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The Ten Most Recent Comments By jwiener
Cook the Book: Vegetarian Suppers
Aloo Chole (Indian Chickpea and Potato dish). Done right, it's incredible. Aloo Chole. Wow.
A Halloween Candy Hierarchy: What's Your Favorite Trick or Treat?
I am from the sour candy generation, so one of my favorites was Sourpatch Kids. But they didn't come before:
Mounds
Raisinets
Whoppers
Three Musketeers
Reese's Peanut Butter Cups
M&M's(This I'll qualify. Though I'm a dark chocolate guy and don't love M&M's, as a kid I loved the idea that in my bag of candy was ANOTHER bag with MORE candy.)
Myths in the Kitchen
How about the use of the word "caramelize" to mean "brown"?
Everyone is caramelizing everything nowadays. Caramelization refers to the oxidation of sugar, so since onions have a lot of sugar, we can get away with the use of that word.
Because it's become common usage, it's not like it bothers me, but while sugars can caramelize, proteins undergo maillard reactions when they brown.
In the salted, seared steak example, the great thing about salting a steak and letting it sit before cooking it is that the salt draws out water from the flesh and with the water comes dissolved amino acids, which, when exposed to heat, undergo maillard reactions and become delicious and brown.
With onions, breaking the cell walls allows enzymes in different parts of different cells in the onion to intermingle, creating gases that, when they meet the water in your eyes, create sulfuric acid. Ouch. The best way to protect yourself is to protect your eyes, refrigerate the onion and use a sharp knife. This minimizes exposure to and intermingling of the chemicals.
And the story of the flame and the onion is if you put the flame near the onion, it creates convection currents, and the fumes from the onion move with the air toward the flame and when they reach it they are incinerated. I'm not sure how well it works or how exactly to position oneself to minimize exposure, but it's worth a try.
Weekend Book Giveaway: 'The Elements of Cooking'
I think that cooking is about love; love for food, love for the people that will be eating the food, and love for the process. Creativity in the kitchen is such an important part in so many of our lives. Whether we use recipes or not, the process marries inherent creativity with something that is a necessity for life. It's like nothing else. We don't have creative breathing and we can also survive without music or literature (though I'm not sure I'd want to). It's about elevating something that is so primal (like breathing) to something that is full of creative possibility; the joy being that it can be as simple or complex as we want (like Mozart and Shakespeare, or like Kelly Clarkson and Dave Berry).
That being said, to me the most important element of the actual cooking process for me is heat. You can be endlessly creative, but you're never going to get anywhere if you can't manage heat. Imagine searing meat with a pan that isn't hot enough, or burning a dish, or letting something milk based boil so that it separates. Without control of heat, cooking is always hit or miss, even if the ingredients are fresh and well prepared.
Did I mention I love food?
What seemingly basic ingredient can you simply not bear?
I can't stand tomatoes or green peppers. My mom's side of the family is Italian, so these two dislikes were particularly difficult growing up(sausage & peppers, peppers and eggs, tomato salad, caprese salad...) I've only recently come around on red peppers. And cooked tomato things like sauce and ketchup are fine by me. Raw tomatoes, though, are horrifying to me and seem always to be added to otherwise perfectly good things in order to "enhance" them; e.g. guacamole, spinach and artichoke dip (garnish), black bean soup (garnish), fajitas and burritos (you didn't tell me there'd be pico de gallo!!)...
i hate raw tomatoes...
Cook the Book: 'Eat This!'
I live in massachusetts but much of my family lives in New Jersey. When I'm down there, I've been known to drive out to Philly to get a cheese steak from Pat's... "Whiz Wit"
Cook the Book: 'The Perfect Scoop'
This is a really really tough question, and Ben and Jerry's Dublin Mudslide is amazing, but I would have to say that the ice cream to end all ice cream is a flavor entitled KGB from Ben and Bill's Chocolate Emporium in Oak Bluffs, MA on the island of Martha's Vineyard. It's a mix of Kahlua, Grand Marnier and Baily's Irish Cream. It's so rich and creamy, the alcohol is still just a tad present and the mix of flavors is just perfect. It's incredibly decadent and with a few sprinkles/jimmies/whatever you call them, the contrast of textures makes for a truly transcendent ice cream experience.
Responses to Comments by jwiener
Cook the Book: Vegetarian Suppers
Thanks for participating and congrats to our winners:
chilledmartini
ohiogal
abbysnail
protest
lindygirl
Cook the Book: Vegetarian Suppers
Definitely want to try tofu but I have eaten veggie burgers and also alot of pasta...this would help me to continue being a vegetarian which I started after Thanksgiving!!! ;-) Love ANIMALS!!!!
Cook the Book: Vegetarian Suppers
Favorite and simplest veggie main dish is baked tofu, usually with Honey-Mustard sauce or BBQ Sauce.
Cook the Book: Vegetarian Suppers
smoked tofu stirfry or a masaman curry - there are so many good thing: it varies by the season!
Cook the Book: Vegetarian Suppers
butternut squash ravioli with bleu cheese and parmesan in a light butter sauce. so decadent it's like dessert!
Cook the Book: Vegetarian Suppers
Any vietnamese dish doesn't require meat for me.. so fresh and flavorful.
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