Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

Long before I understood "creaming" I just thought of ingredients as a flavor. Period. One day when the recipe called for dark brown sugar, I opened the pantry to find a hard rock. I added water and stuck it in the microwave, then added it to the recipe. Needless to say, the cookies were flat crisps.

Baking is so much easier...
Now that I understand some of the science behind it.
;)

I love The Pantry! Back in '96 I was in L.A. for business, friends took me there for breakfast. Granted that was 12 years ago, but judging by the Formica things at The Pantry change slowly. My eggs were yummy and fried in butter. The bacon was crispy, salty goodness. And, those hashbrowns - wow - golden brown and delicious.

Granted, our pores were oozin bacon grease for the rest of the day. But, for an occasional meal, it was greasy spoon heaven.

The best part of the visit back in '96 was the menu change from breakfast to lunch. A guy walked a 6 foot long blackboard out from the kitchen and appended it to the dinning wall. That day's lunch specials were written in chalk.

If I ever get back to The Pantry, I'll be sure to get the one thing I forgot to order - a hat. Hmm, wonder if I can get one of those off their site.
Dana

Dear Daniel,
Thank you so much for including 2 varieties besides thin - differentiating between "deep dish" and "stuffed" pizzas. Me? I'll eat either.

My pet peeve is when folks come to Chicago expecting their "deep dish" or their "stuffed" to be a "pan" pizza. To me, pan pizza is a very thick layer of dough with thin toppings. Bleck. Might as well just order breadsticks with marinana and dine on that.

Stuffed and Deep Dish are a whole other wonderful tasty affair compared to pan.

As for NY pizza, well, I'm sure it would be just fine.
It's a different beast completely.
So, I don't get into the rivalry.

I look forward to reading your other installments.

Sorry about the typo in Chris' name in my previous post.
--DanaMc

And, it should be noted that Alton Brown authored Time's #46 write-up for McGee.

My favorite food for Easter are solid red dyed eggs in a Greek basket. I guess it's not so much the eating of them, or the cracking of them. Rather, it's the visual appeal of the basket of crimson.

As a child, the vision of the basket of red eggs instantly brought deep emotions of loving family, a loooong holiday meal with lots of laughter, and napping on the couch while my Mom and my aunt's drank coffee and played board games till the wee hours of the morning.

What a warm memory!
Thanks for reminding me.

Most of what Sietsema describes is indeed revealed in the ICA's Behind the Scenes show. And, there are plenty of articles on the internet discussing the same show details. The stand-ins make perfect sense and I had assumed such from the get go. No surprise there. Just my .02.

I feel it's like making a good biscuit.

Before adding the liquid, I work the butter into the flour, quickly and gently with my fingers, until it's about the consistency of corn meal.

I agree about not over mixing. You don't want a lot of gluten. Once the liquid is poured, I only stir my scones about 5 times, just to get it mixed. Mine is a loose wet dough. Plop it on a well-floured board. Press out and cut, trying not to knead or work it and more than necessary to cut it.

Now, I'm only a home cook. But, I think their tasty. Dry textured, yet not overly crumbly.

I've seen his rating on E-bay. Looks like he has satisfied customers.
Disclaimer: I'm not associated with the guy.
I'm just a gal who has been researching pimping her KA.

Pulled the turkey out. Pulled the probe out of the breast to test the thigh. With my bare hand.

I'm also a master at new burns on top of newly healed burns. Singed my forearm on stirfry, then burned the same scar with a pizza pan. I apparently believe that my forearms are covered in Silicon.

In cooking for family and friends, I feel the essential element is knowing how to gently push boundaries. For me, it's about encouraging culinary curiosity. Sometimes I introduce dishes they would normally never try. Other times it can simply be serving a meat with such a full flavor and mouth feel that they look at a familiar dish in a whole new way.