blue_dolphin

I buy organic lemons at my local farmers market. They aren't waxed or coated with anything so I just use a scrub brush and warm water to clean them up. Hotter water would be a good idea to remove wax. Pesticides could possibly be incorporated in the skins and I haven't studied enough to know whether using a detergent is helpful in removing it. For me personally, I don't believe I consume enough lemon zest to worry about it. My homemade limoncello is probably the most risky, with a lot of zest extracted in an organic solvent (EtOH) but even there, since I'm using organic fruit, the alcohol is probably more of a health risk

You can bake a chiffon cake in a regular cake pan but it should be an uncoated pan, usually aluminum. If your pan has any sort of non-stick coating inside, forget it. The chiffon cake batter needs to be able to stick to the sides and climb up as it rises so don't grease the sides either. Likewise, if your pan has a dark coating on the outside, that's not a good idea either as it can make the edges too dark. Having a removable bottom helps getting the cake out of the pan but you can line the bottom with parchment paper and run a knife around the edges to help them release. Chiffon cakes are quite delicate but the small size of your pan may be a plus there. I'd guess that you could get two 6" layers out of a recipe made for a 10-inch tube pan. So bake one with half the batter, cool, remove the cake, wash out the pan and bake the second one. In either case, make sure to leave enough room for the cake to rise. A 10-inch tube pan is quite versatile as you can use it for angel food cakes, chiffon cakes or bundt cakes so you might check around to see if you can find one.

Yesterday was our local farmers market and I finally got around to buying a white board I could stick to the front of the fridge and try a version of @NadyaDuke's blackboard. I'll have to play around to figure out what works for me, but I have to say that I really like her idea of putting those intended recipes right in clear sight. We'll see how this develops but I like the idea. The board (a flexible sheet, really), the eraser and the markers are all magnetic and the markers each have a little eraser on their caps, handy for quick corrections. If it works out well, I might get another one for a freezer inventory.

Monte's website tells me that it's available in my area at Erewhon, the fancy health food/grocery that morphed their clientele from hippies to celebs. I generally avoid the place but maybe I'll pop in for a jar of Monte's. Or not. Either way, I will NOT be purchasing Kendall Jenner's Peaches and Cream Smoothie for $23!

But you may be sick of my beans! Today with pico de gallo, pickled onion, avocado and a flatbread. Topped with a fried duck egg.

I'm replying to myself because that recipe from Amá has been my go-to recipe for a while. Today, I tried a new one from Joe Yonan's Cool Beans (scroll down at this link to find it online) where the brine is equal parts grapefruit juice, lime juice, orange juice and white vinegar. I liked this a lot. I added salt to the brine and might try adding some arbol chiles and Oregano Indio to merge it with the Amá recipe but the bright citrus flavors are quite nice on their own. That photo is after they've cooled down in the brine but before going into the fridge where I suspect the colors will diffuse into more of a monochrome look.

Yes, and to be fair, the author stated up front that they chose to include only sauces labeled as marinaras and tomato basil sauces in their testing.

The bread looks lovely and I'm ever so pleased that it ended up here in the bread topic and not that "never again" topic!

I haven't tried Monte's. I don't recall seeing that label but I wasn't looking for it either. I can see the smaller 16 oz jar being handy vs the 24 or 32 oz jars I usually see. The F&W article is odd. In addition to calling marinara "tomato sauce," as @Maison Rustique mentions, they name Newman's Own as the "best value" and show a price of $14 for the same size bottle as Rao's for $9 which they deem "most reliable." In what way are the others less reliable? They're inconsistent? they're never on time? they sneak out of the pantry and stand you up when you were counting on them to be there for you? Their "most versatile" contains caramelized onions which is a particular flavor that makes it not so versatile to me. Whatever. @Shel_B, were you not just about to make a big enough batch of homemade tomato sauce to last a couple of years? For what purposes do you use your homemade sauce vs the jarred stuff? My go-to for a quick, bright sauce is the 5-min tomato sauce from 101 Cookbooks. Marcella's onion & butter for something more mellow. If I have extra, I freeze in 1/3 cup cubes, enough for a pizza or a single serving of pasta.

I'd also keep the brine recipe the same. It would be a pity to make a huge jar and find they were bland.

Personally, I like to make smaller batches with different seasonings but if that big jar fits easily in your fridge* and the volume can readily be consumed while it’s good, then go for it! *I made a big batch of shiso vinegar last year, planning to divvy it up into smaller bottles for holiday gifts. I had to adjust the fridge shelves to accommodate the tall jar and it annoyed me for months!

Fluffy (and crisp) flatbreads from Andy Baraghani's book, The Cook You Want to Be. Perfect for scooping up hummus or wrapping around almost anything.

ThermoWorks has 40% off on their silicone spatulas today. Unfortunately, shipping to Canada kinda wipes out any savings 😢

I don't disagree with you that Padma may be attractive and well-spoken but on Top Chef, she was primarily a showman and I don't miss her particular brand of showmanship. It was OK for a while but I'm over it and welcome the change.

Lalo's Cacahuate Beans with Pico de Gallo from Cool Beans with flatbread from The Cook You Want To Be. This is a very flavorful pot o'beans. I had a bit of an issue with the cellophane-like texture of some of the dried chiles in the sofrito used to flavor the beans so I will be more careful about old chiles in the future and blend the sofrito if it happens again. I had the same breakfast yesterday and probably will have it again tomorrow.

Is there a quick explanation how to use it? I'm thinking the calculator is fairly self-explanatory (do correct me if I'm wrong) and you'd like to know what to do with the results of the calculations. This Perfectly Melting Cheese Slice has pretty good instructions for that part.

Should the gendarmes confiscate your stash, you could visit the Melty Cheese Calculator and make a pull-able cheese from something that actually tastes good! Also, I can't stop laughing about "American week" in a Lidl in France!

I can see me moving in and refusing to leave!

Thanks for your response! I think I'd find the price of that stuff more annoying than finding an empty bottle and a funnel but it's good to have choices!

It doesn't look all that different from various seafood boils I've seen dumped onto picnic tables covered with cloth or paper in US southern states. And, as in those boils, I see that @liuzhou's favorite vegetable is also represented in the Chinese versions he shared. Here's a photo from Serious Eats:

I tried a recipe for Flatbreads with Beet Yogurt and Jammy Eggs from Ali Slagle's I Dream of Dinner. Interesting and I got a veg in my breakfast but not something I need to repeat. Raw beet, jalapeño and lime zest are grated into yogurt and mixed with lime juice, ground coriander, salt & pepper, topped with a boiled egg and fresh mint and scooped up with a flatbread. I added a sprinkle of dukkah.

Do you live in El Cerrito? If so, can you say a little more about why it's such a PITA for you to dispose of the oil?

Welcome to eG, @rukie. For help with your sweet dish, make sure to visit the Pastry & Baking Forums and search for the dish you're working on. There's a lot of good information there and you might be able to fine some helpful discussions.. If you can't find anything, go ahead and start a new topic to ask your questions.

Our waste hauler specifically says not to put cooking oil in the compost bin. I save it in the bottles it comes in and put it in the regular trash, where is likely goes to a landfill, as @KennethT said. There are oil and grease recyclers that accept used cooking oil. Last time I checked, there wasn't one handy to me but should check again. Edited to add that there are plenty of places that accept used motor oil. I suppose because any place that sells it is required to accept it for recycling. Too bad the grocery stores don't have the same mandate to collect used cooking oil.

Today, May 13, is International Hummus Day. I guess there's a day for everything! Joe Yonan's book, Cool Beans is this month's book for the online cookbook club I participate in so I'm ready to celebrate with a few hummus recipes (and one bean dip 🙃), all made with Rancho Gordo beans. First up is the Perfectly Simple and Light Hummus, with a sprinkle of smoked paprika. This one is written to use canned chickpeas but I didn't have any so I used the ones I'd cooked. It uses relatively little tahini and no oil in the recipe so I was generous in pouring it on top. Next, we have the Black Chickpea Hummus with Black Garlic and Preserved Lemon. Lots of umami and nutty, earthy flavors in this one, brightened by the preserved lemon which is blended into the hummus and also used as a garnish. The book includes a recipe where this hummus is used as a base for roasted cauliflower that's really good. Today, I made Little Sesame's Creamy, Fluffy Hummus. Little Sesame is a restaurant in DC and is apparently the origin of this recipe. The chickpeas are to be cooked with baking soda to make them super soft. I don't find that Rancho Gordo beans need that so I left it out but gave the beans a good cook. This recipe uses both fresh garlic and garlic confit, slow-cooked in olive oil which adds a note of sweetness and complexity. That same garlicky oil is poured on top to serve and this is indeed a very fluffy, pillowy hummus. Last up is a Harissa-Roasted Carrot and White Bean Dip that I made with Rancho Gordo Alubia Blanca beans. I like the flavors and thought the little beans looked very cute as a garnish. Happy International Hummus Day!