ChefCrash

You can drain right after culturing at room temperature, or refrigerate until you need to drain at room temperature or drain in the fridge. It all depends on how tangy you like your Labneh (drained yogurt). We always drain at room temperature.

Very nice Chris. I'm not a soufle kind of guy but I have to make this. Recipe please?

Great photo of the kids helping. By grouping the blocks so that there is a single opening would help keep the heat in.

Does she flip the dough in her hands or use a rolling pin to create the bread. I have a kurdish cookbook by a women from zakho and she does it the rollling pin way using the exact same little table. ← A rolling pin is more useful as fuel in the fire. Here's a short clip of how it's done.

If this is what you are referring to: M'shabbak Make a thin batter of flour, water and yeast. Thin enough to flow through a funnel with a 1/4" opening. Hold the funnel over the hot oil and ladle a few ounces of batter into it. Move the funnel in a circular (spiral) motion, forming~4" disks. After frying, drizzle with cooled simple syrup to which a little pickling lime has been added. The lime keeps the fried dough crisp.

Another option to consider for the budget minded, Comark PDT300. Robust, waterproof, has a response time of "better than 6 seconds" according to their website.

The rolls look great Melamed. The last photo is beautiful. Tell us more about the stuffing. Is it Lenten/meatless?

I'm with your husband, BMW's can really cook too. This is what we make with a Sajj.

Although this condiment is served with just about anything nowadays, it started out as a sauce for one particular sandwich. A street food that predated Chicken Shawarma. Around every corner was a stand like this: On a work station (part of which is seen in the foreground), sat a sandwich press and fixings for a great panino: a bunch of baguettes, Lebanese pickles and Toum. For 25 cents (35 years ago, one dollar now), a worker pulls apart a still warm chicken, slices the bread open, slathers Toum on one or both sides, adds pickle spears and chicken then in the press it goes. These are the ingredients (and tools) to make Toum: The oil is corn oil You only need a pinch of salt in the beginning to keep the salt from flying while you mash it. For the amount of garlic in the photo, only about half a tsp of lemon juice is used. The pestle can be found at any Middle eastern store, ask for a garlic masher. It's the only tool used for garlic and is a must in any Lebanese kitchen, if garlic is not used whole it's getting smashed . No mortar is necessary. Used correctly the pestle can be used in glass bowls (as in the start of a Lebanese salad) or a small ramekin for garlic butter etc. Start by smashing the garlic with a pinch of salt til you have this: Add some oil and stir the mixture slowly but constantly. No downward pressure. Add few drops of oil and lemon juice at a time ( more oil than lemon juice). We tried to show the process in this video. After smashing the garlic I tried to show the start and ending time, it took six minutes to get to the finished sauce. The video was shot in nine segments that were later edited together to make for ~ 2 minute video. The oil was dispensed from the oil dispenser while the lemon juice was dispensed from a small white cup. Garlic sauce video. The finished sauce. In a spoon sideways.

I'm pretty sure that the olives you're getting are already cured (this time of year anyway). When you get the olives, taste the water they're packed in. If it's salty then the olives are packed in a brine and that's how they should be stored as Melamed mentioned above. Since you mentioned you are receiving a large quantity, I should mention, olives don't last for ever. As olives age, more of their moisture leaches into the brine thus diluting it. You can mess around and adjust the brine salinity or simply refrigerate. Remove only what you need for immediate consumption (drizzle those with olive oil if that's what you like), and leave the rest in the original brine. I wouldn't worry about citric acid, it's used as a color preservative. If the olives are packed in water let us know.

That will probably create pressure on your front door. ← So what do you suggest? some sort of window in the kitchen area? Also I forgot to mention there is an underground storage room with elevator shaft and stairs and outdoor access... I think most of the pressure incoming from the makeup air will be alleviated by this underground space... ← Your A/C does not create any pressure. It only recirculates indoor air. The makeup air system will not either if it's CFM's match that of your hood, i.e. the volume of air blown in is the same as the volume of air sucked out by the hood.

Along with A/C, you will be required to have an air replacement system (make-up air). Depending on your climate, that air would have to be either cooled or heated (tempered).

D.G., I googled "malansa". The first entry happens to be by a house wife trying to find English words to explain to her husband what it means. That is funny. Click.

Stuffed Mulberry leaves is new to me too. Khashbeh = cutting board or wooden platter. When you order Khashbeh nayeh, you'll be served a variety of raw meats on a wooden platter. Other than Kibbe and Kafta, all meats are served in ~3/4" cubes. Example Harra = spicy hot Habra = lean meat Fatayel (plural for fteele) = Fillet of lamb Me'elak = heart/lung/liver of lamb or beef Ly'eh = Lamb fat from the tail. Automatically served with mazza and Arak

Your mix appears to have the right texture. Did you perhaps boil the beans? They should only soak overnight. I'm surprised a Jewish food cookbook would have an all Fava bean recipe.

What the!@#$%^&*!!?

Lovely photos. A lot of foreign kibbis' to me. We usually start with Raw Kibbi, and with what is left over we make Kibbi derivatives. One is fried Kibbi patties, sometimes stuffed with a meat/pine nut filling, they look like Shaya's potato kibbis (which look great, do they taste like Sheppard's pie?). If there are lots of leftovers we make Kibbi b'Laban. Another dish I enjoy is Kibbi b'Saniyeh.

Hello PC and welcome. You want to use the 35% cream for the recipe in the video. It thickens well on its own and won't break (separate). It's usually labeled as "Whipping Cream". If you are concerned about fat content and want a lighter sauce, you could use "Half&Half (~12%)" or even whole milk. If you do, you need to gently bring them up to heat, and use a thickener. Corn starch slurry, flour slurry or beurre manié.

Hi Chris, if you haven't already, checkout the videos on the Blue Star site here. I'm impressed.

They look great. I wish you fried a batch all the way through on the first frying session to see if a second session is necessary. It seams to me that a 20 minute boil is excessive. How was the texture?

M'nazzali. A Lebanese vegetarian peasant stew. The recipe in the link is for a dietetic version. Saffron can be added for color. It can also be served as soup. I have a recipe if you want one.

That would be a "Michelada", a popular Mexican concoction that I happen to like.

Here's some information

Really? All the creative dishes were shot down in the quick fire. I knew Toby reminded me of someone san glasses:Click.

I've seen the cooks at the "Cheese Steak" place at the mall food court, reach in the cooler for par-fried potatoes. Yes, they can be partially fried and refrigerated, you could also lay them on a sheet pan and freeze.