weinoo

Actually, I think in the first case it’s more that it’s used with too heavy a hand too often. I appreciate proper salting, and also think that salting properly is one of the harder skills for a cook to learn. And of course use salt with a deft hand in all sweets.

Because you complained about having to clean the bottom of the Le C?

Some of the better socarrat I've ended up with... Often comes from cooking Japanese sushi rice in the donabe. Which is kinda annoying.

@Smithy - yes...La Tienda.

I buy these - and always keep a fresh supply of all 3 heat levels - runs about $20 a year.

I have a bottom drawer freezer - I don't know if that helps, but I do have it set to -3F...I still like to let the ice cream harden for a good 4 hours. The actual harm I can see letting the machine run longer once the mix has turned to ice cream is literally burning out the motor. This ice cream had some of the best texture of ice cream I've made - probably making only a pint helps the machine as well.

Do you cut them up?

I'd really like to try that White Cadillac, @Paul Bacino.

True, @JoNorvelleWalker - that would not be pleasant! I want to give a shout out to @paulraphael and his most excellent (albeit geeky) ice cream blog stuff. The book reviews pointed me to Dana Cree's Hello, My Name Is Ice Cream, a fine work for even a beginning student like me. I immediately borrowed it (via Libby) from my library, and it has been ordered for my bookshelf. Here's a gratuitous picture of the coffee ice cream (via Jeni) - the survivor of my ice cream mishap of a few days ago. Quite good.

The absorption rates are a little different for bomba vs. arborio. And if chorizo has no place in paella (according to traditionalists, though I always use it), imagine the neuroses when they hear soppressata! I love Jacques' videos, and have been playing around with making a bunch of the recipes shared via those videos. Some of them are pretty simplistic, such as the onion sandwich (a Beard favorite) and radish sandwich (a Pepin favorite), but if it helps people not to be scared of their kitchens, I'm all for it. @Norm Matthews - I thought he did show how he crisped the skin in one of the videos? In any event, I found this... Lately, I've been waiting until the last minute to decide what to make for dinner. There was a whole chicken in the fridge, but didn't want to roast it, so I decided to do Jacques' most recent video, where he made a sort of chicken stew with whole legs. He cuts the legs into 2 pieces, and removes the skin. I butchered the chicken, and used both legs, wings, and the chef's treat - the neck; removing the skin from the drumstick and thigh. I also boned out the breast for another meal, and had that skin as well - all the skin, salted, went into the CSO at 400℉, for about 25 minutes, while I worked on the stew... I cannot tell a lie; I gussied up the stew a little, and didn't use yams. Instead, I had a few farmer's market potatoes, and added 2 carrots, 2 ribs of celery, a leek, bay leaves and saffron, cause why not? And you know what... It was pretty darn good - and the crispy chicken skin garnish sent it over the top!

My ex-first wife (okay, my only ex-wife) was British. She had a strong love of mushy peas; talked about them constantly. Must've been Proustian. Fortunately, I could never find them in the grocery stores back in the day, back in San Jose.

Nice - I'm getting a pound of fairytales tomorrow in a delivery - I've heard they're good in Thai-style curries. And just last night, I did a sorta braise with tofu in oyster sauce - I had a bunch of lettuce that was on its way to wilting, so I shredded it and added it at the end of the braise - it was great!

For any number of reasons! 1. I was using one of those recently purchased OXO glass storage things. So that's wasted. 2. I gouged a nice hole in the wooden floor 3. I WASTED THE ICE CREAM! (though the amount I licked off the dasher and out of the Lello container led me to conclude it was tasty).

I use this stuff quite frequently, to make just that!

Well, when the treats are ice cream...

Or maybe another reason to dive in? all'Amatriciana. (I like ths pasta shape - it's called Genovesine, by Faella.) Alongside, carottes râpées and sautéed escarole.

I want to thank @paulraphael et al. for learning me the "draw" temperature of ice cream. Something I really never knew or if I knew, never thought about. Yesterday's ice cream experiments led me to stop the Lello when I first saw what looked like ice cream in the machine - this took place after a mere 11 minutes of spinning (I was only doing a pint). And It was already at a proper draw temperature, so I drew it. It appears that the Lello will make a pint of ice cream in well under 15 minutes. Of course, it was well-chilled (like 6 hours) from the fridge. And everything else was icy cold - I give the Lello about a 15 to 20 minute cool down. Interesting. You CAN teach an old dog new tricks.

Well, the whole experiment ended up as a bit of a shitshow, but not for normal shitshow reasons. First - the ice cream. We really liked the flavor of the ice creams (at least the coffee one we got to really taste - more later). But texturally, I just don't know. Sure - it has more of that commercial ice cream shop feel - chewier, not as quick to melt, or other issues that I'm unable to describe. Paul will be happy to know it really wasn't too sweet, though I could even dial back the sweeteners by a tablespoon or two w/o much problem, I think. There's so little cream cheese in the overall mixture as well - but it needed straining anyway - maybe I didn't whisk it enough. The coffee flavor came through nicely - I used an espresso roast, coarsely ground, and steeped it in the cream/milk/sugar/corn syrup mixture for 5 minutes before straining that. Vanilla was, well, vanilla-y. I wonder why she brings the mixture to another boil after adding the cornstarch slurry; cornstarch begins its thickening at lower than boiling point, and then can even start to thin out if stirred too much or overheated. I would be tempted to try again, with some slight mods to the recipe. But would they suck then - like if I only heated the milk to, say, 180 for a minute or so? Now - what happened that really was the shitshow part? I had the first batch (the vanilla) sitting pretty in its container in the freezer. When I opened the freezer to get the 2nd container out so I could transfer the ice cream from the Lello to the freezer, the container with the vanilla came sliding out of the freezer, smashed onto the wooden floor, and broke into like 50 pieces. Here was my just made vanilla ice cream, melting in a pool of broken glass, on my nice wooden floor. Who uses glass in a freezer?

Made two bases this morning, to spin later this afternoon. Jeni's Splendid Ice Cream's Black Coffee and Ugandan vanilla. Followed the recipes EXACTLY (though i don't have Ugandan vanilla beans). Okay, maybe NOT exactly - I did 1/2 recipe of each instead of a quart of each; this way, if they suck, I can just start over and not feel so bad about the waste. Quite interested to see how my first attempt at using both light corn syrup and cornstarch turns out. She boils the milk, cream, sugar, and corn syrup for 4 minutes before doing the cornstarch thing. Any idea why?

I went 4 bags - but I was hoping to see more info about the nuts also, @JoNorvelleWalker. More Thai stuff! Don't know how the dried is, but since I have trouble sourcing fresh galangal, I figured I'd give this a try. Now, as far as the next purchases are concerned... Staying off the computer after dinner, after wine, after other mind-altering substances; well, that might not be a bad idea.

For @liuzhou ! I often take delicious sweet corn off the cob, and sauté it in butter, with some scallions and chives thrown in. If it's good enough for Jacques, it's good enough for me. So, for dinner - crab cakes, corn sauté with yellow squash (sprinkled with parsley for extra goodness), tater tots.

Top and bottom of a frittata made with 2 varieties of leftover pasta; one was pesto and potatoes, the other tomatoes and basil. This is a preferred method (for me) of frittata, as opposed to my sometimes thicker, custardier one.

A few years ago, I helped prep for the Nordic food festival known as North. My job was shucking many Maine diver scallops. Many. You can just see, in the lower left-hand corner, some of the many little fishies that came out of those scallop shells. Who knew?

So you're not making tabbouleh any time soon? It''s in my weekly herb delivery without fail, and I use it not to tart up my otherwise delicious dishes, but to add a certain slight punch to same. Spanish smoked paprika is a wonderful spice - and it comes in 3 heat levels. Great for sprinkling on corn, or potatoes, or... Citrus in the form of fresh lemon or lime juice enlivens many things. And whole spices, rather than ground, when possible. I toast all whole spices and then grind them in a small mortar/pestle, for dishes as they are needed. Black peppercorns ( a mix) are kept in a grinder, but I will toast them for a cacio e pepe or something similar, when pepper is the main spice.

Okay, taking one (or two) for the team: Vanilla Products Grade As were $2.20 a piece. The Villa Vainilla are Mexican vanilla beans from Papantla, and were $4 each. When I opened the outer package with the pouch of Vanilla Products' beans in it, the aroma was amazing. The other don't smell through their packaging, which is a sealed glass tube.