cdh

CSO did a great job on the turkey dark meat this year. Dried out in the fridge for 36 hours, then steamed in the CSO at 170 for 4 hours, then briefly broiled to crisp up the skin.

I've seen them, but not tried them.. will have to pick some examples up when I next run across them

Shows you how much I know about regional Italy... What flavors are Basilicatese?

Lucano is sold as an "amaro basilicata". How much does it taste of basil? Would Ramazotti with a bit of basil syrup be a decent substitute?

Byrrh tastes to me like ruby port with some non-aromatic bittering in it... so if you have tonic syrup sort of stuff a bit of that into some ruby port might make a decent substitute.

Sad news. He was missed after he stopped hanging out around here.

Are you talking about homemade sweet soda, or flavored seltzer? Torani syrups + seltzer make a nice beverage. Herbal syrups like shiso or thai basil also make a fine addition to seltzer. If the sugar component is not required for your desired result, look into citrus oils. I handle them thus: Make a 2-4% solution of citrus oil in Everclear. Add that stuff to an atomizer bottle. Spray a spritz or two over seltzer. ***Don't do this with bergamot. That stuff is caustic even at this dilution.

A member of the haloumi family?

@Rotuts You appear to have an interesting theory that in a nonstick environment the thing being cooked accumulates the stuff that would become fond. It is interesting in that the stuff clearly does not just vanish because it got put in a nonstick pan. I have nothing to add by way of facts since I don't use nonstick for much beyond grilling cheese and making eggs... but most of what you typed went right past me because deciphering poetry into prosaic ideas is beyond me.

So the rock salt by itself moderates the humidity? Do you have a hygrometer in the chamber to let you see what is going on? If you're going to wait 4 weeks, would you do a weekly weighing so we can see the rate of water loss?

The not letting the machine stay hot for hours is probably the thing. I turn mine on when I wake up and off mid-afternoon. A rubber gasket survives that for about 2 years.

Was it silicone instead of rubber? Did you obsessively turn the machine off after using it? Heat degrades the rubber and makes it harden up over time... so my guesses are either no rubber, or a lot less heat.

That's not helpful. Anybody can edit Wikipedia to say anything. How long has that assertion been there, and what evidence is cited to back it up? The editors stick [citation needed] in where they see a need... but are not omniscient.

I'll be interested in what you find. My current machine is a Lelit, which is sort of a mini-Silvia... smaller boiler, faster heating up, lots of heavy brass for thermal stability. I'm wondering what the little light modern things are able to do. Report back if you get one.

Not just African... it is clearly the product of The One True Culinary Genius who invented EVERYTHING the very first time. Everything we all eat traces back to the Genius... we just need to find the proof that confirms the perfectly self-evident hypothesis. And then give all credit where it is due.

LOL

This week? Oysters. The PHL fishmonger will truck out bags of 100 to my corner of the hinterlands... so I've been putting them to work recently.

Maybe take up Youtube-ing... Make a channel devoted to some aspect of food/bev that your network will allow you access to that other people won't get because they don't have your connections. Make videos. Interview people. Go behind the scenes. Cut together interesting 5-10 minute segments. See if they catch on. Good Youtube channels seem to pull in cash... If you're an NYC media market guy, maybe you remember Colameco's Food Show that was on the NJN channels in the late 90s and 2000s... Something like that without the whole TV crew budget might be doable again via Youtube... provided you've got the right personality and presentation to catch on. For example:

I'm not gonna get there.

If they have a fridge with an icemaker, there's already a bored passage through the floor between basement and kitchen. Running a seltzer line next to the ice maker line is totally doable (it's what I did... through the passage drilled through the 200 year old 8x8 beam that frames the edge of the kitchen floor) ... unless the ice maker installer was a precision freak who drilled a hole not a mm larger than needed to run the ice line... either way, if there's an ice maker there's already one hole in the floor in that kitchen. Your friend's husband could have his wish pretty easily. If leaving the marble sacrosanct and unmolested is vital, he can have a cobra tap with a magnet glued to it that sticks on the side of the fridge.

I think it is that underfilled bottle overpressurize... not overcarbonate. The problem is the gas that isn't dissolved in the liquid.

Bacteria have already done everything they're going to do to the milk by making it into yogurt. It will go off when technicolor molds get started... you'll know. If it looks white and lacks fuzz, it is OK.

Sorry for geeking out and talking over your head, Mitch. You're doing what normal sane people do. Us abnormal insane folks should remember that and keep it quiet. The SodaStream is a gateway to madness.

That doesn't switch gas on and off. That switches additional water on and off. Hook your plumbing up to the device, and it works like a float valve to top up your pressurized carbonation chamber.

And apropos all this... if you want the ultimate automated keg/reg setup, check this wily antipodean invention out: