scubadoo97

Chris, really enjoyed the Miami show. From the fresh fish at Garcia's to the Cuban sandwich (we say was invented in Ybor City) the food looked amazing. I hope there will be more of the Hungry Detective.

I have filtered through a paper coffee filter but found an item that worked even better. The paper coffee filter was too slow. I had this strainer like those non disposable coffee filters that was used to strain yogurt. More of a fine mesh. Works great. I store in a jar in the cabinet. My mom always had a jar in the fridge. I have heard that off smells from seafood can be dealt with by frying some potatoes prior to storing. The potatoes are suppose to absorb the odors. I did some squid last month and have fried other things in the same oil without any off flavors. Squid cooks so fast. Your nose will tell you if it's too smelly from previous foods or if it's rancid. You can't hide rancid

I made this one a while back. This is the paste and then you mix it with tomatoes, onions and garlic which has been pureed Ingredients 10 dried ancho chiles 6 dried pasilla negro (or negro) chiles 4 dried guajillo or mulato chiles 6 T black raisins 1/2 cup almonds 6 T raw sesame seeds 1/4 cup raw pumpkin seeds 1 slice French bread 1 corn tortilla One 3-inch piece of Mexican Canela (soft-bark cinnamon) OR 1 1/2 t ground cinnamon 6 whole cloves 1 t black peppercorns 1 1/2 t dried oregano 1 round of Ibarra Mexican Chocolate (3.1 oz.) Taken from The Mole page I would decrease of eliminate the cloves. Just a taste I'm not use to in mole' Most of these chilies are easy to find in a Mexican market. I can actually find all of these at most of my local big box grocery stores.

Still trying to figure out why they didn't just put those ostrich eggs on the fire and eat roasted egg instead of having to pick the sand and embers off that cow patty looking thing. No pan needed to improve on their technique. I guess that says a lot about tradition.

You can use it in a meat sauce where you would typically drain off the fat anyway.

Watched the Youtube clip. Please, this is a poor attempt at video editing. Anyone here with a DVR or TIVO can review frame by frame to disprove it. Didn't happen

sounds reasonable to me. I like the flexible fillet knife when filleting or removing skin but a thicker knife would be welcomed when it comes to cutting through bone as in removing the head.

If you watch even a few cooking shows you should be be very well versed on cutting an onion. Seems they walk you through the procedure on almost every show.

Rebecca, so glad to see you posting. Prayers and best wishes to you and your family. Tonights menu will be Asian BBQ chicken Napa cabbage salad with, ramen noodles, almonds and sesame seeds topping string beans and garlic

My dad would be 81 if he were still alive but he did very little if any cooking that I can remember. He did like salami and eggs but my mom cook it. I do remember him making his own breakfast on occasion. Toast with cheese in the toaster oven. I think that's as far as it got.

We had this in our cabinet at home as well. I guess that dates me too. As a kid the name always brought to mind some gross cherry fish drink. Actually taste quite nice. You could always order it online Cherry Heering I froogled it and got a few hits. The one above is in NJ.

I do this with chili powders. Make my own from dried ancho or pasilla, guajellos, cumin and oregano. For a hotter version I'll add moritas a small smoked and dried red jalapeno. In Mexico these are sometimes called chipotle but the real chipotle is a dried smoked green jalapeno. By making my own chili powder I don't have to go searching for all the ingredients when I just want a tsp or so. Way fresher and tastier than anything preground in the stores.

Octaveman knows his knives and his post is excellent advise. You might want to throw in a serrated knife for things like bread

Great blog so far Bruce. Your food photos are always fantastic and get me in the mood for more Thai and Vietnamese food. Wonderful to see your kids are involved in the kitchen.

I have a bunch of knives some that I found on the cheap on sale as open stock that needed some clean up and sharpening/re-profiling. I have many in a drawer since I didn't want to put up a magnetic strip in my tile back splash and my wife always feels there is too much stuff on the counters. I use plastic page binders. Very inexpensive solution that has worked very well. You can get these at the office supply store They can be cut to size up to 11 inches and offer a low tech inexpensive way to protect knives that are in a drawer

Yes I love them as well. I used 4 pounds of onions and caramelized them to serve on top. 1/3 of them went into the rice during cooking. I actually used the oil that I drained off the onions to fry my rice prior to adding the lentils and their liquid to make the rice. The onion oil is full of the caramelized flavor and a pitty to not use it.

Tonight the crowd will be over and I have planned a Greek/Mediteranian meal Menu to included, Moussaka, homemade gyros, spinach pie, lentils and rice with carmelized onions and Greek salad. and Ouzo for the brave ones. Still need to get the place cleaned up and get the food in the ovens to warm up. Shabbat Shalom everyone.

Here is a thread on electric meat grinders. I have used the attachment to my KA and it works well but was looking for something more substantial that would produce less heat. I opted for the Tasin TS 108. Works very well. I just used it to grind beef and lamb for moussaka and home made gyros. edited due to link already posted above.

While making stove top popcorn, toss some sugar into the hot oil and corn before covering. Salt when done and toss.

Here is the new website http://www.greencoffee.coop/ and a spin off of the original coop http://www.greencoffeebuyingclub.com/index.php

I also recommend you read and re-read this primer. I got an EdgePro sharpening system and have no regrets. It's great.

Well I got my first taste of FAGE today. Publix grocery store still doesn't stock it but I found it at Fresh Market. This stuff is great. Party due to the fact that it is strained it has a wonderful fluffy texture and not very sour. I ended up snagging a couple of large containers of 0% and 2 small containers of 2%, which was all they had left. Only a 10 calorie difference between the two, per serving. I will make the trek weekly to pick this up until it shows up at my local grocery. It's that good.

Like greens, just don't make them often enough. I did collards recently for new years day. Cooked them with onion, celery and garlic. We don't eat pork so I used a few pieces of smoked turkey wing to bump up the flavor. Fresh greens are great. If I can find beets with the tops they always get cooked. Kale in soups is a nice way to use a green.

I did a dinner with a southern soul food theme a few weeks back. I was doing back eye peas and collards for new years and wanted to throw a few more dishes in the mix. On researching soul foods I was amazed to see the salmon croquettes show up time and time again. I opted not to make them since several of my guests were not fish eaters but I have to imagine it's a very cheap source of protein. The cans of salmon with the bones and skin are dirt cheap. I like to use it for a quick and cheap fish spread. Just takes too much time to clean it up but does taste good.

In response to Kiliki's original request for personal experiences with ranges vs cooktops I would add. I have always used a range but in our remodel project I opted for a rangetop and double wall ovens. I do miss the convenience of going from cook top to oven in one quick swoop but it's not so inconvenient to walk a few feet to place a hot pan in the oven. The oven height is better in the wall oven than in range oven so that is a positive for the wall oven. I have a 36" Viking rangetop. I never use all six burners at once but the added space just makes it easier to move things around when I have three pots all going at the same time. I think the most I've had was 4 burners going at any one time. The rangetop is the pro stainless look but with it you loose a drawer compared to a similar cooktop. As far as brands go I searched here and at gardenweb as well as asking anyone who had any experience. You will hear good and bad with all brands. I liked the Viking rangetop because all burners are equal in performance with no simmer plate needed. Thermador's simmer uses an on/off mode that clicks every minute and that would drive me up a wall. In retrospect I wish I had a Blue Star rangetop after hearing about how much more heat it produces compared to the Viking. So in the end you try to get the best you think will work for you and just know there are always trade offs.