AlaMoi

I used to buy Romas in the dead of season - they seemed to have the best flavor. lately we're getting off season tomatoes grown in Canada! I reckon the hydro-electric power costs make it feasible - lots of artificial light and heat. and the tomatoes-on-the-vine are - except for really dead mid-winter - pretty decent early on. but homegrown be best.

...whether the blower for the vent was mounted on the roof vs at hood level? no. whether it's being sucked or blown, as it travels it cools, and moisture / oils condense out.

there's a multitude of issues you'll want to consider. the "flapper" is as form of "check valve" preventing exhaust from the kitchen being pushed into a bathroom. it's not 100% effective; you will get fish and liver in the bathroom....and you will get bathroom into the kitchen; and when both are fans are running who the heck knows.... and, depending on where you live, it may not be a legal code option - and past that on resale any house inspector is not going to be impressed. call a local home inspection service - as in a place that does inspections for potential buyers - and ask about the legalities and downsides. you really should consider a totally separate venting outlet. venting to the roof - kool if you're already ripping out walls, etc., such that the entire path is open. consider however that stove top vents convey a lot of moisture and entrained oil in the air - and when the hot air hits the cold environment, you get condensation. the longer the "run" the more likely the problem. some provision must be made to 'trap' the condensation - and drain and clean out and . . . - otherwise you'll have junk dripping on your stove. if you can reach the outside patio in a short path, much better long term solution. the shortest path is the best. as to make up air, with a historical facade.... sufficient amounts of leaks that no specific make up air provisions are needed - unless you're installing a 5-6-8 foot size 50 burner stove with a 25,000 cfm exhaust. and if you're into doing a huge stove / burner top with that kind of hood you really should be getting some qualified professional help/engineering.

the "slashes" in the second pix are not knifed - they appear to be 90' snips by scissors / kitchen shears. a not un-common technique for loaves, the collapse of the crust at the snips indicates a soft dough thing - consistent with added sugar and oils.

LoB - methinks you got off on a bad foot assuming the shape made the bread. as mentioned, "classic B's" don't have sugar or fats. sugar makes a bread retain moisture, fats make the crumb softer - neither is a good thing for the classic definition - but that does not mean it can't make a good bread. the spices/herbs are not going to change things except flavors.... I second the motion of get a scale and weigh things. dump the cups, go with the digital and work by feel. I don't need to second the issue of flour is not flour is not flower as you've already learned that lesson. they all react differently, they hydrate differently, some experimenting required - then stick with it. I've been using KA Bread flour for decades and I ain't about to change - I've found it to be consistent. which you may not find in the supermarket brand - since they buy flour based on who is offering flour at the least dollars/ton, typically not any serious specifications. yes, brands cost more. the alternative is frequently very expensive bird food - not that the birds don't appreciate it - but it's a lesson to learn.

if you go and get all physical about it - checking the space of the atomic lattice work in stainless steel and comparing that to the molecule size of (pick a fat) you'll probably reach the conclusion someone is smoking something other than oil in a pan. but, does it work? consider the age old French practice of keeping steel pans for 'nuttin' but eggs' it appears to work. if one dispenses with the soap thing - which makes for an "OMG it's got a germ" problem.

I insisted on an outside venting hood in this house, the builder installed by their own dumbiness a popup downdraft - i.e. I have both. the side/downdraft is not effective - I would not pay a penny for one. the side/downdraft does goof up gas burner flames at any speed above the lowest - making it totally unsuited for its purpose.

I buy yeast by the pound. I put my working stock in one of those cute glass jars, kept in the fridge freezer section. the remaining stock I keep in the chest freezer. good for 3+ years. kept in frozen temps, methinks the stuff is good for near forever.

this is one of our favs - it's sturdy without being "hard" White Bread Plus from JoC adapted mix (two / one loaf) 360g | 180 g | AP Flour 1 tbsp | 0.5 tbsp | yeast 1 tbsp | 0.5 tbsp | kosher salt 4 oz/114g | 2oz/57gr | unsalted butter 590 g | 295g | hot tap water combine and mix 5 minutes at high speed add 1 | 1 | egg 125g | 65g | AP flour mix additional 5 minutes at medium speed add flour until dough come clean from mixer bowl; amts approx. 650g | 330g | AP flour and knead on low speed 10 minutes allow to rise about double punch down; divide as needed pan and allow second rise start in cold oven at 400'F/205'C for 15 minutes reduce temp to 375'F/190'C and bake additional 25 minutes

...even more confused.... methinks you've been taking the "experts" way too seriously - and quite frankly there are questions about exactly how technically knowledgeable some of them really are.... some of the nit-picking I've seen over the years is ah,ahhhh, unusual. and remember, at the end of the day you wipe the nits off the comb and throw them in the trash... copper once upon a time was tinned. since pre-colonial days. it is the same now and it was then. silver plating is an interesting off-shoot of that. the heat / metallurgical properties of copper have not undergone any magic "new age" transformations - it is the same now and it was then. "old school" stuff was 3mm; "new school" stuff is 2.5mm; less than that is oven ware/serving ware in terms of "performance" stainless lined are newer. infinitely more practical, imho. copper is more responsive - in addition to 'most even heat distribution' it heats faster and it cools faster - this is only a serious advantage if using gas - because electric coils heat and cool slower than all the other materials used to make pots and pans. the bottom line is simple: copper is the best heat conductor of the bunch. copper will not make you a better cook. copper does not permit one to put the pot on 'automatic' and go away. if you want the best, it is the best - tinned/silvered/stainless - and it costs more. what to buy? if you're into sauces, a sauce pan would be a good start, no? there are a limited number of reputable copper makers. stick with those and you'll be fine. their differences are slight design "features" - pick your preference.

I think it is true to the extent of (somethings) I have "witnessed" the effect - people squishing a burger and liquids coming out, flames on a grill, sizzle, etc. when heated, proteins shrink - beef has water in it, some water will naturally squeeze out. ground beef also has fat, that melts and runs out. so.....a not dry burger could be simply swimming in fat,,,, I dislike freezing ground beef because freezing ruptures even more cells and even more water is released. it's basically the same effect as the "never use a fork, all the juices run out" thing. the proteins shrink, the volume of the meat decreases, and water inside the balloon bubble of a skin / surface is slightly under pressure. poke a hole, it escapes..... it's probably a good idea, just not taken to extremes (g)

I use a pot and a thermometer. some oddball thoughts: spattering - there is no help for this except a lid or a semi-solution - a spatter shield temperature control - for me this is not a problem, having learned that overloading the pot causes severe temperature drops. instead of attempting to deep fry all twenty pounds of butterflied shrimp in one batch, I use many batches, and the issue of temperature control is not much of a problem. burnt stuff - yup. over load the pot, crank up the heat to maximum hoping to make the pot recover more faster, pot over heats, burns everything. not too much mystery in that. filter for the oil - you can filter out the burnt bits from the oil. you cannot filter out the burnt taste. hands UP- don't BURNT! temperature controller - you can have the finest thermostatic control this side of Alpha Centuri - it will only call for more heat - and lacking sufficient uniform heat input, that finest control is utterly useless. countertop electrical units are not famous for high input uniform heat - so your experience may vary. difficulty filtering the oil - colander, coffee filter / paper towel, big bowl. no problem. it does not filter out the burnt flavors tho.

it's not frozen frozen. it's partially thawed. and it works duck soup easy. chilling any meat to near frozen makes for a stiffer mass which one can cut/slice/dice/mince by manual or machine means much easier and much more consistent.

and . . . . drum roll please . . . . it all depends. in PA it is not legal to charge more for payment by credit card. in PA is is not illegal to offer a discount for cash. confused? wherefore art Thou politician.... to them this is clear as mud. if A is equal to B, and B is equal to C, then logic would have that C is equal to A. but it ain't; it's illegal to charge more but it's not illegal to charge less. right. got it. for small businessi, credit card cost easily exceed 5% big guys get a better deal. Walmart wanted to have its own bank because then they could 'coup' those 'external losses' makes sense to me. Aldi has long long long had the no bags, no credit cards, cash/check only thing. the costs of a debit card transaction is near zilch compared to 5+% credit card fees - pretty clear thing there.... food supermarkets operate on a roughly 2% profit margin. so affecting something like 5% off the top really is a big deal. and the 5% is only if the merchant suffers no fraud. self-check out; cloned fake card; $250 shopping spree - the credit card companies take that $250 out of the merchant's hide, not theirs. at a 2% net margin the $250 fake card purchase equals the profit loss on the next $12,500 in sales. this is why fraudster / criminals should not be put in jail. they should be hung - they won't do that again.

I'm a Manhattan fan - it goes like this: "Manhattan, up - Maker's Mark, please." not too many disappointments......

>>Copies of the steak sandwich, typically outside of Philadelphia, were rib eyes. there's an exception to every rule. http://www.genosteaks.com/about/ " The ingredients are simple and never greasy – thinly sliced rib-eye steak, melted cheese, oven-fresh baked bread and delicately grilled onions. Awaiting your piping hot sandwich on the counter outside are ketchup, mustard, and relish. "

eggs will keep in the fridge for many weeks - two months even - past their "date" it's really simple: when you want to use the egg, crack it into a separate bowl and sniff. if there is any 'off odour' toss them. as an aside, don't go with the popular floating egg theory. . . .

we have a PA State Store that recently relocated to new and fancy digs. ueber posh . . . wines are separated by sections ala "Imported" "German" "California" "Australian" as well as separate sections for "Chardonnay" "Reds" "Sweet Wines" etc. and el nonsenso the PA WineBurroKrats have invented categories like "Chairman's Select" "Collector's Corner" and then they have posh elegant 'racks' against the wall. one could think these are the higher end product. wrong. TwoBuckChuck wines in the fancy racks and $45/bottle wines in corrugated cases stacked on the floor. so, in PA, "Know Before You Go" because "they" been there, are there, and have no clue.

as you research 'why copper?' you'll probably find a few common mentions. "Copper is the best but it is very expensive" "Our ten thousand ply pan cooks as evenly as copper." ..... and the like. there's a reason (some) multi-ply makers include a copper disk/layer. which begets the question: if copper is not so good, why is everyone making comparisons to copper? thin copper is not worth the price, or worth using other than for serving ware. 2.5 mm is generally recognized as the minimum for the performance benefit. older copper you can find in 3.0 mm thickness. I have a bunch of copper stuff, I use it on a daily basis. I also have one non-stick pan and a couple cast iron pans. each has benefits in specific tasks. copper is expensive. whether the cost is worth it is really a question of personal perception and pocketbook. there is absolutely no question that zillions of people successfully cook with stainless and clad-of-every-sort and aluminum and . . and . . having tried many of the "better brands" and being less than impressed I started my collection of copper - which did impress me - and have never regretted the money spent on any of it.

surprised this hasn't surfaced here..... DW informed me my favorite vintner is poisoning me with (up to) 10X the amount of arsenic allowed in drinking water..... well, it's Beringer Estate whites I like; the Beringer name turned up in the 'poisoned' list, and since the couch is not really _that_ comfy, I opted not to debate the point that, but Dear, all wines are not the same..... on researching this a bit it turns out some entrepreneurial spirit started a business to arsenic test wines. he files a lawsuit, totally in the blind, and sends out blubs offering his services same day. (Kevin Hicks, BeverageGrades is the wholesome individual of question.....) CBS had his tests replicated - not on the same bottles, obviously - but curiously, gosh, nobody could find any results similar to the guy selling his testing services. anybody die of arsenic poisoning lately?

when h20 changes from liquid to gas, the volume increases by some 600x - so you will need to "maintain the vacuum" - i.e. keep pumping water vapor out - otherwise it will reach equilibrium somewhere in the "slight vacuum" range. there is a similar theory called "freeze drying" - ice sublimates to gas without becoming / going thru the liquid state.

look for "hotel pans" sizes are near unlimited & varied

ye' olde egg whack wars.... here's one - those coconut cream eggs, chocolate covered, highly decorated, hand piped hard icing - small / medium / large . . . Hoffert Candies style - seem to have completely evaporated from the market.... or?

one can hardly know. sizing is typically starch, which should rinse out with plentiful water. of course, if it's arsenic infused nuclear cured Neptune starch, that might not work.... I do rice the AB way - bring to a simmer on the stove, cover, into oven 15-20 minutes, let "steep" covered for 15-20 minutes, works every time. no kitchen counter clutter......

...choose a no heat drying cycle... are you sure that is not 'the default?' when we bought ours the salesperson pointed out 'there is no heater for drying' as a drawback....