dtremit

Ranges are a surprisingly regional thing, but I can't for the life of me understand why we can't get a more affordable steam wall oven. Can always mount that under a cooktop. E.g., across the pond they can buy this: https://www.bosch-home.co.uk/product-list/cooking-baking/ovens/built-in-ovens/HRG635BS1B Street price in the UK is about £925 including VAT -- £785 before VAT, which works out to about $1,000. In the US, the non-steam model from the same series sells for $1,800: https://www.bosch-home.com/us/productslist/cooking-baking/wall-ovens/single-ovens/HBE5452UC

I've tried that too -- the cork works a lot better.

They all freeze *really* well, for what it's worth. Slicing the galangal before freezing makes it a lot easier to deal with. Weirdly the cilantro roots are the hardest for me to source. Hit or miss from the same places. I think the cilantro comes from the supplier with the roots and some places just chop them off. They seem to be the least important, though -- if I can't find them, I just use stems. For normal curries, though, I am generally pretty happy with well-sourced, made-in-Thailand commercial pastes. The scratch green curry paste I made was good but not nearly enough better to justify the effort. I mostly save the ingredients for less common pastes like hung lay that aren't as readily available.

I have the 8" version and while I don't use it super frequently, I've been very pleased with it. I also have one of their ceramic mortars for making som tam; honestly, I use the pestle from that more than the mortar, as it makes a good muddler. I have found myself making sure it's placed on the counter directly above the break between cabinets to minimize vibration. This is probably less of an issue for people with heavy counters. One or two of my many IKEA HEAT trivets usually goes underneath to further contain the "pok pok pok."

Because he can't eat it or because he doesn't like it? (If the latter, helps to dial in suggestions.) I might riff on what @BeeZee suggested and do something with miso and bacon fat.

I'm just realizing, I've never seen a 1/3 sheet pan. 1/4, 1/2, 1 -- constantly. 1/8, 2/3, 3/4 -- occasionally. But a 1/3? Never. As for the oven, I suspect some of it is the US using different "standard" pans from everyone else. Once when I was daydreaming about a Miele XXL I was annoyed to realize that the pans it uses *look* like standard steam table pans, but they're sized to international "gastronorm" pans. Which are, of course, almost impossible to get affordably in the US. The Anova is a custom design, but I bet you it's *based* on an existing oven design, and steam ovens are much more popular outside the US.

Suspect some of that is also the convection fan -- it's clearly at the back. CSO and Breville both have side-mounted fans, but the tank design on the Anova (and the F.Blumlein) would seem to preclude that.

I like all manner of summer squash as a substitute in Indian recipes that call for lauki or bottle gourd -- the squash is different, but the flavors still seem to be complimentary. The last one I made was from Priya Krishna's Indian-ish — cumin seeds and turmeric (and I think asafoetida?) sauteed in ghee, then the squash and some tomatoes, simmered, covered, until tender. Finished with lime (and cilantro, if your partner doesn't hate it). (ETA: this one really transforms the flavor of the squash, IMHO.) I also really like using it in korean pancakes -- I can't figure out exactly which recipe I used for the batter but your favorite will do. Key is to cut the squash, salt them, let them sit, and drain so the liquid doesn't make the pancake soggy. That, and lots of onions.

I am in the same camp -- bursting at the seams with beans. But hey, I'm cooking one pound tonight, which means I'm on the way to fixing the problem. Right? Long term I'm not all that concerned; we are trying to cut back on meat consumption so we'll get through them. I have asked my better half to pester me to make beans at least once a week — which is double the rate they ship them at — and I think there'll be no non-club orders until the stockpile's smaller.

Adding a really specific question to this thread -- probably a long shot for an answer but it's worth a try. I currently have an older Zojirushi BBCC-X20 bread machine – I've been quite happy with it, but having just repaired it, I'm thinking it might be time to put a shiny new one on the Christmas list. Zo currently has two (horizontal loaf) models. The "top of the line" is the BB-PDC20 "Virtuoso Plus" which has a second, small heating element in the lid for better crust color. There's some handwringing about this one because the manual recommends rapid rise yeast, and they removed the "quick dough" setting from the model it replaced. But all reports suggest it works fine with SAF Red, and I don't have a quick dough cycle now. The other is the BB-CEC20 "Supreme" which is the current version of the older design -- it's outwardly identical to my X20. It's $50 cheaper, and also appears to use the same bread pan as my current machine. But no lid heater, and I'm not sure what other minor improvements the new design has that would be useful. Has anyone used both "generations" of the Zo? Are the improvements in the "virtuoso" line worth the premium?

Finally getting back to doing some baking after the long spells of 95F days have subsided. Still mostly sticking to the Breville though. I picked up a copy of "New World Sourdough" by Bryan Ford (aka Artisan Bryan) — so far I am really enjoying it. In a fit of randomness, the first recipe I made was...pita bread. I blame an Instagram video of puffing pita for luring me in. Having sourdough flavor in pita is interesting -- eaten alone it's really prominent in the bread, but using it for sandwiches and the like it's not super obvious. On the upside, it does seem to *keep* like sourdough -- even after a few days it has not dried out. Used up the last loaf with some menemen for breakfast this morning -- half of it toasted with olive oil and the fancy za'atar I mentioned in the salad dressing thread. I also tried the Choco Pan de Coco -- but stupidly I forgot to add the brown sugar, which honestly it really needed. It's not bad, and the texture's perfect, but a sour chocolate bread is not *exactly* my thing. Next time I think I will try the non-chocolate version from his website and use dark brown sugar for flavor. My Zojirushi bread machine — which has been our quarantine workhorse — is also back in production after some technical difficulties. I tried to mix a too stiff dough in it a few weeks back and I think it was the last straw for the "bearing" on one of the mixing shafts. I put it in quotes because they don't actually use bearings -- the shafts are just pins connected to the belt drive pulleys that stick through the cast aluminum piece that holds the bread pan. One of them appears to have completely seized in place. Fortunately I was able to find a replacement pulley assembly from eBay, because *no one* has bread machines in stock right now. I can't complain too much, though -- I bought the thing used for $85 two years ago, and I have no idea how long it sat unused before that. And we've used it a couple of times a week since.

As an aside, Toni Tipton-Martin grew up in LA and speaks a lot about the experience in both of her books.

I know you specifically said this *wasn't* the advice you wanted -- but take a look at Hot Thai Kitchen, and particularly the YouTube videos. Pai (the host) does have a cookbook, though I haven't read it. I have bought and borrowed Thai cookbooks for years (including most of the ones listed above) and would occasionally manage something decent from them, but it was always a ton of work and something wasn't right. It wasn't until I was able to watch someone make the recipes that some of the techniques clicked for me. At least for me, some of the techniques used in Thai cooking are counterintuitive or non-obvious -- e.g., you have to get the oil to separate out of the coconut milk when you're making a curry, and you want to wait for it to happen at a certain point in the process. At least for me, that was way easier to watch than try to figure out from text. So even if you find a book book you like, it might be worth watching her cook through a similar recipe to see the process.

We finally braved Trader Joes last weekend, for the first time since February. Mostly stocking up on favorites and staples for the pantry, but picked up a few new items. Was very sad to see before we went that they've discontinued the Amba Sauce -- we only managed to get that once while they had it. (I had really wanted to use summer eggplant to recreate something like the sabich sandwich we had at a hole-in-the-wall Iraqi bakery in Detroit the last time we were there — it was doused in amba.) The Everything But the Elote seasoning is, unsurprisingly, good on corn. The "pub cheese" is good but not amazing. I was secretly hoping it was a rebrand of Win Schuler's Bar Scheeze, another Michigan favorite I can't get out here; this is not that. But we'll certainly finish it off happily on crackers. The pomegranate seeds went bad two days before their date, which was really annoying.

I bought some of their masa harina recently and was pleased with the tortillas I made from it -- they have a very good corn flavor. I am anything but an expert at making tortillas, though, and haven't done anything else with it as yet. I keep seeing chefs speaking highly of them, though (I think including a mention in Enrique Olvera's book I read recently).

I'm really skeptical they can capture the magic of a real kettle-cooked pizza.

@pastameshugana it's probably beside the point, but it looks like the bottled sauce lineup is lagging behind the stores: https://www.amazon.com/Taco-Bell-Salsa-Bottle-Verde/dp/B00FN6FWVS In case you want to stock up on nostalgia!

Sorry, I should have been clearer -- I meant that it was more likely to stay on the market for a while. The disappearance of the CSO and of smart appliance companies like Nomiku (not to mention the recent nonsense with Mellow) have made me a little apprehensive I guess.

I like Penzeys for a lot of stuff but that za'atar was clearly not their best effort. That farm visit looks magical! A quick google suggests that this is the US source for the stuff he mentions: https://www.eatzaatar.com/ A little pricy but I'm going to give it a try -- a half pound will last a while.

I'm hoping that the fact that Electrolux now owns Anova will help with the longevity aspect. By contrast, Cuisinart is owned by Conair...the blow dryer people.

If it's not getting discontinued, why buy a spare? Plus you've already got all those CSOs 🙂 If the Precision Cookers are any indication, I don't think you'll even need to set up the wifi if you don't want to use it. For the sous vide, they highlight on this page: "Cook with manual controls or the app: Set the time and temperature in the Anova App or with the Anova Precision Cooker manual interface," and in their FAQ here, "we've designed the Anova Precision Cooker to operate completely without the app. You can use the device to its fullest extent without connecting the app to the device." Their sous vide is also not dependent on the app at any point -- if the app disconnects after you set it, it still maintains temperature and the timer. As for the oven -- obviously they don't have all the details posted yet, but you can see clearly on the face that there are + / - buttons to control temperature, time, and steam, each with dedicated readouts. I think those controls on the left determine which heating elements are used. Whether you can control *every* feature from the faceplate, I don't know — but you at least appear to be able to control as much from the front panel as you can on the CSO or the FBSO.

I was going to say I prefer my riffs on ranch, but I think what I end up with is maybe closer to green goddess in the end! Though no tarragon or anchovy so far. I think buttermilk is essential for me. Ages ago I started buying the HVR ranch mix (the powder) in large format canisters. I use it more as a base than following the directions -- I will often blend in some combination of herbs, scallions, and (green) hot peppers, plus citrus juice or vinegar, and a glug of olive oil to balance it out. I tend to also reduce the mayonnaise in mine in favor of dairy -- often 1/3 each mayo, sour cream, and buttermilk. Another variation I love that I stumbled on entirely by accident is za'atar ranch -- ranch made more or less "by the book" with a large quantity of good za'atar in it. Probably a quarter cup of za'atar in a batch of dressing. (I tend to prefer the za'atar I get at middle eastern grocers in large sizes -- 1lb bags or canisters – and typically labeled either "green" or "lebanese." I got some from Penzeys once and it was terrible.)

@KennethT when I saw the Anova announcement today, I have to say I wondered if they might be using the same OEM.

Yeah, I stumbled on some shopper discussion in the Instacart subreddits that suggested they took on a *ton* of new people in March and April without much training or vetting. The consensus over there was (a) report the problem, and (b) in this particular case, give your shopper a lower rating, since they don't have any other mechanism to deal with problem shoppers.

A couple of months ago I ended up with a JetBlue cheese tray in one of my produce boxes. Good for a laugh. Those do look really lovely. Mind sharing the name of the Amazon seller? Galangal is pretty hardy stuff, I find the stuff we get here often looks terrible but still tastes great.