blue_dolphin

OK, @rotuts, here you go... I ordered online for curbside pick-up at my local Shack: I arrived right on time. Took about 10 min before they brought out my food. Next time, I might do their "walk-in" pick-up since they have a service counter set up outside and so I don't think it's necessary to go inside. I decided to take my order home instead of eating in the car. As mentioned above, I got the Korean-Style Fried Chick'n Sandwich and an order of Gochujang Fries Fries were not hot so I reheated them in the CSO. As you can see, there are a ton of them, with what I'd say is an insufficient amount of gochujang mayo. I've made gochujang mayo for sandwiches before but never tried it with fries. Excellent. There was a very thin, very very crisp coating on the chicken breast topped with a smear of a sweet/hot gochujang-glaze and a smallish amount of kimchi slaw on the bottom bun, under the chicken. The chicken was real meat, nicely cooked, not dry or processed like nuggets. I'd have liked more slaw and found the ingredients weren't really distributed in a way that you could get them all in one bite. But hey, it's fast food, what do you want? I ate most of the sandwich and about half the fries. The sandwich was fine, I'd certainly take it over Chik-fil-A but if I'm going to Shake Shack, I'd go with a burger. Thanks to @rotuts for starting this thread. This was the first meal I've had since March that was not prepared by me so it was quite a treat!

For 10+ years, I had a smoothie every weekday. Frozen bananas were often included. Depending on how ripe they were when frozen, color ranged from off-white to beige/tan. I never encountered a brown liquid banana in a functional freezer and if I did, it would be discarded.

I'm curious about that, too. Last year, when the pandemic began, my Whole Foods was in the midst of a big remodel that would greatly increase their serve-yourself prepared food space and an enlarged eat-in area. From what I've seen, none of that added space is being used for its intended purpose. Maybe that's because I generally zip in and out as early in the AM as possible and they are just not set up?

That Korean chicken sandwich sounds pretty good. Looks like today may be the first day. I could order online and pick one up for the team. I will consider. Take-out only, as is the case for all restaurants these days. I'm not fond of eating in my car and the local Shack is around 15 min away so that's a long time for stuff to sit, especially if it already sat around before pick-up. Nonetheless, I have placed one Korean-Style Fried Chick'n Sandwich and one order of Gochujang Fries in my online shopping bag. I have a few hours to consider further before they open at 11 AM.

I just got around to placing my order for the book. An author interview with Edd Kimber chatting with Nicole Rucker (author of Dappled) via LA's Now Serving cookbook shop sold me so I ordered it from them. The interview can be found in their list of recorded events here, by scrolling down to Sept 6. It suffers from Zoom lags but overall, I found it an enjoyable listen. That list includes author interviews from several other books on this WP list, including The Flavor Equation (Oct 27, Nic Sharma with Samin Nosrat), Mosquito Supper Club (Apr 22, Melissa M. Martin with Jeff Gordinier), Parwana (Oct 19, Durkhanai Ayubi with Evan Kleiman), Chicano Eats (June 30, Esteban Castillo with Javier Cabral) and In Bibi's Kitchen (Oct 15, Hawa Hassan with Stephen Satterfield.) The last one disappointed me a bit because it barely touched on cooking from the book but it's still a good interview.

Made the Belgian Hot Chocolate from David Lebovitz's blog, a recipe that he credits to Wittamer. These little Limoges chocolate cups hold about 2.5 -3 oz so a half batch of that recipe makes about 6 servings. Cookie on the side was a gift from my Transylvanian cousin!

I have nowhere near this amount of decorating sugars & sprinkles, but you've given me a great idea to get them out of my spice cupboard and box them up together. Thanks!

I'm a collector as well. Got the Thermapen first but I use the Pop more because it's easier not to break my finger nails pulling out the probe on the pen. The Dot is stuck up on my wall oven full time with an air probe inside to monitor the temp. Can easily move the probe over to the CSO on the counter next to it or swap it for a penetration probe. I like the Alarm for deep frying and candy or jam making, although the dot works for that, too. I have a little IR thermometer from them for checking pans but haven't bought a Wand yet. I've been thinking of trying one of their little pH meters. My lab experience has made me wary of trying to maintain pH electrodes used with any sort of gunky material, which would include most foods. Maybe these are better.

Yesterday, I had a ham & cheese croissant that I picked up at Roan Mills. I was too hungry to pose it for a photo. Today, I have balsamic roasted onions with sage on toast with shaved Parmigiano Reggiano

Instead of potato & green peas, Vivian Howard's Deep Run Roots has a recipe for Rutabaga and Black-Eyed Pea Samosas with a Cilantro Buttermilk Sauce that I've been wanting to try. Could be good for a New Year's project. I'm lacking both rutabaga and the spring roll wrappers she uses. Obtaining both would require visits to 2 stores and that's not happening. I can probably sub in another root and maybe use phyllo for the wrapper then bake instead of deep frying. Let's see what happens....

Via Amazon’s Look Inside feature, I was able to see some photos from the book, including a nori/rice sandwich with what looked like a vegetable filling. I’m disappointed to hear they don’t explain how to do it. Maybe assemble the two nori/rice rafts close to each other on a piece of plastic wrap, top one with the filling then use the plastic wrap as a tool to bring them together, as one might close a book? Could work if the rice was firmly pressed. Trying to pick it up and take a bite would be another matter entirely 🤣 I found the grilled cheese on apple slices intriguing. Could you actually get melty cheese before the apples cook to mush? Too bad it’s $10.99 now. I've been having trouble sleeping and assembling such sandwiches in my head could be good therapy...or at least kill some time!

I dunno if it's taking the caramelization step too far or using too much of the onions but I found the dip using them in Vivian Howard's recent book to be unpleasantly sweet, in much the way that you describe. It calls for 2/3 cup of caramelized onions to make 2 cups of dip. Given my 4 lbs of onions reduced to 1.5 cups, that's a lot. At first, I blamed the sweetness on the balsamic vinegar that Vivian adds to the onions (along with garlic and Worcestershire) before adding them to the dip. So I made it again, using sherry vinegar instead because I've used that in other dip recipes. Still too sweet. I could try again and just dial back the onions but I'm not sure it's worth the effort.

Reem Assil’s za’atar egg salad sandwiches from this Guardian article, 'Cooking as therapy': California's top chefs on the recipes that got them through 2020, that @Anna N shared yesterday. Edited to add that the recipe calls for 2T za'atar for 4 eggs. I thought 1T seemed like enough. It also calls for 1 t salt. The za'atar I used (Penzy's) lists salt as it's last ingredient so I left it out and just added a pinch to taste at the end.

Thanks, @Anna N, for sharing this. I've been reading so many wrenching restaurant stories these days that I almost didn't click on this topic at all because I thought it might lead to more tales of financial struggles, heartbreak and loss. Instead, it was actually a delightful read. In the case of each chef, there was a dish that seemed to be the focus of the interview but the recipe shared was always for something else! I'd love to have seen the recipes for Sarah Kirnon's jerk chicken, Alice Water's tomato confit and Reem Assil's maqluba and spice mix. I was hoping for a chicken stock recipe from Gilbert Pilgram but his margarita recipe is a pure delight! The last sentence, about never, ever having more than 3 is undoubtedly wise advice, but it's the paragraph before it that I want to copy out and remember: I know! I'm going to put a few eggs on to cook so I can try it!

Ah, I missed that about the sugar. My onions are certainly on the juicy side and I keep them in the freezer, they're not low moisture preservation candidates!

I suspect both of those things help. I think the challenge of using an oven is uneven browning and part of that is likely due to less frequent stirring. Most of my baking dishes are either glass or ceramic and I suspect that helps. And the larger pieces of onion can end up with browned edges here and there without turning entirely into crispy critters so you're right that helps, too.

I've mentioned making caramelized onions in the oven before and promised @Anna N to share my method. @shain nudged me in that direction with his post earlier. On one hand, they are certainly caramelized onions, but with the addition of sage and balsamic vinegar, they may not be everyone's caramelized onions. I riff off a recipe in Deborah Madison's Savory Way for Roasted Onions with Sage which shares similarities to what @shain does. It calls for: 2 lbs red or yellow onions, cut into rounds ~ 1/2 inch (I usually go with ~ 1/4" slices and halve or quarter the onions before slicing to avoid long stringy bits. salt (I usually go with a generous pinch, < 1t) 2-4 T olive oil a dozen fresh sage leaves (or a lot more, depending...) 1 t ground pepper 2 T balsamic vinegar (@shain uses some brown sugar which I imagine would have a similar effect on browning) Everything gets tossed together, then Madison roasts the onions @ 375°F, covered for ~ 30 min and then for an additional 30 min or more I tend to give them 45 min - an hour covered and another hour or more uncovered, stirring every 15 min or so. Here are today's onions ready for the oven: After ~ 1 hr covered and ready to go back into the oven uncovered: After 15 min, uncovered. Below is about an hour later (1 hr covered, 1 hr 15 min uncovered) and they would be nice roasted onions at this point About 45 minutes after the photo above (1 hr covered, 2 hrs uncovered) And where I stopped, half an hour later (1 hr covered, 2.5 hrs uncovered). For a truly caramelized onion, I'd have let them go further, but I wanted something in between roasted and completely caramelized. I started with ~ 4 lbs of yellow onions and ended up with around a pound, an amount that fit handily in a 1 qt zip-lock. These make delicious crostini, topped with shaved Parmesan. I also like them tossed with roasted cauliflower and parsley, with or without pasta and/or garbanzo beans.

I have sliced onions for making caramelized onions both ways but have never done a side-by-side comparison with the same batch of onions, cooked in the same way. In This Will Make It Taste Good, Vivian Howard's recipe for caramelized onions specifies cutting the onions in half through their stem ends, then slicing the onions thinly, "from root to stem rather than cutting the onion across its belly," and says, "This is actually important because slicing it the other way makes the path to silky onions a longer one." Seems to me that if they are cut thinly, it shouldn't make a ton of difference in cook time. With all the stirring, the segments separate pretty well either way. In a couple of recipes, Deborah Madison says to cut them cross-wise, into rings or to first quarter them and then slice cross-wise. A Serious Eats article that considers a lot of variables doesn't say boo about the slicing orientation, though the accompanying photo shows them cut root to stem.

A few recent breakfasts Green eggs and ... no ham... but roasted potatoes and broccoli. Vivian Howard's This Will Make It Taste Good has a recipe for Asparagus Bathed in Green Butter. I made extra of that Little Green Dress compound butter, used some to scramble the eggs and tossed the roasted potatoes and broccoli with more. I was hoping the eggs would be greener rather than this baby puke color but everything tasted good. Little Green Dress salmon salad (inspired by @Anna N's swap in this recipe) on Wasa crackers A mushroom hand pie from a local bakery: Breakfast of champions - Christmas cookies and a mug of black coffee. In truth, I've had this for breakfast more than once lately 🙃 Spinach, mushroom, onion and country ham omelet with some of the Neal's Yard Red Leicester cheese that was part of the Whole Food's 12 Days of Cheese special That brings us to today, when I used leftover omelet filling from above and more Red Leicester to make a cheese toastie

A raspberry/white chocolate hot drink might be nice. I'd want Chambord in mine 🙃

Exactly! And I can make it in less than the 2 hr soak time!

Indeed, if you desire a narrow-bottomed loaf shaped like a bell pepper, this is your pot! I have a 3 qt Lodge that I like for baking no-knead bread and would recommend it highly over the smaller pot. It's also got a much larger base for searing and offers half-again more capacity. It's a work horse. The little one is very cute and quite handy for small cooks.

As mentioned, I have an LC tomato that's pretty much the same size as this green pepper. I find the small size quite handy for things like cooking 1/2 lb of dried beans or braising a small-ish piece of meat, serving 2 or maybe 3 at the most. Not long ago, I used it for a half-batch of the beef cheek barbacoa from Josef Centeno's Amá with about 1.5 lbs of beef cheeks. Perfect size to cover that amount of meat in liquid for a braise. But most people don't braise miniature amounts of stuff like that. They want to serve more people and maybe have leftovers. The bottom surface is probably ~ 6-inches across at the base so you can't really sear anything big at all. It's a handly little pot for someone like me but I wouldn't embark on a braising binge over it. It's certainly a cute little serving dish so that's a good idea. It would only bake very small loaves of bread and in the ice bucket application pictured, it could probably hold 1 glass, surrounded by ice. Maybe 2 or 3 shot glasses in a bed of crushed ice.

I enjoyed this LA Times article about a San Diego photographer who turned his studio kitchen into a small bakery during the pandemic. With no street-level storefront and wanting to avoid customers crowding into the elevator to pick up bread, Izola Bakery lowers the still-warm bread to the street in baskets. San Diego bakery’s warm bread is coming right down, by basket

I use it where a cover is useful to manage evaporation. A braise is generally defined as being first seared, then cooked in a covered pot. If I cook dried beans in an uncovered pot, I need to add liquid more frequently than I can remember so I find a lid handy.