HungryC

I have a BGE, and I get far better pizzamaking results out of my home oven/broiler and a Baking Steel. www.bakingsteel.com So if the OP's primary purpose is pizza, then the $72 price tag of the Baking Steel is probably the most cost effective solution.

The linked photos show a pit cooker, not a pizza oven. A true oven--something that retains and reflects heat--will require something with more thermal mass than cinder blocks. In addition, quality pizza requires an oven with a relatively low ceiling, in order for the pizza to brown/cook from above and below. Not to mention that cinder blocks probably wouldn't stand up to repeated use in direct contact with a hot fire. (Hence firebricks.) Good old cob (earth and straw) is the cheapest way to build a backyard WFO. Check out Kiko Denzers blog and books for complete info.

Nice haul....I love the cooking tips I get at ethnic markets....ask a few questions and people are often very generous with the info.

Cast iron has different thermal properties than steel. Here's a comparison of a CI baking surface vs. a steel baking surface: http://slice.seriouseats.com/archives/2012/10/the-pizza-lab-baking-steel-lodge-cast-iron-pizza.html

How about pickling them? Poke a hole in each one with a knitting needle or the tip of a knife, then stuff into a jar and top with white vinegar. The vinegar will get hot, making it a useful condiment....and you can fish out the peppers, chop, and add tangy heat to your stir fries.

I don't blame laziness on the part of parents for Lunchables & their ilk....I blame inertia. The parent choosing a steady diet of highly processed foods for his/her tyke is quite often completely ignorant about the impact of those choices. We're well into the 3rd gen of Americans raised on factory foods...why would you expect a lightly educated (or non food obsessed) parent strapped for time to reject cold cuts and factory cheese? Hell, it's probably slightly better, nutrition-wise, than the Pop Tarts, bacon, and red dye filled Kool Aid that mommy/daddy/grandma ate during childhood. Parents need to limit children's access to food--even if it is organic, straight from the farm, sustainable, whatever: you can't simply feed the kids limitless amounts of anything. A constant barrage of contradictory health information is trumpeted by the media....most modestly educated, non-foodie parents are simply going to feed their children what they ate as kids. The real problem is the modern American kid's sedentary lifestyle. I grew up in the processed food 70s and 80s, ate my share of Kraft singles, Oscar Meyer bologna, soft drinks, and Little Debbies....but I played *outside*. Yes, with actual movement. Not organized sports...but play. Blaming food manufacturers for large-scale cultural shifts in Americans' expectations of childhood is short sighted.

Try dry toasting it in the oven, spread thinly on a sheet pan. Stir frequently.

Ha! You caught it before I could submit the edit!

Fresh mediterranean bay laurel is a common enough plant....I have one in a pot and one in the ground. Fresh leaves are sold at the farmers market too. But bay laurel is the common name of two different plants. California bay (umbellularia something or other) that is a different species from the Mediterranean bay laurel (laurus nobilis), right? I and many others in the SE US grow it as a culinary ornamental.

I've been making salads with it: cut into matchsticks and mixed with segments of blood orange, dressed with a little olive oil. Crunchy and refreshing....a twist on the typical Italian orange and fennel salad.

I don't like cleaning the silpat, so I use parchment for most things.

I'm partial to the Pinkberry ice cream sandwiches....froyo sandwiched between waffle cone wafers. Tasty, but only available at Pinkberry.

I've been cooking the purple version lately in an old-school way: chop into bite sized florets, put into a buttered gratin dish. Make a white sauce (I use whole wheat flour for the roux) enriched with cheese (usually gruyere or parmesan, but generally whatever needs to be used up), nutmeg, black pepper, and a few snipped chives, pour over the cauliflower, and sprinkle with ground almonds. Bake at 375 until bubbly and browned.

Remember that the captain's tastes rule, so do a little research beforehand. You don't want to plan a bunch of menus to find out he/she hates X ingredient. Also, the boat/owners may have a standing commissary order for groceries....you might not get to pick your ingredients, but may be working within a fixed-cost preset food allotment. Brush up on your breakfast items, too.

If you're seeing a dramatic flame up, then water is not what's being used to douse the grilling food.

Very different items....the Caja China (aka Cajun microwave) is designed for long, slow cooking only. It's essentially a box that mimics the earthen pit cooking found in various parts of the world. The BGE is more versatile, allowing you to precisely adjust airflow for good temp control---super hot or super low. Plus, the BGE can be outfitted with a slew of accessories, making it easy to use as a wok stove, baking oven, smoker, direct or indirect grill, etc. For example, I can grill kebabs on one side of the grill while cooking naan on a half moon baking stone on the other side. A Caja is way way cheaper than a BGE, though. So if you want to play around with low and slow, it might be a good entry point.

Count me as "one of those people" who thinks that supermarket beef is damn near inedible. Quit buying feed.ot beef at Sams and seek out a local source for grass fed beef. In many parts of the country, it's not too hard to find locally raised and slaughtered animals. You'll pay a little more per pound, but it won't taste like cardboard and corn. As for cooking it, I prefer a screaming hot charcoal (good quality hardwood lump) fire. Dry the surface of the meat, rub with a little fat or butter, sprinkle with your favorite seasoning blend, and stick it close to the fire. Turn just once.

CajunGrocer.com will be happy to send some via mail: http://www.cajungrocer.com/search/index/index/q/roux.html CG even carries the food service size 30 lb bucket of roux. Just in time for Valentines Day, for the person who has everything.

I think overpriced tapas should be on that list. How about down home southern/diner, with housemade pickles and stuff served in jars? Seems to be an emerging trend outside of the south.

Or you buy it in the jar already made from a local producer. Six or seven different brands sold at WalMart here, in light, medium, and dark, plus dry roux (browned flour). Jarred roux is widely used in south LA. Here's a photo of a Southern brand roux advertisement displayed in LSUs Tiger Stadium a few seasons ago. http://bouillie.files.wordpress.com/2010/10/p9250428.jpg

I guess it might be considered new ground if you've read absolutely none of the better books on baking published in the last decade or so. I don't find much new ground, as stretch and fold or slap and fold techniques never disappeared from baking. What's changed is the US taste....ppl are far more accepting of a crustier, rustic bread these days. Re commercial yeast in a sourdough, if it works for you, then do it. I'd call it a preferment, because sourdough to most ppl means wild yeast. Hamelman, Reinhart (esp in his whole grains book), Suas, Hitz, Laurels Kitchen bread book, Ortiz....plenty of excellent baking info out there. To me, Bittmans writing for the non bread baker.

Love the place....but $40/lb for picked crab? Whew. And I thought our wintertime price for blue crab was high at $25/lb.

Start with your county's agricultural extension service.....the cooperative extension service agriculture agents are your best pipeline to farmers or ranchers. All counties in the USA have at extension agents. Some more ag-oriented places also have USDA agents whose sole job is economic development for farm/fisheries. Find your local cooperative extension service agent here: http://www.csrees.usda.gov/Extension/ Your tax dollars support a huge apparatus related to agriculture...take advantage of it.

The ingredients read just like those of a supermarket loaf of sliced bread. I'd imagine many US consumers would be perfectly happy with the resulting loaf if their standard bread is a commercial sliced one. No shame in that--some ppl spend time replicating Oreos or Twinkies at home. If you like squishy, fast rising breads.....why not? Maybe someone will buy the mixes for a while and then decide to make the jump to a completely scratch loaf at some point, perhaps after figuring out that scratch is cheaper than a mix. I'm not the biggest fan of an oil and dough conditioner enriched soft sandwich loaf, personally, but it is the preferred style of virtually all the students I encounter in my baking classes. Way more ppl sign up for squishy white bread classes than for my wild yeast sourdough classes.

Philly cheesesteaks! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheesesteak