MRubenzahl's Profile
Bacony Question
You're right, I did just as you said (see reply to Katecm). And I did not want to share but I did give some chocolate covered bacon back to the person who gave me the bacon.
One must maintain bacon karma.
Bacony Question
And indeed, I did just that! I made several strips on their own. One in a pan which I had with eggs that I fried in the rendered bacon fat; then I cooked several in the oven, sone of which I ate as is and some I coated in chocolate. I made some into "pig candy" (roast with brown sugar coating). And some I cooked with grilled shrimp, parsley, butter.
It was a good weekend!
Bacony Question
OMG.
A chef friend just gave me 3/4 pound of bacon he made himself. It looks a-ma-zing. Lean, luscious.
What should I make with it?
Would like to make something I can give back to him. Maybe some chocolate-covered bacon candy.
Breakfast in Brown Bag -- Ideas?
Our volunteer organization is having a community service day -- a couple of hundred people working on half a dozen projects. We converge on a park at 8 AM and about a half hour later, we are off to the projects. My team is doing a breakfast in the form of a brown paper bag for each person.
Question is: What's in the bag?
We could do something easy -- serve coffee and fill the bags with a bagel or a pastry but would like to do something a little more imaginative. But it also can't involve a lot of production and we won't have a kitchen.
Ideas?
Recommend a beginner's vegetarian cookbook?
Great ideas! Thank you. I went with Bittman's Veg Cookbook, as I think it's more basic and this guy -needs- basic.
By the way, someone on another board recommended the Moosewood books, also a great suggestion.
Recommend a beginner's vegetarian cookbook?
I want to buy a cookbook for a friend who is a vegetarian (but eats fish, dairy, eggs). He is a total beginner in the kitchen.
Suggestions?
Internal Temperature of Roasted Turkey?
The old USAA guideline was about 180. Now they say 165. I remove mine from the oven when the deepest part of the breast reaches 150, and it coasts up to 160 as it rests, prior to carving. The dark meat should be about 10 degrees higher (which I achieve by starting the bird breast down, then flipping it after 45 minutes).
Those pop-up thermometers are usually 180 or so.
Brining (whether wet or dry) gives some leeway since you can be 10 degrees too high and not totally ruin the meat.
More: See my annual Turkey page: http://www.rubenzahl.com/turkey
Where to find good yellow corn on the cob? [moved from General Topics board]
While freshness is not as crucial as it was before today's sweeter hybrids, which convert sugar to starch more slowly, it's still worth finding a place where the corn was picked hours, not days, ago. If you live in the South Bay, there is the Corn Palace, on Lawrence Expy between El Camino Real and Centra Expy.
It was run for many many decades by Ben and Joe Francia. Joe died a few years ago but Ben, who is about 90 now, is still there every day. They grow the corn, right there on Silicon Valley acreage, adjacent to the stand. They sold half the acreage for housing this year; who knows how long it will be there? But it's there now -- http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=corn+palace,+94087&sll=41.0245,-81.016638&sspn=0.015379,0.019827&ie=UTF8&hq=corn+palace,&hnear=Sunnyvale,+Santa+Clara,+California+94087&ll=37.361784,-121.996769&spn=0.008101,0.009913&z=17&iwloc=A
Ribs: Fast or Slow?
OK, found a thread on this topic on the Barbecue Bible's bulletin board . One person said that Ed smoked the ribs first, then put them on high heat before serving. That makes sense, if they are reporting it correctly.
I don't think you can do ribs in less than an hour -- of anyone has another experience, please advise.
Ribs: Fast or Slow?
I love making ribs and I am good at it. My way is low and slow, 4-6 hours, with the last couple of hours, covered, to essentially braise. But then I saw Ed Mitchell.
Ed is a real North Carolina rib man, whom Bobby Flay challenged on Food Network. He clearly knows his ribs. But surprise!! He cooks them on high heat (he didn't say how high) for 20 minutes a side!!!
No, that can't be!
So what's the low-down (or maybe the high-up) on high heat ribs? What's your way?
I undercooked my cheesecake, can I re-cook it?
You have nothing to lose. I think you have a pretty good chance of success.
Cheesecake is really a custard and setting happens when the egg proteins entwine, trapping moisture. The trick will be to heat it very evenly. The center is now cold and getting it to temperature without overcooking the edges will be tricky. You want to reach an internal temperature of 160 degrees F.
I would heat it in a water bath. If it's in a springform pan, you will need to wrap the bottom and sides in foil to make it water tight. Maybe a 250 degree oven and start with water that is below boiling. Use an instant read thermometer and pull it when the internal temp reaches 155 (assuming it will go up another 5-10 degrees from accumulated heat.
Alternative would be to cook it for a long time in a very low oven.
Little tricks that help make cooking faster, easier?
I like having extras. I use them in containers. For instance, my flour canister has a 1-cup and 1/2-cup measure in there all the time. The dog food bin has a 1/3 cup measure. I keep the odd ones in a separate place and when I need another odd-valued measure, I look there.
Formatting is messed up
This story:
http://www.chow.com/stories/10086
is seriously messed up. Paragraph breaks have no space or indent, URLs are posting as text, not links. Here is what I see (with Firefox on Mac OS X):
Ray Lampe knows grilling. Ray (a.k.a. Dr. BBQ), among the winningest champions on the barbecue-competition circuit, gave up his truck-driving career years ago to focus on his craft. Today, he travels around the country competing and teaching, and he shares his expertise in his book, "_Dr. BBQ’s Big-Time Barbecue Cookbook_":http://www.cooking.com/products/shprodde.asp?SKU=316770. Before we get to Dr. BBQ’s advanced lessons, a little review is in order. Barbecuing is different than direct grilling, or quickly cooking tender cuts of meat at high temperatures (400oF or higher), with a heat source right under the food. Barbecuing, or “cool smoking,” is a method of cooking tougher cuts of meat very, very slowly at relatively low temperatures (215 to 250oF), with the heat source away from the food. While the meat leisurely cooks, three things occur: the meat’s fat renders out; the meat becomes so tender it practically falls off the bone; and the exterior caramelizes, producing a flavorful crust, or “bark” as it’s known in barbecue circles. The final product is tender and juicy, pink in color and smoky in flavor. Sound good? Follow the doctor’s advice laid out for you here. _Photographs by Formula z/s_ *The Cooker*
A charcoal kettle or gas grill can be easily adapted for indirect cooking. But if you want to get serious, we’ve got some alternatives. "The Big Green Egg":http://www.cooking.com/products/shprodde.asp?SKU=441342
With an 18 1/4” grill, it’s one of the doc’s favorites. It grills, too—even pizza, with the ceramic deflector. It’s got the three things Doc says you need in a cooker: good insulation, good air circulation, and good fuel (it uses charcoal, not gas). ($869) "The Weber Smokey Mountain Cooker":http://www.cooking.com/products/shprodli.asp?DeptNo=9500&ClassNo=9915&TopSku=210272
Looks like an elongated version of the company’s traditional kettle. The extra vertical space keeps the food away from the fire, allowing it to be cooked by ambient, not direct, heat. ($249) "Cookshack FEC100":http://www.cookshackamerica.com/
...
Granola Bars
I have made Alton Brown's Granola Bar recipe three times and it's excellent. Best tasting 'energy' bars I have ever had -- and at a whole lot less than a dollar a bar!!
I have made variations in the last batches. I add more nuts. In the last batch, I added shelled pistachios (yum).
re: There's a note about not cutting them until they are cool. It seems to me that they would crumble if you did that.
The key is that when you put them in the pan, press them down quite firmly. (I used a silicone spatula.) You want them pretty well compressed. The main binder is honey and when it cools, it gets firmer.
Also -- I warp some in foil and freeze them. Good for months (or so I suspect - they usually don't last that long).
