After years of fear of cutting off bits of my fingers, I gathered my courage and bought myself a benrinner mandolin. I tried to use it to cut sweet potatoes into fries yesterday, but had little success. I peeled them, cut them to a size that fit nicely on the mandolin, attached the finger guard and tried to push the 'tater through the blades.

The best I did was to get about halfway through a single cut, at which point the potato got stuck. I tried pushing a bit harder, and the finger guard ripped through part of the potato.

I know the blades were properly attached, and I'm fairly certain I followed the instructions correctly. It seems odd that the benrinner can't cut a sweet potato when it has such a reputation for lethal sharpness, so what did I do wrong? Is there some step the instructions left out to prep the blades?

I have to say, I didn't know. "Homemade pizza can't be that much more awesome than what I get normally," I thought. "Why do these people burn their mouths on pizza? Why not wait?" I said.

But that was before I was asked to make pizza. I trundled over to Slice and chose Kenji's NY pizza recipe as a reasonable first attempt. I made my dough, and let it rest. I read comments and learned from Mr. Pizza how to stretch dough. DBCurrie's reviews of pizza stones let me pick out one that would work for my needs. I didn't really expect much.

And I made my first pie (cheese and basil). And I tried it. And I ate it. And I burned my mouth so badly parts of it are peeling off, but I don't care, because the slice I had was so goddamned delicious. Mr. Skythe wondered aloud, "Why do we buy pizza, again?"

I didn't know! I had no idea it could be so good! Consider me a convert, a true believer, and let me join your club of truly awesome pizza. Teach me your mystic ways, pizza Jedi, that I might also be a master.

And roof of my mouth? I'll miss you. It's been real.

DH and I moved to a new apartment this summer, and it came with a downgraded kitchen (no dishwasher, limited storage, limited counter space, stove that turns the whole kitchen into a furnace). The combination of the downgraded kitchen and the loss of energy from moving made it easy just to go out for dinner for several weeks.

Now I'm trying to cook again, but I find I just don't care about it the way I used to. The thought of cooking when I get home, the effort to plan meals, to shop--I just find the whole thing an exhausting process. This never used to be true, and I want my cooking mojo back!

I've arranged to take a slightly shorter lunch break, so I can leave work a bit earlier and get home in time to actually make food before 7pm, which was part of the problem. So, now that I'll have more time (to make up for the loss of space), how do I reignite my passion for cooking?

Motives: Regularly scheduled game night needs snacks; this week's host likes potatoes and nachos

Idea: Make potato pops! Like cake pops, but with potatoes instead of cake, cheese instead of frosting. Incorporate other things key to nachos, so the cheese should be gooey/stretchy, not crispy, if that makes sense.

Problem: I don't know how to execute this idea. I've initially conceived of these as perhaps a small skewer spearing a tater tot, baked with cheese on top, but I think I/we can do better.

Thoughts? Ideas?

I've got a hankering to make lasagna, but a husband who prefers it without ricotta. Anyone got a good recipe? I know there are recipes out there that use a bechamel sauce, but most of those I've found so far still add ricotta.

So, this is an odd topic. I'm working on a project for a class that involves tracking the progress of a particular point in space as dough is kneaded. (Long story.) I had initially thought to use sprinkles to represent those points, but I won't be able to find (and thus, track) a point if it's surrounded by several inches of dough. Does anyone have any ideas to make points more track-able? Should I use big sprinkles, like those found here? Maybe use a small amount of dough?

If I can, I'd like to do the same thing for croissants (assuming I can manage it with bread dough). Would adding sprinkles (large or small) destroy the croissant dough structure?

Any thoughts you have are welcome!

I made creme fraiche according the recipe/trick Kenji shared a few days ago. His looks pretty smooth in the picture--mine is kind of lumpy. I've never had real creme fraiche to work with; is it supposed to be this way?

I want to make a caesar salad to take to a group gathering tomorrow evening. The problem is that my go-to dressings all have anchovies in them, and one person attending can't eat meat. I want to make sure the salad is an option for him, since others will likely be bringing things he can't eat. Can anyone recommend a caesar dressing (recipe or store-bought) for me?

A few days ago I asked for help with Wheat Bread for Sandwiches, and got it. I wanted to know how I could use a recipe to get a bigger loaf of bread. Most suggested doubling the recipe and baking in a larger pan, and that's what I did. The dough rose about 3x as fast, and I couldn't/didn't get in the oven fast enough, so it flowed over the pan . . . my bread looks more than a bit odd.

The bread was much, much more crumbly this time, too, so I think I must have mis-doubled something. I just wanted to check that I am supposed to exactly double everything when I double a bread dough recipe before I make another attempt.

One of my goals this year is to bake more bread. Since my husband and I both take sandwiches in lunch every day, whole wheat sandwich bread seems like a good place to start. I made dbcurrie's Seedy Wheat Bread this week, baking it in a loaf pan instead of free-formed. We both enjoyed it, but the loaf I made was smaller than the one's we usually get at the store, so DH reported feeling a bit under-full.

Can anyone recommend a recipe that will produce slightly larger loaves? (Alternatively, @dbcurrie, can you recommend a way to tweak the "seedy" recipe to produce a bit more dough?)

Dear Pie Crust Recipe,

Hello, it's me again. I'm not sure where we went wrong last night. Why did you turn on me at the last second? I gave you lovely, chilled butter and shortening. I had cool water for you, and I chilled the bowl I used. I sifted my flour oh-so-carefully, just for you. I measured every ingredient as precisely as I could. I even let you rest for two hours in the fridge, carefully wrapped in wax paper.

And yet, you spurned me! When I tried to roll you out for the bottom of my pie, you perversely stuck to my counter. I used my offset spatula to get you off, but serious reconstruction was needed. I put the rest of you back in the fridge, then tried again for my top crust a bit later, and still, you did not care. You crumbled as soon as I tried to lift you on to my pie. Why, pie crust? Why do you elude me so? Is it that you just don't like the altitude here in Colorado?

Anyway, I'm not giving up on you. I hope you're free in a week or so, when I'll be making another attempt.

Your baker,
Skythe

P.S. I'm going to ask my friends at Serious Eats if they have any tips for our relationship. I'm hoping they'll be able to tell me where I went wrong last night, or at least that they'll be amused by this letter.

I was inspired by the apple chip article earlier this fall to make apple chips this afternoon. Or rather, to make apple-things. I followed the recipe here, as I happened to have Galas on hand. I sliced the apples to ~4mm thick (slightly more than recommended) with my food processor, as I don't own a mandoline. I had the apple slices in the oven 1.5x the time listed, and still don't have crispy apples. What I do have is slightly wet things that are vaguely reminiscent of dried apples.

What did I do wrong? I live near Denver, so should I have adjusted for altitude somehow? Is the recipe just bad?

Help!

I've tried making pizza from scratch several times, and no matter what I do, I end up prying it off of the pan (or once, scrapping it off of my old roommate's pizza stone). I know there are several of you who make your own pizza -- can you give me any hints or tips to avoid this problem? Are some doughs better than others? I'm making pizza for a group this weekend, and I really, really would like to avoid the shame of more pre-made, store-bought crusts!

(Note: I think there was a topic about this at one point, but I couldn't find it, so if you know where that is -- assuming I'm not imagining it -- just point me in its direction.)

I made my attempt at the cake yesterday morning. (See previous posts: here and here.)

I made a 3-layer devils' food chocolate cake (each layer was 6x6x2in). It was supposed to have a delicious, homemade buttercream frosting, but I managed to create butter-egg-sugar soup instead. Not sure what I did wrong there. Instead, I just used store-bought buttercream (not nearly as good) because I was almost out of time.

I also had my first experience with fondant -- which went better than I expected -- in creating the decorations.

As promised, you can find a picture of the cake here.

As you may have read previously, I'm working on a cake for my fiance's birthday next week. While I haven't decided exactly how I'll do the decorations, I do want French buttercream between the layers. Anyone have a good recipe?

My fiance has requested a cake that looks like this for his birthday:
http://www.gameledge.com/skitch/Companion_Cube-20071016-095205.jpg

I've got a strategy to make the cake (cutting squares out of a sheet cake), but is there anything I should know about frosting it/tools I should acquire?

I have a cup of buttermilk left over, and I need to use it before it goes bad. What delicious food can I turn it into?

My fiance is hosting the weekly game night he and his coworkers have for the next two weeks (I am also a regular attendee). I want some appetizers that will really blow people out of the water to serve, especially since the usual snack is chips with store-bought salsa. One coworker is a vegetarian for medical reasons, one is a self-proclaimed "meat-atarian", and I am lactose intolerant, but can eat a little bit of cheese.

Basically, I want a set of 3 appetizers per night (6 total) that everyone can enjoy. So far, on the list:
- Egg and artichoke squares (bad name, delicious snack)
- Stuffed mushrooms (though my recipe is boring, and if anyone has a really good one I'd love to see it)

As you can see, I'm a bit at a loss for what else to make. Help?

Last night I filled my Le Creuset dutch oven with delicious Mexican beef stew to take to a friend's house. When we were leaving, the steps were quite a bit icier than we realized, and my fiance slid down more than half of them. Despite his valiant efforts, the oven slid from his hands and bounced the rest of the way down the stairs. He's okay, thank goodness, but the Le Creuset has a few chips on the outer enamel. Is it still okay to use the pot in the oven, or I stick to stovetop from now on? It looks like the chips only penetrate the color layer -- all that shows is a beige surface, similar to the coating on the inside of the pan.

Some of you may remember a previous post I made about turnips. I am again questing, if you will, to learn about new vegetables. This time I have fresh beets, with the tops attached. I have some ideas for the beet roots, but can I do anything with the tops? Can I do something besides bake or boil the beets?

I went to look at my favorites earlier (I thought I remembered adding an interesting recipe a few months back) and I can't see all of them. I can only view the most recent additions. Is there a way to view my older favorites that I just haven't noticed?

I know I can add a bit of vinegar to regular milk and turn it into a buttermilk substitute, but can I do that with soy milk? I really want to make a batch of muffins, but the recipe calls for buttermilk. My lactose intolerance has been getting worse lately, and I've cut almost all dairy from my diet, so just using buttermilk or any other dairy-based product is out of the question.

I'm seriously considering baking more of my own bread, but I have a few problems. I know some of you bake your own, so I'm hoping you can advise me.

1. How do you slice it relatively evenly? I take a sandwich as part of my lunch almost every day, more often than not PBJ or something like it -- I want to be able to slice bread thinly -- no bigger than the width of my thumb or so -- and consistently, so I don't have a piece that's noticeably thicker than another in a sandwich.

2. How do you slice homemade bread neatly? My slices seem to come out a bit ragged, which is fine if I'm snacking, but not so good if I want to spread something like butter on it.

3. Are some recipes for bread better than others for to address problems 1 and 2?

Thanks for any advice you can give me!

I've got my first-ever snow day today (in grad school, no less) and I really want to bake bread. I even have a recipe in mind. The problem is that the recipe makes two loaves, and one step involves letting the unbaked loaves rise in the pans. Since I moved, my bread pans have been MIA. Can I still make bread, or should I pick something else?

I have never tried turnips. I feel like I should. My current plan is to roast some with other as-yet unnamed root vegetables.

Is this a good idea? What do turnips taste like? What do they go with? (And while we're at it, what about parsnips?)

In her headnote she describes this bread as "lightly spiced, fruit-speckled, almost pudding soft." Yum. More

A great pairing of aromatic sage with Cremini & Hen Of The Wood mushrooms in a rich creamy risotto.... More