jedovaty

@blue_dolphin I've been meaning to visit that market, especially since discovering the relatively new Northgate market in Costa Mesa - I know Northgate is a chain, and if you've been to one, is it possible to compare the two?

Hi! Was this an online order or purchased locally? I really want to try these!

They're only $3.50 and in stock at the San Clemente TJs. I grabbed a couple more bags today. It's the texture. Left over from one bag on the drive home, combined with their low priced impossible nuggies: 'tis a vegan alternative to McD that hit a craving. Don't judge me.

Anyone try these ketchup chips? Have you ever left some McD's fries and ketchup out overnight, and then the next morning unapologetically dipped a limp fry into the somewhat dried up ketchup that was soaking into the ripped paper bag, and then ate the rest that way? Just like that, but really crunchy and crispy without the stale sog. Nothing at all like Canadian ketchup chips (how I miss those). Needless to say, I ate the bag in one sitting. Don't judge me.

Yes, similar shape, although it's an older variation so different cladding/finishing/etc. Family got it on clearance many years ago and uses it mostly to make tomato sauces (it's too heavy for her for anything else). I used it to make three meals, it worked great and decided I like my DO better.. Physically the two are very similar however the handle and subsequent lever physics makes the pan unwieldy and tough to store in my kitchen. If someone gifted this to me and I didn't have the DO, I'd be... souper... happy with it. On the other hand, if I had to purchase one, I would look for something else unless the WS was on steep discount compared to other options. At some point in the next couple weeks, I'm going to visit the snooty stores and check on the 3-4qt options in order to familiarize myself with size and weight. All these years I've been able to make various 1-2 portion dishes in my 2qt one, it's just... souper... tight, often times there's spillage or splashing, a little more space would make stirring and adding ingredients less stressful. To be continued!

Of course, BD. Carbon steel and its variants are definitely out now following a few days of "I'm only going to use the SS DO and see what happens". It's almost perfect, works well for my current cooking style, keeps foods contained, deglaze anything stuck without worry, no need to season, etc. Here it is, it's actually 6Q, not 8Q like I thought. Several years ago, a coworker remodeled his kitchen and gave me his wolf cookware set (I thought I posted about it here but I can't find the topic, oh well - I gave a family member most of the pieces since I didn't have room for it at the time and I kept the 2qt saucier and this DO). The DO is still a bit large for making 1-2 portion soups, which is what I'm going to focus on for now. I've borrowed a family member's old "Williams & Sonoma Hestan Essentials Pan" to test shape and size later this week.. it's 5QT, not nanobond, and has that saucier style rounded bottom. I really like the shape but it is large and quite heavy, so will go look at 3 and 4 qt rounded-bottom pots to see which size I would prefer. I'm keeping an eye on all-clad second hand store as well.

I appreciate the responses everyone, thanks!

Yes, sorry I didn't mention that. I correctly seasoned it, and tried multiple times over the years. I have always seemed to have trouble with carbon steel. Even the vollrath fry pans I had which I gave away several years ago after giving up. They would be okay as long as I used them almost daily.. if I didn't use them for a couple weeks, they would begin to rust or get very sticky. Again, no issues with cast iron. FWIW, I can make eggs scrambled and fried eggs on my stainless pans without sticking, too, so I like to think I have achieved some level of home-cook-wizardy - still working on french omelettes, maybe some day I'll get that down. Hopefully this post will not go down the "here's how you season a pan" or "how to keep from rusting" or "too much oil" etc.. I'm more interested in deciding what pan, if any, to get next, and shared the background to demonstrate the basis of hesitation for going down a path I've tried before. Fun side note, about 15 years ago, a family member and I welded/built a solid-steel outdoor wok station/rolling cabinet out of metal and wood to hold an outdoor high-BTU wok burner. That was fun, many grease fires were had as we learned to control the flame. Now that's out of my system, I've repurposed the rolling cabinet for garden storage and my pizza oven

I'm having trouble deciding whether I want/need a fry pan with high sides, like a wok or similar, or maybe a larger saucier, or both. Currently I have 12" and 8" SS shallow saute pans, a 10" lodge CI, a 12" round CI griddle, a shallow/wide 8qt SS dutch oven, and a 2qt saucier. 20yr GE gas range, with possible upgrade to induction in a few years if the range stops working (probably won't, it's been easy to make repairs so far). Past 18 months my diet has transitioned to super quick, easy meals with heavy plant and fish/seafood. I rarely sear anything anymore. Some soups when I have left overs. My saute pans and the CI lodge have worked okay for sautes, but they tend to be messy with contents falling over the edges, annoying. The DO is shallow enough to reach my utensils in to stir things around, but it has been really awkward to toss the pan, maybe the shape being so wide or it being bottom heavy. I prefer to keep my tools minimal and multi-purpose. The 2qt saucier is too small to make myself 1-2 portion soups in the winter, and the DO is so wide such that solids stick out of the liquid. So.. it seems a 3qt or 4qt saucier would be the right choice? I have looked into woks, too. Costco at the moment has an induction hob + cheapo carbon steel wok for $100; Sur La Table has a typical carbon steel wok for $35 on sale now; River Light has a nice nitride-gassed carbon steel wok for about $80-90. There are other wok options I found but I dunno. The local "asian stores" near me only stock non-stick coated woks (wtf?!) which I can't use due to my pets, and I've found the super premium snooty fancy fancy oxenforge stuff but yeah.. no. I've tried woks twice over the last 15 years, and totally disappointed each time: once was a "pow" shape carbon steel that would either rust or get super sticky if I didn't use it enough, and second was some cast iron thing that I couldn't get any seasoning on it. That's why the nitride gased CS wok looks interesting. But then the Costco induction hob would be a new toy, much fun, and I waffle to saving money on the SLT, but both that and the costco are standard carbon steel which I've had no luck with in the past. Any thoughts? Blah.

I measured the width and depth of the big dipper's bowl for @TdeV using my trusty calipers purchased for another hobby years gone past, since precision is important. Sadly, I'm not very good at measuring fiddly things (weird shakes combined with terrible astigmatism) so these are approximately close enough amounts: The bowl is nearly circular, with diameter of approximately: US: 1.84 goldfish crackers UK: 0.0038 london double decker busses French: 0.071 baguettes Rest of the world: ~46mm Depth is ~14mm. If you'd like a picture of it containing certain foods familiar to you, in order to give you a better idea of size, let me know and I'll see what I can do. Free of charge, I've performed the most important test no one has yet requested: put knuckles up against the back of the spoon. It fails at giving me a great bum, however, it does give me a glimpse of what it would be like to have an amazing pair of prehensile knockers. As to what hobby: coffee; the spoons make cupping fancy pantsy coffees more fun! The following video illustrates what I went through when deciding to purchase a set, and is far more accurate than I'd care to admit. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HlYMZUKoaX8

I was influenced to pick up some fancy schmancy spoons (big dipper by umeshiso) for a different hobby, and turns out they are even better for both soup, stews, curries, and most importantly, shoveling cereal into my mouth. Excellent multi-purpose kitchen tool.

In addition to the food, I'd like one tablecloth please. Lost it at the smiling shark 😁

Ooo... I made shrimp tonight, too, but as "shrimp rolls" I recently discovered tarragon and it's amazing how just a few leaves can both transform and unify the flavor.

I've been on a "reduced animal protein" kick for over a year now, and recently discovered something called "soy curls".. these are a fun alternative to the usual sources and are especially great with heavy-sauced recipes If you haven't tried soy curls before (different from TVP), and you like exploring different cuisines, I think it's worth a purchase from butler foods. They have a texture similar to mushroom-stems with a mild soy flavor that goes away once sauced. soy curls and broccoli in us-asian junk food inspired sauce (melting pot of all the sauces at once together hahaha) soy curls, squash, and cauliflower with carribbean curry-ish sauce home-grown squash sauced linguini (my bastardized version of noodles alla nerano)

At what point does grana padano become parm? Mine was poorly wrapped, now 4 years in the fridge and has completely dulled every side of my box grater. I'm in process of improving my patio deck, perhaps I can use this cheese to reinforce the footings?