I haven’t made the kind of site that I originally intended to make a couple of years ago. I believe it’s time for a re-creation, with a wider range of content type. Let’s see what the next couple of months brings us, shall we?

Baking pan conversions…yay!: ”
Have you ever run into this problem? You find a great cake recipe, but you don’t have the size of cake pan that it calls for. Or you want to try that cake batter in an odd shaped cake pan. Well here is one way to solve this quandary. Check out the cake pan conversion chart over at allrecipes.com.

The chart is pretty extensive. The only problem is that it only lists conventional sizes of cake pans. This is offset by the fact that it also gives volume amounts for each size. So if you are using an odd shaped cake pan, you should be able to determine how much batter you’ll need for it.”

(Via Slashfood.)

I was watching the most recent episode of Good Eats, the one on knives and related applications. He mentioned that a 5:1 concentration of water to bleach was the ideal solution for ridding hands of unwanted chile oils. Long time readers may recall my misadventures with chile oils, and my subsequent crying like a little girl who lost her favorite balloon.

The problem was that I wore no gloves when working with many, many chile peppers, and after a while my hands started burning. Nothing I tried seemed to help, including laundry-strength concentration of bleach followed by hand washing, but apparently the bleach makes the oils water soluble, and in the 5-to-1 concentration, the oils actually get dissolved.

If any of my readers go through this, please post how well the cure worked. Dedicated though I am to furthering your knowledge of cooking techniques, I still kinda remember the pain, and am not eager to repeat it. I know, I disappoint you all, but my dedication to my readers apparently has limits.

Celebrating the first episode of 2008, Italian Adventure Part 2: Roman Holiday, we have a cornucopia of delightful recommendations for people going to Rome, with a few other odds and ends thrown in for good measure:

• Peter Reinhart’s Whole Grain Breads
• Families Who Made Rome
• Context Rome
• Le Mani In Pasta
• Al Pompiere
• Obika
• Ciuri Ciuri

There is talk of many fine restaurants, some footwear advice, what you should do for tours, and a jab at a certain food celebrity. Who could it be, who could it be?

Check out the acknowledgement page from the Whole Grain Book (upper left corner):

Alton Brown reups for another three years: “

Filed under: Business, Television/Film

It is my opinion that Alton Brown is one of the best things about the Food Network these days. Rachael Ray jumped the shark when she teamed up with Oprah and I can not deal with the train wreck that is Sandra Lee. But Alton continually provides great programming that expertly pairs education and entertainment.

He’ll continue to produce his fun and informative content for another three years, as today he signed a new contract that will keep him emceeing Iron Chef America and manning the stove at Good Eats. Additionally, he’ll be taking his ‘Feasting on Asphalt’ concept to the water with a program called ‘Feasting on Waves’ that will air this summer. In this show, he’ll explore the waterways of the Caribbean, eating, joking and exploring in his trademark way. I can’t wait!

[via Food Network Addict]“

(Via Slashfood.)

L’Equip R.P.M. Blender with Tachometer: “While it doesn’t justify the purchase of a new model just to get it, this ‘R.P.M. Blender’ from L’Equip has a tachometer on the side. It does seem sort of obvious now that someone’s made one, doesn’t it? I’d like to see this added to all blenders as standard issue.

The R.P.M. is powered by a 900 watt motor that can spin up to 20,000 revolutions per minute. It’s available for $134 plus shipping.

Catalog Page [Tabletools.com via CribCandy via OhGizmo]“

There is no possible reason someone would need this, but man, does it look cool. I wonder how well it blends.

What would be even better is a way to retrofit an existing blender with a tachometer (or, as the parent article suggests, that all blenders include this). Something that would look swank and would still work well as a blender.

Still, I’m sure some enterprising molecular biologist will know something that has to be blended at exactly 17,312 RPM. Okay, I suppose that is a possible reason someone would need it. Likely? No. Possible? Sure.

(Via Boing Boing Gadgets.)

Nog. Right. They way I figure it, there are roughly 5 types who are reading this article. The first will be ready to read and make this recipe immediately, enjoying the nog and perhaps sharing with friends. Excellent. The second type already has a nog recipe, and may compare notes a bit, but there would be at most tweaking.

The third through fifth do not like the nog. The third because of some manner of allergy, which is understandable.

The fourth type, and perhaps most common, believes that it does not like nog because it has only had the carton stuff. I say fie on the carton stuff. It’s like saying you don’t like steak because you’ve had a McDonald’s hamburger and you didn’t like that.

The fifth type doesn’t like egg not because they are outcasts from society and, and I say this without any sort of judgement you understand, the fifth type doesn’t like egg nog because it’s a freak. No judgement, remember. We can still hang out and play cards together. I know all kinds of people from different walks of life. We’re cool.

Read on to find out how to make proper Egg Nog.

Note: This recipe contains raw eggs. They are pasteurized eggs, so should be perfectly safe, but if you have an allergy, or if you have a somehow weakened immune system, it would be wise to go with another recipe that cooks the nog to kill the critters inside.

Also, you’ll end up with a bunch of egg yolks at the end of this, because I don’t like to add whipped egg whites to my nog. You can either make a heart-healthy omelet, or you could pour the egg whites into an ice tray (an empty ice tray) and freeze them for later use.

Equipment
1 large mixing bowl
1 mixer (stand or hand)
2-3 small bowls for separating egg yolks and whites

Ingredients
8 egg yolk, pasteurized
1 cup sugar
½ gallon whole milk
1 pint heavy cream
5 oz. bourbon, (Or to taste - I’ll generally add a bit more) (Well, I say a bit…)
1 teaspoon nutmeg, freshly grated

In the bowl of a stand mixer or hand mixer, beat together the egg yolks and sugar until the yolks lighten in color and the sugar is completely dissolved.

Add the milk, cream, bourbon, and nutmeg. Stir to combine. Chill and serve. Or, as I generally do, just drink it right then and there.

Powder-Filled Gel "Pac" Mints Mistaken for Drugs by Narcos: “

The new ‘Ice Breakers Pacs’ candy from Hershey have freaked out narcotics officers in Philadelphia because of their resemblance to bags of powered drugs. The candy, which is a gritty sugar sealed inside a gel bag that dissolves in your mouth, looks an awful lot like a little baggie of cocaine or heroin.”

(Via Boing Boing Gadgets.)

Yeah, right, kid. “Mints,” huh? Next you’re going to say that t-shirt isn’t a bomb. You’re going to spend a long time in jail.

Was it this difficult for previous generations of law enforcement to keep up with changes in technology. I suppose it was. Anyways, for the conclusion - Ice Breackers Pacs: They may not be great mints, but you’ll be cool like a heroin user. Alternately - Ice Breakers Pacs: Stickin’ it to the man.

Making your own vanilla extract appeals to me tremendously. I must do this.

The Traveler’s Lunchbox - Project Vanilla: “There are probably easier ways to do it, where you just use a set ratio of beans to alcohol and let it sit until ready. The beauty of this method, however, is that a) aside from the very beginning, you’re only sticking used beans in there (which feels delightfully frugal), b) your extract will continue to improve as you keep adding new beans, and c) once you get the ball rolling, as long as you keep using vanilla beans in your kitchen you’ll have an unending supply of extract on hand too. Pretty nifty, no?”

chadzilla: making vodka pills in 24 hours: “Recently, Chef Fabian was experimenting further with the Adria/Torreblanca technique of making ‘vodka pills.’ I use this word to describe the process of making liquid-filled candies by pouring flavored alcohol syrups into cornstarch and letting it set until a hard outer shell forms. The process is simple, but requires great attention to certain details and a clean approach.”

The general idea is to make a soft, syrup-filled candy that is primarily based on a distilled spirit. The process takes a full day, and the end product doesn’t have much shelf life, so it would be keen for a party, for example. I would probably lean towards a more flavorful spirit such as bourbon, but that might be a bit strong for some guests.

If you read through to the comments, there is a, um, energetic discussion (mustn’t say ’spirited’) about different spirits to use, possible ways to increase durability and shelf life, and how to measure.

(Via Make.)