Kerosena’s Profile

Recent Comments

From Serious Eats

Pretty Sneaky, Sis

Love the "Connect Four" reference.

Jerz, maybe for Christmas this year you could forgive PW for her dumb recipe. The goodies far outweigh the baddies.

From Serious Eats

Taste Test: Finding the Best Apples for Baking

I know I'm probably the only person in the world who feels this way, but Macintosh will always be my favorite for both eating and cooking. To my taste buds, they are the quintessential apple.

From Slice

Pizza Madness 2009: I Left My Heartburn in San Francisco

Thanks for the adorable, punny title. That sort of thing is always appreciated.

From Serious Eats: New York

Where Does Your Thanksgiving Loyalty Lie?

Definitely the sides. Yes, you could make them any other time, but generally we don't make that particular combination of sides. And although I don't especially care about *eating* the turkey, I care very deeply about smelling it while it cooks and the gravy it produces. So I guess that means the turkey is equally important, but for different reasons.

See more comments by Kerosena »

Recent Posts

From Talk

Vacuum Sealers

From Talk

Speaking of bathing in special sauce...

From Talk

Does honey go bad?

From Talk

In response to feriorrenna, what was the last INTERESTING thing?

See more posts by Kerosena »

Recent Favorites

Kerosena hasn't favorited a post yet.

Recent Polls

Kerosena hasn't answered any polls yet.

Recent Quizzes

Kerosena hasn't taken any quizzes yet.

Recent Comments | Response to Comments

From Serious Eats

Pretty Sneaky, Sis

Love the "Connect Four" reference.

Jerz, maybe for Christmas this year you could forgive PW for her dumb recipe. The goodies far outweigh the baddies.

From Serious Eats

Taste Test: Finding the Best Apples for Baking

I know I'm probably the only person in the world who feels this way, but Macintosh will always be my favorite for both eating and cooking. To my taste buds, they are the quintessential apple.

From Slice

Pizza Madness 2009: I Left My Heartburn in San Francisco

Thanks for the adorable, punny title. That sort of thing is always appreciated.

From Serious Eats: New York

Where Does Your Thanksgiving Loyalty Lie?

Definitely the sides. Yes, you could make them any other time, but generally we don't make that particular combination of sides. And although I don't especially care about *eating* the turkey, I care very deeply about smelling it while it cooks and the gravy it produces. So I guess that means the turkey is equally important, but for different reasons.

From Talk

Lobster or King Crab Legs: Which do you prefer?

Crab, but I actually prefer snow crab. I find it a little bit more delicate, and easier to remove from the shell.

From Talk

SE Contests - If you don't win it, how often do you buy it?

I only enter for things I want to win. Don't wanna waste my luck! Last winter I won 2 Peter Luger steaks (Thanks again, SE!!!). When I got the notification, I was as happy as a person who just won a trip to Hawaii. The steaks were perfect, and so big that we had all four of our parents over for dinner and all ate well.

As for the cookbooks, I don't normally enter or buy. I like to browse, but I'm just not a big cookbook junkie.

From Talk

Funniest Thanksgiving

When my brother was about 3, my mom brought him along to an appointment at the hair salon. Casanova developed a quick crush on another customer and invited her to Thanksgiving at our house as his date. Unfortunately, she stood him up.

From Serious Eats

Weekend Cook and Tell Round Up: Vintage Recipe Redux

My mom used to make something that involved canned asparagus spears, that Kraft blue cheese spread that comes in a little glass jar, and flattened white bread with the crusts cut off. I think the bread was smeared with the cheese and rolled around the asparagus, and maybe wrapped in bacon.

That, along with my dad's famous "Mike's crab dip," was the height of elegance.

From Serious Eats

The Varying Food Preferences of Conservatives and Liberals

Hm. I've always *felt* pretty liberal, but I guess I eat more like a conservative.

And really? Brie?


From Talk

HELP! Butter free stuffing?

Can't go wrong with those yummy, yummy pan drippings.

From Talk

My favorite part of the Thanksgiving meal...

Mashed potatoes and gravy is my number one, followed closely by stuffing made by me or Aunt Rose.

From Talk

What's a good word to replace "garlicky"?

Have we had "Garlicient" yet? Cuz that's my vote.

From Talk

Is dating a picky eater a dealbreaker for anyone?!

It doesn't have to be a dealbreaker, but I find that a shared love of food and cooking is such an important thing in out relationship. Our likes and dislikes don't line up exactly, but we both enjoy lots of different things, and share a few favorites.

Do I wish there was more seafood in our household? Sure. But as long as we keep trying new things together, I can let that one go.

If you feel that your BF is shut off to trying new things in life, that's not going to change. The food issue may just be a symptom of inflexibility. Only you can answer that one!

From Talk

Instant Noodles/Ramen

Most asian markets sell packaged steamed ramen (rather than fried). If I don't feel like using the spice packet, I mix up some chili oil, soy sauce, and maybe some furikake for the broth.

From Talk

marinara separating?

Are you draining your pasta thoroughly? Are you rinsing it with water? If you are rinsing, stop. My mom does it this way and it drives me nuts. Worse than fingernails on a blackboard. And hers always comes out watery.

I also second the rec for tossing just-before-al-dente pasta with your sauce for a quick simmer before serving.

From Talk

What's your spice aversion?

I have several:

White pepper-smells/tastes like rotting flesh to me
Saffron- overpowers everything, and I prefer my food to have it's own natural color.
Turmeric-see "saffron"

From Talk

What to serve the night before Thanksgiving?

Pizza. It's traditional on one of the busiest nights of the year for both bars and pizza parlors.

From Serious Eats: New York

Book Giveaway: Mike Colameco's Food Lover's Guide to NYC

I don't know any off the radar places as I only visit NYC 2-3 times per year, but I love Penelope Cafe for breakfast. Great food, and I really enjoyed eating breakfast at the bar.

From Serious Eats

Cereal with Water and Other Cereal Compulsions

I like my cereal soggy and with milk. If there's no skim milk available, I'll use a little bit of whole milk mixed with water. But it MUST be soggy. And never for breakfast.

From Talk

Saturday Night.... in Albany...

This is a good dining guide:

http://www.metroland.net/guides/2009_fwdg/ssdg04_contents.htm

It has lots of great suggestions based on what type of food you're looking for.

If you're in the downtown area (Pearl St, Broadway), dp American Brasserie is great. Nice menu and lovely drinks. A step up from "low key," though. Also check out Wolff's Biergarten, which is fun, cheap, and delicious. And really the only reasonable place to go if you like to drink in the morning (just kidding, sort of). wolffsbiergarten.com

Hill Street Cafe is verrry laid back with an awesome neighborhood vibe and cheap prices for good bar food.

Capital Q is good bbq, but really more of a take out place.


From Talk

Moldy Spoon Revisited. (Now with more EW!)

Two people in my household, same DW rules (no pots, pans or knives). I suppose we run it 1-2 times per week.

From Talk

The Most Unhealthy Thing You've Ever Made

BTW, I've made unhealthier things, it's just that this particular meal was at the forefront of my mind. I seem to remember some type of alfredo sauce with cream, butter and cream cheese (?). That was pretty bad, and also pretty good.

From Talk

The Most Unhealthy Thing You've Ever Made

Last night I ate 2 packages of ramen with 2 eggs, some broccoli, and 3 squares of tofu tempura. And then, just in case that wasn't enough, i had 4 pieces of cinnamon toast.

From Serious Eats

Taste Test: Finding the Best Apples for Baking

Cortlands should surely be considered, a pamphlet put out by NYS apple growers names them as the best for pie. I am a Macoun fan myself, both for pie and out of hand snacking.

From Serious Eats

Taste Test: Finding the Best Apples for Baking

Winesaps! I had forgotten about them. Used to love them and think they were the best in pies! Haven't seen one in ages.

From Serious Eats

Taste Test: Finding the Best Apples for Baking

New England tradition demands baldwin apples.

Baldwin:
Raw: bland and uninteresting
Baked: Full of layered spicy notes

I'm down in VA where Baldwins cannot be found, so I'm experimenting tonight with a heirloom variety called "gold rush" which is an ugly beast, but crunchy, tart, and with a lot of layered flavors when raw. We'll see how it cooks up.

From Talk

Funniest Thanksgiving

Late to the party on this one, but here goes... about six years ago, my mom's new boyfriend came to our family Thanksgiving for the first time with his nine-year-old son. My family is fairly uptight, so this guy had everyone's eyebrows raised with his motorcycle-ridin', rock'n'rollin' ways. We're at the feast, the grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins are tolerating him, and our quietly formal Thanksgiving meal is proceeding, when all of a sudden during a lull in conversation the nine-year-old goes "Hey, Daddy, remember when I found cocaine on your dresser?" Completely out of the blue. Ensue awkward silence. The boyfriend finally musters a halfhearted, "I don't know what you're talking about, son," to which the kid responds, "Yes, you do! It was in a little baggie and you said it was Uncle Dave's." The boyfriend was speechless. The entire table cracked up, and someone changed the subject, but it was never forgotten.

That was not the last Thanksgiving we had with them, but unfortunately, nobody ever told any more drug stories.

From Serious Eats

Taste Test: Finding the Best Apples for Baking

My mom always used Granny Smiths because she is not too big on sugary tastes so I used those until I took a baking class in Philadelphia years ago with a pastry chef from a well known restaurant who ONLY used Golden Delicious. I started using them then and have never looked back but I do sometimes use equal Golden Delicious and Granny Smiths to even out the sweetness. Northern Spy is an interesting thought but Macs and Empires I would think would turn to mush!!!

From Serious Eats

Taste Test: Finding the Best Apples for Baking

Macintosh and Granny smith, heavy on the granny, are my winning combo.

From Serious Eats

Taste Test: Finding the Best Apples for Baking

Empires----an improved descendant of the Macintosh-------tart and crisp to eat and great flavor in pies, applesauce whatever. (Although Honeycrisp are still my faves for eating out of hand fresh---for people who don't see them as special, consider the source was it a supermarket (yuck) or fresh off the tree or farmers market, they don't do so well at room temp so if they've been off the tree for a couple weeks they become pretty inferior unless kept cool.

From Serious Eats

Taste Test: Finding the Best Apples for Baking

I'm with you Kerosena! I always feel kinda silly admitting that in the baking world cause they're not supposed to be the best baking apple, but I love them and use them for everything.

From Serious Eats

Taste Test: Finding the Best Apples for Baking

Add me to the group who give affection to Macs and Cortlands--both are what apples are "supposed" to taste like, to my palate: like a great glass of fresh-milled cider! Both are great bakers, though I prefer Cortlands for pie and sauce and MacIntoshes for crisps or simple baked-apples...Yum.

I made a batch of applesauce this past weekend from Macouns, and was pleased with the results--an interesting fresh-sawed wood back note I've never experienced before. Not my fav, but an interesting twist.

From Serious Eats

Taste Test: Finding the Best Apples for Baking

Macs and Courtlands are my favorite baking/cooking apple. they bake down, yet somehow hold part of their shape during cooking. Maybe it's my new england upbringing, but they are the only apple I'll be using next week for my pies.

From Serious Eats

Taste Test: Finding the Best Apples for Baking

@Bemijohm, I think that since the pies were actually small tarts instead of full sized pies, it's perfectly logical to only cook them for 35 minutes. Otherwise you're going to over cook them.

From Serious Eats

Taste Test: Finding the Best Apples for Baking

The best part of this article are the comments. It's amazing how different everyone's opinions are about apples, and how strongly they hold onto their apple beliefs!

The interesting thing about apples is that just 100 years ago, you could buy somewhere around 800 types of apples at stores and grocers, whereas today, you really can't find more than 80 types. Most of the heirloom varieties have almost totally disappeared, except for the stray forgotten orchard in someone's back yard. It does make you wonder what kinds of delicious flavors we're missing.

As for what I like, well, I guess it depends on the time of year. Year round, I love nothing more than to eat a lovely Gala. They're usually the cheapest apple in the store, stores easily and is pretty tasty. I love the soft skin. Later in the year, Macs and Cortlands are are top at my list, especially when the local orchard has pick-your-own. Lately I've been eating a lot of Empires, which are really good, sweet and crispy.

I hardly ever make pies, so the only thing I'm looking for in an apple is a pleasant snack.

From Serious Eats

Taste Test: Finding the Best Apples for Baking

It seems to me you missed some of the classic pie apples: Granny Smith, Winesap, Macintosh, and Jonathons. Also in my opinion you cooked the pies for far too short a time. I have won awards with my apple pies baked fro 1.5 hours at 350.

From Serious Eats

Taste Test: Finding the Best Apples for Baking

This is a fabulous post!
@Kerosena, Macs have been in my apple pies for years! We'd go apple picking in Massachusetts every Fall and fill our bushels with Macs and Cortlands, and we'd mix those for our pies. I think there's nothing that signifies Fall to me quite like a crisp Macintosh pulled off a tree and eaten in the orchard. I get teary just to think of it. It's hard to find really crisp Macs down here in Atlanta, because it's not the most popular apple to grow in these southern orchards -- so by the time my grocery store gets them, they are past their crispy peak.
Given the choice, I'd do a mixture of Macs and Cortlands, but I've also enjoyed going the Granny Smith route and upping my sugar just a tad. I love the tartness of the granny and how it holds up in the pie.

From Serious Eats

Taste Test: Finding the Best Apples for Baking

Honeycrisps are terrible for pies. Their amazing texture is best left raw. They're decent for sauces and stews but given that they're more expensive than other apples, you really shouldn't be cooking them - their texture when raw is unparalleled so just eat them as is!

The best apples for pies are Northern Spy, Stayman Winesap, and Newtown Pippin. I use a combination of the first two - there's something about that Pippin that I just don't like.

My favorite apples are Macouns - they work well in pies, too, but make sure to use small ones (large ones are overgrown and are mealy - Macs are meant to be small) and mix them with something else, like the Northern Spy.

From Serious Eats

Taste Test: Finding the Best Apples for Baking

Many bakers recommend a mix of apple varieties; I like Grannys for texture and Golden Delicious for flavor.

From Serious Eats

Taste Test: Finding the Best Apples for Baking

I'm a native of upstate NY and lived my first 40 years in the middle of apple country and most of the old-school farm ladies used 20 Ounce apples for baking and applesauce. Macs, Romes and Spies made frequent appearances too, but 20 OZ. ruled.

From Serious Eats

Taste Test: Finding the Best Apples for Baking

for my money, gala is the way to go for apple pies--nicely done. most outstanding taste test ever, and that's that.

From Serious Eats

Taste Test: Finding the Best Apples for Baking

I love SE taste tests. Thanks. I don't make many pies, but I love to eat Fuji apples.

From Serious Eats

Taste Test: Finding the Best Apples for Baking

I'm a Rome person. I swear by Rome Beauty and Red Rome for pies, turnovers and fried apples with pork chops. Luckily, we have an independent year 'round produce market nearby that stocks them during pie season.

I like Paula Red and Cindy Red for baking, too, but they're really hard to find.

From Serious Eats

Taste Test: Finding the Best Apples for Baking

Personally, I hear all this hype about Honeycrisps, but every one that I've bought has been very disappointing. My favorite eating apple of all time is the Jazz apple, but when not in season, a regular old Fuji beats a Honeycrips everytime, if you ask me.

From Serious Eats

Taste Test: Finding the Best Apples for Baking

You guys read my mind. I was seriously just looking for an article like this a couple of days ago. I found that NPR one that's under "Related," but this one certainly makes me happy, since Galas are easy to find (and inexpensive) to get around here! And I do enjoy Galas as raw snacking apples too, so extras will not go to waste.

@Kerosena, Macs are my favorite to eat as raw snacking apples. I don't care if they're not the most crisp apple in the world, because the slight tart perfect taste makes up for it. I don't think I've ever baked with them though, for whatever reason.

From Serious Eats

Taste Test: Finding the Best Apples for Baking

I love using gala apples combined with granny smith.

From Serious Eats

Taste Test: Finding the Best Apples for Baking

I've always used Golden Delicious, unless there are other apples that need using up. I've used Galas, but I definitely prefer the Goldens. Perhaps it's because my mother (and her mother before her) always used them, and nostalgia and tradition influence my tastes?

Recent Posts

From Talk

Vacuum Sealers

From Talk

Speaking of bathing in special sauce...

From Talk

Does honey go bad?

From Talk

In response to feriorrenna, what was the last INTERESTING thing?

From Talk

Apple quick bread

From Talk

Finally...No Longer Rice-Impaired

From Talk

Swordfish Ideas

From Talk

Mussels for Father's Day

From Talk

Lay down the boogie and play that funky music til ya die

From Talk

Kewpie Mayo: a little disappointing

From Talk

Sexiest/ most romatic food

From Talk

I must confess...I had a naughty dream about Mario Batali.

From Talk

Irish soda bread recipes

From Talk

Are you sick of winter? What is your ideal summertime meal?

From Talk

Midnight Munchies

From Talk

Cooking with Fage 0%

Recent Favorites

Kerosena hasn't favorited a post yet.

Polls

Kerosena hasn't answered any polls yet.

Quizzes

Kerosena hasn't taken any quizzes yet.

About Kerosena

Website:

Location: Albany, NY

About:

Favorite foods:

Last bite on earth: