IndyRob

I guess I'm doing both ends of the spectrum this year. My grape vines finally yielded enough grapes for 7 bottles of wine I plan on opening a bottle on New Year's Eve, so I don't know yet if I have a decent wine. This is a pretty small batch so I needed some smaller bottles for secondary fermentation. A couple of 96oz apple juice bottles were just the ticket. But then I had to do something with the apple juice. So I made some hard cider. The results were quite okay. I've never had any hard cider before so I don't have any comparison. But I like it at least as well as domestic beer. I've done a few more batches since with cheap apple juice and doing things like carmelizing the sugar, adding yeast nutrient and adding pectic enzyme to clarify it. I highly recommend it for someone wanting to try out home fermenting. The thing is, you don't need a $30 kit. At minimum, you need a bottle of apple juice ($0.99-$1.50), and part of a packet champagne yeast ($0.70-$1.40). A little more sugar will raise the ABV to the normal 5-6% for hard cider (the champagne yeast is happy to eat table sugar). Yeast nutrient is not necessary, but is cheap. So is the pectic enzyme. I suspect that what this brewsy company is doing is packaging some or all of these cheap ingredients into a packet and charging $30 for it. I might be wrong, but I don't see anything more than that in their ads.. ETA: My local home brew shop takes reservations in the fall for many varieties of proper grape juice for wine.

No. Eva from the Pasta Grammar Youtube channel seemed fine with it even though it wasn't Italian. And if you've watched their videos, she's very, very Italian. This is an excellent example of how you can understand a cuisine but put your own spin on it, If you can do that AND impress the purist (e.g. Eva), you've accomplished something.

The shortages seem to be supplier specific. For instance, recently ALDI seemed to be completely out of apple juice, while Kroger had plenty and was putting it on sale.

So people are doing all these things? If so, that's a more interesting trend than bagels.

I know many people here may make their own bagels, but I've never really thought it was common among the general populace. Still, my ALDI has 'Everything Bagel Seasoning' despite having a limited selection of other herbs and spices. This suggests that it's a pretty good seller and hence, that there are more bagel makers out there than I would have imagined.

That looks good. Does the dough have oil in it?

I had never heard of tea wine, but apparently it's something many people make. They seem to be fairly enthusiastic about it. Has anyone here ever tried some?

Note that this is about "popcorn worker's lung". No matter how much coal Santa puts in my stocking, I don't think I'm gonna get black lung disease.

5 minutes is too much work?

My goal has been old school movie theater popcorn. I don't know if anyone under the age 50 has ever tasted the real thing. Yes, it's a common marketing term nowadays with modern microwave packets, but these are mere shadows of the glorious real deal. I think I've come as close as I ever will with this formulation.... 25 grams coconut oil 6 grams flavacol (careful, 7 grams will ruin it. 5 isn't enough) 68 grams yellow popcorn (store brands are fine - I use Kroger's) But don't get white popcorn. That's for caramel corn Reserve 30 grams of cold butter sliced into pats. Ideally, you'll have a nonstick saute pan with ludicrously high sides and an inverted domed bottom. But I suspect that it isn't that important so long as you have a lid for the pot. Alton Brown suggests metal mixing bowl. The idea is that the round bottom will allow the unpopped kernels to slide easily to the bottom. Anyway, pop the first three ingredients until all popped, covered of course, and then drop in the pats of butter. Replace the lid and shake - and shake, and invert, and shake. Then shake some more.

Yeast?

This?

I use a 72 hour cold ferment and do find that 2 hours is not often long enough. That said, it's not a problem as long as you're willing to be patient with the dough. Ideally, you'll take the dough out of the fridge and re-ball it. Then allow it to rest - covered - for at least 2 hours. Then flour the ball and start to work it - starting by pressing the middle outwards and avoiding touching the edges at all costs. If, at any point, the dough doesn't want to cooperate, just walk away for five minutes. Then come back and continue stretching. It's possible that after a little progress, the dough still won't want to cooperate. Just walk away again. Forcing the dough is the worst thing you can do. But it's often amazing what a 5 minute rest can do.

Looks like sfogliatelle.

We have a Catholic church near us that has a "French Market" event every year. We also have a Greek Orthodox church that hosts a greek festival annually. One of the perks of living in a multicultural society is being able to pile onto/into ethnic events.

I think the way that food has helped in this regard is sort of the opposite -- How can we extend this family feeling (that we find in this particular village) to the rest of the country. When it's done from the top down, you get something like Mussolini trying to promote rice over pasta for Italians. It doesn't work. But (in a U.S.A. oriented example) when you get people in Minnesota eating southern barbecue, or tex-mex food, you've made a strength of diversity.

Well, speaking of chemistry, what does baking soda do for meat moisture/tenderness? I've had some really good results adding a tiny bit to a pork marinade destined to become sweet and sour pork. I've also seen it recommended in cooking ground beef.

Hellman's contains sugar whereas Duke's doesn't. That's the main differentiator for me.

I wonder if it might be torched after it's completed.

I found a couple of videos on Youtube. The second links to a recipe but is from Bruno Albouze 'inspired' by Cedric Grolet.

They all have their pros and cons. It depends what you're looking for at any given time. IMHO, if you're not shopping at multiple places, you're not being smart shopper. Some that you've characterized as 'meh' are definite 'go to' places for me. ETA: there are already dedicated topics for ALDI and Trader Joes where I think you'll find many useful opinions.

Been making a lot of bagels lately - and buying cream cheese often. My wife swears by the Philadelphia brand and will not be fooled. I've tried all the store brands for half the price and am not convinced that there's much difference. But I do like the Philadelphia brand as well and think there might be an edge in flavor. What do you think? Are there other respected brands? Do homemade versions stack up?

Searching for Sous Vide on the internet brought me to the epic topic here.

A couple I enjoy... French Baker Julien Picamil from Saveurs in Dartmouth, UK. Italia Squisita - All in Italian but you can turn on English captions

You don't say why. I think that a toaster works best when the heating elements are as close as practical to the surface of the bread. That way it can toast the surface quickly without drying out the middle. A toaster oven's elements are relatively far from the surface of the bread, requiring more time in a dry oven atmosphere.