Recent Comments

From Drinks

Get to Know Us: Will Gordon, Bottom Shelf Columnist

Sadly, I doubt those are his eyes, looks like a red-eye reduction mess.

Would you rather he have red demon eyes?

From Drinks

Taste Test: Orange Juice, the Pulp-Free Edition

Yet another reason I always prefer buying frozen concentrated OJ, it tastes better than any of the pasteurized "fresh" OJ.

Of course none of them taste like actual OJ squeezed from fresh oranges since that starts to deteriorate minutes after squeezing.

From Drinks

Drinking the Bottom Shelf: Emmets Irish Cream

You drank it straight? I thought the whole point of Baileys was to get dairy into Irish Coffee that won't look like insect larvae floating in muddy water.

From Sweets

Wake and Bake: Cinnamon Raisin Twists

"buttery, flaky napoleons" with Pepperidge Farm puff pastry?

It has NO butter, it's all shortening.

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Recent Posts

From Talk

The Cooking Channel to replace Fine Living

From Talk

Bon Appetit and Gourmet are slated to die?

See more posts by peekpoke »

Recent Favorites

From Talk

The lost frugal gourmet episodes

From Serious Eats

Photo of the Day: Brain Slug Cupcakes

From Serious Eats

The Food Lab: How To Make The Best Chili Ever

From Talk

The Cooking Channel to replace Fine Living

See more favorites by peekpoke »

Recent Polls

From Serious Eats: New York

peekpoke answered "They're a good road map to fine dining, but don't get everything right. " to What Do You Think of the Michelin Stars?

From Sweets

peekpoke answered "Other (please specify below)" to What's Your Favorite Gummy Candy?

From Serious Eats

peekpoke answered "Other (please specify below)" to What's Your Favorite Peanutty/Peanut Butter Candy?

From Serious Eats: New York

peekpoke answered "Only specials. I'd rather a menu stay stable. " to Do You Like Rotating Menus?

Recent Quizzes

From Serious Eats

peekpoke got 60% correct on Meat Quiz

From Serious Eats

peekpoke got 70% correct on Quiz: How Much Do You Know About Cheese?

From Serious Eats

peekpoke got 70% correct on Quiz: How Much Do You Know About Ramen?

From Serious Eats

peekpoke got 60% correct on How Much Do You Know About Hot Dogs?

See more polls and quizzes by peekpoke »

Recent Comments

From Drinks

Get to Know Us: Will Gordon, Bottom Shelf Columnist

Sadly, I doubt those are his eyes, looks like a red-eye reduction mess.

Would you rather he have red demon eyes?

From Drinks

Taste Test: Orange Juice, the Pulp-Free Edition

Yet another reason I always prefer buying frozen concentrated OJ, it tastes better than any of the pasteurized "fresh" OJ.

Of course none of them taste like actual OJ squeezed from fresh oranges since that starts to deteriorate minutes after squeezing.

From Drinks

Drinking the Bottom Shelf: Emmets Irish Cream

You drank it straight? I thought the whole point of Baileys was to get dairy into Irish Coffee that won't look like insect larvae floating in muddy water.

From Sweets

Wake and Bake: Cinnamon Raisin Twists

"buttery, flaky napoleons" with Pepperidge Farm puff pastry?

It has NO butter, it's all shortening.

From Recipes

Gluten-Free Pigs in a Blanket

When you say "white rice flour" do you mean the Bob's Red Mill flour, or the ultra fine powder you get from Asian food markets?

I find the Bob's Red Mill very gritty unless it's used in a very wet recipe.

The Asian brands can often taste musty or off because of poor storage, or age. I've actually gone and bought a few brands, taken them out to the parking lot and tasted each, then went back in to buy the least musty. I've had pretty bad luck with Flying Horse, and better luck with Erawan (elephants facing left, forward, and right).

From Recipes

Ultra-Crispy Slow-Roasted Pork Shoulder

What about convection, should we have the convection on or off?

At the 250F, it may dry it out, but for the crisping, I figured it would help.

From Serious Eats

In Food Policy This Week: 5 News Bites

Nice to hear Egypt wants to improve their food production in the future. But the reality is they import half of their caloric consumption, and are rapidly spending down their currency reserves. The FT said it was about $13 billion in November, which is around 3 months of imports.
The EU was supposed to work out some kind of help plan, but that seems to have fallen apart with all the problems with Greece, Italy and so on. Things could get quite ugly next May when the food runs out.

From Slice

Poll: What Do You Want to See More of for Pizza in 2012?

I'd like to see more use of real whole milk mozzarella, not that awful part skim rubber they use at so many places.

I'd also like to see more places season their dough. I don't know if it's because so many people order salty toppings, or because of paranoia over salt. What should be delicious crusty bread is instead bland over risen (salt controls yeast growth) blah. It's a big problem in New England with all the "greek" style pizza with unseasoned, over risen crusts.

From Drinks

Have You Ever Tried to Quit Diet Soda?

What can I say, I gave up regular soda, so my vice was non-diet soda.
Now I just buy DP on sale,and stock up so the 4 or more cans a day I guzzle only cost me about a buck, maybe a buck fifty.

Soda in aluminum keeps for months, no problem.

Forget 2L bottles, unless you like to guzzle semi-flat soda.

From Serious Eats

5 Ways to Organize Your Spice Rack

This is the little three tier shelf thing we use.
It's overpriced at $30, but I wanted the bamboo instead of plastic (which is less than half the price).
3-Tier Bamboo Expanding Shelf

It sucks having it expandable since the seam limits you organization (nothing can cross the seam). But unless you feel like making one yourself as a project, this was the nicest I found.

From Serious Eats

5 Ways to Organize Your Spice Rack

If you have a cabinet with opaque doors, go with the jars and a stairstep insert. You can see everything, and don't have to depend on special jars (like in a drawer). The Quattro Stagioni Spice Jars are $1.50 each from container store.

But more important, throw away all the powdered/ground spices you don't use every week, and replace them all with whole spices. Stuff like dried ginger is SHOCKINGLY BETTER when you grind some off a hunk using a microplane. The whole spices last FAR longer.

From Talk

East/West product name differences

Carolina Rice (East Coast)/ Mahatma rice (West Coast)

From A Hamburger Today

Burger Works, Red Robin's Fast Casual Concept, Opening Soon in Denver

Red Robin is now always overcooked because the meat is now crap.
Try just the burger patty alone, no pile of random toppings to hide it, it's nearly tasteless and rubbery.

From Drinks

Taste Test: Fruit Punch Juice Boxes

We feed our daughter water, sometimes milk with meals.

Juice, particularly filtered Apple is "feel good" sugar water.

From Serious Eats

Serious Eats YouTube Playlist: Pancakes

@Robyn: My wife still does a stupid nanerpuss dance and sing where she accidentally plucks out here eyeball with one of her tentacles, it's classic.

From Talk

WORST BURGER in NEW YORK

Those public school burgers were CANNED. I remember seeing the cans in the back. Horrifying.

At a fast food place it could well be a Wendy's value menu one I got in Keene NH for our daughter. I took a couple bites, and almost choked. She wouldn't touch it.

At a sitdown restaurant, I don't think I've had a completely inedible one, although my wife had a pretty horrific one at Outback (she couldn't choke it down).

From A Hamburger Today

Every Burger From The Fourth Annual Burger Bash in New York City

ratbuddy he didn't say they refused to "salt it to death", they refused to add ANY SALT AT ALL.

I'm sure there are people who have eaten super low salt so long that a pickle tastes like a disgusting salt lick, and soy sauce is mouth puckering awful. Although the three "I don't add salt" people I count as friends seem to gobble both with pious glee.

For the rest of us, no salt at all means badly bland.

From Recipes

Apple Cinnamon Quick Bread

Why does everyone use oil in these quickbreads? I switched to using butter, tastes a lot better.

Also, half a teaspoon of cinnamon per cup of flour is crazy high. I hope people expect a SPICE cake. I put half a teaspoon in a 3 cup of flour recipe so that it's clearly there, but you can still taste the apple, butter and brown sugar.

From Drinks

The Food Lab, Drinks Edition: Is Mexican Coke Better?

what about using 60+ year old testers? Wouldn't they have a bias towards original sugar coke?

From Talk

Sangria-- How Long is Too Long?

I wouldn't add the citrus fruit until less than an hour before serving unless you really like a bitter pith flavor. Or consider peeling the fruit, and using the fruit plus zest, leave out the bitter pith!

From A Hamburger Today

Dear AHT: Boston Five Guys No Good

I think part of the problem is the region, New England seems horrified by a burger not incinerated to crumby ashes. So every Five Guys burger (except one) I've had in New England was horribly overcooked. At the supermarkets burgers seem almost like an afterthought of frozen premade patties next to the giant display case of a dozen types of fantastic natural casing hot dogs.

From Slice

Chain Reaction: Papa John's vs. Domino's, Battle Thin Crust

Chain Reaction? In Manhattan only?
Let's just start calling this "Chain Food we can buy in Manhattan".

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Recent Posts

From Talk

The Cooking Channel to replace Fine Living

From Talk

Bon Appetit and Gourmet are slated to die?

See more posts by peekpoke »

Polls

From Serious Eats: New York

peekpoke answered "They're a good road map to fine dining, but don't get everything right. " to What Do You Think of the Michelin Stars?

From Sweets

peekpoke answered "Other (please specify below)" to What's Your Favorite Gummy Candy?

From Serious Eats

peekpoke answered "Other (please specify below)" to What's Your Favorite Peanutty/Peanut Butter Candy?

From Serious Eats: New York

peekpoke answered "Only specials. I'd rather a menu stay stable. " to Do You Like Rotating Menus?

From Slice

peekpoke answered "Way!" to Egg pizza: Way or No Way?

From Slice

peekpoke answered "A center slice" to When it comes to square-cut pizza, I prefer ...

From Serious Eats: New York

peekpoke answered "Heston Blumenthal" to Which Celebrity Chef Would You Most Like To Meet?

From Slice

peekpoke answered "1 topping only" to How many toppings do you top your pizza with?

From Slice

peekpoke answered "I don't watch football" to Do you order pizza for your football-watching parties?

From Serious Eats

peekpoke answered "Yes" to Do You Buy Store Brands More Often Than Name Brands?

From A Hamburger Today

peekpoke answered "I've never had one and I'd like to keep it that way." to Do You Like Chili Burgers?

From Serious Eats

peekpoke answered "Gas" to Labor Day Poll: Gas or Charcoal Grill?

From Slice

peekpoke answered "Fresh" to Do you prefer canned or fresh mushrooms on your pizza?

From Serious Eats

peekpoke answered "5-10 years old" to When Did You Learn to Cook?

From Slice

peekpoke answered "Yes" to Do you salt your slices?

From Serious Eats

peekpoke answered "Bendy" to Straight or bendy, that is the question.

From Serious Eats

peekpoke answered "Cubed" to How Do You Like Your Ice?

From Serious Eats: New York

peekpoke answered "Tell the server, then try to forget about it. " to How Would You Deal With Restaurant Error?

From Serious Eats: New York

peekpoke answered "I can't stand lines; if I see one, I'm out." to How Long Is Too Long for a Great Lunch?

From Sweets

peekpoke answered "Vanilla" to Soft-Serve Poll: Vanilla, Chocolate, Swirl?

From Slice

peekpoke answered "No. Grease, for lack of a better word, is good" to Do you blot the grease from your pizza?

From Slice

peekpoke answered "Yes, it's the only way I can get anyone to agree on what we order" to Do you order half-and-half pizzas?

From A Hamburger Today

peekpoke answered "Yes" to Patty Melt: Is it a Burger?

From Slice

peekpoke answered "No: My favorite pizza-flavored snack IS PIZZA!" to Do you eat pizza-flavored snacks?

From Slice

peekpoke answered "Some combination of the above. (Feel free to elaborate in the comments)" to How Do You Reheat Your Pizza?

See more polls by peekpoke »

Quizzes

From Serious Eats

peekpoke got 60% correct on Meat Quiz

From Serious Eats

peekpoke got 70% correct on Quiz: How Much Do You Know About Cheese?

From Serious Eats

peekpoke got 70% correct on Quiz: How Much Do You Know About Ramen?

From Serious Eats

peekpoke got 60% correct on How Much Do You Know About Hot Dogs?

From Serious Eats

peekpoke got 90% correct on How Much Do You Know About Food TV and Its Personalities?

From Sweets

peekpoke got 50% correct on What's Your Ice Cream IQ?

From Serious Eats

peekpoke got 87% correct on How Much Do You Know About Breakfast Foods?

From Serious Eats

peekpoke got 75% correct on How Much Do You Know About Irish Food?

From Serious Eats

peekpoke got 62% correct on How Much Do You Know About Food Preservation?

From Serious Eats

peekpoke got 44% correct on How Much Do You Know About Condiments?

From Serious Eats

peekpoke got 75% correct on How Much Do You Know About Vegan Substitutes?

See more quizzes by peekpoke »

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