Disqus - Latest Comments for thefoodgeek

Re: Who owns that recipe? - Journal - The Food Geek

thefoodgeek — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 22:20:44 -0000

Hi, Aaron,

There's no surefire way to reverse engineer a recipe from the final food. You might be able to guess, or use your experience to know it tastes just like something you're used to but with an extra bit of tarragon or similar, but you can't take it to a lab, have them tear apart the flavor compounds, and give you a recipe.

However, if you asked them for a recipe, or you did something underhanded like bribe a current or former cook, or you did something illegal like break into their house for the recipe (presuming it's written down), then you could publish that. Of course, you might have to deal with whatever consequences there could be for how you got a hold of the recipe, but that's neither here nor there (please don't break into their home).

The important thing, though, is that the mom and pop should want to tell people about their amazing food. There's a lot of benefit to sharing knowledge, and I encourage everyone to jump in and share.

Re: Cleaning trout - Journal - The Food Geek

thefoodgeek — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 08:03:58 -0000

Oh, yes, I loved Asheville. If I ever need to move from Charlottesville, Asheville will be on the list of alternate places.

Andrea, we were under a bit of a time crunch, otherwise we would have seen the rest of the process as well. However, we had a cooking competition to get to, so we couldn't spend much more time at the trout farm. I fear that my ability to clean a trout is limited to what was in the video, especially as I don't have the filleting machine, but it's a step.

Re: Cleaning trout - Journal - The Food Geek

thefoodgeek — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 19:46:54 -0000

I am pleased to report that none of the bloggers managed to slice their own hands open. Thank goodness.

Re: This week on Fine Cooking: Basil and Lettuce 2-for-1

thefoodgeek — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 15:00:46 -0000

Thanks, Alison!

It's funny, I'm so much more creative when I'm giving examples of how to be creative than when I'm, for example, deciding what to make for dinner. It's like I should follow my own advice or something. Crazy talk, I know, but I'm a crazy guy sometimes.

Re: Baking pan conversions…yay!

thefoodgeek — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 12:04:23 -0000

No reason why not, Coco.

Re: Cider

thefoodgeek — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 13:00:57 -0000

Testing out a disqus comment as a tweet for thefoodgeek.com.

Re: Dealing with living food

thefoodgeek — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 08:32:00 -0000

Good point on the sous vide. The other nice thing about it is that you don't have to worry about water getting into the food that you're sousing vide. My understanding is that it's somewhat tricky to get good results with vegetables in sous vide, but as you say, experimenting could be worth it.

For those interested in more info on the sous vide, you might want to check out the post I did for fine cooking on the topic. http://www.finecooking.com/item/7701/sous-vide-...

Re: Fine Cooking Thursday: Sunken Sourdough Sadness

thefoodgeek — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 09:42:02 -0000

There's a little bit of yeast in all of us.

Re: Yeast Bread and schedule balancing

thefoodgeek — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 08:13:15 -0000

Cool. I've gotten through the intros on the book, and so I've looked through the recipes. I'm a little dismayed that they didn't at least include weighed measurements for their ingredients.

Re: Yeast Bread and schedule balancing

thefoodgeek — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 12:37:43 -0000

Certainly worth a try. I'll be trying out some of those recipes soon, so if I find something that's not terribly tough, I'll let you know which one. What brand flour are you using?

Re: Yeast Bread and schedule balancing

thefoodgeek — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 11:49:17 -0000

With ABin5, were you using a southern AP flour? I'm not that far into it, but I'm given to understand that it more or less requires such a thing.

Of course, as you have the baker lifestyle internalized, clearly you don't ned it.

Re: Yeast Bread and schedule balancing

thefoodgeek — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 13:23:50 -0000

Absolutely. I will order it immediately. I should have thought of that, as I am following Zoe on Twitter. Silly me.

Re: Yeast Bread and schedule balancing

thefoodgeek — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 12:19:46 -0000

Yeah, that's a good variation on what King Arthur suggests. It works better if there isn't anything perishable in the dough, but I think even if there's butter in it that it should be fine for 8 or 9 hours.

Re: Yeast Bread and schedule balancing

thefoodgeek — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 11:39:30 -0000

So: Wake up early, take dough out of fridge, check news, exercise, bake, write blog entry, remove from oven, go to work.

However, ideally I should allow the bread to cool for an hour before wrapping it up. Do I just leave it out, confident that it will be fine?

Re: Yeast Bread and schedule balancing

thefoodgeek — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 22:04:11 -0000

I don't know why I still have not made a no-knead bread. It's been on the list to do for forever now. Okay, I will try that. Thank you for the suggestions.

Incidentally, in case anyone was worried, the bread I made this evening turned out lovely, even if it was a bit sticky before I let it do its initial rise.

Re: Tomato T-Shirt… for nerds!

thefoodgeek — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 08:54:35 -0000

It's made of dreams and, er… magic. Yup.

Re: Fine Cooking Thursday: Like syrup for candy

thefoodgeek — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 08:53:40 -0000

Heh. Mostly because it was kind of a weak metaphor. My testers didn't think it was too shocking or anything, but it wasn't really as solidly-based as it should have been.

Re: Italian Soffrito

thefoodgeek — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 08:52:15 -0000

Thanks, and welcome! I'm sure I will be forever "scarred" by my Italian cooking experience, never quite being able to take it as seriously as had I gone to France first. Still, I'll enjoy myself even so.

Re: Contest: Cupcake v. Muffin, Round 1: Toppings

thefoodgeek — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 06:07:46 -0000

You're good. You have an account, you're logged in with it. Just add your recipe here like you asked that question.

Re: Contest: Cupcake v. Muffin, Round 1: Toppings

thefoodgeek — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 08:29:33 -0000

Which brings up a good point that I will now clarify: I need a complete recipe for a cupcake or a muffin that includes a topping. I will modify the contest description to indicate this.

Re: The mystery of the moister cake

thefoodgeek — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 06:39:58 -0000

A quick note here: table sugar is only mildly hygroscopic. Brown sugar, honey, and others are much more so. Depending on the content of the baked good, you will have a better chance pulling moisture into your tasty treat.

Re: Use Electricity to Turn Cheap Wine into Decent Wine

thefoodgeek — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 08:04:12 -0000

You make a good point. I suppose what I'm hoping for is that there is a class of wines that have great potential, but due to manufacturing costs and so on, they don't bother with much of the aging process, and just release it on the cheap. But, as you imply, a winemaker who doesn't bother to age to the proper point for that wine is probably not going to do a particularly good job with the grape selection and blending as well.

Re: Kindle for the Food Enthusiast

thefoodgeek — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 20:59:58 -0000

It is definitely worth it.

Re: Making Cheese

thefoodgeek — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 23:39:27 -0000

Ooh, and a ginger ale as well, you say? I am so far behind on projects I need to do this year. This weekend I'd best do something worthwhile.

Re: The Food Geek Is Now in Fine Cooking

thefoodgeek — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 20:12:11 -0000

Thanks, Deborah. I'm a big fan myself, even before they knew about me.