts -much tastier than store bought, and I can make amounts as needed, keeping fresh nuts in freezermaking smooth soups -I have a friend who doesn't like chunky tomato bits in soup or saucehummus -I start by roasting nuts, then making nut butter, then adding the garbanzos and seasoninghomemade sauces like BBQ sauce from scratch and ketchuppurees to add to pasta dough for flavor, or as pasta fillingpureed raw onion in quantity as a base various Indian dishesI got myself a couple of sizes of steel milkshake cups to use with the immersion blender. In some cases, like soups, you can just blend inside the cooking pot. As others have mentioned, it's a LOT easier to wash than an old-school blender.

The peanut butter may help hold it together. You could try Speculoos (homemade or commercial) or one of the other cookie butters.

Here in Phoenix, in the past 5 years two restaurants were cited by the health department for having fresh garlic oil (that is, chopped raw garlic, plus parsley, and olive oil) of indeterminate age in bottles left out on the tables. Employees at one establishment stated that they made the oil about once a month to refill the bottles. It's not always about how many fall ill, it can be about how many times preventative measures need to be taken to prevent outbreaks.

Anna, I would mostly agree with you about complete dishes, with the exception of making NM style flat enchiladas. That said, it's more of an assemblage than actual cooking: layers of corn tortillas and filling with sauce poured over alternate layers, then heated. GIGO is the main rule with this one. I make enchiladas about once a month, so, it's worthwhile for me to keep the appliance. But, I mostly use my slow cooker for cooking plain dry beans. I like being able to run it on low (I have an old one with a low setting) when I am not home or sleeping, and I can put it on a timer. I also use the slow cooker as a buffet server for soups and some sauces. But, I cook a meal about once a month for a large group and not everyone does that.

Search for tonic water syrup on amazon, you'll find several craft tonics which are quite nice. Also, carbonating white wine really works well....

I've never made bourbon flavored hard candy, but you could just try a small batch. Depends on the bourbon and how strong the flavors are in it. You could also reduce the alcohol over low heat in a small pan so some of the alcohol and water boils off before adding to the candy, that will concentrate flavors.

I recall seeing an interview with a scientist who ran tests someplace on cans of tuna. The comment she made was something along the lines of, 'we'd test dozens of cans of tuna and they'd have really low levels of mercury, but then we'd get three cans in a row with levels so high they were considered unsafe for consumption.' The gist being that on average, the tuna supply was pretty safe. But, if you were the unlucky consumer getting those three highly contaminated cans, whoever ate them could be at risk for mercury poisoning -especially small children.

I'd have to see a recipe, but, if the pickle liquid is vinegar and spices, chances are low. The acid prevents growth, and it's not an anaerobic environment. Oil is where you get into trouble, because it seals the food under it from the air.

Usually that sort of thing is added as the sugar is pulled from the heat, right before shocking. That said, not every alcohol makes a good flavoring for sugar. There are professional flavorings made specifically for high heat applications. Check the selection at Amoretti.

I would be interested in your recipe for red coleslaw. I really like most slaws and like trying new types.

Calabacitas as a hot vegetable side dish? It doesn't really need to be cooked, just warmed in a big dish in the oven. (substitute mild frozen green chile that comes in a tub for the green chile that recipe recommends, or, substitute diced red bell pepper -the cheese does reduce the heat significantly)

Since garlic flavor is delicate and cooks away quickly, chefs most often add garlic last if a strong flavor is desired. Also, generally, garlic isn't boiled because, well, it winds up tasting like boiled garlic, which isn't very good.

No, you need to kill the spores. The spores grow in an anaerobic environment like oil, that's what makes them dangerous. To kill the spores, you need to pressure fry at 255° for at least ten minutes. (true pressure fryers are expensive) Remember, just because frying oil reaches a temperature, that doesn't mean that a food being fried in it has reached that temperature, especially if that food contains water. If the food retains water, the temperature can't be more than the boiling point for that altitude. Once the water leaves garlic, the flavor changes to a distinctly cooked flavor with variations based upon whether the cloves were left whole or not. Commercial producers of garlic oil acidulate the garlic and keep an eye on the pH during the entire process. Honestly, the safest and easiest solution is to buy commercial garlic oil, or make and use up all of your garlic oil on a daily basis. If you are doing this in a commercial setting, like a restaurant, check your local laws. Garlic oil is regulated in the US.

I suspect that real Fritos were one of the first foods to be pressure extruded (kind of like some pasta shapes) directly into hot oil. The pressure and resulting high heat changes the starch and other components. They probably grow a little as they are extruded. (Cheetos are a further refinement of the process, and they bloom as they come out of the extruder.) Honestly, of all the snacks out there, Fritos are one of the simplest. I am not fond of them straight from the bag, too salty + thick, but, I like how they remain crunchy in a Fritos pie. I also have fond memories of buying Fritos pies at the takeout window at the Santa Fe Woolworth's.

I have experienced it to a degree as a student in culinary school and to a lesser degree as a chef instructor. I am continually amazed that the perpetrators remain employed, but, then again when I was an instructor at one establishment I was amazed that my boss's boss was also prone to having shrieking fits over perceived slights to her status.

Well, the Frito Pie was invented at Woolworth's on the plaza in Santa Fe. They used to pour the red or green chile over lettuce in a bowl, then topped it with shredded cheese and grated raw onions and sliced olives. Then, one day in the 1940s, they had these new chips for sale and one of the gals poured the chile over the chips. So, I am not certain what you want to make without the Fritos. You can sub tortilla chips for the Fritos. Or just eat your chile in a bowl without chips, maybe add some papas fritas to it.

I had never heard that before, it sounds interesting. Generally, 5-7 days is the longest I'd keep it -refrigerated, of course. I suspect that the method is just using up excess acid from the first batch. It will probably get too weak somewhere after that second round. -Or else the recipe everyone uses for paneer has had us all wasting food (vinegar, lemon juice) for a long time!

FYI, the water amount is immaterial. By the time you get caramel color, the water is gone. The water is mostly an insurance policy for getting an even initial melt.

Essentially, you can fry up a doughnut without a hole, the type jelly doughnuts are made from, and squirt pretty much anything you like into it as long as it isn't too runny. Could be hot with, say, sloppy joe meat or cold with maybe curried chicken salad. Reminds me of Stufy's in Albuquerque, where they have been stuffing pretty much anything and everything into a sopapilla for decades.

If you can, add the powder, just a little less, and it will be fine. Might taste a tad funny, but just add a topping or something.

I was kind of surprised that Keriann didn't make a grunt instead of trying to make a pie in the heat. (Everyone said it was very hot there.) I keep hoping someone will do well with a dessert, but, I guess that isn't going to happen.

FYI, churros are made of pâte à choux.

There's a new Kenwood 7qt mixer that has induction heat. I own an older model and have found it to be very reliable. I have worked with the new model at work and the induction is great; you can program precise temperatures and coordinate it with an electronic timer.

I have made chicken flavor biscuits. You can take the basic recipe, either for drop biscuits or cut-in biscuits and dissolve some chicken base, about 2 tsp of Minor's for a home-sized batch of biscuits, into the cream or buttermilk. If it has sodium, reduce the salt in the biscuit recipe. I have seen people use shmaltz instead of butter in the cut-in type biscuit, I do not know how much it really boosts the flavor or adds to the experience.

It's really simple; a basic taught in culinary school (yep, even the savory side students learn it in their basic baking classes) and featured in most confectionery books. You just boil and flavor sugar like you would for hard candies then use a cutoff whisk to whip it between a couple of rods on the end of a table.