Hassouni

It's the only podcast I listen to religiously. Dave is utterly hilarious and even if it's not something I care about it's super entertaining. Called in several times, you might hear me as "Chris from the Green Zone in DC"

I've been using a food grinder attachment on my Kitchenaid stand mixer for grinding falafel, and it's worked great every time, except this last time when for whatever reason, lots of shredded onion bits got stuck in the die, and clogged the whole apparatus. What would cause that? I did everything the same as usual (used drained soaked dried beans, threw in chopped onion, garlic, and fresh herbs, all into the grinder)

I've used a Blendtec with great results, and my chef friend uses a Robot-Coupe. 30kg is a lot though. Maybe check these out? https://www.spinninggrillers.com/hummus-blender/

Use natural hardwood charcoal, it burns very hot and fast, and does work really well. It's not an every day thing unless you're cooking outdoors every day.

To all owners/managers, how did you get your restaurant equipment? Everything has to be delivered and the cheapest prices for things are found online, but in a lot of cases they won't deliver inside the building, even for a fee, and do curbside dropoff instead. They're telling me to hire a moving company to get the stuff inside, which I find absurd. What have you done?

Everything except the Dillon and La Favorite were bought in the last week, along with Paranubes Oaxacan cane juice rum (54%, dirty AF in the best way possible) and Two James Doctor Bird Jamaican rum (Worthy Park, good, 50% ABV). Can you tell I'm doing research for 'ti punch?

I thought the whole point of long-cured hams was that they don't need refrigeration?

And what if I don't have a curing chamber?

So do you keep it hanging? Do you have a Spanish style ham stand for carving?

Because they spoil or because you eat them quickly?

On that note, for those who've ordered a whole ham - does anybody eat it "European" style (i.e. Serrano, Prosciutto-style slices) as Dave Arnold recommends and I've followed suit? If so, about how long does it last you, and how do you store it?

For those that haven't read it, Dave Arnold's treatise on country ham is an amazing starting point. I went down to Tennesee to watch the total solar eclipse last summer, and Madisonville, TN, home of Benton's, was right along the path of totality. Stopped in and got several packs of bacon, seasoning ham, and serrano-style sliced ham. Country ham is getting easier to find in DC (I mean VA is right across the river...) but Benton's is still the best I've tried

Please explain that? I've done apricot Justinos with mine (following the recipe in Liquid Intelligence) and my yield isn't great - maybe 70-80%

Holy thread resurrection! Seriously considering putting a cheap ti' punch on the Green Zone menu, and therefore am looking for reasonably priced white agricoles, 50% ABV preferably. JM 100 and La Favorite are probably my two favorites of what I've tried, but Neisson 100 is cheaper (and Duquesne cheaper still). I don't have any JM 100 on hand to test, and my bottle of Neisson is spanking new and probably needs to air a bit. Also I hear the Neisson 105 is a totally different cut and is a lot different. Anyone try it? Between JM, LF, and Neisson, all at 50%, what are your favorites? @FrogPrincesse? I have personal and professional reasons to favor JM over La Favorite, but for now, taste and price are all I'm interested in.

Being quite the connoisseur of dolma, let me preface by saying I've never made them (just eaten them at every opportunity and seen them being made), but I can answer some of your questions. -Tender grape leaves for the win every time -The rice should be cooked enough that when the dolma/waraq 'enab/stuffed grape leaves are refrigerated and served cold, the rice is soft and not crunchy. I encounter that a lot. -Herbs and spices after the rice is cooked -I can't imagine lemon should be added to the rice cooking water, but I do like very lemony dolma -Recipes vary a lot, though I don't know if one can generalize by region. That said, sometimes in the Arab world they're soured with pomegranate molasses, and these are my favorite.