Toliver

Phoenix must have been a test market: McDonald’s expands coffee, breakfast choices - Chicken biscuits, espresso drinks among items coming to all U.S. outlets According to the article, the chicken biscuits will be offered at all U.S. McDonald's next year. They'll be introducing a "sausage skillet burrito", whatever that is, in a couple of weeks.

I didn't want to post this in any of the renovation discussions lest I give the authors more gray hairs , but I was wondering when purchasing and installing higher-end kitchen ovens, is there usually a need to calibrate them? Or do they function properly from the get-go?

As for magazines, I rip as I read. Then the magazine goes in the trash. Regarding recipes on the internet, there was another discussion here about people being able to collect and print recipes from the web in a personal cookbook. Why kill a tree for that? I use Microsoft Word. I cut & paste from web sites into my document, noting the source in case I need to return to it. Then when I need to make a recipe, it's easy to print out just what I need. If I had a computer in my kitchen, I wouldn't even need a print out.

I noticed your said Pizza Parlor...are you from back east? I remember Nehi sodas...thoes were good times ← I grew up with Shakey's Pizza Parlors and Farrell's Ice Cream Parlors. Guess the "parlor" stuck in my head even though those chains have long since faded away. I've been a west coast kid all my life and was just being generous in my description. The place was a tiny pizza shop with just enough room for two tables and a refridgerated case for the Nehi's in a neighborhood strip mall. Everything else in the shop was counter and kitchen. edited to add: Don't let the soda be a sticking point in your progress to getting the B&M no. 9 to open. You can always open stocked with name brands of soda while behind the scenes you develop your own. Then later on you can introduce them as your own artesinal line of sodas.

If it helps any, the units we found at WalMart were lumped in with the plastic storage bag (Ziplocs, etc) section.

You could always make your own: "Artisanal" Christmas Prezzies, What are you making?

When I was a kid, our favorite mom & pop pizza parlor always served Nehi in a bottle. Ah, the memories...

Another discussion that may help: Baking English Muffins - The Topic, (merged topics) Specifically, check out Post #20

The New and Improved Ove Glove. They've added a silicone texture/pattern to decrease the chance of slippage when handling pots, etc.

Thanks for this Anna N. I made the mistake of unscrewing the screw holding the battery compartment closed, thinking the batteries would be shielded until first use. Big Mistake! The screw doesn't go straight in. It's angled and it's also quite small so not so easy to get in. You don't need to open the battery compartment. The unit is ready to go when you open the darn plastic packaging. It was under ten bucks at WalMart. That's a pretty good price given that it comes with 6 AA batteries (that's half the cost of the unit itself!). It works pretty well for such a small rinky-dink unit. So far, I'm impressed.

In honor of fifi, I thought I would resurrect this discussion to remind those who will be deep frying a turkey for (U.S.) Thanksgiving of the safety precautions needed. I believe we will be deep frying a turkey this year (served along with a regular oven-roasted turkey). My mom hates the hassle of deep frying but my brothers and I do the frying (outdoors, of course) and the clean up and enjoy the end result. I'm going to try and persuade my brother to fry two...one for Thanksgiving and one he can take home for his own family after the holiday.

I noticed every turkey recipe on that web site said 10 minutes per pound. Deep frying is definitely faster than that. Of course, one drawback to deep frying is you're limited to a certain size (12lbs? 14lbs?). Bigger won't fit in the pot.

This question isn't about cooking but I figured it would feel at home in this discussion. It's more of a Food Science question but since that eGullet forum hasn't been developed yet: Why do people use bread boxes and how do they work? It's just a box to hold bread, right? Does it prevent the bread from drying out or getting moldy? If so, how? Or was it a place, in days of old, to put bread where mice couldn't get to it (like a pie cabinet)? I live in an area where it's often over 100°F during the summer months and it can get down to about freezing in the winter months. Bread would never survive residing in just a bread box here so I put it in the refrigerator. It does get dried out which is fine since I usually just toast it. So why a bread box?

Save the bread for later-that-night turkey sandwiches. Can you tell we eat quite early on Thanksgiving?

Chris, I hope a true SSB weighs in on this but I think you're on the right track. The tomato sauces, juices and pastes are concentrated due to reduction. It's natural that they would have highers concentrations of those chemicals due to the reduction process.

Tabasco makes a jalapeño sauce that is quite mild and yet it has some flavor to it. Pickapeppa Sauce, a sort of Caribbean sauce (tamarind based, I believe) has some heat but I use it more for the flavor.

I think you've nailed it. It should be have some heat but it should also have that tang provided by vinegar-based hot pepper sauces. Anyone can do hot. "Buffalo" is a different story.

I just bought a bag of these California Chips Creamy Chipotle potato chips out of the vending machine at work and, man, are they ever smokin' hot! I am a confessed chilihead. I like hot and spicy foods. So when I tell you these chips are HOT, they are hot. They're supposed to also have some sour cream flavoring but I didn't taste that at all (maybe they need more of a tang?). I have an email in to the company to find out if they make larger bags. edited to add: I just heard back from Kevin at California Chips. Talk about a fast response! He told me to check out my local Cost Plus World Market for the chips and even provided me directions to get there. Nice response! Their website needs a lot of work: California Chips I also stumbled across this interesting concept: Anchor's Chip of the Month Club Their website needs some work, too, but it's a great concept...providing samples of potato chips from different small manufacturers across the US. Has anyone tried this?

No McRib here either. They keep promoting those darn Angus Third pounders. Boo. Hiss. I want my McRib!

Ah, perhaps that's the key element that makes the McRib work so well (can you tell I'm a fan of the sandwich? ). As with most pork-centered meals, an acidic or tart element helps to cut the richness of the pork. For example, pork roast and sauerkraut, mustard and pork sausage, pork chops and apple sauce, etc. The pickles provide that acidic note needed to balance the porkiness of the McRib. It wouldn't be a McRib sandwich without them.

I wasn't sure which "Gadget" discussion to post this in... I thought this small appliance was unusual: Toastess 1000-watt Cordless Classic Stainless Steel Warming Tray A cordless warming tray that comes in different sizes. It looks like this one is their largest model. The description doesn't say how it retains the heat for 60 minutes which makes me wonder if the heat stays at a certain temperature for that full hour or is there a gradual fall-off during that time? Also, I'm wondering how you move the tray since the sides/handles don't look very hand-friendly. I supposed you could always use hotpads/towels to set it in place.

New Hot Tamales Ice I'm not a big fan of these. They are the same shape as the Hot Tamales candy but are a pale blue with some white speckling, as you can see by the image scan. There are a ka-billion mint candies out there. The Hot Tamales Ice candy are a spearmint flavor but they're not very strong. You wouldn't be able to use them as a breath mint should the need arise. The spearmint flavor is there but then disappears to be replaced by sugar gel texture you find with the regular Hot Tamales. You would think with the "Ice" name that the mint would be "cooling" in the mouth and long lasting but it's not long-lasting and it's not cooling. I vote thumbs down.

Simply stunning. That, my friend, is a thing of beauty. It's enough to bring a tear of joy (and hunger) to my eyes.

Well, we had buttered bread with cinnamon and sugar when we were little. Maybe that's the US version.

If you do get a website/blog, make sure you put directions to your burger joint on it, or a hot link to GoogleMaps of your location(s). People have to be able to find you and that incredible looking burger!