A blog about food, history, data visualization, and more
(Updated with alternative method to preserve fresh basil) Believe it or not, the bunch of Thai basil in the photo below is three or four weeks old (it’s been so long that I don’t remember). And yet it is almost as bright green and lush as it was on the day I bought it. I […]
My plastic container bin used to be loaded with 1-quart yogurt containers, and I felt packaging guilt whenever buying a new tub, even when it was local and organic. I knew that it wasn’t too hard to make yogurt at home — I had mental images of electric yogurt makers from the 1970s — but […]
When I make a 2-layer cake, a batch of dough that makes 2 loaves, or anything else that requires even division (like last night’s Tofu-Tofu Burgers from Elizabeth Andoh’s Kansha), I often have a moment of regret when I reach the division point. “I wish I knew the weight of the bowl I’m using,” I […]
The famous vodka-containing pie crust recipe from Cooks Illustrated has been my “go to” crust recipe for a few years (you can find it at Serious Eats). The free form galettes that use it have been crispy and flaky on many occasions, thanks in part to techniques and recipes I learned from books like Lindsey […]
A family of ravenous house finches nesting on a nearby building and quirky weather in Berkeley were two big blows against my plans to make jam in 2011, and the plum trees in my backyard didn’t produce enough fruit to make even a small batch of jam. But in 2012, the trees were quite productive, […]
A scale is an essential tool in my kitchen. It makes ingredient measurement easier, more accurate (especially for flour), and less messy (especially for oily and sticky ingredients). Last weekend, I found another use: monitoring reductions. I was making the utterly delicious “Spicy Chipotle Toltec Barbeque Glaze” from Coyote’s Pantry (by Mark Miller, Mark Kiffin […]
It makes me happy when a baking recipe has ingredient weights so I can use my scale for accurate and neat measurement. It’s so much easier to add ingredients by putting the mixing bowl onto the scale, pressing the tare button, and then adding what I need, instead of getting out (and dirtying) multiple measuring […]
(Updated, June 4, 2016) Buying a Thermapen to handle temperature measurement in the kitchen was a bit of an extravagance, but since I’ve spent much of my professional career concerned with accurate temperature measurement (e.g., combustion products above a glowing ceramic tile, diesel engine exhaust), I’m very picky about temperature measurement. Particularly, I like to […]
Last weekend, my complicated, high-maintenance bread baking project was saved by the ultra-simple no-knead recipe. After a week of messy twice-daily sourdough starter refreshing, I was ready to bake some naturally-leavened bread. Although my past loaves have been lackluster – dense and a bit too sticky – I hoped that this time it would be […]
After a few posts on creepy-crawlies, it’s time to give my readers something more universally appreciated: pie. This situation reminds me of something in Paul Bertolli’s Chez Panisse Cooking. The restaurant (a.k.a. “downstairs”) at Berkeley’s Chez Panisse has a prix fixe menu, so your dining fate is out of your control. Bertolli writes that whenever […]