Heartsurgeon

I cooked some baby octopus yesterday, came out fabulous! Used T. Keller's time and temp (170.6 degrees, 5 hours). Bagged the trimmed up critters in some arbequina olive oil, dried oregano, couple of bay leaves, salt and pepper. After cooking, reserved the cooking liquids and separated the olive oil. Added the olive oil back to the octopus along with chili flakes, garlic and lemon juice and let it marinate for a couple of hours in the fridge. Served the baby octo over a bed of shaved fennel, parsley and halved cherry tomatoes. The marinade was the salad dressing. The octopus was meltingly tender and flavorful.

"No need to shout!! Especially when you may be wrong. According to Merriam-Webster it is pronounced pi-ˈläf Also according to Merriam-Webster pilaf is "a dish made of seasoned rice and often meat" The Oxford Companion to Food describes pilaf as "a Middle Eastern method of cooking rice so that every grain remains separate, and the name of the resulting dish". " I'm not wrong (truthfully, I'm never wrong). Pilaf is derivative from the Turkish word pilav, which means....rice. But please feel free to continue calling it rice rice!

Alternatively: "Champagne, in victory we deserve it, in defeat we need it" W. Churchill

watch this: the quote is "its only a wafer thin mint.." around the 4:10 mark.

i use a kuhn Rikon paring knife instead of a lame to slash my bread prior to baking. The non-stick works fabulous in this setting. Highly recommended for cutting "gooey" or sticky items, like wet dough.

i want 10% of your gross, when you market this: create a knife handle that is customized to the grip of each owner - using SUGRU it is a moldable silicone based adhesive that cures at room temp, and retains some flexibility. you could have SUGRU inserts at key locations on the knife grip/handle, that would allow the user to imprint their own finger patterns (or entire grip) into the handle. Bespoke knives, customized by the user at home.

here is a combination "Mispronunciation and Misnomer" pilaf. for starters, it is pronounced pee-lav, NOT pee-laf second, the translation of pilaf is rice. so when a menu lists "rice pilaf", it literally means "rice rice". STOP IT! IT'S STUPID! call it rice, or call it pilaf, but stop calling it rice pilaf, it makes no sense.

make some lamb stock!

I pretty much followed your advice: 15% white whole wheat 10% light rye 75% all purpose 2 tbsp caraway seeds LIKE! bread making is now becoming to complicated, to many options..

Jmahl, what was your favorite recipe for caraway flavored bread? Can you sprinkle caraway seeds on the surface, do they burn or become hard/unpleasant? I had some caraway flavored breadsticks the other day at a restaurant and they were addictive with mustard. Now I have a jar of caraway seeds I need to use up!

your crust looks great. i've been trying variations to my basic recipe. now i'm substituting 15% whole wheat (KA white whole wheat), and i think it makes the crust crunchier and brown quicker compared to 100% KA all purpose flour. i've also added 7.5% steel cut oats to the standard bread recipe. Adds some nice texture and flavor inside the bread. i've got a friend who is growing some winter wheat, so i'll be trying the home ground whole wheat later in the year.

microwaved some frozen butter for a minute to melt it...sudden pop, and interior of the microwave was glazed with molten butter. now i only microwave it for 15 seconds at a time...

just purchased a Kuhn Rikon Duromatic 8-1/2-Quart Stockpot for $219 from Amazon. Seemed like a reasonable compromise size. Wanted to be able to cook moderate size batches of food, and still make stocks. my first project will be cooking those Gigantes beans....

i recall a three panel cartoon/postcard which depicted a humorless wine geek at a winery tasting bar. Panel one: Geek: "this wine tastes like sh*t" Panel two: Owner: "It was rated 98 by RP" Panel three: Geek "I'll take two cases"

A Tip 'O the Hat to Camper English. I enjoy his writings immensely, but he hasn't presented what i consider a practical product that could produce clear ice cubes (I'm not talking about sticking an igloo cooler in my freezer). Also, he hasn't written about a key concept in producing clear ice, that makes the product i'm thinking about feasible. If this works, it will produce standard size, clear ice cubes, in any home refrigerator, without taking over the entire freezer compartment.

I believe I am on track for developing a ice cube tray that will produce clear ice cubes in a normal home refrigerator! I will post more as things develop. I think there's a market for something like this.

without a doubt the WORSE show ever..."SPAIN, on the road again" with Mario Batali, Mark Bitmann,Gwyneth Paltrow and Claudia Bassols here is link to a clip from the show, where Mario smells Claudia's feet, with Bitmann watching..I kid you not. Mario smells Claudia's feet here are my original posts about this abomination of a food show (enjoy!) vain self-indulgent narcissistic not a good cooking show not a good travel show not a good show...period it's a show about celebrities...being, well, celebrities.... why Paltrow is on the show is anyone's guess (makes Batali look even porkier than he is, and that's saying alot). i guess she has screen cred (she's the biggest celeb of the bunch). lord take me now.... i watched another episode tonite, and it was WORSE!!!! basic story line... mid-life crisis/middle aged/paunchy guys drive around spain with two younger, hotter women. the guys act all-knowing the "girls" giggle and act seductive it's gross. they had the women naked or near naked (taking a shower in a bikini, soaking in a hot tub) while the guys went out bar hopping together, eating tapas. vague overtones of homosexuality and Batalli...my God man, learn some self control...gnawing at tapas with your pork-pie fingers and then giving the saliva seasoned dregs to Bittman (who dutifully gobbled them down). Bittman is an insufferable know-it-all (kinda like a culinary Chuck Schumer), and Batalli looks like he's one bite away from exploding. It's actually a morbid experience watching Batalli killing himself...a culinary snuff film where the murder weapon is food..... Trapped into watching another episode... Just sad... Highlight of the episode was watching Bittman/Paltrow/Bassol take a nap... I kid you not... They teased me briefly when they talked about barfing after eating a big Churro... Paltrow, Bassol and Bittman hurling could have really made the episode special, and changed my feelings about the entire series ("a gritty show about dark underbelly of epicureanism") But alas, no "feeding the cat"..... I'll watch a show if it provokes outrage...nothing beats shouting deprecating remarks at the TV (al la Ignatius J. Reilly)... But this...this has descended into boring and sad... "there are quite a few giggles in each and every episode' those sounds aren't giggles.... they're the sounds I make when I'm having sleep apnea.... Watched another episode out of self-loathing.... The Large One and Chuck Shumer eating cheese and drinking cider in a stone hut.... that's all I can remember about the episode....literally.....so unmemorable, that i can not even summon up outrage.. Flipped by another episode last nite.... El Lardo and the thin one eating breakfast, having an insipid conversation... Burning a bunch of seafood on a barbeque grill and watching El Lardo shovel it down his piehole, while the thin one picks at thin seafood with her thin fingers... I used to want to visit Spain... This show has killing that desire completely.. A morbidly obese dude and an anorexic together on a food show... who thought this show up???? The only bright spot is Bassols...she is smokin hot... Get rid of El Lardo, the thin one, and Chuckie Shumer, and LET BASSOLS HAVE HER OWN SHOW. That could be an excellent show.. this is a niche TV program which is aimed at food masochists. it is quite possible the worst form of entertainment i can recall seeing, since the movie Eraserhead. It is a food show that makes a person want to stop eating. It stars an inexplicable collection of people, including an anorexic, someone who needs a gastric bypass, and Chuck Schumer's twin sibling (not meant as a compliment). The only bright spot is Claudia Bassols (complete hottie). Why exactly she is on the show, other than for hottiness, is however, an utter mystery.

apparently you can get baking stones in any size you want (at a price). bakingstone.com

The grill is a Weber Summit. The elevated stone (as seen in the pictorial above) is at least 12 inches below the top of the grill. I don't use the stone when I bake foccacia bread (i bake it in the sheet pan lined with a silpat), and I can stack 2 sheet pans of bread, above the sheet pan which is directly on the grill surface, with plenty of clearance above. The sheet pans are half size The stone was purchased from cooking.com (14 x 16 inch)

If you have an immersion blender, and heavy whipping cream, you can make quick, simple, amazing sauces. for example: lemon-dill sauce 1 cup heavy cream 2 packets of dill (stems and all) juice of 1 lemon big pinch kosher salt black pepper corns 1/2 clove garlic 1/4 clove shallot blitz until cream stiffens...AMAZING on fish, or a chip dip. faux bernaise sauce 1/2 cup heavy cream 1 packet of tarragon (discard the stems) pinch of kosher salt black pepper corns 1/2 clove shallot 2 teaspoons of champagne vinegar blitz until cream stiffens - bernaise flavors in under 60 seconds! flavored cream topping any fruit, berry heavy cream sweetener of choice squirt of lemon or lime (lime preferred) dash of rum blitz until cream thickens top your fruit with this fruit flavored cream...

epic picture of the brioche! if that isn't gastro-porn, i don't know what is. what was the recipe? what did you do differently the second time?

ripe pear, gorgonzola dolce cheese and your wine

for the most reproducible results, you need a consistent source of flour, and a consistent formula based upon weight. A digital scale is invaluable. checking the actual temperature of your oven with a thermometer can also be eye-opening.

read this: King Arthur Flour Baker's Percentage Primer

google gummy bear recipe and you'll fine plenty of recipes. seems to be lots of gelatin powder, very little water, and flavoring. apple, cinammon, clove is a classic flavor combo that works for me.