Tri2Cook

It mutes the pure flavor of the cheese to a degree. That's why I use a nice sharp cheddar to start with and amp it up with some blue. That gives it enough bite to stand up to the sauce base. As mentioned by others, the addition of some Velveeta or similar seems to help with the creamy factor but where I live a small block of Velveeta costs more than a chunk of decent cheddar. Something in my head won't allow me to grab the Velveeta under those circumstances. Just to be clear, I'm not arguing against the modernist cuisine version of mac and cheese. It is good. I'm just suggesting that it's not always the answer for everybody. A baked mac and cheese for 50 is probably better served by trying to solve the problem with their sauce than having them go buy sodium citrate and carrageenan.

Thanks for the suggestions. The Dalwhinnie is the only one of those suggestions available locally. I can get the Ardbeg but it's about 5 hours away so I or someone I know would have to be going there anyway. I don't think I'd do the 10 hr. drive just for the bottle.

And they get on your lawn too!

As much as I'm a proponent of modernist cooking techniques, béchamel based mac and cheese has been made for a very long time with perfectly good results so there's no reason to go buy sodium citrate and carrageenan unless you just want to give it a try (it is good). I did the modernist version for a group of people for a Labor Day bbq and did a traditional béchamel style for mostly the same group for Thanksgiving dinner and 100% of them preferred the béchamel based version (I'm not discounting the nostalgia factor though). I've never had a béchamel based mac and cheese break or go greasy from the baking (reheating is a different story, that seems to suck all available grease to the surface) so I'm not sure what's happening. I bake mine at 350 F and probably longer than 30 min (never timed it, I pull it when it looks the way I want it to). For this most recent batch, I did a standard béchamel seasoned with salt, pepper, a bit of dry mustard and a bit of cayenne, melted in cheddar and a little blue and topped it with a mixture of mozzarella and cheddar before baking. I don't use egg in it. There was a bit of grease from the melted cheese on top but nothing overwhelming or off-putting.

The only mezcal available at this end of the province is the Jaral de Berrio... turns out smoke is not one of it's prominent features. After finally managing to get a bottle, I was kinda disappointed to discover that. A non/less medicinal Islay may be an option. I'll look into it and decide if I'm brave enough to risk it.

That description, an apple enjoyed by a campfire, makes this sound really tempting. Unfortunately, I just can't adjust to Islay scotch. Or at least, I can't adjust to Laphroaig which is the only one I've tried. Based on my experience with every drink I've tried using Laphroaig, to me, the drink would probably taste like enjoying an apple in the doctors office while he bandaged me up. I know it's just me, too many people talk about the Islay smoke for it not to be true, but the only smoke I ever get would be what might result from dousing a pile of band-aids in iodine and setting it ablaze. Which makes me sad because the idea of the smoky taste appeals to me.

I don't know... I cook in a restaurant 10-12 hrs. a day, 6 days a week and I'm confident Rob puts in a lot more time than I do being as it's his restaurant he's working in. Lazy is not a word I would associate with Rob. I think getting annoyed because customers are constantly asking for and expecting to get free product is perfectly valid. People seem to get a sense of entitlement when in restaurants that they don't get anywhere else they spend their money. Try getting almost any other type of business to cooperate when you walk in 3 minutes before closing time and then sit there talking with your friends for 30 minutes after you complete your transaction. Try getting almost any non-food related business to give you free items "just to see if I like it". Try talking to the staff at almost any other type of business the way customers feel it's okay to talk to waitstaff. If something quick can be accommodated like shooting a bit of a pre-made condiment or sauce on a spoon and the restaurant feels it's in their best interest to do so, that's fine. But stopping service (not all restaurants have a line... when I'm cooking at work, it's just me) to make a tiny portion of something for a free taste is entirely excessive in my opinion.

I need to try this at a bar. I'm not really sure which bourbon I like, could I just have a taste of your 5 or 6 best? Well, those were all tasty but I think I'm good now so... Thanks!

I think the pear was related to another person's allergy.

Frost on your windows there and it's sunny and 16 C here today. Didn't even get cold enough for frost last night. Have a safe trip home.

I will be making that cake.

Welcome back! And thanks!

The last time I ordered fajitas in a restaurant, I asked for corn tortillas instead of flour and the waitress looked at me like I had a horn growing out of my forehead. It made me sad.

So a lot of catching up to do in this thread... my internet went down fairly early on Saturday and it wasn't something I could fix myself so, with it being a holiday weekend, it was today before anything got done. The day with the apple press looked like a lot of fun and yep, I am happy they are continuing to stock the carpano antica.

I like articles like this. They admit that they did almost everything incorrectly or with the wrong equipment for the job and then sum it up by saying the recipe isn't worth the trouble other than to brag on social media that they did it.

I'm starting to feel like my liquor cabinet was a complete waste of money, I need to take inspiration and be a little less collector and a little more indulger.

Without meaning to speak for Rob, I'd say he specified that sugar for the flavor profile he wanted for his recipe. The curing technique works with any type of sugar.

I'm frequently hard-headed and trust myself until the results tell me I should have followed the instructions more closely.

The only reason I can think of for spending 3 days on it is to give the dough time to develop more flavor. When I use a laminated yeast dough for cinnamon buns, I usually make the dough in the morning, laminate it that afternoon and use it that evening or the next morning.

I thought this was going to be about rooster cojones.

I might do it just to see what all the fuss was about. There's nothing difficult about it, just a little more time consuming than your average doughnut.

I'd say you covered it extremely well. And I was voting for the rice cracker from the start of the post, it just seemed to make the most sense with the other ingredients, so I'm glad it worked out.

If you can't get what you really want, the wonton skins do work pretty nicely. I put them over the cups in mini muffin pans, press them into the cups using a second matching pan, toss them in the oven for a bit then remove the top pan to allow them to crisp up. Makes nice, crispy, non-greasy little bite-sized cups that hold up well after filling. I usually cut them into a roundish shape for a neater look but it's not necessary. I have a couple dozen of those pans so I can turn out a large supply pretty quickly but they don't take too long even working with just one pair of pans.

We had ours last Sunday. 8 am - 4 pm and they didn't give a single minute at either end. I don't mind them so much on nice days, I usually just plan a really long bike ride, but it was chilly and raining all day.