Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

i love captain lawrence... want some right now!

No Dumpling?

@Maggie: Thanks for the advice. Are you going to post beer recs as well?

Great selection this week.

@Adam: LOL re: option three

@duncan1205: Strain the fat and keep in its original bottle. It will keep for months.

I would avoid Bittman and the Joy of Cooking. They're not good sources for excellent meals. You don't need an encyclopedic reference; you need to build technique. If you know how to cook, unfamiliar ingredients or combinations are not challenging.

Martha Stewart's Cooking School and Tom Colicchio's Think Like a Chef teach you how to cook, which is all you need.

That looks fantastic. It would probably be even better refrigerated overnight.

I recently purchased this cheese from Cowgirl Creamery in San Francisco. It was absolutely fantastic.

Small batch canned or jarred mushrooms expertly preserved in a delicious brine could be awesome, but I've never found that on a pizza.

I always want to make some bizarre joke to cashiers but end up restraining myself at the last minute.

I'd be wary of saying Alex broke the rules as we're not privy to the exact instructions for each challenge.

Kenny's dishes clearly elicited the worst responses from the judges out of all the offerings on the losing team. He's been good in previous weeks, but Top Chef is all about what the judges have in front of them and he dropped the ball this time around.

Even given his output over the course of the season, I'm not upset about his ouster. His food always seemed to lack sophistication and finesse, though I liked the sound of his quickfire-winning pie dish. I think if you ask yourself what Kenny's style is and try to characterize the artistry of his cooking you'll come up short.

@Adam--It's hard to think of a better snack than a baguette on the go.

Sweet pics; I hope there are more to come.