[Mike Nolan]

They make rings and simmer plates for gas burners that can help you control the temperature. I use one when making stock, because I want it to simmer for 12 hours, not get up to a full boil.

[Mike Nolan]

One of the web site I visit periodically is the London Guardian, just to get the British perspective on things. (I used to use the Times, but they've installed a paywall with no freebies.)

Anyway, the Guardian has several stories running about the announced move of GBBO to Channel 4, apparently this is somewhat controversial. At least one critic has said it will kill the show. I tend to agree that losing Mary, Mel and Sue will be a problem, Paul Hollywood may be a great baker and a fair but not great cookbook author (I have one of his books, I'm not in a hurry to get others), but he has most of the personality and warmth of a lump of bread dough.

[Mike Nolan]

You've hit on the main reason I haven't made cinnamon rolls in about two years, we'd wind up eating them all ourselves!

However, I did print this recipe out and it's in my 'to try' folder for the next time I want to send something in to my wife's office.

[Mike Nolan]

Frozen commercial cookie doughs are likely to have all sorts of things that won't be in home-made cookie doughs.

[Mike Nolan]

Another thing you need to be absolutely clear on is what expenses you'll be charged for. Ads, tables, staff, photography (where applicable), handbills, sound equipment all get priced in--usually at premium rates, too.

When my wife's step-mother died, the auction company that handled the auction billed the estate for something like $50K in expenses, plus their sales commission.

[Mike Nolan]

I know there are several companies in my town that do tag/estate sales, I suspect most communities have similar companies. Perhaps the best way to find one is to drive around on weekends looking for tag sales, then go talk to the people running them.

[Mike Nolan]

Great, now you only have 2299 other recipes to try out! 🙂

[Mike Nolan]

Several years ago one of the winners on the Food Network's 'Next Food Network Star' series posted his recipe for Chicago-style Italian beef, one of my favorite foods from the 10 years we lived in the Chicago area.

I've made it several times.

It uses bottom round though that's not the cut that most restaurants that make Italian beef use, and I had to slice it by hand because I don't have a deli slicer (and one recipe isn't quite enough to justify buying one), but it was pretty close to the Real Thing.

I did, of course, leave the garlic out.

• This reply was modified 9 years, 1 month ago by Mike Nolan.

[Mike Nolan]

I doubt there are many things that SOMEONE isn't allergic to. I wonder if it's the sucralose or the maltodextrin that is used as a filler? (Especially since maltodextrin is often made from corn.)

[Mike Nolan]

Some cookie recipes have both baking soda and baking powder. (For example, my mother's Oatmeal Crisps chocolate chip cookies.)

Perhaps the baking soda serves to balance the pH of those recipes and the baking powder does most of the leavening work?

[Mike Nolan]

We bought a standalone induction cooktop at Sams Club a few months ago, and like it a lot. It does take a little getting used to, it gets warm VERY fast, you can brown butter in under a minute. It cuts a good 5 minutes off the time it takes to do hard boiled eggs compared to either an electric or gas cooktop.

If we ever have to replace our ceramic cooktop (on the island), I'd think seriously about replacing it with an induction cooktop.

The only downside is that you have to use induction-capable cookware. If a magnet will stick to the bottom of the pan, you can use it, though they recommend against using cast iron cookware, because the sides can get really hot.

Induction cooktops come in a variety of sizes and loads, the one we have won't handle a really big pot (like my 12 quart stockpot.)

They're said to be more energy efficient than either gas or electric cooktops, and they definitely don't heat the kitchen up as much.

Some have continuously variable temperature controls, the one we have has fixed settings, the lowest will not get water all the way to boiling, it seems to top out at about 150-160 degrees, which means it could almost be used for sous vide cooking.

You're right about most modern pans being pretty flat on the bottom, the main exception being a wok. They do make an induction wok pan/coooktop, you can't use a wok on a standard induction cooktop.

[Mike Nolan]

SFBI is in San Francisco, Chicago has the Chocolate Academy, which is where I'm going next month. They specialize in teaching chocolate and sugar work.

Having grown up in NW Illinois and having lived in the Chicago area from 1967 (to attend Northwestern) and until 1977, returning there is kind of an old-home week for me, there are a number of old favorites I plan to return to, if they're still there, and a few new places I'd like to check out (especially for pizza.) But I'm also hoping to make a visit or two to Rick Bayless's Frontera Grill, which is just a few blocks from my hotel.

[Mike Nolan]

I just bought two big bottles of McCormick Vanilla at Sams. BTW, the bottles are clearly labeled 'NO CORN SYRUP, NO GMO'.

[Mike Nolan]

I don't mind getting the emails from KAF, though I haven't ordered from them since last fall. When I run out of pastry flour, I'll order it from them, the only pastry flour I can find locally is whole wheat pastry flour.

BTW, for those who haven't seen the news, KAF has opened a second location for baking classes in Washington state. Still too far to be a viable option for me.

If I'm going that far for cooking classes, I'll go back to SFBI, since they're only a few miles from where my son lives in San Bruno CA. I am, however, going to Chicago next month for Chocolate Boot Camp at the Chocolate Academy, and I plan to write a series of blog posts about it. SFBI founder Michel Suas suggested I go there instead of to the once-a-year chocolate class at SFBI.

[Mike Nolan]

The New York Times had an article on this, as I recall.

I haven't been making either pretzels or bagels lately with my wife on a low-carb diet, but this is still on my list of things to try. I've got a digital pH meter now (for our hot tub) and I think I may try several solutions made with various equal weights of both in the same volume of water to see how much difference in pH it makes.

I did talk to a chemistry professor about this when we first talked about this several years ago, to confirm that putting the baked sodium carbonate in water wouldn't turn it back into sodium bicarbonate. He wasn't sure how much difference it would make in pH, but he did think the sodium carbonate would be a stronger alkaline solution.

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