Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

Well, I spend a large portion of my time reading journal articles, so questioning and testing is how I tend to view issues. I would say it was beat into me (and I would say most people with a science background), that you cannot state a "fact" without evidence, and I'd personally feel a bit cheated if grilled foods taste great because of a placebo effect and nothing else. I guess my world view isn't very common.

@AnthonyC: Yes, I do think they cook faster on the grill actually. I did the grilled ones and the baked ones the same way, wrapped in foil with butter. I believe the baked ones took twice as long as the grilled ones, which seems like a likely explanation. Perhaps the direct heat not only makes the potatoes and corn cook faster, but it also allows the butter to penetrate better?

@thingstea: I'd also add that the smell of the grill heating up makes my mouth water, which adds to what AnthonyC said about the Maillard products.

This is a pretty good roti canai recipe (it's called roti prata in Singapore): http://ieatishootipost.sg/2010/06/how-to-make-roti-prata-aka-roti-canai.html#more

It's pretty in-depth and comes with a video too.

@BF: I did think that it could just be psychological, especially when we associate grilling with holidays and gatherings. You sound like my brother! We once caught him in the bathroom lighting things on fire in the sink.

@thearrogantchef: Charcoal does taste better, and back home that's how we do it, but unfortunately, I don't have the time to set up a charcoal fire most days (and weeks), so I'll be sticking with propane for awhile. There's a great yakiniku place back home that actually imports their charcoal because of the distinctive flavor it gives the meats. Their ox tongue is like crack to me.

So delicious. @missjane, your tin was nowhere near hot enough. The oil should sizzle when batter drops in, if not the pudding will be just as you described.

If you don't feel like making it at home, and you live in Los Angeles, Scoops sells a really good brown bread ice cream.

These bagels were the first bread I've made that came out edible. Thanks Adam! However, the crumb didn't come out like that picture up there; it's much more coarse and doughy. Any idea why that happened? Thinking back, perhaps I didn't get the dough as satiny as it should have in the processor, and it's cold now, so the rise may not have been as good, although I did pop the stuff in a warm oven for awhile.

I have a deep and everlasting love for chocolate con churros. And any type of prosciutto-style cured hams. I think I was so happy when eating some Parma ham once that I laughed and a piece got into my nose...like how milk's supposed to squirt out. I tasted that for about an hour afterwards.

I like it best barbecued with a generous amount of sambal belachan.

@sunpech, i don't think you're going to the right places in singapore. one bad thing about singaporean food culture is that it's very difficult for tourists to find out about the legit places.

I'm not very well-read on this particular issue, but I am familiar with PETA and their horrible campaigns, and to be perfectly frank, I have a strong hatred for PETA and their style of "raising awareness," and I want to agree with ByrdBrain that this kind of campaign only turns the industry away from activists and makes them more resistant to listening to new ideas from people outside of the industry. Animal welfare scientists (very different from animal rightists) are doing it the right way, by doing proper research into the matter, and showing the industry not only why they have to change, using non-biased and non-inflammatory language, but also how they can change, and why it benefits them to change. Shouting about the issue without demonstrating solutions to the problem is, in my opinion, completely useless. And what really gets me about PETA is that the public mixes them up with animal welfare groups, and it makes it more difficult for the reasonable side to get the job done. Shock tactics and generating media frenzy is not the way to go for permanent, effective change that makes everyone happy. Reform requires industry support to be effective.

Yep that's how most people do it, stashing shells. Unfortunately, I'm only in LA for a few weeks, so stashing wouldn't be so practical. Also, the stock for this dish needs to be particularly strong, as it forms the soup base for the noodles...so I was hoping to see if I could do a bit of a shortcut by getting just the shells and heads. Plus, I thought that shells and heads would be a waste product, so I'd be able to get that for cheap. Oh well, thanks anyway!

EVERYTHING. It's exam season and I'm constantly hungry. For everything. Chocolate, tempura, any kind of fast food, chips, bacon, pancakes, Singaporean food, Xinjiang food, steak, roast anchovy leg of lamb....all food, basically.

Plus I'm on a diet, and I log my calories. I run out of calories by around 2 pm.