Emily_R

I LOVE LOVE LOVE this product. In particular, the way I can use it to roast potato wedges without having to use a ton of oil to keep them from sticking. And nothing is better for lining the pan when making homemade marshmallows. Also nice when roasting fish, or other delicate things. Huge fan.

Oooh -- yes, i totally agree with RareRolling -- that chicken and sausage bake is good, and a great one when you need something easy to prepare that guests will be sure to enjoy!

Hassouni - welcome! And your chili sounds fantastic -- I love the fruitiness of guajillos... Norm - I'd eat that chicken parm in a second, and ScottyBoy -- I don't know how you resisted eating that entire tray of crispy pork! Dinner here was a new recipe for me, and a huge success. Semolina Gnocchi -- I think also called Gnocchi a la Romana. Formed like polenta, then cut and baked with a topping of breadcrumbs and parmesan. WOW. I served them with some of Marcella Hazan's tomato with butter sauce (and some sauteed zucchini) and it was heaven. Recipe is here: http://leitesculinaria.com/70863/recipes-semolina-gnocchi.html Sorry for the cross-post with the Recipes that Rock thread, but I really want to get the word out about these!

Ok, I've got another one! Hopefully if I keep bumping this thread up, someone else will start posting their recent awesomeness. Finally got around to making these semolina gnocchi from Leite's Culinaria: Semolina Gnocchi Holy hell they are good! And easy! Forget the fuss of forming and boiling regular gnocchi -- these are poured out and chilled much like polenta, then cut and baked with topping of parmesan and breadcrumbs until they are puffed and crispy and crazy delicious. I served them with some of Marcella Hazan's pasta with tomato and butter sauce, and couldn't stop swooning. Even better is that if you cut them small, they would make the best finger food / appetizer. Here's a (terrible) pic...

Yay! I'm so glad you liked it! And ancho powder sounds great (as does chipotle powder if you decide to go that way -- I think in variations in the past I've added a little chopped chipotle in adobo)... I'm always amazed by how flavorful it is given how ridiculously little work...

Darienne - The only thing I forgot to mention about the soup is to watch the salt -- I find canned beans can often be very salty, and so (potentially) can bottled salsa... If you have the option of using one can of salt-free beans, its probably worth doing... Similarly with making sure your chili powder is salt-free... Looking forward to hearing how you like it! Emily

Darienne -- For me, the best super quick meal is this black bean soup recipe, which I have modified over the years from a Cooking Light recipe. It involves dumping stuff in a pot and cooking for 5 to 10 minutes, and produces some surprisingly delicious soup! Even better is that I always have the ingredients in the pantry. I'll usually serve this with a batch of cornbread, which can be whipped up in just a few minutes too... Almost Instant Black Bean Soup 2 15 oz cans black beans (or 1 28 oz can) 1 cup good quality bottled salsa 1 16 oz can low-sodium chicken broth 2 tsp chili powder, 1 tsp cumin 1/4 cup chopped cilantro Dump these ingredients into a pot and cook for 5 or 10 minutes. Then partially puree in a blender or with a stick blender, until it is the desired consistency. Serve with shredded cheddar cheese, extra cilantro, and a dollop of sour cream.

I think the crux of the "I can't stand the people who apparently abuse the system" argument are those who's "emotional issue" is that they can't bear to be separated from their pet for 15 freakin' minutes. There are people with real mental health issues and their service dog help them function day to day. They get judge so often by people who just don't get it. A little understand really goes a long way. Amen. I am really saddened by the amount of intensely negative judgment going on this thread. It is really out of sync with my sense of the general eGullet ethos.

Kim -- Coconut icing on chocolate cake sounds like heaven. How did you make the icing? Did you use coconut extract in it?

Totally an anti-planner, but not for of the 'need to buy what looks good in the market' reason... More for the 'what I'm in the mood for changes constantly (sometimes including multiple times in one day!). At most, I have meals planned out two days in advance.

What about a big fruit cobbler? I'd imagine that would work well in a hotel pan, as the biscuit topping would be thin enough to cook all the way through even in the middle?

So a while back - not sure how long ago, since I can't find this through the search function here -- Bruce (aka Sapidus) posted a recipe for Slipper Burgers, I believe on the Whats for Dinner thread. They are lamb burgers, heavily spiced with ginger, cilantro, corinader, cumin, and serrano peppers. I've had this in my to-try stack for a while, and finally did tonight. Wow! Fantastic - full of flavor, with the perfect amount of heat. Here's a link to the recipe: Lamb Slipper Burgers I mad ea few modifications -- less dried coriander, more dried cumin, and added some garlic powder. Otherwise followed the directions (though made them into actual burgers, rather than oblong shapes) and was rewarded with super juicy flavorful burgers, that were a great change from my usual beef ones. Yay! Thanks Bruce!

Oh my god. WOW. This is the most delicious sounding thing I've heard about in looooong time. You had me at the salted caramel ice cream, and then once I heard toasted coconut I nearly started to cry. Going to go look forlornly in our freezer now...

I'm totally with him. I'm frequent coke (zero) drinker, have successfully passed blind coke/pepsi taste tests, and have never been able to see what the fuss over Mexican coke is...

Tonight I made Butterflied Chicken with Cracked Spices, a recipe from the NY Times over a year ago. I made enough changes to the spice mix that I'll post my mixture here -- it was a great spice rub, and exceptional on the potatoes that I roasted with the chicken... 1 tsp fennel seed 1 tsp coriander seed 1/2 tsp black peppercorns 1 tsp cumin seed 2 tsp smoked salt 1/2 tsp hot paprika 1/2 tsp smoked paprika I ground all these together in a spice grinder, then rubbed under and over the chicken skin. Really good, and I might just use this as a straight up mix for potatoes as well...

Sorry Carrie -- no idea on small scale implementation. My posts were mostly just responding to the initial question of 'what is it they can do at the factory that we can't do at home.' To that initial question -- apparently the show How Its Made on the discovery channel has covered a range of products that seem like they'd be of interest... Season 10 episode 1 looks at commercial salad dressing, and Season 10 episode 3 looks at mayonnaise...

Ok, and here's a book on Amazon that appears to get into the process of commercial canning... http://www.amazon.com/Essentials-Thermal-Processing-Gary-Tucker/dp/1405190582 (It looks like much of the book may be scanned on Google Books, so also check there)

While I don't know this for sure, I think a good guess for what manufacturers have would be machines that operate at much higher pressure than home pressure canners. Higher pressure would equal hotter internal temperatures... Hotter temperatures are likely to either be able to penetrate into thick stuff (like pumpkin puree), or allow for shorter canning times to kill the botulism spores -- thus reducing the degradation of the product that might come with long cookin.

Hi all -- Am itching to try this, but am wondering -- do you need to let the dough warm up after taking it out of the fridge? Or can it go essentially straight from the fridge to the oven? Edited to say -- oops! Nevermind. Just watched the video, and saw him take it straight from the fridge to the oven! Will definitely be making this soon...

Oh yay! Just saw these posts -- Anna and Linda, I'm so glad the recipe worked for you! I haven't made it in a while -- this will inspire me to bake up a batch...

So the recipe I used calls for *both* orange juice and lime juice -- there was plenty of acid in there. And the achiote paste should have been fresh -- just ordered from an online supplier recently. The banana leaves are an interesting question. I bought frozen banana leaves from a local asian market. When I defrosted them they had such a rank smell that they actually made me gag -- I couldn't get them out of the kitchen fast enough. So while I'd planned to use them, in the end I didn't...

Hi all -- The achiote paste I used already had spices in it -- I don't have the box in front of me, but I know cumin and garlic were both in there, and I believe several others. Based on one of her comments in the recipe, I believe the paste Elise from Simply Recipes did too...

I used this recipe from Simply Recipes: http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/cochinita_pibil/ But my hunch is that I just don't love the achiote paste... When I tasted it after cooking, it tasted unbalanced and too acidic. I added a little sugar, and a little smoked paprika, which helped, but not enough for my taste...

Steven -- Unless there's a whole lot of cookie crumbs involved, I just don't see the point of making it in cake form. Why not just scoop out the two ice cream varieties (rather than soften, layer, and re-freeze)?

Linda -- what do you mean they weren't ripe? They're not supposed to be soft... If they've more or less filled out the husks, then they're generally good to go.