BadRabbit

I was picking out some heirloom tomato plants yesterday and was surprised at all the new varieties available locally. I ended up buying 2 Pruden's Purples, a Mr. Stripey, and some Sweet Red 100s. I have no experience with any of these but thought I'd branch out and try some new ones this year. I usually buy Brandywines and I love Purple Cherokees because of their slightly smokey flavor but I haven't seen them yet this year. What are your favorites? Any suggestions on some of the lesser known varieties?

I bought some Bamboo rice recently because I liked the color and thought it would look nice with something I was making. I went in another direction at the last minute and have to date still never done anything with it. What would you use it for? Does it have a unique taste or is it just used for color?

My favorite for these is Charles Phan's Carmelized Chicken. I had it once at the Slanted Door and have made it once a month for three years since. Carmelized Black Pepper Chicken I always leave the water out of this recipe because it makes the sauce too thin. I also substitute 3/4 cups Muscovado sugar for the 1/2 cup of dark brown because the flavor is much more intense. We love cilantro in my house so we replace 4 sprigs with a big handful.

You misunderstand me. I live in the country and these eggs come from a lady who literally has the chickens walking around in her yard and a henhouse out back. She is a sweet old lady but she probably thinks Salmonella is a fish.

If it's not likely to have an effect on the product, I will probably just do it anyway. The eggs I'm using are what we refer to as "Yard Eggs" so their incidence of salmonella is likely higher that commercially produced eggs (or at least the incidence levels are more unknown). What temperature and time should I use to pasteurize?

I am not sure the question about pasteurization was answered. I have a sous vide rig and can easily pasteurize my own eggs but don't want to lose the quality of the mayonnaise if it won't improve shelf life. Will it improve shelf life or just the safety of the sauce?

When making homemade Mayo and other sauces, will using pasteurized eggs extend the shelf life? Will certain oils make the sauce last longer? Are there commonly available additives (besides salt obviously) that might extend the life? What about bernaise/hollandaise type sauces? Is there any way to make them more durable?

That chart looks a lot like the one from Shirley Corriher's Cookwise. Her section on flours and protein content helped me when I started baking because I had always thought all AP was the same. Does anyone know where typical Mexican flour lands on the protein scale?

I live in Alabama and we eat about 3 lbs/week in my household. I have friends in the shrimping industry and they are scared to death that this may be the end. The shrimp will eventually come back but all the shrimpers may be long since broke at that point. I also eat a good bit of gulf grouper and scamp (the finest of all fish in my opinion). The supply of those is dodgy as it is. I can't imagine what kind of prices those fish will go to. I imagine we're going to be looking at north of Chilean Sea Bass prices before this thing is over.

"On your back" Translation: "I am walking behind you so please do not turn around and accidentally stab/burn me with that knife/hot pan." Also: "I am walking behind you with something hot so if you don't want to get the sh!t burned out of you, refrain from backing up or turning around until I've passed."

Lysander's pork rub is really fantastic. I can only find it at Fresh Market but I'm sure it is readily available online.

Your blog is quickly becoming one of my favorites. I've already built your circulator and really enjoy your interesting forays into high-tech cookery.

I don't work in restaurants anymore but I have an aversion to avocados, artichokes (taste like cabbage grown in sewage), and any non-zucchini squash. Basically the first two meant that anytime we had a "California style" dish on the menu, I was sure to hate it. I had to have someone else on the line taste anything with artichokes in it because I hate them so much it interfered with my ability to taste the salt levels in the sauce. The late 90s were difficult because the deep south got artichoke crazy and I was disgusted by about 1/4 or our nightly specials. None of those things would ever have been on the menu it it had been my restaurant. That said, I see no reason why any dislikes would make someone ineligle for the profession. Given a large enough market, one could even turn their dislikes into an asset. I have a chef friend who does not like cheese in any form. Because of this he produced very few dishes that contain dairy. So, in addition to his mainstream marketing, he marketed to lactose-intolerants with very targeted advertising campaigns. He was very successful for many years before he retired.

Over the last few weeks I've engaged in a number or build it yourself cookng projects. I've built Seattle Food Geek's Immersion Circulator and Alton Brown's Flower Pot smoker. The IC works flawlessly and I'm thinking of changing the design a little to make it more flexible to use with other devices. The flower pot smoker I am still trying to fine tune. It takes a long time to heat up and it won't reach much above 225F. IT also has some hot spots which seem to cook with direct heat instead of the ambient heat cooking you want with a smoker. I need to find a grate that will sit higher in the pot to fix the heat problem and maybe find a smaller lid to increase the heating efficiency (I'm currently using an azalea pot as the lid). Has anyone else had any luck with the smoker? Any other tips? I've really enjoyed building these items. Are there any other DIY projects I should try? edit: TYPOS always TYPOS

I've always thought that the delay was because cayenne is much more likely to be in powdered form while jalapeno is more likely to be used fresh or pickled.

My favorite for pork chops is Bourdain's recipe from Les Halles. Les Halles Cookbook I like to use thick bone-in chops. You brown them on the stove top and then finish them in the oven. Then, it's essentially just a simple pan gravy with some dijon mustard and finely diced cornichons thrown in at the end. It is brilliant and very easy. I like to add a little thyme as well though I don't think it's in his recipe (I've made it so often I never even look at the original anymore).

I've never had this problem even when I forgot about rolls proofing and left them out for far too long at room temp. I use a layer of butter on the rolled out dough before I add the cinnamon and sugar. I also use dark brown instead of white sugar which, because of the molasses content, probably tends to migrate less.

Purely academically, can anyone tell me why you would add the salt into the water with the yeast and not with the dry ingredients? I thought salt retarded yeast development. It would seem you would want the yeast to get started multiplying before you added in the salt to the equation. I've seen this in recipes before and always wondered.

This was my original thought. I imagine that if they were truly unsafe the lawyers would have them put "Not for food storage" in giant letters on the label. I ended up borrowing something from a friend just to be safe.

For clarity, my options above assume I will have already done the overnight rise in the fridge the night before.

Polypropylene (PP) and Polyethylene (PE, polythene) are examples of "olefin polymers". Trust that's the bit that was confusing you! Actually, I was just wondering if that meant it's safe to use for food.

I called them before my original post and all they would tell me is that the container I was asking about was not from the food storage line (which I knew already). Update: I called again and this time got someone a bit more helpful. This person said that all Rubbermaid Roughneck products comply with food additive regulation for olefin polymers. Any idea what that means?

I have been making my mothers cinnamon rolls for the last few years but have never figured out a way to have them ready first thing in the morning (without getting up at the crack of dawn). The recipe is a basic yeast dough with a significant amount of sugar in it. It's usually mixed up and then left to rise overnight in the fridge. I then roll out the dough and roll it up with the cinnamon and sugar. I cut it and then place them in the pan for a second rise and then bake (with cold dough the 2nd rise and bake process is often 1 1/2-2 hours). My three options to eliminate some of the time in the morning are as follows: 1. Cut and place dough in pan the night before and place in fridge. Hopefully it will rise enough overnight and I can pop straight in the oven in the morning. 2. Follow usual steps night before and then par-bake at least until oven-spring is done. 3. Stop just shy of fully cooking the night before and just pop in to warm in the morning. What's my best option?

It's much more difficult to do multiple containers because it's hard to keep the hydration levels the same without treating them as seperate batches. I don't think a zip top would work because the dough needs to breathe and I'd prefer a container that can stand on its own. I may just have to drive into town. It will put me behind several hours tonight but it's better than worrying about safety. Edited: Spelling

I'm aging dough for a week or so. When fully risen, it is about 2 1/4 gallons. The problem I'm finding is that all of the food storage is either too tall and skinny for me to be able to really get my hands in to work in new ingredients or it is really shallow and flour gets everywhere when I try to work with it. I am sure there are plenty of food storage containers that would work but they are just not available at the 3 stores near my house. I am going to have to start the dough tonight so I can't drive into the city to go to the restaurant supply store.