scubadoo97

My heart sank for Carla the moment Casey took the lead and Carla said okay. I knew it was a big mistake and she was out of the running. I was rooting for Carla near the end. She was someone I had very little confidence in at the beginning but she did show good classical technique and produced some solid winners. Like the tortoise she came from behind and was passing the competition. Life lesson for sure. Last season had some real talent. This season was very ho-hum. Hope for better in the future.

wow, I am very impressed, those kibbeh look professional. I find that fried kibbeh are more difficult to make than the stewed ones, its a matter of taste. Do you use ground lamb or beef in the shell? The fried kibbeh is usually attributed to the Syrians or Lebanese but they also have stewed versions as I found out from the book Aromas of Aleppo (Poopa dweck) ← Melamed, for the fried kibbeh I use a recipe like the one in Aromas of Aleppo. I am a Syrian Jew as is Poopa Dweck. As far as I can tell from multiple Syrian Jewish cookbooks and my own family's recipes we don't use meat in the shell of the fried kibbeh. The shell is bulgur and flour. As such these will not stand up to liquid The soup kibbeh, i.e. kibbeh hamda are made with very lean meat, ground 3 times and ground rice, I use cream of rice, for the shell. I just haven't had enough experience with the texture of this shell and find that they crack up on me when trying to fill them. I guess I always strive for a very thin shell like my Grandmother made. Same with the fried. The thinner the better. For what ever reason we didn't use lamb for kibbeh, always beef. Maybe a availability issue in the south were I live. The only time we use matza meal in kibbeh is on Passover. Your photos have given me the bug to make some kibbeh/kubba. Yours look awesome.

I make the fried kibbeh from time to time. From my last attempt I am less skilled at soup kibbeh but will keep trying

Thanks for the info. Next time I'm at Cabela's I'll have to check it out in person. Looks like the rig pictured at the bottom of the page should work as a cold smoking setup too, without any worry about too much heat or having to add ice. http://foodartisan.net/making_sausage/cold_smoking.php ← Easier than that is the tin can cold smoke generator. Take a 16 oz can and open the top but leave a hinge. I now drill a hole near the bottom of the can to insert a soldering iron. Heat the can screaming hot to burn off any coatings on the metal. Now you have a cold smoke generator. Fill with chips or pellets and insert the soldering iron. In the Masterbuilt I place a couple of frozen foam packs to help keep the temperature down as low as I can. Here in Florida the ambient temperature can be near 80-90* or more plus the minimal heat from the soldering iron and smoldering chips, added to the well insulated smoker and temps can climb to over 100*. The ice packs really help keep it in check. The set up you listed above will certainly work, the can is just very easy and effective.

I use them is soups or stews. I also toast and blend with other dry chilies to make my own chili powder

The Masterbuilt is pretty effecient with wood. I use chunks that I split down so they fit in the delivery chute better. I can get about 2 hrs of smoke from a few chunks before having to reload. I don't want bellowing smoke anyway. Just thin blue smoke. You will first get a lot of smoke once they chunks start smoking good then it settles down.

Wow, all these great breakfast pictures. Yummm I have been making Nova style "lox" more often over the last few months. Just so dang easy to do. This has been my typical breakfast this week

Boy has Carla grown on me. From early on I had doubts she would make it far but like the tortoise she imitated, LOL that was hilarious, she has pulled away to the front. Go Carla Go. I was sad to see Fabio sent home. He was tremendously entertaining during this entire season. Wish his food was better. He has had some real winners but a lot of duds Was glad to see Hosea out beat Stefan with his gumbo. Disappointed in the constant fixation Hosea has with Stefan. Just concentrate on making yours the best will get you a lot further. Of course there is a lot of editing that plays this pissing contest up. Stefan is IMO one of the most talented but he is cocky and sometimes indifferent. While he's out for a smoke he better watch out for Carla I was glad that Jeff won the chance to continue to compete. I had my doubts that he would stay in the game considering he had to win by a larger margin. All in All an interesting twist on the episode and may the best chef win

I use a Viking 36 inch 6 burner rangetop. No real problems to date after 3 yrs of service. Occasional ignition problems of prolonged clicking but the burners light right up. This is not a constant problem and is worse after cleaning so moisture is an issue. The good part of this rangetop is that all burners are equal in BTUs. Max high 15,000 BTU, low setting 1000 and "varisimmer" as low as you can turn it down without it going out. It is paired with a 42" over sized hood with 600 cfm motor.

I'm all for turning lemons into lemonade You can either freezer the meat and try to recoup some of the loss or do some type of PR with free food to promote your business. You will get more return on your investment with this type of advertising than trying to resell the food. I wouldn't waste much time trying to go after this scammer. You already lost time and $. Move on. You've gained knowledge from the experience which has value as well.

I found some nice looking frozen conch in the freezer case of our local meat market. So for V'day we are having scallop and conch salad followed by cracked conch and for dessert, chocolate infused bread pudding.

My local meat market had it in their freezer case. I bought some and was also looking for some personal advise. I'm looking at possible pounding some and using it for cracked conch and conch salad with the rest. I'll have to test a small sample for texture and flavor to decide what would work best. Like squid you would have to cook it quickly or for a long time. In between it will be like rubber. You could also grind some in a meat grinder for cowder or fritters. That would tenderize it for sure.

I always wonder if somethings are staged. This and the fridge breaking down on the Christmas show and no one went home. Just seems too set up.

Fair enough

I was a little confused on this point as well. A cooked piece of fish is cook all the way through. Not medium or medium rare. Over done is past the point of being cook all the way through to where there the fish is dry and overly firm.

I think the fire premise is throwing people off course. It is not so much what you value like an heirloom pot, knife or cookbook but the fact that some people need certain pots or pans to feel complete in their kitchen task and some people need a certain knife. Seems there are not a lot of people in the middle here at egullet. People seem to fall on one side or the other. I've seen very good home cooks use knives that were dull and ill suited for the job but they move on like it's nothing and turn out some very tasty food. As long as they have that special roasting pan all is well. I feel very inadequate cooking in someone else's home using a plastic cutting board and a dull utility knife.

I think Chad Ward made the statement in his book that there are knife cooks and pot cooks. Forget about the fire. I'm a knife cook. I don't own All Clad cookware and find my current selection meets my needs well. For boiling water any big old pot will do. For steaks and burgurs a generic cast iron will work fine. I must have the right knife for the job and it must be razor sharp. I inspect my edges before sheathing and storing. I sharpen often. No question what I am. A knife nut.

I said as much last night when they axed her. Leah is so typical of what I've experenced with the work ethics of todays *youth. I would not want her in my business. Her lack of enthusiasim or interest has been wearing on me for a while. I was really hoping she would have gone. At least Jamie knew what she did wrong. Leah had no clue. Discaimer: *Not all youths as I'm sure there are exceptions.

Wow! All these pictures are better than looking at a Gourmet magazine. Outstanding job everyone. Tonight I made arroz con pollo with black beans and platanos maduro

Alex, so far I'm pretty happy with the Masterbuilt Electric Smokehouse. Uses wood very conservatively, is easy to use and well insulated. The digital display makes it very user friendly. The only negative feedback I seen on this smoker is that after a while the wires that connect to the heating element can corrode and fail. If this happens you can replace the stock wires with some heavy duty high heat wiring once you get into the back of the unit. I have read of a few people that have had this problem. Some sooner than others. This is certainly a design flaw that should be recognized by Masterbuilt by now yet I don't think they have addressed the problem. My cold smoke generator works well but I did run into a problem when using it with the MES. The MES is so well insulated that I got a significant temperature rise when using the MES as a smoke box with the cold smoke generator set at the bottom. I melted my first batch of cheese. Live and learn. Next time I will add a tray of ice and monitor well. The cookshack uses a cold smoke baffle which an insulated tray that you use in the smoker and set a tray of ice on top of it when cold smoking. The cold smoke generator is made from a canned vegetable can. Just cut the top so it's hindged and cut a hole in the top of the lid. I have seen others cut a hole in the side of the can near the bottom instead. Either way fill the can with wood chips or pellets and insert a soldering iron in the hole. I would advise heating the can to the point that any coatings are burnt off before using with food. I stuck mine on my gas range with the hood on and it put off quite a bit of foul smoke until the coatings were burnt off. You could use this generator in your grill or use a cardboard box as a smoke box just as easily. Again the MES will work as a cood smoke box but you do need to make sure that the temperatures don't go above your target range. The other day I cooked salmon two ways. Hot smoked and cold smoked. While part of the salmon was in the smoker I set a rack on a couple of bricks over the vent hole in the top of the MES and placed the brined salmon to be cold smoked on top of the rack. A disposable foil pan was inverted on top of the salmon to trap the smoke coming from the smoker. I didn't put the salmon directly over the vent as the air coming from the smoker was a little too warm. Worked well. Both salmons took 2 hours. The hot smoked salmon we ate that night and the cold smoked salmon we ate through the week for breakfast.

I made a CSA vegetable soup. I had some dried cannellini beans that I cooked in the pressure cooker. From there I decided to do a soup even though temperatures were near 80 today. Cold fronts coming though. The soup consisted of diced onions, carrots, celery, a couple of plum tomatoes, white turnips and their greens, radishes, the cannellinis and their liquid, chicken stock, a little pancheta and garlic.

I wonder what the differences are in our technique. It is the opposite results for me. The stock is extremely clear and no hint of gluey.

One method I've used a few times recently is to mix up some wasabi powder to form a paste and then mix it with mayo. Slather up a block of ahi and roll in panko crumbs. Sear ligtly to just get some color on the panko on all sides with no more than an 1/8"-1/4" cooked crust and a raw center. I cooked a little too much on this one but it was still good.

I don't run across feet but save backs, necks, wing tips, hearts and gizzards when breaking down or spatchcocking chickens. Doesn't take long to have bags and bags in the freezer.

Bruce- Never tire of your food pics. Always amazing to look at and I'm sure are as tasty as they look.