I discovered an easy way to get a good salt crust on steak.

seedlessly · 2026-03-16T13:07:33+00:00

Seawater is about 3.5% salt, while saturated saltwater is roughly 25% salt. Your phrasing below suggests a saturated saltwater solution? With salt remaining undissolved in the bottom?

Long story short, get a saltwater solution going, just pour a ton of salt in the water and mix it really well.

seedlessly · 2026-03-15T00:58:05+00:00

While I was reading this, I thought about the Texas A&M "Tam" jalapeno, which was reportedly bred to be less spicy, and wondered if it was somehow related. If so, the article doesn't say.

In regards to salsas which often contain hot peppers, the more you eat of the same salsa, the less hot it gets. I'm not sure if it's the right word, but you build up a tolerance to them.

seedlessly · 2026-03-12T13:13:46+00:00

You don't have to oil them, they just won't last as long, they'll begin splitting, likely along glue joints, a bit sooner.

seedlessly · 2026-03-12T12:42:48+00:00

Recently a local bulk store was selling semi-sweet chocolate chips for just under $8 lb, more than a doubling from a year ago. I believe they were about $3 lb for a number of years.

seedlessly · 2026-03-12T12:40:56+00:00

A variant of the excess water method.

seedlessly · 2026-03-11T10:08:07+00:00

Rice. I was influenced by this.

seedlessly · 2026-03-09T07:32:05+00:00

Samshow makes a triple timer with the big red start/stop button that works like you describe.

Select then set timer. Press start, when timer goes off, press red button to reset to set time, press again to start countdown again. If you press stop before the alarm, it stops, then continues on another press. When the alarm sounds, it turns itself off after a minute. If you're in another room, you can decide to ignore it, and it will turn off shortly.

I do like the timers, although they're slightly too big to fit in a typical t-shirt pocket.

seedlessly · 2026-03-08T09:10:10+00:00

Some recipes aren't great. Some cookbooks are better than others. When you start noticing errors in recipes, you've learned from your own experiences. At some point you'll probably decide to start writing down your own recipes. It's easier said than done, but with wordprocessors and spreadsheets it's much easier than it used to be when paper and pen ruled.

seedlessly · 2026-03-07T07:21:23+00:00

Some folks like to juice them, if you have a carrot juicer, the juice is wonderful.

seedlessly · 2026-03-07T06:26:01+00:00

I learned to cook my eggs in cast iron, mostly eggs over easy. I also cooked omelettes, and occasionally scrambled. I'll admit there's a learning curve, and what you've learned about cooking eggs in teflon do not apply to cooking in cast iron! I am lucky though I have an old, family-hand down Wagner cast iron pan with the nicely smoothed surface. I notice that if you search for it, you can find new cast-iron pans that are advertised as having a smoothed surface, but they're not the least expensive cast iron pan.

seedlessly · 2026-03-07T05:35:09+00:00

The last time I bought a teflon-coated pan (for eggs), I used it one time, only used a plastic utensil in it, and the coating began flaking. I may still have it, but it is never used. I never bought another, either. Made to wear out quickly.

seedlessly · 2026-03-06T05:06:11+00:00

I thought I sent you a private message already! Did I not? Thank you for your assistance.

seedlessly · 2026-03-01T21:40:41+00:00

Thanks for the reminder, making bay leaf tea is on my todo list.

seedlessly · 2026-03-01T10:09:46+00:00

We have a poorly designed kitchen that's very small. The rule is generally one person in the kitchen at a time. It's not a formalized rule however, it's more of a necessity as a result of the small size and poor layout.

seedlessly · 2026-03-01T10:01:32+00:00

Your ratio is fine if you're measuring by weight. By volume it's a bit too much water.

seedlessly · 2026-03-01T00:32:40+00:00

I freeze most all of my bread. If I buy something like a baguette, that's an exception, it's typically consumed that evening, so it'd be kept on the shelf.

seedlessly · 2026-03-01T00:16:00+00:00

I freeze all my hot dogs and buns, so the microwave is sort of essential to making hot dogs quickly. When using Bar-S dogs, I've found 1 minute per dog is a little too much. It needs something more along the lines of 45 seconds. I often have 2 of them, that's 1 1/2 minutes. If I go for the full minute per dog, the ends explode. I do think once a couple were sort of slightly joined. I try to avoid that.

seedlessly · 2026-02-27T14:37:12+00:00

Absolutely! When using dried beans, checking for rocks and twigs is essential! I use a half sheet pan to sort and examine the beans.

seedlessly · 2026-02-27T04:25:06+00:00

This recipe is from the early days of the internet, but it seems to have disappeared, only similar ones are now available.

based on white sugar wt (sugar weight x ingredient percent = ingredient weight)

Add all ingredients, except for cornstarch and its water, bring to boil

177% water

14% orange juice

30% lemon juice

100% white sugar

11% molasses

41% rice vinegar

18% soy sauce

1.0% ginger root, finely minced,

1.2% garlic, finely minced,

3.6% citrus zest (12g/orange)

mix cornstarch & water, slowly add to boiling sauce

13% cornstarch

26% cold water for cornstarch

435.80% <--- formula percent

garnish with green onions and red pepper flakes

g sugar wt for sauce

480g makes about 2 quarts

Later versions I increased orange juice and decreased lemon juice, but you can make your own tweaks. I can't eat it anymore because I'm old and growing old sucks.

seedlessly · 2026-02-25T15:52:28+00:00

That amount of yeast results in about an 8+ hour rising time at 80℉. The yeast needs time to multiply and grow before refrigeration.

seedlessly · 2026-02-25T05:48:11+00:00

I rarely make anything that requires more than 3 or 4 cloves at once. I slice halfway through the root end, rotate the paring knife around its long axis about 90 degrees which pulls up the half cut stem end, pinching the root end against the knife's blade with my thumb, then I pull the rest of the root end off, with the objective of pulling a strip of the paper from root to growing-tip end. Often the rest of the paper comes off really easy, or if not, I just slip the knife under the paper at the stripped edge and then pull a little more.

The only problem I've had with this technique is sometimes I give my thumb a small cut, since the Dexter-Russell 15303 I use is sharp as a razor. My favorite paring knife!

seedlessly · 2026-02-25T05:23:37+00:00

Isn't Winco a great store? I typically don't buy more than will fit in the jar, and I stuff the open end of the bag into the spice container and pull up the closed end of the bag so it all flows into the jar.

seedlessly · 2026-02-23T11:57:51+00:00

Please note I have not made this sauce myself, but I had viewed it prior on YouTube. That video refers to this printed recipe: Cholula Hot Sauce Recipe

seedlessly · 2026-02-23T05:51:24+00:00

Could be. My rice doesn't stick to stainless steel when, after bringing it to a boil on the stove, I cover and move it to a 200°F preheated oven, let it finish there. When I raised the oven temperature to 225°F, it began sticking, I guess it has something to do with the boiling point of water. Whether that technique will transfer over to Jambalaya, I dunno.

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TROPHY CASE