Chris Hennes

I am not quite grasping the problem with just mixing the blueberries right into the batter, which is what I always do. What's going on with yours when you do that?

When I have extra duck, especially trim, I do sausage. I prefer to go half duck/half pork, to get the additional fat from the pork in there. ETA: Here's a link to the last duck sausage I made.

Do these pølse taste like an American would expect a hot dog to taste (sans toppings)? Or is the flavor different?

Ouch, for $120 US! Are all the BGE accessories priced like that?!

For lunch today I was looking to use up the leftover chicken from the Chicken Mole the other day, and maybe some of the vast quantity of mole as well (I froze most of it, but still had a few cups in the fridge). So for lunch today I made... something. I'm not sure what to call it... are these still "enchiladas"? I made a filling by shredding the chicken and adding some sauteed onions and peppers and a little of the mole. Then I made some tortillas, fried them, and dipped them in the mole the way you would an enchilada. Wrapped it around the filling, added a little extra mole on top, shredded on some cheese, and served: Enchiladas? Enmoleadas? Abomination? (actually, quite nice I thought... the mole has a much fuller flavor than a typical enchilada sauce, and I thought it worked reasonably well. The cheese was superfluous, but looked nice.)

OK, I admit to some skepticism going in here: I was sort of looking forward to mocking Fat Guy about how this blender was pretty good, but way overhyped, and overpriced to boot, and really, not that much better than the Cuisinart it replaced. Allowing me to give him crap for the rest of his life about how he convinced me to buy this über-blender and it was only so-so. Damnit, Fat Guy! I totally get it: a high-end blender is a whole different animal than those sub $100 models. It's not even really the same appliance. The first thing I made was a piña colada, because it seemed like ability to destroy ice and frozen pineapple efficiently is a good test. It's something my old blender could manage, with multiple stops and starts to stir, with carefully balanced ingredient ratios, etc. And those were still pretty grainy/icy drinks. The one made with the Blend Tec and the "Ice-Crush" button (no stopping, no stirring, etc.) was the strangest piña colada I have ever had: it was the texture of pudding. I mean, so completely smooth it was bizarre. I'm not sure I'll use the "destroy and pulverize everything" mode next time, but it's a hell of a convincing demonstration.

Well, there are others out there who may be able to explain better than me, but what you have is an optimal temperature that will give you the best results, and some range around that where it works, but isn't as good. I don't know here whether "good" is a food safety thing alone, or if it's about flavor development, texture, etc.

What's wrong with a tuna melt on a panini press?

How is Kelly flying so far under the radar, anyway? Is it just that they hyped the Kenny/Angelo thing so hard? Kelly sure seems like a contender.

How does Stephen keep dodging elimination?! Hasn't that guy been on the bottom of just about every single challenge? I also agree with the comments above about the whining about the minestrone, but I suspect it's just the editors distorting the dialogue. Past seasons' contestants have indicated that this judges table thing goes on for HOURS, and they cherry pick a few tidbits and string them together in the most misleading way possible to ratchet up the tension. This week it really seemed like any of the three could have been axed, but it could have been purely an open-and-shut case that got twisted by the Magical Elves.

It's been a long time, but with jmolinari posting about his "little black egg" I thought it was time to give this discussion a bump. There are a whole lot of BGE fans out there, and detractors to match. Do these puppies really live up to the hype, and the price? Or should I be building myself an LBE instead? It's hard separating out the internet fanboys from the legitimately knowledgeable cooks.

I usually render my own lard, but this recipe called for a LOT, and I am conserving my last batch for some tamales later this week (where I find the flavor of the lard to be more critical). The commercial lard I used in the mole is quite neutral, with only a little traditional lard flavor. I'm certain you are correct, that using it resulted in an inferior mole as compared to using a fresh-rendered lard. But overall I was happy with the flavor profile of the mole. I think the mulato chiles in this one come across a little stronger than the others, but it's otherwise in excellent balance.

I think you should still be fine food-safety-wise, Cure #2 is potent stuff for keeping unwanted things from growing. I'd be a bit concerned about case-hardening though, at that low humidity.

I like mayo better at room temperature, no matter the application. I read someplace that if you make it right, with enough acid, it keeps for a couple days on the counter.

I'd be very surprised if sifting the flour gave more volume in the finished batter: flour isn't like egg whites, it doesn't trap the air in bubbles and prevent it from escaping. When I sift it's purely to get rid of potential clumps of baking soda or powder.

I got the banana leaves at the grocery store. Mine sells them both fresh and frozen.

Well, you made me curious, so I just went out to the garden to give it a try. I only ate it raw, and I tried one young leaf and one old one. I was a bit surprised by the result: the young leaf had had a clear horseradish flavor, though minimal bite, and a quite bitter finish. The texture was similar to bibb lettuce. The older leaf was much sweeter, and tasted only faintly of horseradish. It had a long lingering finish that was reminiscent of the root, however, and minimal bitterness. Its texture was similar to chard and the like. Personally I preferred the older leaf, at least raw, as a salad green.

I have never actually eaten the greens, but did notice the other day that they smell like horseradish still, though not so pungent. Did you ever do anything with them, Heidi?

I have heard tell that you can make hummus in one of these monster blenders starting from sesame seeds. Can anyone share a recipe and some technique advice?

I definitely agree about the attention to detail problems with the book. I'm convinced that if you don't already know how to cook some version of each of these dishes you are in for some nasty surprises. It turns out that tonight's dinner is a clear case in point... Polla Asado en Mole Rojo Clásico (Laquered Chicken in Classic Red Mole) (pp. 236–238) with Arroz Blanco con Plátano Maduro (Mexican White Rice with Sweet Plantains) (pp. 240–241) This meal is really broken into three separate items: a mole sauce, a baked chicken, and the rice dish. I'll address each individually, starting with the construction of the mole. By now I suspect most people around here are at least passingly familiar with moles, and are aware that they typically contain a myriad ingredients, and a fairly complex cooking schedule. Here's the mise en place for this one (plus three quarts of chicken stock, not pictured): The first step in the construction is to fry the chiles in a fairly substantial quantity of lard. This serves two purposes: first, of course, is that frying brings out a lot of additional flavors in the chiles, but secondly, it flavors the lard, which we are going to be using throughout the cooking process: Once the chiles are fried they are submerged in hot tap water to rehydrate. While that is going on, the other ingredients are fried. I found that Rick's time estimates for how long this would take were quite a bit too long: maybe his idea of "medium heat" and mine are different, but I was making the same quantity listed in the recipe, in the same size pot, over a standard residential stove, and my garlic cooked quite a bit faster than he suggested it would (this actually seems to be a very common problem with this book). The almonds (cooked along with the garlic) seemed fine. You also toast the sesame seeds, toast the bread, broil the tomatillos, and fry the raisins. Once you've done all that the chiles are probably soft enough to puree. This is done in two batches since the quantity is so large: Once strained, this is the finished chile puree: Now, the puree gets "fried"—heat the lard back up, and then dump the chile puree in. It will spatter like mad and come to an immediate boil. Cover it with something to prevent spatters (I use a kitchen towel): While that is reducing, puree all the other ingredients together until as smooth as your blender can make it. Strain it. When the chile has reduced and is a dark red color, add the other puree and continue cooking. Here are the two purees: on the right is the pure chile puree, ready for the addition of the tomatillo puree. On the left is the fully cooked puree before chicken stock is added. Finally, you add the stock and cook for a couple hours. At this point, I refrigerated it overnight and made the chicken the following day. The chicken: this is just a standard baked chicken, glazed at the end with a mole/agave syrup glaze. I thought his instructions as written give you chicken that is a bit overcooked, so I tweaked them more to my liking. Your guests may appreciate slightly drier chicken, though, so YMMV. While making the chicken, I also made the plantain rice that Kalypso mentions up-topic: I again found his cooking time on the plantains to be way off, but I just fried them until they were done. Same went for the rice (10 minutes, Rick?!). Those corrections made, however, I really liked this side. So finally, the verdict on the mole chicken? It was very good. I thought the glaze got a bit too BBQ-sauce-like, but it was a mighty fine BBQ sauce at least. And the mole served with the chicken is a very good one. Not the best I've had, or even the best I've made, but very good, and worth the time investment. I suggest making a whole batch and freezing the (massive quantity of) leftovers. This recipe makes a heck of a lot of mole.

How about next to a tape measure? Can't find a ruler right now.

Anyone else find their TV commercials with the carhops particularly annoying? I was watching this one on TV last night (warning, annoying! click at your own risk!): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2RhvhARsIyQ Seriously, Sonic? What? Imagined McDonalds' response: "we got fries that actually taste good, yes we do..."

I can't get epazote here: can anyone get it outside of Mexico? A lot of other Mexican ingredients seem to have made their way here to the Southern US, but not that.

I just buy huge quantities of Land o' Lakes unsalted butter when it goes on sale around holidays and freeze it: I haven't really noticed a quality difference between it and the salted variety. I don't put butter plain on much of anything, so maybe any "off" flavors are getting masked in cooking. Those who notice a quality difference: would you say it's a subtle thing?

I love getting mail from Japan: This is the Inazuma Nakiri from JCK. It comes pretty sharp out of the box, so I don't know that I'll bother sharpening it right away. Off to make dinner to see how it performs!