Toliver

This Cheddar and Onion Burger used to be a yearly burger (like the McRib appears only once a year) in my area. Then it disappeared completely. It's good to see it back (if in a somewhat smaller form).

Not at all. They were thick chops and were slightly pink in the middle when I cut into them. Yes, they were still mostly crispy. But I found the snow white crumbs a little too stark for my liking. I guess I was expecting them to brown more after baking (darn you Shake 'n' Bake for skewing my expectations after all these years! ). Thanks to all the responses. I will give some of the suggestions a go the next time I bake more chops.

A Panko Problem: I was going to oven-bake some thick pork chops. I wanted them to have a crispy crust so I lightly oiled them up and then dipped them in seasoned panko crumbs. After 30 minutes at 350°F, the pork chops were done but the panko coating was still as white as when the chops were put into the oven. Without resorting to pan frying, how could I achieved a browning of the panko crumb coating? Should I have added some oil to the crumbs before coating the chops? Thanks in advance for your input. edited to add spacing.

Blue Diamond Wasabi & Soy almonds. I have to restrain myself from eating the entire can in one sitting. My local Costco sells shelled pistachios in a bag and I could just keep eating every last one.

Yes. It's normal for any good EVOO to have that olive flavor. EVOO is supposed to be from the first pressing of olive oil and if it didn't have that olive flavor I would stay away from it/don't buy it. It also should have a different hue (EVOO's tend to look more green) than regular olive oil.

"McDonald's Sales Drop For First Time Since 2003" This was an article pointing out the drop in McDonald's sales last October. They've since rebounded somewhat. I thought this was interesting: They obviously felt the change away from the "Dollar Menu" was to blame for part of the sales drop. This explains the huge upswing in McDonald's "Dollar Menu" TV commercials I keep seeing. And in this article "Wendy’s Doubles Down on Dollar Menu", with their "Right Price, Right Size" menu, it seems as if Wendy's is going down the route McDonald's abandoned...pricing "value" menu items more than a dollar. Will this work for Wendy's when it didn't work for McDonald's? How much influence does a "Dollar Menu" have in driving customers to a fast food restaurant? Is it a determining factor or just one factor of many? What is it about breaking the dollar barrier that turns customers away, or in Wendy's case, hopes to keep drawing them in?

The jar I bought at Trader Joe's did have a little kick to it, but paled in comparison to the Inglehoffer. Thanks for the tip, Katie. I'll give this a shot for my longevity-of-the-heat test.

My testing has started. I made corned beef and cabbage New Year's Day. I enjoy hot horseradish on my corned beef. I tried three different brands of bottled prepared horseradish: Trader Joe's, Morehouse and and outrageously expensive little jar of Inglehoffer Extra Hot Horseradish (seriously...the jar is barely larger than a golf ball. I paid more than double the price listed on the Inglehoffer web page at my local gorcery store). The Morehouse was mild...no heat at all. It was the least expensive horseradish on the grocery store shelf and I guess you get what you pay for. Trader Joe's horseradish was good. It did have some heat. It wasn't blazing hot but had a nice kick and flavor to it. By far the hottest of the three brands I tried was the Inglehoffer Extra Hot Horseradish. It was spectacularly sinus-clearing hot. Bingo! I will continue to post updates as I try more brands of bottled prepared horseradish. In addition, I will try the Trader Joe's and the Inglehoffer again in a few weeks now that the jars have been opened to see how much potency they lose over time.

Thanks to those who mentioned brands. I Googled "Long's Horseradish" and found they have a new web site.They've announced they will be selling their horseradish online beginning next month. Amazon Fresh sells Bubbies (interesting that mustard oil is listed as one of the ingredients) and regular Amazon sells Atomic, as well. I have just under 12 months to find a hot bottled horseradish and am eager to get started. Thanks to all... edited to add: I called a deli near where my mom lives and while they don't make it themselves they buy it fresh-made from someone else. So there's yet another option. Thanks for this suggestion.

My family's Christmas Eve tradition is have prime rib for dinner at home. We enjoy a "homemade" horseradish sauce that accompanies the meat (sour cream, bottled prepared horseradish, salt and paprika) but have been disappointed these last few years in that the bottled/prepared horsradish we buy in the grocery store isn't very hot. The labels on some of these bottles even claim to be "hot" horseradish and really aren't. While there are eGullet discussions on how to make your own homemade horseradish I'd rather stick with the bottled/prepared horseradish for this recipe. This year we tried Silver Springs Prepared blue label and a small bottle of horseradish from a company whose name I can't recall that had the word "hot" on their label (again, it wasn't hot). Does anyone have a recommendation of a brand of bottled horseradish available in the grocery stores or online that is hot? Or am I fighting a losing "Food Science" battle here since dairy products seem to naturally "tame" the heat from chile peppers, is the sour cream in the sauce recipe taming the horeradish's heat?

This could be just an old belief. Salted water takes more time to boil. But in the consumer kitchen, the difference in boiling times between salted water versus unsalted water is almost negligible so why bother? Paul Prudomme did something similar in his old cooking shows. He would start cooking with the Trinity and then about halfway through the cooking process would add more of the fresh Trinity. Or he would do the same with some spices (heating them to bring out the oils/flavor and then making a sauce, only to add more of the spices towards the end of cooking). A chiffonade of basil that's been slowly simmering in tomato sauce for a couple of hours definitely has a different flavor, of course, than fresh basil tossed in just before serving. It's all about buidling layers of flavors. I believe you're correct. It's added for flavor, not deglazing.

Mother's Cookies has added a new cookie...Jungle Animals iced cookies. They taste the same as the Iced Circus Animals but have green and white icing and the shapes are all jungle-related animals. I still miss their iced raisin cookies.

McRib television commercials have appeared locally so it looks like McDonald isn't waiting until December for the McRib's debut this year.

It looks like a baby Dalek..."Exterminate!" I can't imagine fried chicken without the lard/oil. Isn't this something similar to a convection oven then as opposed to a fryer?

Kitchenaid has a new food processor with sliding button that lets you adjust the thickness/thiness of of your slices. The adjustable thickness slider is a brilliant idea...no more different blade discs with a set slicing thickness, Yes, it's an expensive machine. I hope this adjustable thickness button idea spreads to other (less expensive) models.

A lot of the food Anne Burrell prepares on her "Secrets of a Restaurant Chef" looks great, but... I swear I will explode from empathetic high blood pressure if I continue to see her throw fistfuls of salt into whatever she's cooking. And what's worse are the times she throws in a fistful of salt and then goes back to the bowl o' salt to grab another fistful.

I tried what I think is a new TJ product...Whole Grain Rye Mini Toasts. It's like a bag of flat rye croutons. They're super crisp and crunchy and the rye flavor is intense. They were great for dipping in hummus. edited to add: I also tried a new (to me) Pomegranate flavored Kefir which was quite good, as well.

After buying boxes and boxes of Reynolds Aluminum Foil in regular grocery stores, I switched to the Costco FoodService box of aluminum foil. It was huge and expensive when compared to the normal boxes of foil you buy in the regular grocery stores. The first foodservice box of foil I bought at Costco lasted me quite a while. So when I bought my second foodservice box of foil, I decided to date the box so I would know how long the box lasted me. Now I am a moderate home cook, cooking for one. By moderate I mean I do eat out a day or two during the week but do most of my own cooking for the rest of my meals. I'd use the aluminum foil for lining baking sheets, wrapping leftovers, etc, just general use. This weekend I used the last of this second box of foil and saw that I had dated the box "9/21/08". This Costco Foodservice box of aluminum foil lasted me just over four years and one month. Now if only Costco sold the Reynolds Release (nonstick) aluminum foil in a simlarly sized foodservice box, I'd be a happy camper...er, I mean "cook"!

Yes. There would have also been a (usually) tall container. See this video: You really don't need the original matching container in order to use your strainer. You can use a large sturdy glass in place of a container as long as the strainer portion fits snugly atop the glass. As you shake this makeshift cocktail shaker, you just make sure you hold the strainer (and its closed lid) snugly to the glass portion so there won't be any leaks as you shake it.

The "funnel with strainer and cap thingy" looks like the top to a cocktail shaker. You're just missing the shaker chamber.

I finally stumbled upon the third flavor of Nestlé's Limited Edition candy bars...Peanut Butter Creme based upon the Girl Scout cookie flavors. At first I was disappointed in the flavor. It reminded me of those sugar wafer cookies. Just a lot of sweetness and the thin crunchiness of the wafer layers. Then the peanut butter flavor really kicked in. It tasted more like the Girl Scout's Do Si Do peanut butter sandwich cookies than the Girl Scout peanut butter Tagalong cookies. There was a salty sweetness to the candy bar that I enjoyed. This candy bar gets a definite thumbs up.

I thought it was genius, as well. I'm not the originator of the magical pleated cup trick, but when I saw it, I knew I had to spread the word.

You're so fortunate to still have tomatoes. My mom is in Santee and her four potted tomato plants from this season are nothing but a memory now. I have a brother living in Kearny Mesa that grew the biggest, ugliest heirlooms (all in pots) this season that were the best tomatoes I've ever tasted. Meaty with hardly any goop. My oldest brother, who lives on Mission Bay, still has some growing. He staggered his plantings this year to make the tomato season last longer. Enjoy! And your strawberries sound like miracles so far out of season.

A lot of us are familiar with the McDonald's ketchup cup. It's definitely not the ideal choice of container for dipping your french fries into. But what if I told you the cup is magical...that it can be transformed into a nice dipping container? The cup is pleated. All you have to do is gently pull the pleats out until you get a saucer/bowl shape. I saw a similar photo posted on the internet and decided to reproduce the magic on my own. Voila! The tiny cup is now a veritable bowl of ketchup! Who says you can't teach an old dog a new trick?

It depends on the plant. Mint should always go in a pot. If it's planted in the ground it will take over the entire garden.