OliverB

wow, that's a lot of different recipes! I have to check that book out, the last one listed from Znaim would be especially interesting as that's where my mom is from (close to Znaim and her grandmother lived in Znaim if I recall correctly) Thanks for the recipe too, I'm gonna have to make that soon. Noboy in my family except me likes bell peppers and some goulash has them in it, nice to see a recipe without. Thanks again, off to Amazon to look at that book.

I would have used "stew meat" but I've never made it myself, my grandmother used to make a wonderful version though. She was from Sudetenland. I'd say go ahead and try it! All this makes me think of Vienna for some reason, time to go back there, love that town :-) ETA: I'd love a good goulash recipe, if you have one you could share or link me to! I have some, but have not made any yet, but my boy fell in love with Goulaschsuppe in Germany last year, I'd love to try my hands on it!

should work, but why the low and slow approach? I use that for short ribs, but those are eaten as a piece of meat, I have my doubts it would make much of a difference in a goulash. Just take a lot longer. Unless you use short ribs or similar tougher meat, but regular goulash stew meat should be just fine and tender at the higher temp. I'd also be wondering about the flavors, you're basically creating a meat dish with some onion sauce on the side, you won't get the mix and mingle of flavors that develops when all is cooked in one pot for a long time. That's not to say this might not be an interesting experiment, could be plated in a "deconstructed goulash" kind of way.

sometimes I do this, but usually I work more in the Mess in Place style and add things I randomly come across. But I usually do not cook from recipes. With recipes I sometimes to the whole mise, just to make sure I don't forget something. I have a bunch of little pyrex bowls for that purpose and it IS fun to have everything lined up - looks so professional The only time I always have it all is when I cook with my new wok burner, this thing gets so hot and there's really no time at all to do something in between. But I agree with Emily upstream, if I'm cooking something where the onions (or what ever) have to sweat first, I cut those, cook them while I prep the next things. Of course in a restaurant you have to have everything ready, but that's a different scenario anyway.

if I'm not mistaken methylcellulose is also used in movies, it's the slimy stuff dripping off the Alien's fangs in Alien and other such movies. So it's a good thing :-) Though I'd rather have meat if I order meat, not some something or other, no matter how good (or bad) for you. But then, I don't frequent those "wood burger" places anyway. (yes, I know it's not wood) There are odd things in a ton of food, stabilizers, emulsifiers, preservatives, "natural" and artificial flavors, it's just the way it is. Hopefully they are safe to eat/drink and if you live off of food that has this stuff in it every day, please change your diet for your own sake. Just because, and just to be safe. Now excuse me while I digest my dinner, a soup made of roots, leaves, flowers and excretions of a large mamal with hooves. And minerals dug out of the ground somewhere. And bread made from some parts of a grass or something.

..or get a new board? I mainly use plastic ones from the kitchen supply store or target, replace when no longer nice, though they do hold up very well for a long time. Cutting boards never seem like something I'd want to spend a lot of cash on or fiddle with to get flat/clean/sanded/what not again. I run the plastic ones (that fit) through the dish washer all the time with no problems.

rules rules rules. I put cheese where I want it, and yes, that includes a pasta dish with mixed seafood in a tomato sauce, so there parmesan etc are pretty strong cheeses, so I'd not use it with some very light tasting seafood, but a hearty sauce with all kinds of things in it? Pile it on

I have a couple in the fridge right now, they'll go into my new Vitamix blender tonight, together with leftover fire roasted potatoes and some other stuff I have floating around in the fridge, soup time! If I make stir fry I always use them in there as well, peel and cut small, I love their taste. You can also fry them in butter until nicely golden, some s&p, maybe some lemon juice....

well, seems like more info would be helpful here :-) I could see making a foam, blending it up and maybe even straining it for a clear liquid. maybe even add some green food color if you want really green (and/or yellow) - using natural colors of course. Or cook it down to ketchup consistency? But w/o seeing/knowing what you have it's kind of hard to make suggestions

well, I finally ended up bringing a brand new white VitaMix 5200 from Costco into the kitchen! I can't wait to play with it, I don't even like smoothies and sweet stuff but got a pile of berries to play with nonetheless. And I have left over vegetable pieces (broccoli stems, tops of baby onions and garlics, etc) that I kept as I knew I was gonna buy this machine today. The demo guy whipped up a great tortilla soup and a tasty fruit smoothie with cabbage and spinach in it in no time. Impressive machine! Time to play :-)

you could paint it with magnetic paint Aren't newer appliances coated with something that repels fingerprints? I'd be more worried about dents, they would bother me no end. I want stainless steel counters, but I think those are made of thicker steel and won't dent that easy. And they are work surfaces, so.... but yes, I see them as something that looks great but takes too much work to keep looking that way, like most stone counters. I will not ever install something I have to oil, finish, polish, or treat in any which way other than moist sponge and soapy water. There's a reason I don't own a fancy painted car, I went with silver so the dirt doesn't show as much :-)

just check the temp with a thermometer to be safe. I have a new one, never cooked beans for 9 or 10 hours either, that seems very long unless the beans are rather old? Mine does not bubble much either on low though, I think you're fine.

you can also cover it with tamarind paste, a bit s&p, quite delicious and turns out almost black. I mostly do that with chicken, sometimes add curry powder too, but works well with pork.

Hmm, bulk spices? Out of an open bin? Or are the bins sealed? Nonetheless, I'd expect those to air out and oxidize much faster than those in glasse or tins, no? I buy curry in tins at middle eastern stores because I use a lot when I cook with it, I'd easy use up a McCormick glass in one dish, but other spices I can't quite imagine getting from a bulk bin. The idea of a spice store sounds so lovely though, I actually thought about opening one a while ago. But I doubt it's a feasible business idea in my town, rents are way too high. I think the only time I buy bulk bin stuff is before Christmas for our cookie baking marathon. I don't eat cereals and other such things, I can't really find anything in the bins that I need all that much. I get nuts at Trader Joe's which seems a good deal and since they are sealed I tend to think they'll keep well for a while, I'd not be so sure with nuts that sat in a bin who knows how long. Actually, how do you know your store - and the particular thing you buy - has a pretty good turn over? They sell pine nuts in bulk at Safeway here, but those things go rancid so fast that I simply don't trust them. And the packaged ones at Trader Joes are cheaper too, oddly. Same with coffee, Safeway and Whole Food have bulk coffee beans, but how do I know how long they sat there?

I'm not quite sure I get this, you want to dress up the shelves so you can store kitchen appliances on them - in the living room? I don't think a gold plated diamond crusted shelf unit would make mixers and blenders look good enough for the living room I don't know your style of furniture, but I'd either get a modern or an antique closet and install some shelving inside. If you get an old massive one, you should even be fine by just fitting wooden shelves inside, or maybe something like the elfa line of shelving sold at the container store. Might need some extra bracing, but so would the floor of the unit if you intend to park a couple hundred pounds of shelving (at 11lb) and appliances on it. The elfa stuff has the benefit of really easy adjustable shelving and all kinds of neat extras like little baskets for smaller things that hang of just one of the vertical parts. I just bought some to replace the industrial shelves in my pantry with a much narrower wall unit. Too much stuff gets lost and forgotten in the back of the shelves, being able to not go any deeper than two large cans of tomato hopefully helps me to avoid the purge of out of date things.....

this just makes me wonder, is there a scale that measures in cups? Would be easy to program and I think kind of neat to have. I usually eyeball things, I don't bake much and nothing else really needs the accuracy - modernist cooking aside. I did recently use a scale to make Swedish Meatballs from a recipe my boy found in a story book, since we made twice the amount I figured I'll let him do the math for practice Personally I'd have just gone by sight. (like that big onion over there is probably two cups of chopped onion)

I'm lucky that the closest WM is so far away that I'm never tempted to step into that hell. It's an unorganized store with no structure, no sense of why what is where, there's total clutter on the shelves, the employees, if you can find one, don't seem to have a clue where what is (and looking around I'm not surprised). It's by far the worst store I can think of here. And pretty much for that reason I avoid WM when ever possible, I think the last time I shopped at one was on Hawaii or up in Oregon, as I did not know where other stores might be. I've seen things (people) at walmart here that made me wonder on what planet I landed. Last time I went there was for fishing gear, since it was the only store with a large selection (luckily that changed) but the guy working those aisles had no clue about the things he was selling, LOL. Thanks, but no thanks. I also don't recall any nice food aisles there, frozen stuff, junk food, but nothing fresh at all. That might have changed, I'll never know. I'm surprised somebody upthread could buy beef tongue and organic chicken there, I'd not expect to see that, but it's great I think. Maybe the bosses realize that not everything has to be made in China or come from some gigantic plastic farm? That would be nice. But since the store is a good 20+ min away from me, and there are two targets and who knows how many supermarkets on the way, I'll never know. It's nice that they made many things affordable to people with little income, but the practices they use(d) to get there are not something I'll ever support. Just my take of the place of course, and I doubt they miss me :-)

baby fava beans, you cook and eat the whole thing, pod and all. Never knew you can eat it all, but I find it super delicious. Family did not care for it too much though, the furry stuff turns saucy and there is a bit of a bitter taste to the from the still thin but still there outer membrane I think. But if you can find them, saute and give them a try! I found them awesome and will get some more tomorrow I hope.

Unless your daughter is returning from some Mrs Universe competition with the 1st prize trophy, I would not ask her to carry those lumps back home. It's all pretty heavy stuff, and the plate setter is quite bulky too. Having it shipped ground instead is probably gonna make her much happier! My platesetter is too dirty to put on a scale, but you can probably find out the weight on the BGE website. But you don't need this thing, you can come up with your own solutions, fire bricks and a pizza stone, two grills above each other, one covered with a pizza stone, things like that. You could even have something built or build yourself from metal parts and/or an additional grill.

Oh, for some stuff mentioned above stream here, the egg and similar will retain heat for a long time, you can actually shut it off and still bake something in it for dessert. If you want a sear, cook it low and slow first, take it out, bring up the heat and sear. You could do it the other way round, but you'll be waiting a long time for temps to drop. regarding open or closed, I never cook on my egg open, gets too hot too fast and eats too many expensive coals. For open grilling I use my Weber with simple charcoal from the store. I only heat it up high for pizza or steak, I get about 600-650 degree. With steak I use the cast iron grill. For just about anything else I run it at 200-300 degree. I'm in no hurry :-)

as for coal amounts, I never fill the fire box all the way. With firebox I mean the "pot" with holes, which has that ring sitting on top, where you put the grill. I fill the firebox to the level of the holes, or a bit above. I think that's what the manual suggested as well. If I were to run a 20 hour smoke I might add more, but other than that it's not necessary. Matter of fact, if I find the box half full with left over coals I might just light that for some cooking, unless I want high heat for steak. Never fill above that fire pot though, that would probably not work well. One of the many great things with the BGE is how little coal it uses so efficiently. I add more than I think I need, as adding more is a bit of a pain, but that's about it. It's on fire right now, some chicken with lemon pepper and self made bacon on top is waiting for the sauna to heat up :-)

I just had this vision of a bunch of us sitting in the garage sawing eggs with fine tools, LOL. I have lots of attachments for the dremel, I think just a cutting disk would be best. Also might be best to mount the dremel fixed on the workbench and hold the egg carefully, so as not to cut too deep. I'll have to play with that, not sure I'll get to it this weekend, but I'll try. Would be fun to cut an oval out of the egg or actually gut the top off on the long side (make it boat shaped I guess), fun things like that. Dental tools should work easily, maybe I'll try a diamond tip as well. With practice and patience one could probably even cut non round wavy shapes out. If I get to it I'll post pictures, not sure I'll make a video tough.

yes, on the coals, I actually use lumps of wood, but chips work as well, just don't smoke that long. For a long smoke you can also light in the middle (works for me) and put the chips in a spiral on top of the coals, the fire slowly grows and lights more chips for smoke. ETA: I use the weber grill starters, white cubes of something that burns with no odor, they work perfectly and I can't detect any smell or taste. I use only BGE coals, expensive but great, last for a long time, well worth it IMO. BGE also sells starters, I think they are sawdust with wax or something. Never use fire starter or anything like that in a BGE and similar. They also sell an electric one, but I find those too cumbersome to use.

interesting options, thanks! I have a dremel and scalpel, maybe I'll try that. Could even cut at an angle with that I think. The egg topper was the tool I meant, could not remember the name. I think I'll try the dremel first, have to look in MC where they talk about this.

Once in a while I see photos of soft boiled eggs or eggs made into something else and then put back into a shell, where the top of the shell has been removed in one wonderful straight cut. Not a break, no cracks, just a straight cut. Had one of these at the French Laundry, and I'd like to replicate this at home. Any idea how it's done? A sample can be seen here beautyful dishes, scroll down to image 15. Almost looks to me like it's cut with a power tool of some sort. Or do they use that odd egg cracker I saw somewhere, a long tool made of metal, a small cup the size of the top you want to cut off on the bottom, and a little weight that you slide up and then let drop down. This would only work for eggs of a particular size I guess. I like this presentation, a shell like that could even be used to fill with other things for a little surprise. Thanks! Oliver PS: the other images on that pare are also wonderful, worth a visit!