AlaMoi

I do veal/pork/beef/chicken "schnitzel" - none are actually a whole lot different - techniques to getting breading to stick is the same, bread crumbs, panko, cornmeal, crushed Corn Flakes, etc. etc. etc. . . .' schnitzel is thin - it cooks very quickly. which is key to 'luscious' schnitzel . . . over cooked thin schnitzel is aka 'shoe leather' the sauces to 'BAM! it up' all differ.

a 2 liter soda bottle is 4.33 inches / 110mm in diameter . . .

my collection:

Quaker Oats, grits, bread crumbs, StoveTop stuffing . . . come in similar containers. Amazon.ca has 5" - but huge qtys . . . a UPS Store likely source for qty one....

yes - I suggest a simple mince of tomato & capers, S&P - this is how Joel Robuchon preps it: really good stuff . . .

way back when, the question circulated: "Would you fly to the moon in a rocket ship built by the lowest bidder?" the same applies to "store brands" #1 - they are inconsistent because the stores switch suppliers as fast as the price changes.... #2 - if 'made just for xxx' it's usually lowest cost and the joined-at-the-hip aspect of low(est) quality. #3 - not all store brands are "bad" - well, at least this week..... brand label producers are much more sensitive to producing the same product - good/bad/mediocre.... - "as always" consumers either "like" the brand or "not like" the brand. bottom line, if you find a specific brand 'really good' to your own tastes - stick with it. a store brand will almost never be the same from (semi-extended) time-to-time.

chop-o-matics . . . from the 50's . . . https://www.ebay.com/itm/295434115921

yes, definitely a southern twist. if you search "sweet green beans" you'll find many recipes from casserole to side-dish. just the 'sweet juice marinade' to bacon ladened 'baked and quake' casserole I'm a Yankee, married into a 'suthern family' - I've got loads and piles of "conflicting" recipes. but, for green beans, two major southern divisions: (1) green beans cooked to death - soft mushy (2) stuff like the sweet beans frankly, all the variants are super delicious to the Normal Yankee.... (!)

that looks more like a film set than a home kitchen . . . keep in mind - he does/did his thing in commercial kitchens - the regulations for commercial kitchen procedures will baffle and befuddle any home cook. stuff 'just don't make sense' etc. - results of 'inspectors' interpreting 'laws' - but if commercial operations don't follow the rules as their local inspector decides they are . . . they'll get shut down. if a line cook used a typical 'spoon rest' they'll get nailed to the wall for 'possible cross contamination' and 'work surface not maintained in a clean and orderly manner.' same as super high end chefs wandering around (on TV...) the kitchen with a pocketful of 'tasting spoons' - does that happen in real life? you don't wanna know . . . we've booked 'the chef's table in the kitchen' - you can see what happens 'off camera' I have a veddy nice stainless steel aka heavy aka stays put spoon rest. more often than not, I use a small plate, the lid of an expended jar/empty pyrex bowl, used mise-en place little bowl, or my favorite . . . the wood cutting board, which is right behind me and in easy reach . . . it's going to get cleaned up anyway, right?

being almost exclusively a scratch cook, the quantities are a big focus. as retired empty nesters, it's easy to accumulate a fridge stuffed with leftovers. and more often than not,,,, they do not get totally consumed . . . a light lunch, mebbe. too often, all/some portion of leftovers sit, then get tossed.... DW often clips recipes to try - "serves 8" kind of things immediately get cut-cut-cut! I've taken to gram measuring to make just the right amount(s). especially for pasta, rice, dry beans - those are easily over estimated, especially if the cook is hungry! I do fix dishes where leftovers are intended - mac&cheese / chili / stews . . . they'll go into the weekly menu planning as 'left over xxx'

dry weight: 100 grams for two. long time used 120 grams - and there was always a bit left over - reduced to 100 grams and goes 'all gone' *100 grams = 3.527 ounces....

this guy is my historical go-to source - historic? yeah, I'm that old . . . . one of his upsides - he makes makes both left and right handed 'implements' sounds silly until one needs to pick out/up/toss stuff - then the mirror image pieces shine, big time. also, shorter/longer pieces - especially useful for shallow/deep pots.

(heavy) cleavers and bones have a serious issue - bone fragments. I have a mega-heavy thick serious meat cleaver from my parents' 1950s excursions into 'buying a half cow' used it, twice, on chicken. worked great - cleaved with zip-comma-zero effort. ...and produced bunches of bone fragments one had to fish out tooth-by-tooth. making a clean cut thru the joint is much superior to the brute force 'hack&whack' approach. imho.

there is a long established/existing 'theory' - the 'triangle' of sink / cooktop / refrigerator. many variations / placements of 'the triangle' - but the basics remain steadfast. going outside the 'proven' utility could result in less than happy long term results. higher/lower countertops - splendid idea - but only if one does the "do" of the aforementioned cooking tasks. if one hand kneads some-to-many-to-dozens of bread loaves/products per week, well worth it. depending on how tall you are . . . we have done 'house hunting' quite a few times - and we've seen a whole lotta' "whot? can you believe this?" situations. which, btw, and OMG!, applies to many aspects outside 'the kitchen' - but that's another rant . . . I've lived with a number of kitchen "islands" - I have real serious issues about an island that skids/moves/slips around under my usage. the idea of "flexibility" sounds great - but if the d*ng thing does not stay still while you are carving up the turkey,,,, that's a problem.

ooops. sorry - it was a thing that came to me for 'long pasta'

how to measure spaghetti without really trying . . .

heehee. +/- twice a year I do the board and some-or-all the treenware with mineral oil&beeswax. the oldest of those date to the mid-1980's - made from black cherry - very durable.

I'm agonna' hold me keyboard , , , really I am . . .

the biggest issue in home deep frying is the 'batch size' that can be done without chill shocking the oil to a low temperature. the big commercial stuff has oil capacities of 10 gals and up. they can fry a big basket of stuff and not lose the fry temp. I use a one qt copper pot for stuff like shrimp, a 3 qt copper pot for bigger stuff like chunks of chicken. a thermometer, and I'm good to go. takes a little practice on (gas) burner control to maintain temp.... even so - it's 4-5 shrimp / 2-3 chicken chunks at a time. not conducive to feeding a large crowd.... spatter - screen type spatter shield. drip rack - cookie sheet covered with paper towels. for doing a crowd I'd look into a rental fryer / propane fired - as a 'one-off' solution.

yesterday was waffle morning . . . don't know exactly how I messed up, but seems the batter may have been a bit on the thin side and perhaps a bit too much baking powder...? used the measuring cup provided . . . as soon as I closed the lid I had waffle juice running out aplenty! flipped and that side was even worser!! now... the waffles turned out fine - but the mess was a mess. I left the waffle maker plugged in for about 20 minutes - that "baked" the overflow onto the surfaces and after it cooled down I could easily 'pick it off' so there's a trick to remember. there are many yeasted recipes - I'm going on a tear to try them all! Liege style uses "pearl sugar" - anyone used it? does it make a difference?

side note of little linguistic importance: shrimp and prawns are scientifically not the same item. "Shrimp belong to the pleocyemata suborder, which also includes crayfish, lobsters and crabs. On the other hand, prawns belong to the dendrobranchiata suborder." "shrimp scampi" is a pet peeve - I must say I've never encountered "prawn scampi" in the Mediterranean, langosta are aka lobster - but don't go looking for them big claws . . . this side of the pond, the distinction between 'warm water' lobster and 'cold water' lobster exists....

did you account for the avian flu issue? in the USA, 5-10 million chickens / poultry that lay eggs have died, or been killed, to prevent further spread of the disease(s).

in prior life business travels . . . spent time in Luton and also "greater London" (it's not a small village . . .) enjoyed many many "English Breakfasts" - the sausages - which I only later learned to name "bangers" were different, in a good way, from USA or German breakfast fare. in Germany high(er) end hotel breakfast had soft/hard cooked eggs, bread rolls, cheese, cold cuts, and schmier cheese + schmier 'wurst' - but seldom 'free standing' sausage links. a puzzlement because most cities every street corner has a butcher with their own version of 'hung & dried' link 'sausage . . . apparently too expensive for hotels vs potted Leberwurst schufft . . . in USA I prefer sausage patty to "links" - but quite frankly it's quite next to impossible to encounter a breakfast offering of anything that resembles a UK "banger"

we have several local 'farm stores' i.e. the winter version of a 'farm stand' - that sell their own eggs. they do not sort/grade/inspect - these are eggs laid yesterday . . . leaving the issue that in a dozen one gets a mix of small to jumbo. realistically this is not a problem for the well rounded cook . . . breakfast eggs - over easy to scrambled to pan omelet . . . the size is not much of an issue. for small qty batches of baked stuff, the well rounded cook needs to be a bit more careful in selecting something close to 'large' - which is what most recipes are based on. for the most part their prices have been stable - their most sensitive cost is the feed. since they typically buy large quantities of feed, the doubled cost of feed does not factor into their selling price until they have to by more . . .

try an aluminum plate. aluminum specific heat is 2x steel and heat transfer is 4x/6x better than carbon steel / stainless steel. now.... the specific heat is a normalized value based on mass, so you'll need a aluminum plate about 2x as thick as a steel one.