ChefCrash

All I had at work was a can of Spam. Used corn oil, Lawry's and black pepper. Catsup would have been good with this. Didn't think of it.

I was introduced to this dish on my trip to Lebanon this past summer and was reminded of it by Hassouni in his blog.

750g hgf 1 T table salt 1 T sugar 1 T olive oil 1 tsp instant yeast 470g very cold tap water 30 seconds (running time, some fiddling is required) in my food processor w/plastic blade till smooth. Divide into 3 ~ 430g balls and placed into individual oiled Tupperware. I leave them out at room temperature for one hour, then place them in the fridge for at least two days. The dough is used straight from the fridge ( i.e. cold). The last ball is used as long as a week later.

I have two 16" screens so I crank'm out one after the other. Been using them for 6 years. Below are photos of pizza made in a Bosch electric oven. Oven is preheated to set temperature (15-20 minutes) 525* convection roast mode. My previous Kenmore non convection oven yielded same results @ 550*. All of these pizzas were cooked 7 to 8 minutes. EXIF data show approximate cooking times. Oven rise Close up Here is another Oven rise Another Oven rise Again Oven rise Note the blistering on this one One more I have hundreds more. Let's see your pizza.

Few years ago I had the same problem with a KA I'd borrowed from my sister in law. I had no choice but to fix it. In all Kitchen Aids there is one sacrificial plastic/nylon gear designed to fail to save fingers/hands and the machine itself. I reached out online, got links and found the part for $12.99. So if you decide you want to fix yours, this is a thread with links to schematics, part/gear suppliers and how to DIY. Click here.

Thanks for sharing your week with us. Maybe we can work it out so a bunch of us can be there at once some day:)

Just fantastic. Don't know where to start. Loved the Margherita images, was never able to get in, very small place and always so busy, even at 10 pm. The fried fish looks great, I wish someone here would look at the fresh fish photo and tell us what kinds they are. Regarding french fries, Lebanon was a French colony for some 20 odd years. Tomato paste is what makes Kishk pies reddish. Love the produce store, someone up thread asked about the difference between lemons there and here in the states, the difference is: here they run 2/$1, there 2 kilos/$1:) The coffee tutorial is dead on (minus all that sugar) Looking forward to more.

Hi Hassouni Really enjoyed the images in Saida. Glad you were able to make it there. That road (at the castle) had been pelted by 20 ft waves the day before, and was impassable. Al Baba's Sweets (Hilwayaat El Baba) would be a good place to visit if you go back to Saida. There are two locations, one by the sea and one on the main hwy in town. The latter is better. Kaak el qalleeta, قليطة pronounced "alleeta" refers to one of two kinds (can't remember which) of snacks peddled on the streets. One is pictured below along with a photo of what they could be served with. The other ( which I haven't seen on recent trips), is the same but without the hole, twice as thick and smaller in diameter.

Summer Savory, onions, Sumac, salt pepper and olive oil. Usually served with grilled meats.

Hassouni, I see your bonjour and raise you one. Bonjourain 3zizi. I'm loving this blog, thanks for taking the time on such a short trip. The view from your apartment looks like it could be at the very end (west side) of Hamra street in the old lighthouse neighborhood. If you're in Hamra again around lunch time, you may want to try the "Istambouli" restaurant, nothing Turkish about it, they don't even serve Turkish coffee, but they have killer Lamb fat kebabs (lieh) . It is located on the street that runs parallel to Hamra on the south side. The restaurant is across the street from the Commodore Hotel and a little to the east, sort of towards the Barbar complex you spoke of earlier. Have fun.

Wonderful blog Chris. Thanks for sharing.

No, don't give up. As Nick said you can ferment at room temperature in your kitchen, it'll just take less time.

Yea, in the fridge you're only keeping the cabbage fresh:) Considering that kraut is usually made with only salt and cabbage (no water), I question the strength of the brine. 50 grams of salt per liter of water is rather weak. May lead to mushy kraut. Editing to make it clear that eventually the kraut will turn to mush i.e. short shelf life.

Yes, I've used probe thermometers that way, except probes don't quit "drape" very well. So, use wire to affix the probe on a rack.

I hope you are having as much fun in Lebanon as I am reading this. I love the balcony photos. "Real house wives of Beirut" sounds great. Subtitles only needed for every third word:)

You did a great job on the blur in the first photo. Not so much in the second. I agree with the others on the dish rack. I too have only one spot with suitable light (after dark), mine is on the stop top under the hood lights. Sometimes with enough shallow dof, the stove racks compliment the photos. When they don't I whip out my cutting board. Or, take extreme closeups where the food fills the frame. Remember, you don't have to include the whole serving dish to convey your vision.

Dakki, the s95 has the same size sensor as yours. You have a good camera.

APS is not small, with a crop factor of~1.5 versus Dakki's 1/2" sensor with a crop factor of~5.5.

If by "narrow DOF" you mean shallow dof like this: It's tough to achieve with a small sensor camera. But can easily be done in post using Photoshop. This works best with photos taken at low angles. Here is Sobaaddict's photo: This is how it looks after one minute in Photoshop: Open your photo in PS. Click on the layers menu and choose "duplicate layer". In the dialogue box click "ok". Click on the filters menu and choose "Gaussian Blur". In the dialogue box choose a number between 5 and 20. Click "ok". Create a mask by clicking on the square icon with the small circle in the middle, at the bottom of the Layers pallet. Choose the "Gradient Fill tool". Place the pointer at the tip of the piece of fish in the foreground (bottom of image), click and drag a straight line to the top of the image. That's it. If you don't like the effect, just undo and place the pointer in a different spot, click and drag up to the top again.

I'm jealous Nikki. Don't do this for my sake, but if you crave a decent pizza made in an olive-wood burning oven, try Olio's in Jimmayseh. Another place I enjoyed was Paradox. Located on this side of Junieh. Fancy digs, but surprisingly cheap Lebanese fare with a view. Have a great trip.

What we did Lots of black pepper and squeeze of lemon Crusty roll with lettuce and mayo

135

"If you wish to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first invent the universe" Carl Sagan

I cook mine (10 to 12 pounds) at 200* convection (read about it here). It takes 4 hours to reach 130*F internal, no searing necessary. Yours will not take as long and may not brown as much. So some broiling at the end will help.

Sorry we got derailed for a little while. So we started with 2 gallons of milk ~ 17 lbs and 2.2 lbs of Burghul for a total of say 20 lbs including the yogurt culture. Take away 1 lb of green Kish to test and consume, that left 19 lbs before dehydration. After drying, we ended up with 2 lbs 15 oz of Kishk ready to be milled. That is a 15.5% yield. I have a hand cranked Corona mill from our beer brewing days (15 yrs ago), I recall it was crappy at simply cracking barley. So we decided to use the food processor. After about an hour of this: And this: We ended up with this, my wife even made a bag for it: We were left with 1 lb 3 oz of Kishk that stayed behind in the sifter and refused to be milled:), and 1 lb 15 oz of pretty fine Kishk, a little gritty but acceptable. The results: While the green Kishk tasted great to us we had no reference to compare to. For the dry stuff however, we are able to compare to good Kishk sent from home. When I stick my nose in the bag of Kishk from Lebanon and take a whiff, the aroma pulls my face in and fills my head leaving me mesmerized and wanting more. The one we made doesn't do that. It's tangy, it tastes much better than any store bought stuff, but not as funky and blue-cheesy. It just isn't "The most intensely delicious thing on earth", yet!! We have another batch in the works:) To be continued...