blue_dolphin

Here's that ruby chocolate ice cream, chilled down and ready to mix in the raspberry purée. A half batch filled one Creami container perfectly. Tastes very nice but we'll have to wait until tomorrow to see how it comes out.

It's an ice cream stabilizer blend. Contains guar gum, carrageenan. Figured It couldn’t hurt to throw in a little.

Yeah, Lebovitz cautions that if the mixture is chilled overnight in the fridge that the chocolate may separate. I did add a teaspoon of Avacream along with the sugar. I chilled the mix down to ~ 45°F in the ice bath then put it into the freezer. Not sure if it was the stabilizer or the rapid chill but I did not note any separation nor do I detect any graininess.

How did this do? Sounds like a very refreshing combination! The other day, David Lebovitz shared a recipe for a white chocolate sorbet adapted from Gale Gand's book Chocolate & Vanilla and I decided to give it a try. Here it is with dark chocolate shaved over the top. It's nice. Lighter than an ice cream but still rich from the cocoa butter in the chocolate. I've also enjoyed it with scoop of strawberry sorbet and separately with a scoop of tangerine sorbet and I'd say it works really well with fruit flavors. On its own, it's fairly subtle. It's not truly a sorbet as it contains milk so maybe more of an ice milk? The recipe is here in his newsletter or here in a blog post from 2006. He gives a yield of 2 cups in the newsletter. I got closer to 3.5 cups. I used Weiss Anëo 34% white chocolate as its what I had on hand. For the alcohol, I added a tablespoon of homemade, unsweetened creme de cacao (vodka steeped with cacao nibs for several weeks.) Kinda wish I'd split it up and made half with Green Chartreuse. Edited to add that I also added about 1 tsp of Avacream along with the sugar. This made me wonder what a ruby chocolate ice cream would be like. Callebaut has a recipe for one that adds raspberry purée. Maybe I'll try a small batch.

Last month, a California judge ruled no enforcement on the Prop 12 pig requirements for 6 months because the state was slow in finalizing the exact rules & regs. Pork industry plaintiffs wanted a 28 month stay.

Of course this reminds me of our dearly departed @Toliver:

I know people here in California who enjoy a cappuccino after dinner. I personally make Marcella Hazan's Fettuccine col Sugo di Tonno con Aglio e Panna which contains Parmesan cheese. And I have served orzo as a side dish so there's 3 mortal sins right there 😈

A basic buttery spritz cookie piped into a shape that can accommodate a dollop of jam seems like a solution that would work with many types of jam. Not exactly buttery, and this may be too similar to the small tarts you made but little phyllo cups filled with some sort of soft cheese and a dollop of jam are always popular when I make them. Here's a fig & goat cheese version. I've used goat cheese, cream cheese, brie, anything soft and all sorts of jam. Depending on the jam you want to use, a variation on the Hot Apple Jelly Thumbprints from Vivian Howard's Deep Run Roots might be something to try. The cookie part is a riff on cheese straws so they're as nice with cocktails as dessert. Vivian calls for smoked Gouda or sharp aged Cheddar. Both are good. You can use any sort of jam. The recipe is available online here. Another thumbprint cookie riff is the Devil's Thumbprints from Baking with Dorie. They are tiny, fudgy cookies filled with jam. I used raspberry and black raspberry and both were delicious. I need to make some orange or tangerine marmalade as I think that would be perfect with the dark chocolate. One thing that Dorie does in this recipe that makes them look a little special is to first roll the balls in turbinado or sanding sugar, then press with a cork to make a deeper well than you get in the average thumbprint. I had to hunt around to find a cork small enough to work with these little cookies but it worked nicely. The recipe is online here. Here they are before baking: And baked and filled: The Jammy Winter Fruit and Browned Butter Bars from Shauna Sever's Midwest Made might be a bit more homespun than you have in mind but they're a great way to use jam. I use about double the amount of jam as the recipe calls for and have made them with all sorts of jam. The browned butter really does highlight the fall fruit flavors. The recipe is online here.

Pick up a little 50 ml bottle and see what you think. If I want a martini, I want something with more juniper but a martini is probably the best cocktail to let the gin flavors shine.

Since the younger Italians differ so strongly in some points with the older groups in this poll, I'm sure you're right but 200 years ago? That's prior to the unification of Italy as a country, not to mention a tough demographic to poll 🤣 And you may well be right on the SpaghettiOs sauce but I do not make my tomato soup that sweet so ketchup was what came to mind when I thought about that long-lost flavor memory!

Ditto the thumbs up for Dishoom. It's a delight to read even if you don’t cook from it. I’ve cooked quite a bit from it and enjoyed everything. Some recipes are on the rich side but that’s often the nature of restaurant food.

Those iSi spatulas and their equally fabulous silicone bench/bowl scrapers have been MIA everywhere for a couple of years now. Very sad. Blendtec sells 2 overpriced spatulas that work quite well. The Spectacula came with my Twister jars but works on the others as well. The Spoonula is supposedly designed for the Wild Side and Four Side jars. Sounds very thrifty! I don’t want any more mystery condiments in my fridge but I’m also thrifty so I DO want to get everything out. Especially since it can be done so easily.

That’s what first comes to my mind except I’m in SoCal so the trompo for tacos al pastor with pork that @heidih mentioned may be even more common. Chicken or goat, too but a bit less common in my area.

When I read pasta with ketchup in that article, SpaghettiOs is 100% what came first to mind. That, on the other hand sounds like the starting point to a quick, but not scandalous, Asian noodle dish.

I’m not sure exactly where the Princessmobile is encamped but we have warm daytime temps in the forecast for next week so you might have a chance to try out your machine. If you’ve got the freezer space, I recommend making two flavors as they’re fun to compare. I've got a mango lassi frozen yogurt mix (from Hello My Name Is Ice Cream) in the works and need to pick something else.

A little entertainment here: A new international YouGov survey identifies 11 ‘food crimes’ committed against Italian cuisine by the rest of the world The greatest sin is apparently having ketchup with pasta, followed by putting pasta in cold water then boiling it and, of course, pineapple on pizza. I like how Hong Kong seems good with everything and India barely finds anything acceptable. There's also an age breakdown amongst Italians with young Italians substantially more likely than their older peers to say that having cappuccino after a meal, garlic bread with a pasta meal, adding plain pasta to a plate or bowl and then adding the sauce afterwards, and having risotto as an appetiser or side dish are ok.

I can't say I've got the rest of the ingredients on hand but the idea of using pickled sushi ginger as a garnish is very appealing.

A number of my Chinese friends ended up in areas of the US (Stevens Point, WI, for one) that lacked local sources of Chinese ingredients back in the '70s & '80's. I was surprised at some of the substitutions they came up with, though they had the advantage of knowing what they were aiming for in terms of flavor and textures. If you have the opportunity, I'd recommend reaching out to any Chinese expat groups in your area. Perhaps affiliated with a college or university? I suspect your interest would be well received and you may get some good suggestions for tracking down ingredients or good local substations. All the best with pursuing your interest

Very similar. In the book, They use shredded sharp cheddar instead of sliced and use the greens to make a pesto with garlic, rice vinegar and oil. Edited to add that I love that was from Yankee magazine - a blast from the past as it was a regular during my growing up years! I do indeed have a bunch of Grip Stics at the ready - I think I bought them after seeing you or @Kerry Beal had snagged a bargain purchase of them on one of your ventures- I'm a big fan! I will have to see if I can open this particular package in a different way because when I cut off the fused end, there's not enough bag left to make a fold that the stic can grip!

This is the article that was discussed in the radio show I mentioned listening to on Tuesday: Methane and NOx Emissions from Natural Gas Stoves, Cooktops, and Ovens in Residential Homes and the senior author of that study, Rob Jackson of Stanford, was a guest on the show, along with Katherine Blunt, energy reporter from the WSJ. This is the same study referred to in the article that @Darienne shared in the first post. The numbers in the study are very small, only 50 some homes and obviously not powered to assist in brand selection. The supporting information lists the stoves but does not specify the exact model, nor the age. Only one Bluestar. In the radio interview, Jackson said that the stoves ranged from 3 - 30 years old. He said there was not a strict correlation between age and the amount of leakage. In some cases, auto-igniters weren't working but owners reported using the burners anyway so that's surely going to result in more methane leakage. He was clear that the levels of methane leakage from stoves are generally NOT a health hazard in homes but that the cumulative leakage has broader impacts on climate. That said, NO2 levels can be more concerning and are a good reason to ensure adequate ventilation. He was not advocating for getting rid of functioning gas appliances but for encouraging alternatives for future development.

They are in the frozen case and were near the potstickers and other Asian foods. Here's the package: I wish it were re-sealable but it’s easy enough to slide the open pack into a gallon ziplock.

On the upside, you can perhaps afford food that would provide more nourishment if not as much joy as boiling water in new pots.

This one was totally inspired by the Double Awesome in the book except I used Little Green Dress instead of pesto, Parm instead of Cheddar and only one egg. I will surely try the real thing one of these days!

Sounds pretty unpleasant 😢. Hope you can find subs for those items elsewhere. From that list, the only thing I’d touch is the sour cream 🤣 and yet, I'm a TJ's fan. Lotsa changes in the 40+ years I’ve been shopping there. Lotsa stuff I don’t buy but still getting the cheese, dairy, wine and nuts that sold me back then. Plus my new love, the frozen Taiwanese scallion pancakes! In my area, the number of kids went way down during Covid. Used to be tons with parents combining school pick-ups with other errands. Not now. I guess my TJ's have always been corporate since as long as I’ve been shopping there, they've completely rearranged their stores on a regular basis. I figured they wanted us to wander around lost and happen upon new stuff. I very much appreciate that none of the dozen or so stores in my area have done more than minor shifts of frozen foods during Covid so still relatively easy to find stuff. Does the Kerrygold butter from Costco taste different from TJ's? Although I’ve never seen a skid of anything other than Two Buck Chuck in there so maybe that’s it?

@Kim Shook, toast goes with everything! Another TJ's Taiwanese scallion pancake idea from Double Awesome Chinese Food. Pulled pork with cranberry: The book has a recipe for a cranberry sweet & sour sauce which I'll try one of these days but I already had a cranberry sauce flavored with orange, kaffir lime and cinnamon so I reduced some down to thicken it a bit. This combo of cranberry & scallion pancake would be really good with a smear of brie or other creamy, funky cheese.