IndyRob

If you're looking for an easy way, grab a sheet pan and a big sheet of aluminum foil. Slice up an onion or two into rings and make a layer on the foil in the sheet pan. Season the roast (either simple S&P, or a spice rub if you want to be more elaborate) and put it on the onions. Seal the foil (in a way you can re-open to check doneness) and throw into a 225-250 oven for 2-3 hours (depending on the size). When done, remove the onions and juice to a saucepan and get creative (add cream, broth, herbs and/or seasonings to your own taste). Meanwhile, broil each side of the roast for a few minutes. Serve the onions over the roast. Admittedly, the results (being basically oven braised with the onion liquid) will be pretty pot roast-like if I'm not mistaken. Alternatively, I've often wondered if one can cut chuck eye steaks from a chuck roast. Not the tenderest steaks in the world, but they have good flavor.

I just bought some to do fish & chips. I really liked it for that.

I went back and watched the ATK episode (S14 E3 currently available on Netflix) to see exactly what they said. They agree with pbear that the temperature of steam remains 212. However, the steam has 5 times the energy (owing to water being 'sticky' because of hydrogen bonds and, um, yada,yada...). What this means is that steam can cook more eggs in the same amount of time. That explains my inconclusive results using one egg in each pot. Had I used 4 eggs in each pot, I probably would have seen the results I expected. More eggs would've caused a temperature drop in the water, requiring energy to be devoted to the getting the water back to boiling rather than being available for the eggs.

Well, rather than quoting stuff from Wikipedia which I probably oughtn't do, I decided to just Kenji it. I got two very similar pots and put them on my stove, filled one with about 3" of water and the other with about 3/4". I put an egg in each one, covered them, and let them go for exactly 6 minutes. Then each was plunged into its own individual container filled with cold tap water. I expected dramatic differences but didn't get them. The differences, as far as I could tell, were extremely subtle, and perhaps a bit counter intuitive. The yolk in the steamed egg seemed slightly more consistent in texture. The boiled one had gelled a bit around the outer edge, but the rest seemed slightly more runny. The white of the steamed one was perfect and the boiled one did look that way too, but upon cutting it did seem just on the edge of cooked enough - perhaps a little under. I not sure how to interpret the results other than that I now understand a little better why ATK claimed it tested over 1,000 eggs. Possible errata: 1) The two eggs were from the three I mentioned above that varied from 61-63 grams, but I don't know which ones I used. 2) The burners were at very different levels of flame. The boil pot needed more flame to heat the larger volume of water. Given that I feel the temperature of steam can get above 212, perhaps I should've put the spurs to it. 3) I did take a picture, but the visual results are virtually identical so I didn't bother to upload it. Well ok, I can't eat any more eggs tonight. I think if I had to cook soft boiled eggs for company tomorrow I'd go with ATK's recommendation of steaming for 6:30.

I haven't graduated to the shopping cart level. I just laser-focus on certain items. e.g. Milk - 1 Gal -$1.49. I'll take that and turn it into 20oz of ricotta which would normally cost $5-$6 at a typical grocery. Domestic Prosciutto as good as Walmart Del Duca's offering for $1.00 less (per 3oz). Don't focus on their prepared (frozen) foods. Even the best priced of those are generally a big waste. ALDI loses to Walmart in frozen waffle prices. The clone-food offerings might offer some value. For instance, their 'Savortiz" Cheez-It's clones are 1$ less than their namesakes. We determined the slight difference still gave the mega-brand the edge, but it is so slight that I bet many people prefer the cheaper option. Canned goods - Yeah, maybe some tomato sauce or something. Fresh produce and meat - Generally not what I would go there for, but keep your eye out. Especially on Wednesdays. They seem to want to get a jump on the normal weekly ads by a day, but only on Wednesday. Check the website. One cool thing is that they'll normally have the next week's ad up as well.

Can you elaborate? I must admit to being a bit skeptical. I've had the misfortune to burn myself both with boiling water and with steam and I must say that steam seems far worse. I'm trying to think of some sort of mitigating factor like the barbeque stall, but that doesn't seem to apply.

Just for the reference desk, I just weighed 3 "Large Eggs" and they were 61-63 grams (probably not enough to make a difference). But 2 quarts of water? 6 minutes? I don't have the book, but I assumed it was something similar to the latest ATK soft boil method I've seen. This uses only a 1/2 inch of water and relies on steam. Once a boil is achieved (not sure if a simmer is materially different), the eggs should go in, covered, for 6:30. Given that steam is supposedly more energetic, It doesn't seem like 6 minutes could be enough for a submerged egg.

I've been thinking about getting a Meyer lemon tree (also in zone 6). Supposedly, it can live in a pot and winter indoors if it has enough light (an obstacle I'd have to overcome). But I have a perfect spot right near a patio for the summer. Regarding the Everclear - Brilliant! That man clearly has an auspicious future. Whether it's one that should be closely monitored by the proper authorities is a question I'll leave to others.

As this has sunk into my thick brain, it really is beginning to make sense. I have seen Italian cooks crumble (Italian) sausage into their sauce. In fact, the link Tere posted includes this. As Italian-American cooking adopts local ingredients, and an Italian grandmother may find hot dogs the only readily available sausage, I could see this happening. Even if the first time was an emergency case. Ground or minced, hot dogs are simply seasoned meat (maybe all pork). If the seasonings in the sauce are corrected, the hot dog meat may simply melt into the background. And a good cook (perhaps that's the essential ingredient we're ignoring here) could make it a winner. An alternative theory is that an Americanized youth saw grandma putting sausages into the sauce and didn't know an Italian sausage from a wiener in his pot.

I agree. I really do like him, but I think sometimes he solves the problem for himself and doesn't go through the repeatability stuff that might've been expected at ATK. I was excited to learn of his 2-minute mayo technique, but like quite a few of his commenters, I had about a 50% failure rate. I eventually figured it out and wanted to post my findings on his site, but they shut down comments after a certain amount of time. Anyway, it turns out he was right, it does work, but it's not as foolproof as he made it out to be.

I was recently researching (Detroit style) Coney Island hot dog sauce and found a mention of putting ground up hot dogs in the sauce. I don't think that's traditional based on my other research, but it sort of makes sense in context. Perhaps this is an idea that escaped the hot dog world.

Glad to hear it. Now you may want to explore the File/Export option. It's disabled on my trial version, but it should allow you to at least save your saved data in a more universal format. If some of those are specific recipe file formats, researching those might lead you to new software that can import your saved data.

I haven't had a problem with Win10 (or Win8 for that matter). I have a pretty complex program that I wrote 18 years ago that still runs fine. As long as it is run as Administrator. For security reason, the rules have changed regarding where a program can store data by default. But this program does appear to run on my Win10 machine. An evolutionary step is taking place where computers are not simply static things. They are increasingly part of a (sometimes dangerous) ecosystem. Updates are good. But that's probably enough for this forum.

This reminded me of my own shameful experience. Just the other day, I was in there behind a guy that had a number of items. Usually the cashiers at Aldi are pretty quick - just dumping the scanned items into the customer's cart (or in my case, my waiting hands as I don't want to go through the 25 cent cart nonsense). But somehow, this cashier had managed to ring this guy's garden hose up twice and was having a problem voiding it out. She had to get the other cashier to help her, thus holding up both lines. So they got that resolved and she rang up my order and it seemed kind of high, but I had become increasingly impatient and just wanted to move on. When I got into my car I looked at the receipt and it had a $14.99 garden hose on it. I just sat there for a minute. I had to go back in. She would have remembered and it was obviously a mistake. But then I'd have to hold up the line (probably both) again while they got it sorted. Based on what I had observed, it could also mean her job. So I just decided to let it all wash over me and drive off - hoping some good karma might follow me. Later that evening, a truck drove into our driveway and a guy started unloading boxes. "Ah, my shrubs are here..." It turns out that I bought five $50 shrubs online and got six delivered. And it also turned out that that sixth one was needed to properly fill out the space we had planned. I was up $35 for the day. So, yeah, maybe there's karma to be had at Aldi as well.

It appears to work fine on my Win 10 machine, although I've done nothing more than create a dummy recipe and do a backup. But you're right about 'The Cloud'. It's just someone else's computer.

Crap, that was my idea. Although if they need to teach knife skills, maybe they really don't have my idea.

I have two Aldi's within range and haven't noticed any odor issues at either. My Aldi staples are milk,butter, chips, Choceur chocolate, procsciutto and soppresetta. I also like some of their German sausages (they should know, right?). Some cheeses (I can find mozz and cheddar cheaper at GFS) Occasionally I've found fresh mushrooms (white or crimini) at 89 cents/8 oz. [Edit] The only disappointment I've had is with eggs. The ones I bought there on two separate occasions had smallish yolks. I checked and they were labeled Grade A, but didn't seem to be in actuality. Since I've recently taken to making my own mayo, this became a problem.

First thing: If you have Windows 10 (or anything recent as recent as Win 7) installed, try running the program by finding the program on the Start menu, right-clicking it, and choosing 'Run as Administrator'. That might work. If not, do you have a specific error message it's giving you? Out of curiosity I downloaded a trial version and created a dummy recipe. Then I tried to find my data without the use of the program. The data appears to stored in the file... "C:\ProgramData\Radium Technologies\Living Cookbook\5.0\Database\lc50.mdb" The ProgramData is a hidden directory and I had to select the Show Hidden Files option in Windows Explorer to see it. This file appears to be an older version Microsoft Access database. Unfortunately, it appears to be password protected. But, being an older version, you may be able to find a utility that will unlock it (Microsoft Office encryption used to be easily crackable). There's a small chance that your license key is the password, but I doubt it. Another possibility is the backup file. I found reference to the fact that something like every fifth time you run the program it should prompt you to do a backup. When I did a backup it asked me where to create it. The file it created had a .lcb extension. You could search your computer using a utility (I suggest a free program called Agent Ransack). This appears to be some sort of proprietary compressed file comprised of the above file and various other files containing user preferences and such. If you could find a backup file you could try the Restore option (I'd recommend a full backup of your system first though). Their website also has the procedure to move the program to another machine. This involves uninstalling the program to free up the license key and installing it on another computer. Then using the backup file to restore your data. This might work since I've been able to install the program and run it seemingly without issue (Win 10).

I saw Jacques Pepin do something very similar with oranges. Here's a video... He uses the peel, but says you can use the rind if you blanch it more times. He also shows using a knife to get thicker slices (again, more blanching required). He also mentions using lemons and other citrus fruits.

Property management companies in my area are always trying to find creative ways to be rid of them. Roasting and sous-viding apparently are not on the approved list.

Well, I suppose I'm behind the times and really don't care what they do with their goo mix, but hasn't there been a big change in the size of the macaroni over the years? I can still find 'large' macaroni at times, but the world seems to have migrated to this pixie sized macaroni that seems better suited to inclusion in Alphabet soup. I feel that the longer cooking time required and the need for microwave suitability has really changed the nature of M&C.

$4.98?! Ohmygezzus. I just read a news story about how beef prices are falling. Well, not for long. I'm going to eat it all.

I've used my credit card at Aldi a few times in the last couple of weeks. Previously I had to use my debit card. It's funny. I avoided Aldi for a long time due to my perception of it being on the Dollar Store level. But I recently found Jamon Iberico there. I've never seen that in anything resembling a mainstream store before. Aldi might deserve it's own topic.

I'd say the baseline is 4 servings per bird in simple roast chicken form. Of course, I'd like to game the question in a number of ways (including not killing the damn thing and letting it reproduce), but I'd say 3oz of meat is required in anything (casserole, risotto, salad, sandwich, etc.) for a proper serving of chicken-something.

YES! Quisp! I used to like it just on the phase-change between crispy and soggy so as to spare the roof of the mouth.