IndyRob

I use a baking steel and that was a big step forward. I'm happy with my neopolitan style pizzas, although leoparding is out of the question. I really don't have much desire for something like an Ooni unless it can make big ol' NY style pies. My oven will go to 550, but I've found 500 to be adequate. But the characteristics of your particular oven are paramount. 500 in oven A can be totally different from 500 in oven B. Sometimes you may want to make use of the power of the bottom rack/heating, or with another, take advantage of the broiler. If you're new to pizza making, and have a Trader Joe's nearby, I'd recommend purchasing their fresh doughs for a consistent starting point.

This was one of the best changes I've made. A stack of plates don't need much height, so if you add some shelves you can get a lot more useful space.

This is true. In fact, I suffered this in silence while watching The Great British Bake-Off. But then I came across a 9-page topic of opinions on which culinary terms should be banned. It seemed like a good place to file my own opinion (and not without some agreement if I look back at the original post's likes). But it could be a Britishism that falls hard on my American ears.

I guess I was thinking about encountering this in a more current usage. I'm not really arguing that it's wrong - i.e. that it can't be a noun - just that it's not a good usage in the sense I was referring to, and is generally unnecessary. "I love her baked goods", to me is preferable to "I love her bakes". As I said, the latter grates on me. But that is an opinion.

A clam bake is more of a process or an event, isn't it? I was referring to the singular use of 'bake' as a product, or 'bakes' as a collection of various products.

These are just the steps to any fried chicken. It's downright lying about the crevasses.

I don't think we should expect them to do anything. But I do think that we'll be more likely to, to put it crassly, consume their content, if it is more relevant to our situation. I think one of the factors that got Jamie Oliver into trouble here is the fact that in the UK, energy costs are through the roof. As an American, I don't even factor in energy costs when cooking a meal. But eggs, for instance, have tripled in price over the last couple of years. So yeah, I really am interested in frugal cooking. Historically, some of the best dishes have come out of the lowest classes. Using the cheapest cuts to the best effect. That is the best form of cooking.

I was looking around for a Christmas present and happened across a packaged collection of hot sauces. That seemed like a good idea, but upon closer inspection, it seemed like it was a generic mix of fiery labels with no indication of whether the contents of the bottles differed in any way. So I thought perhaps I could curate my own collection. But I'm not a hot sauce aficionado. So I guess I could use some help here. I'm looking for 5-6 selections, with high availability (too late for mail order). I think the selection begins with the classic Cholula, perhaps a direct competitor, and a few others to offer some diversity. Can anyone suggest a collection? Thanks, in advance.

It's a west coast thing? I did not know that. Edit: I just tried to think of a west coast grocery and came up with Ralph's. I checked their site and there it is. But to add insult to injury it's labeled as Kroger, but in the despicable form factor of the hippie communist stubby butter contingent. I'm not sure if our country can survive this.

What's up with Trader Joe's butter? (not the awesome french butter they used to stock, but the everyday TJ butter) I found that they've become my cheapest butter option and went there to buy. The package was an odd shape. Not the normal four quarters of butter. But not the European style package either. I had to double check the weight to make sure it was 1lb. Check. I got it home and opened the box and there were four mini sticks of butter. Like, 5/8ths of a stick long. But they're thicker. I verified on a scale that they were each at least 4oz. The butter is good, but why would they do this?

With all the recent hullabaloo regarding changes at Twitter, I've been exploring one of the highly publicized alternatives; Mastodon. Mastodon is a distributed Twitter alternative that runs on many different servers (also called instances) that are all federated and share content. Moderation falls to each server, which initially must implement a based set of policies, but optionally may also expand on those to create a more restrictive environment. In addition, servers may also block (defederate) other servers if they find them problematic for any reason. The software is free and open-source and is supposedly pretty simple for any technically minded administrator to set up and get going. Servers can be general use, corporately controlled, purpose driven, or interest driven. In addition, many people are setting up personal servers of their use or for family and friends. This leads to the primary criticism of Mastodon. Sign up is easy, but it's hard to know who to sign up with. There are thousands of servers. As all servers are responsible for local moderation, it made me think about eGullet which already does moderation. If eGullet would set up a server/instance, it could be an easy choice for many of it's users (and attract new ones). Alternatively, I think it would be possible just to link eGullet membership to the Mastodon server. Either way, it would be interesting to integrate eGullet into Mastodon's 'Fediverse'. If such a thing happened, you could log into eGullet.social and have three tabs: Home (everyone you follow), Local (all eGullet member posts) and Federated (the general Fediverse). Beyond that, it's pretty much like Twitter without 'The Algorithm' that serves you posts that it selects for you. You can click on Hashtags to see that activity and search for other stuff, but no ads and no AI interference. I think mastodon is still proving itself and there still are some unanswered questions, but in my view, it's a very interesting implementation. And one that would allow the reach of eGullet to expand beyond these virtual walls. Who knows, Jimmy Kimmel might 'Boost' (like a re-tweet) your post. Anyway, this is not a recommendation, and full-disclosure - I've never owned a Twitter account, so all my comparisons are suspect. But I just think it might be an interesting prospect worth kicking around.

Sorry if that came off as harsh, but I just think that when people try to elevate traditional staples, it just doesn't work. If it did, then that new way would become the new traditional staple. Now, it's one thing if you're truly going for a true variation - say, by using buckwheat. But that would be, in my view, a buckwheat pancake. But I don't think people (at least in America which I think is where we're talking about if the subject is pancakes) are really looking for multigrain examples. I looked around and Denny's does offer a '9 grain' pancake (IHOP and Perkins apparently do not offer anything similar). But it exists among all the Banana or Chocolate Chip varieties. They all seem to be more about the buttermilk than the flour. Edit: I guess I'm just feeling protective of the traditional American pancake. Actually, I prefer crepes, myself. And if you want to whip your egg whites to create an incredibly fluffy pancake, I won't argue about calling it a pancake. But it's not really in the tradition, is it?

IMHO, the whole point behind pancakes is that they're cheap and they're good. If you try to elevate them with specialty flours it ain't gonna work. It's a GD pancake. Yes, some are better than others, but it's not about exotic ingredients. It's about learning how to do it properly over time.

I used to do a lot of weird things to potatoes. And then I thought about cooking them. No, seriously, I did the salt, I did the foil, and the oil. All you have to do is stab the suckers deeply with a fork four times and throw 'em in a 425 oven for 45 to 70 minutes (depending on size). The little chimneys you made will provide a pathway for the water to get out. And that's what you want. And that's all you need.

I like battered, like they do at Willie Mae's Scotch House in NOLA. Equal parts flour and cornstarch (by volume), a lot of black pepper, salt, some cayenne and paprika. And some baking powder. Mix with water to a crepe batter consistency (thinner may be better, I'm still working this out). Season chicken pieces with salt and cayenne before dipping. Beyond being very crispy, it's also easier and cleaner than other methods. There's just one bowl for the batter. You don't need a three step frying station. Your oil will stay cleaner without a bunch of loose flour coming off the chicken. If this is not crispy enough, roll the battered pieces in crushed corn flakes - but forget about the clean oil. Edit: I'm still trying to work out doneness. Should I pull the pieces from the oil as soon as they float? Is that an accurate indication? Sometimes that occurs earlier than I would have thought. Another tip is smaller pieces are better. They make for a better proportion of coating to meat. Wings are great.

Egg preference is a strange thing. Beyond the fact that some people like their scrambled eggs tighter or looser, or their yolks runny or gelled, there seems to be a fast food breakfast sandwich rule. If it's on a biscuit it must be a homogeneous egg mixture, fried flat and folded. If it's on an English muffin, it must be an egg simply cracked, yolk broke, and cooked through in a 'patty'. I like a good breakfast sandwich and have learned to make the Hardee's biscuit, as well as an Egg McMuffin clone. I've mixed and matched the egg styles, and the chains are right. I'm not sure quite why, but those rules seem to hold. But both of those treatments don't work in any other context.

Have you tasted it yourself? If not, Is it possible to make something that's in someone else's head?

I love deviled eggs, but can't eat more than two or so. They desperately need some sort of sidekick. Maybe something bready. Something to counteract the protein bomb. I haven't been able to work out what that should be.

I'm not sure if he ever wanted to be a public figure. Maybe a notable person, sure. But not the subject of a People magazine article (especially about his death). But as I was trying to make sense of his demise, Asia Argento kept making herself more seem more involved, whether it was preemptive denials, or deflection, or pleas for privacy. I really don't like her.

I used to use no salt in rice, but recently have found that I like to add a little bit during cooking. But it depends on the application. I don't treat Mexican rice as I would rice for red beans and rice. Sometimes you want a contrast and sometimes you want more homogeneity.

How is Ace Burgers not a chain?

https://th.bing.com/th/id/OIP.mOacU9ygpxmH4iUXMBPBzwHaHa?pid=ImgDet&rs=1 I think this is the most representative image of what I get when I buy a Chuckeye steak. Although the site refers to it as a Chuckeye Delmonico cut. As can be seen by the two steaks pictured, there is a pretty wide degree of variation between various individual cuts.

I've eaten a lot of chuckeye steaks in my time and have never encountered a bone of any sort.

This topic reminded me of a question/discussion on the British panel show QI.

Cosmic chorizo... https://www.cnn.com/2022/08/05/europe/scientist-space-image-chorizo-intl-scli-scn/index.html