kbjesq
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Posts posted by kbjesq
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On the advice of so many on this thread, I went ahead and ordered a Magnum about six months ago. Agreed - it is a great pepper grinder and it is easy to fill.
Nonetheless, because it did not come with anything to cover the bottom, it leaves pepper crumbs and dust where ever you set it down. I did take FG's advice, and I put an upside-down plastic lid inside my cabinet where it normally lives, and that has helped keep the cabinet clean to some degree.
However, it is impractical to move the plastic lid around my kitchen - in anticipation of the next place that I might use the pepper mill and set it down. Therefore, I am in the habit of giving the top of the grinder a tap, or a slap, with the palm of my hand, when I finish grinding. The purpose of this is to knock off any loose pepper particles from the bottom so that when I do set it on the counter, it doesn't make such a mess.
The problem is that the least little tap, slap, or shake will cause the sleeve that covers the "fill hole" to twist wide open - and a whole bunch of peppercorns go flying all over the place, which is extremely annoying. It even opens sometimes, just while I'm grinding pepper. It seems to be quite loose for its intended purpose. Has anyone else had this experience with their Magnum, or is mine defective?
ETA: I just looked at the company's website and the model that I have is called the "Magnum Plus", not the Magnum. The Magnum comes with the crumb tray; the Magnum Plus does not. Go figure.
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Resultant cake, with canned cherries and sticks of strawberry pocky on top, which is made by my son and daughter.
Hiroyuki, this is pure genius! My daughter's birthday is next month and I am going to copy your idea. However, I will use green tea mousse pocky as that is her favorite flavor.
Now, I just need to find a recipe for green tea cake!
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I'm a little late to the party, but . . . natural, salted PB with lots of cold iceberg lettuce on wheat. (This might be the only legitimate use for iceberg). The cold, wet, crunch of the iceberg complements the slightly dry texture of the natural PB. A sprinkling of fleur de sel on top of the peanut butter is a nice addition.
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I love this thread. I've got to say, that last picture just makes me want to go home right now and BURN something. Maybe it's the flash, but that shiny blackness is oddly appealing.
OTH, I'm really glad that I don't have to clean that pan.
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Randi, I think you are going to be happy with your decision. I installed the largest sink that I could find (single bowl), and anytime that I need a "second bowl" (which is rare), I just use a dishpan and set it inside the sink. The rest of the time, the dishpan lives under the sink where it holds cleaning products. (That's handy, too, since if any of the cleaning products spill, they won't spoil the bottom of your cabinet, and when you need them, you just pull out the whole thing).
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Thanks for reporting back and congratulations on such a wonderful evening.
At this point all I can say is, I wish I was invited to your house for that dinner. It sounds over the top. Job well done! And you even made $30, to boot. That's hilarious.
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This situation doesn't really seem to be about that; there's more afoot.
Chris is 100% correct, IMHO, and speaking from experience. Nonetheless, the fact remains that you have already put in a great deal of time into planning and preparing this meal, and you and the others involved (except Miss Picky) will no doubt enjoy your selection.
That being said, I would forge ahead with what you have planned, but add a chicken dish (rotisserie sounds fine & easy), so that you can report to your current partner that you have addressed Miss Picky's latest dietary whim. That way, no one can complain, you will look like the hero that you are for taking the high road, and Miss Picky will learn not only that she cannot force you to completely abandon plans at the last minute (or "jump through hoops" like the waiters that you referenced), but also that compromise is often necessary to maintain happiness in a relationship.
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What a great topic! My recipe that is requested time and again is not so much of a recipe as a technique. The origin is that my grandmother had so many big eaters at holiday time that she could not fit enough stuffing in the turkey to satisfy everyone. By way of improvisation, she made additional stuffing and then formed it into "balls" (about the size of small baseballs), put them on a cookie sheet, and baked them in the oven along with the turkey.
The only requirement is that the stuffing must be fairly rich in order to achieve the best result: a succulent ball of bread stuffing that is moist and flavorful on the inside and crispy on the outside. The stuffing balls have become so popular that we no longer stuff the turkey, we just make all the stuffing into stuffing balls. And the next day, you can slice them up and use leftover turkey and cranberry sauce for a very yummy stuffing ball sandwich.
Many of our friends/adopted relatives have added stuffing balls to their family holiday traditions, and there was one friend of my brother's (that I really didn't even know) who used to call me every year, without fail, on Thanksgiving morning to ask me how to make them.
For those of you who are not familiar with traditional bread stuffing for turkey, here's a loose recipe and description of how to make stuffing balls:
1. Take 4-5 loaves of stale assorted bread and cube approx. 3/4". Set aside.
2. Cook 3 lbs. diced onion and 1 large bunch of celery (leaves and all) in 1 lb. of butter over med-low heat until soft. Add S & P to taste, and a strong dose of Bell's seasoning and sage (fresh is best). Off heat, add at least 1 large bunch of fresh parsley, chopped medium fine.
3. Beat 6-8 eggs with 1/2 cup of stock, then add to sauteed veggies.
4. Add the wet mixture to the cubed bread, mixing gently with clean hands. Add additional stock if necessary in order for the bread to be moist enough to stick together. Shape the mixture into balls (larger than a golf ball but smaller than a baseball). Press just firmly enough to hold together. The goal is to form the ball but not compress the bread too much.
5. Place on cookie sheets and bake with turkey for 45 min. to 1 hr. (approx. 325 F) until the inside is cooked and the outside is crispy. Baste with turkey pan drippings occasionally while baking.
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In the mid-keys:
Uncle's in Islamorada, where I have had some of the best seafood dinners of my life. Do not miss the Tuna Tataki appetizer, although either share it with a few folks or order it as a dinner because it is huge. When lobster is in season, the grilled lobster-stuffed lobster is out of this world. This would be a nice choice for a birthday dinner. Not open for lunch and reservations recommended.
The "Zane Grey" lounge (located inside the Worldwide Sportsman) is a really nice place to have an afternoon/sunset cocktail and a snack on the back porch/upper deck. It is bayside, so you can sip a martini and watch the sunset over the marina and bay. I recommend the lobster salad if they have it and the smoked fish dip.
Next door but same owner is the Islamorada Fish Company, which is a great place to eat a fish sandwich or fried seafood basket or peel and eat shrimp, etc. (get a table on the dock if the weather agrees with you). You can watch the lobstermen unload their catch during season, and watch the tarpon under the dock. Conch salad is frequently on the menu.
Bentley's is also very popular although you can expect a very long wait and slow service at peak dining hours. I have had many nice meals at Bentley's, although I much prefer Uncle's if given the choice.
The Lorelei is at MM 82 bayside, and that is also a nice spot for a grouper reuben at lunch. (Some people in our family think that the Lorelei serves the best grouper reuben in the Keys, and we eat a lot of them, for what it's worth).
The Hungry Tarpon at Robbie's is a really fun, folksy place to have a good Florida cracker-style breakfast and feed the tarpon. It's kind of touristy, but then again most of the Keys is that way. I cannot go to the Keys without stopping at Robbie's at least once.
The Island Grill is on the north end of town underneath the Snake Creek Bridge and has good food and a little more creative cuisine than you would expect to find in this location.
On the south end of Islamorada at about MM 80 is Lazy Daze, which always has good seafood dishes and serves the best fried conch, and it's open for lunch, and it has a nice view of the ocean. There is an outside porch on the back which is a great place to eat if it's not too hot.
On the way to Key West, the Key Colony Inn is still popular, although in my experience, the food has gone downhill a bit in recent years.
In Key West, there are plenty of good places to eat. We like to frequent the touristy Half Shell Raw Bar, where the food and atmosphere are dependable, and we enjoy the view of the marina.
I'm not sure what kind of hotels you are seeking, but in Islamorada you will find the very upscale Cheeca Lodge, which is where a certain US president likes to stay. More to my liking is the inexpensive, extremely clean and rather kitschy Flamingo Inn which is further south, around MM 60. Similar is the Blue Marlin Inn in Key West. It is an old but clean hotel in a very convenient location; as far as I know, it is one of the few places that you can stay down there for around $100/night. I'm sure that there are plenty of nice bed and breakfast places in Key West and hopefully someone will respond for recommendations for those. Other than that, there are the chains such as Hilton and Westin in downtown Key West, and those generally have prime locations with good views.
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I agree that they seem pricey, but remember that they can be used over and over again. I am still on my first order from probably 9 months ago. I ordered them online, and I found that the cheapest price (at that time) was from "Lucky Vitamin". They were around $3 - $6 for a set of 10 bags (depending on size - S-M-L). Standard shipping was $5.95 no matter how many I ordered, so I ordered quite a few and gave some to friends.
I find that the medium size are the most useful in my fridge. The large is really rather large, and unless you are looking to store a whole mess of collards or something like that, most everything in the average person's fridge would fit into a medium (for example, a head of iceberg lettuce).
The small is handy for herbs.
The reason that I purchased these initially was because I was finding it impossible to store cilantro for more than 48 hours. It would promptly turn into goop no matter what I did. Right now, I have a bunch of cilantro that has been in my fridge for more than 1 week and it looks just as good as the day that I brought it home. With wet herbs like cilantro, basil, parsley, etc. I will wrap them loosely with a paper towel and then insert into the green bag, and not close the bag tightly. This seems to work quite well.
I also found some beautiful, huge red peppers on sale for only $1 each (that is a great price around here). So I bought a dozen and put them in the large green bag. Nearly one month later, the ones that were left still looked perfectly fine, as in, good enough to use in a salad. Likewise, lettuces, cucumbers, zucchini, grapes, etc. will all last for weeks and look quite nice and edible. I have no idea why these bags work, but they do!
ETA: These green bags do not have ziplock tops. They are just like ordinary produce bags from the grocery store, but they are green and they have kind of a weird texture, almost kind of like sandpaper (but flexible like plastic).
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In the summer, I use enameled cast iron (LC, Staub, etc) dutch ovens to store and serve cold salads and soups. Out of the fridge, the salads will stay cool much longer than in a plastic bowl. And if you are transporting the salad to a picnic or such, you don't have to worry about a glass or ceramic bowl getting broken.
Also, I put a paper towel over the top of the salad before I put the lid on. That way any condensation that collects on the inside of the lid does not drip back down onto the salad when you remove the lid to serve it.
On the conservation side, my latest find has been those "green bags". It is amazing how long vegetables will last in a green bag.
I'm looking forward to trying the aluminum foil trick.
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This is great! Thank you. I appreciate the detailed descriptions (e.g., the function of lecithin in the recipe for dough enhancer).
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Davydd, Dafydd: Congratulations on retirement. Great post. Makes me want to jump in a camper and head to Minnesota!
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Roasted chicken flavor -- strong herbal flavor (sage), tasty, would eat again
Ooh. Is the flavor kind of like a Chick'n-in-a-Biskit cracker? Which is a mighty fine chicken-broth-tasting cracker.
The best way that I can describe it is as follows. Imagine the flavor of a nice, savory chicken stuffing with lots of sage . . . but with the crispiness and saltiness of a potato chip. The chicken flavor was not as pronounced as the sage flavor, but it was still there. I was rather surprised that it tasted as good as it did, since the thought of a "chicken" flavored potato chip didn't really jump out at me.
The oregano flavor (which I forgot to photograph) was probably my favorite.
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I recently traveled to Bulgaria, where I sampled some flavors of chips that I have never seen in the US.
Roasted chicken flavor -- strong herbal flavor (sage), tasty, would eat again
Paprika -- red color but bland taste, hard to detect any paprika flavor, would probably not eat again
Hot Pepperoni -- I did not try these but others did and gave them the thumbs up
Heintz Ketchup -- Strong, ketchuppy flavor; not bad at all (if you like ketchup), would definitely eat again
Texas Barbeque -- this was very similar to BBQ chips in the US, as I suspected, but it was odd to find these being sold by a street vendor in a remote mountain town in Bulgaria!
Oregano -- not pictured; but very good, strong oregano flavor, would definitely eat again. Probably my favorite.
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Now, any ideas on how to get a nice crunchy coating on a fish fillet in the oven?
For "oven frying", I spread a thin layer of mayonnaise on the subject matter (chicken or fish fillet, sliced eggplant, zucchini, etc.) and then give a good dunk in a crumb mixture, let rest for 15 - 30 minutes to allow the mayo and crumbs to adhere and join together, then bake at high heat (450 F with convection if available) for a short period of time, preferably on a raised rack atop a cookie sheet, so the hot air circulates all the way around.
For the crumb mixture, I use lots of different things. For example, crushed cornflakes, rice chex, or other cereals, panko, fresh or dried breadcrumbs, ground nuts, grated parmesan, herbs, etc.
This method works especially well with eggplant, which soaks up so much oil when fried in the ordinary fashion. The "oven fried" eggplant actually tastes like eggplant and not oil.
One might think that mayonnaise is an odd thing to use to adhere the crumb mixture, but mayonnaise is really just eggs + oil, so it actually makes sense. Sometimes, I add ingredients to the mayonnaise such as herbs, mustard or roasted garlic.
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I don't recall seeing any Asian market in PG, or for that matter in Monterey. I assume that the Asian population is not too high in that area. There are some Asian ingredients in local stores such as Safeway. But the selections are rather limited.
Do you travel from the north through the San Jose area when going down to PG? If so, I would suggest you shop in the Asian markets in the San Jose area (e.g. Milpitas). There are many locations for the 99 Ranch market. Stock up on your ingredients, both fresh and dry and sauces, and store things in the fridge.
Thanks for the response - yes, we are flying into San Jose but our flight arrives at 10 pm, so I don't think we'll be stopping for any groceries on the way to our hotel in PG! I will do a google search and see where the closest 99 Ranch Market is located . . . I am not adverse to a road trip in search of good food stores. Actually, living in a small town in FL, I am accustomed to having to drive for such ingredients. Thanks again!
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I will be visiting my sister in PG at the end of the month and hope to be doing a lot of Asian cooking while I am there. She does not cook much and does not know of any Asian markets or good farmer's markets in the area. If any of you could share recommendations, I would be grateful . . . especially so if you happen to know the days and times of any farmer's markets nearby or within reasonable driving distance.
I'd also appreciate any dining recommendations for Castroville and/or Gilroy, as I plan to drive out that way one day while I'm there. Thanks so much. I'm looking forward to visiting this beautiful area.
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Regarding the request for recipes, I found Ina Garten's suggestion to insert a pat of butter into the middle of the burger prior to cooking to be odd, at first. But after serving such burgers to unsuspecting guests and receiving rave reviews, I always put a pat of butter inside (I just make sure that no one is watching when I do it).
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Here's a homemade solar oven.
It requires a cardboard box, foil, cord and glue. What a science project for you and the L'il Varmints!
You are so right! My daughter won first place in her school's science fair with her solar cooker for hot dogs:
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I couldn't find an EG thread on this series by Daniel Boulud, so in case any other EG'ers are interested, I'll mention it. Daniel meets with other celebrity chefs and guests for an after hours dinner party at various restaurants in NYC (WD 50, Aquavit, Dinasour BBQ, Cru, Blue Ribbon Sushi, Daniel, and some others). Some behind the scenes footage is included (perhaps only interesting to those of us who have never worked in a professional kitchen). For example, at WD 50, Wylie Dufresne demonstrated some of his work with food chemicals. In my area, the show is broadcast on a channel called "MOJO". Info about the series, some recipes and the show's schedule is here.
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I have a Bluestar cooktop and I'm in love with it.
However, if I was in the market for a 30" range, I would definitely take a look at the Capital 30" range. It can be configured with a high output wok burner (25k) and the simmer burners go down to 800 degrees. I've heard good things about the broiler, and it's got a built-in rotisserie. Check it out here.
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Maybe this should be posted under the "you know you're an EGer when" thread, but as I'm getting ready to head out to the airport (it's 3:45 am here!), I had to check this thread. You are off to a great start. Everything looks scrumptious. In fact, I'm hungry now . . . .
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I'm very much looking forward to this thread! I'm heading out to Bulgaria for a couple of weeks. Unfortunately, not a food trip (I'm tagging along with a bunch of musicians) and I'm not sure how often that I will have internet access. But thanks to the internet, it will all be here when I get back!
Enjoy MD and your family. I'm so delighted that you got your computer and camera problems worked out. Now let's see some Korean food!
Q&A -- Knife Maintenance and Sharpening
in The eGullet Culinary Institute (eGCI)
Posted
(Note: this post and the next several moved from the Ken Onion topic -- eGCI Staff)
I also have a yearning for the KO chef's knife. OK, actually, I want the whole set including bamboo block that they sell at fancy places like WS. When I was in Sur la Table a few weeks ago, the salesperson informed me that I could not use my Chef's Choice on it, but that Shun does sell an electric sharpener, specifically for these knives.
Do I take it correctly, Chad, from your comments above that the electric sharpener, even the one made by Shun, is a bad idea?
There is an example of it here.