Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

You ABSOLUTELY DO NOT NEED a yogurt machine. I bought one on craigslist for $8. It worked fine, but I was always finished with the batch before the week ended so I needed a better way to make more of it.

What you actually need: a lunchbag with insulation/lining (the shiny silver kind), a heading pad (newer heating pads aren't as good because they have an auto-shut off feature. The older ones don't.) A digital thermometer of some sort. 2 binder clips. a handful of clean glass jars, no sterilizing necessary.

Here's my method. (I make yogurt every 2-3 weeks in the winter; every week in the summer.)

1 liter Organic Valley 2% milk.
1/3 cup dried milk powder.

Heat the above two until 175 degrees. let cool either in an ice bath in sink (I don't have an ice machine, so I just chuck it in the fridge) until temp hits 110. Ideal 4 degree sweet spot is anywhere in between 108 and 112.

Add your starter.

Fill empty jars and place in lunch bag. do not secure jars shut with their covers. wrap said lunch bag in heating pad. secure heating pad with binder clips so that it stays wrapped.

go to sleep.

wake up. pull out jars; put tops on, chuck in fridge and enjoy all week.

If you want your yogurt to be thicker, then strain out the whey using a cheesecloth. 1 day of straining gets it thick; 2 days of straining gets it SUPER thick, kind of like that overpriced Skyr yogurt.

Isn't this basically the same thing as the Cook's Illustrated version of the grilled pizza from a few years back?

pickles, hands down. I hate paying outrageous prices at Whole Paycheck when I know that it can be made at home for cheaper for something just as tasty, if not better.

"park my four-month-old in his stroller next to the table" indeed.

Upscale dining should be blissfully children-free. Baby hater I am, and baby hater I will remain.

jpolk:
chuck it where? obviously not down the drain. Do it put it in a separate container and throw the entire kit and kaboodle away?

HAHAHAHAH thick pancakes made with butter, milk, and high glycemic flour natch) is the perfect vehicle for healthy fruit. sweet!

I'm siding with the owner of the coffee shop. Why not hold up the "craft of coffee?" Isn't every little mundane thing elevated in the food industry and then celebrated for just that anyway? Besides, the customer in question screams of sense of entitlement, which might just be me fed up with people who feel that they "deserve" this or that. Not amused.

Duff from Charm City Bakery cooked some potatoes and maybe something else on one of his episodes a few seasons back...

Uh, since my oven can't exactly hover at that temp, not to mention that I don't want to heat my teeny apartment during the summer by keeping the oven on for four hours to get perfect hard-boiled eggs... I think I'll pass!

I recently discovered Cabecou-- soft and fragrant raw goat's milk cheese. Absolutely delicious... I bought some Crottin too, from a warehouse sale of a french food importer who flies in fresh cheese from France every 2 weeks. Very mild and smooth. yum.

I thought the whole point behind Trader Joe's was that they'd work with manufacturers and pass the savings down? I've seen plenty of things that are sold at TJ's for a lot more elsewhere, even though it's the same product. See Mini-toasts. See beers, Gordon Biersch.

Wait, why does was this even a post? I thought this was (fairly) common knowledge.

I've had both onion ice cream and salt + pepper ice cream at Providence (in Los Angeles). The onion ice cream was absolutely incredible. The salt + pepper ice cream was interesting...I guess. But the onion ice cream!!! I've never had anything like it, and it's the one ice cream by which I measure, and will measure, all other savory ice creams.

Jeffrey Steingarten, Michael Pollan, & Michael Ruhlman.