[aaronatthedoublef]

My Costco has 16 oz bottle for a bit under $30.

[aaronatthedoublef]

So far made 10 dozen cookies for a pot luck, a sour cream chocolate cake, and scones. Want to make some rye bread too this week.

[aaronatthedoublef]

Right. Produce waste has become a huge issue in the US. We have so much abundance that if something is slightly bruised we throw it away even if it is still good. But Mike's also right that organic waste can be used for compost. But if you in big cities it might be a little harder if you live in a place without a yard. Also, I grew up in a row house with a small yard and one of our neighbors had a compost heap that we ALL could smell. He was not very popular.

How about tortillas that taste like a margarita? Especially for those who don't drink.

[aaronatthedoublef]

Have him watch the old "Good Eats". Alton Brown was famous for creating kitchen gadgets with stuff from the hardware store. He doesn't do that on the Good Eats reboot probably because he can make more money for product placement.

[aaronatthedoublef]

Thanks Mike. I deciding whether or not to take a butchery class.

I may make it kosher style but I won't make it kosher. The place I was looking at meats has both kosher and halal so I can source it there. But being kosher in my town is more complex than normal and more complex than it should be. We're a town of about 60,000 people with a larger number of Jews and two grocery stores that are kosher. And we argue about which one is "really" kosher because of the different authorities that certify them. And that is just the start of it.

So I may buy kosher meats but that's as far as I'll go.

[aaronatthedoublef]

I am hoping to start a deli. I can buy a 14 pound brisket for under $50 and use the point half for corned beef and pastrami and the other half for brisket like my mom used to make because, smoked brisket is not traditional for delis, it is everywhere, and usually it is over-smoked here.

Add pastrami, roast beef, roast turkey, pickles, and rye bread (maybe corn bread) and I have the basics of a deli.

But, even if I weren't, these prices are low enough that I might buy in bulk and then use it as I need it. We probably eat about 24 ounces of red meat a month between my two sons and me. I usually buy a teres major cut unless I am making chili or stew because it's tasty and in relatively inexpensive. If I could buy ribeye for less I would buy ribeye.

[aaronatthedoublef]

I always taste my doughs and batters. I know I am playing with fire but I don't trust things to go into the oven without that last test. I do not let my kids try anything.

I was at a restaurant supply store and they had 25 and 50 lb. bags. They had a wide variety of brands but not much diversity of types of flour. No whole wheat and all were either high protein or all purpose. The only KAF was their patent flour. Bob's was best represented but most of their stuff was varieties of gluten free flours and mixes.

I'll have to figure out where bakeries go.

[aaronatthedoublef]

Our WalMarts do not stock much flour either and no 25 lb bags. Most grocery stores here are focusing on mixes and things other than wheat flours.

[aaronatthedoublef]

This is SO cool and he makes it look so easy. His knives look really sharp and it is interesting that he starts with the smaller, lighter blade and switches to the chef's knife.

[aaronatthedoublef]

Hi. You can also look for chocolate that is labeled "pareve". They will have been prepared on equipment that has never been used to prepare anything with dairy.

[aaronatthedoublef]

Thanks for reminding me! I made pizza last night and I usually like to put the mushrooms on the sauce and under the cheese but I usually forget. I began doing this to tweak my son but ended up liking it better. I remembered last night thanks to this thread.

As for shapes, a chef friend who was eating my pizzas once said to me - "Don't worry about the shape. They're 'artisan' pizzas." Or now, in our town, they would be "craft" pizzas.

[aaronatthedoublef]

Does anyone know, has the incidence of flour recalls increased as we use more unbleached flour? Would bleaching the flour kill the e coli/salmonella?

[aaronatthedoublef]

I made chocolate chip oatmeal cookies again for the XCountry team meet. This time I made them in my friend's restaurant kitchen. It was great having a 12 quart mixer and using full sheet trays with 20 cookies a tray. I made 10 dozen in under an hour and will be faster as I learn the kitchen.

[aaronatthedoublef]

I don't know if I've ever even been on an Amtrak train with a dining car. The only over night trips I took were to Boston and back in 1980 for college. After the one time I started taking the Hopscotch flights on Piedmont Airlines! Four stops between Logan and O'Hare but one way was under $100.

The article says that millennials do not like big communal tables but it's the way many of the hipper restaurants in Boston and New York are going. Maybe it's become passe and is on its way out.

[aaronatthedoublef]

Most challah recipes are vegan, or pareve. That way it can be eaten with dairy or meat products. I only have one challah recipe (and I have A LOT) that uses butter as a substitute for oil.

I also prefer honey to sugar and I replace some of the water with apple cider. It's still not overly sweet and the loaves with honey seem to have a longer shelf life than those with sugar.

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