IndyRob

http://qz.com/211907/germany-still-cant-forgive-mcdonalds-for-taking-its-e1-cheeseburger-away/ So it appears the frugal Germans aren't happy with the removal of the cheeseburger from the 1 Euro menu. Yet, it hasn't been long since the McDouble (a double cheeseburger) was moved off the American $1 menu. Given the fact that 1 euro is about $1.37 (about the same as said McDouble in the U.S. today), are European prices that different? Labor costs mainly? Sort of unrelated, but interesting, is the quote from Doug Goare, president of the company's European division... Wait, did he just diss his own product and an entire nation of customers?

As I was growing up my mother would always wrap potatoes in aluminum foil (as was the convention of the day) but lament that she couldn't reproduce the great baked potatoes she had in restaurants. So later in life, when cooking became a more serious hobby for me, and with the benefit of the standard books and the internet, I decided to research this more carefully. I quickly found that aluminum foil was a bad thing. Steam is really not a good thing for a baked potato. A good baked potato, I learned, has had much of its water content baked out. This results in the desirable flaky texture of a well done spud. Salt treatments are meant to draw the moisture out So I went progressively more aggressive with salt - from coating the potatoes with kosher salt to always keeping around a pan full of a bed of rock salt. The results were very good, but one day, in a fit of laziness, I stumbled upon a method that is dead simple, requires no elaborate preparations, with results that are as good or better than any of the salt rituals. Take a table fork and plunge it into the spud 4-5 times across the top, Plunge it in all the way to the hilt each time. Then throw it into a 450 degree oven - directly on the rack - for an hour. Done. I believe the merciless stabbing creates very effective steam chimneys which are every bit as effective as any salt application.

What about a vessel with insanely thick cast iron walls - like a miniature version of an old mortar cannon? (extra credit for an insulated outer coating) Could we rely on added metal to keep up the thermal inertia?

Well, then I'll definitely recommend that you not deep fry fresh corn tortilla quarters, season them with any sort of seasoning salt, dip them in a roasted jalapeno infused modernist cheese sauce, and lovingly sprinkle them with crispy bacon bits. And definitely, DO NOT dot them with dabs of sriracha and sour cream. ETA:

Bourdain will come out against layers of butter, dough and sugar. Oh no, wait.... That was weeks ago. This week, he loves Cronuts.

“I’m not trying to portray that she is a bad person,” Charles said in the article. “I’m just trying to put my story out there that she didn’t treat me fairly and I was her soul sister.” So, she stays employed with Deen for 20 years, refuses to say that she is a bad person, and believed that she was her 'soul sister'. It's kinda' hard for me to read that as a case for what some would like to believe. Based on the facts that are alleged, it may well be that she wasn't treated fairly. But I suspect that there may be many other facts yet to be known. Anyway, I suspect she's barking up the wrong tree by taking her case to the EEOC.

A mirror is a better reflector than a piece of aluminum. A random reflector will reflect some of the energy into itself. And certainly, a black surface absorbs more energy than either. However, that's probably of no consequence when we're basically maintaining a cloud of steam under the foil.

For lasagna, I might choose shiny side down only because, if there's cheese on top, it will tend to stick less to the smoother surface (although negligibly so). However, in this case the foil is used primarily to stop (or slow) premature browning. Is this by blocking direct radiation, or by creating a humid zone? I don't know. If it's the former, then perhaps the added reflectivity of the shiny side would better on the outside. But I suspect it's the latter. In that case, the heat energy spent turning water into steam will have a cooling effect that will dwarf the conductivity/reflectivity of the foil.

Well, that's an unfortunate turn of events. I remember it well from a day trip to Chicago a few years ago. They had a lot of interesting stuff you don't see everywhere. I kept saying "Oh, lookit that...". It reminds me of our own local Roselyn Bakery (est. 1943) that went down in 1999 under very similar circumstances.

I haven't been to a CiCi's, but I'm familiar with $5 Little Caesar's large 'Hot & Ready' pizza's. By any normal pizza standard, these are pretty awful. However, I wouldn't have to look very far to find worse at places who advertise themselves as being much better. And their new $8 Deep Dish pizzas are actually pretty good, IMHO. But even a good pizza can be a really cheap thing. When I costed out my pizza using bulk pricing, my dough cost came to about 19 cents (food cost, not including labor). Tomato sauce is cheap, as well. I buy my Mozz & Provolone blend in bulk at a bit over $2/lb. I use about 10oz for a large pie, so let's call that $1.40 for cheese. So, say, $2 for a large cheese pizza. At home, I use the Hormel pillow pack pepperoni for convenience - that's the budget killer right there. But I think with a proper deli slicer, the news would get much better. I'd like to think I could hit between $2.50-$2.90 for a large pepperoni pizza. Now, I wouldn't want to sell that pizza for $5 (and it's certainly not a single serving one). That would be over 50% food cost, which would be insane. But if I could give you some lettuce and dressing and hope you'll eat only 1/3rd of a pie, that could be a winning proposition.

Many, if not most, instructions of cooking pasta do not specify a vigorous boil, but rather, just above a simmer. But ultimately, this is just a matter of degree. The oil layer, whether disrupted or not, will be at the top. And when the pasta passes through it on its way to the bottom of the pot, the oil will prefer to stick to the pasta rather than the water it hates so much. If we were in agreement that this was an effect we'd like to promote, we could probably find ways to make this even more effective. But I think we'd both agree that this is not a goal for either of us for this application. But this is a distinction that becomes useful when we do want to break the rules.

I think you are absolutely correct in that the amount of water is the answer, and no oil is needed. However, I think the explanation that adding oil doesn't do anything because it floats to the top may be flawed. There are painting techniques that rely on floating a thin oil paint layer on of top water and dipping objects into it to achieve a sort of swirl paint covering (or in some cases, even intricate patterns). That's not to say that it's a good idea for pasta, just that the reason may not be accurate. I think a better reason to avoid oil is to allow the sauce to stick.

The James Beard award must've been a shocker. And not claiming it must've been brutal.

I like the idea of filling a void in this way, but it sounds like a legal nightmare. The biggest issue I imagine (and I must stress that I Am Not A Lawyer) will be liability. When that guy breaks up with his GF and storms out in a huff and crashes his Lambo into a schoolyard, his lawyer is going to be looking for someone to blame. Preferably, someone with deep pockets - which probably means your benefactor. That's why it can be really hard to use someone's commercial kitchen to bake bread for the County Fair, much less slinging Mai Tais on premises. The local community might also be an issue. Often, a liquor license is granted based on some limitations demanded by the local residents. I've seen this in drugstores that just want to expand a bit of shelf space for expanded adult beverage offerings. The most recent case is Dollar General (of all things) offering beer and wine. Lot's of accusations of broken promises there in the zoning hearings. So I'm saying that if the liquor license seems underutilized, there might be a reason for that.

I'm losing interest in anything Ramsay, but he does seem to work harder at it than anyone on this list. Not sure if that's a good thing or not.

I'm wondering what I'm missing here. I'm assuming that you're referring to my last post, since prior to that, piping has only been mentioned twice (including once by you with regards to packing multiple piping tips). I'll admit that I haven't done 80 of these things, but I have done 10. And even at my amateur level, having pieces fly across the room because the filling didn't release, and/or constantly admonishing myself against licking my fingers, I think I could manage somewhat better than 40 seconds per piece. More like 5 or 10 seconds. For confirmation, I've just looked at a few Youtube videos of pro's doing it at well over twice that clip. I'm not talking about piping fleur de lis, or roses here. Just fill a small cup. A tray of thirty pieces should be done in about 5 minutes.

Just for the sake of brainstorming... some little puff pastry cups could play a few roles. Stamp a bunch of 1" diameter discs out of puff pastry. Then stamp a 1/2" hole in two-thirds of them ('donuts'). Stack two 'donuts' on top of one 'disk' (some egg wash 'glue' might help but is not required - a pre-test is recommended, of course). Put these all on an oiled sheet pan. Make four spacers by stacking some pennies to the proper height and wrapping in aluminum foil. Place in each corner of the pan Set another sheet pan on top (with the bottom oiled). Bake. The top will keep the cups constrained to a uniform height and limit their tendency to curve. Repeat until you have enough. Carefully package and freeze these. They'll thaw quickly and can accept savory or sweet fillings - piped in with a bag. You could replenish trays quickly just by grabbing the bag with whatever filling is most in demand at the moment (or progress from savory to sweet).

I think I'd be sorely tempted to buy some supermarket shrimp rings. If they were nestled amongst other offerings it might camouflage the cheesiness somewhat. That's one item done in a few minutes that may not draw raves, but is extremely unlikely to fall flat. Or, almost as easy would be to buy the pre-cooked, shelled, deveined, frozen shrimp, thaw them in a fridge and serve them in dramatic bowls over crushed ice with a variety of dipping sauces in separate bowls. The sauces could be the stars here (and could all be done well ahead of time). I don't see that we have a dedicated cocktail sauce thread here, but surely many variations are out there.

And again with the potatoes, my first thought was little blini like potato pancakes under the scallops (or to the side). Or, perhaps, some grated potato bathed in a seasoned egg, parm, and cream mix (and from Paul's sig above, add some diced sautéed Morels - because, you know, they're a good thing to have). Put in a scallop sized ring mold, sear on both sides and finish in an oven.

South Park was here way before us. I'm not gonna link it directly - NSFW. Really, NSFAnywhere. But, well, it's South Park. They don't live by the same rules.... You'll just have to click twice.... Tolerant Rednecks

But I think this is a little bit backwards. The products are not produced for the brand. The brand is applied to the products. Consider this page at Amazon. Note the bullet point that says "Paula Deen and Teflon are registered trademarks used with permission". Okay, so there is some actual Dupont Teflon used in the product. But no Paula Deenlon. These aren't her products. There's no Paula Deen in the product. She herself is merely a latter day Aunt Jemima.

Well, if we're going to go outside the box (as it were), I kind of like rotary graters. The little one I got as a gift is nice for grating a bit of parm on some pasta. I also have a larger one that does a medium grate. I wouldn't mind having a Rambo-sized one for bigger jobs if such a thing exists. They're also dishwasher safe (which, really, I think all of the options mentioned so far should be).

They'll move on to The Next Food Network Star. It's not like she was creating the next iPhone. She was licensing her name and image to be used on products that would have been produced anyway,

With the possible exception of some of her personal assistants, I think the industry will be able to weather the demise of the Paula Deen brand.

The Flavor Bible seems to speak to what you're interested in. I don't own it and haven't read it, but it's a title that has intrigued me - but also made me a bit suspicious. It seems to be well reviewed by customers though.