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Katie Potato

Malört: Chicago's Favorite Bitter Liqueur

I had homemade Malört besk in Stockholm last summer. Just fresh wormwood put in vodka and left to infuse. It was the single most bitter thing I have ever tasted, yet oddly compelling.

We Try New Chewy Chips Ahoy With Reese's Peanut Butter Cups

My family's brand was Chips Deluxe, the crunchy kind. But my strange, latchkey kid way of eating them? Dip the entire thing in milk (water in a pinch) then place on a paper towel and microwave. They'd kind of liquefy and I'd eat them by essentially licking them off the towel. Wow.

AHT Giveaway: Case of Pat LaFrieda Burgers

Choosing the best burger is like choosing the favorite child!

Giveaway: Win A Limited Edition "Zelda Collection" from Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams

Dark and stormy since I already love ginger ice cream.

Weekend Baking Project: How to make Canelés (Cannelés) de Bordeaux

I've only ever tried the Trader Joe's frozen Canelés. Has anyone tasted them? I'm just not sure if they are an adequate or poor representation, and thus not sure if I like them enough to try to make them.

Taste Test: Ready-To-Cook Meals From Blue Apron

This is a cool idea to get you out of a culinary rut. Sometimes I feel like I just don't have any supper ideas, or even if I have tons of recipes I want to try, I just can't be bothered to make the effort. This way, I'd have to cook what they give me, and I'd have to try something new!

Cook the Book: 'The New Persian Kitchen'

A cuisine I'm not very familiar with. Olive oil? Lemon? Dates?

Chain Reaction: Pizza Hut's Crazy Cheesy Crust

The cheese shoes are.... square. Why are they square? They must come square and the Pizza Huttites just line a ring of squares around the crust and then pinch it inwards. Strange.

Chametz-Free NYC, Day 3: When We Screw Up

I don't do Passover, but sometimes I'll try to do a restrictive diet like Paleo or Whole 30 for a length of time, and it's so hard not to mess up mindlessly. I mean, it's easy to plan your means to be diet-compliant, spend all this time preparing a "perfect" meal, and then eat a free sample cracker or a sip of someone else's coffee with cream. I find it's much harder to shut off the "eating on autopilot."

Konapun Pizza Video: Watch Adults Make Tiny Inedible Pizzas For No Apparent Reason

Oh, I would totally do that. Looks like fun. But only at a better price.... it looks like that pizza set costs $79 with shipping!

The Food Lab's Complete Guide to Dry-Aging Beef at Home

I can't picture where the fan is in relationship to the fridge door and the meat. Can you post a photo? (even if the meat isn't there anymore)

Steakcraft: Marc Forgione's Deceptively Complex Tomahawk Rib Steak

Is that seriously a single carrot? A $144 steak served with a single carrot?

How to Poach a Perfect Egg (Nick Anderer-Style)

Old post, but this didn't work for me. I followed the recipe exactly, using a Sous Vide Supreme. Either my SVS runs hot (I hope not, given the price!) or the temperature is too high. The yolk was not runny but a thick frosting consistency. And I had hoped the whites would be firmer and hold together better, but I'd say they held together LESS well than raw eggs. I ended up with very little white, so essentially all this work yielded a half dozen jellied yolks. (Look at the picture on khymos to see the texture I'm talking about.)

Ikea Recalls Meatballs; Mark Bittman's Op-Ed; Celiac Disease

The article stated that they corrected for increased rates of diagnosis as well as increased consumption. People that publish in major journals do know how to do science right :-)

Sugar Rush: Cinnamon Toast at The Mill, San Francisco

I thought at least it would be prepared this way, which is too much of a pain for me to do often, but is extra special: http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2010/04/the-right-way-and-the-wrong-way-to-make-cinnamon-toast/

Meet and Eat: Linnea Zielinski, Serious Eats Intern

Kommer Linnea från Sverige eller Illinois? Nej, spelar ingen roll, så länge faktiskt pratar hon svenska ;-)

Roasted Bone Marrow with Shallot and Currant Confit

Can you say how you would modify the recipe if you only have the marrow uncut? (cut the short way only)

Drinking Trader Joe's: We Try TJ's Kentucky Bourbon Straight Whiskey

They sell alcohol in TJs in the Boston area, so Will is not off the hook!

New York Style Pizza

Love this recipe. It's perfect as-written, and I find no detriment by taking a little short-cut. I skip the hand-kneading in step 2 and just gob the whole thing from the food processor into a gallon size ziplock baggie. I portion it on baking day. That way I only have to prepare a floured surface once rather than twice.

It's also the perfect quantity of dough. If I stretch it to fit my peel perfectly (I have the kind of Super peel with a cloth conveyor belt that is so easy to use), it fits my pizza steel perfectly. I do 4 minutes on 500 and 3 on broil (that's for well-done cheese). (The oven has been pre-heated at 500 for at least an hour, so I just shut it off and turn on broil after 4 minutes.)

Stretching it is a bit of an art; it does have quite a bit of spring-back (that's the American gluten for you!). Usually I stretch it almost to size, give it a 5 minute rest, then finish it on the peel, where the cloth has a bit of "stick" preventing it from springing back too much.

Love the sauce too, and both the sauce and cheese quantities are perfect. It's also amazing as a white pizza with sausage and ricotta.

The Vegan Experience: Why Does Everyone Assume Vegans Are Health Nuts?

In my experience, vegans actually tend to have terribly unhealthy diets. I know several that subsist on potato chips and vegan cupcakes. It's folks that do diets like Paleo that tend to be health nuts. It makes sense -- sugar, refined carbs, and seed oils are perfectly vegan, but are the staples of most of our junk food, so junk food is totally on the menu for vegans, and off-limits for Paleo dieters.

Valentine's Day Coeur à la Crème with Raspberries

Um, this is essentially the same recipe as the one on this site that serves 4, and others that serve 4-6. Two very stuffed little Valentines!!

From A Polish Country House Kitchen's Barszcz (aka Borscht)

This is the authentic Polish style (clear!) -- at least according to my grandmother.

Cook the Book: 'From A Polish Country House Kitchen'

Comparing Juice Cleanses: Organic Avenue

$700? Ha ha haha ha ha hahahah.

Valentine's Day Giveaway: Win This Prime Rib

Nothing too messy or stinky, but still delicious.

Sous Vide Supreme Sealer?

Does anyone have an experience with the vacuum sealer that comes with the Sous Vide Supreme? It costs either $79 (if you buy the large machine) or $99 (if you buy the demi), so I'm wondering if I'd be better off separately buying a Food Saver around that price. So has anyone used it? Is it a good sealer for what you pay for it? Thanks!

Ideas for leftover carnitas*?

I made a big pot of carnitas* and am looking for novel ideas on what to do with the left-overs. We've had our fill of tacos, burritos and rice-and-beans. Anything non-Mexican carnitas meat would work with?

*The star is because, no, they are not real carnitas, confit in lard. It's a huge bone-in pork shoulder, hacked into about 6 pieces, coated with salt, pepper, and oregano, and slow cooked with a couple of onions until insanely tender. I usually shred the meat then broil it before serving to create crispy bits (but the leftovers aren't broiled yet).

Best Japanese cookbook?

What do you think is the best Japanese cookbook / website that will work for folks cooking in the US?

My boyfriend gave me a challenge.... cook and eat Japanese style, 3 meals a day, for a month.

I wouldn't know where to begin but I love a challenge! We like all kinds of food but don't have a huge budget, so sushi-grade fish will have to be limited.

Any tips?

Raw onion/garlic/shallot substitute?

Well, it's summer again and I'm in the mood for salads. I love making my own dressings but nearly every recipe I read calls for raw onion/garlic/shallots. Plenty of salads and other delicious things like guacamole call for it too. I just can't stomach them. Tastes great, but hurts my stomach and the breath lasts for days.

Any ideas for ingredient substitutions? Or ways to tone the onion/garlic/shallots down?

Did I find the single most pretentious food blog comment ever?

So, tell me, did I find the single most pretentious food blog comment ever? Here it comes...

"I prefer to season my pastured, grass fed meats and sustainable seafood using fresh herbs whenever possible."

Now all those things are wonderful, so I don't mean to tease, but all of them combined in that particular way... Wow. It was almost like a Mad Libs of food snobbery.

I'm just being silly, but sometimes just how earnest people are about food nowadays drives me a little crazy!

"Mushy" brownie recipe?

Any suggestions for a recipe for a brownie that is very soft and mushy? I'm thinking the dark, rich kind that has very little structure and chew, that basically liquidizes in your mouth. I'd be interested in a specific recipe, or technique. Perhaps less flour is what's called for? Thanks!