tomishungry

Try this recipe for vietnamese caramelized pork chops. http://www.saveur.com/article/Recipes/vietnamese-pork-chops The marinade has enough sugar and salt in it to act as a brine to keep moisture in. The fast sear (or charcoal in the original recipe) cooks the meat quickly enough it won't dry out. I tried this recipe once with regular pork chops and it didn't work. It relies on having super thin pork chops or slices to get the proper sear and taste.

defrosting bread before slicing and toasting it (bagel, bun, muffins) defrosting pizza before reheating in a pan to crisp it heating dried shitake mushrooms submerged in water for an emergency soak and soften hot lemon towels warming honey to pour it out of a jar (don't do this with plastic jars) hot maple syrup for my pancakes! melt butter at 50% power so it doesn't splatter (yes, your power levels will vary. 50% @1500 watts works for me) chocolate goes in my mouth before it'll hit the microwave the chamber makes a great bread box when you're not using it the chamber makes a great proofing box - power on for a few seconds to warm up the dough if it needs a boost defrosting is the killer app for me.

there isn't enough wine in the world for me to deal with the elections right now.

Commercial mushrooms are grown in a substrate which contains sterilized manure. Any that I buy are going to take a nice long salt water bath and get thoroughly scrubbed down. A quick run through my salad spinner and everything's dry and clean. I haven't noticed any water absorption, and at least psychologically, the flavor's greatly enhanced. No BS! (couldn't resist). Prep them the way you're comfortable with. I'm comfy with nice, clean mushrooms.

Congratulations indeed! This is one of the best chinese cookbooks I've ever read, and like everyone else here I'm a pretty avid reader and cook. The only other book that even comes close is Barbara Tropp's Modern art of Chinese Cooking.