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Taste Test: Finding the Best Apples for Baking
I like Gala a lot for pies but Empires are also really great. The Golden D. makes a superior french apple tart. This is a great taste test, more apples varieties please!
Macaron Glacé = Ice Cream Sandwich with Macarons and Gelato
You can also get them at MILK in LA.
Video: 'Look Around You - Water'
I love Peter Serafinowicz (aka Duane Benzie)!
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Recent Comments | Response to Comments
Mixed Review: Paula Deen's Sweet Potato Biscuits
Is my math right? You pay $10 for the flour mix and then another like $3 for canned potatoes? How many did it make? Again, by my math, that better be around 100 biscuits! What a rip. She has a lot of nerve.
Taste Test: Finding the Best Apples for Baking
I like Gala a lot for pies but Empires are also really great. The Golden D. makes a superior french apple tart. This is a great taste test, more apples varieties please!
Macaron Glacé = Ice Cream Sandwich with Macarons and Gelato
You can also get them at MILK in LA.
Video: 'Look Around You - Water'
I love Peter Serafinowicz (aka Duane Benzie)!
Street Food Profiles: Coolhaus Ice Cream Sandwiches in Los Angeles, California
The wrapper is really good! I was skeptical before I had one too. They're almost flavorless, it's just rice paper, but they make eating the sandwich a lot tidier and they add a very pleasant texture. It does pretty much just melt in your mouth. It reminded me a little bit in flavor of mochi, having the very light rice flavor along with your ice cream.
Snapshots from London: The Real Food Market at Covent Garden
The slideshow is all wonky on first viewing. I like the idea of this feature but it's not working very well. It also reverts back to the top of the page after each photo, which is super annoying.
'Eater' Blog Offers $25 to Other Food Bloggers Willing to Quit
I'd pay Eater $25 to fire their LA editor/hack.
Girlfriend-On-Vacation Food Pyramid
I don't know many guys with that strong a sweet tooth! I think there should be a LOT more frozen pizza, mac & cheese, and meat on the list.
Do You Have a Favorite Mustard?
Inglehoffe's Sweet Hot... soooo good.
Tesco Busts Teenage Girls for Squeezing Muffins
to be fair, everyone knows the most delicious part of the muffin is the top.
'Are You a Menu Whisperer?': Take 2
For a time I was considered a restaurant whisper by my friends and family. I guess I read so many food sites that I always knew just the right spot for the group and occasion, even if I'd never been before. It was a magical time!
Are You a Menu Whisperer?
I kind of don't understand the concept that your dining partner doesn't want you to order something. Is it that they don't want to eat it? Pay for it? Don't want you to eat it? If you are secretly ordering things behind their back do you not want to look into why? If they don't want to eat it, why are they stopping you? If they don't want to pay, that's easily discussed and fixed. If they don't want you to eat it, maybe you have bigger issues. Secretly ordering isn't going to help any of these situations. I see from the comments that many people secretly order as a surprise, that I get and sometimes do myself.
Are You a Menu Whisperer?
sorry, I only ask because I have a friend who orders one of whatever she craves and then just picks a bit off of each. I makes me nuts that she makes so many leftovers, (which she pretends she's going to eat later but doesn't) arghhh!
Are You a Menu Whisperer?
do you all eat everything you order?
Do You Have a Favorite Cheapish Olive Oil?
More importantly can we all make a pact never to call it EVOO? It's only three more syllables to say the real name. For some reason that totally makes my skin crawl.
Video: Frank Bruni Reviews the Choco Taco
I thought it was hilarious!
Caffeine and Calories Chart
Am I wrong in thinking that an Americano is just espresso with hot water? Why is the caffeine content so much higher then espresso?
Best Mexican food in LA ?
El Coyote and Teres are more like Tex-Mex in my mind. I live near the Grove but drive to Venice when I want authentic Mexican. Try La Playita. It's a little hut at 3306 Lincoln (almost at Rose). They have amazing shrimp stuff, cocktel, ceviche, tacos, tostadas and burritos. I think it's actually my favorite place to eat in all of LA. It's mostly populated by Hispanic dudes at lunch, a very very good sign in my books.
Also, if you've never been to Grand Central Market downtown, GO! It's full of great places to eat really good Mexican and Salvadorean. Try either Roast to Go for INSANE tacos, huge and spicy and so good, or Sarita's Pupuseria. Hope this helps!
'Top Chef Masters' Host Kelly Choi: 'Food Bloggers Are Mean'
Thanks for posting the rest of the comment kitchengeeking. I think it was a bit of a wind up to post only the first bit here on SE. It's not the kind of tactic they normally seem to take, it's too bad.
The English Muffin Experiment: Homemade vs. Store-Bought
Just a small trick to make them rounder. Instead of cutting out the muffins I split the dough by weight (in my recipe's case 8), and roll them into flat balls. Then pop them into the rings for the rise but place a couple of heavy baking sheets on top (greasing the bottom of the one that will touch the dough). After you transfer them to the griddle use the sheet pans again on top for the first side's cooking. This keeps the dough perfectly contained to the muffin rings and makes a nicer, rounder, flatter muffin!
In Videos: 'How Croissants Are Made'
I wish I hadn't seen that.
Would You Eat Stinging Nettle?
I had some nettle cheese, Gouda I think, in Holland. It was really nice, a little spicy in a very nice way.
Domino’s Launches Line of Bread Bowl Pastas
weirdly the calorie count isn't yet listed on their website...
'Top Chef Masters' Contestant Line-Up Announced
How is it Bay Area heavy? I think there are more LA area chefs then San Fran chefs.
Taste Test: Finding the Best Apples for Baking
Emily of Black Rock Orchard swears by Ida Reds.
If I've only got a choice of supermarket fruit, Golden Delicious is my favorite option, but at the farmers' market, I prefer talking to growers, sampling, and then selecting a mixture.
Mixed Review: Paula Deen's Sweet Potato Biscuits
I'm not gonna sit here and defend the mix, but I will defend Ms. Deen to the last. THE LAST, do you hear me?!
Mixed Review: Paula Deen's Sweet Potato Biscuits
Make biscuits from a mix? -- And, for $9.99???? I don't think so.
Make them from scratch - without canned anything - for under a dollar, with things you probably already have in your pantry! They're so easy to make, and they'll taste better and be better for you. I guarantee it.
Taste Test: Finding the Best Apples for Baking
My new favorite this fall is jonagold for pies. Made a perfect tarte tatin this year: soft, cooked, and held its shape, though with tarte tatin, the apples are more cooked than they are baked. I have to say that in an informal crisp test I performed (I make dinner at a shelter twice a month) golden delicous outperformed granny smith by a mile. The grannies turned to mush while the goldens were sweet and held their shape. I'd think it would be hard to do an apple pie test without any apple pie seasoning though. Who's to say that plain apples in the presence of cinnamon, nutmeg, etc. would still perform the same?
Mixed Review: Paula Deen's Sweet Potato Biscuits
I like Paula and RayRay but I wouldn't buy any product, of any kind, with a celebrity head on it. That includes not only food, but cookware, appliances, sneakers, sheets and blankets, tools, perfume, and even paint. They don't need the royalties as much as I need to budget my expenses.
Mixed Review: Paula Deen's Sweet Potato Biscuits
wait, the mix for sweet potato biscuits doesn't contain any sweet potato? What makes it different than Bisquik then?
Bruce's Sweet Potato Pancake mix in the 1.5 pound bag includes a recipe for biscuits as well as pancakes. There is enough mix for (so far) 2 batches of pancakes, I think we'll get one more out of it. I'm not sure what I paid for it, but it must be less than $9.99 because I wouldn't pay that much!
Taste Test: Finding the Best Apples for Baking
Cortlands should surely be considered, a pamphlet put out by NYS apple growers names them as the best for pie. I am a Macoun fan myself, both for pie and out of hand snacking.
Mixed Review: Paula Deen's Sweet Potato Biscuits
I would personally never buy any product that has either Paula Deen or Rachael Ray on the items.
Cant stand either one of them.
You can make excellent biscuits at home with a minimal amount of effort.
And that effort will yield great results.
Mixed Review: Paula Deen's Sweet Potato Biscuits
People really pay $10 for a Paula Deen mix?
I mean, really?
They could look up a recipe and assemble the dry ingredients for less than a buck. And the result can't be any worse than the thin, nasty looking outcome from the Deen mix. What a scam.
Taste Test: Finding the Best Apples for Baking
Winesaps! I had forgotten about them. Used to love them and think they were the best in pies! Haven't seen one in ages.
Mixed Review: Paula Deen's Sweet Potato Biscuits
Did you use sweetened, canned, sweet potatoes? Personally, I don't see anything wrong with canned produce :) Sorry they didn't turn out well!
Taste Test: Finding the Best Apples for Baking
New England tradition demands baldwin apples.
Baldwin:
Raw: bland and uninteresting
Baked: Full of layered spicy notes
I'm down in VA where Baldwins cannot be found, so I'm experimenting tonight with a heirloom variety called "gold rush" which is an ugly beast, but crunchy, tart, and with a lot of layered flavors when raw. We'll see how it cooks up.
Taste Test: Finding the Best Apples for Baking
My mom always used Granny Smiths because she is not too big on sugary tastes so I used those until I took a baking class in Philadelphia years ago with a pastry chef from a well known restaurant who ONLY used Golden Delicious. I started using them then and have never looked back but I do sometimes use equal Golden Delicious and Granny Smiths to even out the sweetness. Northern Spy is an interesting thought but Macs and Empires I would think would turn to mush!!!
Mixed Review: Paula Deen's Sweet Potato Biscuits
But she's so *southern* and *down to earth*! If she's charging $9.99 for a box full of 60% empty space and 40% flour, sugar, and sodium benzoate, then land sakes, there must be a good reason for it!
Taste Test: Finding the Best Apples for Baking
Macintosh and Granny smith, heavy on the granny, are my winning combo.
Taste Test: Finding the Best Apples for Baking
Empires----an improved descendant of the Macintosh-------tart and crisp to eat and great flavor in pies, applesauce whatever. (Although Honeycrisp are still my faves for eating out of hand fresh---for people who don't see them as special, consider the source was it a supermarket (yuck) or fresh off the tree or farmers market, they don't do so well at room temp so if they've been off the tree for a couple weeks they become pretty inferior unless kept cool.
Taste Test: Finding the Best Apples for Baking
I'm with you Kerosena! I always feel kinda silly admitting that in the baking world cause they're not supposed to be the best baking apple, but I love them and use them for everything.
Taste Test: Finding the Best Apples for Baking
Add me to the group who give affection to Macs and Cortlands--both are what apples are "supposed" to taste like, to my palate: like a great glass of fresh-milled cider! Both are great bakers, though I prefer Cortlands for pie and sauce and MacIntoshes for crisps or simple baked-apples...Yum.
I made a batch of applesauce this past weekend from Macouns, and was pleased with the results--an interesting fresh-sawed wood back note I've never experienced before. Not my fav, but an interesting twist.
Taste Test: Finding the Best Apples for Baking
Granny Smith and Braeburns are also good.
Taste Test: Finding the Best Apples for Baking
Macs and Courtlands are my favorite baking/cooking apple. they bake down, yet somehow hold part of their shape during cooking. Maybe it's my new england upbringing, but they are the only apple I'll be using next week for my pies.
Taste Test: Finding the Best Apples for Baking
@Bemijohm, I think that since the pies were actually small tarts instead of full sized pies, it's perfectly logical to only cook them for 35 minutes. Otherwise you're going to over cook them.
Taste Test: Finding the Best Apples for Baking
The best part of this article are the comments. It's amazing how different everyone's opinions are about apples, and how strongly they hold onto their apple beliefs!
The interesting thing about apples is that just 100 years ago, you could buy somewhere around 800 types of apples at stores and grocers, whereas today, you really can't find more than 80 types. Most of the heirloom varieties have almost totally disappeared, except for the stray forgotten orchard in someone's back yard. It does make you wonder what kinds of delicious flavors we're missing.
As for what I like, well, I guess it depends on the time of year. Year round, I love nothing more than to eat a lovely Gala. They're usually the cheapest apple in the store, stores easily and is pretty tasty. I love the soft skin. Later in the year, Macs and Cortlands are are top at my list, especially when the local orchard has pick-your-own. Lately I've been eating a lot of Empires, which are really good, sweet and crispy.
I hardly ever make pies, so the only thing I'm looking for in an apple is a pleasant snack.
Taste Test: Finding the Best Apples for Baking
It seems to me you missed some of the classic pie apples: Granny Smith, Winesap, Macintosh, and Jonathons. Also in my opinion you cooked the pies for far too short a time. I have won awards with my apple pies baked fro 1.5 hours at 350.
Taste Test: Finding the Best Apples for Baking
This is a fabulous post!
@Kerosena, Macs have been in my apple pies for years! We'd go apple picking in Massachusetts every Fall and fill our bushels with Macs and Cortlands, and we'd mix those for our pies. I think there's nothing that signifies Fall to me quite like a crisp Macintosh pulled off a tree and eaten in the orchard. I get teary just to think of it. It's hard to find really crisp Macs down here in Atlanta, because it's not the most popular apple to grow in these southern orchards -- so by the time my grocery store gets them, they are past their crispy peak.
Given the choice, I'd do a mixture of Macs and Cortlands, but I've also enjoyed going the Granny Smith route and upping my sugar just a tad. I love the tartness of the granny and how it holds up in the pie.
Taste Test: Finding the Best Apples for Baking
Honeycrisps are terrible for pies. Their amazing texture is best left raw. They're decent for sauces and stews but given that they're more expensive than other apples, you really shouldn't be cooking them - their texture when raw is unparalleled so just eat them as is!
The best apples for pies are Northern Spy, Stayman Winesap, and Newtown Pippin. I use a combination of the first two - there's something about that Pippin that I just don't like.
My favorite apples are Macouns - they work well in pies, too, but make sure to use small ones (large ones are overgrown and are mealy - Macs are meant to be small) and mix them with something else, like the Northern Spy.
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Is my math right? You pay $10 for the flour mix and then another like $3 for canned potatoes? How many did it make? Again, by my math, that better be around 100 biscuits! What a rip. She has a lot of nerve.