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tikidoc

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Posts posted by tikidoc

  1. On 1/10/2020 at 12:54 AM, Smithy said:

    The Paragon is now down to $59.97 at RC Willey. It's looking more tempting...even though I wouldn't be able to play with it for a few months.

     

    Looks like they don’t ship - only local pick up. Anyone know of somewhere else reliable to get one? The only places that come up in my search are companies I have never heard of and can’t find much on. I’m afraid of getting ripped off. Or anyone local to an RC Wiley willing to ship a couple out?

  2.  Like many others during the pandemic, I have been making a lot of bread at home. I have a sourdough starter going, and so there has been a lot of lean sourdough bread in the house, along with other breads more palatable to the teens in the house, such as enriched breads like Japanese milk bread and challah. My problem is storage. Homemade breads go stale so fast, even the enriched ones. I’m experimenting with baking techniques/ingredients to make for longer lasting breads. I’d like to hear what others do as far as storage to make breads stale slower. I keep having an ad pop up on facebook that is cloth bag with a beeswax lining. It’s a bit speedy but if it lasts and does the job, I’d be willing to make the investment. If it matters, I live in an area that is pretty humid this time of year.

    • Like 2
  3. Wegman’s has an absolutely wonderful chocolate-chocolate chip cookie, that they call “chocolate indulgence.” They sell it in the bulk cookie area, but when I look online it appears they also sell what appears to be the same cookie in packages of 2, link below. I never saw it packaged in the store. I had purchased them several times before I found out they were gluten-free (uses oat flour). It is crispy on the outside and fudgey on the inside, and deeply chocolate flavored, not overly sweet. After 15 seconds in the microwave, it is even more amazing, when the chips melt. Among the best cookies ever, especially for someone who loves dark chocolate. Half a cookie satisfies a chocolate craving for several days.
     

    Since we are not going to the store often these days, I’d love to make something similar but have not been able to locate a similar recipe on the internet. I have done very little gluten-free baking so do not feel confident reverse-engineering it. Does anyone have a recipe that is similar, especially if you have tried the Wegman’s cookie and know what I’m going for?  I’m not tied to the idea of gluten free - we eat gluten - but I suspect that may be part of the way they get the texture. I have not baked with oat flour, so have no idea of proportions.
     

    This is the link that I found - I think it is the same cookie, although it looks darker in real life, the color of a very dark chocolate.

     

    https://shop.wegmans.com/product/59520/wegmans-chocolate-indulgence-cookie-2-pk. Ingredients: Sugar, Cacao, Eggs, Butter, Oat Flour, Cocoa Butter, 2% or less of each: Water, Natural Flavor, Sunflower Lecithin, Leavening (Sodium Acid Pyrophosphate, Baking Soda), Cornstarch, Salt, Coffee.

  4. On 3/11/2020 at 7:20 AM, Kerry Beal said:

    Part of the reason I’m so far behind in the planning of this years workshop is that I’m squarely in the middle of all the Covid discussion and planning around the the Shelter Health population for which I serve as the lead physician. 
     

    I had set an alarm for a Zoom meeting that I had around Covid yesterday afternoon - unfortunately it went off at 4:50 this am! I awoke with the same thought about the workshop far too early this am. 
     

    I will continue with planning but we will need to monitor the situation and be prepared to cancel if it seems the right decision.


    Any update? I’m assuming it is called off or potentially delayed, as I cannot see it being safe or advisable to travel any time soon.

  5. 16 hours ago, Strongsoul said:

    I've never tried, because the equipment for roasting is not cheap. I believe, it's more profitable to buy some roasted coffee.


    I use two nested stainless steel bowls, a heat gun from the hardware store, and a dedicated wooden spoon. Works great, and unlike some of the commercial roasters, I can both see and hear the roasting beans. Takes me about 15 minutes - I usually sit on the porch with a podcast or some music. I’m building a slightly more sophisticated set up with a large hand crank flour sifter, aforementioned heat gun, a wooden frame and maybe eventually, an electric drill to turn the crank.

  6. On 12/11/2019 at 8:18 AM, curls said:

    I have heard good things about the King Arthur Flour school & classes by Cirl Hitz (http://breadhitz.com/events.html). Have not taken classes at either location but I think eGullet member @tikidoc has taken bread classes at both, perhaps she will share her experiences.


    I took a class with Ciril Hitz but not KAF. I think Ciril used to do some of the KAF classes - not sure if he still does. It was a fun class. It was a general bread baking class, and we made several different breads. He showed us lots of techniques for shaping the dough, and we all left with a bunch of great breads. He was an enthusiastic, engaging teacher. I would happily take a class from him again. We happened to be on the way to a vacation in MA, and the timing was perfect to do the class on the way to our vacation.

  7. Thanks for all the suggestions. Szechuan book is on pre-order. I got some of the crunchy sauce - yummy and some similarities but chunkier and less sweet than what we had in the restaurant. I’m going to play with some of the recipes posted. I may be wrong about the presence of Szechuan pepper but if it was there is was minor compared to the chilis. I didn’t get the numbing sensation. But I may add a little when I experiment. 

    • Like 2
  8. 1 hour ago, Duvel said:

    A very common option is also red chili oil mixed with sweetened aromatic soy sauce. Any chance it went into that direction ?

     

    I don’t think so, assuming you are talking about the standard “sweet soy sauce.” Again, quite complex, with spices I could not identify. What you mention sounds yummy, but more more simple than what we ate. 

     

    2 hours ago, liuzhou said:

     

     

    Fuchchia Dunlop's "Land of Plenty" (UK title - Sichuan Cookery) is the standard go to, but is about to be  republished as "The Food of Sichuan, an updated edition ... ...  fully illustrated and with lots of new recipes and information" acccording to a message she sent me last week.

     

    66042135_2643082065724516_5859430007109058560_n.thumb.jpg.8c6c0ddf92ce3971aecbea0a6cc03ffa.jpg

     

     

    Thanks! I’ll look into this! We have two Szechuan restaurants in our area, and both are pretty good at times but inconsistent in quality. So I’d like to be able to do more at home.

  9. On review, it looks like the homemade version on serious eats has a larger variety of spices than the stuff in the jar, and may be closer to what we tried. I’m planning to hit a couple local Asian markets this week and give that recipe a try. Thanks! 

     

    As as an aside, any suggestions for a good Szechuan cookbook would also be appreciated!

  10. 9 hours ago, blue_dolphin said:

    @tikidoc, how would you compare that sauce you loved to Lao Gan Ma's Spicy Chili Crisp

    There are recipes around for homemade versions of that condiment (like this one from Serious Eats) that could be a good starting point if they are at all similar. 

     

    I think that may be a starting point. I think I have had that before, and I will see about getting a jar and starting there. As I remember, the sauce in the jar is pretty much straight savory. The one in the restaurant was mildly sweet, tempering the spice a bit, and more complex than I remember that sauce.

  11. On our way home on vacation, we went to a Szechuan restaurant in Fairfield, CT, called Shu. There were a couple appetizers (a rolled scallion pancake and a dumpling) that were served with an amazing sauce that I would love to replicate. It was spicy, but I think the spice all came from red peppers, not Szechuan “numbing” peppers - I didn’t get the numbing sensation, just standard red pepper burn. The sauce was fairly oily and very red/orange, but complex and mildly sweet. Definitely garlicky, maybe some ginger (the garlic predominated), and some other savory spices I could not identify. It also smelled wonderful. My main dish was not as good as the apps, and I ended up using some of this wonderful stuff  on my rice.

     

    For those who know more about Szechuan food than I, does this sound like a sauce you know of? I’d prefer not to wait until our annual MA beach vacation to eat this again!

  12. On 6/23/2019 at 4:20 PM, Alex said:

     

    I bought their chef's knife when they were still a Kickstarter project. It's a decent, sharp knife. Nothing where I'd go "Wow," but for $52 on sale, definitely.

     

    I have several of their knives. Good quality, comfortable to hold (for me - I know this is a personal thing), good price.

    • Like 2
  13. 12 hours ago, Toliver said:

    I found a few on sale and a couple that were priced just a wee bit more but may be of interest:

     

    From the Amazon info page for this next cookbook:

    Named Cookbook of the Year by the Sunday Times (UK)

    Fortnum & Mason Food & Drink Awards Cookery Book of the Year 2015

    The Guild of Food Writer's (UK) Award Winner for Best First Book

    "Honey & Co.'s food--taking its cue from generations of dedicated home cooks--captures everything that is generous, hearty, and delicious in the Middle East."--Yotam Ottolenghi

    Itamar Srulovich & Sarit Packer's "Honey & Co.: The Cookbook" Kindle Edition $2.99US

    It's a well-received restaurant in Britain.

     

    "The Texas Food Bible: From Legendary Dishes to New Classics" Kindle Edition $1.99US

     

    "The New Wine Rules: A Genuinely Helpful Guide to Everything You Need to Know" Kindle Edition $1.99US

     

    The cookbooks that are a little more expensive:

     

    "Martha Stewart's Cooking School (Enhanced Edition): Lessons and Recipes for the Home Cook" Kindle Edition with Audio/Video) $4.99US

     

    Lidia Matticchio Bastianich's "Lidia's Commonsense Italian Cooking: 150 Delicious and Simple Recipes Anyone Can Master" Kindle Edition $5.99US
    Use the "Look Inside" feature to see the list of recipes.

    Lidia's cookbooks are rarely marked down in price which is why I am posting this cookbook.

     

    I am a US Prime member and the price you see may vary.

     

    Related, another Lidia book for a reasonable price.

     

    Lidia's Mastering the Art of Italian Cuisine: Everything You Need to Know to Be a Great Italian Cook 

    • Like 1
  14. One of Benton’s kids is a doctor, who I taught when he was a medical student around 10 years ago. Super nice, very bright young man. He missed fresh farm eggs so I traded a couple dozen (we had a bunch of chickens back then and always had a surplus) for some of his dad’s famous bacon. Wonderful stuff.

    • Like 8
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