Grilled Cheese
No, this is not a new article on The Pop Shop. I just wanted to get a conversation going on your favorite cheese/bread combination.
I’ve been doing Muenster cheese for a long time now. It melts very well and it has just the right amount of salt to it. Good for the price for sure.
I like the multi-grain bread too.
Funny story, in college, a 1/2 pound of Muenster cheese fell out of a shopping bag, and unknowingly-to-me, remained under the car seat for a day or so. Anyway, I discovered it there, and it was some of the best cheese I’ve ever eaten. I’ve been fully committed to Muenster ever since.
Ruhlman's Twenty: 20 Techniques 100 Recipes A Cook's Manifesto
Has possibly replaced the Joy of Cooking as the most essential cookbook for every kitchen. I’m about halfway through it now and I’m already convinced of how useful a cookbook it is. Not just some great recipes, but some really essential information that isn’t solely intended for weekend feasts, but actual weekday cooking for working people.
Cooking Points
Since the school year started, I’ve been cooking more than I ever have before. I do all right, and sure as shit love to chop anything. I had a few discussion points on my mind recently:
- I know what shortening is, but how can I use it? There is some extra shortening around the kitchen, and I’m looking to put it to use, possibly in bulk. Baking?
- I have about a cup of hyper-flavored oil. It housed roasted red peppers I made 2 months ago. It still has the garlic cloves floating around too. What would be a great thing to do with this oil?
- How exactly do you, personally, caramelize onions. Mainly, do you add a little sugar? Or just let the natural onion sugar do its thing?
- What are some of your favorite winter dishes to cook?
Alton Brown's Thanksgiving turkey.
If you’re not up for doing it in parts sous vide like the link way down the page, you can’t go wrong with Alton’s advice.
Food Scientist Harold McGee interviewed by Terry Gross.
This is the guy Alton Brown gets all his material from. He has a new book coming out. Super interesting interview.
Classic American Dishes
When I first started getting into cooking, I sought out all sorts of inventive or ambitious recipes; crudo with radish matchsticks or mint-crusted roast leg of lamb, finicky seared lobster dishes or ginger-glazed honey salmon. But I’ve recently gotten the impression that maybe there’s a giant hole in my cooking knowledge: the classics.
Cooking eggs on a cast iron skillet.
Teflon is toxic. A well-seasoned cast iron can become just as non-stick. I’ve yet to achieve that lofty goal, though.
Cooking With Goat Chops
I live in Perth Amboy with two brothers. Their father hunts/fishes often. There is a fridge in the basement full of meat. No, I don’t think Mr. Gregory hunts goat, but alas, there are goat chops.
Does anyone have an suggestions/recipes/ideas for me? I just made some delicious red curry chicken soup over the weekend, so I’m certainly in the mood for something with some foreign panache. Maybe something Greek?
"Slow" cooking steak.
I’ve only ever cooked steak over super high heat and finished in the oven. But this sounds amazing.
Candy Making
i’ve had a cookbook, Who Wants Candy? for about a year now and haven’t gotten around to making anything until recently.
A Cookbook for your iphone or ipod touch
A new iPhone application that puts access to over 25,000 recipes from the likes of Gourmet and Bon Appetit at your fingertips.
A printable chart of dough an batter ratios.
Super useful! A PDF is apparently coming soon so we can print at home.
Ratio: The Simple Codes Behind the Craft of Everyday Cooking.
Michael Ruhlman has a new book and it’s about the place where math and food meet. In other words, he wrote it especially for me.
I Am Going To Be On The Food Network...
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Salsa
I just finished making some mango salsa. For such a flavorful snack it’s really too easy. I would like to head towards perfecting my salsa, but for now, purchasing and chopping is seriously doing the trick.
I dip into it, I put it on toast, I put it in eggs and sometimes I just go spoon. It’s so versatile! I made some pineapple salsa with Sammy and Jay once, and again a few weeks ago. What’s next? Starfruit or papaya, maybe?
Soft Pretzels
Has anyone ever made their own soft pretzels? I know there are number of places to get pretzels (granted some better than others), but I was interested in attempting to make my own.
Kitchen Fire
My bad.
I should just stop making steak au poivre. Every time I make it, I light something on fire that shouldn’t be on fire. Tonight it was the exhaust hood above the stove (which, now that it’s all burnt out melted, I see that it actually vented back into the kitchen). Now our whole kitchen is coated in white fire extinguisher dust.
Isaac Brock on cooking
If you like Isaac Brock or cooking you’ll enjoy this article, if you don’t like either suck and egg.
http://www.believermag.com/issues/200604/?read=interview_brock