Tropicalsenior

I made some fries using the cornstarch method that I posted above. They were 2 small white potatoes that I cut into eight wedges each. I cooked them for about 15 minutes at 400°. Since dinner was delayed a bit, I let them set for about 10 minutes and then cooked them for another five. To my taste, they were just a tad overdone but they were nice and creamy inside.

My grandson is talking about spending some time in France this summer. I'll send him to you for some lessons.

I agree 100%. @Pete Fred is a true artist. Those are truly a work of art. I made them one time and it looked like they had been made by a troop of drunken monkeys. Haven't tried them again.

Sad but true

136g. If you're making it in the bread machine, make sure that you monitor the process when it is mixing so that it is not sticky. As I remember, I either had to add more water or more flour depending on the flour that I wish using. You do want a soft dough but definitely not sticky.

I just posted the recipe for Mock Sourdough Bread. I included both versions, the bread machine version that I used to make and the recipe that I adapted to my KitchenAid mixer. I added vital wheat gluten to my flour because I cannot get a good bread flour here. If you make it, let me know how it comes out and if you like it.

Mock Sourdough Bread This bread has an great sourdough taste, but you don't need to bother with a complicated, time-consuming starter. 3/4 cup water 2 tablespoons white vinegar 1/2 cup sour cream 1 tablespoon sugar 1 1/2 teaspoons salt 3 cups bread flour 2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast In bread machine pan, place all ingredients in order suggested by manufacturer. (usually liquids first, then dry ingredients, ending with yeast last). Select dough bread setting on machine, and press start. After 5 minutes of mixing, and add 1 to 2 tablespoons of either flour or water if needed.) After machine stops, remove dough and shape into too long loaves. Let rise until double and bake in a 400o oven for 20 to 25 minutes or until golden brown. These are the changes that I made in the recipe the last time that I made it in my KitchenAid mixer. 3 1/2 cups all purpose flour 2 tablespoons vital wheat gluten flour (optional) 1 tablespoon sugar 1 1/2 teaspoons salt 2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast 1/2 cup sour cream 2 tablespoons white vinegar 3/4 cup warm water Place all the dry ingredients in the bowl of the mixer and mix well. If using the vital wheat gluten flour it should always be mixed thoroughly into the dry flour before adding the moisture. Add the warm water until the dough is very soft but not sticky. Let the machine knead the bread on low for 5 minutes, let rest 10 minutes and knead again for 5 minutes. Set the dough to rise until doubled. I always place the dough on a large cutting board and cover with a large bowl. Something that I learned from The Frugal Gourmet years ago. This may take an hour or more. Just let the dough tell you when it is ready. After the first rise, shape the bread in any way that you want, let rise until ready and bake it at 400° until golden brown. Note: one thing that I have noticed about this bread is that I don't get a lot of oven rise. It may have something to do with the reaction of the yeast with the vinegar but it still has a nice texture and a sourdough flavor.

I'm sure it's not copyrighted, it's been in my files for years but I don't remember where I got it. I'll post it just as soon as I get it reformatted.

I didn't know that was possible.

Thank God no blood or skin was involved.

I don't know if this is in the line of what you want, but I have been making a mock sourdough for years. It was the recipe that I had for my bread maker and since I no longer have a bread maker I hadn't made it in quite a while. I decided to dig out the recipe and make it the other day to see if it was as good as I really remembered and it was. You don't get quite the rise that you get with just plain white bread but you do have a definite sour flavor. The advantage is that it can be made in the same time as plain white sandwich bread. If you would like to have the recipe to try let me know.

Seems perfectly logical to me to make mac and cheese out of any smooth type of pasta. Whenever I don't have macaroni I grab for whatever is available. To me, the star of the show is the sauce not the pasta.

I'm just curious. Have you tried this yet in your air fryer?

The rest is in the, uh, basement??

If you're talking about the burger that you actually got, whoever made that should have been executed.

I just finished watching Heston Blumenthal's English Breakfast Burger and except for his own special little touches, the ingredients are amazingly the same. It even looks the same as the advertised Burger.

Here is a picture of what they are selling here. I misspoke. They call it preformed bacon. I can't believe what I am seeing. I just bought this last month and it is 2 years out of date.

When I enlarged the bacon, it looked to me like a product that they are selling now in Costa Rica that is composite bacon. It is, God knows what, pressed together, smoked, sliced and sold as processed bacon. It's only saving grace is that it is smoked and most of the bacon sold here is not. It actually has a better flavor than most of the bacon but the texture is appalling.

That looks even more disgusting in a close up.

That's got to be the understatement of the year. At least the pickles look authentic. The bacon looks like fried spam and no lettuce, no tomatoes. It's no wonder that the Chinese think that Western food is crap when they're presented with examples like this. Although now that I think about it, I have seen worse here in Costa Rica.

Sounds like a great recipe, especially the fact that you can freeze them. I just have one problem with it. It doesn't specify what type of potato is best to use. I would suspect that they are using russets.

Yeah, too many times people that are comparing the two forget that the Frozen potatoes are prepped up the ying yang.

In my experience this is true if you just compare the frozen potatoes with fresh potatoes in the air fryer. But! If you do a little prep work, and I know you're not afraid of that, you can wind up with something that is way better than frozen. Bear in mind that I cannot get russet potatoes here and I can very seldom get good yellow potatoes so I have to use the waxy white ones. The way I prepare my potatoes is to cut them in wedges, microwave them in salty water until they are about 3/4 done. Then I drain them and dry them. After this I coat them with a couple tablespoons of cornstarch and let them dry for a while. Before putting them in the air fryer I drizzle them with a little bit of oil and shake them thoroughly. At this point you can add any kind of seasoning that you want but do not add more salt. I make pretty small batches so about 15 to 20 minutes at 400° turns out a pretty crispy, almost puffy french fry. Just don't forget to shake them as they are frying

Those are exactly like mine!

My most exciting kitchen gadget in the last few years has been this handy little pair of pliers. In fact, I have a pair of them. I bought them in a little Chinese restaurant supply store and they called them microwave grabbers. The closest thing that I could find to them on the Internet were these from Walmart. They are not only great for grabbing things out of the microwave, but also for reaching down into the instant pot and for those pesky muffin pans that have no edge to grab. They have saved me from a lot of burns.