Culinary Conversations

[worth1]

Just discovered how good a tomato is with Knorr shrimp bullion powder on it.
It's quickly becoming one of my favorite seasoning salts for some things.
Very refreshing and not over powering like the beef and chicken is.

[worth1]

Bought some harissa yesterday.
Spicy and mild.
Not for sure how I'm going to use it.
But it is very tasty.

[worth1]

I've been reading up on harissa so I can make my own.
Several dried Mexican chilies would fit the bill.
Since one variety calls for dried peppers the have been rehydrated.
But I had to buy some to get the flavor profile.

[worth1]

I'd just about give anything for a salamander to cook steaks.

[Old chef]

I'd just about give anything for a salamander to cook steaks.

Look Up Chef Francis Mallman. Great guy from Argentina He will explain how to use FIRE for your steaks

Hasta La Pizza
Old Chef

[worth1]

I'd just about give anything for a salamander to cook steaks.

Look Up Chef Francis Mallman. Great guy from Argentina He will explain how to use FIRE for your steaks

Hasta La Pizza
Old Chef

Thanks
I've used fire for cooking in just about every way imaginable.
What he has that I don't is the luxury of not living in a blast furnace.
I simply refuse to light up a hot fire outside when it's a hundred degrees.
Plus the risk of burning down the neighborhood.
I considered using my Argentine grill but decided against it.
Maybe I'll line up some squirrels in front of the fire like he did the goats or whatever they are like they do in Argentina.
Argentine chorizo rules over Mexican chorizo.

[worth1]

Sometimes if not all the time I end up going down the rabbit hole looking up stuff.
It takes days to get back out.
This is about the 10th time I've looked up salamanders and infrared burners.

[worth1]

I bought a big bottle of Cholula regular hot sauce.
I compared it to Valentina regular and can't hardly tell the difference.
It is completely different from Chrystal Hot Sauce.
Now I'm not a super taster but now I know why I stopped buying Cholula brand and went to Valentina.
I might keep comparing but the reason I liked Cholula to begin with was the type of peppers and flavor it had over Tabasco.
The Valentina seems to be made with puya chilis and Cholula is made with chili de arbol and piquin.
No idea what the extra hot black label Valentina is made with.
At least to me neither the regular Valentina or the regular Cholula have much heat at all.

[worth1]

This is but one way they use Valentina.
This one's for you @Sue_CT

[worth1]

Went to a restaurant supply store down the street from me and I felt like I was in Cabela's but for cooking.
Picked up some stuff I can't find of good breeding at the grocery store and for much less.
Like a big cooling rack.
Actual ladles with ounces on them.
I got the 4. 6 and 8 ounce ladles all stainless steel.
A couple of nice burger flippers.
A big 14 ounce syrup dispenser that is glass with the cut off spout.
Everything stainless steel.
No plastic and the flippers have wooden handles.
Nothing was as expensive as it would be some home name brand.
Just utilitarian utensils.

[Sue_CT]

Great places to pick up quality tools. I have had heavy duty half sheet pans for years bought at one.

[pepperhead212]

That sounds like all that stuff I got back in the mid 80s, when I would go to those places up in NYC, when I was stocking my kitchen. Philly had little, back then, in the kitchen shops or Chinatown, so I would take a friend up there with me on a Tuesday or Wednesday (usually the best for traffic, though I would never do that in this day and time!), and go to various areas of town, to stock up. Back then, Casa Moneo on 14th St was the only source I had for Mexican ingredients! And there was an area with those restaurant supply places, down on the Bowery, and every store would have a sign up "Professional Accounts Only", but I could get into most of them by telling them I had cash! I figured many of the people working at these places were pocketing the money, they were giving me things so cheap, but not "ringing it up"! And all those heavy duty restaurant ware will outlive me. Same with those full size (26x18") sheet pans I got there, the first two heavy ones for $10 each. Same thing with those woks, and things like that I got in Chinatown. Plus, those other places, like Bridge Kitchenware, and Broadway Panhandler (Bridge moved, since then; not sure about the Panhandler). I can't even imagine what all of those things would cost now.

[worth1]

The place was is over on East Riverside drive in Austin.
For years it's been called a ghetto and lots of people are scared to go there.
The big parking lot that holds several buildings has Latinos with tool boxes in their trucks doing mechanic work on cars in the parking spaces.
The first thing I smelled driving through was used motor oil on the surface of the parking lot.
There's seriously more mechanics in the parking lot fixing cars than there are places to park.

All of them and others were friendly and nodded their heads at me as I crept through the area to get to the kitchen supply store.
I wasn't the least bit worried because if they're working to make money they aren't criminals.

They had some really nice stuff in the place.
But I was smart and didn't get a shopping cart.
I think the two hamburger flippers were maybe 4 dollars or something each.
Very sturdy too.
The ladles were at most 6 and down depending on the size.
Long handled with hooked ends so they don't run off into the kettle.

[karstopography]

The place was is over on East Riverside drive in Austin.
For years it's been called a ghetto and lots of people are scared to go there.
The big parking lot that holds several buildings has Latinos with tool boxes in their trucks doing mechanic work on cars in the parking spaces.
The first thing I smelled driving through was used motor oil on the surface of the parking lot.
There's seriously more mechanics in the parking lot fixing cars than there are places to park.

All of them and others were friendly and nodded their heads at me as I crept through the area to get to the kitchen supply store.
I wasn't the least bit worried because if they're working to make money they aren't criminals.

They had some really nice stuff in the place.
But I was smart and didn't get a shopping cart.
I think the two hamburger flippers were maybe 4 dollars or something each.
Very sturdy too.
The ladles were at most 6 and down depending on the size.
Long handled with hooked ends so they don't run off into the kettle.

It’s all about the rent. Got to be in a sketchy or non-trendy neighborhood to afford the rent. Rent for commercial space in Texas is crazy high, especially in a city like Austin, in trendy neighborhoods. That’s the fault of a property tax system that is heavy handed on the commercial property owners. Many people fail to understand that property tax comes right off the top line, there’s no expensing it away and there’s no limitation in Texas to the annual increases in valuation on commercial property.

What do people think, the landlord is in it for charity? Between the taxes, insurance, and maintenance on commercial space it’s a wonder the rent is as low as it is. Not to mention the majority of the commercial space is leveraged so there’s a mortgage on it to service in addition to all the other costs.

The state has to get money to run things, but the current system in Texas is a small business killer. Samsung, HEB and the likes get abatements and some such sweetheart deals. Texas Instruments built a new giant fab deal in Sherman near the older one. TI got massive property tax reductions on the facility, and then had the nerve to lay off thousands since the new center was highly automated. That’s the fault of the county commissioners not doing their due diligence.

All this is why we have to go to some hole in the wall in the ghetto to get affordable kitchen utensils.

[worth1]

@karstopography
Naturally I already knew this.
The area is slowly but surely weeding out the poorer people there.
Oracle has a big new building right on the lake off Riverside.
The new apartment I'm working at is right off Oltorf and Parker lane.
Just off 35.
The restaurant supply was less than a mile away
It's Ace Mart and been around since 1975.
On line sales too.

Ace Mart Restaurant Supply

Ace Mart Restaurant Supply
(512) 482-8700

https://g.co/kgs/GVyybVf

[worth1]

I pulled into HEB on the way home to get a bottle of Port.
Aw hell no.
Not gonna happen.
Looked like a sellout rock concert going on, there were so many people.

[worth1]

I had to mush up a habanero in apple cider vinegar and add it to the Cholula hot sauce to get any kind of a good sting to it and still yet it isn't enough.
I had to get some of the hot sauce out of the bottle to do it so I put it in the Chrystal Hot Sauce.
That improved the flavor of it somewhat.
I may or I may not try the Cholula habanero Hot Sauce later on or I might just try another brand instead.

Also I got in a hurry at the store and thought I had bought the habanero Pork rinds but it was just regular hot ones.
The package is the same color.

[worth1]

Well the habanero pork rinds aren't any hotter than the regular hot ones.
The package is orange not the other color.
I'm not getting the least amount of heat from either one.
Very disappointed but hot sauce will fix it.

[worth1]

Something I've been wanting to do for awhile and it dawned on me I could use Google maps.
This is an older view of the area and it's gotten worse.
HEB has expanded it's parking lot and it's now packed even more.
Walmart at the same time of day has plenty of parking.
People I guess are getting tired of them.
You can get just about anything in Bastrop now without going to Walmart.
They're literally across the highway from each other.

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[Sue_CT]

This recipe sounds good. Apparently somewhere in the world you can buy habanero flavored pasta. Since I don’t have access to that, but I do have a few fresh habaneros, do you think I could get the flavor without extreme heat by tossing whole habanero into the sauce. If that wouldn’t give much flavor, what about putting a slit in it? Any other suggestions? Much appreciated!