Jemon's Profile
Favorite light roast coffee brand? (high and low)
I can never resist talking about coffee! I used to order from Stumptown as well. They are very good at getting certain roasting profiles, but they ARE super expensive. I roast at home in a popper and get my green beans from sweet marias like many others do, but if you don't want to go that route, I suggest to keep trying local roasters/coffee shops There has to be at least one! Check yelp if you haven't already? That way, you can decide what you like as far as blend, origin, etc and get really fresh stuff, which is what is most important.
I don't know how you are brewing, but never slack on the method you use to do so. Buying great coffee is a waste if you don't use a great method of making the actual coffee.
trying to develop a recipe for chicken to be served at a restaruant
With boneless skinless breasts, pound into large, thin cutlets and trim square. Use the scraps for something else. Begin a velvet by marinating them in egg white, salt and cornstarch. Remove from egg/cornstarch mix, drain and fry until beautifully golden. Make finely pureed tomato sauce with peeled tomato, carrot, onion, and juice of the small citrus of your choice. Yuzu or meyer lemon is a good choice. Cut chicken into even, rectangular planks and stack. Pool sauce on plate and pour evenly over chicken stack. Top with deep fried, paper thin rings of the citrus used for the sauce. Optionally tempura batter the slices.
The chicken will be extremely tender and the sauce should be bright and acidic. Clean tasting summery dish.
Bunch of fresh Stevia? What to do?
Steeping as a tisane on its own is a good option as well.
Jalapeno stuck on my fingers!
Hahaha, I made the genitals mistake too, I just didn't mention it!
Focaccia help
I can't vouch for anyone elses suggestions but celeryroot and chefj. Extremely wet dough is the only, and most simple, thing that will give you a lighter product. Dough that has a near-batter consistency.
Jalapeno stuck on my fingers!
Wow! You people have such gentle little fingers! ;) As a contact lens wearer, the danger for me is touching chili seeds and guts and then having to remove or insert my lenses. I made that mistake once and it will never happen again! I've never felt skin pain from them myself, but maybe you could try rubbing a little bit (or a lot) of milk into your hands. I figure this might work since drinking milk helps when eating capsicums.
End of the season??
Check this out for a lot of opinions on a lot of different varieties.
http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/finder/index.php?sname=Tomatoes
End of the season??
I was one of the people talking to you about it. As far as things to do now, its kind of a mixed bag. You might get different advice from different people, but as far as I'm concerned, cut back on watering but don't let the plants dry out *too* much. Keep picking the fruit as it matures because you want to let the new fruits have as much nourishment as possible. Prune off all of the dead/dry branches and the branches that are low on the plant and don't look like they will grow any fruit. These branches won't have any young, fuzzy growths coming off of them.
About the flavor and quality of your tomatoes, blandness is usually a result of over hydration in my experience. You will get bigger tomatoes, but they won't be as flavorful. Soil quality plays a role as well. Also, are you waiting for them to get ripe enough? When you gently tug at a fruit on the plant, it should come off without much effort at the little joint that is about 1cm from the base of the stem. If you are breaking off the "hat" of the tomato and don't have any green on when you pick, you are pulling them off before they are ripe. This will kill the flavor. Also, don't refrigerate them if you are used to doing this. Tomatoes last just as long on the counter as they do in the fridge and they will taste better. I don't know what you are or aren't doing, so I'm trying to cover all the bases. I hope this helps.
About heirlooms...there are tons of varieties and the flavor and texture varies greatly, which is what sells me on them. I find that heirloom varieties generally grow more prolifically than the hybrid varieties and they taste better, at least for me. I haven't grown the "basic red tomato" in a while, though this year I accidentally grew early girls along with my other plants. Do some research into what you might like and try growing a few different kinds next year. I will still be around if you need help and advice. :)
A Few Spiders Have Taken Up Residence on My Balcony Peppers
I let spiders own my garden. Between them and the ladybugs, it's hostile ground for leafmunchers! Any spiders I find in the house are transported outside onto one of my plants.
What do you do with your food processor blades?
I have a Black and Decker food processor, so i don't know if the sizes are comparable, but I am able to fit all of the attachments inside of the processor unit when it's not in use! The main blade goes on the shaft, the flat cutting disk fits on top of the shaft, the other 4 "blades" all manage to fit in loosely around. I think they designed the model that I own very well.
How do you organize your spice rack/cupboard?
Yup. It is a great system. it makes sense for those of us who know whats what!
The oldest expired food item you've come across?
Double fermented milk = fermented yogurt? Sam would have liked it.
How do you organize your spice rack/cupboard?
I do this too, it makes total sense to me, but when someone comes over and asks where, say, dried thyme is, they hardly ever seem to "get it" when I say it's with the other similar herbs! I'm thinking of switching to the alphabetic system, but the problem then is, do you put New Mexicos and Chipotles together under "C" for chilies, "P" for peppers, or under "N" and "C"? Maybe I WILL stick with this system. :)
Ham question
If memory serves me correctly, aren't those pre cooked? I do recall those always being a dry (and not very tasty) part of Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners. In that case, they only have to be brought up to eating temperature (120 ish)...which explains why they are always dry.
Are You A Neat Cook?
The way to clean efficiently as you go is to clean while things are cooking, or during steps where you don't have to personally interact with the food. Cleaning as you go doesn't entail actually taking time out of the preparation steps to clean up, at least to me it doesn't. Any mess left after the plating is done is cleaned after the meal is over.
Are You A Neat Cook?
it depends on what I'm cooking, but at home, if I have to prep chop lots of veggies, they all go onto the same plate/platter in their own piles rather than in separate bowls like they do on TV. :) Meats get cut after veggies on the same board. I don't worry about the cross contamination to use more than one board at a time. I try to clean as I go as much as possible because I don't want to worry about doing it later. In mine and my girlfriends house, I run the whole kitchen. She has prepared maybe three meals in the last two years we have lived here and washed a dish maybe four or five times (she does the laundry and cleans the rest of the house in return). That said, if I'm cooking bacon, the splatter screen isn't perfect, so I definitely have a mess to clean up afterward. I also try to prep on a large sheetpan or a few pieces of parchment so I can just throw it away later. Easier than wiping down countertops. The same pan is used as much as possible, and as many things as possible that can go into the dishwasher.
Does choice, Angus or select make any difference on a chuck roast that your going to braise anyway?
it would be my belief that the meat with the higher fat content would be more flavorful, al else being equal. Even in a braise, the fat that is rendered off is still present in the braising liquid and usually when I make it, gets emulsified into the sauce. The fat is more flavorful than the lean, so more equals better, if you ask me.
However, paying an extra $1 a pound...it depends on your money situation. Is it worth it for a possibly small increase in flavor?
Powdery mildew on tomatoes
Google is always your friend.
http://www.gardenguides.com/94302-rid-white-powdery-mildew-tomato-plant-leaves.html
About starting new plants in August, you are kind of out of luck for this year. The earliest plants take at least 50 something days to come to maturity, and from here, that's about October. You won't get much after that unfortunately due to the colder nights.
Is it bad if a magnet will stick to your knife?
If you are still looking for a knife, one of the best knives I've ever owned is a very cheap Kiwi Brand knife from www.wokshop.com . Wokshop is in Chinatown SF. $6.95 and the knife is razor sharp and holds it's edge wonderfully. The only thing is that the handle isn't that attractive...if that matters to you.
My Canelé Misadventures, Thus Far
Hahaha, remind me not to get on you guys' bad sides!
My Canelé Misadventures, Thus Far
Hahahaha, I thought I was the only one who felt that way about the guy in the video! I didn't want to say anything, but he was really annoying. Kind of made me not want to like the canele. I need to find a place nearby that makes them! There are too many things on my "to buy" list to include canele molds!
over-cooked salmon filet -- any ideas?
Mix in a little bit of liquid smoke, maybe some dill, then mix the whole of it into cream cheese and make lox spread!
Pizza dough emergency
Adding too much flour during kneading is pretty much EVERY novice baker's downfall! I think a lot of recipes are poorly written; stating to use "as much flour as needed" on the kneading surface instead of giving a maximum quantity. I recall a younger Jemon dumping at least an extra cup of flour onto the counter to knead in since I never knew how the actual dough was really supposed to be like. It really does take someone more experienced to take a novice baker under their wing and show them, because trial and error is a pain and a lot of people just give up on bread because it can be frustrating.
Pizza dough emergency
I don't really care about the yeast feeding properties of the sugar in the recipes, I use it for sweetness. I will let the dough rise as long as it needs to.
I'm so d*mned close on naan but still can't get the yummy char
If you really can't get it, cheat! Take a culinary torch to it on a little test piece and see how it goes.
Pizza dough emergency
Some Euro breads do, such as brioche, off the top of my head. I often see pizza dough recipes with honey or sugar as well. I'm not sure if these are traditional or not.
Yeast. Whats up with that?
I would like to add one thing about flavor vs fermentation time. If you are making a dough for a sweeter product, short rises are better in my opinion since that alcohol-like acidic flavor doesn't get to pronounce itself. But honestly, I don't think I personally ever really notice that big of a difference. I will basically add the amount of yeast for the bread/whatever to be ready when I want it to be risen.
Pizza dough emergency
I don't think anyone has mentioned it (I could be wrong) but I wouldn't use the ice cold water in it. I don't see the point of doing that if you are then going to do a fast rise at room temperature with a lot of yeast. If I were you, I would always proof the yeast anyway. And in the future, if you have a warm dough that hasn't risen after an hour or so, just mix some extra yeast with about a tsp of flour and 1/2 tsp of sugar together, let it proof for 5 minutes or so just so you can see it's activity, and knead it into your original dough. And you said the dough was dry? Did you add a lot of flour while kneading because it seemed too sticky? Avoid that in the future, because the dough is usually sticky because all of the water has not been absorbed by the flour. Just keep kneading no matter how big a mess it looks like, and usually it should come together fine after a while.
Anyway, I don't know how welcome this lesson will be, but think about it this way with any type of bread material:
Your basic four ingredients are (almost always) going to be flour, water, salt, and yeast. On a free day, get a bag of flour and do a bunch of experiments and make observations. Make a "control dough," then play with the ratio of water to flour (hydration), yeast quantity to rising time, salt quantity to end flavor, addition of fats: oil, butter, milk, cream, etc and how the dough reacts. Addition of sugars (white, brown, honey, maple syrup, etc) and how they change the final product. You will learn a TON about bread and hopefully after that, make different breads without a recipe since you can guess at the outcome by the appearance and texture of the dough.
Sour Cherry Trouble
I would say to go in with the Sevin insecticide all over the lawn a few times a year, and the tree right as the fruit is maturing. But make sure to follow the treatment/harvest guidelines on the container. The fly larvae won't survive. Beyond that, figure out the best soil amendments and conditions for the tree and your area so the fruit is as best as it can be!
Why do we tip?
What I meant was an average restaurant price at a chain-type of location that every average "non-chowhound" frequents; some place that sells a basic type of meal.
Like, a dinner with chicken and pasta might be roughly $12-16 in the US, after tax, for example. How much would something along these lines cost in the UK, on the average, in general, at an average family oriented chain restaurant?
I believe a euro is worth about $1.25 still?
EDIT: I'm trying to get an idea how a restaurant in the UK can AFFORD to pay their staff so much, when it's nearly impossible in the US in many cases.
