scubadoo97

The stuffed grape leaves freeze well too. We make them by the hundreds and freeze them for big family holiday dinners.

Greased Lightning is a great degreaser. I buy it by the gallons. Use it to clean everything from the kitchen to the deck chairs and pool deck. It is not good to breath and is harsh on skin so use it with caution. I have switched to Simple Green in the kitchen more often because it claims to be non toxic. Simple Green was developed to clean the oil out of coffee drum roasters. It works well but not as good and the Greased Lightning. With GL you just spray on and immediately rinse off. The grease is gone. Usually the biggest grease problem I deal with in the kitchen is clean up around the rangetop and cleaning my ventilation hood. I tear down the hood often like once a week and give it a good cleaning. I guess I'm too impatient to use the dishwasher to clean the baffles and I want to get up inside it to clean all the surfaces I can reach.

Same here except the rum is usually paired with a fine cigar

ChefCrash here is the recipe for my lahm b'ajeen filling. 2 lbs ground meat 2 med onions chopped fine 8 oz can crushed tomatoes 1 tsp baharat spice mix- Syrian based so has cinnamon and allspice 4 hand fulls of lemon juice. Got to love that measurement from my G'mother 6 oz tomato paste 1 tsp salt 1 tbs cumin chopped parsley toasted pine nuts optional I have also played with the recipe at times and used ketchup and diced plum tomatoes, seeds removed instead of the tomato paste and canned tomatoes and added pomegranate syrup fpr a sweet/sour note. I have used sumac in the mix as well to replace some of the lemon juice.

ChefCrash, Love the recipe for the mini lahm b'ajeen, zaatar pies and the spinach pies. Most interested in the dough. Those look absolutely gorgeous

Don't know when they were first introduced by my kids have become chicken finger connesseurs and have sampled them up and down both coasts of Florida and elsewhere. This was the only thing they would order when we took them out. I have to admit that there were times their order of chicken fingers was better than other menu items I've sampled at some restaurants. What's not to like about fried chicken tenders?

This is happening to all sorts of products from candy bars to bags of coffee. People look at total price not price per lb or oz. Deceptive yes, but just another part of business. In all cases buyer beware.

They are sweet yet earthy in taste. The tops can be used just as you would other greens. Do as Randi suggested and cook with the peel on. The peel very easily after they are cooked. If you want to avoid any stained hands wear gloves when handling. The beets will be soft but with good texture when done but don't over cook them to mush. They pair nicely with a little acidity and sweetness like citrus. I most often let them cool and cut them up and use them in salads.

This is great. Thanks Douglas You made note that the Reynold's bags for the Handy Vac were okay for cooking in. Reynolds says not to cook in them. I've been tempted but haven't done it yet. I did buy some oven roasting bags that I could use to double bag in the Handy Vac ones. Am I being too cautious?

It's good from a business model to get everyone up to the same standards in a large franchised company. That is what franchising is all about. Standardization. For those that hope for more meaningful changes. As long as the buying public uses Starbucks as the gold standard of higher end coffee then there will not be any significant changes in their coffee/drink quality.

Crushed oriental rice crackers made a great crust on ahi tuna.

The vents in a wall oven can easily be seen in this picture. Although not shown on may of the double ovens on this site the vents are there. When I had a range I would use the vent under the back burner to keep things warm if I had the oven going. http://www.ajmadison.com/cgi-bin/ajmadison/FEB24S2A.html

My brother does this too. He also likes to mush all his food together and only eats ice cream after he stirs it to a near soup like consistency. We are talking about an adult here. Drives me nuts

I can't decide between the 240 and the 270... ← I have a 240mm Tojiro DP gyuto. Love the knife. Not the best Japanese knife out there but best bang for the buck. Plenty big for me even with a pinch grip. I was use to a 8" german chef knife so the Tojiro seems quite big. I also have a Tojiro 270mm Sujihiki for slicing large cut of meat like a brisket.

Here is a link you may want to look at http://www.asianonlinerecipes.com/cooking_...fabrication.php

My SIL will not eat any kind of meatball. Hamburger, no problem. Go figure

I have been really enjoying this blog. It is bring back recent memories from our trip to Israel this past summer. The shuk pictures are incredible. I wish I had more time to walk through the food markets in Israel. We did a little and shopped for things like nuts, seed, fruit and ka'ak. Things we could eat on the road. It was frustrating walking past all the produce, cheese, meat and fish and not be able to buy anything to cook. Thanks for sharing a little slice of your life with us. Shabbat Shalom to you are your family

ChefCrash, love the pictures. Spatchcocking a chicken is my favorite way to prepare a whole bird. My most common method of cooking is to do it on the grill on indirect heat with a lot of wood to on the flame side to give it some smoke. Usually the bird is cooking at around 275 for about 2hrs. One trick I like to add to the method is to cut a slit in the skin that hangs off the thigh and tuck the leg bone in to the hole. It keeps the legs from flopping around when turning.

One must remember that in Rhulman's blog he mentions hauling out the big green can. So take it for what it's worth. perc coffee would not be bad if it brewed for 3-4 min tops and then was poured into a carafe. Some people associate bitter with strong coffee and strong coffee with good.

I totally agree. I don't want to see a service charge for what is considered the normal price of doing business. If you want to pay for your employee's health care in full or in part, I commend you but factor it into the price of the food as you would other business expenses. I should not be made to feel in anyway responsible for paying the restaurant's employee benefits. If the employer needs to raise prices for any reason that is their prerogative. Some of us don't have that option. How would you feel if other business started doing this. 5% employee benefit surcharge at Macys or at your doctors office. And your doctors office has a very real problem with fees set by the government and insurance companies that are in many cases going down while malpractice insurance goings up to astronomical prices. I don't think I would hear comments like "that was socially conscious or responsible". Sure I'll help pay for the employee's health care or what ever. People would be bitching up a storm

That's what I've done with it.

that's what we have. I use the sprayer every day. No problems so far

I have a nice block of sushi grade frozen tuna that is destine to be made into a tartare or poke this evening for dinner. The wife and I are both working late so this will be an easy last minute dish that looks great and always taste good. I will lean heavily into the Asian flavors for this.

BeJam, I know for a fact I've seen a pictorial on how to change the grind setting on the Solis. Not sure if it was on coffeegeek or at the Baratza site. I just checked the Baratza site and it's not there. Check coffeegeek.com. I know this has been discussed before and I know there are pictorials floating around somewhere that shows how to recalibrate the grind settings to get a finer or coarser grind.

Yes I would quess that it's the same or similar to Nile perch. There are quite a few species. I happen to just see Darwin's Nightmare on Sundance the other day. All that fish and the locals have nothing to eat. It was heartbreaking to watch