Mjx

Yep, still listening, but I can't say that pureed eggplant ever struck me as having particularly cohesive properties, it's more... slithery. But I've never experimented with it, and there's only one way to find out, right? I love falafel (Doodad's suggestion), but am having difficulty wrapping my head around it paired with tomato sauce (no idea why; I've often eaten it with chopped tomatoes).

Do 'meat' balls have to be involved? Couldn't you just add mushrooms instead, or something? Sometimes, substitutions just aren't worth it (I'm basing this conclusion on the combined experiences of growing up in a vegetarian – although not vegan – household, and trying to diet my body down to a skeletal state when I studied ballet). Growing up, much family-dinner hostility was generated by my mother's vegetarian 'meat' loaf (my Dad's 'You will eat the nut loaf, it's delicious.' v. my 'No.'). Perhaps if you're raised on this stuff you can appreciate it, but otherwise, honestly, the meaty flavour is the primary thing that meat loaf/balls has/have going for it/them; apart from that, you have a dampish, dense-ish clump of stuff that doesn't have the most appealing texture under the best of circumstances. And given that the binders/lighter bulking agents (e.g. eggs, cheese) traditionally used in vegetarian dishes of this sort are off the table in this case, you're pretty hamstrung. Of course, if you adore crazy-making challenges...

How about: 3. H&H bagels are fantastic/best in NYC and 4. NYC has fantastic water

Surely this is subjective, and depends on the sort of pizza you like.

This may be pushing more into urban legend than 'myth' territory, but I know a fair number of people (one swears he knows this first-hand) who swear that organized crime controls the dough used in virtually every pizza place in NYC. I'm sceptical, since surely, the quality from one place to the next would be a much more consistent, and also... I don't know, somehow, running a pizza dough racket doesn't sound like it would pay well enough to be worth the trouble. ETA, Damn. Sorry, that's not actually debunked, just somewhat implausible. I think?

Lovely, though it's making me mildly homesick. What recipe did you end up going with, in the end?

Does the fruit you use have to be pineapple? Pineapple contains enzymes of its own that break down proteins, which might interfere with the effectiveness of your 'glue' (at least if it's protein-based, e.g. an enzyme like transglutaminase), although it might be fine with a polysaccharide hydrocolloid, like the ones discussed in the link Tri2Cook mentions upthread.

This isn't meant to sound nitpicking, but is the rind from a very mature cheese, or have you just held on to the rind for quite a while? If the latter, using the entire amount suggested would be fine. If the former, it would be fine too, if you're okay with the flavour completely dominating the dish (and why not?). But dominate it will: We have a piece of parmigano that is about 4 years old, and while it is perfectly sound, even a few small shavings have a remarkably big presence. This isn't a euphemism for it smelling bad, but it is as though the flavour of an entire cheese is concentrated into a piece the size of a fist.

This may sound strange, but the youtube stuff in Italian seems to often include yogurt when creating the mass you begin with, when ('cagliata', no idea what the heck it's called in English). Have you come across this?

This stuff is comfort food, so make it taste the way you want it to. My own tastes run to the more minimalist end of the spectrum, because that's what I grew up with, but I have to agree with Wholemeal Crank, the parmigiano rind should be fine. And don't lose track of the fact that the flavours of the beans and the pasta provide a background for the seasonings, so I wouldn't worry about their being overwhelmed (although if the rind is from a really seasoned cheese, you might want to scale back the amount you use, or it will take over the whole show). The only crucial thing with pasta e fagioli is that all the flavours should come together really seamlessly (the reason it's often even better warmed up than freshly made).

+1 for animal parts alone in my stock. I only use a mirepoix in certain kinds or robust sauces (e.g. ragùs) where I actually want the substance of the vegetables, not just the flavour (which gets pretty dull if it's cooked for long). At least these days, you can find celery in all these countries, and the Scandinavian ones, it isn't even a novelty (it may still be rare in small towns, but I'd be surprised). Maybe a recent thing?

I often add citric acid to mixed drinks (can't really call my random experiments 'cocktails'), and I particularly like the way it balances out sweeter combinations of ingredients, where added citrus might be out of place (e.g. when I want another fruit flavour to remain dominant). Alcohol seems to slow the rate at which citric acid dissolves, which I like, since you get these little sparks of intense sourness. Can't you get little bags of citric acid in supermarkets, or is that just an EU thing?

Is that a new accessory for the Gaggenau steam oven or are you thinking of the stone (plus extra heating element) they sell for their regular convection oven? The interior of the steam oven is much smaller than the regular ovens, so it couldn't be used in the steam oven. (nor does the steam oven have the port for the extra heating element that works with their baking stone and roaster accessory). Yes, the stone for their regular oven. When we spoke with a rep., he said that the effect of a stone in a steam oven was found to be too insignificant to warrant their making a version for the steam units (I'm hypothesising that this has something to do with the overall lower temperature when the oven is full of steam.).

I've seen rennet at Kalustyan's (back in December).

No, just dyed green with nasty chemicals. Same for this one: Number-one-son is into badminton, so he wants a badminton-cake to take to school. Could have made a cake-shuttle cock, but that is way to involved for a weekday I'm pretty certain that the 'pistachio' flavoured marzipan is not naturally that colour! Regardless, the cakes look great, I'm sure they were hits.

Eh... inhaling the 184.3 °C/363.7 °F vapour is kind of painful, though. I personally don't notice much difference among salts, although some certainly are prettier, and dissolve better; I'm perfectly willing to accept the possiblity that some may have flavour nuances (from traces of various things) that I simply don't pick up, however.

There's also Gaggenau's own stone, but it's not cheap, and I have some doubts about it (although again, I wouldn't say no to a free one).

Ever read Beard On Food? He recommends using fingers as the primary mixing tools to "get the feel" of whatever you're mixing, be it a dressed salad or whisked egg mixture for an omlette! What really bugs me is that whenever I see images of TV chefs, their nails are almost invariably too long. If you work with food, it's the same as working in a health profession, you take the nails down to the finger tip, so you have a far better shot of getting your hands really clean. It isn't even hard to do: I've more or less constantly kept my own nails in this state ever since I first became an LMT; you just file them a bit every night, which keeps them short without the risk of opening even the top layer of skin. And long nails on people who prepare food? URGH.

Hmm. I thought capsaicin was oil-soluble: My link. . . . . You're absolutely right, it is: 'Capsaicin is insoluble in cold water, but freely soluble in alcohol and vegetable oils.' (Fire and Spice: The molecular basis for flavor). And oil can't coat your mouth, for the same reason that milk can't coat your stomach: fats sit on water, and your mucous membranes are constantly secreting water-based fluids).

The... inscription does lack the clarity of the one on your cake, which is remarkably pretty, by the way (I somehow managed to miss it, previously). Is that pistachio-flavoured marzipan? Love the little red cubes! How did the strawberry and port mesh with the peanut butter and caramel pairing?

Yesterday's birthday cake: classic devil's food cake layers and chocolate cream frosting (both from The Best Recipe), ginger preserve filling. The layers and frosting included black pepper, cloves, smoked salt, and vanilla bean to round out the chocolate flavour, and the Mackay's spiced ginger preserves were brightened with a bit of citric acid (I moistened the two layers with a bit of Borghetti before filling and icing). (The ridiculously illegible mysterious inscription on the cake is my boyfriend's name... no, neither of us is a tween girl, why do you ask? )

In the spirit of treating this like an important subject that is worthy of restrained and respectful debate, would anyone care to cite (or present a relatively brief, contextualized quotation from) an article addressing this topic, based on solidly constructed and reviewed research, and published in a widely respected journal?

I'm wondering whether this is a strictly NA phenomenon. I know I can find at least one form of wine vinegar in pretty much any local supermarket (and I'm not in Copenhagen, either), and I've noticed it being as much in evidence as ever in Italy. Anyone outside of North America notice a reduced availability of wine vinegar?

Despite their use of metric measures (industry standard, I believe) and the day-month-year date system (increasingly used in the US, too), the prices are in unqualified $$$s, so that's proabably UD dollars... which suggests thay're US-based. But there's no real information on their site regarding who they are or where they're located, which I find odd.

I have two small pheasants (455g and 495g, or about a pound each; they're skinned and frozen) that I'm planning on browning, then braising (at 120C/250F) for 45 minutes, the length of time sheepish mentions using for pheasant halves. Unless... anyone have other recommendations for braising small whole pheasants?