AlaMoi

chicken pot pie, from scratch - used 3 boneless/skinless poached thighs for extra yummy.... chilling out... lunch leftovers:

herbs and spices also have differences as to degree of 'dissolve / infuse / leach out' in water, alcohol and fats.... it's a depends thing - on a lot of variables....

"pure" alcohol is rather "neutral" in the classic definition of pH. however, alcohol . . .mixed in a solution of other liquids, may/can/will be acidity or basic. one of those "it depends" situations.

acidity 'denatures' protein - as does heat.... the pH level of wines, distilled spirits/alcohol, lemon juice, lime juice . . . are all pretty close to each other in the 2-3 range. drop an egg into hi-proof booze and you can watch the whites congeal, etc. etc. the effect is there - but relative quantity also enters the picture. what is perhaps more of effect is the change in osmosis when using alcohol containing marinades/brines.....

from tasting bars it's clear evoo's are a very diverse group. I have both a immersion blender and a one-cup 'food processor' - which is really good for small qtys. I was just curious if there's some known 'common factor' that distinguishes how evoo vs 'just virgin' reacts in an emulsion.

I like to home spin our salad dressings - in some cases absolutely essential. example: Caesar salad we actually _like_ anchovy - I've never found a commercial variety with more than a far off hint, so I do it up at home using flats from can - any extra goes on saltines for a snack.... I use plain ole' virgin(?) olive oil for saute, frying, etc. I use extra virgin for drizzles. so one day I made up the Caesar dressing with Kirkland EVOO. I was struck by the very noticeable difference in how it incorporated / created a much creamery (and stable) vinaigrette. it this something well know that I've missed on the way to the Forum?

I preheat the oven to 450'F / 235'C with the stone, for about an hour. I turn the heat back to 425' / 210'Cwhen I put the pizza in - it's typically 5-6" from the top elements. the crust is nicely crisp - I give it 5 minutes to cool on the rack, cut with a 10" chef's knife and it 'snaps' as the cut is made on a wooden board... in this pix you see the stone "protects" the paper - the square corners sticking out browned but not the stone area. I think it also depends on the parchment paper - some seem to brown go crisp at lower temps.

definitely an interesting "trick" mine take about 8-9 minutes to finish. it will be interesting to see how naked on the stone differs. mfg x-Gaienhofen x-Schweinfurt

once upon a time, I tried the dusted peel thing.... I suck at that.... so now I use a typical home kitchen oven, a baking stone, an aluminum cookie sheet, and . . . parchment paper! bought some round sheets (Amazon) - cost worked out to about $0.05 more than the same "length" off the el-cheapo grocery store parchment. it has one very convenient side-bennie - while the stone is in the oven getting to untouchable temps, one can see how big to make the pizza... here is stone, here is parchment round I put the dough on the paper, add toppings, use the cookie sheet "peel" in and out of oven. this is my "I love black olives" pizza - always slide off paper to cooking rack - if left on paper the crust goes soggy.... call me chicken, call me anything . . . don't care - parchment works for me!

you don't. either put something under to catch the drips, or do the self-clean routine more often.... I only rarely self-clean the baking stone. dark butter stains do no harm and created at 400"F pose zilch comma zero bacterial "danger"

deleted

our version - 1 bag of cranberries 1 navel orange, with rind 1 can crushed pineapple sugar to taste grind cranberries and orange in old fashion hand cranked grinder add pineapple mix add sugar being the in the Covid-2 state.... we cut back drastically on the number of size of sides this year. DW said she "missed the cranberries" so today we made them to go with leftovers...

leftovers . . . now there's a leg o' truth....

one could open a Dairy Queen above the Arctic Circle and there would be a long line of dog sleds around the local ice berg, with the intent to see what the place is all about . . . on a west coast jaunt, we did an In and Out. decent burger. the rest is hyper hype.

I buy the one pound 'roll' of sausage, slice and par-fry. freeze for later nuke&use. used one patty for a 3 egg Denver omelet . . . chopped sausage patty subbed for ham.... had the same issue, wee bit too much 'stuffings' - just gave it another half-rollover and called it 'got et' someday I'll try 1/2 a patty . . . .

or one could go lab style . . . https://www.lorannoils.com/1-dram-size/buttered-popcorn-flavor-0892-dram

bag or no bag - no way I could sell that level of charred BS to DW.... "fresh" on the stalk is now appearing in the market . . . less char on tap,,,

Italy also has long lunches . . .

not everything works with a "no knead" approach. I do gadzillions of no knead bread styles. I do Jamie Oliver's pizza dough - which takes a 15 minute kneading + rise. I do 'classic' 16th century German bread recipes that take hand kneading.... basically a stand mixer / dough hook will do the typical kneading exercise - saving the baker his aches and pains.... but - kneaded is kneaded - if you enjoy killing your wrists, mixed not required.

we have "city water" - and it was not a 'problem' until the water authority decided to build a new and improved plant. (long terrible taste story short....) installed a charcoal filter for the cold water to kitchen tap, also to the fridge ice maker. $40 for a refrigerator filter every month is absolutely insane. the OEM has an embed chip so none of the generics work.... that I define as a rip off - so I put in the bypass cartridge and a year lasting (big) cartridge filter in the basement. ice makers are uber convenient. in-door with "crushed ice" functions don't work out in the long term (our experience)

eggs seem to be the main structure of a fruitcake - akin to flourless cakes - beaten eggs white + stuff.... not much flour used. I would not make 6 of anything without a test run.....

there's a couple major different ways to make mac&cheese - and they produce vastly different dishes. the worst, imho, is cook the pasta, dump it in a casserole, sprinkle cheese over it and put it in the oven. I make a roux, thin with milk or cream, season with dry mustard / (other), melt the cheese into the sauce, adjust the sauce consistency then add the cooked pasta. now,,, some eat it straight off the cook top - but I like to oven it for 20-30 minutes...

you could try a different detergent - some brands have more silica = sand content - they tend to 'scrub' things a bit better. but be aware! anything with decoration over the glaze will be damaged/destroyed - gilding, ink jet photos, customized class mugs, etc.

we got a Bosch as it was supposed to be super quiet a month out of warrranty, the drain pump seal failed. two weeks and couple hundred later, all fixed. a year later, it died. more error codes than one could list. junked it. replaced the Bosch with a Frigidaire - it was 1/2 the cost, and makes half the noise. go figger

for KA the heated bowl is an accessory - so you can add it whenever you feel you need it. frankly, in 20+ years I've never had the need. typically in cooking for two, the prep of a small qty of sauce/etc is so quick, doing the proper mise-en-place is far more important - everything portioned out and at the ready... the issue of temp control etc is imho much more a function of experience. it's like bread doughs - not sure if any "new" loaf has ever turned out "perfect" for me on the first try. but after making a recipe 3-4-5 times, you know what to look for and can adapt/adjust on the fly. or proofing/raising dough - there is a time/temp relationship - controlling a rise cycle to the degree and minute is important in a commercial bakery making lots of bread to a schedule. much less important in the home kitchen... my oven has a pre program 'proofing' button - it's too hot - the temp is about 110'F/43'C - close to the yeast kill temp. technology is wonderfully if it actually meets the need. far too often whiz-bang kitchen gadgets don't. same with almost any recipe - if there is no picture of the finished dish, one tends to blunder along not knowing exactly what it's supposed to look like.... gruesse dem Ulmer Spatz!