FWIW--the only gel I can use is from Hammer (and I've tried just about all of them). They use long chain maltodextrin. All the others cause me to retain water (to process the carbs) and cramp.

A friend who studied hospitality in Germany demonstrated the diff between frozen processed fries and freshly cut ones. Cut or break one, then dig out a little scoop with the tip of a knife. If it looks like mashed potatoes, it's been refined and process with who knows what. But if the inside looks like, well, potato, then it was cut from a whole potato and then left alone.

My guess is that there are frozen fries that have been processed and frozen ones that are just frozen, cut potatoes.

This does not, however, explain OP's query about WHY restos use frozen fries.

I agree that the pink ones are bitter. But red M&Ms also taste bitter to me. I figure that there's something in red dye that's bitter. My personal faves are the chocolate Peeps--not the ones dunked in chocolate, the ones with a bit of cocoa mixed into the marshmallow. I slit the cellophane and let the package sit on the counter for a few days...now them's good eatin!

My baked mac and cheese is more about technique than ingredients. Mine doesn't have an oil slick on top and when you take a scoop, it still has strings attached to the mother dish.

First, I use something like penne or rigatoni. Elbows don't hold up well after 45 min or an hour in the oven. Cook them a couple of minutes shy of al dente, drain and fold into a medium bechamel made with whole milk (this is not the time to go all Pritikin). I use a pound of pasta and a quart of milk and add a good half-dozen shakes of Tabasco. This doesn't add spice, it amps up the cheese flavor.

I then grate up a 50-50 mixture (give or take) of Cheddar (medium or sharp) and Monterey Jack. I try for 3/4 - 1 lb total. Then I layer half the pasta, cover it with half the cheese, then the rest of the pasta and the rest of the cheese. I have found that this method prevents oil separation.

I dust paprika over the top (for color), drizzle another cup of milk over the whole thing, then either cover in foil and pop in the fridge, or bake. It's pretty forgiving--I've done it 350 and 375, and between 45 min and over an hour. The top will get brown and chewy and the sauce will bubble up around the edges.

I haven't been able to find English muffin bread for a while and finally asked.

If the egg(s) is/are over a salad or, say, roasted asparagus, I top the whole lot with bread crumbs fried in olive oil with either some dijon or a minced anchovy (or a squirt of anchovy paste).

I worked on this recipe for three months and promise that if you follow the technique, you'll get bendy ginger cookies--not gingersnaps, not cakey ginger cookies, but beautiful crackle-topped cookies with thin edges and chewy centers. Trust me, it's the technique as much as the ingredients.

3/4 c butter
1 c sugar
1/4 c molasses
1 egg
2 c flour
2 tsp baking soda
big pinch of salt
1 12 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp cloves

Melt the butter and LET IT COOL TO ROOM TEMP. This is key. It's ok if it completely rehardens--I often melt it and then walk away for hours. Add the sugar, molasses, and egg.

Dry-whisk all the other ingredients and stir into the butter mixture. Key #2: cover and put it in the fridge at least four hours, or overnight. The dough has to be stone cold. There's something about the melting and cooling of the butter that affects the % of water, which in turn has something to do with gluten development.

Scoop generous 1" balls (I use a half-Tbsp measuring spoon) and roll them in sugar. Place them 2" apart on a cookie sheet. Bake 9 - 11 min at 350 or 375. I bake them in a non-convection oven at 365; you'll need to experiment. They'll puff and the the cracks will look wet. Take them out when the edges look barely set and they're still a little inflated, and the cracks look damp, then let them cool completely on the cookie sheet (this is key tip #3).
Don't wait til they're done in the middle or you'll have gingersnaps.

These are even better the next day, after the flavors have developed. I also often sandwich them with lemon filling--I make a basic butter and powdered sugar icing but use way more lemon peel than any sane person would use for a cake, because you use just a thin layer for filling.

In addition to adding plops to eggplant dishes, I do use it as a condiment--try using it to line a couple of slices of bread for a sandwich (esp a grilled cheese), or stirring some into some scrambled eggs. I haven't tried whisking a bit into a vinaigrette but am guessing that it will ad a nice piquancy.

French fries and onions rings. Yes, I live in Seattle.

I grew up in the SF bay area and all bakeries (even the ones in Chinatown) used pink boxes. I now live in Seattle and many bakeries here use them, too.

Thanks, everyone! You've confirmed what I suspected.

I use it to dress plain, steamed veggies. Sometimes I just toss with walnut oil and a vinegar and sometimes I use it with a little mustard to emulsify. Don't heat it--the flavor is delicate and will be lost. I've also used it to dress grain salads, like farro.

I have a recipe for a Turkish lamb and fig stew. It calls for brown onions as an ingredient, not as in "saute the onions until brown." I did an online search and found a couple of websites from the UK and Australia. Based on the photos and descriptions, it sounds like a brown onion is what in the US is called a plain ol' yellow storage onion. Are there any CH out there who can enlighten me?

I don't have any recipe suggestions but you can amp up the eggnog flavor by using an icing with copious quantities of dark rum and nutmeg. That way, those flavors won't be muted by the butter, flour, and sugar.

Another vote for slice and bakes. You can make the dough ahead of time and then bake and decorate assembly-line style when you have time. I make cookies for a local senior center and produce...a LOT. One I make frequently is what I call choco canes: a chocolate slice and bake, half-dipped in white chocolate and sprinkled with crushed candy canes while the chocolate is still tacky. You can find zillions of recipes online--they're all pretty similar. I prefer one with cocoa rather than melted chocolate because the dough is easier to work with. I assure you, these freeze beautifully and if you don't go crazy with the chocolate and sprinkles, also stack well.

This makes chewy, very chocolatey brownies:

3 - 6 oz dark or bittersweet chocolate
1/2 c butter
2 eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 c sugar, white, brown, or a mixture
1/2 c almond meal
1/4 c buckwheat flour
1/4 tsp baking soda
pinch of salt
nuts, choco chips, coconut, etc.

Melt the chocolate and butter and let them cool to room temp. Add the sugar(s), eggs, and vanilla. Dry-whisk the almond meal, buckwheat flour, baking soda, and salt; add to the choco-butter mixture. Stir in any optional add-ins.

Turn the batter into a greased 8x8 or 9x9. Bake at 350 for 28 - 32 minutes. These puff up and then sink in the middle, leaving chewy edges and soft middle pieces.

I've also iced these with peppermint buttercream and ganache. I regularly bring these to potlucks and just put em on the table and don't say anything. No one suspects a thing.

+3. It's stupid EZ and sooooooooooo much better.

This is the half recipe that I use:

1/2 c sugar
1 1/4 tsp gelatin (half an envelope)
1/2 c water
2 c powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla

Mix the sugar and gelatin, then add the water. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 10 minutes.

Put the powdered sugar in a mixing bowl. Turn the mixer onto low and slowly pour in the hot sugar-gelatin-water mixture. After it's all incorporated, increase to high and beat 6 - 8 minutes, til it turns opaque and gets thicker (texture should be like honey). Add the vanilla. Use while warm.

This icing will form a beautiful smooth, shiny icing. I've never tried piping it but am guessing that it's too runny. You could put on a "base coat" and then use royal icing or even a stiff buttercream for piping, or skip the base coat and just go for the fancy stuff. I use colored sugar, sprinkles, etc. while the icing is warm and sticky.

Aunt Sally or Sally Ann cookies are much sturdier than standard ginger cookies but are still spice cookies--it has to do with the proportion of butter to flour. You can look up the recipe online. They can be made as slice-and-bakes or you can roll out the dough and use cookie cutters. The classic icing that goes with it is an unusual boiled icing that includes gelatin, which makes for a smooth, shiny, hard finished product--again, that is still edible. It takes color beautifully. The only trick is that you have to use it while it's warm. I make a half-batch at a time so that it doesn't harden in the bowl.

Microwave it for a few seconds.

I pretty much stole this recipe from Mark Bittman and the finished product is soft. Extra chocolate never hurt anything, or anyone, so go for it and less us all know how it turned out. I'm sure you can make the simple syrup with less water, which will also thin out the finished product less, or try superfine or powdered sugar without first dissolving it in liquid. I doubt a tablespoon of liqueur will be too strong in an entire batch and might even try drizzling it directly on top of each serving, for a more direct flavor.

I use coconut milk all the time in lieu of half and half or cream. It's the only non-dairy milk that has any fat in it. My rough math is that I assume that full-fat coconut milk is about 32 - 35% fat, so it's roughly the equivalent of cream, and I adjust the fat content by thinning with water, as necessary. It does have a faint coconut flavor but given the spices you're describing, it shouldn't be noticeable. Happy TDay!

Boiled chicken and rice. Don't put anything into the pot or Crock pot except a chicken (or chicken parts) and water. You can save the stock for human soups. Don't give your dog rotisserie chicken--many are brined so they're super salty.

Either a recipe with melted chocolate or one of the ones with boiled sugar would set up like fudge. The boiled sugar ones I've worked with are fussy--you have to use them while they're warm. If they're too hot, they just drip off; if they're too cold, they're stiff and tear the cake. But if you do it correctly (or even close to correctly), they set up like a mirror, smooth and glossy. And a boiled sugar one would definitely be more chewy--it's made like fudge, with a boiled sugar base.

I don't know if you're looking for a frosting that tastes like fudge or one that has the chewy, dense texture of fudge. If it's the latter, if you make a frosting with melted chocolate rather than with cocoa, you'll get that dense chew because the chocolate will eventually re-solidify. Frostings made with melted chocolate also have a deeper flavor because fat carries flavor. I've used melted dark, bittersweet, dark sweet, milk, and white chocolates (in different batches--that isn't one big huge frosting flavor) and have found them all to work equally well. As for quantities--that depends on how rich v. how sweet you want the finished product, but the more chocolate, the thicker and chewier the texture.

This won't sub for dinner but at this time of year, my fave movie-watching snack is alternate bites of an apple and a Milk Dud, for a DIY, no-mess chocolate caramel apple.

To build on the capers theme--a friend makes stuffed eggs with capers, chopped water chestnuts, and lemon zest. I'm sure this flavor/texture combo would also work well as egg salad. I make Caesar stuffed eggs, which include anchovy and Parm and a weensy bit of garlic, bound with olive oil instead of mayo. I'd bet that combo would also work.

Some toasted, chopped walnuts. That was my fave sandwich at a long-gone coffee shop.

I always freeze basil, nuts, and olive oil alone, then "freshen" with cheese and garlic at the defrost and use end.

After reading posts for several days, I have to weigh in.

In my experience (and I'm Chinese), there's a limited universe of vegetables and meats in existence. I doubt it's the lack of jellyfish or chicken heads that is frustrating CHers. The various combinations of those ingredients are not what make a Chinese dish, Chinese. It's the sauces and flavorings, and those are difficult to translate or explain. Many people wouldn't jump at the opportunity to order something flavored with dragon-eye fruit, or might mistake it for dragonfruit. Many Chinese resto servers don't speak English well and may not know the English translation, or might know the English word (dragon-eye fruit) but not what it tastes like, or that it isn't the same as dragonfruit.

Like every other foodway, we just say the name of the dish or name the unusual ingredients. We don't go into long descriptions or definitions and in fact, if I were pressed to explain certain dishes, I'd have to launch into a long and tedious monologue. (And frankly no one in my family has ever used a menu at a Chinese resto.)

I honestly don't think that Chinese restos are hiding anything. It's difficult if not impossible to be able to adequately offer everything to everybody, given language issues.

And BTW having "a basic lack of Mandarin language competency" (per the OP) isn't what's going to get between you and the "secret menu" in the many Chinese restos in which Mandarin is neither spoken nor understood.