Huevos del Toro

Lobster But on a scale of 0 to 5, Lobster tops out at 5 with at least a dozen coming in at 4.999! This really IS harder than it looks.

Is your larb receipe somewhere in that massive thread? I have tried (and failed) to get through it. So many posts!! tommy doesn't have a larb recipe in the recipe database but snow angel does.

Thank you for participating! It's nearly time to drive down to Hong Kong Market Place. What's with the "No pictures of the outside of the building"? Inside is OK but not the outside? No pics of the dragon dance? I'll comply but I think it's BS! I'm too damned old to be a rebel again!

I must be the dummy of all time. I just talked with my bartender and she looked at me like I was from another planet! "What?! You didn't know that?" No, I didn't. And I thought I'd discovered something new. Go figure. I've obviously led a sheltered life. Please...go back to what you were doing!

I was just talking with a gentlemen who used to be a top salesman for a major soda company and he gave me a tip I'd never heard before. Want biscuits that float off the plate? Replace the milk (on an equal volume basis) with 7-Up! The only caveat is you must eat them while they're hot, otherwise, when they cool, they will become dangerous weapons! Anyone going to try this? REPORT PLEASE!

Years ago my brother gave me a microwavable pressure cooker! Yup, a pressure cooker. With it came a collection of recipes that included mock wild boar. I can’t rightly recall the ingredients except that it included some cut of pork, sour cream, and juniper berries. It was the juniper berries that gave it that gamey flavor. So, if you get stuck, try a domesticated hog with some juniper berries. I’d be very interested in hearing from someone who could actually compare true wild boar and the mock version. As an aside, I tried googling for the pressure cooker and evidently it’s not being made anymore. It really did a good job though.

Chicken Breasts ! As one eGulletier once said, "Tastes like bad tofu" The only part of a chicken I'll still eat is the thigh. The rest can go to stock making.

I originally saw the ulu used by Eskimo women in Kotzebue Alaska to reduce whales, sea lions, and seals to managable portions. They really worked magic with those knives. Their hands just flew! I never saw anyone use them for chopping though. It's really a skinning type of blade. I'm going to stick with my chefs knives. Note: The ulu's I saw had larger blades and the curve was longer. It was all in the wrist action.

I'm also of the baking school. I've never nuked one. Liberal application of butter, S&P. That's it! I suppose you could sauce it, herb it, etc. but I like the flavor of the squash, backed up by this simple dressing. Not very imaginative I suppose but I've never had the desire to experiment further. Maybe I should, eh? It just seemed to me that doing anything further would drown the squash flavor.

Spray Drying Process Love that Google! Man, Jason. We musta been synchronized!

I think I posted this somewhere before but it’s been a while and I have no idea where it might be. Pardon the repetition. I was just finishing up building a lasagna, getting it ready for the oven. My small apartment kitchen left no room for the assembly so I was doing it on top of the stove (in a Pyrex baking dish). Unbeknownst to me, the small burner I had set the baking dish on was set to low. Yup, the dish exploded with the force of a hand grenade with the attendant noise of one. Glass flew everywhere. The largest piece left was a perfectly circular disk about 2 inches in diameter. I later postulated it came from the very center of the dish. The lasagna components were all over the counter, dripping down into the drawers, all over the floor, the walls and some on the ceiling. What made this very scary was the fact that I was doing all of this in the nude. OK, so I used to cook in the nude! Used to I said. Frying bacon cured me of that! My SO heard the explosion. She was asleep when it happened. She rushed in to see what had exploded. She looked at me and the mess and couldn’t stop laughing. At least she had the sense to make sure I wasn’t injured. Trust me, I had already checked that! I cleaned everything up, showered, dressed and went to the market to buy the ingredients to make another one. When all was said and done, I had to go to work while she and her mother ate the lasagna. I never did get a taste of it. Her mother took the rest of it home with her. I figure I spent about $70 on that damned lasagna, but fortunately I didn’t have to pay a doctor bill!

Does anyone have recommendations on where to get these squeeze bottles, mail-order or otherwise? I've done a Google search but can't discern the quality of these bottles. I get mine at The Container Store but I opt for the clear one's so I can see what's inside.

I LOVE coddled eggs! These coddlers hold two eggs each with enough room left to pile on the herbs, spices, and meats. Four coddlers is barely enough to serve two people.

Double boiler if I have the time. Low and slow yields extremely creamy eggs. They are like velvet. I don't add much liquid. Don't know how much Nero Wolfe was recommending. I've also tried the hot and fast method and the medium heat method. I've stirred constantly, once in a whileor lift the sides up to let the uncooked egg run over onto the hot surface. I like large, creamy curds so low and slow does it for me.

Here's his Corn Chowder. Yes, I know you'll have to use frozen corn as it's a little past fresh corn season but, besides seafood chowders, corn is about my favorite. The final result depends upon the quality of the bacon as much as anything.

When it was hog slaughtering time I would trade my school brown bag lunch to anyone who had head cheese sandwiches. I was around 15 years old (I think). I haven't had any REAL head cheese since those days. Stay away, far far away, from the junk they sell in supermarkets as head cheese. It isn't!

One word...Chowders! Especially Jasper Whites 50 Chowders : One Pot Meals - Clam, Corn, & Beyond. Or here.

HEY! I LIKED SOS in the Navy. I STILL like it, although I doctor it up more than the original. I never heard of Cream of Wheat being used but I suppose it's possible to use that instead of a cream gravy. Sorta like grits with chipped beef in it. Soundin' better now that I think about it. Guess I'll have to stop by the store on the way home. Yum! SOS tonite!

I won't ask. Sorry to be so cryptic. It's not a slam or disrespectful. It originated in the newsgroup alt.coffee. Here is an explanation of the God shot.

That's about what I've figured, around a grand for something decent. My kids gave me a Krups a few years ago but I've pined for something a little more versatile. Maybe a Rancilio Silvia and a Rocky or Mazzer Mini grinder. Espresso techniques and the attendant equipment certainly creates a rash of controversy. I suppose it's not any different than getting stuck on one kind of fishing lure or any other sport/hobby endeavor. I do roast my own beans but that's not very difficult. It would be nice to, one day, pull a God shot. In keeping with the intent of this thread, my Krups sits mostly unused now. The same can be said of my Cuisinart food processor. I find I can do nearly everything with my 10-inch chefs knife that the food processor will do, and enjoy it more!

I buy dried hominy, or posole, in New Mexico. It's already been soaked and denuded. I don't think I've run across just dried corn like that unless it's intended for use in a deer feeder. If you truly have dried corn you can buy the slaked lime here. And yes, it's the same thing as the stuff used in the construction industry. I LOVE posole (the stew, not just the hominy)!

The Indian Grocery Store Demystified A food lover's guide to all the best ingredients in the traditional foods of India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh It's really a pretty cool aid in deciphering the seemingly inexhaustible list of ingredients. The author, Linda Bladholm, also wrote: The Asian Grocery Store Demystified A food lover's guide to all the best ingredients which is next on my wish list. edited by HdT to add: The small size makes it handy to carry with you to the market so you can refer to it as you shop.

I tend to flit from book to book, depending on my mood or if I'm doing something that's specific to either a region or an ingredient. However, I have a series of cookbooks called Best of the Best of (state). Barbara Moseley and Gwen McKee, Associate Editor and Editor-In-Chief respectfully, are delights to work with. I started my collection soon after they formed Quail Ridge Press. I think they must have covered every state by now. The attraction of these books is that, not only are they state specific, the recipes are gleaned from sources such as church cookbooks, Junior League cookbooks, etc. They are winnowed down until only the very best remain. Great home cooking that's been tried, tweaked and refined. I know I must sound like I'm shilling but I just love these books. I love my others too but the Best of the Best series covers such a wide range of dishes you can do darned near anything with only one book. Texas and Louisiana actually have two books apiece.

I received two from my daughter. "The Indian Grocery Store Demystified" by Linda Bladholm. This was a godsend for me. It details every conceivable ingredient used in Indian cooking. It's also small enough to pack with you when you visit an Indian market. The other is Madhur Jaffrey's "Quick and Easy Indian Cooking". A perusal shows that it's accessible even to neophytes to Indian cuisine like me. You're sure to get many, many recommendations but these appear to be a good starting point for one who isn't yet experienced with the cuisines of India.

You're right on fifi. I remember reading the same thing but I think it was from one of DeWitts books. Here is a University of Florida College of Health and Human Performance article which references the Baylor study. According to this article, ground jalapeno peppers were directly injected into the stomach but I thought I remembered reading where pure capsaicin was injected and then the stomach lining photographed. No ill effects were found. Eureka! I found Dave DeWitts treatment of this subject. Click edited to add: I finally found the first reference I can recall which approached this subject. It was in Dave DeWitt and Nancy Gerlach's book "The Whole Chile Pepper Book", a copy of which I bought when it was first published. I tried to link to a source of DeWitts books about chile's, but for some reason this link won't work properly so here it is in the long form: http://www.fiery-foods.com/dave/davebooks.htm#Chile Pepper Encyclopedia