Sat. Apr 4th, 2026

Mike Nolan

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  • in reply to: Pizza-Making ? #17548
    Mike Nolan
    Keymaster

      Worth asking. True Italian flours are made with European wheat, which are generally a softer wheat and lower in protein than North American flours, and as I understand it ground to a finer consistency than most North American flours. So the gliadin/glutenin ratio might be different, too, although that's not something that's easy to test at the mill.

      Peter Reinhart's 'Roman' crust in his American Pie book makes the thinnest crust I've seen in years. You can almost read through it.

      in reply to: What are you cooking the week of August 4, 2019? #17532
      Mike Nolan
      Keymaster

        I'm making a batch of marinara tonight.

        in reply to: Pizza-Making ? #17531
        Mike Nolan
        Keymaster

          I usually put shredded mozzarella and havarti on it, I find putting tomato slices on it helps add some tomato flavor. I think I have some dried powdered tomato skins in the freezer, they might add some tomato flavor too.

          I'm making a batch of marinara tonight for lasagna, if it is thick enough I might set some aside and try it on a lavash pizza

          in reply to: Pizza-Making ? #17529
          Mike Nolan
          Keymaster

            I fully understand how making pizzas can wear you out to the point where you don't enjoy eating them. With just 2 of us, taking the time to get the oven ready to bake just one pizza is hardly worth the effort. When we've done it for a group, we usually have had one person rolling out the dough and someone else adding the toppings and baking them. I should try the pizza oven that goes on the outdoor gas grill, since it makes smaller pizzas, but it also takes 20-30 minutes to preheat.

            I think that's one of the reasons why we've started making lavash pizza now that we've found a local store that sells good lavash. I sort of miss having tomato sauce on them (it softens the lavash too much); while many people rate the crust as the most important part of pizza, I think the sauce can make or break a good pizza.

            in reply to: 100 ways to cook an egg #17528
            Mike Nolan
            Keymaster

              There are a number of sauces in Peterson's sauces book that use crumbled hard boiled egg yolk as a liaison. I haven't made any of them yet but I think those sauces are enough different from sauces that use raw egg or raw egg yolk that they should probably be listed separately, since they represent different cooking techniques, and that's more or less what Câreme was getting at.

              I think we may be over 50 at this point, and we've probably hardly touched the savory dishes where egg is not the primary component.

              in reply to: What are you cooking the week of August 4, 2019? #17527
              Mike Nolan
              Keymaster

                We looked at a Wolf stove when we were shopping, since the chefs I know swear by them, but we thought they were kind of ugly. I think they've changed the look a lot since then, they look a lot more like the Viking/DCS did back then.

                Gas stoves may become a thing of the past in California.

                in reply to: 100 ways to cook an egg #17525
                Mike Nolan
                Keymaster

                  Caesar dressing has egg in it. So does thousand island dressing, though the recipe I use starts out by making mayonnaise, so it probably shouldn't be counted.

                  in reply to: 100 ways to cook an egg #17524
                  Mike Nolan
                  Keymaster

                    I think mousse is enough different from pudding/custard that it should be listed.

                    7 minute icing should probably be listed, maybe royal icing as well.

                    in reply to: 100 ways to cook an egg #17517
                    Mike Nolan
                    Keymaster

                      I'd call shakshuka a different dish from a poached egg, since it's poached in a tomato-based sauce. (I've seen some recipes that add feta cheese, too.)

                      I could argue that breading pork chops is different from breading fried chicken, too.

                      And a potato and egg tortilla is quite different from other egg dishes.

                      I like some dishes with an egg on top, like corned beef hash, but I don't know if we need to start counting those. (I don't understand putting an egg on a hamburger, though.)

                      in reply to: 100 ways to cook an egg #17515
                      Mike Nolan
                      Keymaster

                        Pickled eggs are very different from 100 year eggs, the former are often found in a big jar on the counter in bars. I've had pickled eggs but didn't care for them (pickled pigs feet are another bar delicacy that I'm not fond of), I've never had the courage to try a 100 year egg, something about eating a black egg just turns me off.

                        I think you could argue that waffles are different than pancakes, too.

                        in reply to: Pizza-Making ? #17509
                        Mike Nolan
                        Keymaster

                          Some pizza makers prefer a low-protein flour, others prefer a high-protein flour.

                          But the real key is probably to come up with a dough that is more extensible than flexible, which means a flour that is higher in gliadin than glutenin. Most hard wheats tend to have more glutenin in them, but I believe semolina, which is durum wheat, has more gliadin, which is why it is good for pasta making, where you want extensibility.

                          in reply to: 100 ways to cook an egg #17504
                          Mike Nolan
                          Keymaster

                            I'm trying to come up with dishes that aren't similar, so custard tends to rule out pudding, creme brulee and flan, but not pastry cream or creme anglaise.

                            Likewise egg drop soup is quite different from a cream soup. I suspect I could come with a couple dozen sauces that use egg as a liaison (thickening agent), but for now I only listed mayonnaise and hollandaise.

                            This takes us up to around 32 and I haven't broken out a cookbook yet, I'm just thinking of things I've actually made:

                            cream soups
                            souffle
                            meringue
                            pancakes
                            crepes
                            cakes
                            angel food cakes
                            bread dough
                            pie dough
                            pies filling
                            hollandaise
                            stuffing
                            meat loaf
                            creme anglaise
                            ice cream
                            dumplings
                            pastry cream
                            glaze for bread
                            mayonnaise
                            marshmallow
                            nougat
                            breading
                            egg cream

                            • This reply was modified 6 years, 7 months ago by Mike Nolan.
                            in reply to: Pizza-Making ? #17498
                            Mike Nolan
                            Keymaster

                              I just quarter them, they drain a bit as you're doing that, I guess.

                              in reply to: Daily Quiz for August 10, 2019 #17492
                              Mike Nolan
                              Keymaster

                                I'm not sure how to stop at just 100 ways. It's kind of like how Heinz counts '57' varieties these days.

                                If you net search it, apparently what Carême said was that there are at least 100 ways to cook with eggs. I'll start a topic on this and see how many we can come up with

                                • This reply was modified 6 years, 7 months ago by Mike Nolan.
                                in reply to: What are you cooking the week of August 4, 2019? #17486
                                Mike Nolan
                                Keymaster

                                  We had some cantaloupe with salami

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