MellaMella

Years later... but a small part King Arthur Flour's black cocoa mixed in with cocoa and sugar and pinches of chilli, cinammon, and cardamom are my go-to. A lot of sediment though - looking to resolve that brought me here.

In Europe it's more common to add live culture to butter, which gives it a lot more flavor. Kerrygold does; I've read that Plugra does not. The % butterfat a product must contain to be labeled 'butter' is also higher, so cheap supermarket butter in the UK, Ireland and Germany, at least, has at least 84% (and some have 86%) while in the US only 80% is required. There may be more to it - from the color it looks like it might not come from feed-lot cows. I assume (but don't know this) that the cows get more pasture feeding than ours tend to, becuase when I find local pasture-grazed butters they tend to look, taste and behave more like Kerrygold.

I still wrap sanswiches in it a few times per week. Great too for when I have to peel a ton of anything, for collecting the scraps, or if I'm using my kitchen for potting work, to gather the dirt and protect the counter. Funnels, occasionally, when I can'd find a clean-looking scrap of used paper. Eta: I wrap candy - caramel, sometimes chocolates - too, though that doesn't come up so often.

All right, I never thought of that. But I am loving this Finex. Was a Kickstarter supporter, so paid about half the going rate. I'll look into sanding an existing pan next time life is quiet enough.

When I had a gas range I used my Korean stone bowls often, and loved making a quick supper of rice and whatever toppings I could scrounge - topped with spicy sauce, anything made good dinner! My last few apartments have had smooth glass-top ranges, and becuase my dolsot bowls aren't flat on the bottom they're no good on these stoves. I miss my crispy rice! Does anyone know of a smooth-bottomed heavy ceramic-type bowl that would be appropriate for cooking directly on a glasstop range?

Speaking of boiling in various things... I find that the key is to dress the potatoes while they're still insanely hot, so they soak up the dressing. Torture on the fingers, but worth it.

Hey BB, We did it this past week with CO2 and ethanol, but realized after starting that isopropanol was what we should have used (iso gets thick and syrupy when cold, eth just bubbles off). It worked, but maybe I should clarify - because dry CO2 can be filthy, we never considered adding it directly to the dairy, but used a metal bowl to hold the dairy, a plastic bucket to hold the cold mixture and nested one inside the other. No carbonated cream for us! The consistency wasn't as gorgeous as with LN2, but we were working with what we had (it was a hot day; ice cream was required.) I've read on various blogs that it's easy to do LN2 at home in a regular stand mixer (also see tammylc and bmdaniel above), you just have to add a very slow stream (in which case, you're adding directly to the dairy; you also need to own a dewer, and LN2 sounds like it's easy to get at restaurant suppliers). I imagine adding it too quickly would cause the motor to seize.

I'm rather appreciative of being able to obtain food, at a store, without fear of bacterial or other contamination. I don't think I would appreciate the costs associated with each of us having to grow/produce our own sustenance (which might reduce the need for packaging, but would be hell on Industrialized Society) or the wastefulness associated with buying larger quantities.

I put anything and everything in the sink, but I also rub it down pretty often - Soft Scrub with Bleach or Barkeepers Friend and lots of hot, hot water - keeps it shiny Sometimes I just need a great big bowl, and it's the biggest bowl I've got.

We've bought them occasionally, and never had any trouble using one. The mechanic who owned the oil-change place we recently tried (on a Groupon) explained that he wasn't making any money on the deal, but that it might keep his guys a little busier during the slow times and he was hoping for some repeat business. He told us that Groupon charged him 50% of the face value of the coupon, but didn't mention any other costs or commissions.

Foods that should be fatty ...should be. Fat-free sour cream confounds me, as do fat-free ice cream and mayo. You shouldn't be able to call it mayo unless it contains egg yolks and oil. Don't get me started on turkey bacon. It might taste great! But it isn't bacon.

I'm with you, regarding pathogens. Unless I was getting it from a food supplier, I wouldn't trust it; there's always considerable and gross residue in whatever container I use CO2 in, and cells and bacteria survive immersion in the liquid phase of LN2 with no difficulty! Regarding the temp - CO2 is ~-110. You might also try salt water, like back in the day I don't know how much salt it would take to keep the water liquid, although I suppose it could be calculated if someone was bored... Maybe spritz the inner bowl with alcohol, if you have little squirters around - might get just a little wet layer?

We just did a side-by-side ice cream test using LN2 added straight into the cream mix versus a double-boiler method (I also work in a lab), and we've made little cold baths with CO2 for cooling other foods. I think the results are applicable to your question - the two ice cream batches progressed almost identically, except that the mix in the cold bath took a few minutes before it started to solidify, whereas the other started to harden immediately. The temp transfer will be more even if you use liquid, but there's no need to use denatured alcohol - ethanol works fine. Isopropanol, too (don't use methanol...). If you decide to go dry, smaller CO2 chunks will work better than big pieces chipped of a block. If you have those little jellybean-sized pellets, maybe you don't need the liquid. You could also use water, but 1) you'll get a huge plume of steam when you first add it as it will immediately melt a portion of the dry ice and 2) it will freeze solid within a minute, so get your empty bowl pushed into the steaming mass right away and make sure to add enough water the first time. Let us know what you do and how it goes!

I add ~1/4C buttermilk to meatloaf. Got the idea from meatballs, but for meatloaf I skip the bread and just mix it in...

Fish sauce. A few shakes add something that no one notices, but everyone likes. A mashed-up anchovy would do the same, but the bottled kind (nam pla) is easy. I add a tiny squeeze of lime juice to lots of things too (near the end of cooking). Not enough to taste the lime, but it picks things up.