[aaronatthedoublef]

With our discussion of Alton Brown and Good Eats, this was just on last Sunday. But Alton said the injury came more from removing the pit from the knife than from whacking the pit with the knife.

It is shocking how dangerous cutting bagels can be. I watched as our kids put a bagel in a holder we have designed to hold the bagel and guide the knife and then do stupid things like stick a finger in the bagel hole! Of course stopped them immediately.

[aaronatthedoublef]

Lots of "natural" juices have no added sugars but tons of apple and grape juices and they are very high in sugar. Just like maple syrup.

[aaronatthedoublef]

Kenji Lopez-Alt says he doesn't trust anyone who doesn't like American cheese!

Also, when making quick mac and cheese or a quick cheese sauce American cheese or Velveeta or Cheez Whiz or something else (I use something called Pub Cheese) that has some starch in it helps emulsify the sauce.

Julia Child was great and from a different time. Her shows with Jacque Pepin were fantastic.

I do watch the kids competitions because my daughter loves them. It's interesting to go back and watch the earlier ones. Duff was much more involved and making sure things like mis-measuring butter didn't happen. Now he and Valerie stand off and the show is much colder. Last week a kid's pot of caramel caught on fire and they just stood there commenting on the big fire. The people with the camera kept filming and finally someone ran in and dropped a sheet pan on the pot but it took way too long for the adults to react.

[aaronatthedoublef]

I was wrong. But doesn't it depend on the cheese? My daughter has developed a fondness for white American cheese and the kind I buy is actually made from whey and cheese curds. Still tastes a little plastic-y!

[aaronatthedoublef]

It may be less dense, as well.

[aaronatthedoublef]

I have mixed emotions about Alton Brown too. According to his biography, he and his wife were working in Hollywood and had a vision of the kind of cooking show they wanted to make. I really liked and learned from the early Good Eats. It was when he did his show about cruising along Route 66 on motorcycles anfd finding interesting food that he seemed to become a jerk. He made one of the people on his crew stand outside a restaurant in a hotdog suit "because he could". Humiliating someone who works for you because you can is never attractive. And he has continued down that path and become more so. But he still has a lot of knowledge and can be very entertaining.

I LOVE Serious Eats. SO much to learn from the people who write for it. And, like Len I started down the path of using less and using cold water because of Serious Eats but it is because of their tips for making mac and cheese that I went down that path.

[aaronatthedoublef]

Also, I have cut back on cheese and this did not increase that. I am down from 32 ounces of cheese on five pizzas to 27 ounces of cheese on seven pizzas that are eaten over two or three days. Last night I was at 25 ounces.

I sliced the six ounces of cheese on a mandolin and used about half of it.

[aaronatthedoublef]

I have two who like it and three who don't. There are places in Chicago who go cheese first too. I can do both as I am making multiple cheese pizzas.

[aaronatthedoublef]

Cool. I always forget prunes are plums!

As I said, I made scones yesterday with liquid instead of powdered buttermilk. Only one person made any comments and he said they were "fluffier". This was before I revealed the switch. I did not notice a taste difference myself. I think I will try making them in a food processor too.

I made pizza a different way. I've seen a bunch of people putting cheese on before sauce so I made a cheese pizza that way. My wife did not like it but one of my sons liked it better because he could taste the sauce more. I liked the cheese better which had a chewy texture. The crust was also crisper.

[aaronatthedoublef]

Interesting. Kenji Lopez-Alt is more accessible than Nathan Myhrvold and his book is much less expensive than the Myhrvold multi-volume set. Plus Lopez-Alt is more fun. I still see plenty of people adding salt to their groud beef before forming patties. And I've read most of what is on Serious Eats about pie crusts.

And, I forgot, Alton Brown has been doing this for years. His wife gave me one of his cookbooks many years ago and, while there is some useful information in it, I've never made anything from it. And his way of making pancakes is opposite of KAF and yet they are both right.

• This reply was modified 4 years, 11 months ago by aaronatthedoublef.

[aaronatthedoublef]

I made scones this morning. I used liquid instead of powdered buttermilk. I'll see how the family likes them. The recipe seemed so small I thought I had measured wrong. Then I realized I usually make these for somebody and so I make a double recipe. I'm going to experiment with these some more over the next few weeks.

[aaronatthedoublef]

I have two old (pre-Whirlpool) KA mixers. I have my original which is a 4.5 quart but will fit a 5 quart bowl. I was making a batch of stiff bread and it started to smoke. It still works but smells like smoke when I use it. I also have a hand mixer of the same vintage that came with two beaters, an immersion blender attachment, and a dough hook. It actually works and is a nice alternative to pulling out my stand mixer.

I asked for a bigger one for father's day and was given a five quart which is not significantly bigger but has a more powerful motor. It still overflows with anything more than five cups of flour even though it was rated to nine cups (says it on the manual). The engine will handle bigger loads than the 4.5 but it still overflows.

Interestingly at the restaurant they have a 10 quart which is what I use most of the time. It is not a KA or Hobart. I believe it's a Vollrath which I'd never heard of before. While it will mix 10 lbs of bread dough if I try to do it on anything other than low speed it shuts down and has to be reset.

Then there is the 35 qt Hobart! But the bowl, by itself, weighs a ton let alone filled with dough. So unless I need it (like for 35 lbs of challah) I don't use it. The restaurant uses it exclusively for making pita.

[aaronatthedoublef]

Once again, thanks for the starter tips.

Mike, BA, what are you using for steam for your rye? Reading Ginsberg and others, this seems to be important for rye and whole wheat. Does steam matter less if you're baking in a pan than freeform?

[aaronatthedoublef]

Thanks for all the tips on starters. Looks like I'll need a week at home and then I will be good to go after that.

[aaronatthedoublef]

On the last episode of the "Kids Baking Championship" a little girl said to a little boy "Now a cup of butter is four ounces, right?" And the boy said "yes." Needless to say, her blondies did not come out right and she ended up being sent home!

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