Medellitin

I think it is safe to say that my niche is turning out to be foodnerdery.  Which is why I am ashamed that I missed the New York Public Library's initial announcement about the friggin' awesome What's On The Menu? project.   What's on the Menu? is a crowdsourcing project chartered to take their incredible menu collection and transcribe it.   Before you think that no one would contribute to this, allow me to say that you are a cynical jerkward, aaaaannnnd... as of July 8th, 2011, there are over 430,000 menu items transcribed. Miss Frank E. Buttolph American Menu Collection, 1851-1930 The NYPL menu collection has about 40,000 menus dating back to the turn of the century.  Approximately 25% of the menu collection is available online , but only searchable by high level meta data about the restaurant, not the menu data itself.  The first stage of the project is to take the menus that are already available digitally and have folks like you and me input what's on ea

SVS Zip Pouch My posts on SousVide Supreme Chamber Vacuum and on the Combi Oven nicely lead up to the subject of the value of the vacuum, and its role in low temperature cooking.  For most home cooks exploring low temperature cooking, there are two primary reasons why you use vacuum sealed bags: heat transfer and eliminating buoyancy.  Even though sous vide literally means under vacuum, you don't need to vacuum seal to achieve most of the desired affects of low temperature cooking.  The truth is, you can use a ziplock bag, manually remove the air out of the bag, and pretty much achieve both of these goals. FoodSaver Clamp Vacuum 2240 That being said, using a vacuum sealer is considerably more convenient.  Especially if you are cooking products that tend to float or you are going to be using like 50 bags.  Most consumers are familiar with the food saver style vacuum sealer.  The foodsaver is an example of an external clamp vacuum sealer.  These sealers suction the air o

When your dish has a word or phrase in quotes, you are probably being a heretic.  This act can be forgivable when performed artfully.  When the name of your dish has more quotes that words, you are being sacrilegious.  Fortunately for me, I don't work in a kitchen, and like ten people read my blog. For those ten that do, I bring you a special treat.  An actual recipe.  Not just a recipe but a photo of some food I actually made.  I usually veer away from this being a cooking blog because I don't think all that highly of myself as a cook or as a photographer.  And really, who needs another dipshit on the internet writing recipes. But hey, it's 4th of july.  And I was inspired by someone on twitter who twoted: DemianRepucci   Demian Repucci   'Baked Potato Bar' risotto:) The 6min.  @ ideasinfood  method. Awesome.  twitpic.com/5id3sk I thought this was clever and figured I could embiggen the cleverness by subbing out rice for potato.   I used my fingers' mo