Serious Eats: timhood's Profile

Sunday Brunch: Tamago Gohan

I'm having trouble imagining what this tastes like.

How Do You Split the Restaurant Tab with a Big Group?

I don't usually eat with a large group, but in "split the check" situations in the past:

1. If everyone's close to about even, an even split is easy enough.
2. If there's a big range in meals, do the basic math. (Seriously, how hard is it to add up 9 + 3 + 2 then through in some extra for tax and tip?)

However, we regularly go out with another couple, and I find the easiest is, "we pay this time, you get next time." We just alternate and there's never any worrying about whether we were fair in the split. We stick to restaurants that are about the same price, so it works out evenly, especially as we go out more and more.

timhood at 11:38PM on 03/14/11

From Talk

Is the Customer Always Right?

I have no problem with snooty, pretentious restaurants setting arbitrarily obnoxious rules just so they can pretend they've gained the upper-hand over their customers. After all, they don't need us customers, anyway. If I know those crazy rules in advance, then I just don't go there. But I might enjoy telling them every time I choose to eat somewhere else.

If I don't find out about their asinine rules until after I've ordered, I reserve the right to leave without paying. Too bad if there's a plateful of food on the table. If I can't put salt and pepper on it or have ketchup (catsup) with my fries (for example), then I don't have to pay for it. If enough customers walked out with food left on the table, these restaurants may learn the difference between attitude and reasonableness.

timhood at 11:31PM on 03/14/11

From Serious Eats

How to Make Barbecue Beef Brisket That Doesn't Suck

Brisket isn't really as hard as you make it out to be. 225 degrees at about 1.5 hours per pound. Absolutely never go hotter than 250 degrees, though your best success will be maintaining 225. I use a gas smoker so I can set the flame on low and not worry about it.

Prior to smoking, trim the fat to about 1/4 - 1/3 inch. I rub with my dry rub recipe up to 48 hours in advance. I'll even make slices into the fat to help the dry rub penetrate to the meat. My favorite wood is mesquite because I prefer the stronger smoke flavor.

Buy your brisket as Sam's Club or CostCo. It's USDA choice, always excellent quality and a great price.

timhood at 1:47AM on 07/27/10

From Talk

Hilariously Wrong Food on Television

@bareneed: I'm not sure why you would be amazed that Worcestershire sauce is mispronounced. First, the spelling looks nothing like the pronunciation. Second, it's an *English* town--how the heck would we know how to pronounce it?

For the record, I pronounce it Wor-cester-shishter-shire because it's more fun that way and I don't have to pretend to know how to say it right.

Or, if you prefer, I could just say "Lea & Perrins" :-)

timhood at 1:35AM on 07/27/10

From A Hamburger Today

The Burger Lab: The Ins-n-Outs of an In-N-Out Double-Double, Animal-Style

$120 in shipping fees to get frozen burgers?! You are nuts! Haven't you heard of JetBlue? You could have flown from JFK to LGB (Long Beach) and hit an In-N-Out directly.

BTW, you don't have to go to CA for In-N-Out. You could go to Vegas or Salt Lake.

Finally, why did it not surprise me that the first person to comment would be some loser who felt the need to disparage In-N-Out burgers? It's fine if you don't like them, but don't pretend that you are somehow the aficionado. If they weren't that good, In-N-Out wouldn't have lasted as long and wouldn't have the lines they do.

timhood at 12:51AM on 07/27/10

From Serious Eats

Sushi Poppers: A New Portable Sushi?

Sam's Club and CostCo sell pre-cooked sushi, only on a traditional tray in a nice presentation. You get a lot more for the money and the taste is very good (again, comparing pre-cooked choices).

timhood at 1:15PM on 07/13/10

From Serious Eats

Grilling: Getting Perfect Grill Marks

By the way, that steak shrunk unevenly, so those grill marks aren't straight. It would have looked better with stripes, which wouldn't have exaggerated the problem.

timhood at 1:02PM on 07/13/10

From Serious Eats

Grilling: Getting Perfect Grill Marks

People who say grill marks aren't important probably can't create them very well. That's like saying, it doesn't matter what your food looks like as long as it tastes good. Plate presentation is a large part of the dining experience. When people see my grill marks (I just do nice, wide stripes rather than the crosshatch), they know they're in for something good. Then, I back up those looks with great taste.

timhood at 1:00PM on 07/13/10

From Sweets

Taste Test: The Best Chocolate Chips for Chocolate Chip Cookies

I get the Ambrosia semi-sweet chips from CostCo. Dollar for dollar, these win! I like them as much as more expensive brands I've tried and better than any of the mainstream cheap brands like Nestlé or similar.

timhood at 12:49PM on 07/05/10

From Serious Eats

How to Roast a Pig on a Spit

Great article, overall. Two minor points: First, you never mentioned how long the pig will likely need to roast. Second, I don't think "unscrupulous" was the word you meant to use. "Undisciplined" is probably what you were intending.

timhood at 2:03AM on 06/29/10

From Slice

Do You Know These Regional Pizza Styles?

Who burned the hell out of the Neapolitan? It's wood-fired, not char broiled! There should never be black crust on a pizza!

timhood at 1:21AM on 05/18/10

From Talk

IKEA Food: Have you dined there?

We've dined there quite a few times. The lingonberries make the meatballs--you just can't get enough of them. They have a pretty good selection (especially considering this is a home furnishings store!) and the food always looks fresh and presentable. We usually end up getting whatever the special is. Overall, I'd say the food is pretty good and it's a very good value.

timhood at 6:50PM on 04/17/10

From A Hamburger Today

The Burger Lab: How Often Should You Flip a Burger?

I have worked in the grocery industry. Many of you are putting way too much faith in the local butcher. It's fine if he gets you the cuts of meat you want, but as far as the bacteria goes, if it's going to happen, it will have happened long before he gets it. Unless your butcher is slaughtering the live cows himself, he has no control over contamination.

Contamination happens when the digestive tract of the cow is penetrated during processing. Cut that intestine or bowel just a bit when those innards are being removed and lovely E-coli and other fun bacteria just rain over the meat.

Nearly every butcher/meat department now gets their meat in what are called "box cuts". This is the side of beef cut down into smaller sections, usually about 80 lbs each. From there, the butcher has some choice about what kind of cuts he will make from those portions. Anything not used for more expensive cuts ends up as the ground beef.

The bottom line is, unless you have personally seen sides of beef hanging in your butcher's meat locker, your butcher is working with box cuts. But even if you do see a side of beef, if it was contaminated, it happened before your butcher ever got it.

timhood at 11:20AM on 03/08/10

From Recipes

How to Make Mozzarella

Step 2 doesn't make sense. You start with cold curds and cut them. Then you add 90-100 degree water to warm the curds. Then you are see if the water feels too cool, and if so, add enough warm/hot water to bring the temp up to 100-120 degrees.

It may have been a long time since my physics class, but I don't see how it's possible to get the curds above 100 degrees when they start cool and are only warmed by 90-100 degree water.

timhood at 3:13PM on 03/03/10

From A Hamburger Today

The Burger Lab: Presenting the FLOOD BURGER

I enjoyed the column, but that burger is an E-coli factory waiting to wreak havoc on an unsuspecting victim. I'm not sure why you bothered to "cook" this burger--there's barely a hint of brown on all but the very outer edge. You could have kept the juice fresh (instead of freezing it) and just poured it over the raw meat. And don't get me started on the bun. It's clearly a ruined soggy mess. At this point, it's better off as a bunless, low-carb burger. A+ for the article, FAIL for the burger.

timhood at 2:44PM on 02/17/10

From Serious Eats

Mario Unclogged: How to Sauce Pasta

@Tommasino: if American pasta can't be called pasta because we put too much sauce on it, then our pizza can't be called pizza, either. Our pizza in no way looks like what is served in Italy. Much different than how our pasta compares.

timhood at 5:24PM on 08/26/09

From Serious Eats