Shel_B

Some years ago I bought a black Le Creuset "Dutch" oven. I'd already had a white one of about the same capacity, and had used a friend's orange-colored one several times. I discovered that I could reduce the oven temp by 25-degrees with the black pot and get the same results as with the other pots. I have two 8 x 8 baking dishes, one being a dark brown glass Pyrex (Visions, I think it's called) and the other a white Corningware dish. They definitely cook differently. I always make certain foods in specific dishes, never changing. For example, my brownies are made in the brown Pyrex, my baked rice in the Corningware. Here they are, side-by-side: I wouldn't say that dark pans work better, but they certainly work differently, and depending on what result you want, they could be better, or worse. What this has to do with the best way to clean a sheet pan eludes me, but it seemed like a good place to address your comment. I like the examples and explanation in the link.

That is what I saw on a chart on the Dufour site, but, to my mind, the chart was vague as it didn't specify the package I purchased. Thanks so much!

Not yet. Believe it or not, I've not had any sugar in the house except for about a cup or two of vanilla sugar, and no plain vinegar, just expensive vinegars for cooking, salad, etc. I picked up some sugar yesterday and later today or tomorrow I'll grab some inexpensive vinegar. Then, over the weekend, when I'm planning to use the oven, I'll give it a try.

I recently purchased a box of Dufour puff pastry, 14-oz. There's nothing on the box that indicated the size of the sheets. Does anyone know what the dimensions of the sheets are? Will it fit over a 9 x 9 baking dish with some overage? Thanks!

Repaire de Bandits Catalans, or more commonly described as Lemon Garlic Chicken. Turned out just fine, and if I were to make it today, it would be a lot better as I'm now a more experienced cook. One day I want to make Chicken with Garlic Pearls and Sauterne Wine Sauce, Poulet aux Perles d'Ail Doux et au Sauternes - no pork in either of these dishes. Remember, though, you can add other cheese ... not the same but often just as good or better.

It's often been suggested to store vanilla beans in sugar as the beans impart a vanilla flavor to the sugar. If vanilla beans impart flavor to the sugar, do they lose some of their flavor? Do the seeds, which don't come in direct contact with the sugar, lose any of their flavor? If the same vanilla beans and seeds are used with the vanilla sugar in a dessert, like a custard or panna cotta, would the dessert have a more intense vanilla flavor? Would using a "fresh" vanilla bean and the enhanced vanilla sugar provide greater flavor to the custard, etc?

Pork is a main ingredient in many recipes, and over the years I've experimented with omitting pork products from any number of recipes, sometimes intentionally, sometimes by circumstance (not having the ingredient on hand), and sometimes by accident. In just about every case, the dish suffered by leaving out the pork component. That said, sometimes another ingredient can be substituted (such as smoked turkey thighs in place of smoked ham shanks or hocks) in some dishes. Other times you end up with a much different dish than intended by the recipe, which is not always a bad thing. I think you'd have to try each dish you're interested in, and see how it works for you, or your guests. For example, there are some ingredients Toots doesn't like, and I either eliminate them or substitute something similar. IMO, many of those dishes suffer because of the omission/substitution, and it sometimes bothers me a lot that the change was made, yet Toots is happy and content, and that's what matters most to me. However, when I make the dish for myself, I wouldn't omit or substitute the ingredient. So I compromise ... we each get what we want, but not necessarily in the same dish at the same time. All that said, just because you may not prepare some (or many) of the recipes in a particular book, isn't, IMO, reason enough to not have it to complete your collection of the author's books. If you're buying the book as a collector, it's a different situation than if you're buying the book to cook from, although it seems you're looking to do both. I'd buy the book and be done with it. You can never tell when one of the recipes you'd never cook may come in handy, even if only for an idea or to share with someone else. I cherish my signed, first edition of The Cooking of Southwest France even though only one recipe from it has been prepared. I've learned a lot just from reading the book, which was enjoyable time spent.

Trader Joe's Frozen Pitted Dark Sweet Cherries: I've not seen these before, and have been looking for such an item for a while. A few days ago I found some at Whole Foods - they were a little more expensive than the TJ's product, and from the standpoint of taste, I found them to be comparable. At the local store, the TJ's cherries are $3.69 for a 1-lb package. By comparison, the Whole Foods brand was $3.99.

OSHA Regulatory Status This material is considered hazardous by the OSHA Hazard Communication Standard (29 CFR 1910.1200). http://www.rscbrands.com/products/msds/EBT32.PDF IMO, one would be foolish to use this in and around their home. What's your suggestion for disposing of the waste generated by using this. I checked with our recycling center, and, around here at least, it must be disposed of at a hazardous waste site.

My latest purchases were spices from Penzeys: cumin seed, three types of black pepper, Mexican oregano, and epazote.

A friend of mine noted something similar ...

There's a Smart and Final not to far from me, as well as a Staples. Perhaps I'll stop by on Mon and see what they have. I'll probably try your cleaning method if DPD is unavailable. Nice pic ...

Hi, Shelby ... I've rendered small batches of lard three times over the last few weeks, each time using somewhat different techniques. The results were all good, without much difference between batches. IMO, there's no need to be picky ... seems like the process is pretty forgiving. Not having a slow cooker, I did the rendering on the stove top. From what you're saying, it may be that the stove top can give better temperature control, i.e., temp can be set to an almost infinite range rather than just warm and low. If you do this again, it might be worthwhile to consider the stove top (or oven) as an option.

The origin of this recipe comes from Cook's Illustrated, but the recipe has developed over time enough that it can be considered a different recipe. Shel’s Baked Wild and Brown Rice Ingredients 1 cup Massa Organics brown rice, rinsed and drained a couple of times ½ cup domestic, cultivated wild rice (Trader Joe's brand is just fine for this) 2⅓ cups liquid (50/50 stock/water combination) 1 tsp unsalted butter or equivalent oil or ghee 2 lightly crushed garlic cloves ½ tsp Diamond Crystal kosher salt (optional) Fresh ground black pepper Directions Adjust oven rack to middle-high position; heat oven to 375 degrees. Spread drained brown rice in 8‑inch‑square glass baking dish. like Corningware. Cook ½-cup wild rice and garlic cloves in about 1½-cups water for about 15-minutes, no more. Drain, reserving liquid. Remove the garlic cloves and add the drained wild rice to the brown rice. Bring reserved rice cooking liquid and enough stock or water to make 2⅓ cups, plus the butter or oil and salt to a boil, covered, and then pour liquid over rice. Stir to incorporate. Cover baking dish tightly with doubled layer of foil (the lid from the 8-inch Corningware casserole is fine). Bake rice 1 hour, until tender. Remove baking dish from oven and uncover. Grind some pepper onto the rice, then fluff rice with a fork, cover dish with clean kitchen towel and let rice stand 5 minutes. Uncover, fluff and adjust seasoning, and let rice stand 5 minutes longer. Serve immediately. Notes: This recipe works well when using an 8-inch Corningware or Pyrex dish with lid. If you don't have a lid, cover the dish tightly with aluminum foil. I prefer the Massa Organics brown rice http://massaorganics.com/ for this dish, but have made the dish with other brown rice as well, all with acceptable results. Massa's rice can be purchased at the Berkeley Farmers Markets or on line. I use Trader Joe's wild rice as it's cost effective, readily available, and tastes as good as the other cultivated wild rice I've tried. The amount and brand of salt works well for my taste and the boxed chicken stock I use, which is Costco's organic chicken stock mixed about 50/50 with water. If you use another brand you may have to adjust the amount of salt. More than 2 tsp butter or oil makes the cooked rice a little greasy to my taste. I prefer a little less than 1 tsp unsalted butter.

I didn't say anything about wanting "a shiny aluminum pan." I was just looking for suggestions on how to get the burnt on oil off of the surface. Shiny might be nice, but I have no expectations in that regard.

BKF doesn't work on this - tried it. Engine degreaser is considered a hazardous waste product, and using it around the home opens up the door to disposal problems. Plus, degreaser, as someone pointed out, isn't considered food safe, so cooking on a pan treated with degreaser doesn't strike me as prudent. How might it react with food? What might (even the residual cleaner) do to my oven? I don't feel like underwriting the cost of experimenting with it in my kitchen. YMMV

They are expensive here ... a friend and I went to East Bay Restaurant Supply recently, and we were stunned by their high prices. It used to be that the place was filled with bargains. I purchased quite a few things there in the past. The highly rated Cook's Illustrated pan is around $20.00 on Amazon, and priced similarly at other places.

I don't need a new pan. Already have a few. This was a gift from a neighbor, and my interest was in seeing if it could be rejuvenated.

Yes, Dawn Power Dissolver has been discontinued. Thanks for contacting Dawn. I’m sorry you’re unable to find the Dawn Power Dissolver. This product has been discontinued and it’s no longer available. We are currently in the process of updating our website to reflect this. Generally, decisions to start or stop making products are based on consumer demand, so feedback like yours is extremely valuable. Although your favorite product has been discontinued, you can try our Dawn Platinum Erasing Dish Foam. I think you’ll really like it. Thanks again for taking the time to write! Treveno Dawn Team I wouldn't spend the $$ that is being asked for the product on Amazon just to clean on old baking sheet. I know that the pan can be used regardless of how bad it looks, and I will use it. It's not in my nature to just toss something out if it can still be used. This is a thick, heavy sheet, and it's worth keeping. Compared to the thin, crap baking sheets that are mostly available, this one's a keeper. I've already used it as Anna N has suggested. And lined with parchment paper or foil, it will continue to provide some service. It doesn't take up any space to speak of. Thanks for all the suggestions. I learned about some new products ....

Yes, that seems to be what it is. I'd rather not damage the surface any more than necessary ... tried some BKF as was suggested above, but it was pretty much useless. Thanks!

A few days ago, a neighbor gave me an aluminum baking sheet. It's damaged with burnt on oil. What might be the best way to clean it? I tried soaking it in hot, and then boiling, water, using a strong solution of detergent.

I know that he'll like them. Plans are to make them the morning of his party. I want to make the pretzels, not buy toaster pop up prepared pretzels. While he may be Toots' grandson, he's no kid. He'll be 20 yo on his bday. What I really want to know is what I asked ... "Do you think adding the onion powder as Lisa suggests would be a good idea? What about a small amount of honey or molasses (I'd probably opt for honey as there's some in the cupboard)?"

Subsequent reading on the subject suggests that you're correct about longer times, although I'm not sure about higher heat in and of itself. I don't think it's the breed of pig as I used three different types and the results were all the same.

You are correct - Accent, which has been around almost forever, and is found on supermarket shelves everywhere. While many people eschew the product, and MSG in general, for health reasons, believing it contains excessive amounts of sodium, it actually contains less sodium than salt.

There are a number of good ideas in the article, many of which are probably known by most of us here at eG. However, it wouldn't be surprising if most everyone picks up a new idea or two. eG isn't that different than other sites. There is misinformation here, too. Not too long ago I followed some expert advice and completely ruined an expensive-to-make dish. Just chalked it up to my personal learning curve, and learned to trust my own instincts a bit more. Of course, I've received plenty of good advice here as well, quite a bit more than bad advice.