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Look Who's Talkin': Comments, Quips, and Tips We Have Known and Loved

Posted by Adam Kuban, May 1, 2009 at 3:15 PM

There's so much to keep up with in Talk that we almost can't keep up. If you're in the same boat, here's a small selection of topics and responses that have piqued our interest this week.

HELP! BF Is Extremely Picky

"Dump him and date me;
22yr old Male
Accounting and Intl Business degrees from Villanova
5'9" and very athletic
Dark hair and dark eyes
Employed as a Corporate Account Rep for a Wine and Liquor Distribution Company
I enjoy cooking, working out, the beach, snowboarding, traveling, and spending time with my family
I am a hopeless romantic and more importantly I enjoy all foods and will eat anything you were to serve me!" —twoojoe

I Still Remember My First Bite Of ...

" ...I sliced into the ricotta purse, took a bite...and had to put down my fork. Literally. I put. My fork. Down. I nearly wept...." —kimonkey7

Sticky Spaghetti Noodles

"When making pasta for immediate consumption or use, I Reserve 1-2 cups of the pasta water before straining. Right before I am ready to use the pasta, I pour the reserved water over the pasta in the colander and give it a good toss. This re-separates the noodles without washing the starch away. Rinsing in cold water or oiling/buttering is fine for some uses....but can cause the sauce to slide off of the pasta....the starch is in part what makes a sauce stick." —2qrs

Ideas for What to Bring to a BBQ?

"Beer." —onepercent99

[LOL. But seriously, there are a lot of other good suggestions in this thread. (And more great Talk excerpts, after the jump.)—AK]

Vegetarian Cookbook Recommendations?

"I second (third, fourth, whatever) the recommendations for Veganomicon and Vegan with a Vengeance. The recipes are simple, and I also find the layout of the cookbooks very user-friendly. I like Deborah Madison and Crescent Dragonwagon as well, although I am sometimes overwhelmed by the sheer number of recipes in their books!" —sparkythewonderdog

It Doesn't Taste Like Mom's

"Hardly anything I make taste likes my mom because she used Butter (liberally) in everything.

"I live in the same town as my parents and a few of my siblings. I missed out on some family occasion becuase of work and my sister brought me a plate of delicious leftovers—all made by my mother. These were all dishes that I have in my culinary arsenal but they were fantastic! The difference—lots of butter." —lakeloverhh

Testing Britain's New Nonleaky, Nonsoggy Tomato

"I'd rather just scoop out the soggy bit. What's next? skinless bananas?" —sweethunibabi

Food Oxymorons

"Fresh frozen.

"I once asked a waitress if the fish was fresh—this was in Monterey, California, where they really should know better—and she brightly informed me that it was 'fresh frozen.'

"Because I'm a fool who honestly believes in the educability of everyone, I explained to her that fish was either fresh or frozen. It couldn't be both.

"She then explained to me that the fish had been fresh before it was frozen." —womandingo

One Good Reason to Buy Used Books...

"I found a really nice black and white photo of a tug boat in a used cookbook once, which was weird but cool. In the same book (Time Life Cooking of the Caribbean Islands) I found this note: 'Please: Do not give me any Ropa Vieja from this recepy. The one I like is made with a processed beef called TASAJO. I have the recepy in another cook book.' That book was a treasure trove of ephemera. Finding that stuff is one of the best parts of cookbook buying since it's unique to just that book." —swampyankee

Sprinkles, Shots or Jimmies?

"I've always known them simply as Jimmies. Now that my daughter is 3, she has learned that they are Jimmies and asks for them constantly and she does just what I did with them, eat them right from the container, forget the ice cream." —jonfoxx

Why Preheat?

"Baking is a science and the temp has to be even. I even preset the temp 25 degrees higher because opening the oven will drop the temp. I don't know about your oven but mine is big, 30 inches, it needs preheating and a lot of it. Consistently good baking requires optimum conditions. Not preheating is just not applying the science correctly. I am not reinventing wheels here.

"In the time that your baked goods are sitting in an oven while its adjusting the temp up, they are being baked at the wrong temp. How could that be any kind of good? Baking changes the ingredients via heat and causes the surfaces to brown, while partially sealing in moisture. Heat at the wrong temp would not affect/interact the ingredients correctly for a desirable finished product. Meaning dry and or undercooked. I don't buy it. Sounds like improper use of technique." —JerzeeTomato

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