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California had drought and a spot virus in the crop. Bad combination. We're just starting to see some of the AZ lettuce growers coming online now and I hope that means the prices will drop. I see one of our local stores is offering both CA and AZ lettuce. Right now, both are still $5 Cdn but I hope that will change soon! I am kicking myself for not planting some in my raised bed which has a greenhouse cover. I did hear that it would be a bad year for lettuce. Some of our local farms are still offering various greens but I wonder if they are trying to charge what the market will bear, not what their real costs are. Sigh. Edited to add: It may still be too soon for the AZ lettuce. I just noticed that product listing said CA/AZ lettuce. So could be either. But I do believe prices will come down here in BC once AZ production ramps up. Hoping they don't have any big issues! 🙂

The two most popular styles of pizza, New York and Neapolitan, rely, to varying extents, on rapidly expanding steam created by intense heat. This rapidly expanding steam is what gives these styles their puff/volume. As you work at lower oven temps, and/or with materials that transfer heat slower (like ceramics or thin metal pans) your bake time increases and your puff suffers. Neapolitan dough utilizes an unmalted flour that resists browning. In an oven setup that bakes longer than 2 minutes, it takes on a hard, stale character that's a shell of it's faster baked potential. Now, there are a LOT of home pizza makers who've never had properly baked Neapolitan pizza who torture their doughs (and their guests) with these long baked nightmares- and who seem perfectly happy, but, if you're truly striving for the best possible results, you really want an oven that will char/leopard 00 flour in 90 seconds or less. New York isn't that cut and dry. New York uses malted flour, which encourages browning, and it almost always incorporate sugar and oil, both of which ramp up the browning even further. As you work in cooler/slower heat transfer environments, New York doesn't go from majestic to barely edible like Neapolitan does. But it absolutely loses a LOT of character. Obsessives may argue over whether a 4 minute bake time is better than a 7 minute bake, but anyone that understands great pizza agrees that, as you start pushing into 9, 10, 11 minutes, that's just not going to be NY style at it's best. Obviously, the original Modernist Cuisine was/is a big deal for many reasons, but, from a pizza perspective, they may not have invented steel plate, but, they put it on the map. With thick enough steel, you can take a 550-ish home oven and produce a life altering 4-5 minute NY style bake. This kicked off a home pizza baking revolution. So, to finally answer your question, heat transfer is absolutely critical to the two most popular styles of pizza. There's absolutely no way to compensate for longer bake times. You can't squeeze blood from a stone. This being said... there are things that 500 degree oven owners can do. First... very few people remember that, when the first MC came out, the steel plate page also referenced aluminum plate. The increased conductivity that makes steel transfer heat faster than stone causes aluminum to be superior to steel. From a perspective of bottom heat, aluminum plate at 500 can match the transfer of steel at 550. That's bottom heat, though. For this kind of setup to work, you absolutely have to have a broiler in the main oven compartment, not a broiler drawer below the main chamber. And the aluminum plate has to be thick- at least 3/4" of an inch. If you plan in cooking for larger groups of people, I'd go an inch or larger. You can get a reasonably sized 6061 aluminum plate for about $100 shipped. Second, you can buy an Ooni. A good Ooni (I recommend the Koda 16) will run you considerably more than $100, but... an Ooni gives you Neapolitan. Neapolitan isn't happening in a 500 degree home oven. Third, I can't vouch for them, but MC has recipes for other styles. Chicago styles (thin crust, deep dish) move into more of a pastry area, where intense heat isn't necessary. Detroit doesn't require a blazingly fast bake either. Regardless of which direction you take, if you haven't experienced Neapolitan or fast baked NY style pizza, it's definitely worth pursuing.

Binchotan can pop, spark, or explode during the heating process, so unless your kitchen is nonflammable and you have a big hood with makeup air, you’ll want to use it outside. Which isn't so bad. The classic ceramic konro grills are made of thick, porous clay tiles that retain heat as opposed to radiating it out like a metal one. They’re much more efficient, as most of the heat goes straight up toward the food you’re grilling. Here's a link showing how the clay used for these grills is harvested. It's then shaped, fired, and joined using traditional masonry techniques. That should give you an idea of why this style of grill in particular is more expensive than you might expect. If you read Japanese, here's a link to the manufacturer's website. Not so useful for direct ordering, but maybe to find out more and see what other styles they make. If you get one, get some spare nets as well as the fan. Extra nets are useful if something sticks or if you leave one out and it rusts or something. And the fan is quite useful for ramping up the temp of the charcoal. And it's useful for the fire pit and campfires as well. Less intense than the leaf blower, though that does a great job as well.

Preliminary report on my garlic scapes. For better or worse, I blanched (about half) or steamed (the other half) what I still had because they really are potent. I used some of the blanched scapes for this dressing. It's delightful! I'll be posting photos with it drizzled over things, I'm sure. Then there's this suggestion... I'll be interested to see what folks say about pickling. I still have some pickled ramps from last year and am hesitant to add to the jars of pickled substances in our cupboards. However, I can see that I have a LOT of garlic scape paste! I'm not sure I did it any favors with the steaming. I just realized that I have neither walnuts nor pine nuts, and I'm not crazy about it with pecans or almonds. (Yes, I've tried it.) So it'll have to go into the freezer for now. If I don't like the way my pesto comes out (once I've found walnuts) I can always make more of that dressing! I'll try that, thanks - except the food processor or immersion blender will have to be my option. There's no mortar and pestle in this household big enough for them. I understand that the end result is different, but it's what my time and equipment will allow. I like the assorted flavors you suggest. So far, clockwise from upper left, I have: scapes, cut and steamed for a few minutes, then shocked with cold water; @FauxPas's dressing, made from blanched (and shocked) scapes; steamed scapes spun up with olive oil, a touch of salt and a touch of lemon; the remaining blanched-and-shocked scapes. Some of those will be in tonight's dinner. While steaming and blanching both tenderized them slightly and brightened their colors, I think the quick blanch and shock produced a slightly better flavor. Whew, it's still pungent though!

Gave the NinjaSP101 a break for one night. Made Mapo Tofu with eggplant for supper: Outside temperatures ramping up as did the wind. That hasn't stopped the skeeters, so no BBQ outside. Put the Ninja back into service and Air Fried ribeye steaks for supper. Seasoned with Montreal Steal Spice and olive oil. Air fry 5 minutes flipped for another 5 minutes. I wanted some sear, so did a 5 minute Air Broil. Need to scale back on the Air Fry time so it will be more on the rare said. Still good tho'

Don't enjoy to go to the supermarket in my food hell, but on holiday I look at every aisle, fridge and freezer! The wonderful German supermarkets are always fun to wander round. How fast the time passes when you are busy checking out what the inhabitants like to eat and have access to. In my food hell we are not clever enough, or interested in having frozen, ready to eat boletus and salsify. The horseradish cream blew my nostrils off. I overestimated myself. The 1 big (sliced in half) boletus takes up much of the package. Meat is Kasseler. A pork product that's been cured and smoked. Another day, another sparkling Riesling. Some "snacks" Bakery in the neighbourhood. Notice it's also open on Sundays and holidays, for 3 hours. Germans need their fantastic bread daily. Most things are closed on those days. On the way back from a 15km walk when I was passing by vineyards on the way down I stopped to watch a farmer work. There’s a built-in ramp on the side of the tractor that he drove his lawn mower like machine on it. I think the little machine is for clearing weeds between the vine rows. He drove all the way down to the end of each row, back to the top, then onto the ramp. And how did he move the tractor to the next row? By using a control panel within his reach. The process was repeated until every row was done. The vineyards here are so steep, most of the time you can't just stand on the ground. You must hold on to something. Here he came back up again from the bottom of the slope. When he drove onto the ramp he was lying half way flat. After watching the farmer I started walking again and saw this. Thanks for your hard work, farmers! Finally reaching the street level and admiring my twin village through the rows of vine. Next year or 2 they will be in bottles so that we could enjoy. Without the farmers, the bees and critters there would be no wine! Respect for (vineyard) farmers.

Smoked salmon pasta Alfredo, with additions: red bell pepper, ramps, shishito peppers, asparagus, parsley. The usual Alfredo components of butter, cream and parmesan. (It's been recently asserted here that the cream -- or is it the butter? -- doesn't actually belong, but this is the way I learned it from Lynne Rosetto Kasper's radio show.) Pepper and/or Danish smoked salt at the table. Could have used more sauce, but the flavors were good and well-balanced. Now, for a note about those shishito peppers: I've been reading about them here from the enablers. I spotted them in the store and decided to see what the fuss was about. I tried blistering half that package but cooked them to a crisp. Out they went. This finished dish has a handful of shishitos sliced, then sweated along with the red pepper and ramp heads before more ingredients were added. The raw shishitos tasted unfortunately like green bell peppers. That is not a compliment. The cooked shishitos blended in well enough that I can't say much about them. My question to the shishito aficionados is: what is special about them?

Thank you all, Jvalentino, kayb, Okanagancook, Shelby, liuhou, huiray, patrickamory, Anna N, CatPoet, Dejah, mm84321, btbyrt, scubadoo, Ann_t, Kim, ------- and many others, you have been such an inspiration to me. Your mastery of the culinary arts is truly impressive. I bow to you all. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Spring is in full swing. I have been busy taking advantage of the bounties from my backyard. Foraging for every meal. dcarch Swai on daylily shoots Salmon on violet greens Lamb, ramps

Late at night... 薑蔥牛河: "Ginger – scallions – beef – hor fun". (a.k.a. 幹炒牛河: "dry – stir-fried – beef – hor fun") Sort-of similar to this recipe, with proportions adjusted amongst other things. The amount of ginger was greatly ramped up, for one. IMO there needs to be a lot of ginger in this dish. I used ribeye, sliced against the grain.

Very Thick Asparagus, prosciutto, ramps from the back yard, pasta. A bit of butter, a bit of half-and-half, some grated parmesan to garnish. It looked very pretty but I couldn't remember where I'd put the camera. It tasted even better than it looked. I owe Paula Wolfert for the inspiration. The bases of the Very Thick Asparagus Spears were tough. I peeled them, cut into matchsticks and began dicing them for a last-minute addition to the skillet dinner above. A bite or two (before adding) convinced me that these were too tough to be so used. I'll save them to make Weinoo's asparagus risotto instead.

I'm jealous of all of you ramp people.

I believe Ithaca is not far from you, yes? Is there a Farmers' Market there? Or, would it be an idea to scope out fancy restaurants there? In both cases with an eye to harvesting your ramps and selling them there - possibly for a good price too. After all, Cornell is there...lots of rich students...lots of professors and intellectual/"sophisticated" types there... See here...or here...

Yeah, I think it's funny too! Ramps are an ubiquitous pedestrian food here, the woods at my farm were full of them! I wish I could have got $5 a bunch for them...let alone $16 a pound!!!! That's crazy!

I find it funny that ramps and fiddleheads are so trendy now. I have fond memories of my grandmother taking me out foraging for them and watercress too in the 70's. I was sworn to secrecy though as more often than not we were trespassing, and my GM was worried my Mom would find out she was being a bad influence. LOL

Regarding ramps: The ramps I showed in the post I linked to in my post above were sold by the bundle at US$5 each. I would say they were somewhere between 3/4 to a pound per bundle. I bought more the following week also at $5 a bunch and still have the smaller of the two bunches shown in this post (both of which were somewhat smaller than the previous week's batch) – I just weighed it: 9.2 oz, and it has been drying up a bit too in the fridge. These were being sold by the folks who gathered it themselves from their farmland property. :-) In contrast, at the BRFM this past weekend the vendor from whom I got the morels also had ramps (with roots & the bottoms of the bulbs hacked off roughly) but they were also pretty small and sold in small bunches at $6 which could not have been more than 1/4 to 1/3 pound each. But he is a reseller, not the originator of the ramps (or the morels). :-(

Interestingly enough, at my local Whole Foods in Manhattan, ramps were cheaper than above.

That's 'cause Ramps and Fiddleheads aren't farmed - they're gathered. I think urban "farmers markets" in high-income areas should get a new name. Perhaps "TrendyMarket" or "Kale & Things". Too bad Whole Paycheck is already taken.

Ironic that the best farmers markets are in the cities. Out here in the semi-country there are a few FMs here and there, but I've not seen one where a fiddlehead or a ramp can be found.

At today's season opening Headhouse Square market in Philadelphia, Ramps and Fiddleheads, $16/pound.

Still barely putting my Anova to use, the other day I made some TJ's salmon fillets straight from the freezer, resealed in ziplocks with olive oil and salt. They went at 48ºC for 1 hour, then the skin side was seared in clarified butter in cast iron. Very tasty, but tons of albumin came out of the fish - I thought at such low temps, that doesn't happen? I've read that brining the fish for, say, 15 minutes prevents that from happening - but does that only work if the fish is not frozen? Also, the fish was still quite red, despite being very flaky and very clearly cooked - any particular reason that might be? (I also seared ramps and a SHITLOAD of asparagus in bacon grease and salt as an accompaniment - deeeelicious!)

Aspargus again last night (6 days in a row eating asparagus). With cooked ham (a specific kind which goes well with asparagus, the Germans are particular about this kind of thing), and smoked raw ham. Most commonly served with hollandaise or butter, but I prefer mine plain or with drawn butter. Green stuff is fresh ramps. I ate its flowers, too.

Dejah, you have the snow now, we're getting it tomorrow. Meanwhile, today between thunderstorms I realized that it's GREEN and it suddenly (truly, within a day) smells like our northern spring. I don't know what plant(s) make that smell (newly-leafing alder? willow?), but it's distinctive - and magical. The ramps are up in our woods, and the markets have good asparagus. I scored some scallops (marked down for quick sale) this weekend. Dinner was seared scallops with asparagus, ramps, and prosciutto with caper butter, over rice. Bread from today's baking exercise, warm from the oven.

Ramps today from the same fellow at a local market who had rather expensive stuff two weeks ago - but today he had a lot more of them and they were decent stuff at $10/lb albeit with their roots and bottoms of the bulbs already chopped off. See here for a pic of them.

Sadly no pictures - we were all too ravenous to pause and take any, but hopefully a description will suffice; Being Spring, Ramps are in the air, and in my fridge - Ramp Pizza - Potato Mashed Ramp Base w/ bacon fat as a cooking oil - Sliced pickled ramp bulbs - Raw Ramp Leaves - Mozzerella / Friulano mix - Cumbrae's thick sliced bacon pieces

Sorrel soup, in the style of green Ukrainian borscht. Butter, diced onion & carrots, chicken stock, diced potatoes, a few dried bay leaves, salt, chopped red-streaked sorrel, ground black pepper, minced chives & parsley. Dressed w/ more chives & parsley, chopped hard-boiled egg, several dollops of sour cream. Broccolini & quartered fresh baby portobello mushrooms sautéed w/ Arbosana EV olive oil plus butter, salt. ------------------------------------------------ Ramps, sliced - leaves & bulbs & all; sautéed w/ white beech & sliced fresh baby portobello mushrooms; olive oil (Arbosana) & salt; tossed w/ fedelini [De Cecco], a beaten farm-fresh egg added and stirred into the mixture. Plated & dressed w/ chopped parsley. On the way there.