[Mike Nolan]

About the only thing I use the convection fan for is the first 10 minutes of fruit pies.

I also posted about this on the BBGA forum, and got an email from a baker who says he thinks I'm getting plenty of steam, all you need is enough to get the crust damp.

I found the instruction manual for an oven that uses steam for both baking and cooking, it has a tank that holds 950 ML of water, and it says that'll last about 50 minutes. That's 19 ML per minute, which is pretty close to what I found I can do in a single burst with my tubing setup. Of course with bread, steam is really only useful in the first 10 minutes or so of baking.

I think I've identified about 8 different methods I want to test. My plan is make up a large batch of Peter's Pain de Campagne (I've used it for other tests, and the addition of a little whole wheat flour to a lean dough adds some nice color and flavor, so the bread won't go to waste, though it might go to waist) and retard it in the refrigerator overnight, so that each test has pretty much the same conditions, dough that has been out of the refrigerator for about 2 hours.

I'm also going to see if I can get some time-lapse photography shots of the bread baking through the window in the oven door. Not sure if there's enough light inside for that, even with the oven light on.

[Mike Nolan]

I read that Illinois was the 11th state to legalize recreational marijuana use, and around 33 states have legalized it in some form. It still remains illegal under federal law, and I don't see that changing any time soon.

An accurate test is probably a lot more expensive than the one that hospital used.

[Mike Nolan]

If I'm using anything lower than about 90% lean ground beef, I will generally drain it before using it. I haven't measured it, but I suspect the meat I'm getting after draining a higher fat product is comparable to the 90% lean meat, but at a much lower net price per pound. Which tastes better? Hard to pick a winner.

I remember reading an article about testing on various grades of lean meat, for the most part they're fairly close to the stated percentage of fat, but there can be a variance of several percent. They probably prefer to err on the side of having less fat than claimed.

I did try weighing the raw meat, the finished meat and the fat drained off a couple of times, the meat and fat usually added up to about 95% of the raw weight, I assume the difference was a combination of what's left in the pan and any moisture or fat loss due to evaporation.

My wife read an article years ago about a way to remove even more of the fat from ground beef after cooking and draining it. You put it in a pan of boiling water for 10-15 seconds. I think pouring boiling water over it from a tea kettle has about the same effect. I believe this is how the 'loose meat' sandwiches at a place like Made-Rite are prepared.

[Mike Nolan]

On a related matter, in 1958 Congress passed a bill that included the Delaney Amendment to the Food, Drugs and Cosmetics Act of 1938. It said that something that has been proven to cause cancer cannot be used as a food additive.

The problem with Delaney Clause testing is that testing has gotten much more precise and accurate over the years. In the 1950's labs were able to detect those additives at a rate of perhaps one part in a million. These days they can detect them at a rate of one part in 100 billion, and they're still refining the testing equipment. Not surprisingly, they're finding a lot more of these banned substances, including ones that are naturally produced as a result of the food or cooking process.

I think the same thing is true of drug testing, I've heard that even being in a room where marijuana was recently smoked can lead to testing positive for it.

[Mike Nolan]

We've had takeout the last two nights because my ankle has been bothering me since Saturday, and it hurts to stand up to cook. Not sure what I did to it, but I'm back to wearing the ankle brace I got when I chipped a bone in my ankle several years ago. (This is an ankle that's been injured several times during my life, starting with an ice skating accident when I was about 9.)

I've got several kitchen projects I was hoping to work on this week, not sure which of them I'll even get to at this point, much less finish.

[Mike Nolan]

About the only thing I ever make in our slow cooker is pulled pork and I haven't made it in several years. We do use it for things like taking chili to a pot luck, but with the limitations the University of Nebraska has placed on bringing in home-prepared foods, I don't know when we'll use it again.

My older son is really into instant pot cooking, he has 2 of them now, a small one and a larger one.

[Mike Nolan]

I don't know that I've ever bought fava beans, but I've probably eaten them at some point without knowing it.

[Mike Nolan]

We're probably doing either creamed chipped beef on toast or creamed tuna on biscuits.

[Mike Nolan]

If you override it, the link does work I think browsers are getting overly insecure about the archive sites. Norton didn't complain about it at all.

[Mike Nolan]

This might be the recipe, it uses 2/3 of a cup of maple syrup AND a half cup of brown sugar with 2 cups of dried beans. I'm getting a sugar rush just writing this!!

See Maple Baked Beans

[Mike Nolan]

Back in the 60's and 70's, nearly all meat, and a lot of poultry and fish, were often cooked to the point where they were nearly inedible. I remember when the guidelines were to cook turkey to at least 175 degrees.

• This reply was modified 5 years, 5 months ago by Mike Nolan.

[Mike Nolan]

Report on Rye Bites (Ginsberg pps 225-226):

This recipe makes 24 small rolls, about 1 1/4 ounces each after baking (36 grams). They're about 1.75 inches in diameter with a height of about 2/3 of an inch. They would probably make good slider buns if you make your sliders fairly small.

The dough was a little damp, so I wound up adding just a little more rye flour to get it to clean the bowl. They were easy to shape, and rose reasonably well. The bottoms may have gotten a little overbaked, even though I had them on the top rack in the oven, as recommended. Next time I might double sheet pan them.

This is probably the fastest recipe in the Ginsberg book, from start to finish was about 1 hour and 45 minutes. The absence of a bulk rise didn't seem to affect the final product, which was fairly light, though with a tight crumb. I've shown them sliced both horizontally and vertically.

They're a very mild rye roll, maybe almost too mild. A touch of ground caraway might give them a little more zing. I think they'd be good with a little cheese spread on them or with some corned beef; my wife thinks they'd be good with some apple butter. In other words, they're not going to be the star of the dish, but they'll complement a lot of things, making them versatile.

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[Mike Nolan]

If she's posting, there's a pretty good chance her power is back on.

We're having a lavash pizza for supper tonight.

[Mike Nolan]

I don't remember any school lunches that used mutton, I know they had US Government surplus butter, cheese, flour and peanut butter.

[Mike Nolan]

I'm making Rye Bites from Ginsberg's book today. This has to be the fastest recipe in the book, less than two hours start to finish. They're pretty small, 42 grams each before baking. I'll be interested to see how much they rise and how soft they are with so little time for the yeast to grow.

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